It's called a Bubba Keg! Basically it's an insulated mug and it promises to keep my hot drinks hot for up to 3 hours and my cold drinks cold for about 10 hours.
It's GREAT! Much better than my old insulated travel mug which smelled funny and only held 0.4l. My Bubba Keg holds 20oz!
Now I have hot tea and my kids are happier because I'm not constantly begging them to pour away cold tea and make me hot tea :0)
I have two birthdays to drain my pockets this week. Jess will be 14 on Friday and Alex will be 13 on Saturday.
Yesterday I took Jess to London to see Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre. It's the first time 
she's been to London and she had a great day. We also got to see the Changing of the Guard which was great as I'd never seen it before.
Here are some pics of the guard, Big Ben, Jess with one of the lions in Piccadilly 
Circus and the audience in the theatre 
during the interval (we weren't allowed to take photos during the performance).
I practically lived on the ParcelForce website checking the status.
It arrived at the hub at 6.10pm on Friday evening and then didn't move ALL WEEKEND!
It finally arrived about 2pm on Monday!
Oh it's LOVELY!
Why do people assume that when I say I sleep on the lounge floor that we must be poor and can't afford to have a house with enough rooms so that I can have my own bedroom with a bed in it?
I live in a five bedroom house! I knocked a wall down between my dining room and kitchen so that I'd have a huge kitchen. I turned the smallest bedroom into a room for all the games consoles to live in. the three boys use the remaining upstairs bedrooms. My daughter sleeps in what used to be my room (all my clothes, my desk and other 'stuff' still live in there). I sleep on the floor in the lounge. why? Because I discovered after camping in Scotland last year that sleeping on the floor is really comfortable! I sleep much better as a result (usually), my back isn't as stiff.
The only drawback is that my kids are getting older and sometimes (due to too much insomnia and sleep finally reasserting itself or medication) I need to go to sleep before some of them do. Well, I just put down my bed (a duvet to sleep on with a pillow and blankets to cover me), Isis and I crawl into my bed and we go to sleep! When the kids have finished watching the TV or using the laptop, they turn everything off and go to bed without disturbing me.
So, I'm not too poor to afford a house big enough, I choose to sleep down there. Yes I'm perfectly comfortable thank you and no, it isn't cold down there, my wooden floor reflects the heat back to me.
See that? That pic over there >That's laundry soap in the big jar and fabric conditioner in the little bottle on top.
I made that!
Yay for me LOL
I'll let you know how it turns out later, first load in now!
First off, I apologise in advance if none of this makes sense, I've had painkillers and I feel very much like I should be in San Francisco during the 60's, ifyaknowwhatimean? ;0)
I suffer from Hyper Mobility Syndrome which used to be called Ehlers Danlos Type III and every now and then I get a bout of pain and it's a baaaaaaaaaaaaaad pain!
My knees hurt. So do my hips, thighs, calves, neck and back.
I've had a hot shower, taken some pills and I think I might just see if the pills have made me stoned enough to sleep lol.
I haven't even got my BlackBerry to distract me *sob*.
Oh! BTW, sometimes someone does something which totally restores ones faith in the human race! A friend of mine has this little bag to carry around her WIP (Work In Progress) which she got free with a magazine. I've coveted it since I saw it.
Today I posted an ad on Ravelry asking if anyone had one. A few hours later someone PM'd me offering me a (unused) one for free! How sweet is that! I told her to include her address so I can send her something as a thank you!
I'm going to go away now and try to sleep, but it's half term and the kids are all still up so it's not very quiet *sigh*
Rrpsavings.co.uk because they're customer care is absolutely crap! I didn't get the call I demanded in an e-mail, nor did I get an answer when I called at midday. It's now 3pm and I decided they could shove it; they've just lost a customer!
I've ordered from play.com and there's a good chance it'll arrive tomorrow!
I hope the guys at rrpsavings don't work on commission!
…is a bitch!
