Tuesday 30 June 2009

One of the best haircuts on TV at the moment is that of Sky News' Charlotte Hawkins. Her blonde locks are trimmed into a sexy a-line bob, shorter toward the nape. Here's her hair evolution.




Monday 22 June 2009

I'm currently loving the trend of thick, blunt fringes.

Here's my current favorite celebrity fringe wearers!

Christine Bleakley
Top bangs!

Lily Allen
Nice fringe and bob combo.

Gloria De Piero, GMTV
Fresh fringe today!

Helen Fospero
Five News' finest

Honorable mention for services to the fringe:

Georgie Thompson 2008

For all you Saturdays fans out there, here's a special treat from Frankie, a video showing how she gets her adorable quiff hairstyle.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Our second video of the week shows how sexy it is to shave a nape.


Thursday 18 June 2009

By the end of the week a lot of us are needing a good laugh, I know I do sometimes.
First another gem from my favourite cartoon, Vimrod.
And now a video. My son keeps threatening to make videos for our announcements at church, but i doubt he’d get any of our church leaders to do anything like this:
And yes, this guy is one of the leaders at the church concerned.

If you still need more laughs, head on over to homesteaders heart by clicking on the Friday Funnies banner at the top of this post.
Years ago, our dear friend Natalie started Friday Felicities. I say “our” because she was a friend to so many women online.
Natalie passed away on June 7, 2007 after a sudden illness. Becky took over hosting Friday Felicities and while she may not manage to post every week, those of us who participate now still consider her the host.
What are felicities you ask? Why they are things that make you happy! So, this is not a hard meme at all! Becky gives permission to use the graphic in this post but please load it to your own site. List your happies and please go over to Becky's to sign the Mr. Linky if she posts and link up with other Friday Felicities participants.
So, my Friday Felicities for Friday 19th June are:
  • Watching my Sunday’s Cool class realise that God speaks to 5 – 11 year olds as well as adults!
  • Sunshine
  • Rain
  • Friends
  • Incredible prayer times
  • Journaling
  • Encouragement from friends at Spark People
  • Weight loss (however limited, it’s moving in the right direction)
Saturdays singer and all-round hottie Frankie Sandford was sporting hair extensions as she performed with the rest of the girl-band on GMTV this week. Frankie has been growing her hair for a while since going short a couple of years ago.

This girl is 100% fit and I loved her with short hair but all good things come to an end i suppose...

I love watching the news. I've got no interest in what's going on in the world, i just love watching the female newsreaders bob their hair, an amazing trend, long may it continue. Here are some of my favorites.

Vicky Gomersall
Maybe my favorite bob of all time


Di Stewart
Has an even shorter cut now


Charlotte Hawkins
An amazing blonde bob, cut short at the back


Amanda Davies
A sexy look for the BBC sports reporter



Wednesday 17 June 2009

Cheaper Than Therapy
Heeheeee, Apparently, our local town crier is not strong enough on his legs to participate in the parade part of the carnival and has to use a disabled scooter thing.
But the real memories this day brings back are of this:

The samba band from my son’s school. He’s in there somewhere!
Here’s another clip showing their samba teacher. Bear in mind that they had only been playing samba for a year when they took part in this parade. And they weren’t even getting lessons every week.

head on over to Cheaper than Therapy for more fascinating photos by clicking on the Thousand Words Thursday banner at the top of this post.

Tuesday 16 June 2009


Ooops, I forgot to post my Tell Me Thursday last week, and since I did not post a Wordless Wednesday THIS week, let me tell you the story of last week’s photos. Last Week’s Post on Wordless Wednesday showed these photos:
They were taken when we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a weekend away at a pub/restaurant/b&b called the TALBOT at Knightwick in Worcestershire.
Those photos were taken in the car park and they are of giant thistles, not normal sized ones. I had NEVER seen thistles that size before and the colours were beautiful and they were just growing as weeds in the car park.
The Talbot is right next to the river Teme, and when hubby and I went for an evening stroll, we stood on a small bridge over the river and watched two swans swimming around. As we stood there, watching these swans we saw something else neither of us had seen before, and have not been privileged to see since either. We watched for a good 10 minutes as a kingfisher dipped in and out of the banks of the river, flying this way and that, it was beautiful!
Neither of those were the best thing about the weekend however, because the Talbot is famous for its food.
A unique style has developed; Annie is firmly rooted in the traditions and seasonal produce of the Teme Valley, and strongly believes that anything that cannot be produced on the premises should come from a known local source e.g. hams, bacon, sausages and cheese.
We believe food should have an identifiable character, be distinctive and prepared with thought for both the ingredients and the customer.
We produce and make our own preserves, breads, black pudding and raised pies. We grow 'chemical free' vegetables and herbs and brew beer on the premises; mixed and green salads also come from our own garden. We glean and gather wild food from the fields and hedgerows around us and buy in no processed food. This is labour intensive and means high costs, but we think the results are worth it.
The only exception to our 'local' rule is fish - we have fresh deliveries from Cornwall and Wales regularly.

