Don't install a cat flap!

(I should probably explain that we live in an upstairs flat - so our flight of stairs is right at the front door)

So there is no denying that our cats are a pair of big girls blouses who wouldn’t say boo to a goose and regularly get bullied by the other cats in the neighbourhood.

However it is very rare that they will allow another cat into their house (their territory starts inside the cat flap)! But on Sunday morning (4am) we had an intruder, I was woken to the unmistakeable sound of cats growling and screaching at each other, and it was definitely inside the house. So to prevent the further flying of fur I leapt dragged myself out of bed and went charging through to the living room shouting and hissing hoping to scare the b’jesus out of our intruder and get this monster out of our house (I should probably mention that I hadn’t put my glasses on and so couldn’t see a bl**dy thing). I managed to scare my own cat into the other room but on not hearing the cat flap rattle at a rate of knots I figured the intruder hadn’t gone anywhere – and right enough there was a whitish blur still under the couch. So more shouting, hissing, growling, clapping and stamping (our neighbours love us) from me resulted in the cat getting to the stairs, down the stairs and to the cat flap. More shouting from me and it made some pitiful attempts to get through the cat flap but failed so started coming back up the stairs meowing pathetically like I was hurting it! So I shut the door at the top of the stairs and went to get my glasses so I could see the imbecile that had broken into my house. Thinking that there might be something wrong with the cat flap (maybe it had locked itself shut?) I went down the stairs – nothing wrong with the cat flap – so I held open the cat flap and the intruder escaped with a skelped arse from me as it went past.

I object to foreign cats coming into my home to terrorise my cats
I really object more when they are too thick to let themselves back out of the house.

Random Question I

Ok so this isn’t so much a question more of a discussion point. I’m 7 months older than O. I graduated University the year ahead of him and he is born in a different year to me (not sure why I highlight this but it seemed important). When we first got together we got quite a few comments about him being a toy-boy and my being the older woman. 7 months people!! Not exactly a big age difference and I firmly believe that if he were older than me it would never be mentioned. I’ve never seen a relationship where age difference is an issue except for those outside the relationship.

Is there an age gap in your relationship? Does it make any difference to you? (Sorry these are very personal questions I may have overstepped the mark). Do you know relationships where the age gap is an issue?

(from here)

Because I'm a big tease

This is not our venue, this is Fernie Castle. But I was seriously considering it for the TREE HOUSE!! Sorry I had to shout that bit but how cool is the Tree House. Do you think I can ask for a night there as a wedding present??!!:

Love in the modern era

O and I have been together for 6 ½ years and in that time we have seen some pretty big leaps in technological advancements. I went to University 10 years ago and took with me my very first mobile phone – which I mainly used for phone calls to my parents. I don’t think I sent my first email until I was at University either.
O and I would not have got together without the assistance of text messages. I got horribly drunk and made a fool of myself, using this as an excuse, I got O’s number from a mutual friend and text an apology which sparked a text conversation which led to a date and the rest as they say is history. If we had got it together a year later we would have probably communicated via Bebo before graduating to Facebook and then Twitter.

When we’d only been together for 5 months I left him with his studies and I spent two months travelling across Canada. We communicated and kept our relationship going through email and the occasional text, we literally didn’t physically speak for two months. When we started going out we didn’t talk on the phone very often at all. O still is scared of the phone – he hates talking to people he doesn’t know very well on the phone. He says it is because he can’t see their facial expressions so never know what they are really thinking.

I didn’t date much in high school and I was thinking the other day how difficult it used to be to talk to boys! Because you literally had to ‘talk’ to them, you couldn’t just text, poke or tweet them. You had to endure the awkward pauses in conversation where you desperately tried to come up with something witty. It took O and I a long time to get together and without text messages it would have probably taken much longer. What would we have done while I was in Canada?

