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JULY 201010thWell a few days off line whilst we have been badgering about trying to find and exterminate a very nasty trojan. Files have been on and off this computer like a yo yo and several programmes have still to be reinstated. We have been working round the clock and had to get the anti virus staff in on remote access to sort this giant of a badgering trojan out. The Good news is that whilst I was fighting the good fight the server was upgraded so you should have a faster and smoother surfing experience now, apparently. I shall be unavailable again later this week when I pop back to the hospital for a quick scan which will hopefully prove I can ignore all signs and symptoms for another year. ASDA had a special offer on the Gourmet style cat foods so I got three for a pound for Kitten Cat to try as an occasional treat and wouldn't you know, she lurves the stuff. So much so that the usual Felix gets the nose turned up treatment. I never learn do I? If I am going to give Kitten Cat a change make it a cheap change, giggle. Things have been fine for a couple of hours now so hopefully we are back to normal service and the extra money forked out for more security will pay off! 11thWell I am still on line which is an improvement on the last few days. The whole of the Sky disc was reloaded and there is a little addition now in that the router has to be left on for 10 days continuously so that Sky can monitor changes etc and fine tune it. This is a new departure so maybe this time the problems really will be dealt with. The whole of the corner unit is going to be packed away so that the unit can be dismantled and thrown out. The unit originally came from my Brother and strangely two other units which he still has have also shown fatigue in the last few weeks so twenty five years seems to be about the life of those particular units. My Brother also informed me that he is nailing the loft hatch shut so I can not put anything up there. As if I would . . . 14thWell another three days badgering about with computers and now with great reluctance, penny scraping and aggravation I am using a new computer. We were supposed to get a spectacular show of shooting stars over the past few days and I have spent a couple of hours sitting on a freezing step for two nights running and no shooting stars! I don't know why I bothered really because the one and only shooting star I have ever seen in my life was spotted whilst driving past Birmingham at about two o'clock in the morning and my run of bad luck dates from approximately this time! Yes, I did make a wish and yes, naturally, it did not come true. It was worth a try though. 15thI have been asked why the order of the blog has changed slightly and this is because I was told that it is difficult to read upwards, and if the days follow on it is easier to scroll down, so now the days go down and the entry for today is at the top. So far so good with the new computer and thank heavens for that. I am nippy in Chrome but can't use that for the sites because the cpanels will not let me in for some reason, so I use another browser and hey presto Foxy Lady is on the gallop again. Whilst packing the contents of the self destructing wall unit I found some more books to go on to GreenMetroplis, photographed them and what do you know the wretched cable has walked again. If it turns up in the bedroom I will not be pleased with Kitten Cat. Apart from that minor irritation - whisper this - I am actually becoming very organised. The battle will be to remain organised in the face of the invasion which will inevitably follow this nice, peaceful Sunday afternoon! 16thWell blow me down if the new improved super duper server did not go down again yesterday and I could not access the sites. I sometimes think it is better not to improve things, they work better if you just leave them alone. The kaput computer is still kaput but it has been discovered that many nasties were hiding in an account which used to be used by a friend, but has not been used since they got their own computer. I did not know that when the scan is done it only does the files in my documents, not in everyone else's. I thought if you scanned the whole computer it did just that. Anyway, if you have lots of accounts on the computer it might be a good idea to run anti virus on them all. This computer is not going to have lots of accounts, and that is for sure! I am going to create some tasty ad packages on the sites today so you may like to have a look see later to see if you would like to advertise too. 17thA manic night here due to Talk Talk. My neighbour switched to them and after three days she still has no telephone so she was using my phone, which has a range far enough to be used in the upstairs flat, and she was back and forwards like a yo yo, and we even tried the phone phone unit but the fault is definitely with the line. After nearly two hours we gave up and she will start over again tomorrow to try to get the line to work. At one point she was totally distraught and she frightened the bejavers out of Kitten Cat who is still in hiding! Not a lot of work will be done here this evening as I have been at the hospital and now have been treated to a Chinese take away meal, which always makes me snooooooooozy. 18thI have had feedback that some people don't like this way of doing the blog either so I have put my thinking cap on and shall be tinkering with the layout again. There is a lot going on at the moment on and off line, quite chaotic in fact all round. My poor neighbour is still getting no joy from TalkTalk but at least she can use my phone if she needs to. The unit which could fall on somebody is remarkably resistant now the decision has been made to dismantle it. My Brother put it up and he does things so that they last but of course I can't manage to move a single screw so I have to wait until Chaos finally gets a round tuit, sigh. Kitten Cat seems to have tapped into the energy of everyone and she is lilke a very heavy grasshopper on speed, quite frightening really, appearing from nowhere, trampolining off my sore hip and bouncing all over the place. She has also decided to use this cute sort of semi growl as she leaps and she sounds not unlike one of those toys where you press their tummy to make them growl. 