When we were there one of the local farmers had found a puffball mushroom and we were lucky enough to have a piece as part of our cooked breakfast.
I’d love to go back there again!
If you participated in Wordless Wednesday and would like to share the story of your photo, head on over to Tell Me Thursday and share your link.
TESCO CLUBCARD POINTS
We usually shop at one of two main supermarkets.  We stick mainly to own brand and budget brand products and that works for us on keeping our budget down.
One of the two supermarkets has a loyalty points card.  we often do a large shop from there, via their online shopping service with home delivery.  We probably use this about twice a month.
Through our loyalty card membership we often get vouchers for extra points when buying certain items.
I ONLY buy them if they are items we will really use AND I work out the value of the points to me and consider that in my decision when it something a little more expensive than I would normally purchase.
You see, you can use your points for deals.
I used to just collect my points up and spend the vouchers in store, 100 points equalled £1 to spend.  More recently they have started to offer to double your vouchers for buying certain items, so I can make my 100 points into £2 to spend on wine, clothes or certain other things.
BUT MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN THAT is to use the vouchers to buy deals tokens.  100 points buys £4 of deals tokens.  They have a deals website or a printed brochure where you can see what you can spend your deals tokens on.
There are so many options from dry cleaning, to books, and magazine subscriptions, from Amusement park entrance to car breakdown cover and all sorts of things in between.  Every year we pay for our car breakdown cover with these tokens, something that would normally cost us over £100.  We also have enough each year to have a meal out, and indeed these tokens are paying for my eldest son’s 18th birthday family dinner in 3 weeks time.
This post is being linked to:
If you want to read more hints and tips, head over to We Are That Family by clicking on the Works For Me Wednesday banner above.
If you want to read more frugal tips head on over to Life as mom by clicking on the the Frugal Fridays banner above.

13 books in Mt TBR
(that would be mount To Be Read)
The last 3 are actually Re-reads, but so good I DO want to read them again.
  1. Songs in the Key of Solomon by Anita and John Renfroe
    Ladies, are you tired of trying to engage your man in something he is reluctant to do? Let’s face it: husbands are not normally seen running to bookstores to buy a couple’s devotional. And guys, are you tired of feeling like the term “devotional” is code for “boring? You may be thinking, Please, not one more thing to check off my daily to-do list. Plus, you and your wife have different views on what intimacy is all about, right?
    If either of you is wondering if you’re living more with your “roommate” than your “soulmate,” then this devotional can help you meet on common ground and discover each other in new ways. You won’t even need an alarm clock to wake you when your “devotional time” is finished. Filled with insights from a real couple on real issues, Songs in the Key of Solomon will get you and your spouse laughing, thinking, sharing, touching, and praying – possibly all during the same reading.
    Each offering in this devotional is designed to spark connections around issues that matter, so you’ll deepen your emotional, spiritual, and physical unity and ignite new levels of intimacy. (One devotional involves a bathtub and some candles...try not to get stuck on that one page over and over again.) Here is an invitation to hear the music in your marriage – maybe for the first time…or maybe once again.

  2. Falling in Love with Prayer by Mike Macintosh
    Few things change a person's life like falling in love. And now, one of our nation's most dynamic pastors will help readers fall in love with prayer—and with their Creator! Mike MacIntosh offers personal experiences and powerfully directed biblical truths about the power of prayer. The book itself is designed to be enjoyable, informative and applicable and is a true call to intimacy with God. Be prepared to be changed forever!

  3. The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney
    This expanded edition of the original best-seller includes a daily devotional for personal reflection and a study guide.
    A God chaser is a person whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible in hopes that the uncatchable might catch him. A child chases a loving parent until, suddenly, the strong arms of the father enfold the chaser. The pursuer becomes the captive; the pursued the captor. Paul put it this way: I chase after that I may catch that which has apprehended me (Phil. 3:12).
    The passionate paths of God chasers can be traced across the pages history from Moses the stutterer, David the singer, and Paul the itinerant preacher, to contemporaries like A.W. Tozer, Leonard Ravenhill, and countless others who share one common bond: an insatiable hunger to know their Lord.

  4. Get a (Spiritual) Life by Kim Wier
    In the 31-day "devotional life" format of her first book, Are You Talking to Me?, Kim Wier brings into zany focus her world as a busy carpool mom, helping you to identify with her daily adventures and draw out nuggets of spiritual truth from your own life experiences. The best humor taps into the deepest truth. This unique devotional is fun to read and genuinely inspiring. It will help you sort through your daily distractions to find spiritual purposes in each day.