Don’t get me wrong I love receiving letters through the mail (especially those that aren’t from the bank). I’ve still got all the letters that my family sent me during my first year at University. But now life is all about text messages, emails and for me blog posting. I still send O at least 2 texts a day and if he worked at a computer it would be a lot more emails. It is the instant thoughts that I want to tell him about and don’t have the patience to wait until I get home (plus I forget). Life is about instant communication, but also about thought through communication, you can take your time when responding to an email or text to make sure you really are letting your wit and brilliance shine through. Rather than in telephone conversations with boys where you just had to go with the first thing that came into your head. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about these things anymore.

O don't read! My Thoughts on the Dress

So huge respect needs to go to Buhdoop for her series of dress posts here, here, here, here and especially the beautiful dress she has chosen. Here Buhdoop freaked me out, the day before I read this post I was writing this list in my head!
Disclaimer – these are my thoughts on the dress that would be suitable for me and our wedding. I have only tried on 3 wedding dresses so I reserve the right to totally change my mind after trying on more dresses. You never know I might end up with a huge pink meringue but somehow I doubt it.

The Wedding Dress List

(not in order of importance)

Comfortable – There is going to be some wild ceilidh dancing at our wedding and I need to be able to burl with the best of them. I was bridesmaid to one of my best friends and she was begging to be able to take her dress off by 10pm as the dress was too heavy. Luckily we managed to persuade her to keep it on until after the last dance, although it would have been funny having her finish the dancing in her pjs.

No train – I don’t want people worried about standing on the dress and I don’t want to trip over it while I’m dancing.

Not too big – I want people to be able to get up close and hug me on our wedding day, especially my new husband. I don’t want hoops and underskirts meaning they can only hug me from the waist up.

Affordable – I don’t spend a lot of money on clothes and I don’t especially want to spend a lot of money on a dress I will only wear for one day. I want a new kitchen more than I want an expensive wedding dress.

Off the rack or a sample – my friends are making me panic that I’m not going to have enough time to find a dress, I’ve been told it takes 6-9 months to get a dress made. In which case I need to find the dress now! Like right now.

Structured but not too structured – I need to keep the boobage under control but I still want to be comfortable with out too much scaffolding. (Thanks to Gee for the warning about buying a dress for the more well endowed girl). I’m kind of leaning towards straps.

No bling – I don’t seem to suit bling, and our wedding isn’t going to be very bling, we just aren’t bling people.

Our Venue

So we have chosen our venue, booked a date and the registrar is organised. Not too much more to do right?

Anyway I promised to tell you about the venue. I’d rather not reveal the exact location so I’m going to try and describe it. I thought this would be easier than it is, I’ve spent ages trying to write this and it’s going no where fast.

We are getting married in a castle! It’s a bit of a shabby chic castle – not sure the owners would like to hear it described as shabby but what I’m trying to say is that it isn’t Disney perfect and therefore just right for us. It is a tiny little place with 10 bedrooms built on the side of big hill. We get exclusive use so it will all be ours – handy when both families are travelling over 200 miles. The dining room is beautiful for the ceremony and hopefully the meal. I say hopefully as we are trying to persuade them that we will all squeeze in or we will just have to invite less people. There is a big hall where we will have a kick-ass party with lots of dancing and where the meal will happen if we can’t decide who to cut off the guest list. Although there isn’t a huge amount of land or garden there are plenty of places for photos both inside and out. The management team are sarcastic and down to earth – which also makes it perfect for us. We have managed to forgive them for the date mix up although it is fun to watch them squirm every time we bring it up.

Apologies that this is such a poor description, all I keep thinking is – oh it’s our venue and it is so perfect for us!

The Joys of Cat Ownership I

The Owl and the Pussy Cat get on very well which is apparently quite unusual, both of them are dark tortoiseshells (their fur is black, brown, orange and blonde). The Owl does have a white bib and paws but the Cat is all dark. When we first took them to the vets we were asked if they were feisty. Feisty? They are about as far from feisty as you can possibly get. According to the vet dark tortoiseshell cats are the red-heads of the cat world. They tend to be fiery in temper and don’t play well with others.

