Wednesday 30 June 2010

Dexter Jr is fitting in so well



Dexter Jr (for those of you who are new to this blog, he is our new cat who we got from the cat & dog shelter and was called Dexter too as is my son - wrote about it after the Shhh entry earlier in June) has settled in so so well.

He has visited our vet and had his first jab. Vet reckons he is no more than 9 months old (which is what I thought), and he is just fantastic and fast as lightening.

He is also so affectionate, but also very playful and runs around the house, tries to ambush us (no claws) and is just really funny and full of life. We are just so happy to have him as he as fitted right in with our family, but then given the
circumstances of us meeting him I think fate had a lot to do with it!

Here he today.

Bird School

Clearly a very clever school teaching it's birds to speak to people - wonder what type of birds they specialise in teaching!



Camera, Lights ready and therefore just about ready for action!


Well the film crews have been in staging our place for the sitcom (name I cannot mention, and have had to remove the previous blog on it until I get given the go-ahead - part of the contract) - so we have hired security!!!

It is strange to see our place, which looks like our place, but it has things in it that we would never have - it is to go with the characters who apparently live here. Anything with red in the room (which we actually had quite a lot of) has been removed.

There is still some staging to be done, blinds have to go up (and black out blinds behind them as this is apparently and evening scene) and some of the pictures they have brought in to replace ours have to be hung correctly, but they are last minute things and apparently will only take about an hour to do!

Here are some of the cushions they have brought in and one of the blinds.......


Once it is completely staged, I will take a photograph of it but I have to say, I do prefer how we have it normally, but then I am also glad we are not the characters who live here!!!

Of course it is our things that Anders and I like (otherwise we would not have chosen them), and actually not the stuff they have brought in but their props clearly suit the characters who are supposed to live here. It is not that the stuff they have chosen is not nice, it is, Anders and I just think they don't go really (e.g. their choice of rug, it's not a bad rug, just makes the place look very brown and lacking the zing the red brings it) ....... I do hope it becomes a series, and a hit one at that as it sounds very funny!

So for now, the lights are up, and the action will start very very soon......

The start of a beautiful day....

This morning, Dexter brought Anders and I breakfast in bed (I know this is starting to become a regular unprompted feature) and a picture that he did at school for me (but then he quickly said for both of us not to upset his Daddy, diplomatic and caring he is) - oh I just love him and want to scrunch him up and eat him - ohhhhh my boy makes me so full up with love.....

He also pulled out the new Judo belt he has been given. He has shot up in belts from a Junior Purple belt to this one!!!

So what a great start to the morning and today....

Photobucket

Two handsome boys - guess who?


Yep, what a surprise I hear you say....

But, hey, I just think they look great, my two handsome boys and of course the very photogenic puppies....

No matter what the weather, they make every shot look good

Oh, I wish I looked as great in photographs as my two boys do.

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Cardboard Cutouts!

I have no idea how these photographs came out looking like I had cut and paste Anders & Dexter into a false beautiful beach scene, but I can assure you I didn't. I could of course understand why someone might think I had as it is hard to believe that a city beach in Scotland looks so positively tropical!





Maybe, they are standing in front of some backdrop and that my life is all a dream! Maybe this whole blog is made up! Ha, ha, ha - if all my photos turned out looking like this then I might wonder too but I assure you these are all real, including my two lovelies - I have pinched myself to check and thank goodness!

Monday 28 June 2010

Open Sesame!


To a realm of new exciting adventures, stories, pictures and positive outcomes.......

and sprinkling sesame seeds on a salad to help things grow!

I know, my jokes are not always funny!!!
Ali Baba & the 40 thieves is a great story - cave full of treasure.....

The Sunday Creative


Click the Sunday Creative link if you fancy joining in. Every Sunday, you get a word prompt and you have a week to submit something that you think captures that word - all art forms!
This Sunday, the word was Open - hope you like my interpretation!

Chiwawa Zombie it's in the eyes!!



She really is a very cute Chiwawa, but I couldn't resist doing this as we all know sometimes Chiwawa's can have quite a different side to them - you know they do!!!

Dreaming on a sunny afternoon

Beautiful Carly, sister to handsome Marvin......

This week is about pets, well Carly Simon did excel herself with this Heaven Sent shoot but it was a hard choice as both her and Marvin Gaye are just so photogenic.....
"if she were so vain, then the song was definitely written about her"

Sunday 27 June 2010

Red!

Well today was not a great day for me, everything today just went wrong for me, so whilst I normally really love the colour red, today it is not so great.

