Hello hello! its me I'm back!

The way we were... eek - by this time the doors had literally started falling off!

  

And now....

Hello PhotoBombing Kitty!

Hello my crafty friends!
Things are slowly getting back to normal round this way and I thought I'd start off with ...... Kitchen News ..... Yay! The news is I now have one! And its almost complete apart from the decorating and lino, but wow what a difference it has made!  Since I seem to spend the majority of my life in there - it's great to be in a more erm... welcoming environment. What I mean is, hooray - it's not a dreary, depressing, embarrassing, hovel of a pit anymore that has been slowly sucking the lifeforce from my very soul for seven bloomin' years!!! Feel free to drop in for a quick cuppa anytime!!!
   The strangest thing occurred just after the tiling was done. One evening, I had not long started making tea for the girls when a spontaneous and unexpected quietness descended upon the kitchen.  (s'okay - it lasted about 30 seconds, nothing to worry about!). The usual background noises were still there going about their daily business - Simon Mayo on the radio, oven fan whirring away quietly, then Pop! Pop again! Crackle! Pop! What the??? Now this popping and a crackling wasn't that loud but it was coming at me from all directions. Really - what was going on? I thought my ears were playing tricks on me or that someone had filled them up with Popping Candy while I hadn't been paying attention (that kind of thing happens all the time y'know!) and then the penny dropped or should I say I remembered what the salesman in the tile shop had told me. "Them tiles'll start making noises once they've been put on the walls. (!) It's the crackle glaze on 'em. You'll hear 'em cracking. Don't worry though they're meant to do that!" Of course at the time I thought "Yeah mate, do I look that daft?" But guess what-  he was not taking the proverbial! The heat from the oven set them off and really deepened the crackle finish on them. It's like they've been finished off with Ranger Crackle Glossy Accents! I was amazed!!! They've stopped doing it now - must have reached their optimum level of crackleyness now they have settled in! So yeah, that was an entertaining 20 mins of my life and I really tried so hard to catch them doing it, but every time I stared at one tile, another one at the other side of the kitchen would pop so, no, I didn't see anything happen but I heard everything! Mental!
   Would you say I need to get out a bit more?
Thanks for popping (heehee) by!
Jak
 xxx
PS - Did anyone spot the little kitty sneaking in on the act? He's one of our new babies - he also has a less attention seeking bro' but more about them later!
xxx