In The Pink

Sky Watch Friday Link

Well the decision has been made and I am very relieved that the uncertainty and decision making is over. We are going for House 1 which is frankly a surprise for us both. It's the smart choice but the house is really not us, very new and paper walls. We would be fools not to though and it does mean we have a garden for the approaching summer and a safe haven for dogs!

I'm gone man solid gone...

Here's to Tuesday!!

Just in case anyone is interested the porridge seemed to be a good idea. I felt awake, happy and productive this morning, although the breakfast stimulated my system and I got a growling stomach at 11am! I am not trying to eat less I am just trying to get a routine that is easy to stick to and healthy. When I was younger and looking after just me (and the dog) I used to buy 5 baking potatoes, 5 tins of beans and some butter every week. I had baked potato with beans every night and usually got a kebab or burger at the weekends! (Pre-vegetarian years!) There is loads of food you can buy 5 of and are nice every day and save you the trouble of cooking lots every night!! However, I now have a healthier taste for food and mixing convenient and healthy is a little more tricky. Possible, but tricky.

Violated by this thought in me Shouting, crying. Spirit let this matter be! You are too much for me, too strong to bear and too free.

I dreamed about dogs lastnight. I dream about our two old dogs a lot, we are usually out playing or walking together but lastnight was a new dog. It has been weighing on my mind as we are trying to make a quick decision about a place to rent before they all go and although the house we looked at lastnight was lovely do I really want to live somewhere where I cannot have a dog...even for the short term? On the task list fitness front I have substituted my usual breakfast of an egg or nothing for porridge this morning. It is supposed to be brilliant for you and give you a good start to the day. I will let you know my thoughts on that later! I used to eat porridge as a child but I have always found breakfast a hard meal to take and have missed it for years. I do always feel so much better when I eat in the morning though.

We have been to see 3 places for rent in the village and have our eye on one more. House 1 : 3 bed, new build, small garden, ok views, traffic and rail noise, will take dogs. House 2 : 2 bed, old split house, bottom floor only, tiny yard, no view, busy main road location, no dogs. House 3 : 3 bed, old build, very nice, small private yard in rear enclosed area for shared parking, no dogs. House 4 : Awaiting appointment to view. (Old build, tiny high walled yard.) We are still contemplating but House 2 is definitely out. Other weekend pursuits include using my tripod to take some shots of the moon and photographing the beautiful flowers and plants that I have thanks to family contributions since Christmas! Our Poinsettia is defiant in its vigour and hue, and I have three bunches of beautiful roses and Lilly's.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Honourable Lady Dancin the Villainous of Leighton in the Bucket Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title I came across this over at Lady Bananas . I quite like my title!

It has been such a busy start to the year and as March approaches I find myself with a few updates to be noted, mostly good and one a little sad. However as I am 'Being Buffy' I am more than qualified to deal with anything life can throw at me! Ok so sad news out of the way first. The situation regarding our house has progressed somewhat and we are unfortunately not in a position to buy at this time. It has therefore gone on the market for sale. (Image Credit Sale Sign: Webclipart ) The sign went up last Monday and there has been a viewing every day! Our landlords are not giving us notice until they have secured a buyer so again we have a little breathing space although we have been looking for other places to rent all year to be on the safe side. We are going to view two places in the village today. We hope to remain in the village as it really has become home to us. As for this house, I have felt so lucky living here, it's not the biggest house or garden but there are s...

Ok there's no visual with this, the only film footage I could find had German subtitles. I have nothing against German, it is a most beautiful language, however Jake and Elwood in German did not work for me. If you do have a moment to spare though this an awesome groove. Just close your eyes and go with it.

There's only one song to follow Think!

A regular dance and jump around song in my house. Sorry about the abrupt start!