19thA calm and peaceful day so far interrupted only by the arrival of some more boxes to pack. Therefore not much to report, but isn't it bliss! 20thMy neighbour still has no phone. Talk Talk, if you are reading this please get out there and sort out her line. You don't know who she is? You mean you have more than one customer in this situation whereby they have no landline because they have chosen to transfer to your services? Surely not. I have a sort of bitter sweet victory in that it has finally been recognised that I am disabled enough to get a "blue badge" for car parking but I would rather have woken up miraculously cured any day of the week. There is a lot of controversy about the use of the blue badge which enables cars which are carrying disabled passengers to park in preferential spaces and to not pay parking charge. Although the saving in parking fees is welcome it is the reduction is walking distance which is so crucial to me. If I have to walk all around a car park before I even get inside the shop I am finished before I start. There are thousands of people in this situation and that head start by being able to park more closely is a real boon. I am not too well today and am home alone so it was the infamous microwave dinner for one because I have less chance of scalding myself that way. I have a tip for those of you who like the "in the bag" microwave meals where you have to puncture the bag and the contents proceed to gush out all over your fingers when you snip the top to transfer the contents to the plate. I have saved a microwave dinner dish and I take the plastic packaging off the food and place it in the dish then put film over the dish and puncture that. I can still shake the contents all about and all I have to do is peel off the film - no more burned fingers! The People's Friend Love Darg is underway so if you enjoy knitting, sewing or craft work why not make something for this? There are prizes for the best entries but the main point of the Darg is to collect together lovely gifts to distribute to the more needy at Christmas Time. Oh yes, I have had one of those "delightful" cold callers asking me if I want to adopt a cat. This would involve my pledging �2 a month. Hah! I adopted a cat for real so I told them that charity begins at home, giggle. As far as adopting further animals goes, Kitten Cat says that Charity stops at home too! 23rdWell, whenever I am progressing stupendously well someone will always put a spanner in the works, in this case a bloomin great spanner in the form of a password to access the computer. Compounded by someone prancing off on a holiday without switching on their mobile. I suppose you guess that the same someone is lucky to be alive since I have not been able to get online all weekend . . . I am getting some snazzy new banners made for the sites and hopefully Chaos is going to design a header and business cards, so that is very exciting. We are heading towards the last Bank Holiday before Christmas and wouldn't you know it large parts of England have been flooded and hurricane strength winds are also heading our way. Batten down the hatches! 24thOnly a few more days now for those of you who absolutely hate this new way of presenting the blog and then the new new way will be in place. Optin Buzz now has Personal ptc pages which can be bought or redeemed for. These took an awful long time and a lot of Anglo Saxoning but they are now ready and just crying out to be bought. PAL moved home over the weekend but nobody told me it was going on because I have not been that well and it would have been too much for me to help. I did manage to get lumbered with all the washing which was lovingly sent back for me though. That at last is him settled and comfortable, praise be! There is a story in the news today which makes me so glad Kitten Cat is a House Cat. An awful woman grabbed a cat and threw it into the garbage bin, closing the lid. The poor owner was looking for the cat for hours. The good thing is that no harm was done and the cat is fine. it is depressing that new ways to torment a pet seem to be found on a weekly basis. So I hold my hands up, I am neurotic and over protective of Kitten Cat, and stories like that make me proud to be so. 25thWhoo have I been busy putting personal pay to click pages onto the sites. I have feedback that they are working perfectly on Optin Buzz (now there's a novelty!) and I am hoping for the same success when they appear on Cash4Emails later today. On the home front I am still home alone, which is probably why I am making so much progress. I have been tackling little corners of the room where clutter has appeared and gradually putting things where they should be - and finding more than �5 in the process, which naturally is MINE, cackle. I shall be putting some more books onto Greenmetropolis today and trying to photograph some costume jewellery for the long awaited shop site, but I think the work on the ptc pages is probably going to take up most of the time. You may notice that the counter is back, it seems to have not liked the change of server so I had to re-do it. Since FoxyLadyNews is now advertised on a number of sites we are getting more visitors, so advertising here is becoming an attractive option! 