A Special Halloween Confectionary Review

Well…… it wouldn’t be a proper Halloween if we didn’t try to eat something of an exceptionally nauseous type nature would it?

Before the mirth and mayhem that would ensue later on tonight, we thought it best to have a little something  to eat, before it all kicked off and while we were at it, merge our meal into  a confectionary review …

….. and look what Auntie Jan found us ….. vampire and monster veins ……… mixed with …..

…….  a few chocolate pumpkins balls that Darrell found in our village Tesco Express ….. which together make a pretty spectacular Halloween Bolognese ….

……. but as the old wives saying goes “the proof of the pudding is in the nomming”

 
Vientastic ……Darrell gave our wondrous repast 9 noms, he said he would have given it 10 noms, but some of the foil on his pumpkin ball put one of his fillings on edge!

….. and from me ….. a thrombotic and arterial  11 noms!

Nigel, as you can see embraced the whole occasion with great  aplomb as it was his very first Halloween,  but we had to pass his veins up and under his sheet …. which was an almost medical procedure!  Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween Shrunken Heads …

Andy said that if we didn’t remove the shrunken heads we had made for Halloween out of the Utility Room … and fast …. he wouldn’t be accountable for his actions ……

We have to admit that they had become rather disgusting ...

….. and so removed them to the garden, before we incurred any more wrath, and  where we could inspect them a little closer…..

….. but we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked because Andy saw what we were doing and yelled from the window  “If just one of those repulsive objects rolls into my pond and contaminates it there will be hell to pay!”

So we think he was more than a little vexed with us …

It is sad to think that they didn’t quite make it to be part of our Halloween festivities however …. we are proud that we appear to have grown a “fine” collection of spores, moulds and bacterium.

So proud in fact, that before they were finally consigned to the compost heap, Darrell scrapped a few choice bits into an old mint sauce jar to send to Tom the Scientist to see if we had “created” anything of an  outstandingly scientifically important type nature.  We will keep you informed to any further developments!

Grandad's Giant Terracota Pumpkin

Grandad Colin's garden is BRILLIANT ..... he's got everything .....

 ...... even a giant terrocotta pumpkin that takes all the fiddle fart out of carving one every year! Halloweentastic!

Darrell Just Needs A Little Time To Heal His Broken Heart ………..

Darrell was full of beans yesterday morning, in fact I’d describe his mood as rambunctious. He’d been out and got himself a haircut, some hair gel and a new t-shirt …. when wham, bam, thank you mam ….. the wind was well and truly taken out of his sails when he logged on to AOL to find that Stacey Solomon was in a very interesting condition of a baby type nature! 

I heard him rush upstairs and slam his bedroom door ….. and knew that he needed some space.

After an hour or so I tentively tapped on his door and asked if I could enter his innermost sanctum.  He was a little red eyed and bunged up nasally but he was surprisingly philosophical …..

He said he knew that his feelings for Stacey were just a maahooosive crush and though he dreamt of a fairytale ending, he realised that it would never be…….

He was very happy for Stacey and would always be her No.1 fan, BUT, it was time for him to move on in matters of the heart …. after all, he’d gotten over the fragrant Cheryl Cole and he could/would…… in time … get over Stacey ….

He was so brave …. my heart ached for him …. but knowing Darrell, he would soon bounce back …..

…… and be his normal buoyant self again.

I left Darrell with his thoughts and his CD player …… playing the same Bee Gees song over and over again ….

“How can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend  this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again”

What is he like?

Happy Ever After …. Our Latest Adoption Story ….. Bernard.

Life has so many funny twists and turns …. and some things are just meant to be in a spooky Derek Acorah sort of way.

I nipped over to our local garden centre at the weekend as I wanted to have a look at their winter flowering pansies and had heard that they were having a table top sale in one of the empty greenhouse tunnels, I was a tad curious………..I never thought for one minute that my outing would turn into a rescue mission … but as I entered the tunnel, there amongst all the bits of tut  I spotted an abandoned and unloved monkey ….

I tried avert my eyes from his well dodgy neck attire, (it was hard) but the pitiful look in his eyes said it all. I immediately knew what I had to do and gave him a reassuring wink. But to my utter dismay there wasn’t anyone manning the table and none of the other people there knew where they had gone. 

I began to panic … I couldn’t just steal, kidnap, take him but I also knew I couldn’t just leave him there!  I told him in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice “I’ll be back” and searched frantically all over the centre until I finally found the lady table holder having a cup of tea and a toasted teacake in the cafe. PHEW!!  I paid her the “ransom” and we were in the car before we could say “Thunderbirds are GO!”

When we got home Darrell couldn’t believe his eyes when I arrived home with a new friend in tow and then promptly removed the beads from around his neck and tutted “So last year!” (but in a very friendly manner). We ran a bath of a bubbly and fragrant type nature, found some new clothes and settled down to get more acquainted …….

