It's not only the Queen who has two birthdays :)

Connor does too.

As do all Willie Wildcat fanclub members whose birthdays inconveniently fall in the hockey off season.

This weekend was Connor's official in-season birthday, and we celebrated it in style by beating the Romford Raiders :)





I'm still waiting for the official pics of his stick presentation etc etc to pop up on the Wildcats site - he also had a pic taken with the whole team that I can't wait to see.

In the meantime, here he is with Willie, getting his unbirthday card (I have no idea why he looks so scared lol), having his stick (signed by the whole team!) presented to him on ice by his fave player, and terrorising old ladies outside after the game...

A nice article from the Province about Kes and his Dad:

Kesler and dad make a good team
They're always there for each other, especially this week as fathers join Canucks

Ben Kuzma, The Province
Published: Monday, February 18, 2008

Last spring, Mike Kesler lost a portion of his small intestine to cancer. Last fall, he lost his job of 37 years with a medical services company mired in Detroit's major economic recession.

This week, the father of Vancouver Canucks centre Ryan Kesler -- and a hockey coach for 34 years -- has won what he considers the trip of a lifetime. He'll join 18 other Canucks players' dads today on the team charter for games in Minnesota on Tuesday and Nashville on Thursday.

"It's going to be a great opportunity and it's going to bring back some real good memories," he said.


"I remember one summer when Ryan was 12 or 13 and played on an all-star team in Toronto. Fifty-per-cent were from the Detroit area and they had Rick Nash on his team and Ryan played against Jason Spezza. We made a lot of those trips together, stayed in the same room and haven't done anything like that in years."

These days, father, 60, and son, 23, converse regularly. They talk after every game and the bond is obviously stronger with what Mike has endured as a cancer survivor and Ryan as an emerging Canuck.

Before his father underwent surgery last April, Kesler thought his own world had crumbled. After recovering from hip surgery, the centre excelled in the opening game of the Dallas playoff series. He also broke a finger that night and when X-rays confirmed the worst, he was more stunned by a call from his mother, Linda, back home in Livonia, Mich.

He knew his dad needed surgery, but was floored when cancer was discovered.

"Breaking my finger was a blessing in disguise," recalled Ryan. "It enabled me to go home and spend time with him -- even though he told me that he didn't want me to come and be with my teammates and support them. When I got there, he was overjoyed to see me."

Mike had 18 centimetres of his small intestine removed. He had a scan in September and another of his stomach area in January showed no return of cancer. He has another test in July.

"My health is really good right now," Mike Kesler said. "But I had a restriction for four months and the most I could lift was 20 pounds and that was really scary."

It also forced him to slow down.

A non-stop dynamo, Kesler now scouts for the U.S. national team, NHL agent Kurt Overhardt and has coached a high school all-star league. He also coached NHL players Chris Connor (Dallas), Tim Gleason (Carolina), Jim Slater (Atlanta) and T.J. Hensick (Colorado) as well as about 200 kids who advanced to Division 1 college.

In one eight-year span, Kesler coached two teams in the same season. But he only guided Ryan for one year as a head coach because he doesn't favour the coach-son dynamic.

Now he vows to take up woodworking, get better at golf and ease up on those critiques of his son.

"What [the cancer] makes you do is get off the merry-go-round of life," he said, joking that it's easier with a four-year severance settlement from his job. "Working on a Saturday, working long hours and trying to get home to cut the lawn before the sun goes down -- you're pushing to get everything done and it just seemed like there weren't enough hours in the day.

"Now I'm still driven, but I get off the merry-go-round a lot more."

As expected, Kesler watches all Canuck games on television and awaits a call from his son that may not come until 1 a.m. EST. And when Ryan calls, is Mike more father or coach? After all, he was also a forward at Colorado College.

"He knows that I won't pull any punches," said Mike. "With time and age, I've tempered it a bit."

"He stressed perfection," Ryan said. "He was probably the hardest on me and I didn't understand it at the time. But now, you look back and understand why; he had to be."

As a five-year-old, Ryan scored in his first game and saw a rapid rise through the Detroit minor hockey system, under-18 national program and Ohio State.