26thWell it is all go here. All but one Foxy Lady site has the personal ptc pages and the last one will be done today. The unit is being dismantled and Kitten Cat is hiding somewhere in disgust. I am off clothes shopping at the weekend and the Marks and Spencer site has some very promising bargains so I do hope that they are in the store I visit. I shall be living up to my Foxy name, I can tell you! Oh heavens, something else has fallen down, must dash! 27thHere I am esconced in the armchair, tapping away and surveying a flat which looks as if we have had looters. I managed to trip over the base of the computer table and have possibly fractured a bone in my foot so am hobbling around and threatening Kitten Cat with death if she jumps on it. There is also a territorial dispute over the armchair which Kitten Cat regards as hers. Soley hers. Not to be sat on or used in any way by the two leggeds. There is an entire three seater sofa at her disposal but this will not do. It is not the new item. I have to find new homes for the entire contents of the computer desk and the unit which was dismantled, so a lot of stuff is going to end up shredded or stored. As you know, I am a terrible hoarder and have utility bills going back a decade so the shredder is going to be working overtime. I shall not be doing much today though, just tapping away here and fighting Kitten Cat for the chair! Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the - Oh all right then, but if the stores can do it why can't I? Anyways I officially started my Christmas shopping today, and in the next two weeks I shall be making the Christmas puddings with help from friends because I can't stir like I used to, puddings anways . . . The store had tinned fruit on offer at a very low price so that is the first item in the box, I buy loads of tinned and boxed stuff then in December I can pay for the meat, fruit and vegetables without worrying about the essentials. I shall have to start looking for my Penguin about now, you know, the one that belts out "Let it Snow", because I bet Chaos has buried that good and deep! I am also looking out for bits and pieces for the sites and keep watching this space because the answer to the "WHAT has Foxy Lady done now" fun contest will be revealed next week. Lots of people won free advertising but only one guessed! I do think that I have done my last shop on foot though, I was in a bad way and Chaos nearly called an ambulance. I defied the world though and recovered. I think I shall be scooter riding in the future though. I still looked ill today and had a near collapse in the post office too so scooter here I come! I managed to get a nice dress to wear from Dorothy Perkins, a store I do not often use but I have to say the Sales Lady was superb and very polite. For those of you who would like to see what kind of dress Foxy Lady bought this link takes you there. I shall be getting some beauty sleep soon so that the family do not think I look like an extra for the film Night of the Living Dead! No kidding! I have returned stuffed to the gills with a lovely roast chicken dinner followed by chocolate gateau, mmm-mmm. I surprised everyone with foxyladynews which they did not know was up, giggle, and Nephew is going to take a course which includes marketing so I shall be learning that vital skill soon too. Nothing helps you remember the things you have learned more easily than showing someone else the skill. I also managed to view the New Room and horror of horrors the mantel shelf has gone. Guess who bought an anniversary silver mantel clock for the Silver Wedding anniversary. Yup. Never fail, do I! I do wonder where the Christmas dome is going to go this year. I outlined my plans for the sites and everybody seemed to think they were very sensible, for me, so that augers well too. As you may have noticed, the answer to "what has Foxy Lady done now" question was that I have a new site, Zodiac-Ads, which has been given to me by my wonderful friend Roland. So that is the silver seven! 29thToday is a Bank Holiday and we had an absolutely freezing night but outside today is OK if you stay in the sun. No rain yet, but probably there will be some since this is a feature of the traditional British Bank Holiday. The personal ptc pages are now all finished, so it is just a matter of finding any glitches and hopefully making some sales. I start work on affiliate pages today, which promise to be even more difficult than the personal ptc pages but who said life was supposed to be easy . . . JULY31stWell had we a video camera turned on we should have been richer today. I did something absolutely unforgiveable and believe me I am not forgiven yet. I bent down to put some tuna fish into Kitten Cat's dish, not knowing that she had jumped up onto the stool behind me and not knowing how far my derriere was going to extend. There was a sudden splash and frantic clawing at my leg. I had bumped Kitten Cat into the bucket of water ageing for the fish. Poor Chaos nearly bust a rib laughing. Kitten Cat was entirely unhurt, I was the only casualty with multiple scratches on my leg, but she was very upset and I can understand that. No amount of grovelling and apologising has managed to convince her that it was indeed an accident but she has thankfully scoffed the whole tin of tuna during the day so hopefully she is not as traumatised as she is leading me to believe. A lot less work has been done today than should have been, since I have been trying to make up for the debacle all day! 30thAnother hot day and another frantic day. I have my scouts out seeking boxes (nothing new there). The corner unit appears to be on the verge of collapse. It IS very old and probably would have been on its last legs in any case even without my own brand of shelf packing. Anyways once this is moved not only will there be no excuse not to bring in my arm chair but if I can find a tank for Nemo which is within my purse strings the tank can then go into that space. This begs the question as to where on earth the Goldfish will go but it will clear a space near the door and make for ease of moving things into and out of the flat. I can sense mass non-co-operation with my cunning plan since it means lots of work, so I shall have to be even more sneaky than usual! Fortunately the family has got bored with reading this blog, so, Web Pages Dust Bunny hush! Following lengthy complaining by telephone yesterday lo and behold we have half a tonne of post today. OK, I exaggerate, but we have a really large batch of post. No sign of the SIM cards though so I shall have to request those again. I seem to spend half of my life requesting copies of items which have not arrived in the post. However, the complaint form which I requested HAS arrived, so that will keep me busy over the weekend. As you know, I am not anti PostPeople, just the ratbags who do not deliver my post. Thankfully the usual Postman returns on Monday and he is excellent. Poor man will take a long time getting round though because everyone will want to tell him just how appalling the service has been whilst he was on holiday. 