Yummy...?

Let me show you a (so-called) gift from a (so-called) friend:

Mmmmm.... Skum Bananer, anyone?

HP8 isn't too sure she likes them ...

... and to be honest, I think I might be inclined to agree. (For reference, though, they taste more like hairspray than scum. Just in case you were wondering.)



Moving swiftly on; some of you were wondering if HP8 was going to be given a girl monkee name to go with her girl monkee nature (well, Stine was, at least). Personally, I quite like HP8 - it's sort of stuck. However, there are various other names we think would suit her too. So, my plan is this: she will have a day-to-day name, AND an official name (she is a thoroughbred monkee, right MM?). That way, she can use the official name at monkee shows and such like.


And now let's just pause for a moment to laugh wholeheartedly at that idea. Ha ha ha. (Don't get me wrong, HP8 - I think you are a queen amongst monkees, and I'm sure you'd win every rosette going if we were to enter you in one of these fictitious contests - but I just can't see it happening, somehow. Because 1) They don't exist, and 2) I doubt either of us could be arsed with it even if they did.)


Anyway, to get back to the name thingy: monkee contests or no, I think it's fine for HP8 to have a spare name; for special occasions and such like. Or just in case she ever takes up showjumping. So, we're working on it. I do have some ideas already, but need to run them by HP8 and see what she thinks. But I will be sure to let you know when a decision has been reached - just so's you know who to cheer for at the next Monkee Gala.


Ok, ok - I'll stop with that now. Sorry :o)


Happy weekend folks!

VCx (and Champion the Wonder Monkee*)


*please note: this is not actually one of the names we are considering. So if any nameless monkeys out there would like it... please, help yourself!

Oops

Apparently I have made a terrible mistake.


HP8 seems to think that he is actually a she. I was quite surprised to hear this, but she was adamant on the matter.



So, I stand corrected. My apologies.

A Girl Monkee

Meet the new guy

Today, a parcel arrived chez chicken from Monkee Maker's fabulous new Monkees 4 U shop.

Pretty paper!

Delaware was very excited, as he knew the parcel contained a new monkey:

The welcoming committee

Having ripped open the outer packaging, we discovered another pretty parcel inside .....

..... and we noticed that the new guy was bursting out of his tissue paper:

We took this as a good sign, indicating that he was pleased to be here and was eager to be unparcelled. Of course, it could just have been because he'd eaten too many bananas / chocolates / tea bags (please delete as applicable) - but we won't make him feel bad about that, if so. Even the chunkiest of monkeys are welcome around here.

But anyway, back to the grand unveiling:

Hello, HP8!

We were very glad to welcome him - not least because it means there's one more mouth around to help use up all the tea bags! Hooray!

Get drinking, HP8: there's plenty more where that came from.

And as if HP8 wasn't exciting enough all by himself, another parcel arrived too: a faberooney monkee beer mitt that I was lucky enough to win in Monkee Maker's opening-of-shop giveaway, AND some tasty choccies. Hooray again!

So it's really been a splendid day all round. Thanks so much for the kind prize and for HP8, MM; and to everyone else, I recommend you visit the excellent Monkees 4 U next time it opens its doors (if you haven't already), and get yourself a monkee. 'Cause you can take it from me: they're fun to have around. Just ask Del-boy.

Bessie mates

Where are my manners?

A while ago, I won a fantastic prize in a very kind "Birthday-amazing-giveaway-arama" from Sarah over at paper-and-string. I'm sorry it has taken me a while to post about this, but I have always been meaning to post some pics and say a big "thank-you!" for such a kind giveaway.

Firstly, I was planning to post a picture of the beautifully-wrapped parcel that arrived. I did take a picture of it. I know I did. Unfortunately, being the big eejit I am, I don't seem to have saved the picture anywhere - nowhere that I can find, anyway. So, I'm sorry to say, you will just have to imagine how beautiful it was - but take it from me, it was very beautiful indeed. To give you an idea, here is a picture of a beautifully-wrapped item I bought from paper-and-string, longer ago:

Anyway, when I eagerly ripped into the exciting parcel, here is what I found:

I love this pouch - it's so beautifully made, with lovely fabrics (check out the pretty lining!) AND it has a fantastic frog face on the front! Hooray!