Then blow me down when on Monday we got an e-mail from Stan in Reading asking if we had, perchance an abandoned and unloved Monkey needing a new home ….. talk about an epiphanical Derek Acorah moment ….. ! We checked out Stan’s credentials, which were impeccable and before we knew it “Bernard” was on the Banga bus Berkshire bound!  We just can’t believe how it all fell into place and don’t think even the aforementioned Derek couldn’t have foreseen this one coming.

Even though we didn’t have much time together, we did ascertain that Bernard was a bit of a soap aficionado, being a fan of Corrie, Emmerdale and sometimes Eastenders (but not Hollyoaks). Corrie being his soap of choice, he was totally gobsmacked when we told him that that Nigel had met (and been manhandled by Gail Platt/Tilsley). Bernard also told us that he was into Graphic Design and we said that if he ever had drawings of a complicated type nature that he needed photocopying he could always send them to us to do (2p for black and white and 5p for colour, friends rates)!  Anyway …. we await news of his arrival at his new home ….. we will keep you informed and add another face to our adoptions page!

A Gift Of A Very Spooky Nature For Darrell!

Darrell loves collecting pens, so you can imagine just how excited he was when Tom the Scientist, who lives with the Lovely Laura only went and gave him a real Most Haunted pen in time for Halloween, just like Yvette Fielding must and Derek Acorah used to use!  You click the top and it exudes a light of a very eerie green type nature. There was no doing with him!

He sat for ages writing creepy words, willing it to get dark but in the end he couldn’t wait …..

….. and sat in the shower room where there isn’t a window! ….

If Darrell starts seeing orbs and hears rapping under his bed, I am putting the blame fully in Tom’s court!

Intrigue On My Way to Work

Sandra had called me and asked if I could possibly come into work an hour early as there was a rush photocopying job for maps for the Geography trip to Stratford Upon Avon that had to be done before ten o’clock.

 
Naturally I said yes, and had an unremarkable journey to school until I was walked down the road leading to the back entrance  A sign outside a house said “Eat, Drink and be Merry” ….. I was intrigued. I wondered if they were perhaps opening up a little restaurant of a casual type nature, and did consider, as I hadn’t had any breakfast, knocking on the door to see if they had, by chance, any bacon butties and a latte….. but then I thought better of it.

And then as I walked a little further I found a garland which I believe the Hawaiian's call a lei lying abandoned on the pavement……even more intrigue, as I mused over who could have discarded such a lovely item.

Not wishing to see it become a part of street detritus, I slipped it nonchalantly over my shoulder with the full intention of taking it home with me ….. you never know, one day I might be invited to a party of a fancy dress nature and be asked to eat, drink and be merry!

Aloha manyana baby as they say in Hawaii!

Bright Eyes

It was Darrell’s shift with Sandra the Resources Lady yesterday and after a maahoosively busy morning, where Darrell swears that they must have used at least six boxes of paper and twelve toners, Sarah, one of other lovely Office Ladies, asked him if he would like to go for a little drive to look at the rabbits at the Garden Centre and as she said “Blow away some of the cobwebs”  

Well, Darrell didn’t need asking twice, but before they left, a little puzzled, Darrell had a quick look round the office for any cobwebs that needed blowing away.

The Lovely Sarah says that as soon as Darrell saw all the rabbits he became entranced …..

……. and started humming …. quite loudly …..

…… and it doesn’t take a genius to guess what he was humming!

Sarah said that in the end she managed to “block it out” Darrell’s humming by humming another tune to herself (in her head, not aloud!). However, on the journey back to school Darrell swopped from humming to singing and Sarah said that she found herself compulsively drawn to singing along with him at the top of her voice, in the car, with all the windows open, without a care in the world and to the amusement of all the other drivers …… (she also realised that if they had auditioned as a duo for X Factor,  Gary Barlow would not been invited them back to Boot Camp!)

Now, in case you can’t guess what they were murdering humming and singing and at very great risk of putting the tune in your head for the rest of the day….. it was Bright Eyes!
Is it a kind of dream, Floating out on the tide,
Following the river of death downstream?
Oh, is it a dream? There's a fog along the horizon,
A strange glow in the sky, And nobody seems to know where you go,And what does it mean? Oh, is it a dream?
Bright eyes, Burning like fire.                                              Bright eyes,How can you close and fail
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes. 
Got yer!

Our Bird’s Eye Polar Bear!

Do you remember when we bought enough packets of fish fingers in one go in order to send for a free Bird Eye Polar Bear?

To be honest and a little ungracious, when he first arrived we were a little disappointed as he wasn’t as cute as Clarence is in the TV ads …….

But he has turned out to be very photogenic as these pictures show.

So now we feel blessed to have him, and just need to find a name that suits him …. Nigel says Dennis, but Darrell thinks he looks more like a Martin!

Let’s hope our fridge is cold enough for him and we don’t find nibble marks in the cheese!