I am sooooooooooooooo bloody tired, but when I go to bed I either can't sleep or I seem to spend all night turning over/going to the toilet/etc. I'm exhausted, I've got a headache and I'm totally fed up with it all.
I'm going to have a drink tonight, see if that helps.
I need to be up early tomorrow because my son is going away on a trip with The Duke of Edinburgh awards for two nights and he needs to be there at something daft like 8am…course, it's the holidays and I haven't had a lie in yet!
…businesses that don't seem eager to do business with you! I contacted rrpsavings today as I've got it into my head that I want a BlackBerry phone and they were the cheapest.
Their business hours are 10am – 7pm. I called at 10.10 and got a bloody answering machine. It was over an hour before someone called me back and then they said they couldn't put my card through because there was a problem with the connection between them and the bank! They said they'd call me back as soon as they could put my order through. I'm a bit baffled how they'd know when the connection is open as they claim they don't keep any customer details on file. I waited…and waited…eventually I called them at 2.30pm and left a message on their voicemail again.
By 6.30pm I was getting extremely PO'd about the whole thing so phoned again and someone actually answered! They said they were still having problems, they can't give me the number of the department they called at my bank and when I asked him to get it from technical support, they said that tech support closed at 5!
I'm beginning to wonder if these guys are actually just one or two guys operating out of their own home. You'd think they'd be eager for business, but they really seem rather blasé about the whole thing.
I've just sent them an e-mail stating that I expect a call first thing tomorrow to complete my order and if they can't complete it I expect to be notified with a number for the bank so that I can sort it out!
If they don't get it sorted by morning, then I shall spend an extra £50 and bloody well go elsewhere!
Hey, when I get it, if anyone wants my pin so they can add me on that BlackBerry messenger just leave a comment here on the blog with a way to contact you and I'll send it :0)
As I didn't have anyone to celebrate with, I decided to do something different! I had a memorial tattoo done for Dad of a purple cancer ribbon - purple is for pancreas cancer - with Dad and his birth date - death date on.I also found a gorgeous little shop which sells loads of gothic clothing, I bought a purple and black top and a full length crushed velvet coat :0)
Woo hoo! I've reached the halfway point on MD/AN and it's looking great. I can't wait until I've finished and blocked it!
Why is it that whenever you want a day to yourself to be as energetic or as lazy as you like, it never goes how you want it to? I seem to have gone out every day this week, so last night I decided that I'd do some catching up on Ravelry and then sit and knit while listening to Harry Potter audio books (I'm up to the actual tournament in Goblet of Fire!).
I knew it'd be quiet; the kids were all doing their own thing today. Alex was game playing upstairs (we moved the games consoles upstairs a few weeks ago), Matt went out with Arnie, Jess went out to the ice rink with Kyle and Ellie. The dog was fed and snoring. Perfect!
I logged in to Rav and spent an hour or two posting on forums and catching up on news. I was just getting ready to sit and knit when the phone rang…it was Kyle. Ellie had taken a tumble on the ice and an ambulance had been called because of her ankle.
I arranged for Alex to watch Isis and I got into the car and drove to the hospital. They weren't there, so I called them only to find out that they were still at the rink waiting for an ambulance. I was so bloody angry that they had been sat waiting, I got back into my car and drove to the rink. Naturally, just as I got there the ambulance arrived.
Thankfully, we weren't at the hospital long, they gave her painkillers and x-rayed it. She's sustained soft tissue damage and has been advised to keep weight off it for a few days.
It's now 8:30pm and I still haven't picked up my needles!
I can see a night of insomnia ahead…
Well, it took me a couple of hours of researching, then I found this site that shows me how to make my own Knitters' Progress Bars (designed by Matthew Harvey)! Absolute genius! Step by step instructions so that you can create your own progress bars in whatever colour you choose and at whatever percentage you choose.
What a great page. Now I can create my own little progress bars so that you can see what I'm working on!
