Airbrushed shots - Master Numpty and three women in a boat

Hi Friday peops

A day early cos I’m off to Devon for the weekend – and according to the Met Office Lee bay is under a wet cloud – what’s new? We’re determined to enjoy it – cos it has been a pooh week…

Last week’s rainy Friday continued - with much of the Midlands still under water – been the news of the week – well – century – luckily for Brum (apart from my thunderbolt) we got off lightly – those south of us didn’t though – as most of you probably know :-( ....Our SPICE bimble last Saturday just south of Evesham was called off tho’ Gary did try and get there….shame cos we were all looking forward to seeing him again after his vault-over-gate-knee-going-the-other-way-jobby - he apparently went into ‘Troy Tempest’ mode, got into his Stingray – then suddenly remembered it was only a car - and got marooned in Evesham!

Had a Mrs Angry moment – I do my bit for the environment y’see – last week popped my three bags full of hedge trimmings out to be collected – they were – but they in turn left me their two bags full of what looked like the entire road’s emptied green bags at the bottom of my drive….So I called the hot line and was promised it would be collected next day, it wasn’t, nor the next nor the next - even with calling them every night - then last night the nice girl said no calls had been logged and I’d have to report it as fly tipping to get it collected quicker!? So it’s OK for the Council to dump their rubbish - and then you have to phone them up – report them as fly tippers so they can come and collect it?

Two rays of sunshine shone through this week – for my two Lisa’s - first ray of sunshine was Lisa L has got a new fab job in Liverpool so can be near her man – and start a new life – with the girls – will miss her loads…. and the second ray is for Lisa W… aka Numpty who is no longer a Numpty – she picked up her Degree and can now put MA after her name along with all the other letters – in fact I think she’s got too many after her name so I’m going to put them in front – and then she can be known as ‘Ma Numpty’ – got a ring to it I think. Doesn't she look fab – she swears she hasn’t airbrushed them – I was told not to mention that-so I wont :-) To be honest, Ma Numpts, I’d be more worried that your good and evil consciences can be clearly seen on each shoulder – on the photo on the right - and I swear the one looks like the Loughborough weasel Chas?!

Talking of airbrushed photos – thank you Ken for sending the photo of us girlies on the boat in Ullswater – I have decided to put it on this week’s Blog and there is a prize for anyone who guesses the right amount of chins! You could’ve airbrushed a few of them out!! Hope you get us from a better angle in Devon this weekend!

Have a good un folks

Kimmie x

I took a beer bottle to the recycling centre, but they wouldn't take it.
They said: "This is the pint of no return."

Thunderbolt and lightning... very very frightening....meeeeee

Hello Friday peops

This week, I don’t want to be melodramatic BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been struck by a thunderbolt – and missed it by 5 minutes – yes folks – I was out – bimbling round Blakedown yesterday evening – and then had a really hairy drive in my little pink thing half submerged all the way home through a spectaclier electrical storm – turned into the Crescent, and it was like a scene from Diehard 4.0 (which incidentally me and Sue went to see on Wednesday – and apart from the fighter jet scene which was maybe a little exaggerated - was absolutely brilliant!)……

Anyway getting back to my thunderbolt experience – I have milked the 'being struck' experience today - built it up and built it up – as you do - to the extent that everyone in the whole building (and maybe even the whole NHS?) knew by lunch time that I’d been struck! I was blaming my current exciteable behaviour (get it… current?) on the whole electrifying experience, whereas in reality it probably had more to do with the fact that I had drunk copious amounts of coffee because I was up till witching hour helping my next door neighbour (I use the term helping quite loosely….) try to switch his burglar alarm off – as when I (or should I say we) were struck – cos we think 5 of us were affected – Pat’s telly went off, Stella’s went a funny colour?!? ....probably the wine ;-), Easton’s and Nicole next-door-but-one’s burglar alarms were both set off!, and mine was just killed outright – no messing about…..

