Rollercoaster Mum: January 2013

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Monday 28 January 2013

Macro Monday

new growth in snow
leaves poking through the snow
MM3

Sunday 27 January 2013

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday





Saturday 26 January 2013

A Year in Pictures - Week 4

Eeek is it week 4 already? I am going to break my own rules this week and write more than I should (well rules are made to be broken!)

The last two weeks seem to have been very very long and I have decided to write January off as a bad job - this despite it being my birthday month and actually quite liking snow. Why? Well the day before my birthday the flu lurgy hit us with Little Miss Star and I fell over and cut my head and nose open, the next day Little Miss Sunshine was off school with the lurgy as well so I had there I was on my birthday with a luvverly shiner, a swollen nose and two sick children. Then on the Friday the snow arrived with a vengeance putting paid completely to our weekend away(from the kids) in a hotel with a bit of horse racing thrown in. Snow continued and although Little Miss Star and I enjoyed some time out in it poor Little Miss Sunshine was really suffering and spent about 10 minutes tops outside all weekend. Then on Monday the lurgy hit me and I have felt shite all week (still do) so apologies once again for the lack of comments and general blog friendliness but I have been collapsing in bed by 9pm and blog has had to take a back seat. February 1st is the new January 1st don't you know - or maybe I shall just adopt the Chinese calendar.

As for the pics well - here's our spritely and rather lovely snowman - followed by what the snowman looks like now (guess which one I am identifying with right now!) Here's to feeling a bit more like spritely snowman next week (though I'm guessing the snowman won't be!)

melting snowman



I am linking up with the Boy and Me and those brave 365 peeps - so for lots more January photos head on over there by clicking the badge.


TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Thursday 24 January 2013

Money Saving Resolutions (ahem aims)

I have mentioned that I don't really do New Years resolutions, certainly none on diet and exercise, not that I am stick thin or super-fit, I just can't be bothered and would never keep to them in the middle of the dark and dreary winter. I am however always wanting to save money (it's that Scottish ancestry!)

One of my aims (if not exactly a resolution) is to get some of our money stuff organised this year as we have let slip on checking whether we really have the best deals. I am already well on the way to sorting out the gas and electricity, slightly bamboozled by the broadband but I'm getting there. Next stop is home insurance and then the biggie of the mortgage (eeek!) There may be more but these are the important ones for us at the moment. I am hoping by the end of the month I'll have saved our family £10's or even £100's over the coming year.

chicken money box
Let's hope she has plenty of money in by the end of the year!
The other aim is to sort out and tidy the house, get rid of the piles of rubbish (well that's the polite version) as the lovely Mr Rollercoaster will insist on calling them. This is a rather bigger (and more depressing) job so may well take rather longer than a month. However I hope to be spurred on by the thought that I could make some money out of them - second hand sale sites and maybe even a car boot sale if I'm brave enough! The filing and shredding is rather a daunting task but it would be good to reclaim our small office space back to being an office and to be able to get into the wardrobe (even if there is no money to be made from it.)

You never know by next Christmas we may live in a tidy(ish) house and be (slightly) better off - not a bad aim ( I refuse to call it a resolution or it will never happen.) This may even mean I have to go cold turkey on twitter and facebook *shudders at the thought* but it will be worth it in the long run. It will, it will, it will.....

Disclaimer - this is a sponsored post - but words and views all my own.

Monday 21 January 2013

Macro Monday

rose petals
An orange rose - quite beautiful.

 
MM3

Saturday 19 January 2013

Silent Sunday



Silent Sunday

Friday 18 January 2013

A Year in Pictures - Week 3

snow
what a week!

I am linking up with the Boy and Me and those brave 365 peeps - so for lots more January photos head on over there by clicking the badge.



TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Wednesday 16 January 2013

The Gallery - New

I really should join in with the Gallery more often and what with the theme of NEW and the snow we had on Monday morning what could be better than new snow!

