A little bit of...

...home decor.

The window in the study does not have a view - it looks out onto the side fence and the brick side of the house next door.

When I bought new 'nets' for the house last year I saw some lovely voile drapes but they were rather expensive so I gave them a miss. However, I really wanted to do something with the study window to make it a bit more interesting so that it didn't matter that there wasn't a fabulous view outside.

Just after Christmas, the local garden centres did their usual clearout of all the decorations and other goodies and I found packs of voile in just the right colour (at very little cost). There were also some large silk roses that rather took my eye.

Yesterday I had a bit of a play and this is what happened...

...my window is now dressed.

I might have a bit of a tweak but the effect is what I was aiming for so I'm very happy with my 'post-Christmas' bargains.......................................

The Snow came...

...and then the ice.

Snow always looks so pretty when it first falls...

The view from the station platform.

The trees along the side of the platform.

A C2C train wearing its snazzy yellow 'nose' cover to try and stop the coupling mechanism freezing.

View from the train.

Oh how colourful London looked during the Summer of 2012 - now look...

The Orbit, all shut up and un-loved for probably another year.

The grey London skyline.

...and the Aquatic Centre is slowly disappearing (slowly being the opperative word here) so that won't see any sporting activity until the seating has been redone.

No flags in bright colours...no crowds of happy, excited people...gosh, is it really less than 6 months since all the excitement?

As I said, snow makes things look very different..................................

Butter fingers - take 2...

...the continuing saga.

I have come to the conclusion that mobile phones don't swim well and don't even like to paddle.

After it behaving for a day the '0' button has now died...do you know how difficult it is to do anything on a mobile without the '0' ?

All numbers to be dialed start with '0'
The '0' button is also the space bar when creating texts - greatfunsending/replyingtoamessagewhenyoucantspacewords
Even more fun when you take the phone to pieces to ensure everything is dry and you then realise your PIN has a '0' in it

Thank you everyone who mentioned about the rice (no Annette you weren't dream LOL) - problem there was I didn't have any...

The upshot is, I had to get a new phone but as I didn't want one of these Smart-thingies or the suchlike, I managed to get one pretty cheap. The fun now starts sorting out what needs to be transferred.........................................

Butter fingers...

...yep, that's me.

Last night my poor mobile phone took a dive into an 'almost' empty coffee cup.

I say 'almost' because there was certainly enough coffee in the cup to give the phone a good soaking.

I then proceeded to spend until almost 2am trying to get the thing dry and working properly - I lost count of the times that I took the thing apart in order to hold the main body infront of my fan heater in the hope that it would dry.

First the PIN was throwing a wobbly and adding numbers (* symbols) at a rate of knots...boy did the battery come out super quick as I didn't want the thing to lock and bar my access.

Then I got the PIN to behave but the date kept sticking.

Horror of horrors when I got past that stage it started to re-dial last called numbers - at almost midnight I could imagine how popular I was going to be...out with the battery again; double quick.

At just before 2am I finally managed to get it working and everything behaving itself.

I really don't know how I managed to drop the phone in the first place but I can tell you this much - I'll be keeping it well away from anything that is even a tad on the damp side...I ain't going through that again...................................

Birthday Bash...

,,,blog hop over at Catch the Bug.

Do hop on over to see what the DT have come up with for their celebration of Bugaboo's 3rd Birthday............................

WRYWF 11 Jan...

...presented on Sunday (just for a change LOL).

Anyone new dropping by who hasn't a clue what this is all about should hop on over to the lovely Virginia's blog where she hosts this weekly sharing of the good & positive things that have happened in our lives.

So what has been 'rocking' my week...well...

The return to work was fairly uneventful although it took 3 days to catch-up with all the emails **rollseyes** but other than that it has been business as usual - so that has to be a plus.

Now this is going to sound daft but will make sense if you read to the end of this bit...Rude & unhelpful shop staff (told you it would sound daft but keep reading). I'm covering a team who's manager is off sick (in addition to my own) and I visited them on Wednesday. They had arranged to show me a new pastry shop/cafe at lunchtime so off we toddled. The place was packed - not surprisingly because the cakes and stuff looked 'to die for' but it is one of those places where you stand and wait to be seated. We counted 9 members of staff, most were standing nattering and it was a good few moments before anyone came to ask our requirements (there were 4 of us). The ground floor was full so we said we would be happy to go upstairs - "can't; it's closed" came the reply and she wandered off. Some more folk came in and a pair of ladies got seated as there were only 2 of them but the other lot was another group of 4 - they got the same sharp retort about the upstairs seating area so they left and we followed...
One of my folk mentioned a little place that she had been to so we tried it and it was fabulous - service was great food was super and the atmosphere of the place was amazing. So the rudeness of the staff at the first place lead to us having a super lunch at a wonderful little place that we would probably never have thought to try.

