Z is For... Zzzzz

And here we are - the final A to Z post.

Doesn't time fly?

Anyway - Z.

A tricky one - I had to think hard about this one.

And amidst my thinking I began wondering - why when, in comic books etc., do we show someone sleeping by using Zzzzzs above their heads? Or we say that we are going to catch some Zs...

If it is to convey snoring, after years of hearing my parents snore, I can assure you it doesn't sound like Zs to me.

The only thing I can think of is that you tend to sleep at the end of your day... so the last letter of the alphabet is used to represent the end of the day.

That's all I can think of anyway - there is probably a better and more historically accurate answer out there somewhere.

And with my brief theory about the end of the day and the last letter of the alphabet, I must bring your attention to this being the final post in the A to Z blogfest as hosted by Arlee on her blog Tossing it Out.

Although on Monday 2nd May (Or you could post on the 1st or 3rd I suppose) you can take part in the A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post.

So this it not really the end... it is only the beginning!

Y is For... YouTube

I decided for my Y post that I would tell you some of my favourite people on Youtube.
Now it took me a while... as I had to narrow it down from about thirty to a handful.

So here, in no particular order, are five of my favourite Youtubers. And then there are a couple more at the end that I feel that I had to mention.


First up is... Kandee Johnson.

Kandee's great. She does videos on make-up looks of all kinds - everyday make-up and costume looks - reviews, hair styles etc. She does all of this and she appears to be a really great mother to her kids.
She is also one of the really nice make-up 'gurus' that attracts 'haters' like I mentioned in my M is For... Moron post.

The next YouTube channel that I'm sharing with you is... The Joker Blogs. These are cool! Basically they are 'sessions' with the Joker whilst he is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. The people who made these videos are currently making commentaries for each video.

The video below is the first video in the series... however it isn't the original pilot episode - they remade it once they got going.

Next up is Lisa Freemont Street. Another YouTuber who balances her videos with raising her family. She specialises in vintage/retro hairstyles and make-up. This also includes some videos where she creates looks inspired by vintage/retro cartoon e.g. Wilma Flintstone, Tinkerbell, Cinderella.

This is her Brigitte Bardot look.

Now this is the last YouTuber that I'm going to post a video for and then the rest will just be special mentions - I don't want this post to be too long!

So this last video is by Secret Life of a Bio Nerd. She makes videos about all sorts of things - make-up, hairstyles, skincare, making clothes.
This video is the first part of a two part video she made about making fabric flowers to embellish... whatever you want to embellish.

Special Mentions!!!

So here is a list of just a handful of Youtubers that I thought I ought to mention - there are loads more out there that I could also list - but you want to go to bed at some point don't you? You don't want to be reading this blog post for the rest of your life do you?

• Lilith Moon - Mainly hair tutorials - she's really nice, you can't help but like her!

• Miss Budget Beauty - in a year she has made about 400 videos... and I am not over exaggerating. They are a mix of make-up tutorials and reviews of various hair/make-up/skincare products.

• Torrin Paige - Mainly hair tutorials (but she does other videos too) and her hair is really, really long. Just had to point that out... although you could have probably worked that out by watching one of her hair tutorials!

• Panacea81 - also known as Lauren Luke - she is the first make-up 'guru' whose videos I started subscribing to. Again she is really nice and she has done so well. She started out just doing make-up tutorials after she got requests. And now she has her own make-up range, a make-up book, she's been on TV, been to the USA. And you can't help but be happy for her. Well some of the miseries out there might not be happy - and Lauren is another YouTuber unlucky enough to get haters lurking around her videos.

• Sparkling Minx - and finally... I had to include this YouTuber because I would have been in big trouble if I didn't... she does baking tutorials... and she is my sister!

X is For... Xylophone

Now I know that this seems like I'm taking the easy way out by choosing xylophone for my 'X' post but I am actually going to tell you something that may or may not prove useful in the future.

I have known for sometime that the main difference between a xylophone and a Glockenspiel was that one was made of wood and the other was made of metal. But I could never remember which was which.

So I devised a way for me to remember this fairly useless fact (unless you are a xylophone or Glockenspiel player), which I will now share with you.

A Glockenspiel is made of metal and a xylophone is made of wood.

And the way that I remember this is...

A xylophone begins with X.

X is the letter straight after W.

W is the first letter of the word wood.

Simple!