I spent ages dithering about what to use it for (as there are always heaps of uses a girl can find for a little pouchy thing), but in the end, I think I have decided to send it to my Mum. I hope it is ok etiquette-wise to give away a giveaway, but if you read this, Sarah - rest assured that it's not becasue I don't want it; far from it, the selfish part of me does really want to keep it all for myself! It's just that my Mum is quite unwell and in hospital at the moment, and I have been trying to find things to take or send that might cheer her up a bit. She's a big fan of frogs, so I think she would like this a lot.

I don't want to harp on about Mum being ill - partly because it makes my stomach tie in knots just thinking about it, and partly because it isn't a cheerful thing and I'd like this blog to be a cheerful place. So I will just say that I apologise if the blog has been a bit mundane recently, or if I don't post at all - occasionally I have been all out of cheerful.

Anyhoo, to end on a cheery note (and for those of you who were wondering): yes, yesterday's post displayed my shiny new kettle in all its glory! It's not actually new, but an old one from my student days - it has been recovered from my parents' house and press-ganged back into active service (after I had chased out the spiders and given it a good rinse.) So, I say it's a 'shiny new' kettle, when 'tis actually neither new nor shiny. However, it works - which is metaphorically a truly shiny thing :o)

I'm off to put it through its paces now. But to Lauren (and anyone else who wishes to take up the challenge) I say this: the tea-mountain is only shrinking very slowly, so please keep the comedy tea-bag uses coming ;o)

VCx

A thing of beauty

I have nothing to add to this.

Happy weekend

Have a happy weekend, everyone. I'm not sure if I'll be around or not (I'll be very busy with the extreme paragliding), but I'll be here on Monday if not before.


And just in case you were wondering: savage chickens... vicious chicken... that's kind of similar, right? Well, I can exclusively reveal that yes, I do look just like the yellow chappies you can observe in the cartoon above. (I'm most like the one on the right of the water cooler. For reference.)

Various things

Firstly, an addendum to yesterday's post: there's something else I didn't tell you. Apparently, I forgot to change the time on my alarm clock, because yesterday morning I was woken up one hour earlier than I was expecting. Only then I forgot that I forgot, and so I didn't change the time, and was woken up an hour early again today. *So very stupid*.

However, the alarm clock has now been smashed to smithereens situation has now been rectified. Which means I can move swiftly on (because I know I was beginning to harp on a bit - ok, a lot - about things to do with time...)

So, the main matter of the day is this: some of you expressed as interest in seeing my spoils from the Llanfair wool shop.

Well, I bought two balls of this:

I doubt you can tell just by looking at it (particularly as it is such a bad picture - sorry - poor photography on my part), but this is possibly the softest yarn EVER. But then, what else would you expect from something called 'technosoft'? You could try stroking your computer screen to see how lovely it feels, but I can't vouch for whether or not that will work.

I quite like how it looks too, being sort of autumnal, but once I had felt it, I think I would probably have bought it even it was the ugliest colour ever. Because I could always have made it into a scarf to be worn only in the dark, right? As it is, I have no clue what I will make of it, and I'm a bit nervous about my first foray into fluffy yarn (I predict many tangles) but I had to buy it. Once I had it in my hands, I just couldn't put it down again; it was too soft. And it was reduced.

I also bought a small ball of something else, which I do have a purpose in mind for. But I'm not going to show you that one - you have to wait until the proposed project is finished (at my rate of knitting, probably next February!)

Also, one last little piece of news - the kettle is definately not well. It will boil water if pressed, but then it smells of burning, and makes a funny little noise even after it is turned off... So, until I can get a new one, I'm fuelling my cuppa habit with the good, old-fashioned, saucepan-of-water-on-the-hob method. It's not as good, but it's better than a dab in the eye with a wet fish, as my Gran would say. And she didn't get her first electric kettle until about 2004, so she would know.