Having changed the title , I find there are one or two wittering women on line already on blogspot,not quite the same name but similar so I am now Amazing to save myself any confusion.
Monday 22 October 2012
chattering tv presenters and almost silent hubbies
We were watching 'How Britain worked' last night.
The presenter is a mechanic and motorcycle racer.
He can talk the hind leg off a Donkey!
I thought he was speaking quite quickly but OH didn't comment on it so I decided it was my ears playing tricks, then DS came downstairs and screwed his face up as the TV chappy nattered happily on.
We decided that the best strategy was to latch on to the first syllable and then concentrate the ears very hard until he drew breath.
The TV series looks to be quite interesting so long as you ar prepared to soldier your way through the speed banter. I do love the old photographs he uses to illustrate the 'grafters' of yesteryear.
OH is not the greatest talker in the world and will happily sit without saying a word all day until I could scream.
When out shopping with him, he will absent mindedly cross the street without word or indication and wander into shops oblivious of the rest of us.
Oh for a chattering chap to brighten the day.
I am changing my blog title to something a little less 'fitness' sounding.
I do still keep up my fitness levels but there is only so much to say about fitness before it becomes repetitive.
.................................................................................................................................
The presenter is a mechanic and motorcycle racer.
He can talk the hind leg off a Donkey!
I thought he was speaking quite quickly but OH didn't comment on it so I decided it was my ears playing tricks, then DS came downstairs and screwed his face up as the TV chappy nattered happily on.
We decided that the best strategy was to latch on to the first syllable and then concentrate the ears very hard until he drew breath.
The TV series looks to be quite interesting so long as you ar prepared to soldier your way through the speed banter. I do love the old photographs he uses to illustrate the 'grafters' of yesteryear.
OH is not the greatest talker in the world and will happily sit without saying a word all day until I could scream.
When out shopping with him, he will absent mindedly cross the street without word or indication and wander into shops oblivious of the rest of us.
Oh for a chattering chap to brighten the day.
I am changing my blog title to something a little less 'fitness' sounding.
I do still keep up my fitness levels but there is only so much to say about fitness before it becomes repetitive.
.................................................................................................................................
Wednesday 17 October 2012
chopping down the clover field
Well it isnt a field at all but I liked the sound of it.
I chopped the clover that has been growing in the onion beds.
It stays in the earth and helps to improve the structure of the soil.
The Phacelia still has bees buzzing to and fro so I will leave that for longer and then chop and dig it in , in the same way.
I still havent got the new onion beds sorted.
Yesterday I dug over half the spud bed (the half that is now empty).
The onions and garlic will go in there to over winter.
OH bought me and himself new (2nd hand) leathers for the motorbike.
Mine are a very fetching white with green and purple zigzags.
His are black and have a wolf logo.
We are going to look the Bees Knees next time we go for a ride together.
I canned quite a lot of Pumpkin on Monday.
The biggest pumpkin yielded 11 jars .
Then I roasted the seeds which are quite like crisps (to snack on).
I did mine with no oil by using a browning plate in the microwave.
You are supposed to use oil but they are much healthier without .
OH tends to glutton-out on anything the least bit snackable so I put them in a screw top jar and whisked them away out of sight .
There are 2 more pumpkins out there but I don't know if they have time to ripen off as we are already getting ground frosts in the morning.
Indoors it is about 15 degrees c in the mornings.
The front room warms up to 17 once the sun hits it.
I brought the greenhouse heater in so that we could give the bathroom a 10 minute zap before bathing or showering, rather than turn the heating on all over the house just for the same effect.
The heater is from OH's work and was being thrown away but is really for a greenhouse.
It would be far too expensive to run it over the winter for the amount of food I might produce from the greenhouse.
The greenhouse is now empty of plants except the box of carrots.
It becomes a store room over winter.
...............................................................................................................................
My online earning is going well.
Today I cashed out 10 pounds in Amazon vouchers from Ipsos
There is a 25 pound voucher to cash in from another survey site and nearly 30 pounds from one other so Christmas and the last birthday of the year are accounted for.
We are lucky with birthdays as they are evenly spaced across the year.
I go on Mccains site once a week and play their games which pay in spud shillings.
The shillings go towards a voucher and I am hoping to have 10 pounds to redeem in a couple of weeks.
