2007 Overview

I did this last year, looking back at 2006, hell, that seems like such a long time ago! Anyway, I thought it would be good to do it this year too and see how my life and my outlook on it has changed.



What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
I met a blog friend that I had known online for about 2 years. Began an AS Course. Obtained an A* grade for a GCSE. Dedicated a lot of time and energy to an incredible voluntary organisation.

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions and have you made more for this year?
Last year I promised not to be so hard on myself, and looking back, I think I did pretty well at keeping it. I have found acceptance this year in an event in my life that scarred me terribly and have successfully moved a long way forward. This year I was too knackered to make one..lol

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yet another nephew became a father making me a great aunt for the second time. The first time was last year and both babies were born on the very same day of the year... spooky!

Did anyone close to you die?
No, finally a year without loss.

What countries did you visit?
Spain. Had a lovely weeks break in sunny Spain with my sister and both my daughters.

What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Better health I guess has to be at the top of my list, it's not that I mind being ill, but it sure doesn't pay the bills. On second thoughts, I do mind being ill, it has become VERY boring!

What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The three days I spent in London during the first week of October meeting Laney. We had become good friends online and those first few minutes of actually meeting in the flesh seemed like the most natural thing in the world. We talked, and then talked some more. We went into the city, still talking like there was no tomorrow, even when we climbed into bed at night we didn't shut up and chatted away contentedly til 2:30 in the morning. It was fantastic. Laney is fantastic, and I cant wait to meet up with her again soon.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting my A* was a pretty big deal for me, but the part I'm most proud of is the time I gave freely to training and attending call outs to search for missing people in my voluntary work, most often at obscene times of the night. I have missed being able to be a part of this whilst I have been off work.

What was your biggest failure?
You know, I don't consider I had any failures last year. A few minor mishaps perhaps but not failures. For those few of you that know about the last 12 years of my life, you will know that is a huge advance for me.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Oh God, the dreaded question again. I would list them all but I would sound like a hypocondriac!!!! No seriously, the only one that had a lasting effect was the ME which I am still fighting.

What was the best thing you bought?
A new car. Well it was 3 years old, but that's NEW to me. It had no rust, all the doors closed without creaking, it starts every time you turn the key even when its frosty and I can crank the CD player up to full volume without taking my hand off the steering wheel. What more could a girl want?

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My sons, for dealing with a split from his long term girlfriend with so much dignity, and as always, my husbands just for being himself and completing the other half of me.

Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
My boss for the inexcusable pressure he put on me at our meeting in December to return to work in the new year.

Where did most of your money go?
Money?? What money?

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Meeting Laney, see above. Getting my results for the GCSE and gaining my first 20/20 mark for a competition at the camera club.

What song will always remind you of 2007?
Damn, if only I had a memory, I would be able to tell you.

Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
A lot happier with life in general and with the inner me definitely. A lot fatter due to having to give up ALL my hobbies, pass times and exercise, but am already working at getting rid of that. Much poorer, again because I have been unable to work since the beginning of September.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Everything. Life is too short

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sitting on my arse wasting time watching TV and sleeping the days away

How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas was pretty much cancelled in my house this year. No energy. No money. No organisational ability. We did however have a lovely dinner with all the kids and my mother-in-law

Did you fall in love in 2006?
Not with anything/anyone new, but continue to be grateful for all the love I share with my nearest and dearest.

How many one-night stands?
None.

What was your favourite TV program?
I don't watch a lot of TV really. As always, I do get drawn into the reality shows like I'm a celebrity and Dancing on Ice

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I try not to waste precious time and energy hating, it's very destructive.

What was the best book you read?
Didn't devote much time to reading books last year, most of my reading material involved photography. I did finally read Dave Pelzer's trilogy beginning with 'A Boy Called It'. Very moving.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
I heard of lot of things I liked, mostly through the ceiling courtesy of one or the other of my daughters, but I couldn't tell you the name of the bands!!

What did you want and get?
A wide angle lens for my camera.

What did you want and not get?
A home studio to set my business up with! One day, one day.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 41, and again, I was too knackered to do anything. Being 2 days before Christmas I was dreading Christmas too much to care. Health willing, I'll make up for it this year!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Better Health.

What kept you sane?
My family and the few really good, close friends I have. I have to say that my sanity level increased 100 fold from 2006, so it's not all bad.

Who was the best new person you met in 2007?
Last year I said it was Miss U, even though I had not met her in the flesh. This year it has to be Miss U, now that I have met her in the flesh.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007?
That sometimes a 'good friend' is actually the most selfish, uncaring, power hungry ********** on the planet, and I really shouldn't take people at face value ALL the time.

Who Would Be A Woman?

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal; the epilady, scissors, razors, "Nair" and now...the wax.

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours:

"Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet."

So I headed to the site of my demise; the bathroom. It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No mess, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out.

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip cross my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my vagina and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (Yes, it was a long strip). I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!...OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the Strip. CRAP!!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP!! Everything is swirly and spotted. I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it. Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX??? Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip I touch. I am touching wax. CRAP! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped up on the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

DAMN!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of a cell door. Vagina? Sealed shut! Butt?? Sealed shut! I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!"

What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???
WRONG!!!!!!!

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax. So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cement-epoxied myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter:
"So, my butt and who-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!"

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located,

"Are we talking cheeks or hole or who-ha?"
She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night. While we go through various solutions. I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counselling for this event. My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and … OH MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, l but I really don't care.

"IT WORKS!! It works!!"
I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair.... THE HAIR IS STILL THERE...ALL OF IT!!!!

On an ending note, this is not my story, but I hope it gave you a laugh. If nothing else it reminds me why I have never been brave enough to try it for myself!!

Flying!

I had an email from a friend this morning with the link below. It explained that it was a simple game involving flying a helicopter and it was so simple because it only involved holding the left mouse key down to fly up and releasing it to come down again. Easy or what?

It did however say that if you were in a busy office you should NOT forward the email to co-workers as it was very addictive.

With a little time to please myself I thought I would give it a go and I hope that you will too, let's see who can rack up the fastest distance without crashing... I challenge you to have a go!

But..

Before you click the link....

Clear your diary....

It really is SERIOUSLY addictive...

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

Click here and have a go and then leave a comeent to let everyone know how far you got. So far, I have travelled 1102, but that said, the window is still open and I guess I am gonna beat it at some point today!!!

Hmm... I wonder if the family will notice if I don't get the dinner cooked??

It's all in the Title

Now that Christmas and the New Year breaks are out of the way, I am again concentrating on college work.

I saw an image which inspired the beginnings of my current work, but I evolved it considerably to end up with the image below, which I think will be the last image I need for my current unit of work.

My idea was to create an image of a woman, something fairly strong but very simple and to portray the woman's character without photographing a whole person. Two parts of the image are self portraits and one is my daughter.

This is what I came up with, but I need your help. I think I managed to get the character into the image; a bit of fun, sexyness and maybe a little bit risque. Or can you see something else in the image? My problem is that I need an appropriate title. It needs to be something that defines the woman and/or the image but at the same time adds something to it... does that make sense?

Anyway, I thought I would turn it into a little caption competition for you all.....

So....

What's the title???