Poupee Me Me |
- She is encouraging me to take part in a very silly but fun blog game where I take pictures of the clothes I wear every day and post them on here to show what my fashion style is,
- She now has me hooked on Poupee. So while Ray plays xbox-live for a month for free, I am dressing my Poupee doll and uploading my wardrobe!

(I actually own that entire outfit in real life ;D)
Labels: blogging, clothes, photos, poupee, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
New Layout |
I was toying with the idea of having an all-out love-feast for "Oblivion" but the pictures I had just wouldn't work together to make a nice layout. So I scrapped that idea, dug out some old magazines, cut out a couple of nice dresses, slapped them together on a piece of paper, sprinkled with stars, and scanned it onto the laptop.
The colours are just-because-summer's-over-doesn't-mean-I-have-to-accept-it in style. And, the white dress on the far-left of the banner is one I actually own (the one my mother used the ribbon-belt to make straps for me) so I had to include that one. And I did add a blurb all about my life in "Oblivion" because, let's face it, I do have two lives now.
And that's that really. It's a layout to celebrate my new interests. I hope you like it :)
Labels: blogging, layout, oblivion, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
Catching Up |
Whilst I've been busy another one has run off and eloped... CONGRATULATIONS Jenny & Mike. They were sneaky and pretended to be planning a big wedding and then snuck off and did it on their own, which I think was a great idea :) I hope you two have a great life together :)
I'm just checking up on the blogs now and will probably bombard everyone with lots of comments throughout the day - you've been warned. I'll be having a break soon because Jem's friend Shannon has come down for the day to visit. So far we've walked the dogs, and now them two have gone off down the beach. We'll lunch together and then Jem is showing her the town. Shannon is lovely. So smiley and friendly - and I adore her Australian accent. I think she should live locally and just pop in every morning to smile at me and that way I'd always be happy :)
Labels: birthday, blogging, daddy, jem, life, mammy, visitors, weddings
by Ys | COMMENTS? 1 | permalink |
There's This & That |
There's been a trip home to see my parents. There's a dress I want to link to but I haven't got the code for it and I can't find it on the website. It's a strapless wonder at the moment but because it slips down when I raise my arms (don't all strapless dresses do that? So why make them the new in-thing?) I need some straps for it. My mother had a brainwave: use the belt/ribbon that comes with the dress to fashion some straps. So it's at home at the moment waiting for
Last night there were some chippie-chips. Jem takes Martha to the groomers every six weeks and it always falls on a Thursday - Shop Day. Because I cannot be bothered to cook again Ray and I always have chippie-chips as a treat. It's this one weird evening every six weeks where it's just me, Ray and Sweepie. We always take Sweepie with us to get the chips and it's just this tantalising taste of what's to come in a few years time. It's great that I can get a taste of things to come and that I like how it tastes. The chips tasted damn fine, too ;)
Today there was badminton - I'm still the champion ;) There will be the Olympics in an hour. And The Tudors this evening. The weekend? I have no idea yet. I think there's some window-shopping with Mammy tomorrow; visits to the families on Sunday; in between hasn't been decided yet. I like it when there's a whole weekend stretching out in front of me like this with very little planned. In fact Friday afternoon/evening is probably my favourite part of the weekend: because there's so much to come and Monday feels like it's weeks away.
Enjoy your Friday, Saturday and Sunday :)
Labels: amber, badminton, blogging, family, in-laws, jem, life, mammy, ray, shopping, the tudors, writing
by Ys | COMMENTS? 4 | permalink |
Video, Photo & Sport |
So I've finally added a few silly videos of the Pugs to my Youtube page...
There is a permanent link on the right-hand side of the page as well :)
Plus, I've taken Gen's advice, and have got myself a Flickr. Because I didn't update my Photography site anymore, I thought I'd save some space, close it down and move my favourite pictures onto Flickr. Plus I think it'll give me a new burst of enthusiasm to start taking photos again. I'd actually forgotten the pretty shots of Fightstar I've got over the last year or so. I'll have to take my camera to the gigs again, I think :)
And my final new development is non-Blog related. I am going to start playing badminton. I used to play it a lot as a child/teen but when I got older I just stopped. There is now a leisure centre right down the road from me so Jem and I have decided to take up the hobby again. My first session is tomorrow morning and, for a girl who hates exercise of any kind, I am actually very excited. You just know there's going to be a thousand and one cock jokes being said tomorrow morning, of course...
