the blog o' moosh

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The ones who drive 4 by 4's are laughing! They don't care how much they pay.

My things you didn't know about me, as instructed by mar-c:

I wrote a fanzine when I was at college. Not just any fanzine - furry norman! It was all based around a kangaroo who lived in a wardrobe and lived on micro noodles. I still have the vivid imagination. We did 8 issues of it and it was a bestseller in Missing (record store in Glasgow). I have copies of each issue if anyone wants a swatch. I should really try and put it online.

I spent 2 years studying music industry management at college. I wanted to be a tour manager. But I didn't really want to move to London at that point and our lecturer was crap and didn't help us with work experience or anything. So I went to work in a call centre instead.

I used to be in a band! We were called Stilgoes Heroes after Richard Stilgoe. My friend Nicki played drums, and 2 boys we were friends with, Stoph and Floyd, played guitar. Stoph sang. I have lost touch with them all apart from Nicki. I'd like to hear from Stoph one day he was very funny and was a regular contributor to furry norman. I played bass. I literally cannot remember a single note now. We had a great song called "Schwally at Joe's Mad Pad" all about a party at a guy on Nicki's uni course had in his flat.

Possibly the best holiday I have ever had was to the holiday camp where hi-de-hi was filmed. It took place when I was about 12, I think. It was blissful - horse riding every day, swimming in the Olympic sized swimming pool and dancing to Star Trekkin in the Hawaiian ballroom every evening. I recall rating it above our 3 week Florida/Disneyworld extravaganza. It may also explain my love of hi-de-hi.

I was quite an accomplished horsewoman in my youth. I had a pony or access to one for most of my formative/teenage years. I have won over 100 rosettes in my time! I must photograph these. I was a dab hand at musical cones in my time. I was slightly sportier in my youth, having been in both the school hockey and netball teams at one time or another.

I have a real issue with being clean. I don't know when exactly it started, but it's a relatively recent thing, to the last 8 years or so. I have my set routine for showering and drying my hair, etc each day and I really don't like to deviate from it. If I don't wash my hair at least, then I get into an unbearable grump and it literally feels like my skin is crawling. By lunchtime I am a quivering wreck. I'd love to go back to not being all that bothered (but still clean), but I can't do it. So if I refuse an invite to camp/stay with you if you don't have washing facilities, it's nothing personal :)

I come from a long line of divorcees. Every single one of my mother's family has either been divorced or seperated at one point or another, including my mother (and obviously, father). I aim not to continue the trend! Also, most of my family, including my mum, brother and dad are all left handed - I am the only (normal) right handed one.

As kids, we were lucky enough to be brought up with lots of music in our household. Both parents were big fans of AOR, which has left me even in adulthood able to sing practically every word to any Hall and Oates song. My mum seemed to have quite cool taste as a teenager - she saw Stevie Wonder live. I went to see my first band when I was 8. It was Bananarama at the Edinburgh Playhouse. We went to Pizzaland beforehand but I couldn't eat anything because I was too excited (nowadays I wouldn't be able to eat anything because pizza makes me hurl). I also saw New Kids on The Block as a youth, but I was over them by the time the concert rolled around. I went to my first grown up gig when I was 13 - to see, the shame, Aerosmith, with Steve Vai supporting. I seem to recall I quite enjoyed it. The band I have seen play most often is probably the Bluetones. The band I enjoyed live most is Rocket From The Crypt (my favourite band). My first date with my rockstar boyfriend when I was 17 was to see Sebadoh at the Garage. The last band I saw was Anthrax with my husband. :)

My best friend growing up was called Joanne. My best friend in adulthood is also called Joanne, but a different one. The first one turned out to be a lesbian. The second one, so far, has not.

When I was little, my parents took in a sick puppy called Ben. It was a very cute labrador. On my second birthday, as I got tore into Hungry Hippos in my grandparents living room, it died in my mother's arms in the kitchen. I can't remember it, but it makes me feel guilty to this day.