Sadly they are winding up their voucher earning scheme in december .
...................................................................................................................................
At the moment I am reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo which you can find on Guttenberg
I'm also reading Micah Clarke by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (free on Amazon).
Les Miserables is very long and a little hard going with its turns of language and descriptions.
If you think Dickens is too descriptive, you wont like this one but if you don't mind long detailed outlines,you will most likely love it.
Micah Clarke is one of Doyles Historic Novels which are by far his best genre and although they are very prose filled, they have a huge lot of history and factual information also.
This one is about the Monmouth uprising (after the English Civil war).
I chopped the clover that has been growing in the onion beds.
It stays in the earth and helps to improve the structure of the soil.
The Phacelia still has bees buzzing to and fro so I will leave that for longer and then chop and dig it in , in the same way.
I still havent got the new onion beds sorted.
Yesterday I dug over half the spud bed (the half that is now empty).
The onions and garlic will go in there to over winter.
OH bought me and himself new (2nd hand) leathers for the motorbike.
Mine are a very fetching white with green and purple zigzags.
His are black and have a wolf logo.
We are going to look the Bees Knees next time we go for a ride together.
I canned quite a lot of Pumpkin on Monday.
The biggest pumpkin yielded 11 jars .
Then I roasted the seeds which are quite like crisps (to snack on).
I did mine with no oil by using a browning plate in the microwave.
You are supposed to use oil but they are much healthier without .
OH tends to glutton-out on anything the least bit snackable so I put them in a screw top jar and whisked them away out of sight .
There are 2 more pumpkins out there but I don't know if they have time to ripen off as we are already getting ground frosts in the morning.
Indoors it is about 15 degrees c in the mornings.
The front room warms up to 17 once the sun hits it.
I brought the greenhouse heater in so that we could give the bathroom a 10 minute zap before bathing or showering, rather than turn the heating on all over the house just for the same effect.
The heater is from OH's work and was being thrown away but is really for a greenhouse.
It would be far too expensive to run it over the winter for the amount of food I might produce from the greenhouse.
The greenhouse is now empty of plants except the box of carrots.
It becomes a store room over winter.
...............................................................................................................................
My online earning is going well.
Today I cashed out 10 pounds in Amazon vouchers from Ipsos
There is a 25 pound voucher to cash in from another survey site and nearly 30 pounds from one other so Christmas and the last birthday of the year are accounted for.
We are lucky with birthdays as they are evenly spaced across the year.
I go on Mccains site once a week and play their games which pay in spud shillings.
The shillings go towards a voucher and I am hoping to have 10 pounds to redeem in a couple of weeks.
Sadly they are winding up their voucher earning scheme in december .
...................................................................................................................................
At the moment I am reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo which you can find on Guttenberg
I'm also reading Micah Clarke by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (free on Amazon).
Les Miserables is very long and a little hard going with its turns of language and descriptions.
If you think Dickens is too descriptive, you wont like this one but if you don't mind long detailed outlines,you will most likely love it.
Micah Clarke is one of Doyles Historic Novels which are by far his best genre and although they are very prose filled, they have a huge lot of history and factual information also.
This one is about the Monmouth uprising (after the English Civil war).
Saturday 13 October 2012
OH had his exam yesterday which he sits at home with a transcriber to do the writing.
He can manage to write fairly well but his reading speed is painfully slow due to dislexia.
I took myself off into town to save being a hovering prescence.
First I went to the take away and bought my lunch.
I could have taken a sandwich and a drink from home but it is October and there is nowhere really to picnic out of the weather at this time of year.
Our town is notorious for having nothing to do and nowhere to do it.
I spent an hour sipping a big cup of tea and reading my ebook but ofcourse one cant keep that up indefinitely and even take away shops need their tables to be filled and emptied to remain in business.
Next I went for a roam around the charity shops.
I have nothing that we need so although it was an interesting browse, there was no buying involved.
After a long walk around of about 2 hours and feeling quite thirsty again, I stopped at a cafe and bought a huge mug of tea and resumed my ebook.
Around 3pm I met up with OH at the cinema so that we could see the film Looper which is on at the moment.
I had 2 cinema tickets from my online earnings at maximiles so it cost us nothing.
DS had an interview for a possible job so couldn't come too.
