And another thing

Something else that has really gotten my goat - one of my friends is grieving for a cat and it isnt as though this cat belonged to her it belonged to someone else. Its only a cat...so I cannot understand this weeping and wailing by both mother and daughter. The cat had been ill for sometime and was dying of cancer and yet its owners knew that it was dying but rather than being kind and putting the poor thing out of its misery, they let it struggle on in pain, getting thinner by the day until it eventually died at the weekend. Now there is a massive outpouring of grief which surpasses that displayed around the world for Michael Jackson - and for what? a cat!

Don't get me wrong I am not heartless but simply cannot understand this over sentimentality - yes, if it was a child I could understand but it wasn't..it was a cat.

Earlier this year a good friend of mine had to put her dog to sleep, he was old and developed problems with his back legs, as well as having cancer. Jake was an ex police dog and had belonged to my friend for some years (she used to be a police dog handler). Jake was a massive German Shepherd - but he was a working dog and didnt take too kindly to retirement either. Sure my chum was upset but she cleared his things had her car valetted so it no longer smelt of dog but I don't ever recall this huge outpouring of grief and she certainly didnt weep and wail like my other friend. It hasnt put my friend off having another dog - she has another German Shepherd puppy called Jess (although she admits to calling her Jake occasionally). Her cat Rastus was also put to sleep recently - that old cat was 28, had no teeth and was going bald but again no huge show of grief.

Why is it that the people who actually own the animals that are put down to stop them from suffering, soon get over their loss and move on to other pets and yet those who don't display more grief and put on more of a show?

After making a comment, I was told "oh you don't understand" - call me cynical but I do understand, my grandma's dog died when I was small (I was told at the time that he had run away when in fact he had been put down because he had kidney failure), the pet cats also died (although I am sure the kittens were assisted on their way by grandma and a bucket of water), the budgie (I was scared of him) died, my goldfish died, the school rabbit Zebedee who was staying at mine during the school holidays also died and mum had to go and buy a new rabbit that looked the same so the other kids didnt get upset. There was no song and dance from me I just accepted that death was part of life and that all things die eventually.

Is that being heartless? Or is it being realistic?

It seemed like a good idea at the time

And so the saga of the website goes on..I have been looking at the proof and have comments to make about it because on some pages the text is squashed up at the edge leaving volumes of white space. Then I have the hassle of my email address as sponsalis will have to point at a blueyonder account which isnt ideal but if I want a cheaper website then its the price I have to pay. I shall be looking at using a different email server so that it looks as though emails are being sent from the business rather than a home account - again this will cost but not much its just a case of deciding which host is best and I can only do that by reading up on them all.

Sometimes, I wonder if its worth all the hassle? I am not in the mood for it because it is very humid today and I just can't concentrate on anything. I don't know if I mentioned yesterday but my previous provider had sent me an email but for some unknown reason had sent the email to themselves but when they eventually sent it, I nearly fell off the chair as they wanted to charge me £1050 plus VAT just so that I could amend pages myself rather than pay their rip off charges.

I need to hurry up and finish my final assignment so that I can receive my diploma and have a shiny new logo to go on my shiny new website - again the weather is dragging me down and I cannot get motivated at all.

Earlier today, I was watching the tennis but had to switch it off because I couldnt stand the noise of the women grunting like a bunch of warthogs fighting over a prized truffle. Why can't they act with some decorum, back in the 60's/70's we never had to listen to any grunting. Tennis has changed - no longer do they drink Robinsons squash which used to be dispensed from under the umpire's chair, the women grunt and all play seems to be boring baseline stuff. I know times change but I cannot understand why the players have to be the way they are if the women aren't grunting then they are very manly in appearance and I sometimes wonder if they shouldn't be playing in the men's tournament instead. Going to Wimbledon these days is just like going to a football match with banners waving and chav-like behaviour in mexican waves and catcalling - bring back the old days when people had manners and there was none of this loutish behaviour. Guess I am turning into my mother - I am getting old and becoming more and more intolerant...I know I am a grumpy old woman!!