Call me morbid, but I rather enjoy going to the cemetery to visit my grandparents grave. I really miss them, despite them both dying before I was 10. My gran died of motor neurone disease when I was about 7 or 8. My grandad was quite a character - he used to make us milky way sandwiches - which was 2 slices of bread with a fun size milky way in the middle. With the wrapper still on. He broke his tooth on a Bounty once, I recall. He also set fire to my wee cousin's Popeye socks by trying to dry them in the microwave, back when microwaves were a new thing. He had 2 cats, Mitzi and Rudi - Rudi was saved from a bonfire which someone had thrown a litter of kittens on one bonfire night. Although he lived on the second floor of a block of flats, he used to be able to call the cats in for the night by standing on the balcony and whistling for them. We used to pretend that the cupboard under his stairs was Fraggle Rock. I still believe that it was.

posted by Claire @ 2/27/2007 03:12:00 pm | 9 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday, February 26, 2007

This'll knock you out. It's anti-hystamine.

Sponge Cake 25/02/07
Originally uploaded by suprastar.

How could I have forgotten the most exciting thing to have happened this weekend?! Lovely Lee made me a cake to cheer me up, after I mentioned that I woud like to retire to bed and eat cake. And that is exactly what I did :)

It was a marvellous cake - and the best thing about it is that there is some left for tea tonite!

posted by Claire @ 2/26/2007 06:32:00 pm | 3 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I bring you death.

Update! The vouchers have arrived. They were a nice cheering up present to me on Thursday which was day one of my being off work sick time. I have contracted the lurgy and this time it hit me rather harder than previously. So Thursday was spent on the sofa watching day time television and half heartedly sewing rejects (as I find it very difficult to just watch TV these days without making something). Sadly I got all the way through Midsomer Murders before I realised it was part 1 of 2, which could have been rather infuriating had it not been that I was sufficiently ill to have another day off on Friday (for the record, John Nettles fans, the twist in the story was indeed the one I suspected within the first 10 minutes in episode 1, but it was well done all the same - the villain was foiled by a hotdog, I shit ye not).

Friday, I had not even the energy to put needle to felt, such was my lethargy. I stayed on the sofa, with my hello kitty pyjamas and the nice blanket that my evil cousin gave us for wedding present and sneezed a lot. I did make a brief sortie out to the shops at the end of the road for sustenance (for sustenance, read a bottle of Barrs pineappleade and a packet of giant chocolate buttons), during which time I made the following observations:

Maryhill is populated entirely by dullards
All the dogs of Glasgow have, at one point in the past week or other, defecated on Gairbraid Avenue
The price of pineappleade has sky-rocketed in the past 10 years

The walk along the road also afforded me a view of the flats marked for demolition in daylight. They are not really any less forboding when you see them out of darkness. Lots of them still have light fittings, things on the walls, etc. All the bathrooms seem to have wooden pulleys, which must have been fitted when the flats were built, such is their apparent age - that really is a thoughtful council. There is also a man living in the blue portakabin, which now boasts not only calor gas, but also a portaloo mere feet away from the door. That guy must feel like the king. I saw him with a pot of water in his hand, fiddling with the gas supply the other day. I felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to offer to boil the water for him, of course.

Saturday, I awoke feeling nearer to death than the preceeding 2 days, but as I'd agreed to meet Aleks to see her wedding dress, I struggled out of bed and into town. The dress is beautiful, it really does suit her. This year is shaping up to be wedding tastic, with no fewer than 4 people I know getting hitched. I must start thinking of an outfit for me to wear to all these events.

Anyway, after the dress appointment, I realised that I had not got all the component parts for the wedding invitations I have agreed to make (or at least make some samples to see if they like them), so I had to trudge round town trying to find diamante heart shaped buckles. Needless to say, I didn't find any. I had stupidly left my mobile at home also, and of course got home to a text with news of a stockist. I gave up and bought some on ebay instead.