29thIt was really nice to talk with Marjorydaw last night, and to hear news of her holiday, which she enjoyed immensely, but today I am absolutely exhausted. My body doesn't want to move a molecule. I have had quite a few guesses as to what I have done now, but nobody has got it right yet. I shall be off line again for some time in the next 36 hours, because we are changing the anti virus again, having bought an improved version. We have had no post for three days so a formal complaint has been made regarding the terrible service. Unlucky R Us at the moment. We have another storm brewing and I hope this one does the job because I am getting static shocks from Kitten Cat. Fortunately she is giving them not receiving them but it is still none too pleasant. For all that it is actually quite pleasant sitting here writing to you and watching TV and overall I can not complain, especially as Web Pages Dust Bunny has just sent round a huge bag of bananas! Yum! Thank you Web Pages Dust Bunny! 28thWell a frantic day here helping with that web site and learning how to manipulate button codes, or not, as the frustrating case may be. Marjorydaw is on her way round too, so today has been a day of not much of my own bits and pieces getting done but one heck of a learning curve without a parchute. We did not receive any post today, which begs the question where the heck did it end up this time? We have been waiting for some SIM cards and it looks almost certain that they have been lost forever in the postal system. The skip which Kitten Cat found so very aggravating departed today and she has been looking out of the window with such a smug expression you would think she moved the thing with her own four paws. 27thAnother hot day and a loud but ineffective storm last evening. The air is still close enough to cut with a knife and things are unbearably stuffy. Thanks to the aspiring four footed Houdini the windows can only be locked on night light. The bad luck is apparently still pursuing us since the computer purchased by family does not work and has to go back to the company. The Courier was supposed to be here by 2pm and it is now nearly 3. I am hanging fire naming the company just in case they do come good, but they have so far not been very admirable. The computer arrived six days after the promised delivery date and only after multiple phone calls and now it is working fine, except there is a Motherboard problem and it will not connect a screen. Now, maybe I am difficult to please but I would have thought reading the screen would be pretty essential. Anyways, here I am stuck here waiting for Couriers and this evening I shall have no computer as the family will need to use this one. I have half an eye on Dickinson's Real Deal as I work here, and have entered the daily competition, as I do every day. I haven't won yet, but you do have to be in it to win it, don't you. I also scared the Postman half to death today when I outlined the postal difficulties which had pevailed all of last week. He is yet another relief postman but I have a feeling he will not be putting my post through the wrong box and yes, I was charm itself, honest. 26thAnother hot day and a storm hovering around but not actually breaking. As I suspected my Members are having great flights of fancy regarding the What has Foxy Lady Done Now contest. Let us say it is a good job I did not live in Pudding Lane in 1666 or I would have got the blame for that as well, giggle. I am refining all the sites at the moment so not a lot of other news, which is probably great for my nervous system, if it is bad for this blog! 25thWhat a day! No sooner do I launch a contest (please see home page) and start tidying up the blog files than I get news my cousin is seriously ill in hospital. That is a real downer and puts the blocks on. I have put all of 2009 blog into one folder and from August I shall have the blog running from the 1st onwards, because feed back tells me that people find the way I write the blog at the moment difficult to paruse. As ever, I listen, and if it is possible, I react! It is too far into July to do anything about it now, but from August you shall get your wish! Something is occurring outside. This I know because my little neighbourhood alert on the window sill is going ballistic! I can not hear very well so miss a lot but she misses nothing, bless her. It seems a number of cats have encroached into HER garden and even though she does not go out there she is not very happy about this. Her special black and white friend is not there. For some reason she tolerates this cat right up on the windowsill and almost nose to nose through the lock vent of the window! If the peace and quiet inside continues for about an hour longer I shall be putting this blog into monthly files as it should be! Then it will be time to raid the cupboards and make the evening meal, one of my very favourite parts of the day. ,/p> 24thAnother hot day and another rubbish connection day. I am losing the computer tomorrow because the screen is needed so that software can be loaded onto the new computer and both the "spare" screens are in fact kaput - NOW they tell me, after the things have been hauled every which way around the flat, tripped me up and fallen onto me at various times. It would have been nice had they worked but as it stands I am happy to wave bye bye to them on their merry way to the recycle point. I shall probably use the down time reading through all the Open