Headspace

Ok, aside from being Buffy, I am now officially in training. I go to Scotland on the 7th March for about a week and a half, there are 41km to cover over rough terrain, I'll be carrying a lot of kit, it could be snowing, it could be dark....and I might be wearing sunglasses! Sorry I drifted off into The Blues Brothers at the end there! I was supposed to commence training last weekend...it did not happen. So, from this day forth I will not be starting the day with raw eggs, one armed sit-ups and running but some form of vigorous exercise is going to be part of every day. It also gives me a nice kick start into getting really fit, one of my aspirations for the year.

I am a little confused as to how a week could have passed with me barely noticing. I can account for Thursday night onwards but the four days before that seem to have passed in a blur. Life is having a hectic spell at present. Work is stupidly busy but just manageable and we are all feeling it in the team. Comments about employing another new arborist are already being made, and only in semi jest! Home life seems equally mad and I am finding that leaving work to come home just heralds a different set of challenges for my strength and organizational skills. So, I am calling on an old friend to help, and here she is! I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and am not ashamed to admit it; if you are a fan of the super hero it's nothing short of awesome! One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight the demons, she alone will stand against them, well she and her pals, and her always attractive male interests. (For the record not Riley.......just too darn wholesome!) I...

Last one then I'm off to take photos while the sun shines!

I love this film for several reasons however, today for dancing. Damn my living room never saw such dancing! Well not since the last time. I am a Dancin' Fool!

It's been a bit of a music morning and I feel like sharing! If you have not seen this film check out the first 3.08 minutes at least. If you have ever liked hymns, go for the whole thing! It is well worth the 9.55 minutes!

I have had the most brilliant weekend with my sister and am feeling very happy. As such I have just listened to this and thought I would share it! The way they are dancing at the end, if you get that far, that was me a moment ago but with more enthusiasm and less clapping! Happy Sunday to you all!

This is a must!!!

I found out yesterday that Joni over at My Piece of Heaven has closed her blog. She runs a farm with her husband and also works as a medical transcriber. Apparently Joni is increasing her hours at work and she has decided that with the extra work and the farm to run she won't be able to fit blogging in, at least not to the standard that she wishes to. I completely understand but I am sad that I won't be able to visit her blog anymore. Joni posted everyday and displayed amazing photos of the beautiful and varied wildlife in her part of the world, including her new puppy Cooper! I am really happy that things are going well for Joni but I am sorry that I did not get a chance to tell her how much I valued her and her blog before she went. It's a funny thing this virtual socialising, connections are made between people. There are a few blogs that I visit that really mean a lot to me, I get a great deal of joy out of visiting them and corresponding with the author. They may not k...

I came across this at Lady Banana's , it's a message she saw over at Facebook. Hi there, I found you via a blogging group and wondered if you could help me. I am looking for UK based female bloggers to fill in a short online questionnaire. It is in aid of my final year Dissertation for University, which explores why people blog. I am really struggling to find female bloggers - it seems the majority are men! So if you do know anyone else that I could contact, I would be most grateful :) If you can spare a moment to help follow this link and take part via Lady Banana's original post , it's a simple and quick questionnaire. I cannot find a link to the survey as I did the questionnaire before I wrote this post and the link recognises my URL now and takes me to the 'Thank you for taking part' page from which I cannot seem to get back to the original survey! I expect it's so you cannot complete it twice. Anyway stopping by Lady Banana's will be an additional...

I came across the most amazing blog this afternoon called Tips for New Bloggers . It has been nothing short of a revelation for me! Ok I know I am prone to exaggeration but really...after months of trying to get tips for effective blog editing they have answered all of the questions I wanted to ask and given me a few new things to try. If you are having any issues what so ever I really recommend it!

