Here's little bobbins looking very sweet. She can climb onto the sofa but she can't get off so we have to remember to help her down.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Who is This Masked Man?
Ok, so he's not actually masked, but you could think he was in disguise. While it has been sunny and warm, there has been a cold wind a couple of days so the Peruvian hat has been perfect.
And it wouldn't be Christmas without a cheese feast. Here's this year's with the cheese we got from the cheeseman and a torta. The red wine is Extremaduran - and the baguettes are Ian's new specialty bread. He has to throw ice cubes into the oven before he puts the baguettes in, and the end result is very light and fluffy - perfect with cheese!
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
3D Printer
We bought it from a Spanish company and I must admit Ian paled slightly when he saw the box of bits, but luckily the instructions were very detailed. It really is like Mecano for grown ups. The printer we got was part of a community project where a group of people designed the printer and it is open source so people can amend and adapt the basic printer. It's quite good because there is a lot of support for this printer, although I think the average age of owners is probably 14, and geeky ones at that. Ian got the printer together, calibrated it and it's working!
We got it because we wanted to be able to prototype modmes here and there is no need to get the nylon ones made if it is just for prototyping, so we thought that having our own would save time, and pay for itself. We also thought it might be fun to print some things ourselves.
We didn't get much of a chance to play with it over Christmas, although I was able to test a new modme design and was delighted that it worked. I'm now getting a little more adventurous and it is currently printing a phone case for my phone. I have a modme idea here too - but one step at a time! Ian is going to learn 3d modeling too, so he can join in the fun!
A Sofa Full of Little Girls
Here's our sofa full of small animals! It's funny how our perception has changed. I remember when we used to think how tiny Tinks was, and now she seems quite big! Here's she's being used as a pillow by Anubis, who is a very small cat. Davy would have looked huge in comparison!
Tinkerbelle hasn't buddied up with any of the other dogs, she's happy to snuggle up with whoever's around, but she doesn't seem to have a special friend. She appears happy though.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Feliz Año Nuevo (belated)
Well what a long time it's been since we updated the blog. This must be the longest missing-in-action time. No excuse really, other than we've been busy on different projects and there's not been a lot to write about.
The weather has been glorious and it reminded us of why we want to move. During the holiday we were able to go out for a walk in the afternoon, which is something we just can't do now with classes 6 days a week. I think we'd both forgotten how warm it can be and how light it stays, even at this time of the year. The house is nowhere near as cold now either, with the curtains over the doors and the fire going in the evening. It's certainly not a warm house, however, and we really notice the warmth that the sun through the windows at the back of the house, so making the most of the sun will be something we definately will plan in the next house.
I've had a few new students start class. This means that I can no longer give solo classes for the special needs boy and two others will join his class.They are from his class in the primary school so he knows them, but I know his mum was keen he came on his own, but I just don't have the time now. I've let his mum know so we'll see what happens.
Our newer pups are getting used to the fire, although since we've got one of the bean bags in the living room and I have the old sofa, we are less likely to see them cuddled up in front of the fire, rather piled up on top of the bean bag.
Bobbins has forgotten how to get in through the back door, which is a tad annoying. We wonder if she has taken a tumble. She's never been happy with jumping downwards, so it might not take a lot to put her off completely. She has, however discovered the delights of duvet, and rather enjoys snuggling down. I didn't think she would, as she is quite sensitive on her head, however it doesn't seem to worry her when it comes to duvet time.
We got CRE8365 launched and it will either work or it won't. There's only so much we can do, as it's a community site, so either people will like it or they won't, it's not like a commerce site where we can entice them with special offers and things. I was lucky enough to find a volunteer moderator who is taking responsibility for overseeing the day to day side of things, which leaves us free to do any tweaks to the site. We'll see how it pans out. It's not something either of us are emotionally attached to, as it was something I planned when I thought my About contract would not be renewed, but it would be nice if it worked.
We're also full-speed ahead towards the Modme launch. The first batch of Modmes are winging their way from Brussels to here as we speak and should be with us tomorrow. So then it is a case of dying some up for the launch range and pressing 'go'. Now, this is something that I, in particular, am emotionally attached to, having spent the best part of 8 months planning, designing, prototyping and developing, so I will be disappointed if they're not at least moderately successful - but only time will tell now.
I was pleased that About renewed my contract, although the terms were less favorable. They sent us red throws for a Christmas present this year and we joked that it was to keep us warm now they have cut our rates - however for some reason they sent me two - hope that doesn't mean they are cutting my rates again!
Ian is currently upstairs taking photos of Modmes. Unfortunately, the sound of his footsteps upstairs really upsets the dogs (doesn't seem to worry the cats), and Rosie in particular becomes like blancmange, twice this morning she's tried to get on my lap. Not sure how good a guard dog she would be!!!
The weather has been glorious and it reminded us of why we want to move. During the holiday we were able to go out for a walk in the afternoon, which is something we just can't do now with classes 6 days a week. I think we'd both forgotten how warm it can be and how light it stays, even at this time of the year. The house is nowhere near as cold now either, with the curtains over the doors and the fire going in the evening. It's certainly not a warm house, however, and we really notice the warmth that the sun through the windows at the back of the house, so making the most of the sun will be something we definately will plan in the next house.
I've had a few new students start class. This means that I can no longer give solo classes for the special needs boy and two others will join his class.They are from his class in the primary school so he knows them, but I know his mum was keen he came on his own, but I just don't have the time now. I've let his mum know so we'll see what happens.
Our newer pups are getting used to the fire, although since we've got one of the bean bags in the living room and I have the old sofa, we are less likely to see them cuddled up in front of the fire, rather piled up on top of the bean bag.
Bobbins has forgotten how to get in through the back door, which is a tad annoying. We wonder if she has taken a tumble. She's never been happy with jumping downwards, so it might not take a lot to put her off completely. She has, however discovered the delights of duvet, and rather enjoys snuggling down. I didn't think she would, as she is quite sensitive on her head, however it doesn't seem to worry her when it comes to duvet time.
We got CRE8365 launched and it will either work or it won't. There's only so much we can do, as it's a community site, so either people will like it or they won't, it's not like a commerce site where we can entice them with special offers and things. I was lucky enough to find a volunteer moderator who is taking responsibility for overseeing the day to day side of things, which leaves us free to do any tweaks to the site. We'll see how it pans out. It's not something either of us are emotionally attached to, as it was something I planned when I thought my About contract would not be renewed, but it would be nice if it worked.
We're also full-speed ahead towards the Modme launch. The first batch of Modmes are winging their way from Brussels to here as we speak and should be with us tomorrow. So then it is a case of dying some up for the launch range and pressing 'go'. Now, this is something that I, in particular, am emotionally attached to, having spent the best part of 8 months planning, designing, prototyping and developing, so I will be disappointed if they're not at least moderately successful - but only time will tell now.
I was pleased that About renewed my contract, although the terms were less favorable. They sent us red throws for a Christmas present this year and we joked that it was to keep us warm now they have cut our rates - however for some reason they sent me two - hope that doesn't mean they are cutting my rates again!
Ian is currently upstairs taking photos of Modmes. Unfortunately, the sound of his footsteps upstairs really upsets the dogs (doesn't seem to worry the cats), and Rosie in particular becomes like blancmange, twice this morning she's tried to get on my lap. Not sure how good a guard dog she would be!!!