As I was feeling a little bit more chipper by the time I got home and had a crisp sandwich (has to be warburtons bread with margerine and walkers cheese and onion crisps), Lee and I took a run out to the Fort shopping place. I'd never been before, but as they have a giant Virgin (the shop that is - there are no actual virgins that far east of Glasgow, ho ho), I thought that would be the best place to spend my vouchers - all £260 of them, as they clearly didn't have any £10 vouchers left in the office when they sent them out.

Lee and I wandered the aisles of Virgin rather morosely for ages - I really did not envisage it being that difficult to find something to spend all that cash on. But it was pretty difficult. I chose the top of the range iPod, a couple of CDs, a t shirt, a DVD and 2 books, only to discover when I got to the counter that Virgin have apparently stopped selling iPods in Scotland! Why? No one knows. Not even Richard Branson, probably. I was told I could "try coming back in a month, maybe". Or I could try going to England and buying one. Or, even better, "try Argos next door". I was peeved. But I have emailed Virgin (sadly not Richard himself, but he has more important things to worry about just now) to ask them what is going on with their iPod madness.

Anyway, that was me wiped out for Saturday, and indeed so it seemed Sunday, as I didn't even make it out of bed yesterday. I stayed put and watched series 1 to 3 of Hi-de-Hi in their entirety. I LOVE Hi-de-Hi, but even I was getting a bit cheesed off with the theme tune towards tea time. I even had a go of Animal Crossing yesterday in the lull between DVDs - it's stopped snowing and I won the fishing tournament with a rather small sea bass. They were clearly just being nice to me as it had been a record 7 weeks since I'd stopped by. No one had really noticed much that I wasn't there - Bluebear resolutely refuses to move out whatever I throw at him (literally), and the new people who have moved in were completely non-plussed by my return. It all seemed so green and shiny and new and I caught 2 new fish, it was quite fun.

Must go and gulp down some more flu medicine.

posted by Claire @ 2/26/2007 02:40:00 pm | 3 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Born Free... as free as the wind blow... forever... born free...free to follow la la la

Four Sisters
Originally uploaded by Oldvidhead.

I found this photo randomly on flickr today.

It is making me ACHE for san francisco and pot stickers and cable cars and theo at the hotel and polite people. The smell of sea lions, the big hill up to fort mason, lori's, decent burgers and cheap clothes.

posted by Claire @ 2/20/2007 06:26:00 pm | 3 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday, February 19, 2007

Don't touch my memory stick.

A recipe!

Fish Surprise

You will need:

nb: the quantities are all dependent on how many people you are making it for. bento lovers will want to make more than they can eat in one sitting. this is ideal for bento!

rice
spring onions
mushrooms
sweetcorn
chickpeas
tinned chopped tomatoes
sesame seeds
soy sauce
chili (in either actual chili or paste form)
garlic
basil

Chickpeas, I hear you cry! Have I gone all vegelesbian on you? No, no I haven't. But chickpeas are my new favourite thing. Not vegetables, but pulses, apparently. Well, I never.

Put the rice on to boil. You can be doing the rest while it does it's thang. If, like me, you are completely incapable of making rice without it turning into a big gloopy mess and/or it sticking to your good Jamie Oliver pots, then get another responsible adult to do it for you.

Stick a little oil in your wok and heat it up. Stick in the garlic and the chili and give it a few seconds til it starts to smell lovely.

Slice up the spring onions and stick them in the wok. Likewise the mushrooms.

Open up the tin (and they will be tinned if you know what's good for you) chickpeas and wang those in the wok too.

Add a little chickpea juice and then the tin of sweetcorn without draining it, so you have some juices from that too.

Sprinkle in a few sesame seeds and some basil, either fresh or dried. Add a splash of soy sauce here too if you fancy it. I think I also added some red wine vinegar, just because it was sitting near the cooker.

Once it is all bubbling away, and your rice looks like it might be ready in a few minutes, add the tin of chopped tomatoes.