  5. Getting Your Family On Your Side by Neva Coyle
    This book shows how a dieter's family and close friends influence weight-management's successes and failures. Recent expanding research is showing the direct relationship between the interdependency of families and compulsive behavior at all levels, particularly in the area of weight management. Many dieters find their best efforts being sabotaged from several directions within their own families. Beyond helping dieters recognize the influence of those closest to them, the authors believe that families and friends can be trained to be the dieter's first support group through honest communication, forgiveness and re-education. Practical principles and creative ways to enlist a family's consistent help are presented.

  6. Walking the Walk by Leslie Sansone
    #1 bestselling fitness guru Leslie Sansone teaches readers how to use their Christian faith to inspire fitness, and fitness to strengthen faith.In response to innumerable requests from her fans, Leslie Sansone provides a long-awaited faith-based exercise program that shows readers how to break free of bad mental and physical habits and create a life of health and fulfillment.
    This easy-to-follow 30-day program encourages readers to walk every day to build stamina and burn calories with daily reflections on scriptural quotes that reaffirm a spiritual commitment to physical health, Fit Facts on weight loss and nutrition, and testimonies from some of the millions of women who have successfully walked off the pounds with Leslie. Presented in an appealing and approachable style, WALKING THE WALK is a tool readers will truly use.

  7. Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg
    There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise for the baker who took on such a time-consuming task. Now, you can fill your kitchen with the irresistible aromas of a French bakery every day with just five minutes of active preparation time, and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will show you how.
    With nearly 100 recipes to put this ingenious technique to use, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will open the eyes of any potential baker who has sworn off homemade bread as simply too much work. Crusty baguettes, mouth-watering pizzas, hearty sandwich loaves, and even buttery pastries can easily become part of your own personal menu, and this innovative book will teach you everything you need to know.

  8. How to Store Your Garden Produce by Piers Warren Learn simple and enjoyable techniques for storing your produce and embrace the wonderful world of self-sufficiency. In the A-Z list of produce, each entry includes recommended varieties, suggested methods of storage, and a number of recipes. Everything from how to make your own cider and pickled gherkins to how to string onions and dry your own apple rings. You will know where your food has come from, you will save money, there will be no packaging, and you'll be eating tasty local food while feeling very good about it!

  9. You've Got to Be Kidding, I Thought This Was the Great Tribulation!: How to Stay Saved When You Are Going Through the Fire by Cathy Lechner
    In her own special style, Cathy addresses times when only God's grace and a good laugh will help you get through. She writes of times when going back is not an option, and when staying where you are is intolerable. Times when you need answers, and you ache to hear a word from Heaven. Times, like the day, when for her, nothing was funny anymore.
    And while trials and tribulations are not funny, Cathy manages to bring balance to serious subjects, while helping to lift the reader's spirit with fun titles like: Where He leads me, I will follow...as long as there is room; What to do when you want to give up and eat chocolate, and I'm almost positive God just wanted to see if I was willing!
    She also goes straight to the heart of the tribulation issue when she asks: Are you a victim or victor?; Do you know that God loves a nobody?; and Will I find faith?

  10. Balcony People by Joyce Landorf Heatherly
    Some people are in the "balcony" of your life, cheering you on, energizing you with their affirmation. Others are in your "basement" doing exactly the opposite. This book is about being a "balcony person."
  11. The Father You’ve Been Waiting For by Mark Stibbe
    Mark Stibbe points the reader to a story Jesus told over 2,000 years ago which demonstrates the qualities of a perfect dad. More than that the story paints the clearest picture of what Jesus thought God is really like. The book is a source of hope for people of all ages and beliefs. It provides a wonderfully accessible introduction to the Father you’ve been waiting for and contains many new insights into a story loved by millions and known as ‘the parable of parables’.

  12. Anyone Can Tell A Story by Bob Hartman
    In this engaging and very personal book, Bob Hartman shares the wisdom he has acquired during his many years as a storyteller, working with everything from one-to-one sharing at bedtime to interactive storytelling for large groups. Bob first explains his philosophy about the power of stories to communicate truths and values, especially to children. He then gets down to the nitty-gritty of storytelling, concentrating mainly on how to retell stories from a variety of sources, and including ideas to help the reader spin their own tales to tell aloud.
    The book is full of useful tips on how to adapt storytelling to particular situations, using crowd control and audience participation to suit the size of the group and its setting. Bob also includes a wonderful selection of stories he has adapted especially for reading aloud.