University literature and making a final decision as to whether to do the Computer course or take the plunge and commence a full degree course. The first course actually does not make much impact upon my time because I have already covered a lot of the material which means there is less to actually cram, but it will be nice to know that I am doing things in the correct way and also to pick up some new tools to liven up pages. I received a free pink nail enamel in yesterday's post, it was one of those "1,000 freebies" offers and I am not often lucky. I was double lucky this time because the alternative colour was a deep purple which is not really best suited to my colouring. I am largely pottering with the sites tonight, tidying them up and adding a few new banners and items to let Members know I do do something from time to time, giggle. I wanted some more photos of Kitten Cat, but she has turned very temeramental, as do most top models, and vanished at the first sighting of the camera phone! 23rdFlippin eck what a day! It is eleven at night and I only just managed to get in here. The connection has been a badger and I reckon my body sent me to sleep in defence of my blood pressure. The Post has been up the creek all week, with several important documents going missing and we all know how long those take to track and get re-sent, don't we! I know where the post went today because I got someone else's and we exchanged post, but apparently this is the only day they have received my post. I think the Post Office know something because their help line (now there's an oxymoron if ever there was one!) very helpfully directed me to the web site because the lines were too busy to take calls. Which is OK if you have the internet AND a connection . . . The soaps were a streak of misery tonight, with the demise of one of my favourite characters, Shadrack Dingle, drowning in a stream trying to retrieve tins of beer when he was drunk. Sadly this is a real life occurrence which does happen, and it made the scenes more credible. Sooobbbbbbb! Of course there have been good bits, such as good weather, a deliquent Kitten Cat and a cheeky Little Lady who has again been yanking out my hair to use as nesting. I told her I was going to use her feathers for a wig and she tweaked out a really, really tiny feather and sort of shoved it towards me with her beak. Somehow I don't think she is very afraid of me at all . . . 22ndEverything has gone calm for a few hours. The computer arrived but the only screen which appears to be compatible with it is - mine! Typical case of "c'est la vie!" isn't it. Get another computer so you don't have to share and then you have to lose the screen so that the other computer can be used. A sense of humour certainly helps . . . Our neighbours have a huge skip and there has been an enormous amount of clattering and banging as items are deposited into it, which is no problem to me. After all I shall have my own skip in the near future so I shall not be rocking any boats. It is a HUGE issue to Kitten Cat, who seems to think we are under some sort of attack and has been alternately hissing at people she can see outside and hiding. We are in for a few weeks of this . . . So wish me luck! 21stThank goodness for a less fractious day! The temperature is still extremely hot but tempers have thankfully cooled somewhat. We are still chasing delivery of a computer which was supposed to be delivered first thing Monday morning and for which I have had to rise from my pit at an unearthly hour each day just in case it arrives. Apparently the same courier was here today with a delivery for Web Pages Dust Bunny but because they have mucked up the order they now have the goods about thirty miles away. I am therefore still on Red Alert, waiting for the pesky parcel. All I can say is that it had better arrive today and it had better be in full working order or I shall be naming names. It goes without saying that we shall not be ordering from that company again, but since it could be a blip it would not be fair to turn others from the company. One of the lounge units was supposed to be dismantled and packed today but "somebody" forgot to get the boxes but since there is a lot of kerfuffle going on around me today anyways I am not to concerned about this lack of boxes. My button collection has been located and when I am unable to get onto the computer I am sorting through those, which is very good physiotherapy for my hands and much more interesting than taking beads and placing them from on tub to another or pulling at elastic bands, giggle. 20thA hot piggy hogger of a day when nobody is speaking to anybody and Kitten Cat has vanished. I am not sure where she has disappeared to but she will surely materialise when the smell of roasting chicken tickles her nostrils. The telephone is expired so I am going to have to spend some of my precious cache of argos vouchers and get a new phone pronto. If you would like to answer surveys and earn points which can be converted into many gifts, including store vouchers please drop me an email at info@foxyladynews.co.uk and I shall send you details by return email. This firm is only available to UK and Northern Ireland domiciles. The mail arived very late in the day and had been opened by persons unknown, presumably because it had been delivered to the wrong address. I really HATE it when our regular postman is on holiday. I suppose we have a couple of weeks of this now, and it is not an inspiring prospect. The switch to the multi point has been accidentally switched off (ie computer crashed) twice by Chaos - don-t ask!, once by Kitten Cat and once because there was a power surge. The computer discs were not put where they were supposed to be and we need some of them so we are ringing round trying to find someone who has a disc we can borrow - when the phone condescends to work. I could expand further but I am sure you have got the picture. Some days you really are the tree . . . 