The Sozzled Mumble

Barcelona has been booked.

It's the parents 40th wedding anniversary soon and us kids decided to club together and buy them Barcelona. Not the whole country, but just a few days in a 4-star hotel. Hopefully they'll be pleased.

Spent a great weekend dahn saff with my friends. They have just moved into a cottage in the middle of bloody no-where, but it is so gorgeous. Rather than having chavs with cans of Tetleys on their doorstep they have horses. Rather than having a piddly garden with no room to stretch overlooked by the neighbours they have not just one wood, but 2...with a greenhouse, wood peckers, rhubarb patch and 2 BBQ's. All the advantages of living in the countryside without the pong of sh*t.

We also got burnt whilst there.

This made me piss my pants!!!!!!

Well, that was fun.

Set up my flower arranging blog called The Sozzled Flower (I know, I'm sad, but couldn't resist doing a connection thingy)

So, with my new, sexy pro status will I be changing the look and feel of The Sozzled Mumble??? Am I bollox!! Setting up a new blog is change enough for me, besides I'm very fond of my generic look. In fact, I've had this look for so long I think it's gone from being a boring generic one to an old-school vintage one. People pay good money for vintage.

So, brown it stays.

Just went pro there.

Main reason is I wanted to do a couple of more blogs. Just to really bore everyone. I want to document my progress in my flower arranging class and maybe do a baking one and another one I have been thinking about but there are so many design choices It's going to take me ages to pick one.

Just waiting for my mars bar buns to set. I didn't buy enough sodding chocolate for the top so I might not post pics. Hope they taste alright. Now, back to this design thingy.

It's Thursday which means it's the weekend for me!!! So, to kick-start it off here's the meme doing the rounds.

1. When showering, do you start the water and then get in, or get in then start the water?
Always start the water as it always runs cold first.

2. Do you read the labels on your shampoo bottle?
When I am doing a number 2, yes........too much info??

3. Do you moan in the shower like the people on the Herbal Essences commercial?
Depends who's in there with me

4. Have you ever showered with someone of the opposite sex?
See above

5. Have you ever been forced to shower with one of your siblings?
Not shower but we shared baths. Didn't everyone?

6. Have you ever brushed your teeth in the shower?
Yes.

7. Have you ever dropped your soap on your foot?
Don't use soap, just shower gel.

8. How old do you look?
19

9. How old do you act?
22.

10. What's the last song you sang?
"All the single ladies, all the single ladies, put your hands up"

11. Have you recently become a member of anything?
Does joining a flower arranging class count?

12. What are your plans for the weekend?
Baking mars bar buns and a vicky sponge on Friday to take down to my friends in Brighton on Saturday - no idea what's happening when we get there.

13. Do you kiss with your eyes open or closed?
Closed. If you kiss with your eyes open it's supposed to mean that you don't care about the person.

14. Whats the sexiest thing about Condoleeza Rice?
Erm.......good skin???

15. Does anything on your body itch right now?
My foot!

16. Who's the sexiest famous woman alive?
Jennifer Love Hewitt

17. Who's the sexiest famous man alive?
I am liking Hugh Jackman at the mo

18. Does every family have a crazy uncle?
Mine are alright

19. Have you ever smuggled something into your home country?
Not likely, I always get the frisking

20. Does playing the guitar make a girl/guy more attractive?
Depends on the song

21. Do you live in a city with a good sports team?
No idea

22. Have you ever finished off the popcorn and ate the junk from the bottom of the bag?
No

23. Have you ever had sex in a tent?
No

24. What about in a boat?
No.

25. Have you ever dated a Goth?
No. I am on a roll with the no's!!

26. Can you fix your own car?
I can fill it with water and oil which I am sure counts

27. Are you a beach person or a snowy mountain person?
A bit of both please

28. If money were not a problem, where would you like to live?
Nearer home I'd imagine.

29. Soft bed or firm?
Soft

30. Last thing received in the mail?
My car tax disc. How boring.

That was a good one.

The Posy Arrangement
Right, this is supposed to be a triangle shape - which I think I sort of got....from this angle!! It's supposed to be a nice triangle shape all round. But, it's my first one and my teacher said it was very good. I used Eucalyptus, Conifer, Pink Spray Carnations, Chrysanth and I think the wee purple ones are Solidago. Note to self - look this up and remember to listen properly in class

While I am here chucking the pics around, here are a couple more of my Vicky sponge that I made last weekend. Soon to be repeated for my trip dahn Saff this weekend.

