A wedding gift

Wayne and I have been married for two years now and one of the wedding gifts that we received was a hand carved picture frame, well we finally got around to find commissioning a picture that was perfect for it.

So here is the finished product

I think it looks great and It will look even better when we put it above the fire place but we need to get the right supports for it first as we don't want it to fall down!

Thanks for the great frame Ella and James and the awesome picture Stu... check out Stu website (http://www.stuart-carter.co.uk/) when you need a photographer

Christmas preparations 2

Tomorrow is Christmas and we are spending it with the in-laws so over the last few days I have been finishing off all the things so i thought i would a few pictures of our preparations
As well as the Christmas tree and all the wrapping... and the marathon journey visiting family we have:

A good use of a Birthday present and a family Christmas tradition



The promised Christmas Cake and some Flowers for Val



I find myself looking forward to midnight (10 o'clock) mass tonight and to the Methodist service in the morning, there is that anticipation in the air that I love about Christmas eve


Happy Christmas everyone

Christmas preparation 1

I have done most of the Christmas shopping, wrapping and writing cards and cake baking ( will post a picture soon)

I have been singing carols all week and fell that I am in the Christmas spirit and am looking forward to seeing people over the next few weeks and passing on the joy of the season.

but in the mean time I can pass on this link from James's blog (http://www.lovingit.co.uk/) it is 10 very cool science party tricks

I really want to try the one with the candle

Party week

Well it started with a birthday meal, at the new Italian in town for my birthday...it is very nice but the service is very relaxed.

We then went to Wayne's Christmas party , where there were fire eaters, dancers and dodgems!

Wayne really enjoyed it!

Friday was my Christmas party and oops I forgot to take that camera :)

this week is wrapping pressies and getting early nights...at least it is nearly Christmas

Carols at the Priory

Friday evening we went to a carol concert but rather than at a church, this was at the ruins of Grace Dieu Priory (http://www.gracedieupriory.co.uk/). It was a Priory for Augustinian canonesses which was dissolved in 1538 and left for ruin. A few hundred people trundle too sing a range of carols, some of which I new and some that i didn't, We also had some mince pies and a mulled wine.

It was a great start to the Christmas season now all I have to do is the shopping and the wrapping and more partying :)

christmas cake - update

One Marizpaned and Iced Christmas cake - Marzipaning is easy, icing may need some more practice (and short nails)


75 cm of Holly and lots of individual Holly and Ivy leaves


I have also made a christmas tree but I am not sure what I am going to do with it.

I need to ice my cake board and put some ribbon on and stick the leaves on it and do the piping - Hmmm that seems like alot

Saturday

So this Saturday was catch up it with friends day. Both Wayne and I seem to be very busy doing 'stuff' so we figured that Saturday would be a good day to catch up with some friends, Luckily they were all in the same town :). The plan was to see some old college friends of Wayne's then pop in and see Ella and James then Stuart and Viv.

Unfortunately Wayne's Friend had a similar idea and where drive south as we where heading north! so to Ella's where James had been showing Leona pictures of us so that she would be able to say our names , I think that Wayne's hair put her off a little though.

But she was very enthusiastic that I open one of my birthday - it is a retractable pen - called Man - it is very cool.



Joanne was also very cute and is enthusiastic trying to imitate her big sister. Ella and James are doing really well and we all had a jolly time catching up.

We then went to See Stuart and Viv, and they are well and busy...they live next to my old house and it is always fun to see how the street has changed and to get all the gossip. We then went back to Nottingham and after a quick change met up with some old uni Friends for a nice meal. Next year will be 10 years since we started uni and it great to catch up with everyone and see how well they have/ haven't changed.




I hope to see everyone again very soon and if not before Christmas, I hope they have super Christmas and a great new year.

ChemSpider

It runs around the web and finds out lots of information about any molecule you can think of and Links to papers important information.

If you have a need to know the met ling point of Sugar (glucose) or the pH of vinegar (acetic acid) or any other chemical based question then the ChemSpider will find it out for you

www.chemspider.com

check it out

(also available on iPhone)

If you are more interested in chemistry it also has molecular structure, and spectra, you can also uploads your molecular information and comment on unverified structures

World champions

A few weeks ago we went to see Leiciester tigers play South Africa.
Wayne and I didn't hold out much hope for a win as the South African team are the current world champions

We had a nice surprise




We won...we are world champions ... technically

cookies

Wayne's work are having a bake sale for children in need and as Wayne 'doesn't do baking'
I was asked to make some cookies. Since I never pass up an opportunity to support a event (and to practice my icing) and since there is not much I can do on my cake this week as I am waiting on the marzipan drying
I made some biscuits and some brightly coloured icing for decorated a lot of cookies.