W is For... Writing

Writing. Something that I should be doing right now but I'm not.

If you visit my other blog - The Life of Writing, specifically this post - you will see that it has been a bit of a struggle lately - and I can't completely blame the A to Z blogfest for this - it's not the blogfest's fault, although it is a welcome distraction.

I can sometimes tell when the writing mood is upon me because I start writing 'write' instead of 'right'. Unfortunately of late it has been the other way round.
But I am once again inspired to write - I'm getting all geared up for the beginning of May when (hopefully) I will start writing once again.

I have short stories to write, a novel to edit, my imagination is revving up in anticipation.

I'm getting organised, I'm getting serious. Here I come ready or not...

V is For... Volume

I mentioned in my O is For... Oil post that until recently I had been using all manner of anti dandruff shampoos to try and help my scalp - until I discovered coconut oil and jojoba oil!

So once I made that discovery I was free to choose a shampoo that didn't have the words anti, dandruff, dry, itchy or scalp on the bottle.

So what to choose, what to choose? There are so many choices, shampoo for straight hair, curly hair. Shampoo for greasy hair, shampoo for damaged hair.

But in the end I decided to delve in to the world of volumising shampoo. My hair can sometimes feel a little thin and look a little flat, especially if it has suddenly become greasy. Before my oil discovery I did actually try a volumising anti dandruff shampoo, which was ok but it didn't really solve either problem.

So far I have tried and tested three volumising shampoos, which I will now tell you about.

1) Tresemme Naturals Radiant Volume Shampoo

I liked the fact that this shampoo is made with more natural ingredients and lower in sulphates than other shampoos. I had to buy this shampoo online as it isn't in British stores.

It's not bad, my hair felt a little volumised after using it. However my hair felt a little, not tangled exactly, but you couldn't run your fingers through it without getting caught a little.

But other than that it's a good shampoo and as with most Tresemme shampoos it is quite a large bottle, so it should last me a while.



2) Yes To Tomatoes Daily Volumising Shampoo

This shampoo is even more natural than the Tresemme Naturals shampoo. I expected it to smell strongly of tomatoes... but it doesn't. Huh - go figure.

Anyway this shampoo leaves my hair feeling thicker and healthier









3) Aussie Aussome Volume Shampoo

This is the most recent shampoo that I've tried. Made with Australian Hops this one volumises my hair and my hair doesn't seem to get greasy as quickly between washes.



Trying to choose which I think is best is difficult. It is between the Yes To Tomatoes or the Aussie shampoos.

That's not to say I don't like the Tresemme because I do like the Tresemme just not as much as the other two.

Decisions, decisions.

If I was told that I could only use one of these three shampoos for the rest of my life I think it would have to be...


the Aussie Aussome Volume Shampoo.


This is just what works for my hair - we are all unique... and so is our hair it seems!

Random Quote #28

*referring to Sam Gerard*

John Royce: Is this guy crazy?

Cosmo Renfro: No, but he's a carrier.

U.S. Marshals (1998)

U is For... Urban Decay

I love the make-up brand Urban Decay.

I just thought I'd let you know. I don't have much else to say about Urban Decay other than I love their products... so I'll just show you my Urban Decay 'collection'. (Aargh! I used the word 'just'!)

Obsessed? Moi? Never! ;-)

I particularly like their 24/7 Glide on Eyeliner - which I have in several colours, as you can see.

I used to like visiting my local Boots to see if there was anything new, or to sample/test the colours. So imagine my dismay when they decided in their infinite wisdom to get rid of the Urban Decay counter. They kept a different make-up brand's counter (which I will not name but they probably know who they are). Oh yes they kept the counter where the assistants haunt the shop and leap on you in a completely different department when you are minding your own business. But they got rid of my favourite...

So now I have to order online if I want anything which does mean I can't test the colours on myself.

But I still love Urban Decay - and I haven't been paid to say that... unfortunately!

T is For... Traffic

This is an anecdote that I decided to save for this blogfest - Traffic.

It was a couple of months ago that this happened now.

I always take the bus to work - I usually walk it home but in order to walk to work I would have to get up earlier... and I like my sleep too much for that.

Now the local council in their infinite wisdom had decided to start roadworks all over the place (I would have thought that it would have been better to focus on one lot of roadworks at once - more men, get it done faster. But what do I know?).

Anyway because of this, traffic was likely to build up at that time in the morning, worse than it usually does.