The knitting needles have been busy again this week...

...but the pics are pretty rubbish (sorry). The white yarn was an unexpected find last weekend and it looks sooooooooooooooooo pretty. Although the pics don't show it, the yarn has a twinkle to it - a bit like it has been dusted with glimmer dust.

At the moment, the weather is rocking my world because although it has become much colder - it is dry. It is so much easier to wrap up against the cold rather than the wet & damp. I'm also touching wood and keeping everything crossed (makes typing very difficult LOL) because so far we haven't had the snow that has been promised.

Reading the rocking posts of the other 'Rockettes' has also brightened my world this week as there are some really lovely things noted and you can almost feel the warmth & smiles as you read the posts - isn't that what this is all about?

So wishing you all a lovely week to come......................................

WRYWF...

...the first of 2013.

So what has been 'rocking' my world so far this New Year...

Well...

I did it, I finally went and got an e-Reader.

After much thought and reviewing of the situation I decided that as I'm not much of a "techy" or "gadget geek" I would keep it simple and go for something fairly inexpensive but able to meet my requirements (mainly the ability to enlarge the font size LOL). Price was a consideration too and I was lucky that WHS had their range on offer again for the 'post-Chrimbo' period...so with my giftcard to the ready I went and bought a Kobo-mini. It has a wide range of fonts & font sizes and can store up to 1000 books and the battery-life is pretty good too.

In the couple of days that I've had the thing I've already downloaded about 10 books and read 3 already (that equals my read-total for 2012 - all I read during the year was THOSE three books; you know the ones I mean giggle). I did find that it was better to go onto the Kobo site and print off the user guide as the 'quick basic' thingie that came with the reader was pretty useless for a numpty like me. However, I'm getting there and I'm finding the 'mini' a nice size & weight to hold - no more problems with bulky books to try and cart back & forth on the train each day but I still love the feel of real books so I don't think I'll be giving up on them any time soon.

I haven't done much in the way of paper crafting over this Holiday period (despite my best intentions) but I have made some new scarves in some colours that I found whilst browsing the sales. I also picked up a selection of lurex threads that are working beautifully in my braid making. So overall, I have been crafting over the holidays but not necessarily the crafts that I had intended.

I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to returning to work tomorrow - it's never great going in to see all the stuff that has piled-up whilst you've been off but I have to say...this two weeks has been great. I've spent time with my Mum that wasn't rushed or squeezed in amongst other things and I've had the time to meet up with friends and grab a coffee, hot chocolate and cake whilst having a good old natter.

So that was my first 'rocking' post of 2013. If you would like to know more - hop on over to the lovely Virginia's blog to see what 'rocking' is all about.

Right, where is my train ticket and everything that I need for work...and just how many days is it until next Christmas..............................................

Do you like lists...

...I know lots of you do.

The lovely Kerryanne English has created a series of downloads to help you with your blog planning (you will find the link over in the righthand sidebar).

She has also given some instructions on her blog on how to construct a pretty folder to keep your planner / lists neat, tidy and safe.

Do pay her a visit - you never know, you could start 2013 off by being super organised..................................................

53000 pageviews...

...and 96 followers - who would've thunk.

Thank you all for taking the time to visit and decide to follow my ramblings - it is very much appreciated.

Here's to a happy and creative 2013..............................

Happy New Year Everyone...

...will 2013 live up to the standard set by 2012?

2012 certainly flew by and not surprisingly...there was just sooooooooooo much going on. Diamond Jubilee, Olympics, Paralympics - just to name a few.

Did you all see the New Year in or were you tucked up in bed?

I stayed up and took loads of photos (thank you BBC for the fabulous vantage point)...I finally worked out how to turn the flash off on my camera (don't laugh - I've only had this one about 6 months LOL)

These were just a few of the shots I managed to grab.

Well after a drizzly 31 December daytime - Mother Nature played fair and the end of the day/year was cold but dry and from the scenes on the TV, everyone in London had a fabulous time. The fireworks were amazing...oh how we have improved since that very damp squib of a display for the Millenium...and I had thoroughly enjoyed an evening of watching Robbie Williams & NCIS (strange mix - but hey!).

2013 has started off very bright but oh so very cold where I am but then you can wrap-up against the cold - damp weather isn't so easy to deal with as it seems to get into everything.

I hope you all have enjoyed Christmas and the end to 2012 (no heavy heads - I hope) and I look forward to hopping around Blogland and seeing what you all come up with during this coming year - Have a Great 2013.................................