Labels: badminton, blogging, flickr, life, photos, video, websites, youtube
by Ys | COMMENTS? 1 | permalink |
Stupid Fat Hobbit |
The first blog, and website, I ever had was called STUPID FAT HOBBIT. I was obsessed with Lord of the Rings and the line was always a favourite of mine from the film. For those who don't know the scene goes as follows...
Gollum finds some rabbits and tries to make Frodo eat them raw. Sam takes them off him and boils them...
Gollum: Argh! What's it doing? Stupid, fat hobbit! You ruins it.
Sam: What's to ruin? There's hardly any meat on 'em. What we need is a few good taters.
Gollum: What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh?
Sam: Po-Ta-Toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew. Lovely, big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish.
I always liked the "taters" exchange as well but I couldn't think of a good way to play with the dialogue to come up with a good website name. So I stuck with Stupid Fat Hobbit.
People used to come to see the blog just because of the name. I understand that's probably because the entire world was obsessed with Lord of the Rings at the time. It was still a snazzy title, though.
I thought I'd look it up, see if someone else had nicked my fabulous name. If they hadn't I thought I might reclaim it, take another blog, fill it with nonsense that wouldn't fit on here. Maybe go completely against the silly title and fill it with my political rants. But those plans are on hold now cos it turns out someone did take the name.
But that was my first blog anyway. Stupid Fat Hobbit. Filled with stories from my daily life and girlish squeeing over Lord of the Rings and its cast. I closed that a few years ago, tried a new one, closed that within a couple of months. I put the new one at my main domain (Incidently, another Lord of the Rings quote, this one from Sean Bean, who I will always adore). But, typical me, when it started getting fifty-odd hits a day I got bored and closed it down. I've never liked being popular. And finally my new blog was opened here at A Light's On. Why A Light's On? No particular reason. I just thought it was a bit clever. You know, how there's a light on at still-sharpe.com, as in I'm in, hello, come talk to me. It wasn't meant to be a blog originally. I thought I'd use the subdomain to house some art stuff. But I longed for my blog again so I let it become a blog instead.
It's nearly two years old now. Probably the longest I've stuck at any blog. I'm not bored yet, it's not overly popular so I don't need to start freaking out about too many people knowing too much about me. I get about thiry-odd hits a day, which for me is more than enough. I kind of like it that I attract people who don't comment because I'm much the same myself: I prefer to read and not comment, which may have something to do with being shy in real life.
To say thank you to everyone for reading and returning to read sounds a bit silly but, you know what I mean. I'm glad some people out there find my words in some way entertaining. As a writer that means a lot to me :) Happy blogging! And have a great weekend; and maybe watch "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" to enjoy the stupid, fat hobbit line ;)
Labels: blogging, lord of the rings, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 4 | permalink |
Will He Stay Or Will He Go? |
Last night I got only two very fitful hours of sleep, curled up on the sofa, worrying out of my brain. For the first time since I've been coming here (about two years now), the dog ran away. He has been known to do it in recent months (something about being old and full of anxiety, according to the vet) but has never done it while I've been here.
I let him outside at 9pm last night and that was the last I saw of him. It got darker and darker, later and later. He'd been gone for two hours, then all of a sudden it was four. Somehow I fell asleep at one. I woke at three from a dream telling me he'd returned. He hadn't. Half asleep I somehow got through the next hour and a half before calling Ray and asking him what he thought I should do. His Sunday lie-in was kind of shattered after that. It started getting light out and I was sure the dog would return then. He still hadn't when Ray arrived, my knight in shining armour (wearing dirty jeans and a very tired smile), at six a.m. By this time I was convinced something awful had happened to the dog. He's twelve years old, gone a bit senile, trusts anyone and had been gone for nine hours - all of them hours during the night. We scoured the streets together: no sign. When I got in at 6:30 I knew I had to call his owner. Second person I woke up. He assured me not to worry, cursed the dog and told me I should have gone back to bed and left him out there hehe.
I was really worrying by 8am. It was coming up for twelve hours since he'd last been seen. Twelve hours is a long time in a dog's life. I went to the backdoor even though I knew he couldn't scramble back in the way he'd got out and there he was. Lying on his side, washing his bits, bold as brass. I yanked open the door and in he trotted as if he'd just been outside for a ten minute stroll round the garden.
