First week back.................

All going g8 so far although last night I felt like a vegetable. I'm sure that'll improve given time. Things were slightly dampened however once I managed to get through to the Signing off team. Because I have been off work for 7 months I should be entitled to my housing benefit still but oh no, because I worked for those 4 days months ago I'm no longer eligible so I get NOTHING until I get paid on 22nd July. Now how's that meant to help me stay in work?! Of course I was terribly upset as it means I'll have to borrow some money from somewhere.............or else find the local red light district (joking just in case ur seriously thinking I'd consider it). Things have definately been tinged with a slight gloom now.
On more upbeat notes, I have been tidying up and tomorrow will do something I haven't done for ages..........ironing. I hate it. Just the worst thing which could have been invented. Other than that I spoke to a friend who is off to Sheffield Pride today and sat in the gardens with my book. We were watching lots of helicopters coming over and wondered if they're all heading to Glastonbury. I will be watching Scissor Sisters, Muse and the Pets and also the last ep of this series of Dr WHO. More news tomorrow and maybe some pictures too.

Words!

.............today after several mornings of being woken by over exciteable, playful cats, I overslept unitl 10am. Now ordinarily this wouldnt be too bad however it's church today and I wanted to get there on time. I love the new church I have found here as they are so friendly and welcoming. It took me a longtime to find a church in Southampton but I did and had an amazing 8 years there of spirtual growth and of friendships which I am lucky to have and nurture with alot of love and attention.
Anyway, today was just a ''normal'' day but God spoke to me in quite a strong way. Obviously I have had questions in my mind for the last 3 months about the direction in which he is guiding me, and whether I am being guided or letting myself decide. I have an innate inability to let him lead me at times. I am a bad Christian. But today we had a ownderful worship and the words of strength, faithfulness and God's grace were so strong I felt more positive than I have for a while about my prospects of getting the right job. So keep on watching this space, It is coming!!!!
My mum asked me yesterday why I spend so much time on my laptop? Mmh well Mum, I said, i check my emails in the morning, my bank balance to make sure I have one!!!!!, I check my blog for comments and try and reply, and I check the blogs I follow to see how everyone is. Then I do my job searches. I dont think people appreciate that it takes up alot of time, seaching for jobs and applying for positions. The job centre has to see a record of everything you have done to try and find work every fortnight so you cant just sit back and let it go, you have to do all the work for yourself. I dont mind cos Im motivated at the moment, but it is hard because each job needs a different CV and application form etc. I have to think up different ways of selling myself for that particular job and sometimes I cant think of a reason why they should employ me cos my skills dont necessarily match. Anyway, I do.
Tomorrow it will all start again..............oh well at least there is a job out there for me. At times like this I love a good song so I will leave you will the words of a fam ous musical song which has been stolen by football, awful,
''When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and dont be afraid of the dark, at the end of the storm is a golden dawn and the sweet sound above of a lark, walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain though your dreams be tossed and blown, walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone..............................you'll never walk alone'' from Carousel.
May all your storms be small and the words of this song lift your spirits ready for a new week.

10 favourite films..................

................. so on Sunday I had an interesting day, I had a wonderful lunch with my parents, came home and had to call an ambulance as I developed severe vertigo. Anyway, I seem alot better now so I am going to do a little blogpost about something I was talking about with my parents, my favourite films! Now I love films and when I say love I mean LOVE. We were chatting about the film above, Field of Dreams which they had watched on Saturday afternoon. This is one of my all time fave movies, I cry everytime even though I have seen it literally 100s of times when I'm ironing. There is something so wonderful, nostalgic and honest about this film about a farmer who hears a vpoice while out checking his crops and ploughs into his fields because he thinks he will see Shoeless Joe Jackson if he builds him a baseball field. Of course he is not the man he is actually building the field for, but he doesn't know that unitl the end. So here are a few others in no particular order.
When I first saw this film, I was going through a very similar experience of attempting to deal with a friend becoming a boyfriend kind of thing. It didn't work but I do not agree that men and women cannot be friends. This film is just funny on so many levels and is cute and romantic. The music is perfect and the city of New York is also shown as a romantic place to be.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh Doris Day. I love her musical films, and I love her comedies. One of my favourites is The Thrill of It All where she is paired with James Garner and becomes an advert hostess for Happy Soap. There are some truly comedic, magical moments like when all the soap packets fall in their pool and the children think it's snowed. She made several films with JG however her best are with Rock Hudson. My fave is Pillow Talk. She plays a prudish interior designer and he plays a song writer. They share a partyline..............apparently something that went on in America for alongtime. He is a terrible philanderer and she keeps picking up the phone and having to listen to it. They become ''frenemies'' and then he sees her and falls for her!!!! Yoiu can imagine the rest.

Shaun of the Dead, well who else can make Zombies so funny.