On this occasion it got worse in that a wall on a nearby building site had collapsed and so the main road next to it had to be closed (the town centre was gridlocked for most of the day after this).

So the bus had to take a different route to normal - and when we, the passengers, realised this we became like rats off a sinking ship.

A small group of us approached the driver and asked if we could get off there. He let us.

And not a moment too soon. Had the traffic not have halted the bus and we had gone a couple of feet further forward we wouldn't have been able to get off. The pavement would have ended and the railings would have started and it would not have been safe for the driver to let us off.

And then we would have spent an eternity stuck in traffic until we got to the bus station.

I was about ten minutes late for work due to having to walk the last bit, however I would have been a lot later had I stayed on the bus.

S is For... Sewing

Sometimes I will buy clothes, whether they be brand new or second hand, knowing that I will need to adjust them to make them fit properly.

I also will keep clothes that have lost buttons or got holes in and fix them. However I recently decided to sort through my pile of sewing that I need to do and ended up with three piles.

The first of which isn't that bad.

The first pile of sewing is the items that I need to fix/adjust for my sister.

Only three things in that pile - two tops that need some elastic adding to them and a dress that needs altering.

This is the point where it gets a little scary!

The second pile of clothes I have consists of items that only need minor adjustments - sew up a hole, turn up trouser legs etc. Minor stuff.

Since I took this photo this pile of clothes has shrunk a little - it is now minus two dresses, a pair of trousers and a jumper which I have adjusted/fixed. But the pile is still fairly big in comparison with the pile of my sister's clothes.


But then there is the final pile!

This is the pile of clothes that need something major doing to them - a major over haul - jeans beoming skirts, taking clothes in and shortening them. More complicated sewing.

There are several dresses in this pile of clothes that need various things doing to them... and they have been there quite some months.

So I am declaring war on my piles of sewing - I will get it all done!

R is For... Reality

Reality is a place I tend to spend as little time as I need to in.

I know that I have to spend time in reality but whenever I can I go off in to a world of my own - don't worry they know me there! :-)

There have been numerous times when I have been walking along as someone I know has called my name. And it is only about 30 seconds after they have gone that I realise that someone actually spoke to me.

But then I suppose as an aspiring fiction writer I need to spend some time locked in my imagination - but sometimes I wonder whether I spend just a little too much time there.

Q is For... Quick!

Have you ever noticed that when someone asks or tells you to do something quickly. Or tells you to hurry you usually become fairly clumsy and you end up taking longer than you would normally.

If someone says 'Come here quickly! Come on hurry!'.

It is almost as though the signal between your brain and your limbs is cut. Then your fingers and your feet refuse to cooperate.

As they say 'more haste, less speed'.

P is For... Purple

Now I don't know if you have noticed, by looking at either of my blogs, but my favourite colour is purple!

I love purple - can you tell by my past posts? Purple nails, purple posters etc.

Anyway this is a short post about the evolution of my favourite colour - not in history but in my life.

My favourite colour used to be red - I really liked that colour. And luckily at school when we were split in to 'houses' (a bit like at Hogwarts but not quite as fancy) I was put in to the St George House the colour of which was red.

I realised at some point that navy blue went very well with my natural hair colour, and my favourite colour slowly became blue - most of my wardrobe was blue!

So it would seem that somewhere along the line I mixed the two colours together to make purple.

Nine times out of ten if I have to choose between colours, if purple is an option I'll go for that. Of course there are times when the sensible part of my brain chimes in and makes me go for a more practical choice but when the sensible part isn't looking purple is nearly always my colour of choice!

Random Quote #27

Every drop in the ocean counts.

Yoko Ono

O is For... Oil

Oil is good for lots of things, but I'm going to talk about the two different types of oil that I use on my hair... well my scalp.

For many years I suffered with a dry, itchy scalp - it didn't seem to be quite the same as dandruff but it was just as irritating.

I used various shampoos that were designed for dandruff and/or dry itchy scalp. They all seemed to work to begin with but I'd still end up with an itchy scalp a day later (I try to wash my hair every other day). Some of them seemed to be a little harsh on my skin

So I tried looking up other ways to treat my scalp and I found one - oil.

Now I use two different types of oil - jojoba and coconut.