"I love the way he's matured and has a better appreciation of the fans," said Mike. "He didn't want to be bothered when we were there [visiting] and I said you can never forget them -- they support you and help pay the bills.

"He's genuinely taken that and he's become well spoken. But the best part of his game is he comes to play with intensity, passion and a real love for the game."

Just like dad.

I have been seriously slacking....

....with the GPP Street Team crusades.

But this month's is a quick and easy one so my frantic busy life is no excuse for not playing :)

Michelle wants us all to take a pic of our "journalling kit" - ie our art essentials box/bag, and its contents.

Well, here is mine. Not as pretty as most people's, but it does the job :)

It is an ArtBin, and it is the one that I keep all my can't-live-without them tools and gadgets in, along with other basics such as a couple of acrylic blocks, some inks, tons of adhesives, sandpaper, pens a-plenty, paintbrushes, etc etc.

Here it is out and in use as I made my last journal entry:





....and I finally got around to signing the 'Where In The World' guestbook too - only about 3 months late :)

C is for Chaos

This symbol might look familiar, as I used the chaos star a little while ago for a CJ entry also.

but hey, I was a huge Hawkwind & Moorcock fan in my youth, so old habits die hard, I guess :)

This is another entry for my A-Z journal, a quick one this time, trying to catch up...

And no, the state of my work table (original pic below) isn't a set up, I really do work in that mess :)

Pic printed on plain card, cut with the Cricut and treated with Judikins microglaze to protect the inkjet inks from spills.

Then all I did was stuck it on a square of black card,painted around it roughly with interference paints in blue, red and violet (I looooooooove interference paints!!!), and wrote/stamped the title in black

Easy peasy

Just going to miss him, sob....

Ed Ved and me, both in Vancouver, a couple of weeks apart.

Bummer.

One of the many reasons I am crazy about this new man of mine....

...he wears the coolest shoes!

A to Z Journal - B is for Brother

This page in my A-Z art journal is a tribute to my brother David, who sadly died when he was 6 years old, before I was born.

And to my brother in spirit.

Materials and techniques:

The background is pearlescent liquid acrylics (again!) applied onto canvas with a baby wipe. Some script and heart stamps applied with Brilliance pearlescent lavender ink, and the corner flourish stamped in violet Stazon.

The image of my brother is an transfer from transparency, which didn't come out as clearly as I had hoped, so I Xyronned the partially transferred transparency over the top, which made for an interesting, if entirely accidental, layered effect.

The wings and halo were painted in around him freehand, and silver leafing was applied to the wings.

Close up of the leafing:

Friday Fiver - 15th Feb '08

1. Favorite shoes?
Converse of course!!!!
I used to have about 20 pairs of these beauties. Sadly, now I am down to 7 or 8. But I still love 'em.

2. What time does the sun set near you?
Well, that depends on the time of year :) Today I think it was about 5:30-ish, but don't quote me on that, just a guess really. It varies from 4pm or so in December to 9pm-ish in the summer.

3. Do you like spending time in the sun?
Up to a point, I don't like sunbathing, particularly, I get bored, but I do love warm, sunny weather.

4. Do you burn or tan?
It's unusual for me to burn, I usually tan quite well

5. Monopoly: yay! or no way!
a big Yay! from me

(I had a) Happy Valentine's Day

I had the best V-Day ever yesterday.

Must say, it didn't start off too well, with my best mate having to go into hospital :( Sending her all the love and get well soon vibes in the world...

But the evening time was perfect. I got given lovely pressies, and fed lovely food, and was generally fussed over. And for the first time in 40 years I can say I really enjoyed it, and wasn't sat there saying "bah, humbug, it's just a way for Clinton Cards to make money"

:)

<----------- Here's the card I made for Ian

and here's his pressie ------>

I can't take credit for the fab piece of art, that I bought on Etsy. It's an original piece by a brilliant artist from Brighton called Pam Glew. I love love love her work, she does amazing stuff with stencils and spray paint in a Banksy kinda stylee, but with her own unique twist. Go check it out.

But I did make the frame.