19thA full day today and the body won't do as it is told, but then when does it. Only one cup was broken during washing up and Kitten Cat has had her breakfast so all is well with the world, I suppose. I am home alone at the moment but expect a stampede of visitors this afternoon, which will wake me up if nothing else. There are a couple of people wanting exchange links so I shall try to get those on today so that there is something different for yout o browse. 18thA return to sunny weather and my family are home safe and well from their Spanish holiday. They have had a lovely and relaxing time and my Brother is in most jovial mood, so obviously it did him the power of good. Once again the connection has been every kind of farmyard animal and a few more not evolved yet but at last it is whizzing. I am sure my blood pressure would be normal if the wretched thing would behave! I have not really got any site news yet because in spite of having been online for the best part of ten hours I haven't really managed to do much at all, so maybe tomorrow there will be tiding . . . See you tomorrow . . . 17thWe are back to universally slow connection and this time everyone in the area seems to be complaining so therefore all the upheaval and aggravation of the upgrade is rather wasted at this point in time. However, we must move onwards and upwards and I have enough time between the pages loading to sort out a few more items and generally tidy round so I suppose nothing is bad news. Really. If you work very, very, very hard at seeing it that way. Oh, all right then, I am flippin furious! You will notice that I had to reset the home page visitor counter. The friends who are making their own web site were going to buy expensive software and I showed them that the software is available in the cpanel. I think somebody may have meddled with it when I went to the bathroom, grrrrrr. There had been just over 10,000 (yes, that many! I am quite excited by that) visitors so I reset it to 10,000 and in future I think I shall let people go ahead and buy expensive software, evil grins. I am waiting on my groceries at the moment and then I am going to treat myself to a very decadent lunch at tea time, if you see what I mean. We expect lots of company over the weekend because although I am not well enough to trot down to the Festival a lot of friends and relatives are going there and will call in for free tea on the way home. Maybe I should open a small cafe, my fare is certainly very popular, giggle. 16thWell, I had work done to speed up the computer and wouldn't you know, it effectively stopped me getting on line for two whole days and I am not HP. To add insult to injury I am no longer an Administrator on my own computer and have not been able to download toolbars etc which I need. Moreover Firefox, my favourite browser is not supposed to be compatible with other software and that was removed and of course I can't download it again anyway because I am not allowed to, on my own machine! I know one should be grateful when someone tidies up the machine and there was a lot of Registry work and it was all free but I don't know whether to strangle the person who shut me out of Administrator or myself because I might have guessed something would go awry! All that moaning aside, it is reassuring to know for 100% sure there is nothing lurking on the machine and the Registry is squeaky. Kitten Cat has a new friend, a huge white and black cat who is crooning through the night latch of the window. Fortunately the window is locked open only a small distance, so neither can get a paw in or out and I am grateful that I am so worried Kitten Cat will go out and get knocked down that I never have the window open because the behaviour of the other cat is all too familiar and although I love my cat I do not want a second one just at the moment. Naturally Kitten Cat does not agree and is learning to yowl, oh joy! I have been to see the doctor and at present there is nothing more they can do so I am looking into iodine rich foods to see if I can kick start the thyroid again and get rid of up to four stones of ugly and throttling fluid. I kid you not, I look like a flippin warlrus and no, there will be no photos! Weather wise we are back in winter, and since the children break up for six whole weeks of holiday this is a natural occurrence. The sun will be back when they all go back to school and can not be taken out for holidays! If you are in the Dartford Area, it is festival week end. Click here to see details This is always a tip top event and you will not be disappointed. Huh, just when I am getting all excited about a truly great local event I get some idiot shining a torch at the computer screen so I have had to close the blinds and shut out what for me is the best part of the day. Some people like the dawn, I like dusk. I love the way that the light changes make objects appear to come closer and become sharper before melting back and into the darkness. I have an oil painting depicting trees and a waterfall and this painting has the very same effect, although I did not know about this visual bonus when I bought it. Tonight we have had to go straight to night time, sigh. Apart from the impromptu light show everything is calm on the Western front and I am looking forward to playing catch up whilst the peace lasts. Remember, if you are in the Dartford Area please do look in on the Festival - have some fun, you are worth it! 13thWell, my transport did arrive and since the service started late all would have been well if the Sat Nav had not kept directing us to the wrong gates - no entry there, grrrrr. By the time we got there the service had started and no way was I going to cause a kerfuffle by going in late so I had no option but to sit with the floral tributes and wait for my family to come out. My Aunt had a terrific display of floral tributes, they were very beautiful, and there was a small fountain by the wall where I sat so I was able to contemplate my Aunt while I waited and it was very peaceful. I am sure she knew I was there. My Cousins were pleased I had made the effort