Booking Through Thursday

This weeks question from Booking Through Thursday is: Paper or Plastic?

• Do you read e-Books?
• If so, how? On your computer, or a PDA?
• Or are you a paper purist? Why?

I have not read any e-Books and I have not yet been tempted to. Part of the reading for me is the feel of a book in my hands and the smell of a new book is high on my list of favourite smells. I love my computer and the fact that I can travel all over the world from within the confines of my home, but there comes a time when the weight of a book and the feel of paper in my hands calls and that means the computer has to be put away.

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Update on my previous post about my burn - the blister burst of its own accord and I now have an open wound that is very sore. There has been a huge debate in my house about whether to leave it uncovered to scab over or whether to keep it covered and supple. In the end I called a friend of my mum's who is a nurse and her opinion was to keep it covered, so that is what I am doing. Please pray for me for a quick recovery! I don't do pain very well, it is such a waste of energy, and hubby is getting a little fed up with me!!!

Anyway, blessings to all.
Daisy Cat xx

Pirates of the Caribbean

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End last night. Despite being just shy of 3 hours, it was amazing.

I have always been a fan of Johnny Depp, but if I am honest, I think Orlando Bloom shone in this film, especially the "kiss" scene, it made me go all weak at the knees!!

The weirdest thing though, was that the cinema stopped the film half way through for a 10 minute comfort break. I understand the notion, but the point they chose to stop was a little odd. The screen just went black and all the lights went on. 10 minutes later the lights went off and the film just picked up where it stopped. I have never been to see a film where this has happened before and it felt very strange, yet when you go to the theatre, it seems so natural!!

But for all that, it did not spoil the film. I do wish I had watched Dead Man's Chest before I went, it took me a few minutes to remember where we had left them all, but I soon got back into the story. Chow Yun Fat was fantastic as one of the Pirate Captains and Keith Richards as Jack Sparrows dad was hilarious and all the favourites were there. Everytime I watch any of the films, I end up wanting a Capuchin monkey - they are so adorable, but is it fair to keep a wild animal in captivity?

Anyway, if you liked the first two, you have to go see it, I loved it!

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Booking Through Thursday

Today's Booking Through Thursday question is as follows:

Parlez Vous?
I had an idea for a BTT question when I was taking a peek at one of my bookcases yesterday and spotted my old copy of the Aeneid in Latin sitting there. Maybe this question has already been done—but if not… Do you have any foreign language books and if so can you (still) read them?

The quick answer is no, unless you include magazines (well they are reading, sort of)!! Although I can get by in French, I really do not speak any foreign languages, never mind read them. But, I do have magazines from both France and Spain, mainly cross-stitch and scrapbooking, where to be honest the pictures are more important.

Not been on for a few days, had a bit of an accident earlier this week when I spilt hot oil all down my thigh! Now I have a very painful burn, with a lovely blister which I am aching to burst!! Keep being told off for thinking about that though, so am resisting.

Well, am round a friends house for the evening, sitting being very anti-social, posting on her computer, so will be off now. I can't resist BTT though.

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Running a business is not easy!

Twisted Vision Ltd was born in July 2004 and like any new baby it takes nurturing and loving care and attention to allow the baby to grow. Without any exaggeration, it has been the longest, hardest 3 years I have ever known.

We have had 2 different bank accounts, a huge bank loan and overdraft, 2 different units, 6 directors (4 are still current), numerous bad staff, and customers, and many, many, many working hours and late nights. But we are still here, when so many new companies do not make it through their 1st year. And, we are just starting to make some kind of profit.

So it was with some shock that we received a call on Friday from our, now ex, bank. They are withdrawing their support as we are not paying enough into our account! Considering we have paid more into our account in the last three months than at any time previous, we were a little surprised. When we asked how they expected us to now purchase materials to continue making a profit, in order to repay the huge bank loan and overdraft, the response was "well you can't". Well, I cannot think of any answer to that. Unfortunately the only way we could get the loan was to sign a personal guarantee, so if we close the company, we still have to pay, but there is nothing stopping us from going personally bankrupt if that happens. Drastic, yes; do-able, yes; but not an action I would like to take.

So Monday morning sees us trying to find a new bank account. We have contracts in place and more work booked in than at any time before, so here's to hoping someone else sees the potential in our little infant company.

Please pray for us as we try and jump this latest hurdle.