So Easton had to come home from night shift - we tried everything – these alarms are very good – we now know what happens when you tamper with them – the ‘tamper’ alarm comes on – oh yes - so we were playing some very tuneful whiney noises – and the other ‘not struck’ neighbours were very appreciative – they kept peeping through their curtains and waving at us….anyway – had to put up with a very loud whistle all night – which is still ringing in my ears tonight….– and Easton got his engineer friend round first thing – offered to try and fix mine too – I was half way through getting ready for work – washing me bits – and then I’ve got two men in my porch – and you know when you’ve had a late night because you’ve been struck, well I wasn’t looking my best! Needless to say, I thought I had better text my boss – “House struck by lightning – might be late” and bless – really fast response back “OK, No Problem. C U later”… she’s not daft is she?

Anyway, despite my alarming end to the week, which has made last weekend’s rather soggy bimble in Herefordshire (see Ken left and me and Gail right) look quite tame now I am still in one piece – and it is still raining.. and the drive home from work tonight was quite bad – am thinking of getting some pink dinghy-style water-wing style accessories for the car if this keeps up!

Surely though this must be a sign? Someone said that a thunderbolt meant that the next stranger I met - we would both fall head over heels in love, so I spent the last two hours at work in a meeting staring at two handsome men I didn’t know – nothing happened – bugger! – so I will keep you posted in case it is going to happen this weekend!

Have you all have an electrifying weekend

Love from Kimmie aka Thunder Thighs :-) x

PS Alex – I know you will have had a great 18th birthday down under – and how exciting now – you can have a glass of plonk …………….LEGALLY :-)

PPS Did you see last week's little tribute to Alex on my Blog - have a peep - under this posting - for all those who like seeing embarrassing baby shots sent to grown ups :-)

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?"
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't dear," she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room."
A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, "The big sissy."

Happy 18th Birthday Alex :-)

Happy 18th Birthday Alex!

Hey there down under - am thinking of you today - as I think you are officially going to have a very long birthday - think you will have already started by the time I hit the sack yesterday - or today - whatever! And I guess - me (and especially your mom and dad and Phil) will be toasting you today - which is now your tomorrow - or is it?

I thought I'd share some of the snaps that make me smile and bring back fond memories - or should I say mammaries - as this was the first time I met you - 3 days old - and as usual you were hungry - when are you not? However - as you can see from this shot - you were unsuccessful this time - but mom and dad aren't laughing at you - they are laughing with you.... honest :-)

Just look at that first smile though :-) aaaaaahhhhhh!!!

You started becoming vain at around 4 months - but who could blame you - you were (and still are) gorgeous! I remember you being quite bright even in those days checking on your dad's attempts at sorting your nappy :-)

My mom and dad still talk and laugh about the time you landed in someone's lap at Cannon Hill Park - so this photo always makes me smile - as I think you still had your ice cream in your hand as you flipped over the man's head into his lap - acrobatic dance moves even then!

Then Flips came along - and you had a play mate!

You were also mad about exercise even at the tender age of three :-) so good to hear you are jogging with Esther down under :-)... Dave is missing out!

I also loved the birthday parties - your 5th was fun - here you are with your 'Beauty and the Beef' cake and then with your mom who was explaining the reason to a very tearful Alex why she wasn't simply 'allowed' to win the 'Muiscal Chairs game just because it was her birthday!! :-D

You had model good looks in those days too - and never posed for the camera - not much anyway......

I loved having you both stay over - you'd totally wreck my kitchen but baked some fab cakes which we would then take on picnic - and in cases of inclement weather would set up picnic in the sun lounge!

Then I'd pack you off to bed in the mad spare bedroom - and wondered why you'd never sleep with all those eyes watching you! Remember the pose we gave to the Evening Mail though :-)?

And now - here you are - all grown up - mind you if you're anything like me - you wont ever :-D

Here with my last photos - are you at your A' level recital when your dad embarrassed you by telling everyone how proud he and your mom are of you - I think if I remember rightly that night I was a little under dressed - in lilac!? Thanks Alex for all the funny memories you've given me!

Well, hope you are smiling today and not blushing too much - but just to say hope you are having a fabulous time down under - and I will be thinking of you today - and love you very very much.....