It turned out to be door to door canvassing which he is definitely not cut out for so I guess he wont be hearing back from them.
DD did a similar job a couple of years back and found it tedious even though she was marginally successful at it.
She also did something similar for a couple of days a few weeks back and was chased by a dog at one house. She discovered that the charity company wanted their canvassers to appear for work 2 hours before they were paid and to work through any breaks to 'make up the quotas'.
Needless to say, she found something else as quickly as she could working less hours and paying actual regular wages.
I wish the government could see the sort of jobs that are available themselves 'fly on the wall' style. I think they would then understand why people have trouble finding work.
I have resumed my skipping (jump rope) today.
5 minutes this morning without shoes was about all I could manage.
If you have only skipped when shod, try 'no shoes' it is a whole new ball game.
I was going to resume last week but OH has been at home revising and there was nowhere to skip without it sounding .
Outdoors has not been an option due to the rain.
We haven't run in ages as OH twisted his knee and I ususally only run with him.
I have been keeping an eye on eating though and still weigh the same as last year when we ran, worked out and skipped .
OH has had to reign back on his snacking as he had put on a bit of ballooniness (2 stone).
He is a bit of a chocolate addict which is fine when he is cycling,running and karatiing but not when he isn't.
He can manage to write fairly well but his reading speed is painfully slow due to dislexia.
I took myself off into town to save being a hovering prescence.
First I went to the take away and bought my lunch.
I could have taken a sandwich and a drink from home but it is October and there is nowhere really to picnic out of the weather at this time of year.
Our town is notorious for having nothing to do and nowhere to do it.
I spent an hour sipping a big cup of tea and reading my ebook but ofcourse one cant keep that up indefinitely and even take away shops need their tables to be filled and emptied to remain in business.
Next I went for a roam around the charity shops.
I have nothing that we need so although it was an interesting browse, there was no buying involved.
After a long walk around of about 2 hours and feeling quite thirsty again, I stopped at a cafe and bought a huge mug of tea and resumed my ebook.
Around 3pm I met up with OH at the cinema so that we could see the film Looper which is on at the moment.
I had 2 cinema tickets from my online earnings at maximiles so it cost us nothing.
DS had an interview for a possible job so couldn't come too.
It turned out to be door to door canvassing which he is definitely not cut out for so I guess he wont be hearing back from them.
DD did a similar job a couple of years back and found it tedious even though she was marginally successful at it.
She also did something similar for a couple of days a few weeks back and was chased by a dog at one house. She discovered that the charity company wanted their canvassers to appear for work 2 hours before they were paid and to work through any breaks to 'make up the quotas'.
Needless to say, she found something else as quickly as she could working less hours and paying actual regular wages.
I wish the government could see the sort of jobs that are available themselves 'fly on the wall' style. I think they would then understand why people have trouble finding work.
I have resumed my skipping (jump rope) today.
5 minutes this morning without shoes was about all I could manage.
If you have only skipped when shod, try 'no shoes' it is a whole new ball game.
I was going to resume last week but OH has been at home revising and there was nowhere to skip without it sounding .
Outdoors has not been an option due to the rain.
We haven't run in ages as OH twisted his knee and I ususally only run with him.
I have been keeping an eye on eating though and still weigh the same as last year when we ran, worked out and skipped .
OH has had to reign back on his snacking as he had put on a bit of ballooniness (2 stone).
He is a bit of a chocolate addict which is fine when he is cycling,running and karatiing but not when he isn't.
Thursday 11 October 2012
Reading old favourites
This week I have been re-reading Agnes Gray by Ann Bronte.
I had forgotten how comical it gets in places.
Quite suprising when you think it was written around 1840 something.
I looked up the Brontes, wondering how closely their own lives mirror their stories and discovered that Ann died aged only 29.
All the children in that family died before they were 40 and there were 6 to begin with.
Only one of the 5 sisters ever married .
They were mostly kept at home except for a couple of stints in boarding schools.
The first school managed to kill the two older girls when they were 11 and 10 by neglecting them until they had caught TB.
As far as their stories go, they seem far more romantic and exciting than the girl's actual real lives.
Novels were often seen as unsavoury reading for girls back in those days and I wonder if it was because they might be seen to give girls ideas of actually being able to choose to marry for something other than position in life and even heaven forbid, not marry at all but actually pursue their own interests.
