The cat's meow

A new toy....

I have a new toy :) Actually i have two new toys, ok, well actually, i may have three...a lovely new computer, with 17" flat TFT monitor, a new printer (finally, and hopefully one that doesn't drink ink with cartridges at £20 ($35) a throw!). I was after a new computer at the end of July, however an offer came up that i just couldn't refuse! It has a dvd burner, and not to mention the fact it has a mouse - i'm switching from a laptop, and have fallen out of love with the track pad!! The third toy came today, my dad gave me a PDA - which i haven't yet had a chance to play with, but can already think of tonnes of uses - not to mention the fact that it has satelite navigation on it!

I haven't really had a chance to play with the computer yet either, i have been chained to my desk for the last three days trying to complete my last two assignments due to be handed in on Friday (but have to get them to my tutor on Monday for the once over before i hand it in. I am pleased to say that i finally finished the assignments today at about 5pm, which is a relief because i can now relax for the rest of the weekend (if i manage to ignore the fact that i have a weeks worth of laundry to do, and not to mention the fact that my house looks like a tip!!).

Anyway, i'm off out into my garden again to enjoy what is left of the days sunshine. I say 'again' because as soon as i finished my assignment i went straight out and started replanting some seedlings :) i just can't keep away from my lovely new garden :)

By the way, i had to post this picture. Its one of my favourite plants of the year. Its a Gazania and its called Daybreak Tiger stripe (i think, i might have to check that - its definitely one of those names!). I just love the contrast of the petals, i think they look like happy flowers :) I know....i am a sad individual!

What a difference a year makes

What a difference a year makes. This is not far off of what my garden looked like when i bought it last year. Believe it or not, when this picture was taken, i had started to try and tidy it up - you will see i had added some flowers, but the rampant weeds were just a nightmare. The garden hadn't been touched for at least 10 years my neighbour told me. No wonder the weeds were so stubborn to give up there permanent home!! Believe it or not, i could see potential!! I was thoroughly miserable last year though, i wanted to be outside in the sun - but it wasn't fun to try and fight the weeds for space to put my table and chairs!!

Towards summer this is how my gaden looked cleared of weeds - i might add with quite a bit of help from my mum who i think will vouch for the fact that pulling the huge weeds was back breaking, as well as raking and then laying the supposedly weed killing sheeting down (i say supposedly because all though it did kill a lot, they still got through!). We hit upon the idea of decorative shingle, but it was taking much more than i had anticipated! You will see my mum and i built another flower bed out of some donated bricks (from my aunts garden!), but the concrete at the bottom of the garden was still all broken up, not to mention the ever so attractive wall at the bottom of the garden - i hasten to add that i had nothing to do with the interesting and perhaps unadvisable way of building a wall-bricks stacked on top of each other?!! I'm still surprised its never fallen down!! One night i came home from an evening out to find that my dad and my uncle had laid me a new patio to cover up the broken concrete (despite my dad having a broken leg!), i was speechless to the point of tears because i was overwhelmed, i'm an outdoors person and to not be able to sit out in my garden was killing me!

And finally thisis how it looks today! And i love it. Its still a work in progress i might add. You will see the shingle was moved to the patio area - which looks really good and was a happy mistake, and i just decided on turfing the garden. I was sceptical, the weeds have stayed away (but give them time!). I have my beloved Honeysuckle growing up the back wall (one of my favourote flowers), and my garden is both flowery and 'useful'. I have flowers, but i also am growing peas and beans at the back up the wall (notice its been extended by my clever daddy - also painted i might add!), i'm also growing strawberries, courgette, aubergine (egg plant), raspberries, blueberries,redcurrant, gooseberry, a miniture apple tree, pear tree, broccoli, carrots, onions, salad onions, garlic and i'm just starting off some turnip seedlings and butternut squash seedlings, which i planted a little late, so its an experiment! You would never think all of that woulc fit in my small city garden, but there you go. Its amazing what you can fit in pots, or amongst flowers! I also have to add that my dad has been instrumental to this change since i wouldn't have had a clue how to build a wall!! I'm also pretty sure i would have not done a very good job of painting the walls either!!

And i must say i love my garden now!!

Chinese Food heaven!

