Fishy Feet

The sun actually shone in our little corner of Leicestershire today. It not only shone but it was warm and the sky was a lovely shade of baby blue. In fact, it was so warm that Chick and I sat outside to eat lunch albeit wearing coats:

I cannot wait for Spring to arrive properly. I miss the sunshine!

Now I don't know if you've heard of a new craze that's been sweeping across the UK for a while.......It involves placing your feet into a tank of Garra Rufa fish and they nibble away at all the dead skin on your feet leaving them soft and lovely! Personally I can think of nothing worse and am too much of a wuss to even consider putting my feet into a tank of anything!!!

A new shop with these tanks in opened up in our Town recently and I've been and watched the girls from work have it done but only so I can join in with the coffee and cakes afterwards! Chick has said since it opened that she would like to try it but I wasn't sure she's be old enough. Anyways turns out she is so we went today!!! She had no worries about putting her feet straight in:

How long are my girls legs??? Holy cow she looks so tall and gangly, bless her!!! This is an action shot of her feet being nibbled:

Chick said that it felt really ticklish but she liked it so much that she wants to go back again! She still hasn't managed to convince me to give it a go though ;-)

What would your kids say?

There is a programme that Chick watches on CBBC called 'Gimme me a Break'. The basic premise of the programme is that the kids get to follow the clues and choose a holiday somewhere. The Children then set all the rules, pack the suitcases and choose what the Parents are and are not allowed to do.

Tonight I was sitting watching it with Chick and asked her what she would do if she was in charge. First off she said that she wouldn't be bothered where we went as long as it was together and with Sarah and The Punk. I asked her what her rules would be and was somewhat surprised by the result:

1) No picture taking....not a single shot!!!

2) The ability to eat chips whenever she wants without me asking her when she last had them or if she's eaten chocolate today!!!

3) For me to do what she wants immediately not tell her 'in a minute' or 'wait five minutes' or 'let me just finish this'!

The funniest thing was that she said all this whilst imitating me! 

The first one I would probably give her happily as towards the end of every holiday she stops co-operating with the picture taking, moaning that 'you must have enough by now'!!!

The second one just makes me laugh and think that I must be doing a good job her if all she can come up with is eating chips although I may have to let her indulge a little more often!

The third one worries me a bit more. I'm aware that I do this as I'm sure most Parents do but didn't realise it was such a problem for her. Ironically enough this is the one thing that drives me crazy about Chick too! I wonder where she learnt it from...................

A valuable lesson there for me though to try and be more immediate with my little Chick!!!

This is us on holiday last year!!!

National Doodle Day

This Friday, 11th February is National Doodle Day! Until I got my first Dodo-Acad pad I had no idea that such a day even existed but it does and what's more there are some cool prizes including an iPad! There are two categories...the first is for under 17's and the second for over 17's. The winners get to have their doodles published in a future edition of the Dodo Pad and/or the Acad Pad and the winners will receive a diary displaying their masterpiece!!!

To enter you can download a doodle space from Lord Dodo (as above) and send your doodles along with a donation to the address shown on the entry form. All funds raised from Nation Doodle Day go to Epilepsy Action which I'm sure you'll agree is a fine charity. Some celebs are also getting involved including Fearne Cotton, Cherie Blair and Joanna Lumley! You can check out their entries here and also vote for your favourite. The person leading the votes at the moment is Matt Baker with this doodle:

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your pencils and pens and start doodling. Closing date for entries is Friday, 4th March. 

Happy Doodling!!

How Much?? Car insurance and daylight robbery!!!

Over the weekend I received two delightful letters neither of which were bills but both were explaining a hike in my usual outgoings. The first one was from my Electric company telling me that my average bill will go up by at least 10% this year. I had a fleeting thought of 'Gosh, they obviously didn't make that many billions last year'!

The second letter was from my car insurance Company and I didn't bother opening it as I presumed it my usual renewal notice and I just needed to sign it! I've been with them now for about 5 years and it's dropped a little each year so I figure I'm on to a good thing. Imagine my utter shock today when I finally got around to looking at it and they are increasing my insurance premium by 50%!!! 50%....holy cow.....did I have an accident that I'd forgotten I'd claimed for? Did they find out about my constantly reversing into lamp posts and decide I was a higher risk than they originally thought?

No worries I thought....they obviously confused me with a terrible driver, so I'll give them a ring and they'll sort it out for me. The conversation went like this:

Me: Explained as above

Girl: No there is no problem. Insurance premiums have just increased

Me: Pardon? They can't have just increased for no reason!

Girl: I think you'll find they've increased at all Companies.

Me: Ok, fine. Can you please tell me how I cancel my policy.

Girl: I'll put you through to renewals.

Me: ????? (muttering WTF! under my breath!)

----------------------------------

Boy: Hello Miss Brooks. How can I help

Me: I'd like to cancel my policy please as I'm not happy with the premium.

Boy: Let me just run through it with you.....checks details, blah, blah, blah. No it's definitely increased by 50%.

Me: Could you please tell me why?

Boy: Well, all of the insurance Companies need to recover some money as so many people crashed in the snow!

Me: What? I didn't crash in the snow and I'm not prepared to pay for people that did!

Boy: Have you had quotes form anywhere else?

Me: Not yet but give me 5 minutes!

Replaces receiver!!!!

Guess what I'm going to be doing tonight???!