and that was all that mattered to them, so all was well there, and I hooked up with two friends and two other Cousins and we are all getting together soon so there was a positive outcome to the day. Chaos amused himself by picking out family members and reckons there is no way I could deny membership of the Clan, we definitely look alike. He reckons old age has no fears for me since we age gracefully, very kind of him, I am sure. I was too exhausted to be able to continue on to the Wake but I had done the most important thing and everyone is happy, so a good day. Today the temperature has dropped by about twenty degrees and although in reality it is still quite warm it feels wonderfully cool. The downside is that Kitten Cat is AWAKE!!!! She has pent up energy from half a dozen days of sleeping so is leaping around like a demented grasshopper. Sadly, she is much heavier than a grasshopper so when she uses me as a tramoline it really hurts now. Very funny for others to watch though! I am helping a friend with a web site and they are using a template which is good in some ways but bad in others. I prefer to start from scratch so that I understand the steps taken to make the site. It is good experience though. So all in all exhausted but busy, the best way to ge through a day! 12thAt last the weather has cooled and everyone is rather happy about that although the goldfish are banging the tank because they enjoyed playing with the ice cubes and want some more! We lost the internet and telephone connection for several hours yesterday and I understand this was a wide spread problem so either they were working on the exchange or the solar eclipses which have been occurring mucked something up. At least, touch wood, things are running fast and smooth at the moment. That is more than I can say for my transport which is stuck at a hospital about thirty miles away from here, and at the moment it looks as if I shall miss the service for my Aunt since there is no time to arrange alternative transport. 11thQuite an upheaval today moving the washing machine and cooker so that the oil can be cleaned up by my helper but what a bonus, finally my kitchen scissors have come to light! These are so helpful, particularly when the so called easy open cartons fail to cooperate. Apparently the heat wave is due to end shortly and I can not wait, maybe my brain cells will activate, because at the moment thinking is very difficult. However, tomorrow downpours are forecast and I shall be attending the Service for my Aunt so hopefully the weather will be kind and we will not be seeing her on her final Journey in the pouring rain. If you live in the UK and you would like to earn a little cash writing reviews please click here to mail me at info@foxyladynews.co.uk and I will send you details of the site I use, which does pay. 10thWe are boiling hot here and kitten cat is spark out. I am putting ice cubes into the goldfish tank every hour or so and they are really enjoying those. Jaws has actually been charging around like an orange dolphin throwing them around the tank! Not to be outdone Nemo has destroyed his pump yet again and that has to be reassembled. IMPORTANT little tip here. Last night I had a near disaster of the frightening kind when the fat in the fryer did a Vesuvius impression and I was lucky not to end up with scalded feet as the oil spread everywhere very rapidly. Apparently in the hot weather you have to set the thermostat to about half what you normally have it set. I learned the scary way, please do learn from my mistake. I have the mother of all messes to clean up now too. I have cleaned the bits I can get to but later in the day when things are cooler the washing machine has to be pulled out from the wall and cleaned and everything around and behind it has to be cleaned. All that before I can use it and actually do some laundry!  Moneywise I have been paid again by a cute little site Kits-n-Katsptc.info
You might like to give that one a whirl. The WebMaster, Michael, is very responsive and he thinks up new little games on a regular basis. Fun and cash all in one, in fact. 9thAnother hot day and at last there have been health warnings issued. Since I have had trouble with my breathing from Day 1 of this heatwave it is probably a little late to start asking people to keep an eye on their family and neighbours, but better late than never. I have cut back a lot of any activity which will make me even more tired which means chores are banking up, but you can usually bet on some foul weather when the children start their summer vacation from school, so there will be time for all the chores later in the year. I wrote a review today and wouldn't you know it the review site went down and I do not know whether the review was saved or not. So I shall have to return later to check that it did get saved and it did go live. If you live in the UK and you would like to earn a little cash writing reviews please click here to mail me at info@foxyladynews.co.uk and I will send you details of the site I use, which does pay. I have just had an unscheduled sleep whilst typing this, the hot weather is really getting to me. I did manage to wake up in time to catch the contest on Dickinson's Real Deal. The programme has had a progressive prize all week and today gave away the most it has even given in a single prize - £12,000. I would love to be able to post that I won that, but since I enter virtually every day without winning I am pretty sure I shall not be The One. The phone entry for television quizzes is a horrendously high cost but most of them offer free entry on line, so it is worth checking it out - after all, somebody has to win, and it could be you! 8thWell, here is another of my little "Ways to get kicked out of Foxy Land" rants which appear sporadically. If I spend all morning putting cleaning and putting everything in its place now that I have finally gotten rid of the ants, it is a highly risky strategy to go straight out there and rearrange everything to your convenience, especially if you are nearly six feet tall as opposed to my four feet eleven. I am currently retaliating but replying that I can not reach the cups/plates etc every time I am asked for a cuppa or such, and predict that very shortly items will once more be within my reach. Heavens sometimes I am so baaaaaaad, giggle. I had the more sombre task of selecting flowers for the forthcoming cremation service on Monday, and since my Brother is in Spain I am sole representative of this branch of the family. I finally settled on a really pretty pink teardrop spray of carnations. On the up side I found that bunches of flowers are very reasonably priced at the moment and I may be resuming my former habit of treating myself to flowers every fortnight. Next year hopefully I shall be able to grow my own, but meanwhile I do love the fragrance of wallflowers, sweet william, carnation, rose, sweet pea and freesia! 