An Ode to a Friend

I used to be joint owner of a gorgeous golden brown and white hammy and still miss her to this day, especially when I watch videos of her, as I found I did this evening. We lost her in on the 9th of May due to a terrible infection on her entire chest and tummy. We had been treating it for two weeks, but in the end it must have been her time, as it just did not heal :( She was only a year and 2 months old, so it was a shock to both of us. I know that many may think she was 'just a hamster', but she was my first adult pet and really did mean so much to me- I will never get another hamster to replace her.

I have been making a memory book for her, including many of the photos, as well as anecdotes and a copy of cards she 'sent' on special occassions and one sent by the vet upon her death. I wanted everything in one place, so it was there if I ever wanted to reminisce and I thought this week that I would make it my goal to finish it, as it is not so raw, but I also wanted to note down the memories before they may start to blur, as time makes them do.

I wrote a poem to go in her memory book- it is very childish really in style and not at all sophisticated, but these things don't need to be. I just wanted to capture the memories and her. I am relucatant to post it here, but at the same time it helps me achieve more catharsis than writing it alone did. Here is what I wrote:

"The wheel stopped spinning long ago,
As around the house you preferred to roam,
Finding crannies and cosy nooks,
Never being contained by our makeshift cage of books.

The hamster ball again was futile,
Although you humoured it for a while.
In the end you wanted to be free,
To scamper around, everywhere, with glee.

No place was unattainable to you,
From the top of bookcases to the fire's flue,
But one day you were on a fruitless trail,
And my how we laughed as we discovered your jail.

Trapped in a plant pot- so innocent,
Hours in there, you must have spent,
And so we discovered your zest for life,
Your adventurous spirit and brushing aside of strife.

You made 'spider-ham look a breeze,
Hanging from the ceiling bars with ease,
The smiles you provided us were endless,
Our gratefulness for you, we could never truly express.

Coming home to scurrying every night,
Always provided so much delight,
We couldn't wait to see what you would do next,
You always knew your own mind, didn't stick to the text.

You were so smart- even knew your name,
Each trip you had out was truly a game,
One minute you were hidden under the bed,
Next, gracing us with a nuzzle from your soft, tickly head.

We loved how you poked yout head out of the cage,
Then ran wild along the top, as if it were your stage,
In and out of tubes you liked to dart too,
You even made a food corner, and another for the loo!

Intelligent, beautiful and full of love,
We felt you were really meant for us,
Your warm body provided us love and comfort,
You became more tame than we ever could have thought.

Cookie, you were an amazing friend,
A true companion right to the end,
As your owners we felt so much pride,
We hope you always feel our love, wherever you now reside."

This is Cookie:

<3
Maybe one day there will be more about her here, but for now I want to leave it on happy pictures of her just being her :)

Photo Thursday VIII

In tribute to the fact that this week saw it being cold enough for the first fire of the year (yes, I am lucky enough to have a proper open fire, eek!), here is a picture I like from last year. It is a bit blurry, but has the little lines on it which I like, to show how fires dance around and radiate the heat :)

Catterday VII

The two of them sleeping together :) a rare site, but a very cute one when it occurs!

Chocolate Roulade

Yesterday I made a yummy chocolate roulade :) I tried one before with my friend, but we did not let it cool long enough before we put the buttercream we used for the middle in, and it was a bit sickly as a result. This time, however, it has turned out really well. I used the recipe below:

Cake:
175g plain dark chocolate (I used a mix of Bournville and Lindt)
3 tablespoons warm water
5 separated eggs
17g caster sugar

Filling:
225ml double cream
40g icing sugar
20g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of coffee powder, disolved in 1 tablespoon of boilng water
Extra icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180 (gas mark 4, 160 for a fan oven). Grease and line a 35 by 25cm swiss roll tin. Melt the chocolate (in the microwave, or in a bowl over a boiling water in a saucepan), and one melted stir in the tablespoons of water. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar and then add the melted chocolate to this. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the chocolate mixture, carefully so you do not lose air. Pour this into the swiss roll tin and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove and leave to cool for 3 to 4 hours- do not worry if it seems to deflate at this point. Get a length of tin foil or greaseproof paper and scatter some icing sugar over this evenly, laid out on a worktop. Turn the sponge out onto this and remove the backing paper. Prepare the filling by mixing the 40g of icing sugar with the other ingredients and whisking them until stiff. Spread this onto your turned out sponge:

Scour a small cut a few centimetres from one end and then fold this over to start your roll. Then lift the tin foil/ greaseproof to help you roll the whole shape, pulling it with you as you go. Do not worry if it cracks a little, as there should be a few on there due to the nature of the sponge and the rolling action. You should be left with something like this:

 (side view of cake, which is the end that was rolled over)

 (end view)

It was actually really easy to execute and yummy anyway, even if it cracks a bit, so don't worry if it does not go perfectly first time. Just ensure you leave the sponge to fully cool and you should be fine. Serve with strawberries for extra yumminess :)

Photo Thursday VII

This week will be another animal themed photo (I might as well rename this Thursday post!)- and features Lions from the Safari Park :) I included 2, just because I like them both :)

A String of Stars

I saw an idea on Pinterest that piqued my interest- it was linked back to here originally.