Now the coconut oil I only use if I have time - I rub some in to my scalp about 20-30 minutes before I'm going to wash my hair as a sort of pre-conditioner - then just shampoo as normal. I use organic extra virgin coconut oil - it is usually better quality if it is a) organic and b) at least virgin if not extra virgin.

If I don't have time to do this then I just mix a couple of drops of jojoba oil in to my shampoo - make sure you rinse well though otherwise it makes your hair go... funny - it's difficult to describe - it's not quite greasy but it looks as though something is amiss.

You don't have to use an awful lot of either oil though - so although my bottle of jojoba oil cost me about £10 it is lasting me some time - I've had the bottle in the photo for about six months or so and there is still a lot left.

So anyway ever since I started using these two natural remedies my scalp hardly itches at all - it does occasionally but doesn't everyone's head itch from time to time?

This also means that I can use other types of shampoo - ones that are more suited to my hair than anti dandruff shampoos.

The wonder of nature!

N is For... Nails

I decided to have a go at painting my nails recently in the retro/Dita Von teese style that has been seen recently.

It is based on the way women painted their nails in the 1940s - the half moon was left bare.

However the modern take on the 1940s nail involves painting the half moon in a contrasting colour as seen on Dita Von Teese.

Now as you can see the usual practice is to paint the half moon white and the rest of the nail red.

However given the random nature and colour of my blog I decided to put my own twist on this trend.


So my nails are painted in two different shades of PURPLE!


Now my nails are far from perfect however I think that they aren't bad for a first attempt - hopefully practice will make perfect.


My left hand is neater than my right but that is because I am right handed - and even when I paint my nails one colour the left is always neater than the right.

M is For... Morons

*WARNING! THIS IS A RANT. I REPEAT: THIS IS A RANT*

A moron is defined as someone who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgement.

It's a term that I tend to use to refer to people that I see doing something very stupid. I am now going to give you three examples of what I see as moronic behaviour.

1. Buses - these morons tend to be schoolchildren. They stand at the bus stop waiting for the school bus to arrive. The normal non school bus pulls up. Picks up the non schoolchildren and prepares to pull away from the bus stop. And a lot of the time there will be a child who feels that they have to wait until  the bus doors close and then press the emergency button on the outside of the bus. So the doors open again.
Why? I can't understand why anyone would want to do that. It's dangerous for the people on the bus and the idiot on the outside of the bus. Although the other day I did see a girl stopping a boy from doing this - one up for the anti moron party!  

2. Email scams - granted I don't actually see these people. But I have received these emails. I get them supposedly from various banks that I don't have an account with, supposedly HMRC and even a share company (I must be going up in the world if I'm getting fake share companies trying to scam money out of me).
Again why? Your life must be pathetic for you to sit there making up emails to send out to people to try and illegally part people with their money. Or even worse unleash a virus on their computers.
Some of these idiots can't even spell! I once received an email supposedly from my bank about a 'possible account theft'. Only they had put 'posibile'... 

3. Haters - I have only ever come across these on Youtube but I have to say that they are morons. If they thought about it they would realise that they are in fact making themselves look like complete idiots. They tend to hang around the make-up 'gurus' (and usually the ones that are actually really nice in their videos), leaving hateful and nasty comments.
So let me get this straight. You hate this person so much that you sit and watch their videos just so you can say something nasty about their hair, make-up, face, family etc.
Their lives must be so empty to do something like that. What is the point? If I do not like someone on Youtube I do something astonishing... I don't watch their videos - I know it's extreme isn't it?

Maybe it's just me - maybe I'm the moron for thinking that the above behaviour is ridiculous and stupid.

L is For... LOL

LOL - Laugh Out Loud. But I am talking about when you really laugh out loud. When the laugh can not be contained a second longer so it bursts out of your mouth. Those random bouts of laughter that sneak up on you when you least expect it. They usually occur when you are walking down the street or when you are sat on the bus, surrounded by complete strangers.

For example recently I have found myself laughing to myself whenever I think of a certain part of Ross Noble's latest DVD - Things. The link takes you to the Ross Noble website where you can see some clips from some of his tours.

Anyway there is this bit when he is talking about that advert for recognising the signs of a stroke (I know it doesn't sound funny but trust me it is). Anyway there is this face that he pulls when he is supposed to be 'Frowning At Steve Tyler' (yes he is very very random in his comedy - trying to explain it is difficult, you really have to watch Ross Noble to understand).

Anyway so recently everytime I thought about that bit I started laughing - and it is usually somewhere public, where passersby think you are insane.