I have also had more time on my hands this week than expected due to being a klutz and slip-tripping over when cleaning out the chickens yesterday, banging my head hard on the patio/plant pot (not sure which), bleeding profusely and then being carted off to Minor injuries by a friend where 4 butterfly stitches were administered and a day off work advised. I am not a pretty site - deep gash across my nose and above my right eye - I won't scare you with pictures of that so here's some nice new snow.






Tuesday 15 January 2013

The Cleaning Fairies came!

You may remember that way back in December (in that hazy time before Christmas) I mentioned that I was told that I was expecting some cleaning fairies to come and clean my oven. Unfortunately due to one thing and another they didn't make it before Christmas. This may have been for the best - at least it wasn't messed up by turkey! However I was still thrilled to see them (well actually just one rather tall and burly young man) last week.

He arrived promptly and brought all he needed with him, which considering the state of my oven didn't seem much. I fully expected him to keel over in horror at the task ahead but he just got on with it and two hours later, after much scraping and scrubbing - hey presto I had super clean ovens. Just look at them - so worth it - I could have cleaned all day and they wouldn't have looked like this.

oven cleaning

I didn't take a picture before I'm afraid but I can assure you it was revolting. I can only thank Cleaning Gift Vouchers for finally giving me a clean oven after all these years! Their organisation wasn't 100% at times but this was partly due to my commitments before Christmas and I would still recommend them as they did at least keep me informed on all occasions.

If you live in the South East of the UK (they only operate in London and the South East at the moment) and want to give yourself or a friend a treat - book some cleaning - they don't just do ovens, they clean your house, carpets or windows - you can even hire a handyman for a day! It might not sound a great gift but I was ridiculously excited about it - after all what better gift for busy people than some time to do more of what they want to do  - unless of course they actually like cleaning and then they need their heads examining...!

Disclosure: For the purposes of review I was provided with a voucher sufficient for 3 hours cleaning or cleaning a single oven but all words and opinions are my own


Monday 14 January 2013

Macro Monday

Christmas Rose
Signs of life in the garden cheer us up in the grey dreary winter - a Hellebore (or Christmas Rose) in bud
 
 
MM3


Sunday 13 January 2013

Silent Sunday



Silent Sunday


Saturday 12 January 2013

A Year in Pictures - Week 2

Back to school and work, grey, drab and dull, school run, pack lunches and drudgery. All was lost until signs of new life in the garden, watching the blue tits mob the bird feeders and even some sunshine appeared along with a very handsome pheasant. Oh and those cleaning fairies finally appeared and magicked a sparkling clean oven (more of that next week.)

feed the birds



pheasant in garden
My favourite this week - he first appeared on the fence by the chickens and then I saw him on the garden wall really near the house - just beautiful - really cheered me up!


I am linking up with the Boy and Me and those brave 365 peeps - so for lots more January photos head on over there by clicking the badge.


TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Monday 7 January 2013

Macro Monday

I was a bit stuck this week but when I saw Lisa's post I remembered this pic I took back in November and had not shown anyone yet - fungi growing on a log.



MM3

Sunday 6 January 2013

Silent Sunday

boats at Littlehampton



Silent Sunday

Saturday 5 January 2013

The Top 12 of Project 52 - 2012

Inspired by several other bloggers including the Boy and Me and Fivegoblogging I thought I would do a rather hurried roundup of my favourite pics of my Project 52 - one from each month and here it is. There are some obvious omissions and some of the pics I have taken for other memes like Silent Sunday may be better but these are some of the goodies from last year! If you want to see all my 2012 Project 52 photos then take a look here.


Joining up with the Boy and Me

A Year in Pictures - Week 1

Well here we are at the beginning of another year and I am planning to do my weekly photo project again. The thing is though, I think I may make it a bit different and make up some of my own rules and maybe even change them as I go along. It is after all my blog! I never have been much of a one for (other people's) rules - however I am hoping that the lovely The Boy and Me will still let me take part in her weekly 365 linky even if I don't do the 365 photos (a photo a day for a year) as this really kept me going last year on those tough weeks when I didn't know what to take a photo of.