Source: ohcrafts.net via Someone, on Pinterest

I have decided to have a go with a star cutter I have, since we have 4 paint charts lying around from a recent living room redecoration at my parent's house. I am thinking they could either go on the Christmas tree, or be strung up around Christmas time for a bit of extra festive cheer :)

I simply cut the strips of colours out of the books and used my cutter to get two of each colour- I want to make a long chain, or several smaller ones, so have cut quite a few already to start.

I wanted to add a couple of larger stars on for the ends and at intervals on my thread, so made a template by simply cutting a piece of spare card out, using the stamp on it and then getting the original bit and drawing around the missing cut out, slightly larger. I could then cut around this on colour squares to make bigger ones. Here is one I cut, and my template.

Thread your needle and thread and simply press it through the star in two places near the centre. I tied a small knot after the large one to secure it in place. Then thread more smaller ones on the thread, using the needle again:

After 4 smaller stars I once again repeated the large star and kept going. The colours are not so good on the next picture, but you can see how it started to work and look good with just a few more on it:

I have done a little more since, but have not got a photo yet. There is still quite a way to go, but it is fairly fun and very easy and practically free (all you need to buy is thread and a cutter, if you do not have them). Hopefully it will be a nice Christmassy touch for the house this year :)

Compare the Meerkat

I needed to buy new car insurance today, so went through CompareTheMarket. It worked out slightly cheaper than confused.com and gocompare anyway and meant I got to claim a meerkat toy for my mum (she loves them!)- hopefully it will be the one with the tie or the one in the green jacket, as they are her favourites. I was a bit sad I did not get to pick the toy, as I thought you could, but was pleasantly surprised that they do a nice little message (as above), which I am sure mum will love.

Favourite Adverts

I am quite a fan of adverts- every now and again you get nice ones, funny ones or just entertaining ones that actually liven up the ad breaks, rather than making them tedious things you sit through so you can watch the next part of The X Factor, or whatever floats your boat. Some of them aren't so good (I hated, to much controversy amongst friends, family and the world it seems, the Cadbury's adverts, like the one with the Gorlilla), but some can be really good.

My favourite ever ad is a foreign one actually, which I saw for the first time on Tarrant on TV as an early teen. Cows are one of my favourite animals and this advert not only involves them, but is sweet and funny too. The product does sound a bit iffy though to be honest. Here it is:

I also like a current cow related advert, which was actually the incentive for today's post:

Even though it has been out a while, for some reason we were all sat around the TV today and my dad was finding the Cow-e-oke hysterical and it was just a lovely moment. An advert that can make you all smile is always a good thing.

I also like the one where the cows get the grass out of the vending machine on their break- what a novel idea!

A new advert I saw last night and really like is the new Volkswagen one, although it may be because it features a song I love. Much better than the other recent one with The Kinks, which made me a bit sad :( This is the new one:

The only other one I can think of, and find, on the spur of the moment, that I loved at the time, is the 'Hate Something, Change Something' advert by Honda. The song is the key I think, but the imagery is lovely too:

Thinking of music, the John Lewis advert from last year sprung to mind too. Ok, it is one that is a bit abstract in that you have no clue what it is for until the end, but it was done really well and is so lovely, as well as having a great song for it:

My all time favourite advert has got to be one I can't find anywhere anymore, much to my chagrin. I have it on an old video which I used to record Friends on when it was on early mornings before school (apparently in 2004, according to my research) and it is the old Specsavers Sloth advert. The sloth busks on the underground and his friend comes along and there is an exchange:
'hey, what up with you man?'
'no money'
'you spend it all on fast cars?'
'no, contact lenses'
'you shoulda gone to specsaverrsss'
For some reason that used to be the highlight of my day sometimes and I would love to see it again, although that may ruin the magic somewhat!

So yeah, a little reminiscing for a Monday night :) I hope there are many more ads I love coming up in the future, and not too many loathsome ones (yes Haribo, I am looking at you!)
 