Willie is confused :)

Nope, not the lovely Willie Mitchell, who is skating again and *fingers crossed* will be back on the ice tonight against his old team the Wild. God do we need him!!

No, the confused one is Willie Wildcat (and his punctuation is pretty suspect too)

This was his page in the match programme last Saturday

Given that Connor's birthday is in July, and he's currently 5, I assumed this was for a different Connor Bradley.

But no, apparently it was for our Connor Bradley, just about 17 months early :D

Why couldn't they have Dice and Ice 4 weeks later....

then I could have gone!

sulk

I suppose I will have to content myself with looking at piccies
















It makes me laugh how they make them wear name badges, if there was anyone in that building who can't recognise Roberto Luongo, then they need shooting!! :D









And Kes has blogged about it too, and about baby-Kesler-to-be:

As most of you know, Dice and Ice was last night and it was very successful and a lot of fun. We dealt some cards, got some entertainment, good food, and all for a good cause so it was all great.

I dealt blackjack and of course, being dealer, I didn’t win… but I gave out a lot of money. I’m not much of a card player but if I played something, it would be blackjack – although it doesn’t really require that much skill. I try to stay out of the cards but once in a while I’ll get sucked in. the guys mostly play poker any way with Roberto being a big poker player and Burr’s really into it too but that’s more their thing.

Last year, the rookies had to tell their best joke, but this year it was a little different. There are actually four of them this year, Luc, Alex, Mason, and Nathan. I see Mason wrote in his blog that he knew something was going to happen last night but he didn’t know what. He and the rest of them had to surrender to a dance contest.

Mason and Mac looked nervous to begin with but Luc and Eddy got right in there. The battle was definitely between Luc and Eddy. It looked like Luc had it at first but I think in the dance-off, Eddy might have been a little better. They stole the show for sure. I think if I got up there, I could win – my best quality is my dancing (of course).

Three more months and my wife and I will welcome a baby girl into our family and I’m very excited. It will definitely be different but it’s going to be better. My wife has been so great through everything. She’s looking as great as ever and at this stage in the pregnancy, she’s barely even gained any weight. She just looks like she’s smuggling a basketball inside.

As far as names are concerned, we’ve been throwing around a couple but we’re not set on anything right now. My wife had originally suggested Kennedy a couple months ago but it reminds me too much of the president so that might not go. I like Mckayla and now she’s saying maybe Rylan but honestly we won’t know until we see her.

We’re all about the pink and brown right now. My mother-in-law has a crib and a room all set up back home in Michigan but we’re not even sure where she’ll be born right now. It’s all very exciting and new to me right now and I’m going along with everything that comes with it.

Great to hear that Andrea is healthy and both are happy. I hope they have a wonderful Valentines Day - their last as a sprogless couple, they need to make the most of it :) Ryan said on a radio interview he is going to hire a chef to cook them a romantic dinner - awww, but I think he should cook it himself, I hear he's a dab hand in the kitchen :)

As for the names, I quite like Kennedy but am not convinced it goes too well with Kesler. Mckayla I like but probably prefer the more traditional spelling, but then, I'm old :)

Rylan, is interesting :) And I have to say over the past couple of hours it has grown on me :)

Love the sound of the pink and chocolate nursery.

Oh it's soooo exciting, I can't wait to see baby piccies!!!! (oh god, I am turning into such a girl)

"if 25 seconds of hockey, Swindon hockey at that, is "better than sex"....

....then you ain't doing it right!"

is what I was told by my best mate on Sunday night, when I phoned her, all breathless, to describe the exciting climax (do you see what I did there?) to the Wildcats vs Wightlink Raiders game.

But I stand by my statement :)

Imagine, if you will, arriving a little late to see your local team play, to see the score sat at 3-0 in the other team's favour :(

Then within seconds, a goal for Swindon, TOMAS JANAAAAAAK SCOOOOOORES, wooooooot!!!

WTG you hunka hunka burning Slovak lurve, you :)

He obviously saw me walk into the stands and got inspired :)

(when I said that to Tracey, she said "what's it LIKE in your world??" hee hee)

In fact, the whole team must have got inspired because we fought back valiantly and with 30 seconds left on the clock we were sat at 5 all.