Stir it all up together and let it simmer for a few minutes. You still want it to be a bit runny here.

Once the rice is ready, scoop it all out into the wok and mix it all up together.

Voila! Fish surprise!

The surprise is, there is no fish in it.

posted by Claire @ 2/19/2007 06:44:00 pm | 2 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I wanna see more of Mark Ramprakash.

What a productive weekend! Friday evening I went home and got wired into the bunny knitting. It is safe to say that they are not my favourite thing to knit, but I think a good long break away from them has proved to be beneficial. Come 1 am I had completed one pair and was well into a second. I had to give up around 2 am as my eyes were starting to cross though.

Saturday I frankly crafted my ass off. More bunnies, some origami envelopes, tags ... I was really on fire! I had a break around 11pm to move the living room furniture around to a formation suggested by Jo - and it really has made the place look much bigger! For those of you who have not been in our house - it's very small. So inspired was I by this new outlook from the sofa, I stayed up til 4am knitting and watching random tv shows about bell ringing, Mary Seacole and people who fly model airplanes.

Sunday was the day designated to clean the house as me and my good husband are very much from the school of housework of leave it til it's bad and then do it all at once. I tackled the bathroom whilst Lee did both of our most hated of jobs - putting away the clean clothes. It took me so long in the bath scrubbing the grouting that he had also done all the dishes by the time I had finished - I was most pleased. This all to the soundtrack of my favourite album, Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys - I'm a big fan.

Whilst on the cleaning roll, we packed everything up from the kitchen that we don't use and have no hope of using until we move house (at some point) - we had 4 boxes worth of stuff to put away! A bit of rearranging and now the kitchen looks much better and there is more space and I don't feel like I want to cry every time I look at the crowded work surfaces. I actually had a bit of a rush of affection for our little flat yesterday when were tidying it all, bit it soon passed.

In the evening after dinner, Jo and I went down to a club night a fellow crafter had organised for a while. It was a little quiet and different than what I expected, but we got loads of knitting done, saw some women in corsets and pants and had a good chat with some friends. It's very hard to organise things like that - people can be so resistant to excitement sometimes - as we have found ourselves, but I am glad that someone else is taking the initiative and DOING rather than talking about it. That said, there is also the bid to become a craft mafia in Glasgow, which stella jo is organising, so it seems that the crafters are coming out of hibernation and are getting set to take over the world!

A meeting this evening about the next couple of markets and hopefully we will know dates, etc and we can get on with our lives a little. There seems so much to be done in the coming weeks and months, I almost feel like I don't know where to start. And it's my birthday soon! How did I get to be 28? And why is time passing so quickly? Is there going to be enough time to fit everything in I want to do with my life? Answers on a postcard ...

posted by Claire @ 2/19/2007 05:42:00 pm | 0 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Friday, February 16, 2007

To be honest, I have a hard time believing you when you talk with that accent.

It's my birthday soon! Woooo! Without wanting to sound like I am demanding presents, there is a very small list of things I can think of that I'd like. People always ask and I can never think, so here's my ideas:

a cute bento box
Bare Minerals Foundation
Skin Revver Upper Moisturiser

flickr pro account renewal - Thanks Lee - I can remove this from my wish list now :)

If all else fails, US dollars are always appreciated! Yes, there we have it, I've put it out there - if you're unimaginative, give cash!

I also issue a heartfelt plea for everyone else to be honest about what they'd like to receive at birthdays etc! That way you'll get something you want and the gift-er will be pleased to have given you something useful, instead of ANOTHER gift voucher!

There is also always, as mar-c pointed out, the amazon wishlist.

posted by Claire @ 2/16/2007 01:49:00 pm | 0 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Do you want a bit of hot dog sandwich?