Who stands in the street laughing? Well I do and I'd rather do that than be miserable.

Another odd one is when you are walking along thinking of something funny and then realise that you've been wandering along with a grin on your face.

I like it when I really LOL! :-)

K is For... Keep Calm

I mentioned last week in my E is for... Etsy post that I would talk about some of the items I have found on Etsy.

So here we go - Keep Calm. There are now quite a few 'shops' on Etsy that sell posters like this but the first one that I came across and that I purchased my posters from was the Keep Calm Shop. This shop sells posters that are based on the classic World War II 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster.

But they print them with different messages on the and in a large variety of colours - but they all (as far as I know) start with the words 'Keep Calm'. As I will show you using the posters that I got.

This is the poster that I got for my sister.

Then there are the three posters that I got for myself - I haven't found an appropriate place to display my 'write on' poster yet though.

Two of the things I like to do other than write - shop and drink tea.

But there are lots of other options so do go and have a look.


And even just typing 'keep calm' in to the search box on Etsy brings up all sorts of items along this line. But the link above takes you to the shop that the posters that I have came from.

And no I haven't been paid to post about this - it's only my opinion.

Creative Blog Award

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Deidra and her blog A Storybook World for awarding me the Creative Blog Award!

And very pretty it is too! :-)

J is for... Just

I don't know why but I have recently developed a dislike of the word 'just'.

Not in it's adjective form - when you are just in something or something is deemed to be just.

Not like that - I don't like the word just as an adverb - I was just doing this or it was just like that. He was just this, that or the other

I don't know why I have developed this dislike - but it does come with its pros and cons.

I have realised that I use the word 'just' as adverb quite a lot when I'm writing - I still do. That is a problem when you suddenly can't stand the word.

On the plus side this does mean that whenever I feel myself typing/writing the word 'just', I stop. I think about what I want to say and either think of a different word to use, or delete it altogether.

 I hate the adverb 'just'. That's *just* the way it is. (ARGGHHHH!!!!)

Random Quote #26

*sitting in cockpit after pilots have bailed out*

Willie: You know how to fly, right?

Indiana Jones: Um no. Do you?

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

I is For... I?

I'm afraid that this is going to be one of those posts where the link to the letter I is quite tenuous.

I had no idea what to write about for this post... other than ice cream. But I decided to just write about I... as in me, myself - I.

There is no I in team - so for this post there is no team - there is only me. Granted I am the only writer on this blog so there not being a team isn't that unusual.

However the blogging community does feel like a team to me - all helping each other out, visiting each other's blogs etc.

This tenuous link for the letter I is now so thin you can see daylight through it. I suppose that I could go through the entire post and highlight all the Is, upper and lower case. But that would probably end up making the post unreadable.

I have been writing my A to Z posts in alphabetical order. Even though I do have topics for later posts I want to write them in the order that they will appear. I'm odd like that.

Which is why my link to the letter I is so flimsy in this post. But don't worry. This is not all that you will be getting today. It's Monday, so today there will be my usual Monday Random Quote post. And today it will be I themed.

See you soon!

H is For... Haribo

Kids and grown-ups love it so...

I am addicted to Haribo... well I'm not really... but I am. Let me explain.

Most of the time I can leave perfectly well without munching on Haribo all the time... except for the odd packet of Gold Bears.

Anyway as I was saying I live perfectly well without them. But if a seasonal version is brought out I become a Haribo fiend. During Halloween last year I ate quite a few bags of Haribo's Horror Mix (skeletons, frogs, spiders etc.).

And now as we approach Easter I have discovered the new seasonal Haribo - there are fried eggs and fizzy chicks... but the ones I can't stop eating are...




JELLY BUNNIES!!!














It didn't seem to matter what I did that first photo would not appear in landscape... so I gave up and ate the Haribo!

G is For... Groucho Marx

I may have mentioned this before but I am a big Marx Brothers fan - particularly Groucho, his character names and his assortment of insults that just roll off his tongue.

So I thought that for the letter 'G' I would present you with some of my favourite Groucho Marx film quotes.

Enjoy!



Is it true that you are getting a divorce as soon as your husband regains his eyesight?

Groucho, Monkey Business (1931)


*Talking to Tony (Chico) who is in disguise*  
Don't talk so loud your moustache will fall off.