Your very proud bestest oldest mate and honorary Auntie......... Kimmie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

TGIF :-) Five day birthdayfest ends with Jagwaar journey

Hi Friday peops

Maybe Friday 13th wasn't such a clever date for going to the dentist - not too bad though - have had bottom deck front teeth built up - that's exciting isn't it? I'm a bit scared about eating anything hard now for a while as they could shoot off at any time apparently..... so I'm having Haggis tonight - think that's sloppy enough to suck between my teeth? Bumped into a fellow TGIFer in there - who was having bigger stuff than me done - so hope U R OK Gilly?

Last weekend's birthday celebrations started Fri. at Sharpie & Junie's - spoilt rotten in the eve - then after champers breakfast/cake & candles - left for home :-)

Sat.eve - with Sue - free tickets to 'Taste of Birmingham' (thanks Sharpie/Junie x)... - sadly after only one good sausage experience (duck) - from the Hyatt - yes sausages again folks - they do keep cropping up don't they? we then tried the steak from the Hotel du Vin - sadly we cut through the bamboo plate first :-O... and then the final straw came when we chose Jonathon's for the 'sweet experience' as it described the rich chocolate sauce over a raspberry and strawberry meringue.... ;-? ......well, Sue had no meringue - and our rich chocolate sauce was flaked chocolate in double cream?! So we walked back to the Bengal Chaa for a real Taste of Birmingham! They're having a laaaarf!!!!

Sun. - nice fruitful chilled gardening moment - hacked the bushes back - three bags full - how do I manage that with such a small gravelled garden? Alex flew off to Oz today so I waved at the clouds at 2pm - the neighbours get used to it! Then lit my chiminea in the evening and watched the sun set on my birthday weekend.

Mon. eve - Sue came round and we tested an olive and rosemary (fresh from Sue's garden) muffin recipe out from my birthday book from New Zealand - thanks Griggsies :-) and I delivered hot muffins to the neighbours, mom and dad and Sue - as she had to leave half way through the cooking to go to Weight Watchers :-D

Tues. eve was officially the end of the five day birthday fest - me n Sue went to the SPICE Champagne tasting at the MAC - Dave and Caron were there - they are TGIFers - newly wed - so rarely have time to open my TGIFs - you know how it is ;-) .... We had a lovely New Zealand sparkling wine - Hunter's Miru Miru - so we had the New Zealand muffins with it - and toasted you Kiwi's! Dave offered us a lift home - which was nice - but picture three tiddly girlies sat in the back of a very nice Jagwaaaar - trying to direct him the easiest route to drop us all off sequentially - poor Dave - he wont be offering again in a hurry :-D

And now a special mention to two pals who have had a pooh week - and let's all sing... thiiiings can only get beeettteeeer! Lisa all excited about moving into her new house in Stockport last Friday found the bloke still in there when she got there - plus a gas leak which he hadn't owned up to - and tho he apparently was on his way out... fair enough - he left behind every stick of furniture - even his bedding and toothbrush! Yuk! Three skips to take it all away! So then she moved into her aunt's temporarily and blew up her aunt's fridge freezer - oops - hope this weekend is better sweetie. Jenny has had a bad week too - tho it started so well last weekend with her being wooed by a Jump Jet pilot (as you do...) and picking up her new second hand car........yesterday it rolled down the hill (without her in it!) handbrake had failed, so Jen on discovering this sensibly parked it at the bottom until she could get it sorted - and a lorry driver then reversed into it - writing it off (and the car next to it too!) so Jen hope you're feeling better now?

I'm off now - supposed to be walking on Sunday - and guess what - yes - more rain......

Hope you are all well and happy....Kimmie x


Couple of jokes for Jen:

One day a blonde was in a car accident. Nobody was harmed, and she was still able to put on lipstick.
An officer comes by and asked what happened.
The blonde said "It was the weirdest thing. I was driving down the road when a tree popped out of nowhere, so I swerved to the left then another tree popped out of nowhere so I swerved to the right then another..."
Before she could finish the officer interrupted her and said "There isn't a tree here for a hundred miles, and ma'am, that was your air freshener swinging back and forth!"