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Booking Through Thursday

Every thursday, Booking Through Thursday poses a question about books. Today's question is:

"It happens even to the best readers from time to time… you close the cover on the book you’re reading and discover, to your horror, that there’s nothing else to read. Either there’s nothing in the house, or nothing you’re in the mood for. Just, nothing that “clicks.” What do you do?? How do you get the reading wheels turning again?"

I have never, to date, not had a book-in-waiting. I always have at least three or four books "next in line" to be read.

I do, however, suffer occasionally from not clicking with anything I have. When this happens I go back to an old favourite. The Dark Materials trilogy from Philip Pullman, the Diana Gabaldon series, the Ayla books by Jean Auel or the Shellseekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. I have read all of these several times.

Failing that - I read a beach-trash novel. When completed, my brain is ready to go back to something that stretches the grey matter a little further!

To change the subject a little, a question to those who have read the Philip Pullman trilogy, are you excited about the Golden Compass film released later this year? I am torn between utter excitement and true fear that it won't match up to the book!

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Tuesday's Questions

On discovering I had absolutely no "oomph" today, I headed over to the Daily Meme website for some inspiration and found Tina's Tuesday questions, so I decided to have a go today. The questions today are all about Food.

1. What was the last food you ate?
Chicken and Pasta Bake in Creamy Tomato Sauce, topped with Garlic and Herb Cheese. (Okay so it was leftovers from yesterday, but it tasted good!)

2. What is your favourite food to eat for dinner?
I love Italian, pretty much in any form, but the meal I can eat at any time, no matter what, is Chicken Caesar salad with a jacket potato with sour cream on the side.

3. What kind of food do you refuse to eat no matter what?
Any kind of red meat, any fish or sea food, anything with indian spices, peanut butter, pumpkin and any form of berry (bar strawberries of course). And I don't think I would even try Jellied Eels, the look puts me off even putting it in my mouth!!

However, everything I dislike, I have tried at least once. I have little time for people who say they hate something, yet when asked have never tried it!

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Monday Melee

The Monday Melee, a Fracas Project
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The idea is to answer the following questions posed by Fracas.
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1. The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.
Ignorance - there is so much information available, about any chosen subject, that ignorance is unforgivable.

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2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.
Our governmental system. Need I say anymore!
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3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.
The price we pay for petrol.

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4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.
Baz Luhrmann - for his fantastic films, I have loved everyone!
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5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.
My ears - although I went through a lot of pain to get them so neat. (I may even tell that story one day!:)
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6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.
Gonna be selfish this time, a baby. I am at that stage in life when all my friends are starting families and it just don't seem to be happening for me. (Having fun practicing though. ;)
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Happy Monday and Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Back Pain

Well, what a couple of days.

Hubby got home from work on Thursday, doubled over in pain, having pulled his back, wait for it, walking down the stairs!! It is a recurrence of an old injury, in which one of his ribs detaches from the spine. It pops back in of its own accord, but leaves him in severe muscular pain. So Thursday evening was spent taking care of him. He did not go to work Friday, which is a big thing for him being self employed. But yesterday came and he was no better and was having real trouble breathing anything other than very shallow breaths, so I had to take him to our local A&E. Three hours plus later we left with him dosed up to the eyeballs in muscle relaxants and pain killers. Nothing major serious, but his muscles were in spasm. Just what I had planned for my Saturday evening!

Today I have the pleasure of my niece coming to stay. She lives in South Africa and is coming to the UK for a few months. At the moment she is staying with us for 2 1/2 months of that. It is going to be an experience - I have not lived with an 18 year old for some time! I just hope she finds work like she has promised.

I am going to leave you with a quote from Epictetus:

"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."

Something which is very easy to say, but very difficult in practice.

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday posts a new question about books or reading each thursday.

Today's is: Where DON’T you read??

Well the first answer that pops into my head is "nowhere", but as I start to think about it in more depth, I suppose there are certain places!

The first place that comes to mind is at work, probably because that may get me fired. However, I do always have a book on my desk for reading at lunchtime.

I also never read in the cinema, but that is probably because its too dark. I can (and do) read whilst watching TV or a film and am able to give you a run down of both at the end!

And I never, ever read in the car - it makes me very car sick, even just looking at the map!

And to be honest, I think that is about it. I generally have at least 2, sometimes 3, books on the go at any one time. I am often asked how do I remember which characters are in which story, but I just do. I read pretty much any genre, by any author, set in any time. But I cannot and will not finish a book that does not engage me by chapter 3. I think that 3 chapters is a fair trial for an author to prove the book is worth reading.