The tale of the missing email

Well I feel slightly embarrassed because I have fired off a letter to the web company and posted it, now I have spoken to them since - it turned out that the quotation was sent only it wasnt sent to me as the woman sending it sent it to herself - I am still waiting for it to come through. I explained that I was moving a) because I didnt get the quote and b) I could have content management free for 12 months and for £99 thereafter - MRS can't compete with that as they wanted to charge me over £1000 for contact management. Maybe I will use them again in the future - then again, maybe not.

I Must be a Witch...

I wished for rain and so it is here - pouring down like someone has turned on the tap, it sounds lovely hitting the leaves, the grass and the roof and already I can hear that the gutter has overflown again (why the landlord didnt put up some guttering with a cover over it to stop the leaves I don't know because we are surrounded the trees the gutter is bound to be full of them.

My roast has gone in the oven - I figure that I can eat it hot in a sandwich or slice it and have it cold.

Its too hot for....

Its just too hot today - my brain has turned to mush because of the heat and my fuse has shortened considerably so now I am too quick to lose my temper.

I have been out and about today - to the post office to deliver a parcel and again this afternoon to visit the bottle bank as I had a ton of coffee jars to dispose off - that's my bit done for the environment today (yay).

The washing machine man is coming round on Wednesday afternoon to see if he can fix my errant washing machine - the spin cycle is too frenetic for words and instead of clicking off it speeds up and is way too fast and won't switch off unless I actually turn the machine to off.

My chap (is he really my chap after all, I chucked him out) contacted me today by text so I rang him and thought it odd that the fone has a foreign ring tone. Now I knew that he was going sailing over the weekend because I had asked him to come up and pick up a key to my flat seeing as he is supposed to be looking after me when I have had my op because its not good sense to be on my own after a general anaesthetic but he said that he was going sailing. Well, it turns out that he has had a week off to go sailing and there are only 3 of them on this boat - he has known for months, years in fact that I have had a hankering to go out on the civil service boat Sea Essay again but have I had an invite - have I heckers like! Well, he called me this afternoon and I am afraid I was rather short with him because to say that I am a little cheesed off is an understatement - once again this is another holiday that he has had where I havent been invited!! and yet he has moaned and whined about how he will have to have flexitime to come and stay with me. I am absolutely incensed but I cannot ring him because his phone is switched off!! He cannot understand why I am so peeved because he claims to have told me that he had a week off - I only heard him say weekend not another bloomin' holiday!! Sorry for whinging but he makes me so cross especially as he is trying to get back into my good books. I hope he falls in LOL. Guess, I am in the wrong job - I should become a civil servant as they have tons of holidays, far more than the average joe.

I have a lot on my mind at the moment too as I am worried about my dad whose kidneys are failing (he has congestive heart failure) and so he could go at any time - guess I am lucky that I have had him for as long as I have because 3 years' ago we were told that we would be lucky if he lasted until the winter.

Things havent been all bad today, as I rang the Post Office to say that I had moved (I moved ages ago but never told them about my insurance) so we discussed adding business use to my insurance and I have saved myself over £130 on the price I was quoted by the insurers used by FSB (who have since been told that I no longer want their insurance). I also received £50 of capital bonds today from More Than Business - thanking me for my valued custom. Oh and I had a call about my website it is being moved..so soon I will have a nice smart new one that I can amend myself. This afternoon, I have typed and posted a letter to my current webhosts advising them why I have changed hosts - due to their lack of customer service, I shouldnt have to wait weeks for a quotation.

Its more than sticky this afternoon - the sky is very dark, it is extremely close and we have already had a few cracks of thunder, in fact I braved a trip to the postbox to post the MRS complaint letter, I only got dripped on once or twice but you can tell the sky is brooding and trying to decide whether or not to dump a load of much needed rain on our heads. I just wish we could have a damn good storm and clear the air a bit. Its too hot, I have a joint of beef that needs roasting and I just cant face turning the cooker on.

Sunday Part 2

I thoroughly enjoyed my morning in Kings Norton and have found a lovely but cheap cafe within the St Nicholas' Place (Merchants House and Old Grammar School). I will definitely be going there again because although I admit that I was being a bit greedy only spent £5.50 - pot of tea (enough for 3 cups), hot cornish pasty with salad and strawberries and cream.