The search for the perfect kung po sauce has started. Ok, so maybe i have to explain that! One of my favourite dishes from the Chinese takeaway is Kung Po chicken. But takeaway is an expensive way to indulge my tastes! So, when i saw the sauce in a supermarket i thought it was the best thing ever! How disapointed i was when i tasted it. It was nothing like Kung Po sauce - in fact it was truly disgusting! I then found another brand, tried that and all i could taste was star anise...now Kung Po chicken is not supposed to taste like that either. I therefore decided on some serious action. So today i visited the chinese supermarket.

I hardly ever go in there, but my friend who is from the philipines has on occassions dragged me in there. Its not that i dislike going in there, quite the opposite in fact. I love Chinese food, and i also like to cook, and am a curious person, so today i guess was inevitable..i did indeed find a jar of Kung Po sauce (and have high hopes as it is imported and therefore not made for British tastes!), but i also came out with a chicken marinade, spicy garlic sauce, chicken curry mix, char siu sauce, and some kind of weird sweet sauce made of fermented flour (i'm sure its nicer than it sounds - no really!!). Anyway, failing all this, i will try out the various Kung Po recipes i have amassed..which then means a trip back to the Chinese store to get a few of the ingredients!

I'm still to achieve my ambition of actually visiting China...but i am absolutley sure that the food will be nothing like our idea of it!!

By the way, incase you were wondering. The chinese word above means 'Food' - of course!

Lovely Lillies

Every morning i am always rushed. I never have enough time, but never actually have the sense to get up that little bit earlier!!

The time constraints get even tougher in the summer because i have adopted a new ritual that i scarecely have time for!! That is the morning stroll around my garden whilst eating a bowl of cereal. I wonder what might have been eaten by snails during the night (i have a massive snail problem!) or what flowers might suddenly have appeared.

I think of this year as the first year of my garden. Last year the plants were new (having bought the house only last year) and half heartedly bloomed, this year though, things are growing with a vengence! Imagine my surprise this morning when i saw that my long awaited lillies have finally given me a spectacular flower. There are plenty more to come by the looks of it too...last year in its infancy i think i got one flower!! My other lillies have put up with a lot of being moved around this year, and i think they are protesting by refusing to flower, but oh well, at least i have these ones to keep me happy!

a neglected blog

I've totally neglected my blog for about two months now! I'm sorry...everyone keeps nagging me to keep it going...but somehow i just never seem to get around to it, or i just feel uninspired about what to write!

I've been concentrating on my housing qualification, and its all been going a bit wrong lately, i've not been puting as much effort into it as i should have done, but its really hard to sit down and study when its so lovely and sunny...and hot outside! There are lots of things i should be doing in my garden! Still my studies will be finished on June 30th - thank goodness!

But, i promise that i will starting writing my blog again!

food deprived..

Sorry i haven't posted for a while....i've just been going through a little bit of a stessful time with the professional qualification i'm doing. I totally screwed up because at the last minute i realised that i hadn't done an assignment - i thought i had done what was required, but when i looked at the syllabus a little closer i realised that i had not completed one from a range of subjects that i was supposed to. I was horrified because it wasn't as easy as just going home and not going to bed until i had written it. I actually had to go to another department and sit with someone and then write about what i had observed - and how was i going to do that one day before hand in?!! I panicked all night and a colleague came to my rescue with some notes about about one of the subjects he did, and i had a bit of knowledge about the subject and somehow that night managed to cobble something together that actually turned out to be my best bit of work! figure that one out!!!

However, what hasn't helped is that i am on a mad bonkers diet. Its something akin to slimfast. Its brilliant for rapid weight loss, and i lost 8lbs in a week. But it is so so hard going i can't tell you. I am due to be weighed tomorrow, and i will be exstatic if i can make it to 14lbs. But, i have to say, i am not sure the misery is worth it. I have to drink 4 litres of water a day (or ordinary black tea - and nothing else, not flavoured water or anything!), and haven't eaten solid food for 2 weeks almost...of course i am going to lose weight. I will probably stay on this for another week and then give it up and go to weight watchers. Its been a really good start to the diet, but i just don't think that i can sustain this for much longer. Its interesting though because i'm not craving the things that i thought i might - for example chocolate. Not once have i even considered buying chocolate. I'm craving Roast chicken!! I also crave fruit and vegetables.

You actually don't realise how much your life revolves around food until you give it up! I can't stand to be in my office at lunchtime because it smells like food, so i go to the park to look at the animals, and everyone else is there eating their lunch. So you go home after work and think it will be easier, until you turn on the tv and see all the food adverts and people in tv shows eating...i tell you....if i haven't learnt will power now, i never will!! I think weight watchers now will be easypeesy!!