My birthday has made me think of a few things I have been meaning to do or complete for a while now. I am 36 this year which is on the downward slope to 40 which is a sitting a little oddly with me. I make every effort not to spend anytime worrying about age for two reasons: it's only a number and you can't change it anyway! Also I do not believe that there are certain things you have to have achieved by a certain age. Everyone has to live their life as they see best. I have though been thinking about things I do really want to get sorted and make plans for. I don't want to be sitting here on my next birthday thinking blimey I still have not done anything about that! So, I have decided so draw up a list of things to sort ASAP and post them in a list. I look forward to crossing them off as time goes by! 1. Fetch my 1959 Series II Landrover from County Durham and begin it's restoration. Before we left County Durham I was driving my Landrover everyday however leaving any v...

I came across this at Cass Knits via That Grrl . The idea, in Cass's words, is: Take a picture of your current project, whatever that happens to be. Or maybe one you recently finished. Or the materials for the one you are about to start. Let’s say materials for a project in whatever state it happens to be in at the time you snap it. On Friday, post the picture and tell us about your project. What you did, or what you are going to do. How much you are enjoying it, or hating it. You know–show and tell. Then link your post to my weekly post. I plan to set mine to auto-publish so that I will be ready when you are. Tell your readers about it so they can play, too. And don’t forget to leave a comment so we know where to find you and your crafty goodness! Any questions? See you on Friday, then. I’ll make the tea! I have come across many regular blogging events that people take part in and they are a brilliant way of meeting new bloggers. I thought this would be a good way of sharing tip...

Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Fire You are intense, internally driven, and passionate. Your emotions are unpredictable - and they often get the better of you. Both radiant and terrifying, people are drawn to you. At your most powerful, you feel like the world belongs to you. Why you would be a good superhero: You are obsessive enough to give it your all Your biggest problem as a superhero: Your moodiness would make it difficult to control your powers What Should Your Superpower Be?

How fabulous! Yes that is exactly how I look, and I eat what I want whenever I want and drink far more than I should. I also never exercise!I came across this wonderful image creator over at Lone Chatelaines blog . It's good fun and reasonably accurate!

I got these beautiful Roses from my Mum and Dad yesterday, and thought they should be shared.

It is my birthday this week and we had planned to go out for a meal and then to the flicks to see Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter however, just as the plans had been finalised my partner told me that the England football team were playing that night, and for extra umph it is their first game under our new coach Fabio Capello! We are therefore going to watch the football down our local instead! Now please don't get me wrong this is my choice and not a rant post about men and football. We always watch football together and more importantly we never miss an England game. It just made me laugh that we had spent a while planning a night out which was then totally irrelevant as the footballs on! I am curious about the new coach. I do not support the idea of a non English coach however, he has been appointed and therefore it is my duty as a fan to support him. He has probably made some early enemies by leaving David Beckham out of the squad for this game, therefore...

We watched a great western last night. We are both big western fans having been brought up on John Wayne and Clint Eastwood classics and it's good to have some new western films about, although the one we watched last night was a remake. The 3.10 to Yuma was originally released in 1957 and starred Glen Ford and Val Heflin as the two main characters. Their parts are played by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the 2007 remake . The film tells the story of the capture and attempted delivery to prison of a notorious robber Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). A simple farmer, Dan Evans (Christian Bale) gets caught up in the story in an attempt to save his farm and gain the respect of his eldest son. I have not yet seen the original however I really enjoyed the remake. It has all the tension and sinister feel of a good western along with a good guy you want to win and a bad guy you can't help liking. I can imagine Glen Ford being very effective in the role of Ben Wade as he is a likable cha...

I went down to the lake this morning with my fabulous new Christmas camera lens. The swans were very accommodating, the cormorants....not so. It is beautiful here today but very cold.

I got some great news at work today. I am going to survey Scotland! Ok that is a slight exaggeration but I am going to Scotland for 9 days surveying trees! I grinned so much when I heard, and nearly exploded with joy. As it is my favourite place in the world the offer of being paid to have a 9 day working holiday there is just top banana! In celebration here are some photos I took on Skye last year. For work I am going to the North West Highlands so there will be no shortage of awesome views. I may even come back with a picture of the monster!