7thWell we have the stuff that makes the grass grow at the rate of a foot a day - yup, rain! However, I bet the trees are glad of it after this dry spell. Later today I am off to look round an auction house which will be quite fun. Apparently it has always been there, I have lived here all my life, and I did not know about it until I found it on the internet. It is the first time I have been out for a couple of weeks so that will be really good. All the sites are running very well now, thank goodness and it is full speed ahead to the next phase. 6thWell today is the day the holes get sealed and hopefully I wave bye bye to my unwanted insect lodgers. Bliss! I got an interesting brochure today from a firm which specialises in shelving for awkward places, the only down side being that it is all in pine and I wanted to have a darker, oak type, colour, but I suppose it could be stained. There is a small wood sample and it smells divine! I can not plan too far because I do not know the dimensions of the New Home, or indeed where the New Home is, but I can get a general idea of outlay and prioritise shelving so that things really are in their place and the New Home is a completely box free zone! 5thApparently the heatwave is coming to an end and more comfortable temperatures will soon be here and I am quite pleased about that because my arm has done its going on strike act again and when there are lots of dead ants everywhere really I need both hands to clean the surfaces more or less constantly. I shall have to replace the wall can opener too because that is something else I can't do at the moment and cracking an egg is also a very messy procedure much loved by kitten cat if some of the egg lands on the floor. Thank you to those of you who have joined sites suggested by me. It really cheers me up! Things are tranquil here at the moment but I understand that the ant entry holes will be filled this week and the kitchen re-papered. Oh joy. I think . . . Reminds me of the song "When Father papered the parlour, you couldn't see parlour for paint!" 4th of JulyHappy 4th of July to everyone and in particular to American people wheresoever they may be on this very special day. I think a lot of people must have watched the tennis via the internet because the connection here has been absolute rubbish all day but as soon as Wimbledon tournament had finished zippety doo dah! We are now cooking with gas. I am going to race and try to get everything done which should have been done all day, but in three hours or so. I still have my pesky insect friends here too, they are in no hurry to clear off, sigh. On the positive side several readers have joined me at Alert Pay, so thank you so much for that - it really gives me a boost! 3rdWell, it seems a lot of people in this area have an ant problem and we were late getting it because all the shops have sold out of Nippon! I am reduced to squishing the varmints until someone comes to plug up the holes and Kitten Cat is run ragged chasing down strays. It is too hot to potter much so I shall be enjoying Wimbledon and working on the sites. I have found an interesting new type of advertisement and when I finally figure out how to set it up that will make the site more interesting. Whilst I love company and would not like to be alone full time I have to say that the peace here today is absolute bliss! 2ndNot a good day today. The Gremlins have struck big time. I awoke to find that I have a stampede of little feet in the kitchen. The "lovely" people who worked on the gas meter left a hole and now I have thousands of darned ants in the kitchen. I detest the things since I am allergic to their bites. I have sent out for some filler and Nippon and will prevail upon somebody to fill the hole and meanwhile bleach, flea spray, pepper and white vinegar have all failed to put a stop to the forward march of the little blighters. I don't really like wholesale destruction of things but there is nothing to be done unless I want a large scale infestation of the wretched things. Not a good time, then, to discover that somebody has removed all of my scourer/sponges from the kitchen. I vaguely remember the cry yesterday about missing car wash sponges and reminded them "oh yeah, that would be because you thought it was fun to play tug of war with the dog up the road and let him run off with the sponges!" I thought nothing of it until today when I find I have not a sponge left! Kitten Cat thinks the whole thing great fun chasing ants because she loves hunting in any case and she is the only one who is happy about the situation. When did you ever have more fun that this! White Rabbits!Well, we are into the second half of the year, a good time to look over those dusty old new year resolutions and have another crack at them, maybe. I have kept at mine through the year so far with about 60% success which is better than 0%, I suppose. We still have a heat wave but it is not much good to holiday makers since the children are still at school. Get ready for deluges in August! Links to previous months January , February , March, April , May , June ,
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