My Family & Other Animals

Friday 21 June 2013

"Well I Hope You'll Come And See Me In The Movies..."

Good evening gentle reader, I thought it was time to report back to you about the comings and goings of the last week.
Jo and I have been getting under each others feet lately and struggling to find something to talk about even. At the moment I am on sick leave from work so we are together twenty four seven and while we love each other deeply, sometimes you just need to get out, don't you?
We used to go to the cinema almost weekly before Jo's hip went but since then we have hardly been at all, there is the walk from the Car Park to contend with (the one we always use is currently closed until further notice and there is nothing near by!), the screens all have stairs/steps which she can't manage and even if she went up one level, then there is nowhere for her to put her walking frame!
I love the cinema so much and have missed going to the point of it being almost painful. After giving the dilemma some thought, I came up with the idea of giving The Kinema In The Woods a try. This particular cinema (which is in Woodhall Spa for non-Lincolnshire residents!) was founded in 1922 and still has showings of silent films accompanied by a pianist!
Going there was one of the greatest days of my life (I kid you not!). It is up there with getting married to Jo! There is a ramshackle Car Park in front of a beautifully maintained building (the cinema) and before you even get to the car park you have to travel down a tree lined back road which looks like it belongs in a horror movie! It only has two screens but I found that reassuringly charming but all of that is nothing compared to what is on the inside. As soon as you walk in, you notice the subdued lighting instead of the harsh daylight bulbs modern cinema's use. The smell of the place reminded me of my childhood, I still don't know what that smell is but I think it's a combination of really old seats (the MOST comfortable seat I have sat in for nearly thirty four years), the sweetie counter and happy memories!
Inside the screening room (not too many seats but enough for a decent crowd) there are old fashioned art deco style wall lights and the walls have been painted in the trompe l'oiel style with someone sat in a box seat and bunting everywhere. There is a Grand piano under the screen (complete with candelabra!) and the seats (while incredibly comfortable) are rather narrow for the wider rump.
We saw the new Superman movie 'Man of Steel' which I must report as A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. We saw it in it's proper format (i.e. they don't have a 3D screen) and the action and story are just brilliant. Henry Cavill is superb as Superman and in keeping with the tradition of using relatively unknowns he more than surpassed expectations.
So that's my week rounded up - a visit to the cinema - but what a visit it turned out to be, good enough to make my entire week seem busy (and one of those days was spent asleep).
My card is a piccie of Rihanna (taken from my Mimic Creations CR-Rom, available here) and I have tried to make it look like she is on stage. I used my Grand circle die to cut the card out and the ornate Grand circle for the backing paper (I think it's called Rouge de Garance!). The final piece was the umbrella die from Memory Box.
Hope you like it and I will be back again soon,
take care,
hugs 'n stuff,
Andy
xxx

Wednesday 12 June 2013

"Happy Birthday To Me, Happy Birthday To Me..."


 
Is it that time of year again? Well yes it is, the most dreaded day of my year anyway, I absolutely hate my Birthday and this one was no different really, I am now in my last year of my 40's but if that's not cruel enough I am also reminded that this is the start of my 50th year alive! So I now get a whole year of looking forward to the most dreaded of any so far. I guess I just hate getting older, especially when life is such a challenge already, I am beginning to really dread the future.
Having said all that, I have had a lovely day spent at home with my lovely wife and son and I have had two awesome pressies. Jo bought me the latest Magnolia magazine and 12 stamps from the latest Magnolia collection (I wonder how she knew I would like those!!) and Liam bought me a spanking new Blu-Ray player, not just any Blu-Ray though, this one's a Smart Blu-Ray player.
Why is it Smart I hear you say and all I can tell you in reply is that I am not really sure but I do know it is way better than my old one so I'm a very contented boy today (apart from the whole birthday debacle that is!!).
So as I got new Tilda stamps for my Birthday here is my latest creation and as you can see, I have made a gift/card, unfortunately I didn't have any plain white candles at home but at least you can see these ones eh! I have used Basic Grey patterned paper (using my favourite colour combination of yellow and green, such lovely cheery colours that at the moment are cheerier than the actual weather!!) on an 8x8 card with Memory Box dies (tree and adornment at the top of the card), a Magnolia die (fence) and a Cheery Lynne (grass). Flowers from my stash and the sentiment stamp is a Little Claire.
Hope you enjoy and sorry for taking so long to post again!!
Take Care,
Hugs 'n Stuff,
Andy
xx
Entered Into: Crafting With Dragonflies Challenge #4 - Make a Box
Diva's By Design Challenge - Happy Birthday
Fab 'n Funky Challenges #175 - Happy Birthday
Inklings and Yarns 'Inky Linky' Challenge #18 - Anything Goes
Lady Anne's Challenges #9 - Anything Goes
Midweek Magnolias Challenge #65 - Favourite Colours
Bearly Mine Challenges #90 - Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge #53 - For A Girl

Sunday 2 June 2013

"Don't Know Much About..."

 
 
Much really!
So, things I have learned (learnt?) this week;
My mojo has truly left the building, if anyone sees it then please call my home number.
Our eldest cat is an Evil Genius, so much so that she could be planning to take over Poland as we speak and we would be the last to know.
It's Summer, no Autumn, no Summer, no Winter, no it's Summer again!
Les Dawson hasn't been dead for the last twenty years, he's been hiding away in an ITV closet, just waiting for the chance to revive his career (and to wear the finest suit of blue Pixels money can buy!).
There's no Business like Show Business!
and no matter how hard I might try, I am incapable of being tidy, it's just not in my DNA.
Let me expand on the cat story for you. For the last FOUR and a half years Jo and I have had to live in a house divided.
When we got out two beautiful sisters (Jasmine and Willow), we didn't introduce them to our eldest cat, Georgia, properly and it has been pure hate from Georgie ever since. So much so in fact, that if given the chance to get into the same room as them she goes into full-on schizo mode and only stops when either Jo or I get between them.
To try and minimise the attacks we have had to put Georgia's feeding bowl in the bedroom and the kids (as we call them) get fed in the kitchen. In our Bungalow, the door to the living room has to not only be closed ALL the time, it has to blocked off at night by a tall DIY tool box with a stack of magazines on it (without the mags she can move the tool box by throwing her full body weight at it) and the laundry basket.
So that's the background to my tale. In recent months, Georgia has been turning up in the living room by running round to our next door neighbours garden and then coming into the house via  the kids flap. Fortunately this has so far only happened while the kids have both been out of the house and garden too, so she's been on a mission and it was to poor Jasmine's dismay she put her patience into good use and as soon as she was let out a couple of days ago, she literally shot round to the back of the house and got in through the rear flap, only to go mental on Jazzy. The sound they make is just too horrible for words when they fight, they scream at the top of their voice and listening to my baby  being so scared really got to me.
We have tried to contact Jackson Galaxy (of crappy TV's 'My Cat From Hell' - look out for it on Animal Planet) but have so far had no luck at all, so I guess we just have to carry on eh!
 
On to this week's card and I hope you like this lovely Nellie Snellen image. It is the first time I have coloured her and her little companion and I really loved doing it too, I used my ProMarkers to do it and the papers are a mix of Basic Grey and Papermania. Flowers are from W.O.C. and the sentiment is from Little Claire. I hope you really like it,
Have a great week and I will see you again soon,
take care.
Hugs 'n Stuff,
Andy
xx