Lee, god love him, has really embraced this blogging. Much as he will protest that it's his "friend Dave" that does all the posts, Lee - you've been rumbled - you're turning into a geek ;)

Hop on over to his latest venture, the Engineering Chef for some finger lickin' good reading!

posted by Claire @ 2/16/2007 01:46:00 pm | 0 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There's that twat who looks like Lou Bega.

As I lay in bed this morning at 3.32 am, wondering why once again I could not just have ONE night of uninterrupted sleep, a thought occurred to me.

What is the difference between a truck and a lorry? I could not quite make up my mind.

Wikipedia, of course, has the answer.

But I am still bemused as to why it would be a pick-up truck. Any ideas?

posted by Claire @ 2/16/2007 01:43:00 pm | 0 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thursday, February 15, 2007

It's a collaboration. Between me and my hands.

I know, you're still in shock - £250! Of Virgin vouchers! How did that happen?

Well, there I was last Tuesday, getting ready for work listening to Dominik "Gamesmaster" Diamond prattle on in between songs, when I heard him say they wanted people to text in with their suggestions for a really inappropriate song for a particular occasion, e.g. D.I.V.O.R.C.E. at a wedding. My mind went straight to the memory filed away for occasions such as these to the true story of my friend Nicki playing Cutting Crew's "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" on Hopsital Radio and so I texted in.

A few songs and a blast of the hairdryer later, I realised that it was an actual competition in which a real life prize was up for grabs. No less than £250 of Virgin megastore vouchers. However, I didn't pay too much attention, knowing full well that I never win anything like that (apart from my appearance on Mark and Lard's Crap Town Factor back in 1998 in which I scored 5 out of 5 in the week before Christmas and won £50 of HMV vouchers, but that's another story entirely).

Anyway, cutting a long story shorter, the phone rang and it was the other guy that is not Dominik Diamond asking me to tell my story on air and telling me that I'D WON! I was shocked, amazed and indeed as I am writing this, I am reliving my adrenalin rush all over again. So I had to go on and repeat my tale, give them my details and lo and behold, I'm a lucky xfm winner! I was so excited all day that I could barely concentrate at work (nothing new I grant you).

Mind you, the vouchers haven't arrived yet. So I've not yet had to face the dilemma of what to spend them on. Suggestions gratefully received!

posted by Claire @ 2/15/2007 05:23:00 pm | 2 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have never seen a single second of High School Musical.

No sooner than I break my drought, I am back with another post. I just flicked idly over to my RSS reader and was faced with the headline:

Man to hang for ant scam.

Click here for the full story.

posted by Claire @ 2/15/2007 04:50:00 pm | 0 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A small lesson for you: The bigger and richer the company, the easier they will fuck you over.

Yes, I know, it's been ages. Thank you to all my regular readers for shouting at me to post. I've been meaning to for ages but I've been very busy recently!

Things that have happened since I posted last (and that I may post more indepth about at a later date):

I won £250 of Virgin Megastore vouchers thanks to XFM.
I went to London and walked for a billion miles.
I was grilled by airport security and swabbed for explosives.
I, along with Jo, organised a rip-roaring success of a market.
I almost got another job, but stayed where I was.
I made a gazillion rejects.
I got very excited about the slew of orders on the Miso Funky website (it's not even Christmas!).
I visited Catherine's lovely house and loved it so much I am secretly plotting to bump her off and move in (it's a toss up between her and Tracey - I may kill them both and split my time between the 2).
I discovered that drying my jeans over the door makes them smell very strongly of curry.
I discovered that custard pancakes are the food of the gods.
I received a beautiful orchid from my husband.
I came to terms with the fact that the mean temperature of my office is -3c.
I fixed my mp3 player by randomly reinstalling software.

There are probably more notable things that happened in this time in the world, but these are the highlights for me. I've been keeping up to date with my year of moosh blog, in which I post a photo a day. HA! I say to all you doubters. I've not even cheated. Much.

So here is my solemn promise to try harder to keep up to date. Amen.

posted by Claire @ 2/15/2007 04:48:00 pm | 3 comments |

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~