Our cats are a couple of big pansies and regularly get bullied. How do we know that they get bullied? Because they get chased home. The cat flap rattles and you hear the thundering of paws as one of the cats reaches the safety of the top of the stairs. What you then hear is the bully cat outside battering at our cat flap rattling it back and forth as if saying “Come here and finish this you big pansy” (or so it is in my imagination). In the middle of the night it sounds like someone is trying to break into the house – not a good way to wake up.

I'm back & its the weekend

So I'm finally feeling more normal after being poorly last weekend.

Things I'm loving this week:

(From here via here)

(From here)

O bought me this jacket for my Christmas last year and I lurrrrvvvee it!! So cosy!

(from here)

Really like this centre piece

There you go, that is your insight into my totally random thoughts this week. Finally got some blog inspiration so coming up this week:

The Joys of Cat Ownership I

Our Venue

My thoughts on a Dress

Love stories

Another random question

Please let me know if you'd like to hear about anything else.

It is the season for giving

I feel like all my Christmases have come at once.
 Buhdoop gave me this lovely award – thank you:

In this award I am supposed to detail 5 things I am obsessed with and then pass the award on to 5 other fab blogs:
1. Blogs and blogging
2. Strictly Come Dancing
3. Cats (I’d be a crazy cat lady if O let me)
4. Tangerines, Satsuma or Clementine
5. Woolly socks

From Rebecca gave me this award and the one below too:
 

For this award I get to answer all these quickfire questions about myself, and then pass it on to other people that I'd like to find out more about - I want to find out more about all of you so please jump in and answer. Here goes...
1. Your hair: curly and usually tied back
2. Where is your cell phone : beside me
3. Your father: practical and supportive.
4. Your mother: is the best.
5. Your favourite food: Italian
6. Your dream from last night: I don't remember
7. Your favourite drink: Hot chocolate
8. Your dream/goal: to see more of the world
9. What room are you in: living room
10. What is your hobby: swimming/Pilates
11. What is your fear: Going blind
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: Having fun
13. Where were you last night: at home. Would have liked to be at the cinema seeing Men who stare at Goats but still coughing too much to be out in public
14. Something you are not: I’m not good at going with the flow, I like to have a plan.
15. Muffins: Chocolate
16. Wish list items: new handbag, cleaner, wedding planner, new sofa, new kitchen, new car, new carpets
17. Where did you grow up: Leeds
18. Last thing you did: went to work for the first time in a week – I hate being sick
19. What are you wearing: black trousers, black t-shirt and a fluffy grey cardi which sheds everywhere
20. Your TV: Spooks, CSI Miami, Strictly Come Dancing
21. Your pets: 2 cats The Owl and the Pussy Cat
22. Your friends: Brilliant
23. Your life: Good
24. Your mood: Tired
25. Missing someone: my Nana, she’d be so excited about the wedding plans.
26. Vehicle: a piece of crap! Which lets in water to the extent that the carpets are damp and the windows are always steamed to the point that you need to scrape the inside of the windscreen more than the outside!
27. Something you're not wearing: a necklace as I’ve a big scarf on instead
28. Your favourite store: Next for clothes
29. Your favourite colour: Blue edging towards grey
30. When's the last time you laughed: last night
31. When's the last time you cried: at the weekend being ill on your own sucks!
32. Your best friend: Going to become my husband!
33. One place you go over and over: Whitby
34. One person who emails me regularly: Nigerian Princesses wishing to give me lots of money in exchange for my bank details
35. Favourite place to eat: on the sofa

This award is Portuguese and translates as “Your blog is super cute"
Thank you Rebecca and Gaynor

Now to pass on all the love:

Lila Puppy
Everybody says don’t
What Helen did
Witty Title Pending
Red Boots

Remember

This poem was among my Granddad's belongings.

The family story is that the poem was written by a man who was in the same hospital ward as my Granddad when he was injured during World War II.

(If anyone knows any other history to this poem I'd love to know)