Looked like we were going into overtime.

But then, 25 seconds to go, Joel the Goal Petkoff gets one in (deflected off the foot of a Raider I think, but we ain't complaining) and the crowd go bananas!!!!

6-5

LET'S GO WILDCATS LET'S GO

You'd think that's the end of it....right?


oh no :)

IoW pull their netminder, and, with 10 seconds remaining, Wheats sticks one right in the empty net

7-5!!!!

Oh Canada :D

I yelled so much I lost my voice

Better

Than

Sex

LOL

(I don't want to deflate any delicate male egos here, so may I just say, that if anyone I have ever had sex with is reading this? Honey, I didn't mean sex with YOU, obviously, you were GREAT, it was all the other guys that didn't know what they were doing ;) hee hee)


I LOVE HOCKEY!!!!

yes, even EPL hockey

even Swindon hockey

especially Swindon hockey :)


Took these pics at the game - didn't come out brilliantly, I need my paparazzi lens really, might take it along this week and see if I can do any better. As always, if you click on them they'll come up full size.

Oh, and don't worry, the goalie got up - look, he can crawl unaided :) :

This appears to be my 400th post - freebies anyone??

Wow, didn't realise I had so much to say :)

First of all, look at Connor's new hat, isn't it cool!!

Second of all, it appears to be traditional to give away a pressie nowadays when one reaches a significant post count - I believe the young people call it "blog candy" ;)

Those that know me are aware that I have a surplus of crafting stash that makes the old EEC butter mountain look like a butter molehill :)

So I have had a good sort through and put together a big box full of really nice goodies.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is pop by, say hello by leaving a comment on this message, and, as it's Valentine's Day on Thursday and I have a new boooooyfrieeend and am very happy indeed about that, either link to something lovey dovey you have made on your own blog, or tell me your favourite romantic quote, or, if all men are bastards, write me an emo poem :D

After a week I'll get Connor to pick a name out of a hat, or something equally fair, and we'll have a winner. Remember to check back next Monday night to see if it's you...

Good luck :)

(PS I'm happy to post internationally, so don't be put off if you live outside the UK)

Shannorama!!

This one is even for the non hockey fans out there - give it a quick look guys, you can't not be impressed with this pretty spinorama.

It's a BEAUTY of a shootout goal from little Ryan Shannon. Good to have him back up from the Moose:



LOVE his attitude after the Hawks goalie (don't ask me to try spell his name...) punches him in the head, he just turns round and goes "WHOOOOOOOT"

hee hee

thassmaboy :D

Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year, that is. It is now the Year of the Rat, so hopefully that bodes well for Pan's recovery.

Yesterday we went to Southampton for the new year celebrations, with Ian and his youngest and oldest girls (Flo, yes Flo, really, small world, and Rebecca), and Reb's beau Rob. It was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect weather in which to photograph all the colour and movement of the dragon dance and other festivities.

Most of the display was quite traditional, but there was also a lion dance to Soulja Boy's Crank That, which was very cool :)

After the dancing and ninjitsuing and singing was all done, we walked down to the Bargate bit of town where they had a Chinese market with bonsai trees, and calligraphy, nodding head Chinese lions, yummy food, and a great little dragon rollercoaster for the kiddies (big and small :))


It's kind of embarrassing going to something like this with the boss man, it's like being the consort of a mafia mobster :) In fact, I'm sure he's running some kind of protection racket. Huge queue for the noodle stall? Not a problem, we get whisked round the back and served 4 tubs (delicious they were) with no waiting, and, as far as I could see, no money changing hands. The balloon seller slipped young Flo a free balloon with a wink. Straight on the roller coaster, again free of charge, and when Ian was on it it went round 8 times, the normal paying punters only got 4 or 5. Personally I think it's a terrible abuse of privelege and I told him so! :)

There are some more piccies here.

Fab day all round....more to tell later, as there was a memorable Wildcats game to blog also (the 99% of you who aren't into the beautiful game needn't read that post :D)

Happy Birthday Bessie Wessie Woo!

It's my best mate's birthday today, but to be honest she's not having the best time of it as she's very poorly.

