Strawberries (hopefully) with carnation milk.....

I am constantly amazed when I grow my strawberries and tomatoes this time of year, amazed that from alittle seed with some rain (of which we have had too much) to sun (of which we really havent had enough), that there is often progress from me checking them at 8am to checking again when I am back at base at 6pm, I am in two minds whether to cover them in mesh, on the one hand I dont want birds and other creatures to eat the fruit but on another I suppose that it isnt really mine to cover up, also I keep forgetting to nip to wilkos in manchester arndale (in the same spot that used to house C and A in the 80's and 90's), I will have to write a note on my hand tomorrow.

Even from taking this picture I have more that have rippened just in a few short hours, it really is wonderful..... although an awful lot of effort for half a punnet......but it does make me want to sing, all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small etc...............

KNIT ONE, HURL ONE

I have a new hobby, Knitting, its dead trendy loads of cool people do it, you dont have to be a granny and you dont have to knit just matinee jackets in lemon for new babies, you can learn how to knit pretty much anything. I admit I might have got a bit giddy as I seemed to be picking it all up pretty quickly, I had my second knitting class at hulme library last thursday night and on coming home after a few essential chores, made myself a cuppa and set about knitting whilst watching a couple of episodes of the West Wing (as box sets go, I am enjoying it but not as much as The Wire or The Sopranos and I know hubs feels the same), on feeling very tired I turned in around 11pm, left my knitting downstairs and tried to sleep, I drifted off and woke up at 3 am feel an awful feeling of seasickness, I managed to make it to the bathroom and vomitted like a drunken sailor, after a few goes of this, I thought two things, 1. I better go downstairs with a bucket and sip water until this sickness subsides and 2. thanks loving family for getting up to check I was ok. Down stairs my innerds ached and to distract myself from how rotten I felt I sipped water and knitted and thought of the phrase KNIT ONE, HURL ONE around 5am, I felt like I might be able to sleep, so I cleaned my teeth with my electric toothbrush and professional descaling toothbrush and thats what I did till 9am, when I rang in work and said I wouldnt be coming in as I had had one hell of a night (but not in a good way). I wouldnt blame anyone who didnt believe me as it looked dubious and was prob the hottest day of the year so far. thats all I have to say about that Mrs Mahoo

Rush Tickets

In the old days you would read in the NME or Kerrang that a band was touring, you would check out the Manchester Evening News and find out when tickets went on sale, you had to go down to the venue in person, I remember queueing up at The Manchester Apollo, handing over cash (£6.50)got a ticket which was made from reinforced sugar paper.I do wish I had kept them - but thats another short story.

So I receive an email earlier this week from live nation telling me that Rush pre sale tickets for Manchester next year. As I am a member of live nation (prob from the last time i bought Rush tickets) I could log on a day before the tickets go on sale and get some. The tickets were to go on sale at 9am - I should have known that presented problems, I couldnt do this at home as I would already be in work, so I forwarded the link to my works email address. On getting into work and doing my usual start up for the day tasks, phone, computer, post, coffee perculator etc, I logged in, it took ages each bar slower than the last, then It didnt recognise my password, to resend the password it would only send to my gmail account which I cannot get access to at work, so I did the only thing I could, I rejoined live nation under my works email and started all over again. I was close to tears but the mission was two tickets for Rush for next May pref on the floor sections, pref at the end of the row, so no matter how tough I would have to complete my mission. After 42 minutes exactly, I have my ticket confirmation, printed out and in an envelope to be safely ensconsed in "the sock draw". It was like answering an online survey the amount of questions and passwords and forgotten passwords, then I got my date of birth wrong and it said "you have to be 13 or over to book tickets", finally I almost paid for the ruddy things with my works credit card........ I informed hubs who thanked me and innocently asked about my evening plans and I snapped his head off with something along the lines of......... for gods sake i am 45, I know where I'm going and its safe....... two cups of coffee later, I have a wopping headache, have wept in the works loos, my heart is racing and my work colleagues wont give me eye contact for fear of an adverse reaction.......

The Chicken Crisis Talks....

.

The chicken crisis talks went on all evening, the chicken had been purchased on a Sunday with thoughts of a roast dinner midweek, quite how this was going to pan out was beyond either of us but somehow we thought we could do it, despite having to leave the house at 8am and not returning till six...... current options

Put the chicken in on a low light all day and go to work
Put the chicken in on a low light all night and wrap when cooled and leave to stand for another 6 hours whilst everyone is at work
Put the chicken in when we come home from work and have a really late tea

Yes you guessed it when you work full time some meals are not a workable concept, and this is why my local chippy is full every night with people too busy to cook healthy meals without too much planning.

