Day 108

Day 108...

Here we are at the weekend and with no alarm set I woke up relatively late for me for the first time in ages, and it felt like I'd had a pretty decent nights sleep as well.

So with a very relaxed start to the day we had breakfast and simply pottered about sorting some household chores. 

Simon has, during the day, been tinkering with the electronics part of his R2D2 build as he is now fashioning the 'twinkly' lights. All I know is that this involves LED's, fibre optics, cables, Arduinos and a laptop as he is programming the lights to do different things.

He is loving the challenge of learning something new, testing his programming muscles and creating something as accurate to the original movies as he can. It has been great to see a collaborative effort at times when his programming knowledge is not quite where he would like it to be so he has called upon Ethan to work it out together. The one downside (apart from a section of my kitchen being overtaken) is that every now and then I get asked to look what the lights are doing and because they are so bright I end up with dots in front of my eyes!

We took a little time out today to do a bit more sorting out at Simon's late mum's house as we had furniture to rearrange as well as try to get a little more clearing out completed. We also had some correspondence to sort which took a chunk of my time this afternoon.

So as today was the 4th July I thought I would share some of Simon's artwork with the followers on our Disney Dream Girls Facebook page in order to recognise Independence day. This was just one image that Simon drew as part of his 365 Mickey's project which ran from November 2010 for a whole year. A Mickey a day for a whole year with the subject matter chosen by yours truly.

Stack of 365 Mickey's!

Simon's take on Independence Day, drawn on 4th July 2011 

I then made a point of stopping, and while the daylight was still good, attempted a little more of my current jigsaw...still battling with the straight edge but a few more pieces got joined together!

And today's treat was dinner made by Simon...keto pizza...this is one he discovered a while ago so this has now become something that he makes which means I get a night off from cooking!

Pizza making in progress

So as the pubs, restaurants and hairdressers opened up we have had a pretty regular sort of day. It has been great to see businesses opening and being socially responsible I just hope that all businesses follow this lead and that the public behave themselves and obey the recommendations, but as I've said before only time will tell!

If you are out and about please do so responsibly and take care for all of our sakes.

xx

Disney Ink

I spoke a while back about how Disney fits into my every day life, one way being my Disney themed tattoos.  Well I promised at the time that I would talk about my Disney ink in more detail at a later date, so here goes!

After a few years of watching the slue of 'ink' programs on television both Simon and I had become intrigued with the world of tattoos; we both loved the artistry involved and the stories behind the tattoos.  And we began talking about getting our own and what we would have done and why.

My reasoning was very simple - it had to combine the loves in life (family and Disney) as well as be designed by Simon.  The thought of having a piece of his art on my body was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned.

So my first tattoo is at the base of my spine and spans across my lower back with a tri-circle Mickey at the centre; this was designed by Simon, and tattooed by Gray Silva at Rampant Ink Tattoo Studio. It also incorporates Simon’s initials and those of our two children (if you know where to look!)

Disney's Animal Kingdom, Dinoland USA after riding Primeval Whirl, 2008

My next tattoo carried on the Disney theme, once again incorporating the classic tri-circle Mickey at it's centre.  This was designed again by Simon but with help from my tattooist, Rachel Huntington at Rampant Ink Tattoo Studio

Disneyland, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, 2010

My third tattoo is around my ankle and foot and has flowers with tri-circle Mickeys at their centres flowing off an abstract tri-circle Mickey.  This time I took Rachel some designs of tri-circle Mickey’s that I had come across on our previous visit to Disneyland, explained where I wanted the tattoo and that I wanted cherry blossom type flowers as well.  I told her all about ‘hidden Mickey’s’ and love the fact that she was able to get so many into one tattoo; between the main ‘Mickey’, the flower centres and tiny hidden ‘dots’ there are 11 hidden Mickey’s!  I also love the fact that those in the know see the 'Disney' element straight away but for others I have to point it out, and when they realise they are completely awestruck!

Magic Kingdom, Main Street USA, 2011

Now, it is true what they say - once you've had one tattoo you will want more!  I am now thinking about my next tattoo; what to have and where to have it.  It will of course have to incorporate a tri-circle Mickey...watch this space ;)

Countdown to Christmas - Day 23

23rd December

Well my day today has been spent mainly in the kitchen.  I have made almond paste for my home-made Christmas cake (thanks Mum!  Would like to say I made the cake but alas no, and besides my Mum's cake is sooo good), a batch of mince pies and some apple sauce to go with pork on Christmas Day.