Blogging from home at last!!!!

Didn't have to mess about with the cookies thing. Which is probably a good thing as I wouldn't have known what to do with them anyway.

I am now relieved and happy.

Flower arranging was really good. We get to keep what we make - will do a proper post tomorrow with photo - bit knackered now.

Went to see that house and it was amazing!! We really loved it and considered putting in an offer.......until the 7 asbo lads with their football came swaggering down towards us. I may be jumping the gun but I knew it was too good to be true. The house has a bit of wasteland to the side - just big enough to kick a football around and get drunk on. I also noted the broken bottles as we parked up. It's a shame but I don't want to live somewhere where I'm going to fell intimidated every time I get out to the car.

So, I think we will still keep looking. Which I think is fair enough, we've only seen a handful of houses so far and we do still need to keep on saving.

Got my flower arranging class tonight.

Going straight after work so I won't be able to test bloggy when I get in later tonight.

Am looking forward to learning something brand new and the best thing about it is I can pay per lesson so if I don't fancy it one night I'm not losing any money. Which is handy.

A bit down about all this no-blog-at-home business so I will sign off and hopefully, I will *see* you all later.

It annoyed me.

That's it, and that's all.

All the pictures have gone a bit wappy today so I'm doing this stoled thing from Mon. Which has nothing to do with pictures...er...

1. My ex... is some-one I have no desire to set eyes on again.

2. Maybe I should... do some more exercise today

3. I love... baking.

4. People would say that I am... quiet.

5. I don't understand... why people drive up the a**es of other drivers

6. When I wake up in the morning... I am usually grumpy

7. I trust... my instincts.

8. Life is full of... oxygen.

9. My past taught me... to get on with it.

11. Parties are... a good laugh with the right folk.

13. Dogs... will love you regardless.

14. Cats... are self-sufficient.

15. Tomorrow is... another do-ing day.

16. I have a low tolerance for... people who drive up other peoples a**es.

17. If I had a million pounds... I would work out whether I could quit my job and live off the interest. I fear not.....

18. I'm terrified of... ending up alone.

19. When I look at the night sky I think... I wish I was there.

20. If I could be anyone it would be... Jennifer Love Hewitt

21. God is... probably an alright fella

22. One thing I want to do before I die... visit China.

23. I hate... washing up.

24. If I had a superpower it would be....flying

What was going on with connection last night??

Was it me? Was it you?

Anyway, something mischief was trying to stop me from getting on here. Was quite busy yesterday, organised another 3 houses to look at. We are seeing one today with the rep this time so hopefully the place should be tidy and have no fighting kids running about. And the other 2 on Tuesday. One of which is so nice we are suspicious. From the pictures it has been done up beautifully, appears to have sizeable rooms etc, in quite a good area and is only on the market for £115,000 and the vendor is putting 5% of the deposit towards it.

Now, I'm quite a cynical person naturally but I am sure there is something up with it. It's a semi-detached aswell. It has been on the market since November and they had an offer of £100,000 - £15,000 less than the asking seems a lot to me and suggests that there is something majorly wrong with the construction of the house. So I'll be on "big crack down the wall" watch on Tuesday.

Flower arranging class on Wednesday! I am so excited!! And, possibly Spanish class on Thursday - as long as there is a place for me.

Just got back from Twycross Zoo.

And it must be the most depressing zoo I've ever been to. The monkeys are completely caged in and in one case we saw one rocking back and forth. It was fairly disturbing. The animals did look well cared for though but it was a lot smaller than all the other zoo's I've visited.

But on a lighter note, the meerkats were on top form as usual, some keeping guard and some chilling out and enjoying the sunshine. I couldn't compare them as they are all as brilliant as each other.

Baby Meerkat:

On Guard:

Soaking Up The Rays:

Twycross Zoo today.

Which means seeing meerkats that I have never seen before!!!!!!

Sprung cleaned everything today.

It took us 3 hours to get round the flat and that's ignoring the bulging wardrobe.

We went to see a couple of houses yesterday. The first was perfect apart from the bedrooms - The master bedroom was quite small compared to what we are used to but I loved the rest of it. The fella wasn't as keen unfortunately so we are going to keep looking.