Dr Hugo Z. Hackenbush, A Day At The Races (1937)


*After Tomasso (Harpo), who is in disguise, has been asked to make a speech*  
How much will you give me to set fire to your beard?

Otis B. Driftwood, A Night At The Opera (1935)


Rufus T. Firefly: Not that I care, but where is your husband?

Mrs Teasdale: Why, he's dead.

Rufus T. Firefly: I bet he's just using that as an excuse.

Mrs Teasdale: I was with him to the very end.

Rufus T. Firefly: No wonder he passed away.

Mrs Teasdale: I held him in my arms and kissed him.

Rufus T. Firefly: Oh, I see, then it was murder. Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first.

Duck Soup (1933)

 
Martha Phelps: Tell me, Wolfie dear, will we have a beautiful home?

Wolf J. Flywheel: Of course. You're not planning on moving are you?

The Big Store (1941)

F is For... Fragment (Consider Revising)

That is one of the most annoying things I find when writing. You write a sentence, a squiggly green line appears underneath it to say that there is something grammatically incorrect about it.

So you click on it and instead of telling you what exactly is grammatically incorrect with it all you get is 'fragment (consider revising)'.

If it is so clever that it can point out to me that it is not right then why can't it tell me how to correct it?

This is the reason why when I took part in NaNoWriMo last year that I switched off the spelling and grammar checker - otherwise it would have driven me insane! I was probably insane to start with, to say that I would write 50k words in a month but that would have tipped me over the edge!

E is For... Etsy

I just have to say I love Etsy... some of you are looking at me strangely...

Etsy is a website. And I decided that for 'E' I would tell you about one of my favourite websites.

So Etsy is a website that sells handmade and vintage items (and supplies for you to hand make your own items). It is a great place to just browse. Sifting through the different categories - in fact it is a bit like a jumble sale... only better!

Now obviously with some of the vintage items it is difficult to judge whether or not they are vintage as you can not physically hold them and check them out yourself. You are going on someone else's description and photographs.

Which is why I am going to impart some advice today for Etsy shopping:

1. Always check the feedback for the seller - see what other buyers have made of their items/service.
2. Check that they will post to your country - if it doesn't mention your country try sending them a message - some sellers will calculate postage for you.
3. Which brings me on to number three - if they do ship to your country without you having to ask check the postage. Some of the postage prices can be a little high and it greatly depends on the value/fragility of the item.
4. And finally, if you are like me, and enclined to go 'I want that!' and buy it straight away, add it to your favourites and wait until later. Just think about whether or not you really want/can afford it. Now I won't lie to you - I have missed out on items by doing that. But the world has not ended because someone else bought those shoes/that dress/that brooch before I could. And if there is an item that you want but you need to wait until payday - again try sending them a message - they will probably reserve it for you.

You can find some real little gems on Etsy - some of which I will tell you about in a later post - this time next week in fact if my calendar (and alphabet) is correct!

D is For... Dolly's Bags!

Yes I have had another delivery from Dolly!

This was my third order from Dolly's Bags - I love her bags as you should be able to tell from my posts on my first and second deliveries. If you don't know about Dolly's Bags already, it is a US company where 'Dolly' hand makes all the bags herself, in a variety of retro fabrics.

I was going to post sooner about this delivery but then I decided to save it for my 'D' post.

The first item that I ordered was the 'City' bag. Which is a cute mid sized shoulder bag. I got it in the fabric 'Rat Pack'. Isn't the fabric cool? Yes it is a bit much with the hounds tooth tissue paper - but the tissue paper's cool too!

The second item I ordered was actually for my sister - she liked the bags that I have and wanted one for herself so I treated her. She decided that she wanted a cosmetics bag... even though she doesn't wear make up.

But she couldn't decide which fabric to go for so I picked it and left it as a surprise.
I can't remember now whether this is a 'large' cosmetics bag or just a cosmetics bag without getting a tape measure out.

My sister likes baking so that is why I chose the cupcake fabric for her. This is another reason why I didn't write this post sooner as I didn't know where she had put the bag so I couldn't photograph it.

My third and fourth items were the same item just made in different fabrics.
They are called 'Rosie Scarves'. Dolly made them as they are easier to tie around your head than a normal scarf. A normal scarf needs folding and tying which can be fiddly whereas a Rosie scarf just needs tying. Simple!

And I love cherry print!