Mince Pies - kinda Hidden Mickey display!!

And just as I had the kitchen all clean and tidy I suddenly have both kids saying 'Muuuummmm....can we do some baking?'  How typical is that? Clean kitchen and my kids want to make it all messy again!  So we have come to a compromise; we are making the dough tonight to then chill over night (as per recipe) and then tomorrow we are making Mickey Gingerbread :)

Oh and also today I saw my best friend, who popped round for a 'Mickey-ccino'...

The Simes patented 'Mickey-ccino' - the only way to drink coffee :)

...and it was also an opportunity to exchange gifts...I just love the gift tag on my pressie!

Thanks Paula xx

Countdown to Christmas - Day 17

17th December

So finally today I have managed to decorate my Disney tree, the last piece of Christmas decorating to be done so the house is now completely 'decked' out.

I have to say though that I am a bit picky when it comes to Disney decorations, as not only do they have to truly represent Disney but they also have to be very Christmassy. I am not a lover of just characters designed to hang on your tree, they have to have at least a little bit of Christmas about them.

But I do have everything from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto to the Princesses to Stitch to Buzz and Woody to Dalmations and lots more besides.

Beauty & The Beast themed

Stitch - Naughty!

Stitch - Nice!

Chip & Dale

Dalmations

Toy Story

A couple of tinks!

The Fab Four ;)

 And here are a few shots of my Disney tree in all it's glory...

...hope you approve :)

Countdown to Christmas - Day 16

16th December

So today sees the remainder of my Christmas decorations going up.  Now I already have twinkly lights in my garden, a trio of light up figures on my patio (Santa, Snowman & Penguin), a tree in my kitchen, a tree in my hallway, wreath on the door, a few faux boughs of greenery, ornaments a plenty and tinsel hanging from numerous places but today is the day that we put up the real tree in the living room.

Now this tree is a bit special, because this is my Disney tree.  I already have a light-up Pooh Bear Hundred Acre Wood display, and a Tigger tree topper that's just too heavy for the top of a tree, there's a couple of Jingle Smells Vinylmations on  the cupboard and a glitter ball set of Mickey ears hanging off a curtain pole but there is still more to come!

My first proper Disney tree ornaments were a present from Simon, who brought back a handful of decorations from a work trip to San Francisco back in 1992, I even have the original boxes they came in and each year they get carefully packed away in their correct boxes.  But since then the collection has just grown and grown, and each trip to a Disney park wouldn't be complete if we didn't bring home a new edition or three to our collection!

A few of our Mickey decorations!

But it looks like my attempts to get the tree decorated today are to be thwarted...a combination of a weekend away and our youngest having her first music performance has meant that the hours have just disappeared.  So tomorrow (hopefully) will see my tree completed, with an appropriate blog post and photos to follow :)

Countdown to Christmas - Day 5

5th December

So one of my favourite ways to get in the Christmas mood is to snuggle down on the sofa, with drinks and nibbles and watch Christmas movies.  Now I'm not fussy which movies I watch as long as there is a Christmas theme, which can mean sitting through some rather cheesy productions ;)

But my two favourite Christmas movies are two old classics; my first is White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye - just love this movie...oh and when they have the performance for the General I cry every time.  My second is 'It's a Wonderful Life' with James Stewart, I remember Simon introducing me to this film not long after we met (a lot of years ago!!) and fell in love with it as much as Simon had already, it's compulsory viewing in our house now!  We also have a copy of the movie poster hanging in our house, that we bought from the then Disney-MGM Studios at WDW a number of years ago!

My Christmas DVD/Blu-ray collection is fairly extensive....

and of course in amongst all these are a number of Disney ones!

At pre-school today we had a little television time, a quiet time for the children just after their lunch, and clearly the DVD we had playing wasn't grabbing their attention so I started to ask the children what they liked to watch at home.  After the usual children's television programs were mentioned one of the children mentioned Tinkerbell, then someone else said Cinderella and before you knew it I think we'd mentioned every Disney classic!  So the children, knowing my little Disney obsession, gave me a task...to bring in one of my Disney DVD's...a suitably Christmas themed one...

So I think Mickey may be the way to go but which one to choose?!!