Fly On The Wall May 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 17 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                         Baking In A Tornado

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                         Spatulas on Parade

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                         Follow me home

http://www.menopausalmom.com/                         Menopausal Mother

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/                       Stacy Sews and Schools

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                                  Battered Hope

http://www.justalittlenutty.com/                                  Just A Little Nutty

http://themomisodes.com                                        The Momisodes

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                           Someone Else’s Genius

http://gndisney.wordpress.com                                Disneyland in Kentucky

http://dinoheromommy.com/                                 Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://www.juiceboxconfession.com                           Juicebox Confession

http://eileensperpetuallybusy.blogspot.com/                   Eileen’s Perpetually Busy

http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com                      Searching for Sanity

http://www.southernbellecharm.com                         Southern Belle Charm

http://www.angelaweight.com                                  Sanity Waiting to Happen

http://peopledonteatenoughfudge.blogspot.co.uk       People Don’t Eat Enough Fudge

This is my first Fly On The Wall so I've been trying to write a running post over the last few weeks.  It's a bit like when I text myself snippets of things as a reminder for blog posts and then I generally forget what I was talking about but hopefully I can remember enough to give you an idea what life has been like in the Mac household over the last month or so ...

Cooking/Baking

I've had some triumphs and some disasters in the last few weeks.

The biggest and most ambitious example was Miss Mac's 16th Birthday cake.

I decided I wanted to do something special and settled on a Louboutin shoe box cake filled with cupcakes and a pair of high heeled cupcakes on the top.

Not a bad effort

She seemed pretty happy with it

Then I was sent a link on FB to some apple and puff pastry roses:

Not quite so successful but they tasted ok

And finally:

This was truly HORRIBLE!

It was a kind of cauliflower cheese, pasta bake.

What was I THINKING???

We ate in silence - when I'd eaten as much as I could stomach I looked at SD:

'I don't think I'll make that again' I said.

He looked at me - 'Promise' he said sadly ...

After months of moaning and groaning SD finally went to the doctor about his shoulder.

He has, after xrays and a physio session been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder.

After his physio I asked him how it went.

SD: 'The physio was really pretty'.

Me:  'Hmmmm .... !!!'

SD: 'I think she was really impressed with how strong I am - she even asked me to do my best 1950's calendar pose.'

Me: 'She didn't did she?'

SD: 'Well, no ...  but ... but ...  she said I was very manly!!'

Me: 'That's a lie isn't it?'

SD: 'Maybe ...'

Me: 'No ones actually EVER said that to you have they?'

Long pause ... and then, in a small voice ...

SD: 'No ...'

Update on the above!!

I may have misjudge SD after all - he got a letter through the post forwarded by his doctor from the physio referring him for further treatment in which she said 'Thank you so much for referring this very pleasant and charming patient' - SERIOUSLY??

Who has EVER had a letter from a medical professional that said something like that?

NOT ME!!

Looks like I may have some competition ...

A couple of weeks ago I was in the garden.  It was a really hot day and I'd been pulling up weeds and digging over the flowerbed ready to plant some bedding plants.

I was hot, I was sweaty, I was filthy and I was dressed in an ancient pair of cut off jeans and a vest top covered in paint.

Miss Mac came out to tell me there was a man at the door asking for me.

Trailing mud through the house and with hedge clipping in my hair I went to the door.

'Hi' said this impeccably dressed man beaming at my like a toothpaste ad.

'I'm your local Independent councillor standing for election  and (thrusting a huge television camera into my red and sweaty face)  do you mind if we film you?'

FB's Memories To Look Back On.

Finally FB have introduced an update that I really like!

Every day (well, on days that I have posted something in past years) I get a little message from FB telling me that I have memories to look back on.  It's fun seeing what I was doing/saying on that day up to 5 years ago (which is how long I've been on FB).

Here are some examples:

Fowers and chocolates are soooo last year. When someone gives you 369 pouches of cat food then you REALLY know you're being wooed!
Yep, worked for me as Tilly my cat had recently given birth to kittens on this day 4 years ago.

Finally I can wash the paint off my feet and the white spirit out of my hair - the dining room is DONE!!
That dining room seemed to take FOREVER! It didn't help that I decided to go for white over white which meant that I couldn't really tell which bits I'd already painted.

Just found the most enormous pair of M&S control pants in my back garden, am thinking they're not mine!!!!
This was the basis for my first ever blog post Today In My Garden

Photo Editing:

I love taking photos and I often edit them to some degree using a great photo editor Ipiccy.  If you like messing with photos then check it out, it's free and so much better than most

Generally I don't like photos of me.  I seems to pull weird faces almost all of the time or I'm standing at an awkward angle or SOMETHING.

SD loves to take photos of me and mostly can't see what my problem is with them.

SD took this photo of me a couple of weeks ago.  We'd been caught out in a shower and my hair was hanging in rats tails around my face.

SD said I looked beautiful.

Got to say the resulting photo which he took RIGHT IN MY FACE didn't really say that to me but, with a little editing ....  I used a Polaroid filter which, as well as taking all of the colour out also gave a slightly over exposed effect (blurring lines and wrinkles so a bonus!).  I then reintroduced the colour in a few places that I wanted to stand out.  My eyes, a touch of colour wash on my lips and my earring.

Finally ending up with a photo that I liked too:

Some photos don't require editing.

This is a tiny corner at the farm under the plum tree by the end of the barn.  The cow parsley has gone a bit wild and the late evening sun was catching the stonework by the window - beautiful!

Prom Shopping

Miss Mac leave school this year and so the big event (other than exams of course) is the Prom!

We had a look around the shops the other week so she could try some on and get an idea of what suited her.

The answer was EVERYTHING!!!

She's 5ft 8(ish) and a size 8 to 10 and so clothes fall really well on her, she's very lucky.

I fell in love with the very first dress she tried on:

For me, this would be the one!

But it wasn't quite what she wanted.

We have found the right dress and it was delivered just a couple of days ago and it's STUNNING - no photos yet but there will I'm sure be a post on the whole event in June when it takes place.

In other good news.  Miss Mac and two of her friends were presented with free prom tickets in assembly the other day as a thank you for all their efforts to raise money for the Prom.  They raised a record amount which meant that everyone's tickets have been reduced by £10 each and it was lovely that they were recognised publically for their efforts.

Carboot sales, Charity shops and craft markets are something else I love and we have had an abundance of them in the last few weeks but to tell you all about them would make this post far too long so I will save that for another post (or possibly it will go out before this one which I am writing as and when throughout the month).

One find I will share with you though.

I found these earrings (seen in the photo above) at a carboot sale a few weeks ago.  I have a collection of small flower stud earring and these were a really pretty addition. When SD and i spent the day in Paignton for the BMad bike festival we found a necklace that exactly matched them on a stall.

SD spent last weekend on the Quantocks.  The Quantocks are a range of hills that stretch for about 15 miles across Somerset right down to the Bristol Channel.  They are incredibly beautiful especially when the Heather is out.

Anyway, SD had been roped in to help with a Duke of Edinborough event taking place as he is one of the few people at the school that can a) drive a minibus and b) put up a tent.

The children had been given a list of things that they needed to bring with them.  They were dropped off several miles away from the campsite with a map and grid references and had to make there own way there carrying all their stuff.

When they arrived they unpacked.

Spare clothes - cooking equipment - bedding etc.

Except for one boy ...

SD looked on in amazement as he pulled out his phone (they had no signal - phone charger - no electric - ipad (ditto) and finally these ...

A pair of Highland cow slippers!!!

A boy after my own heart :-)

That's about it for this month.  Somehow I thought I'd be funnier ...  Maybe next month!