The garden was blocked off, Ray was sent home and I slept through for another four and a half hours. I've had a quick shower, can't be bothered to brush my hair yet, still half-asleep, and knowing I have to get through another night. Will he stick around tonight?
(P.S. I had no idea word verification was on cos I've never activated it. Blogger must have gone nuts: their comment pages have been weird lately. Sorry for the inconvenience but I'm sure you all knew what to do: pretty much every blog I visit has it activated. It should be fixed again now anyway.)
Labels: blogging, dog-sitting, ray, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 2 | permalink |
Feeds, Gardens & New Kids |
We had snow over the weekend. Just a little scattering of it. And a few random showers throughout the day. I don't think I'll ever see real snow again. Not while I'm living so close to the beach anyway. In between the showers it was lovely and sunny and warm so I spent Sunday afternoon doing some gardening. I planted a Climbing Blue Moon Rose out the back. And we're in the process of putting up a shelf to put this season's plants (peppers, peas and tomatoes like last year) on, once they've rooted, obviously. And out the front we now have a Red Evergreen Azalea, which we've topped with shells from the beach, which we went to find with Sweepie Sunday afternoon. So the garden is slowly coming together now. I'm hoping by the time summer hits it'll be looking much more alive. I also found myself in a clothes shop one morning buying a top that was on the sale. I have no idea how I got into the store but there you go ;) You can view some pictures from the weekend (and see my new top) HERE.
I also had a nice surprise this weekend: I learnt that New Kids on the Block have reunited and are doing a world tour! Now all I'm doing is praying that they come to the UK.

Now

Have I ever shared the time I went to see Jordan back in 2006? It was a tiny little club, he was right there in front of me, and he tried desperately to give me tickets to see him the following night (he was doing a TV show) but I couldn't go cos I had to drive home that night. It still gives me butterflies now. I suppose you never really grow out of your teenage-crushes, do you?
EDIT: seems I spoke too soon. Google Reader isn't showing my new post, even though it was posted a few hours ago. So feeds either suck, or this is just my shit luck. So if it works for you: great; if it doesn't you'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way. *Kicks stupid FeedBurner and Google Reader*
Labels: beach, blogging, house stuff, jordan knight, new kids on the block, photos, sweepie, veg, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 4 | permalink |
Feeds |
I have set up an icon at the bottom of each post (next to the comments button), which should be clicked if you want to read the blog using a Reader of some kind. Does the link work? I know the icon button looks pretty but does it actually do what it's meant to?
Sizzle, does it work for you? I really hope so :)
Ray's home early from work today so I'm going to play with him instead of HTML for a little while now. Have a great weekend!
Labels: blogging, ray, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
Sunny Days In My Garden |
This is the poster for the new Narnia film:

It looks very pretty. I have no idea who the boy is, though. Anyone know what's meant to happen in this one? It says it's not out 'til May so that leaves plenty of time to save up. Hehehe. I'm not kidding, though. We have to save for everything now. Because we went out to the gig and the pub last week we weren't able to go out this week. Then it's Valentines Day this week so we won't be able to afford to go out again. Hehehe. It's all totally worth it, though. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'd gladly never go out pubbing again if it meant I got to keep this house and this wonderful new lifestyle I have here. I really can't wait 'til summer: it's going to be beautiful here.
This has been a bit of a pointless entry, hasn't it? Nothing has happened cos I've just been ill and moping. This week will be better. I hope ;)
Labels: blogging, films, halo, house stuff, illness, layout, life, money, narnia, photos
by Ys | COMMENTS? 2 | permalink |
Just Popping In |
The move went really well. We were all exhausted on the Saturday night that we moved. I never ever want to go through that day again; except maybe the part where I was so excited I spent twenty minutes jumping up and down in various places in the house. We didn't have a fridge-freezer or a sofa for the first week, which was hard, but once they were both bought everything fell into place. In fact everything's been perfect ever since the first day. I love the house, I love being so close to the beach; I love my room, I love living with Ray; Sweepie's having a great time, Martha has settled in really quickly. Even the bills, although a little scary, are fun to manage. The scariest part was receiving a £200 council tax bill one week into our stay!
