See this dog walking on two legs!

See this amazing dog walking on only two legs.

WIshing you all a belated Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. We just got back from our hols on Friday and I`m desparately trying to get organised. What a mess the house is! Cases everywhere - washing - christmas deccys to get down - school uniforms to sort for tomorrow. I`m be glad to get back to normal now. I`ll be back later to tell you about our hols and stick a few photos up. Its been such a bust few weeks, I could write a book about it - but dont worry - I wont!
And lets hope 2007 is going to be a good year - its Liverpools 700th birthday this year too, so I hope its going to be a special year.

Photoshop - christmas candle

Oops. forgot to say - do you like my christmas candle? This is one of my first efforts at creating a bit of digital art using the photoshop programme. What do you think?
Not perfect, I know, but I`m proud of my little effort all the same. LOL. Hopefully, I`ll get better with practice. Bruce the Mafia Mutt is created by my son Phil. I love his rougish little face.
I DO LOVE THE INTERNET!

Merry Christmas and Best wishes for 2007

Well folks, I`m posting this early as I`m going away for christmas. We`re off on a cruise of the Canary Islands on the 22nd - the day after tomorrow - so wont be around until early Janaury. Hopefully, I`ll have loads of photos to post though.
So, the cruise - we start of at Falmouth - and then go to Vigo, Gibralta (for christmas day), Casablanca, Tenerife and Lanzerote. Hope theres no stormy weather brewing.
So, see you in the 2007. have lots of fun over Christmas and New Year.
Love and Best wishes
Marianne
xxx

Happy Christmas from Bruce the Mafia Mutt

Sailing Away

I`m posting an early Happy Christmas as we`re off on holiday in a few days. We`re going on a cruise of the Canaries, and we`ve been hectically busy, trying to get the christmas presents wrapped and get packed up too. so have a luscious christmas everyone - and I`ll see you in the New Year.

Angels and Donkeys

Major Trauma!


Kids Christmas plays are a minefield at the best of time. Who gets what part can be a matter of Life and Death to a six year old, and on Sunday, Molly wasn`t happy! 


The Production - the Sunday School Christmas Play! The casting of Dolly -  (Molly`s twin) - an Angel, Sara - an Angel, Eve B - an Angel,  Molly - A DONKEY!
She came home with a glum little face, mumbling about not really wanting to be a donkey, which worked up to a crescendo of crying and wailing for a full hour. "TELL THE LADY I DONT WANT TO BE A DONKEY! I WANNA BE AN ANGEL!"

Hmmm? What to do? I tried to explain that the Donkey role was a better one than the angels, as she had a line to speak - which the angels didn`t, but that didn`t wash. She`s sticking to her guns. ANGEL OR NOTHING! Little Dolly gamely intimated that she`d be the donkey instead, but I dont think that`d work as Dolly cant speak very well (due to her cleft palate) and the donkey has to say in a loud voice "WELL - THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT!"
But I might ask next week, just in case if we can have a swop. Couldnt stand another week of tears. I`m sure even Hollywood casting agents dont have all this hassle.

Happy Halloween

New Liverpool Website

Have you heard about the new website for the Merseyside area Liverpool.Com.?
Its well worth a look if you`ve got the time.
http://liverpool.com
Theres even some competetions.

Max Appeal Conference for VCFS/DiGeorge

We were off to Leicester at the weekend to the annual Max Appeal Conference. This is the support group for DiGeorge Syndrome/VCFS - the condition which my little daughter, Evie, suffers from. It was based in the National Space Centre, which was wonderful. We slept in a Travel Lodge a few miles away but travelled up the morning of the conference, which meant a 6.00am start. There`s some nice countryside round there though and I would have liked to look round a bit more.

The MaxAppeal conference was well organised as always, right down to Parking Permits to food and drinks supplied all day. In the lunch break, a man dressed as an astronaught brought presents for all the kids - although Evie was terrified of him, she loved her present ( a toy sewing machine that really sews). Usually, Father Christmas comes, but the meeting is usually held in December. She`s terrified of him too! LOL.
Anyway - theres were doctors and a variety of experts in DiGeorge Syndrome giving lectures and advice. All very helpful - and it was good to meet other families going through the same sort of thing as ourselves. We even had a little dance at the end of the day at the party with the kids. Yawn! Shattered now though. Cant wait to get into my lovely bed - the Travel Lodge bed felt like I was sleeping on a giant shredded wheat.

