Sunday 29 April 2012

Tea and cake in kings lynn






Poor old Ben.

He's so sweet because sometimes he does girly stuff to make me happy.

This extends to eating tea and cake in an entirely pink tearoom with vintage table cloths and tea served in cute little mugs with saucers.

Bless him.

He did get a rather massive slice of cake out of it though.

This cafe amused me massively- there were 2 or 3 couples in there when we arrived, all the men looked stupidly awkward- ben just got stuck in- no airs or graces!
:D
xx

Kings Lynn walk number 50 (1/54)



I got the Coast walking book for christmas so Traff and I are trying to complete all the walks- we didn't do very well in kings lynn as we kinda did the walk backwards which resulted in us getting lost.

This is the wife taking over the navigating after I got us down a dead end behind the tourist information center.


Boarded up windows- what a cool idea?!


This is how our front room will look soon! damn the aquarium.


Nelson and I


Nelson and Traff


We picked an ace day for it- it peed down all day and was miserable- but we enjoyed ourselves!


Stone compus.



The Church looking pretty and blossomy- the tower has a dial that shows the waxing and wayning of the mood- which I think is awesome- although you can't see it here.


We went to the gaol house museum- because it was cold and rainy outside and because it looked cool-it was a nice little museum that starts off with the old police station set up like the 1930s where you can do your fingerprints and then goes back through time.
different punishments and some bits on prison reform.




Our mystery tour took us to this record shop- they had nirvana picture disks on the wall and some old and rare records- as well as an ace selection of more modern/ easily obtainable records- and the guy running the shop was lovely!


Medieval remains of the greyfriars tower!
feel free to read on:



meeeeee, dressed for dryness and warmth.



Thursday 26 April 2012

machines

How cool are these?!
they come as kits and you construct them yourself...like a weird 3D jigsaw puzzle.




but cooler because they have hydraulics.

Did I tell you my joke?

Whats the difference between a giraffe and a JCB?...

....one has hydraulics and the other one has high bollocks.

:D

Why Icecream gives you brainfreeze- yahoo


Scientists think they know why eating something frozen such as an ice lolly or ice cream can cause a sudden excruciating headache, often called brain freeze.
That ice cream headache, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia as it is known to scientists, is caused by changes in the blood flow in the brain when chilled foods quickly come into contact with the mouth's upper palate, according to a new study.
Previous research has found that migraine sufferers are more prone to brain freeze than others who don't get migraines, suggesting that the two types of headache might have some type of common mechanism. Studying how brain freeze occurs may give new insights into the mechanisms behind other types of headaches such as migraines, and could lead to new treatments for them, the researchers said.

In the study, scientists from the National University in Galway and Harvard Medical School deliberately induced brain freeze in 13 healthy volunteers by asking them to sip ice water through a straw pressed against their upper palate. The experiment was also repeated using water at room temperature.
As the volunteers did this, the researchers monitored the blood flow in the brain arteries using transcranial Doppler - a type of ultrasound.
The volunteers were asked to raise their hand when they experience the pain of brain freeze, and to do so again when the pain receded.
The ultrasound revealed that one artery in particular, called the anterior cerebral artery, dilated rapidly and flooded the brain with blood when the volunteers felt pain. Soon after the dilation occurred, the same blood vessel constricted as the volunteers pain receded.
The researchers said that the dilation and constriction of the cerebral artery may be a type of self-defence mechanism for the brain in response to severe cold.
"The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time," said study co-author Jorge Serrador of Harvard Medical School.
"It's fairly sensitive to temperature, so vasodilation might be moving warm blood inside tissue to make sure the brain stays warm."
But because the skull is a closed structure, the sudden influx of blood could raise pressure and induce pain. And when the blood vessels start constricting again, it may be a way to bring pressure down in the brain before it reaches dangerous levels, Dr Serrador said.
He added that similar alterations in blood flow could be at work in migraines, post traumatic headaches, and other headache types.
If further studies confirm the research, then drugs that block the sudden dilation of these blood vessels or others that prevent them from restricting may help to treat these types of headaches.
The study findings were presented at the meeting Experimental Biology 2012 in San Diego.

Hand cream recipies


Almond Hand Cream Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of beeswax 
1/2 cup of almond oil 
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of rosewater 

Directions:
Heat 1/4 cup of beeswax slowly in a double boiler. Add 1/2 cup of almond oil to the melted beeswax. Stir in 1/2 cup of coconut oil. Mix in 1/4 cup of rosewater and stir until thoroughly mixed. You can buy rosewater, or make your own by simmering 1 cup of fresh rose petals in one and a half cups of distilled water for 10 minutes and then straining the flowers from the water. Pour the hand cream into a container while it is still hot, as it will become firm as it cools. 


orrrr

Beeswax Mango Butter Hand Cream Recipe

Ingredients:
4 Tbs. Beeswax
2 Tbs. Mango  butter
8 Tbs. Coconut oil
10 drops carrotseed essential oil

Directions:
Melt together wax and butter. Add oil. Then add essential oils. Mix completely until smooth. Pour into jar. Let harden. Mango butter also reduces degeneration of skin cells and restores elasticity.

orrrrr

Shea Butter Hand Cream Recipe

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. Beeswax
2 Tbsp. Shea  butter
8 Tbsp. Evening Primrose Oil
10 drops Lavender essential oil

Directions:
Melt together wax and butter. Add oil. Then add essential oils. Mix completely until smooth. Pour into jar. Let harden. 