The second house was utterly bizarre. The woman hadn't bothered to tidy up which doesn't really matter as you are supposed to see past these things but still.......she told us to suit ourselves and look around without her which is fine - if you don't have any questions - we had to seek her out to ask a question and in the middle of her answer there came an almighty scream from upstairs - the kids were having a fight - so she had to go upstairs to sort it out leaving us downstairs, in a strange house not knowing what to do, or where to look.

After that I wasn't interested in looking upstairs but we did anyway and her young daughter was in her room which made us feel a bit weird. We felt as if we were intruding. The woman then preceded to slag off one of the museums near by - that was also weird - if you want to sell your house you're supposed to be positive aren't you?

We got the feeling that she wasn't really arsed about selling and whoever will put in an offer will only be messed around. Anyway, the house was tiny and it was over priced.

I have no more choc left

Never made a cake before but this turned out lovely.

Here be the recipe:

The cake bit:
8oz of self raising flour
8oz of sugar
8oz of soft butter
half a teaspoon of baking powder
25g of cornflour
4 eggs

The cream & topping bit:
200g plain chocolate
600ml (1pt) double cream
1 flake
Mini easter eggs

Chuck all the cake bits in a bowl (apart from the eggs), get your hands in and mix it all together. Then chuck in the eggs and get a whisk into it. Whisk until you get a lovely creamy consistency. Chuck it all in 2 buttered round baking tin. I've got those tins with the loose bottom - if you don't have a loose bottom then line the tins.

This goes in a pre-heated oven at 180 for 25 mins or until the cake starts to come away from the tin and is bouncy to the touch.

Whilst this is cooking melt the choc over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the double cream until stiff. I recommend using an electric whisk for this as me and the fella were really going for it with a hand whisk - and it took us about 20 mins to get it stiff. Ahem.

Split the whipped cream in half. Chuck the melted choc in one half and whisk through.

Retrieve the cakes from the oven. Let them cool in the tin for 10 mins then take them out and leave to cool. Once cooled, spoon on the choc/cream combo on one of the cakes and chill for 10 mins. Lay on the other cake and chuck on the remaining cream. Decorate the top with the flake and easter eggs or with whatever you fancy.

Boy that seems long but it's worth it.

The Easter Friday Five!

1. How many Easter Eggs have you got already?
I had 2, but that was weeks ago........and they disappeared weeks ago too........

2. Will you go to church over the Easter period?
Mmmmm maybe, probably not

3. When you think of Easter what is your first thought?
Wispa

4. What is your favourite chocolate? White, milk, dark?
Milk & white & dark but only if it's with mint

5. Did you give anything up for Lent??
I thought it best not to. Although I have recently given up Eastenders does that count?

....the servers have been down for an absolute age.

So, instead of googling 'how many calories are in a Greggs sausage roll' I thought I'd come on here and waffle. I couldn't find the answer incidently - some-one had said 250 calories but that seems a tad low? No?

I have no concept of calories. Only concept of 'how many Wispa's I can get down me bake'

'Bake' means face/gob.
Use it in a sentance please? Shirley snogged the bake off Tony.

Thinking about doing another blog but can't think of a good topic. I would have started an Eastenders one, but they have destroyed me. Stopped watching it as well now, which has me destroyed as well. Well, not really, it annoys me greatly that I can't watch it.

Maybe they will have redeemed themselves by the time Christmas arrives.

£50 richer thanks to Gala Bingo.

Going towards the house. Should pay for one eighth of a brick.

1. How many candles do you have burning at any given time??
I don't think we're allowed candles but we have only ever have one on the go.

2. Do you love to get given Easter eggs??
It's chocolate!! Of course

3. Wine or vodka??
Whisky only please. But at a push I'd say vodka and red bull - always a student at heart......

4. Do you say dinner, tea or supper when talking about your evening meal?
Tea

5. What is your favourite sandwich??
Grilled chicken, mayo a bit of green in a french bread thing.

Now, with that out of the way, back to my whisky.

PS Still livid about Eastenders. LIVID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My name was stolen.

Stoled in the same fashion as all them meme's.

I've already commented on ask or answer but for my own peace of mind........the name Jembajr is not badger related it's from a football player whose name was Eric Djemba Djemba - I can't even remember what footie team he plays for - the fella says Man United and then Aston Villa.

I loved the sound of his name because it was a silent D. I stuck Jr on the end for no real reason.

So there we have it. No badgers were harmed in the making of this name.