The twins have reviews

Well, the main news is that both of my twin girls have had reviews of sorts. Dolly had her review with the Plastic Surgeon at Alder Hey, which wasnt much in the way of good news. The surgeon basically told us that Dolly has a paralysed palate which is why her palate operations aren`t successful; then told us to come back in a year. 
Luckily, the speech therapsit who was also present, suggested to him that 6 months might be more appropriate. Oh well. Looks like we`re in for more speech therapy which probably wont do much good.

Molly, on the other hand, had a good review with the educational psycologist. He said that she was very bright and more than likely wasnt dyslexic. Yey! It was like a weight off my mind. He said it was probably a maturity thing - she was 10 weeks premature after all, and everthing would click into place sooner or later. I so hope this is right!

Other news - we went to wales at the weekend. Colwyn Bay. It was lovely, and we collected loads of nuts and pine cones for the kids and had a gorgeous lunch of roast lamb. MMMmmmmm. Delish!

Next weekend we go to Leicester for the DiGeorge Conference. shoould be interesting. We`ve got a room booked in a local Travel Lodge, and after the conference, theres going to be a party that evening. Looking forward to this.
Tomorrow, I find out what my project is going to be in my Web Design Class. Should be interesting.
I probaby wont be able to get back on here before next week, so see you next week.

My Web Design Class

Wednesday - the day for my web design class in a local woman`s technology college. 

Today we did inserting images which was a bit tricky - most of us had a bit of a problem with it, but think I got the hang of it eventually. Cant wait to get the hang of HTML properly.

So, kids in bed at last. Feet up and telly on. Waiting to watch "Who do you think you are" Its David Dickinson tonight. And, we`re watching on our new LCD television that just arrived yesterday. Its lovely, but takes a bit of getting used to as we`re not used to the wide screen format. Not complaining though

!
Just doing a few competitions - ever optimistic, just done one for £10,000 with Panosonic. Fingers crossed

Our Make-Over

Me and my mother went for a make-over in Manchester. Took a couple of our own pictures too - so here`s a few to show you. It was a bit rubbish really and I wouldnt advise it. The nail technition was awful and smudged all our nails. The make-up artist was mediocre - we probably could have done as well ourselves. The hair stylists were good though and I had a cut while my mother had a colour done. But on the whole, I would say - not to be recommended!

The Hope Street Festival

We decided to visit the latest festival to hit the Liverpool scene, the Hope Street Festival. Its a very different sort of festival than the likes of the Matthew Street one; lots of craft type stalls and street performance. My twinnies were very intriqued with the African dancing, performed to three drummers. Molly tried her best to join in, but couldn`t match the athletic dancer who cartwheeled and walked on his hands. 


Blackburne House was hosting a craft fair, so we went in for a look. There was some unusual stuff, but my mum thought that we throw away better stuff. Needless to say, we didn`t buy anything. After this we decided to visit the Blackburne House cafe bar for a quick drink. Half an hour later, we finally got served. Our beautifully presented hot chocolate was lovingly prepared in elegant, tall glasses and looked delish - but unfortuantely was only luke warm. Not good. The kids were bored now after such a long wait and started running round, much to the annoyance of the disgruntled diners, so I had to get them out quickly away from the bad-tempered faces.

After this, we had a quick look round the stalls outside and had a free sample of beer. for some reason, the beer man didnt like me and only gave me a tiny quarter glass sample - everyone else got a brimming glass. Oh well. I must have one of those faces I suppose.

The Funeral

It was a sad day on Friday. It was Tony`s funeral (Tony`s nephew Tony). As you can imagine it was an emotionally charged day. Funerals are always traumatic but when its someone only 22, the whole thing is tinged with a sense of outrage and incredulation about the whole waste of a young life. The whole thing is even more poignant when the person has taken their own life. What can you say?
Anyway, the service was relatively short and thankfully, a sunny day. His parents made a huge wreath in the shape of a dumbell as he liked to lift the weights. Very moving. After the service we went the function room of a local pub - the same one we went to his sister`s 21st a few years earlier, and had a few drinks and a plate of sandwiches.
Back home, we walked Tony`s mother`s two westies which we were minding while the funeral was on and for a few extra days. Two boisterous mutts, three times the size of our little Yorkie. They went back this morning, and as lovely as they are, we`ll be glad to get back to normal. Life goes on doesnt it. I dont think Tony`s parents, girl friend and brothers and sisters will ever get over such a tragic event, but eventually, some vestige of normality returns, and yes, life does go on.

