Friend Making Fridays

Since I have a few followers now I'd like to try having some kind of interactive thing going on where we get to know each other. I'm sure so many of you have many interesting things going on in your life and on Friend Making Fridays you will have the opportunity to tell me more about you!

So my question today is....I'm going to cook you a 3 course dinner, what would you like to see on the menu?

Here is what I would like....
Starter - garlic bread with mushrooms
Main course - thai green curry with rice
Dessert - white chocolate and raspberry torte

So bear that in mind when you invite me round for dinner :)

I'm lovin' it

I'm loving this new laptop - even if it does has Vista. You know I must admit that I hadn't heard ONE good thing about Vista - and coupled with the fact that I had to go out and buy new graphics software as well had really just emphasised that Vista is...well without being very polite.....crap rubbish.

So imagine my delight when I found all these really cool features that my graphics tablet now has - all thanks to Vista. So now I never even have to touch my keyboard when I'm making graphics for my blog makeovers which will be so much less annoying - so who cares if I can't alter any settings or find any of my files?!

Anyone else use Vista? What do you think of it?

Anyone want a trip to the Urban Beach?

Now this seems a strange concept to me - given that nowhere in the UK is more than 75 miles from the coast. Its called the Urban Beach and apparently the first one was created in Paris in 2002 - and since then they have been springing up around the UK....with Edinburgh, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast and Bristol all sporting one.

The concept is basically that the town ship in hundreds of tons of sand and make a beach - seeminlgly anywhere. At a new one in Nottingham, they're building it in the main square in town apparently. Has anyone ever heard of urban beaches or even been to one?

I wonder in the future if I might hear somebody say they're off to the beach in Leeds or Manchester. Now that would seem odd.

You can find out more about this curious phenomenon here.

Baptism thoughts

Andy and I have been talking about getting baptised. Neither myself nor Andy are fans of crowds and, although our church does baptisms a few times a year, they are in front of 800-1000. For somebody with an intense dislike of crowds and being the centre of attention….that’s just waaaaay too many people. My sister has offered an alternative, which Andy and I are thinking about. She said her church sometimes do baptisms in a local river and she’s going to ask the Pastor (who just happens to be her friend’s hubby) if we can have a small baptism there. That would be nice as although I don’t know the Pastor, I do know everyone else there, including the Pastor’s wife. I’m not so sure Andy is very keen as really he wants a church baptism with just me, him and the Pastor….and I can’t see that happening. I’d like to accept my sister’s offer, but I’d like Andy to do it with me…for his sake not mine.

An afternoon of delights

Have you noticed yet that I'm trying to post a photo every day (no matter how old or naff it may be). I think blogs need photos and mine was sadly lacking :) So since I have nothing else really to talk about I'll show you what I get to do at work on a typical Monday afternoon....when I'm not in meetings.

Doesn't the title on the door look grand? LOL. Its basically a room stuffed full of optical microscopes and a UV light...a room which actually doubles up as the kitchen. So anyway, in here I get to inspect broken pieces of metal and then photograph them with a camera and microscope. Then comes the dull bit (yawn....yawn) I have to write the report. Well wasnt that a pointless update....oh well.

How much? Now is NOT a good time! And prayers for mum

How much?
When we bought our house (unfortunately at the peak of house prices - right before the credit crunch) we knew it needed alot of work doing on it. All of the expensive stuff too like new windows, new soffits, gutters and fascias as well as a replacement conservatory. It all needed doing within 5 years or so and now we've been here 2 years we thought maybe we should start getting some quotes in so that we know how much money we have to save up for the work. So anyway we got the fascia guy in. Guess how much he wanted to replace this single piece of wood with a piece of plastic?Just for clarification - it is just that one pice pictured above. Well he wanted over £1,000 ($1,500) for it. Okaaaayyyy....next facia guy please!

Now is NOT a good time
And while were talking about expense my laptop seems to be dying and I'm rather worried about it. With Andy losing his job in April/May now would NOT be a good time for my laptop to quit on me! So please say a prayer for my laptop :) I just need it to last until Andy gets a job.

Prayers for mum

mum - taken November 2008

Talking of prayers, please could you prayer for my mum's health to improve. She was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago and she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure this week. It turns out that her diabetes drugs have this side effect and so she's been taken off it. She might now need insulin as none of the other drugs have worked for her. She's fine about the insulin thing but we need her heart function to improve. So please if you can pray for improved heart health....I'd really appreciate it.

Well I'd better go put my walking boots on.....time for church soon LOL.