I went to Tesco last week for our usual shopping trip. If there's one thing that really bugs me about supermarkets, it's how people park in the pick-up point -– you know the bit, where you can pull in to pick up other people or quickly load some shopping into the car.
It is NOT a parking space, or a space for old farts to sit reading newspapers while their wives spend 3 hours wandering around the store!
Hampshire Constabulary, please take note!
It grows, quite fast too! I've now finished the second set of charts and I am working on the centre panel…let the beading commence in earnest! Here is my progress so far, I've placed my iPod Shuffle in one of the pics to give you an idea of how big it actually is.
Audio books! What a great invention! I always thought it was a smart idea because it gave blind people a way to enjoy the world of fiction that I have always loved, but I wasn't overly mad about them. Everyone on Ravelry raved about them so I decided to give them another try. They all said to pick books I know reasonably well so it doesn't matter if I get distracted and miss bits…I picked Harry Potter.
I'm not on book 3! They're great! I got so fed up with the TV being on that I needed something else to listen to. With audio books, I don't need to watch as well as listen. I'm listening to the set read by Stephen Fry, although I did start out with the American set read by Dan Gale. Dan Gale did a very good job and I laughed when he fist did Professor Lockheart because that's exactly how I'd imagined him talking. The films (what I've seen of them!) are quite good, but films never show it the way I imagine it. I've only just got the Stephen Fry set so I don't yet know how good he is...took me ages to find the same spot in the new set so that I can just continue flawlessly with Stephen Fry lol.
Today this man, Barack Obama, assumed the office of the President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold office. He promises many changes both in the US and worldwide.I wish him luck.
and I think I would've been a bit further along if I hadn't decided to change the edging…that lost me a couple of days really.But I've had a couple of all night sessions to catch up with the rest of the KAL group lol.
I'm now on the second set of charts which are fairly easy and don't involve any beading - I just hope I don't get bored doing them for the next 200 rows!
Well, Isis has had a hair cut…doesn't she look gorgeous!? 
I also bought her a warm coat as she seems to feel the cold after she's been to the groomers.
I decided to treat Mum for her birthday and take her to London to see Phantom of the Opera in April, the tickets arrived a couple of days ago and I'm excited already! I'd also like to see Wicked and Mamma Mia this year if I can.
I went to Mel's today and look what she had! 
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, she let me try some and it was bloody delicious. I must keep my eyes open and treat myself to some lol!
A week ago a worldwide KAL that I arranged on Ravelry to do Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. I showed you a pic of my progress. Well, I REALLY hated those bloody loops. I hated them enough that I realised those loops would prevent me wearing it when it's (eventually) complete.
So I frogged it!
I then spent nearly 48 hours working out how to do the scallop edging from Magic Carpet Ride in its place; I had some kind of weird block though because my brain just wouldn't work. I took both patterns, yarn and needles to our local knitting group and sat with paper and pencil and Joy and we did some math. In the end I had an epiphany and I actually made a swatch shudders. This made calculating things much easier and we worked out that I needed to start with 343 stitches.
It's a very difficult pattern and I spent most of yesterday knitting, ripping and re-knitting the same four rows. Today I'm passed those rows and speeding along reasonably nicely. 
I'm 25 rows into the first set of charts and I'm starting to enjoy it. The beads are mega tiny, but they sparkle in the light and look well nice! I wonder if I'll still love it when I've knitted the whole thing (which is supposed to be 90" when blocked) lol.
Do you think it's a bit cold? Sugar obviously thinks so LOL
Yesterday I started Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights, I'm up to row 12 now and it's lovely except for one thing…the beaded loops, I'm seriously not loving the beaded loops……..in fact, I hate them!They're not me and I don't want to spend ages making this stole up only to not wear it because of those damn loops. So, I bought the Magic Carpet Ride pattern which has an alternative ending so that I can substitute. I'm just waiting for Susan to e-mail the pattern. While I'm waiting I'll undo MD/AN sobs