A blonde was trying to sell her old car. She was having a lot of problems selling it, because the car had almost 230,000 miles on it.One day, she told her problem to a brunette she worked with at a salon.
The brunette told her, "There is a possibility to make the car easier to sell, but it's not legal.""That doesn't matter," replied the blonde, "if I can only sell the car.""Okay," said the brunette. "Here is the address of a friend of mine. He owns a car repair shop. Tell him I sent you and he will 'fix it'. Then you shouldn't have a problem anymore trying to sell your car."
The following weekend, the blonde made the trip to the mechanic.
About one month after that, the brunette asked the blonde, "Did you sell your car?"
"No," replied the blonde, "Why should I? It only has 50,000 miles on it!"

TGIF :-) Happy Birthday to me - stimulating week!

Hello Friday peops,

Well here it is a one off 070707 - and guess what YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY it's my 23rd birthday (twice?) See the cards - off Numpty & work colleagues - click on them to see the words - Nicole, James, Clare et al!! Numpty's is the forklift - quite appropriate - as we work a lot on manual handling issues! Nicole was very pleased that she got all the references in to my Monday morning ailments after my weekend bimbles - nettle rash, sausage injuries etc :-D very funny har har

It has been rather a stimulating week - work and social-wise... stimulating because I spent a clinical day with a lovely physiotherapist - Christine - who runs the FES Clinic - which stands for Functional Electrical Stimulation! follow the link: http://www.salisburyfes.com/- in a nutshell - we have patients who are limited in their movement - and after a bit of nifty sticking on of electrodes, threading a few wires through knicker and down trouser legs, then the flick of a switch - voila - totally transformed - the drop footers - sprinting - at one stage a young girl was pushed in by her partner in a wheelchair, nifty slapping on of electrodes later.... and she startled us all as she bombed over (on legs) to the other side of the room, leapt up on the examination couch to take a photo of one of our anatomy posters with her mobile phone! Talk about making a difference - rather a surreal but fab moment! If any of you are interested in looking into this stimulating therapy (serious offer) let me know and I will provide contact details.

Lots of e-stimulation this week too - Thank you to all of those TGIFers who have joined Facebook - I now officially have 13 friends - so there Nicole!.....tho I'm a bit dubious about one - cos I don't know him - I know I'm irresistible - but hey! So, it has been a fun week poking people and Waseem's son's the Two 'Special K's' have joined my group of select friends - I have some devilishly handsome boys on there I can tell you! I have one famous actress, an OBE and a Seychellian link - and I've had graffiti written on my wall - and James, who shares our office (and his wardrobe....) has been throwing sheep at his friends at work - yes folks - sheep - it's a strange world out there :-) I wont tell you what I saw him doing on Facebook at work the other day with his fiancee - these modern e-relationships eh? I can't keep up!

We welcome Claudia to our World - she arrived down under and over a bit (New Zealand) yesterday at a hefty 8lb 11oz - which I guess was rather too stimulating for Manda!?. Must admit I've been a bit blonde - I thought she wasn't due till October, but it's probably a good job she has popped out now - otherwise she'd have been about 5 stone I reckon! Isn't she gorgeous? I can't wait to see her in January.

Been lots in the news this week which has led to a lot of banter with the raising of security levels following the Glasgow car suicide bomb attempt - we can no longer refer to our therapists as Occupational Terrorists or Physioterrorists :-/ but what great news that the low quality NHS syringes that the terrorist doctors used failed to detonate the bomb - you just have got to find the funny side of the NHS using sub standard materials that actually benefit the wider public :-D

Well, best sign off now - I'm off to Sharpie's to be stimulated and spoiled tonight and then spending much of the weekend eating and drinking - off to the Channel 4 'Taste of Birmingham' http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste/birmingham.html show tomorrow at Cannon Hill Park with Sue - got free tickets - courtesy of Sharpie & Junie - which is fab -if the weather holds out - so may see some of you there. It'll be back to the Bridget Big knickers next week ;-)

Have a fab stimulating weekend :-)

Safe journey to Oz Alex - loves ya loads x

Kimbo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You know you’re getting old when the only way to accurately tell your age is by carbon dating.