This afternoon I headed over to my parents whom I haven't seen since Easter. We had a good chat and mum gave me some new potatoes that she went and dug up for me (I was hoping that the tomatoes would be ready but they weren-t :( ). Dad is becoming more and more frail and apparently now his kidneys are packing up but there is one thing that I am thankful for - he is still here when 3 years ago we were told that he wouldn't live to see the winter. I feel bad for not visiting as mum was telling me that she had had a bad fall in the garden and hurt herself - I told her that she was too old to be skipping along walls. Mind you she did tell me off for not buying a new car especially as I had been offered £2250 for my old Yaris - maybe I will go and see if this offer is still on and go and buy a new one (for the cheaper car tax).

Mum's have a funny way of commenting on your appearance too...I know I have put some weight on (not helped by me not eating half the time or eating too much bread), she asked me today if I was pregnant (I bloomin' well hope not and anyway it would be an immaculate conception - eek), so the time has come for me to go on a proper diet and eat proper food. To help me eat properly mum gave me her George Forman Grill which is massive because dad had talked her into buying a large one when really they needed a small one so it has only been used four times and since then has been gathering dust in the garage.

Mum's garden looks gorgeous - I am really proud of her, hopefully I can earn enough money to employ someone to help her (I know its a third of an acre but its a lot of garden if you're 70). Funny thing is with mum - I haven't told her I am self-employed for fear of her shouting at me, she has this wondeful ability to make me feel as though I am 5 years old! She scares me. One of the first things she said to me today was to tell me about a blue box that is kept in the bedroom that contains 2 wills and 2 lots of funeral arrangements - I jokingly said that I had already decided on the music for hers "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf to which she said that she didnt want a funeral and that I must adhere strictly to the instructions given. I find it strange that my mum should have had this organised already, I wouldnt be surprised if she had already paid the undertaker too. Mothers..hey, they're strange creatures.

Another Hot Networking Day

A wedding planner's work is never done LOL Yes, I know its Sunday but needs must. I got up super early (blame the heat) and headed off to get some petrol (I haven't filled my car for 2 months), picked up a newspaper at the same time and headed off to Kings Norton.

I wandered around for a bit admiring the church yard and the church as I was waiting for the wedding fair to open at 11am. As the rooms were still being set up I set off across the churchyard to The Old Grammar School - this beautiful tudor building won (along with its sister The Saracen's Head) the Restoration Programme that used to be on the BBC. The building has been restored well and now has its own civil license for weddings. The downstairs room was laid out for a wedding breakfast - the long table looked stunning in the small room, whilst the upstairs room (accessed by outside steps) was laid out in register office style so that you can be married there. The Old Grammar School is a wonderful building and yet the ground floor rooms are younger than the upstairs ones. A lot of wood has been recycled and the panelling upstairs comes from old cupboard doors. There is an extremely old desk complete with old graffitti (schoolboys never change), the legs of the desk came from the old church and the legs themselves date back to the 12th Century.

Then it was back across the churchyard to The Green where the Old Saracen's Head (also known as the Merchant House) is situated. This building has also been lovingly restored and has a new annexe which was paid for by the group who have been trying to raise money for years to restore the old place. Its a lovely mix of modern with the old timber framed building.

The fair itself was rather small but I made some good contacts and tasted the most divine chocolate cake imaginable but then it was made by a company that just makes bespoke chocolate wedding cakes. I dare not visit the suppliers website for fear of spending too much money by buying sticky chocolate brownies.

Am in desperate need of a cold drink or at least an icecream so I will be back later...maybe I will be able to load up some photographs.

Blonde Moments

Today is Saturday and I am having one of those days - you know the kind of days that you have when nothing goes right, well today is one of those days. It started off as a fairly mundane day until I decided that I would do some washing, I stripped the bed of the bottom sheet and the mattress protector as both of these were rather grubby to say the least. I am not saying that I am dirty because I am not its just that I realised that fake tan doesnt stay on your body it stays on the sheets (eek), so my lovely white sheet was stained a lovely shade of caramel LOL. I put the washing in the machine with some vanish and went shopping, came back and realised that my washing was still a bit dirty then I realised that it would help if I had actually put powder in the machine as well. Talk about having a blonde moment.