(8)Kick off your Sunday shoes(8)

Some will and some won't recognise the title of this post, but for those who don't, it is a line from the song Footloose, which was of course the title of the major 80s movie that originally featured it too. I am not quite an 80s child- my birth just crept into the 90s, and I have no knowledge of the original film at all- I haven't even watched it any of the many times it has been shown on television over the years. To be honest I knew very little about it, but thought it did not really seem my cup of tea, so did not bother to find out more.

I saw a screening of the new version today though. I saw the trailer a few weeks ago in 'Friends With Benefits' and was not blown away, however, I thought since I had free tickets then why not? The film is funny and pretty much believeable. The characters are developed well and relatable and it was just a nice, fun time at the cinema. I don't know whether having low expectations made this better for me, as it blew them away, or whether it really was that good. I can't imagine the original being much better to be honest and this remake was done well I think, bringing the story to a more modern age with iPods, technology and modern songs, but keeping it quite conservative with a small, religious, town setting.

Apparently the plot differs slightly from the original, such as the character Ren McCormack having a different backstory. At the heart it is still a fun packed movie with plenty of drama and dancing to go around. The opening sequence was pretty spectacular, with some fine footwork being displayed throughout, and the dancing scenes were some of the highlights of the film (watch out for a highly amusing scene near the middle where friend Willard (Miles Teller) starts learning to dance) and there was a definite cute factor in the form of Ren's little cousins Amy and Sarah as well. A good standard of cinematography and some solid performances by the cast (particularly Dennis Quaid as the Reverend). A nice film (probably more a girly teen flick than anything aimed at much older people- although my mum really enjoyed it too), that has enough in it to leave you feeling upbeat and glad you chose to watch it. If, like me, you were reluctant then give it a try, even if you wait for the DVD release.

Catterday VI

This week has to be my own baby- Galaxy. He reminded us so much of Yoda when he was little, as he used to sleep looking like this. We actually got a little toy yoda from McDonalds at one point to compare, and it was uncanny. Now he is all grown up he doesn't look the same anymore, but he still does the ears occasionally, much to my delight. This is one of my favourite ever photos of him:

Cherry Blossom (sort of) nails

I can't get a very good picture of my current nail art, as the design is quite subtle, but I am absolutely loving it. I decided to try out a cherry blossom design and it has worked well. I think next time I will try doing this on a coloured background (maybe a sky blue?), as it is the blossom itself that is failing to stand out much if you do not see it in person.

Here are a couple of photos that give you a sort of view of them :)

I literally painted the base of my nail with a nude shade, waited for it to dry and then drew on black lines in branch shapes. After that dried I dotted on pink dots with a toothpick and voila :) I used polishes from the 17 range at Boots and they have lasted 5 days so far (I top coated them yesterday, as I forgot at the time). It is so simple, just a little time consuming- perfect for doing whilst you watch a film or favourite TV show though.

Cute Congratulations Card

Ah, a lovely alliterative title :) I wanted to show a little card that I made last week for a friend who had a baby. I wanted to send a little something just to say congratulations and racked my brain for a simple and easy to execute (I had about half an hour to make it) design, that was still cute. In the end I came up with this:

I used foam (you can get packs with lots of colours in Rymans, or Hobbycraft) felt and a sheet or card and coloured paper. Cut out a rectangle of foam, and then a small, long, strip for underneath. Fold the felt in half and draw a footprint shape on it and then cut it out. You should now have a pair, so put them with the slightly bigger curve inwards. Then cut out a few little ovals (I did this with doubled over felt still, to get them matching) for toes- this is the trickiest part and you may have to try quite a few times until you get a suitable looking size for them all.

Then glue the feet onto the foam, as central as possible (although, you can of course cut the foam down again after). Fold over your sheet of card and glue (or double sided tape) a sheet of coloured paper to it if you do not have a sheet of card in the colour you would like to use. Stick the foam with feet on in the centre top, then write your message on the other strip of foam and glue, or double sided tape, it below the first one.

Leave it to dry for a few hours if you can and then you can write in it and send it off :) easy, but lovely.

Company Covers

I have just seen the November covers on Company's website and can't believe they shot 4 different looks! I hope all 4 shots are inside if you don't get that cover, as I can't really afford all 4 covers but love Jade Thompson and was rooting for her to win the competiton from the very beginning.

I think 'ladylike leather' or possibly 'sexy folk' is my favourite.

I think the judges were right in picking Jade this year. Juste was a great model, but they were spot on when saying Jade is the one women will love and want to be- she is stunning. Her look is slightly different and she is instantly recognisable really.

The Revlon campaign featuring Jade is being launched soon too and 'behind the scenes' shots are posted on Revlon's Facebook page. Hopefully we will see even more of her soon too. Having never watched BINTM before this year and not getting hooked straight away either, I have to say I am loving seeing what has happened afterwards :)