One thing I find very hard to understand is when people say they don't enjoy to read. Reading transports you into other worlds, times and places, allows you to meet new people, discover new experiences. What is there not to enjoy?

Blessings to all
Daisy Cat xx

Words!

I love words - English, French, Spanish - well, in any language really. English was my favourite subject at school. I also love to read - books, magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, the list goes on.

I have favourite words. Effervescence, giggle, bubbles - the word changes, depending on my mood, the weather or even the day of the week. I have found that most people do, if you raise the subject in conversation.

One of my favourite websites is www.dictionary.com. They offer a daily email giving you their word of the day. They send some amazing words, but 90% of them I have never managed to fit into an everyday conversation! I must visit this website at least three times a week, as I hate to not know what the definition of a word is.

This problem with having a love of words is that it led into a love of fonts, especially when it comes to scrapbooking. I have an uncountable number of fonts installed on my computer, but choosing the right one for a particular page has become a bit a nightmare. If anyone has any hints or tips on how they choose a font for any given situation, I would love to hear them.

I am going to leave you with my favourite word of all time so far: triskaidekaphobia. This literally means "the fear of Friday 13th" but has also come to mean "the fear of the number 13". As my birthday falls on Friday 13th in certain years (and the 13th every year) it would be very difficult for me to suffer from this phobia and still celebrate my birthday!

Blessing to all.
Daisy Cat xx

Monday Melee

The Monday Melee, a Fracas Project

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The idea is to answer the following questions posed by Fracas.

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1. The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.

Bigotry - I strongly feel that in this day and age, it is completely unacceptable to be so intolerant of another individuals beliefs or opinions. I am not saying you have to agree with everybody, but disagreement should be the starting point to an open and frank discussion, not the excuse to hate somebody. If you still don't agree, then agree to disagree.

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2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.

The creams that leading companies claim to make wrinkles or cellulite disappear. The Advertising Standards Authority have picked on individual companies in the past, but I personally do not believe any of the claims made. Please, grow old gracefully and have a face with a little personality.

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3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.

Banks! Need I say any more. I truly believe they have forgotten that they are, basically, a service industry and not there purely to make a profit whilst having no regard for their customer.

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4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.

My beloved husband - for sticking at his business, although it is going through a really tough time financially. He started the company to make peoples dreams come true and it has become about the £ label we can give to each customer and this really stings. But he is fighting it and when the tough time passes, he can return to the dreams.

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5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.

My eyes. They are truly the best thing about me, I believe. They are the darkest chocolate brown, with long eyelashes. But you can tell when I am starting to get angry, they go almost black!

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6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.

It would be very easy to go for the "world peace" answer for this, but honestly, I think my answer would have to be for each person to do one thing nice to another person, friend or stranger, each day, in a completely selfless way.

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I am going to try to complete this each week, but will honestly have to see how it goes.

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Blessings to all

Daisy Cat xx

Introduction to Creation Junction

Having contemplated a blog for some time, I have finally taken the plunge! How scary!! I do not even really know what I plan to blog, although I think it is going to be mainly about my crafting interests.

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These include, but are not limited to: scrapbooking - both paper and digital, cardmaking, dressmaking, patchwork and, the most recent addition, making jewellery. I dabble in various other crafts at times, there is pretty much nothing I will not try once.

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I suppose some info about me is in order. I am very happily married to my gorgeous soulmate and we have three very cute baby substitutes in the form of Sophie, a blue and white British Shorthair, Mini-me, a Bengal and Louis, a blue British Shorthair, seen in that order in the photo below.We are currently trying for a "proper" baby, although this is proving more difficult than either of us ever imagined, but the trying is fun. I do, however, have three wonderful godchildren of almost 9 years, 6 years and 20 months. They keep me busy, especially the 6 year old, who adores to be sat at my dining table with my crafting supplies.

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Hubby and I run our own company (with the assistance of 2 other directors), which has been the largest learning curve I have ever experienced. We set it up almost 3 years ago and we are still going, well just about. Balancing all the various aspects of running a company is not for the feint-hearted! If you have any interest in Customised and Modified Cars, check out our website - Twisted Vision. Even I enjoy the finished product and I assure you, I am not a huge car lover!

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Well, I think that is enough rambling for day one. I have no doubt that you will learn more than you ever wished to know about me over my coming posts.

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Blessings to all.

Daisy Cat xx