I also forgot my salad leaves and my window box lettuce has fried to a crisp and is looking decidedly brown :(

Its just started thundering too - so whats the betting my drying washing will get another soaking.

I am not having a good day - I even discovered that Gillian (one of the downstairs tenants) has a flat full of swine flu with he son Matt and his girlfriend afflicted - so that has put paid to the plans I had to visit my parents this weekend as I don't want to spread any germs to my dad who has congestive heart failure :(

I am hoping for a better day tomorrow as I plan to go and look at a wedding fair at St Nicholas Church on Kings Norton Green, I happened to spot a banner as I was driving back from the shops yesterday. Talking of wedding fairs..that reminds me I need to send payment for a stand at a fair that is taking place in September.

The Village Magazine (covering Barnt Green, Blackwell etc) is holding a wedding fair at a local conference centre and they are hoping that they can persuade a bride and groom to marry at the conference centre at the same time as the fair - mind you, I didnt say anything to them but I do think that the idea is rather tacky.

I had better sign off now as I hate using electrical equipment during storms and this is going to be a cracker as the sky is very black and the storm is moving from the North which is bad because our weather normally comes from the South or West and therefore isnt as bad as weather fronts that hit us from the East or North for some reason. Experience tells me to keep my head down and switch everything off.

Things to watch out for

There are companies out there who are not as they appear to be, I heard of one recently that advertises itself as a wholesale wedding supplier who sells to the general public. The problem being is that if you order something from them - they have a nasty habit of taking your money and not sending your goods. The bride concerned was understandably upset and has tried to contact this firm but their phone disconnects on the fhird ring and the address they have listed on their site is false. I think that if the offer is too good to be true - then go with your gut instinct and not buy from them (this goes for the wholesaleweddingsupplier and for any other business). Just beware.

The other trend to watch for is the chinese fakes - you may have wondered why, when you visit your local bridal shop, they don't allow you to take photographs of the dresses, this is to stop you from going to one of the chinese firms such as Landy, Milly, etc and buying a cutprice fake. I have witnessed with my own eyes brides who have returned to the shop where they saw theoriginal Alfred Sung dress, crying and deeply distraught because the copy they purchased from China is faulty. Very often these dresses have terrible stitching, the hems can be wonky and basically they just don't fit. You may think that you can get them taken in or let them out but they're not like the originals as they only have single seams and there isnt the excess material to allow alterations to be made. The shopkeepers quite rightly refuse to make amendments to the dress and in some cases will sieze a fake dress.

Rather than turning to China for your dress, why not try a local dressmaker or couture shop (couture is just a posh way of saying that the dress can be made for you and it isnt necessarily an expensive exercise). Some of the dressmakers have experience in making wedding and prom dresses because before they set up their own businesses they worked for one of the larger outlets such as Pronuptia or even Hardy Amies. Wouldnt it be better to have a lovely dress made for you and only you? Such a dress needn't cost the earth and you will not only have the joy of choosing the material, the colour, trying it on but you will get old-fashioned customer service and we all like to be made to feel a bit special.

I guess what I am trying to say is - just beware of fakes and scammers.

Friday 26 June

Yesterday was a strange day and I spent the morning changing my bank account in an attempt to not only save money but make some too as I had my eye on an annual loyalty bonus of £25.

I visited the printers and a shiny new website is being designed that I can change at will rather than being ripped off by my current host/designer who charges me everytime I want to make a change. If people email me though it will be directed to my home email as the printers don't have a POP3 account and this could be problematic, so I will have to get another email address.

My final assignment is nearly finished - I need to gather the notes up and put them into a proper order and then it can be submitted and after that I will receive my diploma (at long last).

Not much to report today..hopefully more later and tomorrow.