So that concludes the post for 'D'  some of delightfully delicious Dolly's Bags! :-)

Random Quote #25

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and go to bed at night. In between I occupy myself as best I can.

Cary Grant

C is For... Cary Grant

I promised you a bit of sophistication and here you have it - Cary Grant!

He was George Clooney before George Clooney... or rather George is a modern day Cary Grant.

And as far as I can see Cary was more or less perfect - lets examine the facts:

Tall - check
Dark - check
Handsome - check
Charming - check
Funny - check
Sometimes a little bit sinister - check

He'd have been a good James Bond wouldn't he?

Now seen as nobody is perfect (except me of course! ;-) ) it does make you wonder in what way was Cary Grant not perfect?

But maybe we shouldn't answer that question - maybe we should just leave him as he is...

By the way of the Cary Grant films that I have seen so far, which is quite a few, my favourite is Arsenic and Old Lace (however I do still have quite a few films to see).

Although one of my favourite Cary Grant lines is in the film His Girl Friday when Cary Grant's character says:

The last person to say that to me was Archie Leach...

Don't understand why I like that line? Or why it made me laugh?

Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach...

I Got An Award!

Yesterday Sylvia at Word Doodles gave me the Stylish Blogger Award.

I would like to give a very big THANK YOU to Sylvia for that.

Now I believe that I am supposed to now pass this award on to someone else... I'll have to have a think about that... a long think.

And then whittle the list down from every blog I've ever been on to just a handful. So ti could be some considerable time before I pass the award on!

B is For... Bad Language

*WARNING! THIS IS A RANDOM POST! I REPEAT: THIS IS A RANDOM POST!*

Well, long time no post! Oh, no wait, it was only yesterday. And I'm back already!

Well I was thinking about what to post for 'B' Day and nothing seemed to grab me until I finally thought "What the f**k can I post about for 'B'?"

Bad language - now on my blog I always (as far as I know) blank out part of of any bad language I feel I need to use (not all my random quotes are clean!) like above.

Mainly I use asterisks - t*h*e*s*e***t*h*i*n*g*s - hopefully I haven't just made that impossible to read.

But we can also use most of the symbols above the numbers and a few from over by the 'enter' button.

!£$%&@#~?+

I wasn't swearing then I was just demonstrating. In real life I swear occasionally for a number of reasons:

1. if I have just hurt myself
2. if I have just made an error 
3. if something has irritated me

I don't censor myself with asterisks or percentage signs - however if I am in certain company where I would not swear e.g. at work, in front of children... in front of my parents (it just feels wrong to use bad language in front of my mum and dad - no matter how old I am. In fact my parents feel the same way about swearing in front of their parents!).

So on rare occasions when I realise what is about to come out of my mouth is going to be bad... sometimes very bad... I end up turning it in to something else - "Oh fudge!", "Sugar!"

But I don't use those versions very often... you'd only get the p**s taken out of you!

So there we are, I've resorted to crude language already and we are only on the second day - tomorrow is Sunday so no post. But hopefully Monday will bring a little more sophistication - in fact I know it will.

See you soon!

A is For... Another Word For Introduction!

So we are off to a flying start aren't we? 'A is for another word for introduction'?!?!

I thought I'd try and be clever and just use a word for introduction beginning with 'A' and then just use this post to introduce the blogfest.

But when I looked up the word 'introduction' in a thesaurus there weren't all that many synonyms beginning with 'A'. And the few there were did not really fit - addition, admittance, awakening... they just don't sound right in this context.

But I'm introducing this anyway...

The A to Z blogfest has begun - ding, ding, round one! It is being hosted by Arlee over on the blog Tossing it Out. Well, due to there being over 700 people signed up for this blogfest there are several other bloggers who are helping to host - a list of which you can find on the aforementioned blog - Tossing It Out.

And all you have to do... Ha! I say all you have to do as though it is that simple! Anyway all you have to do is write a post each day in April (except Sundays) using the letter of the day as the theme.

So my first entry is loosely based on 'A' - as you can see from above it is very loosely based on the letter 'A'.

I'm hoping that some of my other posts through out the blogfest will have a less tenuous link than this one. They will be a mixture of posts on things I like, things that irritate me, and there are a few random bits and pieces thrown in there for good luck!

Be aware that my random quotes will still be posted and although they will be loosely based on the letter of the day there will be another post that day.

See you tomorrow - you will probably be sick of me by the end of April! :-)