Last weekend I had to say goodbye to Dolores. There were many tears. But she's having a great time with her owners so that's made it a lot easier. We're not having anymore pups for a few years. We've had some bad experiences with the people the pups have been sold to, plus everyone's Pug mad at the moment so they're all trying to make a quick buck by buying a female pup and breeding from them. It's not nice. So we're not breeding again. Maybe never. I think it's the right decision. We only ever did it because we love having babies. It's a shame it went sour.
Right, I'm off to read all the blogs I can now! I hope everyone is well. I should have internet connection in the house within the next week so the entries will soon be back to normal. And, of course, I'll get a heap of pictures together of the new house ;)
EDIT two hours later and I've finally read every single post I've missed! Don't blog too much between now and when I get my connection sorted, okay? ;)
Labels: bills, blogging, martha, moving out, puppies, ray, sweepie
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
brb |

I should be back online within a week, depending on how long it takes to set up the phone and internet. I'll miss everyone :/
Labels: blogging, moving out
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
Turning Red |
I found a link to your blog from another site. Unfortunately, I can't read your blog - the type is sooo small and those loud colours make my eyes spin. Perhaps you've made it deliberately difficult to read, as some sort of post-modern reverse double-bluff? Or maybe not. But really, any casual visitor will just give up and move on (as I did).
I didn't think the colours were that bright. They're okay on my screen anyway. The other computer has a gel-screen, too, so the colours look the same on there. I always view it on maximum screen size; maybe it helps. Anyone know what a post-modern reverse double-bluff is, though? I told him I didn't know what it was - perhaps it's my age, hehe. I think it's pretty cool to have some fan mail, though. I wonder if he bought my book while he was passing through ;)
Good news on the house searching. One of the houses we saw last night is a very good candidate. We just have to wait and see if the landlord will take our babies. So that's very exciting :) And we're seeing another house tonight, which looks very pretty, but isn't as great an area for us all. Hopefully one of these houses will work out for us. I think we're all hesitantly excited about it.
Jemma fell over today - right onto her butt in front of the computer. Why is that people falling over always makes you laugh no matter what time of day it is?
Labels: blogging, dogs, jem, layout, moving out, shadows, websites
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
Not Seeking Anonymity |
But that's by the bye cos that's not what I wanted to talk about. What I did want to talk about was anonymity. In the Blogging world, anonymity is a frequent visitor. A lot of people write behind a pseudonym. On the programme last night all of the sex bloggers didn't use their real names or show their faces, all except for Abby/Zoe. I can kind of see why they'd want to hide their identity. Not because they're embarrassed by what they do (I doubt very many of us women who enjoy sex are embarrassed by that fact, but the media do like to say we are) but because to have the sex they enjoy they need to not have their face/name/life known - notoriety doesn't get you laid when the person you're trying to sleep with knows they'll be on the internet come morning. So I see why those bloggers would hide their real names. But why do other people do it? And why have I never done it?
Actually, that's a lie. I did once. I opened a blog, I wrote in it but didn't sign my name at the end of the posts and had no personal information about myself on the site. But it just wasn't for me. I'm not embarrassed about what I write, I'm not trying to hide from people. It probably helps that I'm a very honest person - online and off - so there really was no need to hide my true self.
My last blog was popular amongst horny females and gay men because I used to post a lot of pictures/entries about boy-love. It helped a lot that I became enthralled with the Antony and Craig relationship on Big Brother 6. BB fans like to read BB stuff - even stuff about boy love ;) I was never anonymous but I didn't keep archives. More due to the fact that I had a thing going on in my personal life that if it had worked out then my blog might have got me into trouble. It didn't work out. I met Ray instead and fell in love. It was, and still is, all very normal. Just what I needed.
Which is where this blog came from. Summer last year I missed the blog (I shut down my boy-obsessed blog in April time of 2006). I honestly hadn't thought I'd open another one but I just missed it. So I opened one that was closed off to the public, except for people I knew. From there it grew to what it is now, which is probably less personal but it means I meet more people and get to have more fun with the posts. I think because the blog was opened with the intention of people I know in "real life" reading it, the thought of anonymity never once crossed my mind. Even when I opened it up to the world wide web I didn't think to change my name. People in "real life" have always read my blogs. Because for me the blog is an extension of my writing. It's a form of writing I really enjoy. It's not as personal as my diary but it's sort of like a day-to-day auto-biography, which I've always loved reading.
