Things are looking up......

I have won a competition yee har, its been a while but it happens, I just take a deep breath and continue with my formula and eventually a ripple, then a wave then I get out me surfboard and ride those wonderful winning waves of prizes.......

the email said...... Dear Maria, congratualations on winning first prize in the photographic competition, yours was the most original entry of you reading a maggie Steifler teenage horror fiction book at the feet of the Marilyn Monroe statue in chicago, would you be good enough to give me a postal address and I will send out your cheque for 100 pounds in due course......

and that was the beginning of a pretty good week, ok, it rained, it was cold, the bus didnt always come on time for my commute into manchester, but my ipod was with me and I had two new albums to check out whilst reading the metro and I had a 100 quid I hadnt been expecting.

I do wonder if there was a sign or a hidden message, as you may not know I am being treated for four particularly difficult to shift veruccas (at my age and I havent been to Reddish Baths since the late 70's!) after continuing the regime at home until my next appointment, two have retreated altogether, one is still being tricky and finally the last one has got a smiley face on it, I kid you not, I took a picture on my new smart phone and clear as day there are two dots for eyes and a big smile,it looks a little like one of those potatoe smiles you give kids for their dinners, the frozen ones.

The good side of me, thinks, well anything could happen all is well and the naughty side thinks, ha, you wont be smiling when the chiropodist gets hold of you on 21st December (next appointment), now if we still had thats life with Esther I could send it in there, but as we dont, I have forwarded the snap to one very trusted friend for her expert opinion.

hmmmmmmm

All things end

I knew I would have to go through this again and probrably again in the future , I have ended up with a relapse in the old gastric reflux problem, my IBS is back and I have cried Lake Windermere.

My youngest has split with her first love after almost two and a half years and I feel bereft, this lovely young man has been a feature in our home and become an extra member of the family and now without much warning he wont be coming round anymore and its over...

I have been through all this before November 2007 (what is it about November?) when first born and his first love finished, although it was done in a much messier way that involved a crashed car, a lost shoe and him being caught walking home dishevelled with a "new friend" in a state of inebriation, in fact messy doesnt even begin to describe the end of that liaison.

The end of Feckles and Sebster was less messy but tremendously painful and unexpected too. I miss him and his family and yet I do know that when couples split even young ones or maybe especially young ones there comes a time when you have to choose and you always choose your own its instinct. Staying in touch although seems possible at first you begin to realise it cant work because it hints at the possibility of a reconcilliation that wont happen.

I have been as concerned about Sebster as I have about my own Feckles but I know he has a good family around him and will recover and as they say it is better to have loved and lost than never have to loved at all (Not sure I beleive it but as it was probrably written by someone more intelligent than me I may try to)

Self preservation kicks in and thats how you get over awful things that happen that hurt you.

Answering my feckles sob wridden question "Mum does everything have to end at some point" I said yes, everything, good times, bad times and ultimately life, which isnt a cheery thought but a realistic one.

thats all I have to say about that.

MediaCity

If you live in Manchester or Salford, you cant have not noticed the new MEDIACITY, the metrolink has a new stop (8 minutes from Piccadilly Station to Mediacity on the tram is advertised and as I have tested this out the timing is pretty acurate), BBC are moving or already have moved from London to Manchester, I never thought that would happen, I was even wondering if they would be replicating the bluepeter garden..... not sure if all broadcasting is moving... but as me and hubs were off on thursday we had a mooch around the complex, we parked up in the multistory, bit expensive at 3 quid for two hours and 5 quid for four hours. Armed with my 5 pound voucher from the new Booths store we parked up and treated ourselves to a couple of bottles of wine (half price this week) some Mrs Kirkhams smoked cheese, the staff who work at Booths are trained and experts in their field, the cheesemonger (just think how ace that would look on a business card). we looked at some christmas speciality ales (Booths had over 200 real ales and the prices on the whole were similar to Sainsbury's or Tescos - a few this weeks specials with 50p knocked off made them a particular bargain) back to the christmas ales there was one called Naughty Elf that was 9% and another which was 11%, a couple of those on a cold winters night and you would be comfortably numb thats for sure.

Thrilled with my new Booths hessian bag and posh contents we continued our look round the Media city complex, we saw a street dancing group warming up for an outside shoot and spotted a costa coffee and booths cafe inside. There were signs for studio audiences which I may have to look into for a future experience, I have been in a studio audience before but it was in the 70's, it was Cheggers Plays Pop, so maybe its time to revisit that and add on a more current experience.

Before we went back to our car I spotted the Tardis and forced hubs to have his snap with the Daliks and had a little fantasy about being Dr Whos next assistant........

Chutney making

I do like to try new things and sometimes I like them and other times I know I wont be doing it again (I am talking hobbies here nothing carnal, if you dont mind). A couple of years ago I did a one day stand up comedy workshop and I loved it, though it was very hard and out of a class of 12 maybe three were funny, I wasnt one of them, its about more than a quip that makes people chuckle its about timeing and I didnt have it, and as with things I find hard,like motorway driving and backing school books, If i never quite master them I do just move on (without any feelings of guilt or feelings of having failed, surely thats a success in itself?) anyway last year I tried horseriding and It was ok, but I have no idea why anyone would want to take it up, I came away smelling of horse and I wonder maybe if the horse came away smelling of me and equally sickened.