The faces are my favorite... I hope Wayne remembers to take them to work!

Hmmmm coffee.......

Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!!


Now this is what I call art!

Party Season

last night we has a girlie night out to catch up and to kick off party season.

It was great to meet up with everyone, giggle about old time and made plans for next year we are having a come dine with me competition and a maybe a 10 year reunion. We his a few bars in Quorn, which was different and ended up in Choas in Lboro...I don't think echos Friday night music is my kind of music...cheesy music is a must :)

Next Friday I am at a RSC party, the week after we are nottingham. Then Birthday drinks and 2 work parties - at least we have some time off at Christmas.

Change of plan

We had another one of THOSE meeting at work today and after confirming that the high level business model has not changed they preceded to tell 'some work has been moved in to next year' and some other business has emerged. As a result there is a reduction in the number of people being made redundant.

the up shot is that they are keeping 4 of the 5 data analysts - yeah and the 5th Data analysts has taken violently so it is looking very good! Also I have a interview for another position in the company so things are looking up.

watch this space but I think the worse is over

Stu's Tuesday (Friday) Challenge

Stu's moved his challenge to a Friday so that we have the weekend to get our picture and then the week to get it in to him.

This week the theme is Limitations:

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with the most fantastic idea. What would you shoot if time, money and skills were no issue? Then work within your limitations to realise your dream. See what unique surprises occur.

I am a bit slim on fantastic ideas at the moment so i thought i take a nice picture of my cat...

what I got was

and

never work with animals...

Sugarcraft: Colour

This week we started adding colour to out flowers.

To be honest I played a little at home, but Chris seemed to think it was the results were alright :)



They look more realistic when there is a little colour on them
(the bottoms one is real)

As well as dying the paste you can also use the powder to make speckled carnations



this is not the best picture but one is green and one is gold, along with the the peach one and the old fashion white one.

Next week we are turning a powder and paint using alcohol may need to get a better powder and some vodka.

Also I will be working on a Starburst at home.

Job update

today they told us that they ere extending consultation period

this is there reason:

"It is acknowledged that the consultation process is taking longer than the original 30 days, this is due to the constructive nature of the discussions that have taken place so far. In view of this it is proposed to extend the consultation process by a further two weeks to Friday 6th November."

constructive nature of the discussions ... surely is they are constructive it will be faster and not slower!

I am sure it has nothing to do with the lack job offers and people being on holiday! anyway the consultation is extended by 2 weeks which means more waiting,wondering and pay!

the cake - pictures

Nom!

Sugar Craft - half term

So for this week I have tried my hand at making a few more carnations, which a fiddly but I will get there with practice.

I have also made my first Gluten free cake, turned out better than expected.

I've decorated it for Helen's birthday tomorrow , and for a first attempt it is not to bad but I have a list of things I need to improve on for next time.

I will post picture tomorrow or Tuesday as I don't spoil the surprise

There is 7 months until Helen and Stu wedding which should give me to perfect baking, icing and decorating skills.

Priorities

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus: Contains infrequent strong language, scenes of threat, hanging and smoking

we need warnings in case people are smoking now! seems a little OTT to me.

Sugar Craft Week 3: Calix, rosehips and Carnations

So another Tuesday night and I took five new roses to my class, the old ones had a little accident and smashed into very small pieces. This we we put the calix on the rose (it is the little green leafy bit at the bottom) and then we put the rosehip on.
Rosehips are the little round bit at the bottom of the rose where the seeds grow. they are usually green but turn orange/red in the autumn.

So the roses now look like this.

we then made a carnation, they are fiddly to make but the look affective.

there is no class next week but I have a birthday cake to make...

British biscuit advisory board

You may have seen the TV ad about eating biscuits safely and healthily but according to several papers over half the have been injured by biscuits...

http://bbab.org.uk/promoting-reputation-uk%E2%80%99s-biscuit-and-snacking-sector

With the most dangerous biscuit is the custard cream the safest is the Jaffa cake (which is a lie because it is not a biscuit)

Anyway if you need to check out the safety of you and your favour biscuit then try taking the BITE test

http://www.rockybiscuit.co.uk/bite-tool.html

I have a moderate threat with ginger nuts!

Sugar Craft Week 2

The mission for this week was to find a list cutters and tools that we would need for this term. The local shops recommended either, bumped there prices up by selling cutters singly instead of groups or denied ever hearing of well known brands. Luckily the trusted Internet came to the rescue.

I also practiced making some more fondant icing flowers

This weeks class we made roses on wires which used the same techniques as last week on a thin wire so that you can form it in to a display. These roses are made from sugar paste which you roll until they it is so thin it is see through.