  13. Hope Rising by Kim Meeder
    Kim Meeder has seen horses go where no one else can tread - stepping through the minefield of a broken child's soul in a dance of trust that only God can understand. From a mistreated horse to an emotionally starved child and back again, a torrent of love washes away their barren places. Kim's ranch is a place where this miracle happens over and over again. It is a place where the impossible flourishes, where dreams survive the inferno of reality - a place where hope rises.
If you want to read more Thursday 13 posts, head on over to Happy To Be At Home by clicking on the Thursday 13 banner at the top of this post.
And then over to Thursday 13 by clicking on that banner as well!
Which is best, before or after? you decide!

Hayden Panettiere
Long hair to bob. Got to be the cute bob for me!



Victoria Beckham
Bob to pixie. God I loved that bob on her.



Gemma Atkinson
Beautiful with long and short hair.




Monday 15 June 2009

 
Sadly this week’s post is a little bereft because I don’t have a photo of the actual animal concerned to show you, it just never occurred to me at the time to get my camera.
This week I learned, that right here in the middle of a town we do have hedgehogs, because there was one in my garden.
We had just come home from church and youngest (14) went out into the garden and the next thing I hear is him shouting “hedgehog”.  I had to double check what he had said and then went out to investigate.
Sure enough, hiding behind our compost bin was a fairly decent sized hedgehog.  I was a bit concerned about it being out and about in the middle of the day, especially such a hot day.  We decided that since it was in the shade and such a large specimen we would leave it alone and see what happened.
Pretty soon it had disappeared.
Later, on searching the net, I discovered the following:
  • Any hedgehog seen out in daylight will need URGENT help
  • Hedgehogs do NOT lie out sunbathing
  • Any cut or wound is urgent
  • Any hedgehog with flies on it or maggots crawling on it needs VERY Urgent help
  • Any Hedgehog limping or walking strangely needs help
  • Anything that looks very thin or wobbly or has bald patches or missing spines
  • If you see a baby hedgehog or any small hedgehog weighing less than about 500 grams, that is about the size of a large orange or small grapefruit, at ANY time, whether day or night, that is out on its own, pick it up, pop it into a box with food and water and contact us or your local rescue centre for help and advice.
However, none of the other websites I looked at said that about ANY hedgehog seen in daylight, and this one was definitely not underweight or injured, and so I am not going to worry too much. He’s disappeared now, and we only have a tiny garden (yard) with nowhere for it to hide.  My guess is it’s nesting somewhere near by and had been disturbed.
I also think the hedgehog may well have been the mystery intruder into our raised bed for the veggies, rather than one of the neighbours cats.  hmmm, in the absence of a night vision camera, I guess we’ll never know for sure.

Talk About Tuesday is a blog carnival where we all write a post of something we want to share or talk about and link them all together on the lazy organizer’s blog. It’s a great way to get to know other bloggers and make connections in the blogosphere.
- - - - - - - - - -
After last week’s story telling, I thought I’d share the links to some of my other stories.
First, the story of Abraham and Sarah, in verse, as written by someone whose name I should remember but can’t.  I’ve been doing this one for years.
Abraham.wma

Then we have the story of Dr Good and the Strangers as written by Bob Hartman
Dr Good and the St...

Finally for today we have a story which I would suggest you do not play for young ears without previewing first, it’s not a kids story, this one is for grown ups.
The Meat of the tongue as told by Anamation.
Meat of The Tongue...

Later in the week, I MIGHT share the story of Tattercoats, but that is a long story so I’ll keep it to a post on it’s own.
If you want to read more talk about it posts, or even participate yourself, head on over to the lazy organizer by clicking on the talk about it Tuesday banner at the top of this post.
XBOX Wife Ten Things Tuesday
10 things Tuesday is a weekly reminder to stop and be thankful and share that on your blog. So, what 10 things are you thankful for today?
  1. For a fantastic week last week with old friendships renewed and new friendships beginning to grow.
  2. Bananas (there’s a story to that one).
  3. God speaking to my Sunday’s Cool class this weekend.
  4. For compliments received.
  5. For a less busy week this week.
  6. Hopefully friends are coming over for dinner at some point.
  7. Veggies are growing nicely.
  8. Replies coming in for son’s 18th Blessing.  Some can’t make it, but some can.  Hopefully enough to make it worth while.
  9. Table booked for son’s 18th birthday dinner with family.  TAPAS!
  10. Every morning that I wake up!
If you want to participate in 10 things Tuesday, go visit X-Box Wife by clicking on the Ten Things Tuesday banner at the top of this post.

Sunday 14 June 2009

Anyone else like ponytails? Thought so! Here are some of my favorites.

Friday 12 June 2009

A classic Youtube clip for all haircut fans. enjoy this bob haircutting.

Something I love to see is the changing of a persons hairstyle over time, seeing luscious long locks getting gradually shorter or dramatic makeovers on people you never thought would change their hair.

The first person I'm going to feature is the former Steps singer Claire Richards, who has sported some of my all time favorite hairstyles from pixie short to sleek and long. Enjoy this chronological series.