Went swimming to realise on arriving at the gym, I had forgotten my stuff - doh.... but Anders and Dexter still went and had a great time. No they didn't say "oh stupid you, but we will drive home and get them and come back again" no, instead I just had to sit on the side and watch! I felt like a child who was being punished! You may well ask, "how could you forget your stuff", easy, I always keep my gym stuff in the car which has my swim things (and only take the dirty sweaty stuff out), but yesterday I took the whole lot out" - double doh!!

The pool was really lovely and inviting the water looked turquoise and so so lovely the type you just want to do a run and dive bomb jump into. I know it is not very ladylike, but having an 8 year old boy, I get to do that with him (of course making sure that nobody is in our way)!!!

But I couldn't jump in, or let Dexter push me in, or do anything in the water as I didn't have my swimming things and I therefore felt very very sorry for myself at not being able to join in!

I then thought, well I will try and turn this into something fun and take photos of Anders and Dexter having a good time I got stopped by the management! I was told that I couldn't take photographs of them playing in the pool (because of a stupid UK legislative rule that has a purpose but not when it is taken to the ridiculous extreme) and at that point I was starting to get really annoyed more because there was nothing I could do about it!

So again, felt very sorry for myself and said to Anders once he and Dexter were dressed and ready to go home, "you know, I am just going to go home get my stuff and come back here and go swimming myself as it looked really nice"! I just wanted some sympathy and for Anders to say, ok lets do something nice for you - but no instead I got "ok if that is what you want"!

You see, having stripped the beds, done 6 loads of washing, unfilled and filled the dishwasher, cleaned the grill before mid-day with no help I was now really annoyed that Anders had not helped at all, and showed no sympathy for my forgetting my stuff - instead only giving me sarcasm! I therefore felt a "stuff you, if you don't care enough to do something nice with me then I will just go off by myself" response was needed! So....

... we all came home, I put another washing load out to dry and then got my stuff and went back to the pool. No sooner had I gotten into the pool and started swimming a couple of lengths to let of steam (thinking, why did I do this) I had to get out as the management informed everyone that the pool had to close because there was not enough chlorine in it! You can only imagine how I felt!

Stopped off at one supermarket to find it was closed (6pm now and I arrived at 6.05pm)! Went to another one and got the stuff I needed for tea as I knew Anders wouldn't have made anything given the day I was having, and I was right. He and Dexter had spent a lovely time with Marvin & Carly having gone for a really nice walk and found a secret waterfall, seen the heron I so so love seeing and had a fantastic time without me - (was I jealous, upset, angry - yep and royally so) - I just wanted to burst into tears "this was not my day" and is officially a day where I am both red with rage and embarrassment for being so very sorry for myself - really pretty rubbish and all my own fault!

Lesson: positive things happen to positive people!
I will therefore give my bum a right bright red kick and awaken tomorrow feeling my more than usual positive self - thank God I hear Anders thinking!!!

Dexter playing the Beatles on his Guitar

Dexter was practicing the guitar while I was waiting on the washing to finish before we went swimming, here he is playing Eleanor Rigby with a bit of the washing machine in the background trying to join in!

World Cup Marvin!









Marvin loves getting the football and joining in with the fun. He tries to tackle, but then just picks the ball up in his mouth and runs around with it! Think he is getting into the world cup celebrations....

As you can see, Marvin is rather a handsome athletic boy!
Although sometimes he can look like the Flying Nun...

And I have taken to getting down low and taking photos - well it was sunny and warm and the grass felt like the softest of carpets underneath my feet I just couldn't resist lying down on it and taking some snaps!

And Marvin has a thing for showing me what he thinks is his best angle - yep, clackers!

Louis's Skateboarding 8th Birthday Party








The boys had a great time at the skatepark, although it was also a little scary for some of them who had never skateboarded before. Joseph picked it up really quickly......

But even those that didn't had great fun using it like a sledge and skateboarding sitting on their bums down the slopes! Here is Conrad doing just that......

...... and Brendan, and Rocky.......

But look, you'd never think from this photograph that Benny couldn't skateboard could you!

Or from this one that Brendan couldn't, he looks like a real pro and Dexter looks like he is wobbling and having to climb up the sides - and Dexter is the one that is a not bad wee skateboarder (as you may have seen from his triple decker skateboarding blog post)......

They all had a great day, and here is Dexter with the Birthday Boy himself.......


.... and with all his friends (left to right: Conrad, Benny, Joseph, Dexter, Louis & Brendan).

Happy 8th Birthday Louis