We will celebrate enthusiastically, if a little late, once she is all better.

In the meantime here's her card. I had fun making this with lots of nice bright inks and paints, and pretty stamps, and my trusty Bind It All.

I hope you had as good a birthday as possible, Alison hun, under the circumstances, and we will partay partay partay at a later date (not too far off) xxx

Friday Fiver - 9th February

1. Do you like the thrill of a chase?
Yes, of course. Doesn't everyone? But not more than the contentment that comes after you've caught who you were chasing :)

2. What winds you up?
Customs charges! I have a parcel stuck at the sorting office as we speak with £12 to pay - booo.

3. Are you a loud talker?
Yes, especially if I'm excited - my poor best mate has burst eardrums because of me

4. What comes easy to you?
Ummmm, maths?

5. What did you dream about recently?
I hardly ever remember my dreams. I wish I did. I know I remembered one recently because I told Alison about it. But now I've forgotten it again.

Edited to add, this was what was at the sorting office, my valentine gift to myself, is it or is it not beautiful????? I love Etsy!!!

For those of us who had heard of the Butterfly Effect before the Ashton Kutcher movie

I nearly got myself in bother with this CJ entry. You know how the basic premise is that the book travels around with an unmounted stamp, and each participant creates an entry for the book using the stamp?

This time I got so carried away making my entry, that I completely forgot that it was the butterfly wings stamp that had sent me off on a chaos theory tangent in the first place, and very nearly forgot to use the stamp at all :D

I kept looking at it, thinking, I'm sure there is something missing. lol I'm a twazzock :)

I put my Cricut Design Studio software hard to work on this one, creating and cutting both the chaos star (like all good Hawkwind fans, I have a soft spot for Michael Moorcock), and the title.

The title was cut twice, on deep purple vellum for the shadow, and metallic pale purple textured card for the bit at the front.

The background - which was kind of supposed to represent a hurricane /typhoon type weather thingy, but ended up just looking like pretty swirlies, was painted with Daler Rowney pearlescent liquid acrylics, my favourite paints at the moment.

The butterfly was stamped onto clear shrink plastic with royal purple stazon, and painted on the back after shrinking with more of the D-R pearlescents. It was then attached to the chaos star with wire.

The text was stamped using the Hero Arts 'playful' alpha.

I had a lot of fun with this one (I always say that don't I :) )

Poor Pan

I had a real shock on Saturday when I found a big, nasty lump on my lovely ratty Pan. It definitely hadn't been there in any noticeable form the day before, so it had grown pretty fast.

I called the vet straight away and made an appointment for Monday morning, and by Sunday it had doubled in size again..

The vet had a look yesterday, determined that it needed to come off ASAP, and booked her in for an op straight away.

I was worried sick all day yesterday staring at the phone, I booked her in at 9:30am and didn't get the all clear call till almost 5pm.

Touch wood so far she seems fine, recuperating well from her op. Just a little put out that she has been banished to the post operative recovery annexe, which as you can see is a little smaller than her usual quarters.

She keeps peering through the bars at her sister lording it in the mansion next door, and going "squeak....why am I in prison mummy....what did I do?....squeak"

Poor little thing.

In the last pic you can see where they have shaved her and a couple of her stitches.

My mate Julie has finally succumbed to blogdom....

What took you so long?? :)

And she's tagged me

I don't usually do the tag thang, but just this once....

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MY MIDDLE NAME?
Here are the rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).

3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.

4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

I don't have a middle name so maiden name it is:

M - moving jobs again after all of two months, oops, not looking forward to telling my boss tomorrow, hope he doesn't read my blog!

A - according to Darby, I am anorectal :)

S - statistician by trade (I can do it, I can spell it, but don't ask me to say it out loud after a few ciders. Or 'econometric modelling')

O - lovin' Orlando....have been there 10 times and counting, and will be back there next year with any luck

N - new year, new boyfriend :) I'm seeing a fab, funny and utterly lovely chap called Ian and couldn't be happier

I want an H in my maiden name so I can talk about hockey!!!! no fair....

Not going to tag anyone else, but if anyone is reading this who wants to play, consider it done :)