It is more awkward making the roses on wires and I think I will need this week to practise, these are last nights attempts.

We will be adding the calix and rose hip next week so we need to hang them upside down to dry, I think that is wear my spice rack comes in handy!

Next week - Calix and Rose hips

Wayne and the Steinway

We went to Cornwall at the weekend and popped in to Kingsley Village ( a local produce shopping center) to pick up some Fudge/Biscuits for work.

While wondering around we came a cross a antique Steinway Grand piano with a sign which read "Feel free to play me if you are any good, No Age Limit "

Wayne met the criteria so he played a few tunes and then asked if he could have it as a birthday...um no!

I did have a picture but have accidentally deleted it from my phone. Doh!

sugar craft week 1

I Started my sugar Craft course last night and we made some roses out of fondent icing

as you can tell I got a lot better as the evening went on, next week we are making roses on wires but I have to go shopping first and buy some flower paste and some wires and and some tools.

I can't wait.

job update

They told us the new structure of our new group - and which group would face redundancies

Most of it was fairly obvious - minus 1 manager, minus 1 scheduler, minus 1 Work group leader , 2 from enabling, and 3 from data analysis.

Yes 3

None from Process, 3 from Data analysis

There is only 5 in our group - so my chances are now less than 40% that I will keep my job.

I say less because we have a person that has 'specialist 'skill sets which means that although his job is on the line he has a slightly better chance of keeping it.

They are sending out some other jobs for different parts of the company tomorrow so I will be applying for them.

Wrong

So all is well, work is busy and we even taken on some temporary staff it looks like tings are settling down after last years shenanigans.

WRONG...

Today we were told, despite meeting all targets and working really hard this year, they need to get rid of more people. grr

I now have about 20 % - 25 % chance of losing my job, but what I feel is worse than that is 30 days of not knowing and no guarantee that they won't do it again next year!

watch this space!

Lego Guinness

Guinness, the Lego cat.
It is in James May Lego house (which may be knocked down)
It is on the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8266896.stm

Not Helpful...

but cute!

I may get the silly root out before Christmas.

Failed!

It my Sister's birthday next weekend, but since they are away next weekend we went to her and John's new flat this weekend.
Being prepared I went into town on Friday and got her a Wii Beach sports for her birthday.
they only have a few Wii games so I thought this would be a safe thing to buy...
Fail!

They already have that game

Since, we are going to discover Cheltenham town center anyway we decided to swap it for something else...Lush bath bombs :)

Cheltenham is a very nice town and we look forward to going back there soon.

Stu's tuesday challenge - one million giraffes

Stu's challenge for this fortnight was to make a giraffe, take a picture (for Stu's challenge) and submit it to http://www.olahelland.net/giraffes/ and to Stu.

This Bloke has been challenge to collect 1millions giraffes by 2011 - you have to make a giraffe and send him the image - you can't use a computer or any store brought items (which is a little hazy)

here is my giraffe made from modelling clay that I've had in my house for ages (don't think it counts as store brought?)

if you fancy a go, you can submit your giraffe to the link above.

2nd Anniversery

Wayne and I have been married for two year (yesterday The 9th).

We had a lovely evening with some Pink Fizzy! while we exchanged Cotton gifts (a shirt for Wayne and a spotty top for me) and opened cards, (Wayne put sparkly Hearts in mine) thanks everyone. We then went out on a unplanned food crawl. We started in Fifty for Tapas - yummy! and then we went to the Unicorn for pudding and finished the night with diet Irish coffee (no cream)

We had a lovely, relaxed evening and it was a nice chance to talk and reminisce about the last two years and talk about the future.

Heres to many more anniverseries

Too Early

Don't the supermarkets realise it is only september...they haven't advertised any of the halloween stuff yet.

baking ...

I have been baking some its for Joanne's first big day tomorrow (her christening).

I have made some Ham and veg quiches and Bira Birth which is a welsh tea loaf. It tastes a little like Christmas cake :)

All the cooking has made me realise that I need a better oven as the gas one we have does not have a constant heat.

I hope people like it tomorrow.

Raglan Castle

On the way back From Wales we thought that we would make a little stop at Raglan Castle which is near Monmouth. It is the ruin of a Castle from the 15th century (House of Lancaster, House of York and the Tudors).

It saw the War of the Roses through to the civil war and was abandoned when the war ended and left for Ruin.
It was great fun to look around and had lots of little passageways and a vaults. It also had a great tower, which was octagonal in shape.

There was also multilingual warning signs which were very amusing...

We then travelled back home, went shopping and cooked an awesome Chinese in Stu and Helen's kitchen and then played Trivial Pursuit...A game I am rubbish at! It was fun though.