Its amusing really

You know I must be one of the clumsiest people the clumsiest person I know. Seriously. Did I ever mention that at uni an educational psychologist assessment I fell into the bin. She was checking out my balance - well I guess I failed that test LOL. So anyway it does kind of amuse me that I work in a lab surrounded by hazardous chemicals, dangerous power tools and delicate things that are easily broken. I mean the expression bull in a china shop was made for me. So yeah I guess I'm amused really (and thankful) that so far I've not really broken or horifically maimed anything, anyone or myself :)

A typical scene in the life of Louise :)

6 weeks till Scotland - yay!

Some castle/ruins near my sisters house

I took these photos on our last trip to Scotland last year. I love Scotland for soooo many reasons, nt just because the scenery is breath-taking, but also because my sister lives there and its a great chance to catch up with her.

On the road somewhere

Fort Augustus beach

Fort Augustus beach

No news is...erm...no news :)

I apologise for my lack of blogage leately but I've had absolutely no news and would hate to bore you with the mundane LOL.

Work is busy as always, home is busy as always.....I really need to learn to slow down a bit I think. Will let you know how that one goes :)

How Time Flies...

You know I really can't believe how quickly 2009 has gone so far - its scary. I think part of it has to do with the redundancies announced at wor thatw e really couldn't plan anything more than a week or so in advance....and then when Andy lost his job that changed to living one day at a time. All of this living one day at a time just seems to have made time fly by. I also can't believe how much I have changed in this last few months.

Ok I admit I was initially devastated that Andy lost his job - I'm only human - but now I see that there is more to life and that I believe that actually this has happened for the best. You see Andy didn't really like his manager and would really like to have moved on but just didn't want the hassle of applying for jobs I think. I guess now he's been given the shove he needed he has the potential to find something he actually enjoys doing. Its also brought both of us closer to God and now I no longer worry about the job situation. You see I've handed it all over to God. I know that a job is out there for Andy and that when the time is right he will be led to it - in the meantime we pray for patience! But firmly believe that God already knows what Andy's next job will be and I just know that he has something really exciting in store for Andy.

I've also been looking for a more real or tangible experience with God. Don't get me wrong I know he's real and I don't doubt that at all - but it just doesn't seem to feel any different if you know what I mean. Then I stumbled across a verse (I should really have written it down!) which was basically saying that if you seek hard enough you will find God.....who was basically there all along. I think I have been looking hard enough - maybe I'm just not tuned into it yet. I have prayed for God to be more real to me and me to understand his presence. I guess its still ealry days as I was lost and out of touch with God for so long.

I have finished complaining about the hot humid weather - as today it is cold and wet.....very wet. Tomorrow I will be complaining about the rain no doubt.

Oh.My.Goodness

Oh.My.Goodness....not wanting to be melodramatic here.....but how hot IS it today. I swear I'm going to melt into a puddle any minute. I just can't get cool - and that's with the air-con on. My skin feels freezing but inside I feel like I'm on fire. Just sat down with a litre of ice cold water - see if that does the trick. Just wondering whether to drink it pour it all over me :)

What is the world coming to? & good news

You know I do worry when people seem to value money more than friendship and meeting like-minded people. Here - let me explain what it is I'm getting in a tizz about this time.

There is a blog designer called the design girl and she does some pretty awesome designs. Ok she doesn't actually make the graphics as far as I'm aware (she gets the blogger to purchase kits -which she then re-arranges into headers etc) but that aside she definitely has a talent for a good layout. Occasionally I comment on her blog to encourage her if she's sounding unsure about something - like when she asks if design A or B looks nicer. But then she's started comment moderation and over the last few days when I've commented she's basically published everyone's comments except for mine. And they were lovely comments as well - in one I complemented her on her photography (she's new to it) and said she had a real flair for it....on another she asked which logo design looked better and I chose one and gave reasons why.

The only reason why I can think that she would delete my comment is because I'm a blog designer. So if that's the case (and I'm 99.9% sure it is as we've never had reason to fall out as we don't even know each other) then it seems obvious that this person is putting money before friendship and such. I find that a bit uneasy to be honest.....and sad. What a sad heart it must be that values money more than people.

The worst thing is that this other blog designer doesn't even target the same audience I do so there isn't even any competition. She targets people who can afford to pay a fortune for a makeover whereas I attract mostly people who can't afford to pay a fortune or who blog for therapy. She makes her designs from kits and I mostly (90% of the time) make mine from scratch (photographing textures etc) - mine don't look quite as good IMO but then I think mine have the hand-drawn/personal touch....again....attrracting a different kind of blogger who appreciates that.

Anyway I just needed to get that off my chest. Thankfully my bloggy friends value friendship and niceties :)

Oh and on other good news.....hubby became a Christian yesterday. I must admit I had sometimes doubted if he would make the leap as he just seemed so skeptical of it at times. So yeah - great news!