Tragic News

We`ve just had some shocking news that Tony`s young nephew
has committed suicide this evening. Although he has suffered mentally for years it is still a terrible shock and so upsetting as he was only 22. What a tragic thing to happen to a young man.
The poor boy had mental health problems and had ended up in Walton prison as Tonys sister and her husband couldnt keep him out of trouble. While in jail he was being bullied by other inmates and had scaulding water poured in his face and was threatening to kill himself as he couldnt stand it. His mum was trying desparetely to get him transferred to somewhere more appropriate where he could get treatment for his schizophrenia or severe depressive illness - he was never properly diagnosed. Obviously, it was too much for him to cope with because he hung himself yesterday afternoon.
We went to pay our respects this afternoon to his family and it was heartbreaking to see them as they are so devastated. Dont know what I`d do if it was one of my kids. I dont think I`d ever get over it.
The funeral is this Friday. It will be a sad day.

Back from St. Ives - But the A30 !!!!

A few holiday snaps from Cornwall

Ellie and Evie at Lands End - August 2006

Phil, Ellie and Evie playing in the sea - St Ives

Me, Tony, Phil and Evie in Penzance

Our little holiday cabin

Got back from Cornwall last week. We had a good holiday althought the weather wasnt aqs good as we`d hoped. Still - it was wasnt too bad all considering. Pretty warm most days - we even got on the beach a few times, and went in the site pool most days which the twins loved. We also managed to get to St. Ives, Newquay, Lands End and Penzance all places I havent been to for over 25 years ago when I used to work in St. Ives. St Ives was still beautiful but the amount of traffic going into it was horrendous - far too much for a small villages and it was very difficult to park. Lands End was lovely and had changed beyond recognition. There is a complex there now with loads of exhibitions and things to do for kids. I`ll try to pop some photos up later on.

But the worst thing was the traffic on the motorway. We were stuck in terrible jams both ways - it took 8 and a half hours there and back. The A30 which goes from the M5 right down to Lands End was a nightmare it was so congested. The M5 wasnt much better and it took us 3 and a half hours just getting from St Ives to the M5 - this is only just over a hundred miles. It took another few hours getting to Bristol. After we lost the London traffic past Bristol things got easier and we started moving properly. But in future, I`d think twice about going so far south in August..........................
Some Photos. above....................

Summer Holidays in St Ives

Well -we`re off for our summer hols tomorrow - to St. Ives, Cornwall, a place I love very much. Not looking forward to the journey very much, but we`re quite relieved we`re not flying anywhere. what with the extra airport security at the moment. It really is quite horrific that terrorists planned to blow up several aircraft carrying families, obviously including children - and the security checks are vital. I feel sorry for the people stuck in horrendous queues in the airports but I`m sure most people probably understand the severity of the situation. Oh, well. I expect we`ll have to brave the terrible traffic jams were the M5 meet the M6 instead, plus whatever other jams there may be. But it`ll be worth it to see beautiful St. Ives again............

My New Competiton Blog - Take a look

I`ve recently took up an old hobby of mine again. Comping. I`ve decided to record my efforts at competition winning in a separate blog dedicated to just this. If you`d like to read about my comping and whether I`m having any luck, take a peek at this blog. I`m determined to win!


http://carolthewinner.blogspot.com/

Holiday to St Ives

what to do for a holiday this summer? Going abroad in August just doesn`t appeal to me at all - its often too hot for the kids and everywhere is so crowded. But when you have kids you`ve often got no ther option than to go in July or August. But on the other hand - if you stay in Britain, the weather is just so unreliable. Memories of last summer come flooding back - trudging round Scarborough and Bridlington (both lovely places however) in our macs and huddled under umbrellas. Not good with small kids in tow, I can tell you!
But looking at the weather forecast for August, it seems the weather may well be good, so I`m taking a chance on a holiday in beautiful Cornwall. Having spent three glorious summers working in St, Ives when I was young, it`ll be good to revisit the place with my family. So its all booked now and I`m keeping everything crossed this old British weather aint going to let me down.

Still nothing doing on the house front. We`ve had no perspective viewers for ages. Somethings not right and our estate agents are rubbish. When we come back from hols, its time to review the situation. I think we need a new plan of acion.