Ah, this movie was one of the films which made me sit up and notice Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. They portray wounded but not innocent men in prison. The experiences they both go through are both harrowing, courageous and funny. This is a truly inspiring film and worth the upsetting parts for the amazing ending. It truly does inspire you.

OK so I couldn't have a list without a musical and what better than The Sound of Music. Now I first saw this at my nanny's house and honestly tend to switch off after the wedding but I love the songs, dancing, scenery and it works brilliantly on stage too. I saw it a couple of years ago with Summer Strallen in the West End and also in Worthing with Bruce Forsythe's supporting lady Isla Blair I think her name was.
Next one of the best thrillers ever written, The Usual Suspects. I'm sure I know who Kizer Soze is but everytime I watch it I'm still questioning if it really is who it appears to be.

OK more music but this is one of only 2 Adam Sandler films I love. 80s music and Drew Barrymore.............adorable. The other is 50 first dates which stars the same actors. Both brilliantly funny and also poignant in the latters case. Anything with a walrus and penguins makes my day.

Finally for this list, Enchanted. A classic reworking of the fairytale where instead of turning into a cartoon the hero and heroine turn into real people and have to figure out how to find each other and share truelove's kiss in modern New York. Brilliant.

Plus any film which can get cockroaches, pigeons and rats to whistle while they work is a winner.
If you haven't seen any of these, give them go.

Music, music, music.

Welcome to our Music bloghop. We chose this date as it is Elvis's birthday. Little known facts about Elvis include:

• he was born at 4.35 am in 1935 and was a twin,
• he was a black belt in karate,
• he recorded over 600 songs and had 18 number 1 hits,
• he was blonde naturally,
• Elvis’s favourite toothpaste was Colgate. His favourite aftershave was Brut. And his favourite soft drink was Pepsi

Interesting facts I share with Elvis, I was also born blond and my toothpaste is currently Colgate, but probably cos it was on special offer. Anyway my blog today is all about music. I decided to tell you how important singing has been in my life. If I'd been Swedish I would have been the ''girl with the golden hair'' and saying thank you for the music, or as Barry M says ''one voice singing in the darkness''. I wanted to be an opera star but I would never have had the nerve plus I wasn't good enough in comparison to other singers I knew. Plus my godmother is rather well-known in the opera world, Dame Felicity Lott, so really what's the point??!!!




Now I began my musical career by learning the piano and flute. When I got to my teens, my piano teacher felt my fingers weren't right but in my sightreading and singing she thought I had an excellent soprano voice. So she persuaded my parents and I to get me singing lessons. I'd been singing in the school choir for years and also in school musicals. I had lessons with Lena Phillips whose website I found while looking up things for this blog.
Lessons was completely different. It taught me how to breath correctly, how to hold a note and pitch, how to have better posture and to appreciate different styles of singing. I regularly entered our local competitions and won a couple of cups. I have all my certificates and it was a fun thing to do. We went up to The Royal Festival Hall to give performances twice a year.
Then when I left home I got more into amateur operatics. The layout I have completed for this bloghop shows me in My Fair Lady which I loved. I am wearing my Ascot dress and my posh ballgown. We did a mixture of opera, musicals and operetta such as Gilbert and Sullivan, La Traviata, Fidler on the Roof, The Merry Widow.


This LO uses quite alot of different techniques, just cos I had the time. I have distressed my circle with a blade and inks, used collaging and music manuscript and my new toy Modgepodge which is cool.

I made the two lace flowers with brads in the middle. The flourish I had had in my stash for a while and I felt suited the outfits and vintage feel. The flowers are meant to link to Covent garden in My Fair Lady and the pins as a link to hat pins. Musical keyboard from Sassafrass Lass and the fringing for the details on Edwardian frocks I suppose and to add that vintage feel which was what I was aiming for.

Here is a list of all the bloggers taking part today if you get lost on the way.

rockchickhelen: Helen (host) http://www.furrylittlemonster.blogspot.com
LauraY: Laura http://www.brown-eyed-blog.blogspot.com/
AntheaG: Anthea http://creatingspace.typepad.com/creating_space/
GlitterGirl: Tracey http://thescrappygirlnextdoor.blogspot.com
Cerublue: Siobhan http://ceruleanblue.typepad.com/i-scrap-therefore-i-am/
JoJoSowerby: Jo http://curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com
naddie: Naddie http://sweet-child.net/
DeanaB: Deana http://www.deanabirks.com/
MelissaG: Melissa www.sunlight-simplicity.blogspot.com
April290: April http://capturethememories.blogspot.com/


Now we are going over to meet Naddie and find out her musical affiliations. Now she's been poorly over Xmas and is way behind on lots of things but she manages to cook, care for her children and DH, she has a list of books to die for and she hasn't scrapped much lately so lets pop over her and see whether she's managed to get some time to herself..............happy dancing/singing...... But before you go, I said my godmother was abit of an opera star. Well here is little clip I found of her doing the Merry Widow as it should be done, enjoy...........