Charitable appreciation

Part of an email sent to me by the school librarian:


The ILC World Book Day event at lunchtime was a huge success and photo's can be seen on Staff Share-->Academy Media-->Academy Images-->2011-2012 Images-->2012-03-01 ILC World Book Day Event. All sixth form volunteers that helped out during the event will be awarded achievement points for their grand effort! During the event, and through pre-planned sponsored events, we raised over £250 for the BlueCross; their Fundraising Events Manager, Tracey Chittock, asked that I share her thanks with you all, "What a brave teacher you have there willing to cut her very long hair for charity and what a fantastic amount she has raised! It is amazing that your collecting tins are full; we really do appreciate the work that you and your students have put in!"

Winning the pub quiz

I'll be honest, I never thought I'd get to post this!

Normally we come last at the pub quiz- I have a selection of wooden spoons that can prove it.

We WON!

I really have no idea how.

We go to the quiz every week- and now we're on first name terms with the landlord! The quiz is always for charity and you pay to take part- we are the only consistent team- everyone else comes out in support of their chosen charity.

The landlord was so shocked he had to check twice.
And he gave us each a lovely bottle of red wine.
see:

Gloucester







Lush Face masks

Now, I had pretty much given this up as a bad job- I am a massive lush supported and I buy and use many of their products but heaven help their telephone team.
I drank two boxes of clipper tea so that I could go and have a blue face mask in public with Kirstie. my vouchers are sat in my house. I mentioned it to my mum, who decided to take up the offer too with one of her friends.

My booking got messed about pretty badly. wrong shop. wrong date. wrong time. no help. no replys to emails. unable to get through on the phone.
gave up.

My mother managed to book hers FOR A SATURDAY.and then her friend dropped out. so I did get my lush facial as a "substitute friend".
better than nothing I suppose.

We signed the against animal testing for cosmetics petition and signed the windows of lush in swindon (my mother signed herself Caz. what a rebel!)





Bedford Nature reserve












Sunday 15 April 2012

BBQ

We were invited to a BBQ at one of my old colleagues house- he's now escaped and manages to get a super kuchy job at a middle school.

We all brought beer and food and things- but it turned out he'd thought of all that.

I drove Traff, Karl and Si over- they started on the rum in the car.
messy.

9 hours later I managed to round them all up and get them into the car (like hearding cats) and they were all so busy shouting and farting I almost reversed into a ditch- Thank you Tom for chasing after us and stopping me!
I abandoned all the men at Si's to watch films and carry on drinking.

Traff re-appeared about an hour later having attempted to "run home".


He is now asleep on my leg on the sofa smelling like a brewery.
Someone has a bad head.
it's not me.

Thank you everyone for a loverly day and evening!

Bedford nature reserve

We went out for a mooch on friday afternoon- I found a website with all walking routes for bedford:
http://www.letsgo.org.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=13&feature=7&venue=2805165

one of them takes you out to bedford nature reserve- which it transpires is 15 min from our house. the path carries on to take you out into open countryside where it joins another footpath so you can keep walking for miles- maybe one to try next time traff's off!

Traff bought his basketball as we were intending to play on the courts at the park on the way home- but I managed to get a massive thorn jammed in my foot so it ended up with traff taking me for a limp home!
:(

Anyways- here are our adventure photos:

the grand national

Bets!
Traff and I put our bets on on friday- 2 bets each, to come in the top 4:

I bet on:
Shakalaka boom boom
seabass

Traff bet on:
Weird Al
Hey Bud.

We didn't watch the race but Seabass came in 3rd so I'll have to send the wife to collect my winnings!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Easter weekend




Swimming in the oasis in swindon! (the curly things in the areal photo are the slides!)
I have a massively bruised hip from landing on it.
otherwise it was good.
:D

We were a bit gutted you only get an hour thought- but to be fair we climbled 28 flights of stairs to go on the slides! so we were tired after an hour.


We went to my mums for dinner- She did roast beef and yorkshires and everything- but for pudding she did one of jamies 30 min meals!

peaches stewed with cinnamon- then served with custard and bashed up shortbread biscuits!
AMAZING!





My easter goodies!
:D


Traff, Waxing his "monobrow" thankfully at our house- not at my mums!