Anyway I get up this morning and the chicken has been washed and prepared but as I cant remember which course of action we decided on I do nothing. Rang hubs when I got to work and he said, he would ring first born (who has left home but has no wi fi connected yet so comes back to his original home to work from home every day, are you following this...) we decided to dispence completely with the foil option and he is putting it on gas mark 5 at 1pm, hubs will be home at 4ish to check it, of course he could miss something vital out like the chicken or in fact putting the oven on at all, and if that happens I am having fish and chips. I am worn out with it all and maybe I should go on one of those slimfast diets where I wont have to do food shopping or meal planning and my clothes wont be so tight......

The Wire (promotes unnecessary) Rudeness

I think we may be overdosing on The Wire, the other night I asked hubs to make us both a nice cup of tea as he got out of his chair and his reply?

"Kiss my white irish ass"


I asked him why he hadnt emptied the kitchen bin and he said

"thats just the way I roll, Mxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx"


After a very sharp look from me, he did actually make us both a nice pint mug of tea and infact he also emtpied the kitchen bin, but even so.....

I am enjoying the wire muchly, halfway through the second series and the comfort of knowing we have the box set (on loan from my sister, from another mister....OMG I am doing it now) is a wonderful comfort.

I do think I am actually part of the team along with Keema and the others, not sure where I would fit in, probrably the admin person who doesnt leave the office, but cuts out coupons. When this box set is finished we will be getting into the West Wing, though somehow I dont think its going to be quite so enjoyable as The Wire certainly has been, maybe we will have to start the Sopranos all over again, the old lady was hilariously funny and dark... I do love a good box set, it means we can O/D on quality without having to watch endless adverts for settees (surely everyone has one now).... thats all I have to say about that...

Poorly Cat........

A normal run of the mill tuesday morning was disrupted by a phone call from hubs, it went like this hubs .... maria, just check the driveway, I thought I saw something large and black as I left the house this morning, Me ....... nah, nothing there Next I get ready, check i have phone, kindle, handbag, purse key to lock up and on stepping out of the house and off the front step I lock up and there it is, a huge black cat, bloody and injured, with one eye open, on closer inspection its dead, I didnt touch it and noticed it was the same cat that had been prowling round the garden in the last few days, no collar, not sure if it was a domestic or a ferral, but it was big. As I am on the main road, gangs of school kids are passing and looking in at me looking at the dead cat wondering what to do, a few minutes pass and I look to see my usual 8.05am 256 strolling passed and all the top deck, look down at me and the dead cat too.... I do what I always do when hubs isnt in, I ask my neighbour bob. He gives me clear instructions (as any ex serviceman would) 1. cover the cat with black bin bag, put big stones round to stop the cover blowing away 2. Ring the council I do both, the second wasnt quite so easy as I had to choose out of 7 options, non of which made mention of a dead animal. I chose highway maintenance and then chose from another 6 options, eventually getting through to someone who asked is it on a public highway, is it causing an obstruction to pedestrials and/or traffic by the time I had the assurances of collection it was gone 9.30am, I was void of physical energy and emotionally drained and unfit for work, now you would think that was enough, but oh no, I had put a load in the washing machine leaveing a sock stuck in the door so my kitchen was a foamy wet mess, with water seeping up throught the mdf of the kickboards of my fitted kitchen, I sorted that out and decided the day would not be wasted if I could spring clean my living room, which I did, I also broke two orniments, one a royal dalton figurine, I managed to locate loctite glue and fixed the hand back onto the figurine .... upside down, thats the kind of day last tuesday was, and they say dont drink midweek? Mrs Mahoooooo

Poorly Car

Its sunday afternoon, I have just finished washing up, sprinkled Jamaican jerk marinade powder on the chicken breasts and put them back in the fridge according to instructions and about to flop on the settee with a pint mug of tea, the box of dairy milk my big brother gave me last week and a copy of woman and home and a knock at the door and the dreaded news...... Some complete bastard has smashed the passenger window of our car, this can only have happened between 2pm and 4pm today, that horrible shocked feeling of what do we/I do, what is the order of things, I mean I know the glass will need removing, my insurance will need phoning and we will have to inform the police but in what order and how and when I just dont know. If anyone says these things come in threes I will either A) never speak to them again B) tell them to fcuk off C) kill them I have wept, taken two pain killers, blamed feckles (then apologised) then blamed her again and apologised (you know how these kids leave all their stuff on display etc) but actually I wish I had left the door open because there wasnt anyhing worth the amount that the new window is going to cost me, as the complete contents was mostly tapes including bambi, snow white, the best of james, west side story, 101 dalmations three odd socks........................ Autoglass are coming between 7and 9pm, I am going for another sob, then a chocolate and maybe a pint of strong cider Mrs Mahoooooooooooooo