I don't want it to be quite like last year so MY new (self imposed) rules are to post once a week, link up at The Boy and Me and publish at least 1 photo but I might include 1 or 10 photos depending on the week (if  I do publish more than one I will pinpoint my favourite for the linky.) I may combine them in a collage, I may not. I intend to write less - just a caption on the photos as last year ended up as a diary with a photo rather than the other way round so this way you may get better photos but less of my life (probably a good thing!) This year I want it to be more about good photos - well the best I can manage with my now ageing Panasonic Lumix compact (hint hint - if anyone would like me to review any cameras....!!!)

On that note here are this weeks photos (next week less words!) I haven't edited them much as run out of time and I may be breaking my own rules on quality of photos already - two collages that sum up week 1 of 2013.

Devil's Punch Bowl
Rare sunshine on New Year's Day walk at the Devil's Punch Bowl - gorgeous smiles and beautiful views (my favourite pics this week)
Littlehampton lifeboat station
Winters day out in Littlehampton with Grandma and a surprise find of Blue Peter 1 at the RNLI Lifeboat station

I am linking up with the Boy and Me and those brave 365 peeps and this week I am also linking up over at Coombe Mill's Country Kids too (long overdue)

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Thursday 3 January 2013

The Photographers New Years Resolution

It's a new year and so I should be full of New Year's Resolutions but to be honest I don't really do all that stuff. I do have a couple of things I would like to get accomplished that mainly involve sorting and tidying (oh so dull.) One of the rather more interesting (although very time consuming) tasks is to sort all those thousands of photos I now take. I know you can delete loads when you have a digital camera but as a bit of a hoarder I find it difficult to do even that. I would also like to do more with them a most are sat in files on the laptop with a few making it to the ipad and even fewer on here to my blog. It would be so nice to see them in the flesh - not something I do enough of in the digital age.


Enter a very kind offer from Snapfish - which I really should have blogged about before Christmas but I ran out of time so I figured that lots of people would have Christmas and New Year pictures which really really should be printed out - you know you have don't you peeps? Or maybe just a new year's resolution to get  those photos sorted and pictures from that summer holiday last year printed out.

Anyhoo back to Snapfish. They are an online digital photo printing service where you can order photo prints and gifts like mugs, photobooks, calendars, bookmarks, cards, keyrings and all sorts. It is also quite a handy place to store photos and file them in folders - although I would always back them up on your own hard drive  as well.

They very kindly gave me some credit to buy whatever I wanted from their site. I had used them before in their previous guise of Truprint so I had some photos uploaded already on to an account but I did need to update them and add some more and I was pleased to see that the upload speed was much faster than it used to be (although this could be to do with my 'pooter or broadband as well I guess). Once I had uploaded the photos what to do with them? I opted for a small photobook on our Olympic day out to give the girls something to remember it by, a nice mug with a picture of the girls for my Mum, some keyrings for various relatives and a funky 3D bookmark for me, there was even a bit left over to print out a few photos to put in frames and albums too. This seemed like pretty good value and the best bit about gifts like these is that people really appreciate the thought that goes into them and you finally get to see those digital images in real life!

My goodies from Snapfish - sorry about the rubbish photo (ironically) but I had to snap them quickly before I wrapped them!

I was really impressed with all my purchases and they were very easy to create on the website too. The photobook did take some time (you can do quick uploads and no words and it would be easy) but there is so much you can do to personalise it with different backgrounds, text, changing the layout etc that it is worth taking the time to get it right. So come on get those photos sorted and printed, get a calendar done for the kitchen if nobody bought you one already, a photobook for Grandma for Mothers Day and a mug for Dad's birthday. You might actually get to sort through some of those old memories at the same time which should be a really enjoyable New Years resolution!

If you want to give Snapfish a try they offer 20 free prints on your first upload and they currently have a winter sale on with 50% off photobooks, calendars, wall art and mugs which is a brilliant deal.

Disclaimer : I was given a voucher to spend on the Snapfish website for the purposes of review but all words and opinions are my own.
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