Best Laid Plans of Mice & Men

Well, today isnt as good as I had hoped it would be - I am all dressed up in my best clothes ready for a meeting this morning, only now the supplier has postponed due to an urgent job that has come in this morning, this is the life of a sound engineer. I shall stay dressed up because I am liking the look and I can at least be exceptionally smart for my meeting at 2pm with the printers who are quoting me for a new website.

Sometimes, plans change at short notice when you are a planner so this morning I shall look at changing my bank account to the Co-op as via the Federation of Small Businesses I get free banking for life plus a free overdraft (I don't have an overdraft facility with my current banking provider).

Anyway, I shall go into the city centre early and have some lunch there as planned before I visit the printers.

Warm Wednesdays

So far I have been busy writing some nice words for my website - I need to add something about organising corporate events which is a separate arm of my business.

I have a new magazine to read called Square Meal Venues & Events - this is a wonderful magazine for those of us that organise events as it is full of lots of ideas and heavenly venues. I shall look forward to reading it later.

I have also registered for a trade show at the NEC in September called Events UK, I went last year and it was great and not quite the sort of place you would expect to find a wedding planner. The show was particularly useful as I made lots of new contacts and came away with ideas not only for venues but for entertainers, bar staff etc. etc. I must remember next time to try and visit over the two days because I was so laden with bags last time. My aim this time is to try and blag a large golfing umbrella as my large umbrella is looking very worse for wear.

I am toying with the idea of going by car as well because that way I would have a boot to dump stuff in but travelling by train is much cheaper so I will decide nearer the time.

Websites and all that jazz

I have just come off the phone to my printers and I have a meeting booked on Thursday afternoon to discuss a new website. I know you are thinking that I already have a website but my current provider needs a few lessons in customer care. I spoke to them a couple of weeks' ago and asked them to give me a quote as I wanted to change some of the pages and have content management so that I could change pages myself and guess what - I am still waiting. If they cannot be bothered to send a quotation then why do I need to retain them to host and design my website?

So I have a meeting with the wonderful Laura at Printing.com on Thursday (killing two birds with one stone here as I am due in Birmingham for a meeting with a potential customer/supplier on the same day). Laura has asked me to type up my website into word (a lot of copying and pasting methinks) and I can either email it to her or take it with me on Thursday. Guess I had better gather up all the links I want to use (I haven't forgotten you Linda, in case you are reading this LOL). One thing about printing.com is that they will allow me to have content management software free so that I can change my website whenever I want :D

Best get cracking I suppose as I have a lot to type up.

Your West Midlands Wedding Magazine

This magazine is part of the County Wedding group of magazines published by Kline Davis. Your West Midlands wedding is a relatively new magazine and my business is featured in the June/July edition along with a few other planners in their feature on wedding planners and what we do. I also took out a quarter page ad in the same magazine and last week signed a deal whereby Sponsalis will advertise in the next three editions.

I think that the magazine is a good buy at £2.95 and is full of interesting features. One thing that I do like about this magazine is that it contains articles for grooms as they are often left out of other bridal magazines which seem to focus purely on the bride and that anything groom-related is added as an afterthought.

You can read the magazine online too www.yourwestmidlandswedding.com

Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa

I recently visited a fabulous reception venue called Woodland Grange on the outskirts of Leamington Spa. This is a conference centre and has lovely grounds for wedding photographs as well as a wonderful reception room. People can book it for exclusive use as they also have ensuite bedrooms, some of which have disabled facilities. Woodland Grange also has a small gym as well as a spa area which has a hot tub, sauna and steam room.

Staff at the Grange are eager to please and I would highly recommend this as a reception venue (unfortunately they don't have a civil licence).

Normally I have plenty of things to say......

but faced with a blank screen and a new blog, I am suddenly dumbstruck. Please be gentle with me as I am totally new to blogging.

The purpose of my blog is to impart knowledge on wedding planning, venues that I have visited, bands that I have heard, and anything else that may be of interest.

I shall try not to bore you and hope that you gain some enjoyment from reading, you will also get to see my sense of humour too.

Now..that's the first post over with...I shall come back after lunch and add something interesting.