This year I at the Manchester Food Festival I signed up for the "Chutney making workshop", it was based in one of the large tents in Albert Square and along with a handful of others we chatted, chopped and took it in turns to work through the recipe, it took over one and a half hours and although the social side was nice, I met the team from Trove foods in Chorlton who told me they do Autumn forraging sessions (didnt sign up for that as I remember looking for a certain type of mushroom from a library book with a particularly unsavoury group of "mates" in 4th year of Reddish Vale...., I certainly dont want to do that again) anyway back to chutney, we made Damson chutney and I discovered the difference between chutney and jam is onions and chillies. My finished product was poured into a sterilised Jar (this is particularly important especially the lid where bacteria can lurk) it looked very much the good life, but I can see now why people just go to the shop and buy it, its an awful lot of effort for something that may or may not taste nice.

Oh, yes and our group met Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstock, snap attached, i do like to scare a celeb, he wouldnt stand close to me for the snap so I tugged his shirt, hence the fearful expression.

Laters

Not sure what I might try next.........

Mahoo

Small adds and bargains

I do love a bargain, although I am a fussy penguin and walk straight out of a charity shop if it smells like an old folks home (actually one piece of information my dad told me many, many years ago was....... if you get on a plane for a long hall flight and it smells like an old persons house, get off, there is a good chance it could crash.......) At work we have a fantastic small adds section on our intranet, when I got my first car (just three years ago) I was thrilled to find it had an intact cassette deck, I know its not cool (I watch the inbetweeners) but as I have such fond memories of my first sony walkman - complete with the headphones with the orange foam covers for your ears (I kid you not, why on earth someone chose orange, well, it just beggers belief) I then found out that you cant buy tapes anywhere and making your own is too lengthy (see all that spare time we used to have before computers,cable tv,mobile phones) I put an add on my works intranet small adds, over the months my work colleagues from different offices across the country were kind enough to send me tapes, my faves being The best of the police, James and Blondie, I certainly blasted those three out, and yes at times if turned up too loudly there was a warble, but I seem to remember there always was with tapes. One I didnt enjoy was the best of the Pixies, the front cassette cover scared me, it had pictures of eyeballs hanging out of sockets and I had to take that to the charity shop, as it reminded me I should be ultra careful with my driving and not get distracted trying to locate my fave sing along tracks, and I know "best of's" are not for the real fans. Whilst on the small adds I noticed this one, and I am so tempted so thank god it wouldnt fit me, in fact quite who it would fit I really dont know, perhaps it isnt a reproduction at all, perhaps it is actually Hugh's

Reproduction jacket as worn by Hugh Jackman in 'X-Men Wolverine' This is an exclusive jacket and is stretchable and light on your body due to soft leather.
• 2 zip pockets
• 2 inner pockets
• 100% genuine leather
Size: 52” chest, 28” length, perfect condition, never worn
Just £60


thats all, I reckon at the age I am now, It wouldnt be a completely impossible notion to grow the pointy sideburns too, and chuck my tweezermans and magnifiying glass away ....... the freedom

Maria

Yes I am picturing myself wearing it on the bus into work on a dress down friday of course.........


Mrs K

The New Baby.......

The baby was due on Monday 3rd October and as monday, tues, wednesday came and went I was trying to guess the weight and sex and then last night at around 8.45pm, the phone rang, first born picked it up and it was good news, the baby had arrived safe and sound at 7.25pm that evening and weighed in at a very healthy 9LB 2oz, and was a beautiful baby girl they are naming Niamh (pronounced Neve - simply because in galic the ia together make a eeee noise and the mh make a vvvvv noise, the h is fairly silent as I hope are their many nights to come.....)

I checked the meaning of the name and it turns out in the Irish language it means bright, radiant and feminine, what a lovely way to be described......

I cant wait to meet this new little kenny and feel amazed to think its 18 and 23 years ago since I experienced the whole wonderful, exhausting and at times painful experience (although they do give you drugs and its legal and no dealer is involved)

Above is a snap of Niabh when she was still an inmate, I suppose we should have expected a good weight of a baby, but I was convinced we were having a boy.....

so thats 5 - 3 for the Kenny Girls........

Presents for Niamh and getting sidetracked by freebies

I was on a mission with a list to get something for our newly hatched baby niece Niambh

I purchased a couple of cards a beautiful white teddy bear called Henry from the very posh White Company (on King Street) I love that shop, its on my list of shops that make me feel calm, even if I dont buy anything, but of course today I did, he was beautifully packaged in one of their bags with ribbon on it, I then went to get some pink tissue for some expert wrapping (I will get feckles to do that I am fairly rubbish)anyway, on the way to all this I took a double take and noticed there was a section in the middle of Manchester Arndale set out like a beauty therapy room, they were giving out samples (full size samples if you dont mind) of their new shower gels, one per person, so naturally I managed to snaffle two. Then I asked if they were doing any therapies, and they said yes, turns out the general public had been a bit too shy and no one took them up on the offer, so I have a wonderful hand and cuticle massage whilst listening to soothing music on headphones, then I had a shoulder and back massage and as I trotted back to work I felt just a little bit smug........