So that's where this blog came from. Not from the urge to be anonymous but to share my life's fun, sadness, excitement, dread - and all the other emotions - with the people in my "real life" who don't live near me (which is pretty much everyone I'm close to ;D) and so don't see me day to day. I just wonder how many other bloggers out there opened their blogs for the same reason. And just how many blogs I read where the authors use their real names?
In other news: I didn't get the house I really liked :/ That was really sad. But we've gone looking for new houses and have three set up to view this week! We're starting tonight :)
Labels: blogging, life, love, moving out, ray
by Ys | COMMENTS? 1 | permalink |
My Whoring Ways |
I wasn't feeling particularly whoreish last night, though. Pre-period symptoms, I assumed. I just wanted hugs and nothing else. So I unbuttoned my shirt and let Ray simultaneously play Halo 3 and perv on my ever-growing breasts. Aren't I a nice girlfriend?
I was right about the period. It arrived this morning, after seving me up some delicious amounts of pain with nothing to show for it for the first three hours of the day. I hate pre-period more than the actual period these days, I think. But it was also an exciting day because it meant I got to pop my Pill for the first time. I haven't turned into an emotionally crazed woman yet but I hear it can take a few weeks for those symptoms to take affect ;) I also tried out my new super painkillers and although they did take a good hour to kick in, now that they are working I am experiencing absolutely no pain whatsoever, which is a first for me during this happy time of the month. This should be my last horridly painful period, shouldn't it? Doesn't the Pill eradicate these kinds of episodes? Sure, I'll have a period but it won't be as I know it; I've heard it's more like what normal people experience. Roll on next month!
Oh, which means I have finished with the condoms (unless I become overly paranoid about getting pregnant, or decide to have an affair - I'm joking obviously - my paranoia won't win out ha ha ha). Well, roll on the end of the period, I say!
Labels: blogging, ray, sex, the pill
by Ys | COMMENTS? 5 | permalink |
New Blog, Tired Days, Maybe Gigs, Winning |
I had a quiet night in last night. Actually yesterday was a complete washout. I just couldn't seem to get anything done - at all. It took me most of the day to get the new layout up for the new blog - I was just crap at everything. By the time five o'clock rolled by my brain decided to wake up. I'm feeling much more awake today.
Tomorrow I'm meant to be seeing Fightstar. I say meant to because Charlie has a bad throat and has already cancelled one of the gigs of the tour. But they played last night so I think he might be on the mend now. There's another gig tonight and then it's my turn. I have a feeling we're going to get down to the venue only to find its been postponed, which will really be a waste of a day and night. Plus they can't cancel because I only have a couple of weeks left until I'm on full-time Puppy Mode and gigging will be off the menu for the first few weeks after the birth. I've only had one gig postponed before - having found out on the night of the gig, I mean; obviously I've had gigs postponed a good few weeks in advance. That was The Deftones earlier this year. If Charlie just learnt how to scream properly he wouldn't hurt his throat so often. I think Bert needs to give him some lessons ;)
My argument with PC World paid off, by the way. I found a lovely new email from them yesterday morning explaining how there might be less space showing up on my hard-drive. All sounds dodgy to me. I just reckon they gave me a laptop that didn't have the right space on it. I won the argument, anyway, so I'm very smug. You see how to get things done now - threaten people with reporting them to their seniors! It works every single time. The funny thing is I wouldn't have reported them at all; I just hate to lose.
Labels: blogging, fightstar, laptop, life, pioden, puppies, the used
by Ys | COMMENTS? 3 | permalink |
Blogging Again Soon |
In short: Christmas was a non-event but I was spoilt rotten and got far too many presents off Ray :) I drank a lot of vodka-lemonade. New Year's was fun and I didn't get into bed 'til about 6:30am.
Back to writing again next Monday so I'll probably blog again then. I've gone on one of my anti-internet kicks. It'll pass soon.
Labels: blogging, christmas, internet, new years, vodka
by Ys | COMMENTS? 0 | permalink |
All content © Ys. Layout and banner designed by me; banner designed offline and scanned onto the computer. View past layouts here. Part of Still-Sharpe.com. ©2006-2009.