Finally...

Finally i am competent!! For those who don't know, i've been working on producing 3 large lever arch files of proof that i can do my job as a housing officer! They are pretty much compulsory, however they don't push you all that hard to do it unless they suspect that you actually don't know how to do your job (because it speaks volumes about your commitment to your job if you are prepared to produce all this stuff!). However, i must confess that although i don't mind doing it - because i knew i had to, but mostly because there is monetary reward for it!! The first folder and a half i got a decent payrise, the rest of the folders get me a much much larger payrise, and now next year i should be at the top of my earning potential in this job, and not only that, i now go into senior officer grade - but no i don't actually get a new job title!

With these folders however was a grilling session in room with two managers - i guess they have to prove that i can not only write about this stuff, but that i actually do know it. It was tough. the questions were about obscure things that i deal with maybe once a year or even less often. The chances are, next time i come to deal with this stuff, i'll have to look it up to make sure the policy hasn't changed anyway!

But anyway, its all over - and now i have done it, i can listen to everyone else moaning about having to do theirs with a smug look on my face!

Still here

Yes, i am still alive if anyone was wondering!

Work has been a little busy lately (understatement!), i've been trying to get on with my professional qualification studies, as well as the 3 lever arch folders worth of proof that i can do my job for my employers (which took priority because i get a very nice payrise for doing so!). I am worringly close to my next deadline for my qualification course, and not at all ready to hand in the next assignment. Then this thursday i have a test to back up my folders to prove i can do my job! I am terrified of it! Its just my boss and another manager, but even still, i will instantly forget everything i know!!But it will be the end of it, and i won't have to do anything more for it which will be a relief!

Last night was a long day at work...about 14 hours! My usual working day, then during the evening and night i was working with the police on some surveillance...can't say much more than that for obvious reasons. But,it was a successful night on some levels, however i was disappointed that i didn't get a better result, even though i think with other operations that have been taking place, high visability policing and the fact that we were eventually rumbled - which we knew we would be...meant that things calmed down a lot. However, i have the evidence i need now...so feel another busy week ahead coming!!

the first day of spring

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of spring...i say supposed because its been snowing on and off for several days now and the temperature has suddenly plumeted. I seem to have constantly been out of the office in the freezing cold..and i have to say...i'm not loving it!

Yesterday was pay day though. I took my miserableness out shopping. Because these days i seem to be perpertually broke, i promised myself a cheap present. Its sad, i know. But i have to say that its now become a fun challenge to buy myself something i want, for as little money as possible...like a gadget for the kitchen or something i wouldn't ordinarily buy.

So what did i end up with yesterday i hear you ask? Well the picture is a big clue. For a modest price i ended up with a blueberry plant...um...actually and a redcurrant plant...um and a gooseberry plant. They were bargains, i couldn't believe my luck! I have a raspberry bush already in my garden from last year (which was a present from my mummy), and lots of strawberry plants and so i am hoping for lots of free fruit this year! I'm planning on Blueberry muffins and maybe gooseberry crumble or pie...the possibilities are endless! They are the pefect present for me...plants and food! Lets just hope i don't kill them in the first month, or have a disappointing crop!

Any day now i am going to sow my tomato seeds...there is nothing like freshly grown tomatoes! I also may give a few other veggies a go.. but It just shows what you can do in a small city garden!

cold through and through...

Its been really cold these last few days, and as a housing officer, i hate having to go out and do maintenance inspections when its so cold.

Today though with a full day of maintance visits to properties over a wide area of the city, it decided to snow..and of course at this point all the tenants i saw wanted to drag me outside to look at roof problems or guttering and drains. Basically i got snowed on...and then, late morning the sleet started. By the time i had finished to go back to the office it was raining and i was truly wet and cold. Fortunatley we get issued big jackets that are quite good at being waterproof, but i still turned up at the office with the hood up and water dripping off my nose, hair, face, and any other exposed bit of me! I must have looked pathetic because a couple of people looked on at amusement at me (office bound staff i might add - who had the luxury of not leaving the heated office all morning).

I announced that i had been snowed, sleeted and rained on...in my most pathetic voice tone...do you think that i got any sympathy? Nope...of course not.....

Even now i am home, and i still am thawing out, despite my lovely warm house...i hate my job in the winter time!