I cant help but feel a little pang of regret for some of the lost simplicity of life but I don't supppose, had I been around in those days,that I would have turned down the chance to let machinery do the drudge jobs.
Rich people back then, would have employed servants to do them so maybe we are not so very different, just a lot richer overall.
I Victorian ladies could jump to us through time, I wonder what they would make of their modern contempories
I had forgotten how comical it gets in places.
Quite suprising when you think it was written around 1840 something.
I looked up the Brontes, wondering how closely their own lives mirror their stories and discovered that Ann died aged only 29.
All the children in that family died before they were 40 and there were 6 to begin with.
Only one of the 5 sisters ever married .
They were mostly kept at home except for a couple of stints in boarding schools.
The first school managed to kill the two older girls when they were 11 and 10 by neglecting them until they had caught TB.
As far as their stories go, they seem far more romantic and exciting than the girl's actual real lives.
Novels were often seen as unsavoury reading for girls back in those days and I wonder if it was because they might be seen to give girls ideas of actually being able to choose to marry for something other than position in life and even heaven forbid, not marry at all but actually pursue their own interests.
I cant help but feel a little pang of regret for some of the lost simplicity of life but I don't supppose, had I been around in those days,that I would have turned down the chance to let machinery do the drudge jobs.
Rich people back then, would have employed servants to do them so maybe we are not so very different, just a lot richer overall.
I Victorian ladies could jump to us through time, I wonder what they would make of their modern contempories
Friday 5 October 2012
Battery bits and bobs
Oh got his new CMOS battery in the post today.
He got it from china via ebay.
Some people would baulk at ebay stuff from china but if you think about it, nearly everything we used in the 1970's had 'MADE IN HONGKONG' printed on it.
The computer itself is made in Taiwan after all.
OH managed to dismantle and install the new battery with minimal help which pleased him and me as he now knows he can dismantle and reassemble his lappy himself and I now know he can too :P
He even had to do a little bit of soldering as the end connector was slightly different.
.................................................................................................................................
The garden is a muddy green expanse at present.
The runner beans are still producing well.
Brassicas are strong looking.
I have seeds from Spinach,rocket and nasturtiums for next year.
The shallots I put by to replant, will be going in sometime this month along with some garlic from last year and a few new bulbs.
I bought new golden onions as we have eaten most of the ones I harvested this year.
The leeks are embarrassingly like spring onions still but may pick up some once the weather cools more.
...................................................................................................................................
I have been doing a toothpaste trial this week.
Cant say which paste but it was quite good for making them feel clean and smooth.
Must look out for it when it comes on the market.
I quite often do trials for goods for companies.
You sign up with a company that does surveys and every now and then they will ask if you will do a trial. Sometimes they dont send anything afterall ,I suppose because they have enough people to choose from and you dont get picked but often you do.
They will ask how it went and you can usually keep the rest of the item to use up at home.
I love giving my opinion on new things.
He got it from china via ebay.
Some people would baulk at ebay stuff from china but if you think about it, nearly everything we used in the 1970's had 'MADE IN HONGKONG' printed on it.
The computer itself is made in Taiwan after all.
OH managed to dismantle and install the new battery with minimal help which pleased him and me as he now knows he can dismantle and reassemble his lappy himself and I now know he can too :P
He even had to do a little bit of soldering as the end connector was slightly different.
.................................................................................................................................
The garden is a muddy green expanse at present.
The runner beans are still producing well.
Brassicas are strong looking.
I have seeds from Spinach,rocket and nasturtiums for next year.
The shallots I put by to replant, will be going in sometime this month along with some garlic from last year and a few new bulbs.
I bought new golden onions as we have eaten most of the ones I harvested this year.
The leeks are embarrassingly like spring onions still but may pick up some once the weather cools more.
...................................................................................................................................
I have been doing a toothpaste trial this week.
Cant say which paste but it was quite good for making them feel clean and smooth.
Must look out for it when it comes on the market.
I quite often do trials for goods for companies.
You sign up with a company that does surveys and every now and then they will ask if you will do a trial. Sometimes they dont send anything afterall ,I suppose because they have enough people to choose from and you dont get picked but often you do.
They will ask how it went and you can usually keep the rest of the item to use up at home.
I love giving my opinion on new things.
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