mum Archives - Page 12 of 18 - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

Christmas – Over Too Quickly

Thursday 26 December 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Christmas Presents Wrapped — The Presents for Others Wrapped

Christmas snuck up on me this year. Like a cat stalking it’s prey it pounced on me, causing a mad panic to get everything ready in time.

For starters Christmas cards didn’t get written or sent due to a bout of illness. The fibre optic tree was a last minute purchase and while most of the presents were ordered online, I had to dash out to the shops for a few people I’d forgotten about.

I was still wrapping the presents on the week of Christmas. Food wise, I had to go shopping with Steve for our Christmas dinner and arrange what time I had to be at mums for their christmas dinner. The prep. felt completely chaotic and stressful this year.

But Christmas Day came and it was all worth it. It was a wonderful day, starting in the late morning at mum’s watching my two year old nephew open his presents with his dad (Neil – my brother). Seeing and spending precious time with my family is always my favourite part of the day.

Then it was home for my first Christmas dinner with Steve and an exchange of presents. A quick nap followed before heading back to my mums.

Back at my mums, I had my second Christmas dinner with mum and her partner (Ian). Mum and Ian had opened their presents off me earlier and seemed pleased. I opened my presents from them, before heading back home to spend the night reading. Time seemed to speed up and the day flew by; it was over far too quickly for me.

I got lots of great presents this year:

My Christmas Presents — Presents People Bought Me

The theme of my presents seemed to be: minions (yay!), chocolate (double-yay!), smellies (tripple-yay!) and stories in the form of books & DVD’s (quadruple-yay!).

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Antony

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Film Review: Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters

Friday 6 September 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Earlier this week mum & I went to watch Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters at the cinemas. It’s the second film in the Percy Jackson series. It starts by telling the story of Thalia, daughter of Zeus, who was attacked by a Cyclops while heading to the half-blood camp (a place for sons and daughters of the Olympian Gods & Goddesses). Rather than die she became a tree that generates a magical barrier, offering vital protection to the camp.

Percy (Logan Lerman) son of Water God Poseidon, is worried about being a one-hit wonder until tree Thalia is poisoned. The only way to save Thalia – and the camp is to get the Golden Fleece. So Percy sets out with Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and his new Cyclops half-brother Tyson (Douglas Smith) on their quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

But Luke (Jake Abel) Percy’s enemy is back. Luke wants to revive Kronos to take revenge on the Olympian Gods and Goddesses who he feels have abandoned him and the rest of the half-bloods. Luke needs the Golden Fleece to revive Kronos. So Percy and Co must retrieve the Golden Fleece from a mean Cyclops, stop Luke from reviving Kronos and save Thalia. And that’s exactly what they do.

Percy’s character felt one dimensional and was overshadowed by the depth of some of the other minor characters. I couldn’t tell whether this was because of the acting or storyline. The storyline didn’t have enough tension and there was no sense of any real peril.

I watched the trailer beforehand (see below) and expected a number of water/under water scenes. There were some, but not as many as I had expected.

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The CGI effects were amazing. Mum and I watched it in 2D, in 3D the effects would have been incredible – especially in the final scenes.

The film was OK and an easy watch. It entertained me and kept my attention. With more work on the basics (storyline, character depth, character interaction and directing) it could have been phenomenal. Overall it just wasn’t as fantastic as I hoped it would be.

Review soon,

Antony

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My Birthday Presents

Thursday 23 May 2013 / Antony Simpson / 2 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

My Birthday Presents - Happy Birthday Cake — My Birthday Presents – Happy Birthday Cake

It was my birthday last week. I had a birthday tea with mum, caught up with my sister & brother, saw Kay, Steve and Simon (Cumbria Adventure: The Druid Circle, Old Farmhouse Pub/Restaurant, Holly Trinity Church & Millom Castle) my friends.

I was kindly showered with gifts. Here are some photo’s of what I got:

My Birthday Presents – Love Notebook	My Birthday Presents – Don’t count the days, Make the days count
My Birthday Presents – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Gimme, Gimme, Gimme DVDs	My Birthday Presents – Keeping Mum DVD, Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella, French & Saunders Still Alive Live Tour DVD
My Birthday Presents – Paperchase photo frame	My Birthday Presents – Thortons classic collection

I would like to say a massive thank you for the presents, cards and money family, friends and work colleagues gave me. As well as a huge thank you to those I celebrated my birthday with me.

Take care,

Antony

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Christmas Tree, Cookies, Yule & Cats

Sunday 6 January 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The festive period was a busy one, but a good one this year. It started with the preparation I bought The Vicar of Dibley – The Ultimate Collection [DVD], Miracle on 34th Street [DVD] & The Grinch [DVD] to get me in the festive mood and watched them while I wrapped presents and dressed Norbert the Norwegian (not really a Norwegian but it sounds better):


Norbert waiting to be taken home.	Norbert fully dressed.

Then Sye dressed me up as an African Woman against my Will (honestly!) and we made cinnamon & whole nut cookies:


Me as an African Woman.	Cookies Up Close.

The completed cookie batches.

The idea Sye & I came up with was to make these cookies to give as homemade gifts to family & friends for Christmas. I don’t know about Sye’s family & friends but all mine that received them said they were delicious.

Yule kicked off the festive period with a relaxed gathering at Chrys’, with tasty food, wonderful company and making of festive wreaths. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well as I’d caught a bug before finishing work for the festive period, so by the time it came to making wreaths in the evening I was shattered. In true Yuletide spirit the group banded together and made me a wreath which was so kind of them to do.

Christmas day soon came around and I cooked Christmas dinner for Steve. I was so impressed with myself, but only thought after dinner that I should have took a photo. Dylan & Russell my cats enjoyed the day. I bought them a Crinkle Bag. They love the sound of it along with the cat nip bag sown on a string inside:


Oh a crinkle bag!	OMG there’s catnip inside!

They discovered some wrapping I’d left out and decided to put it on their head and walk around bumping into the walls. After a while they sussed out that if they put their paw in front on them to feel for walls they wouldn’t bang their head. They spent the rest of the evening taking it in turns to play “blind cat;” so should have got a video but at least I got a few photos:


I will not put my head in the wrapping….	Ah I can’t see!

I also got a number of wonderful presents including various DVD’s, smellies, gift vouchers and a beautiful Yankee Candle.

Boxing day concluded my festive celebrations with a visit to mum & Ian’s with Steve. Albeit brief it was good to see everyone and know that they had a good festive period to.

Blog soon,

Antony

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