Vita Brevis Breviter In Brevi Finietu

Vita Brevis Breviter In Brevi Finietu

Saturday 31 August 2013

Photo Every Day #237

The ratties love their new hammocks and I love the colour! I like them to have comfortable beds that keep them warm. They look so cute all snuggled together in them!

Ratty Hammock:
Untitled

Song Of The Day: Uberbyte - The Black Classroom
Reason: One of their best songs in my opinion!

Highlight Of The Day: Relaxing with my puppy.

Inspiration Of The Day: Cyber Candy. Best candy shop ever!

Friday 30 August 2013

Photo Every Day #236

Today's outfit consisted of a grey tank top, a black loose fit cardigan by Zara, black leggings and a scarf with cute skulls on.

 Skull Scarf:
 Scarf

Song Of The Day: Evanescence - My Immortal
Reason: Beautiful song. Amy Lee has such a perfect voice.

Highlight Of The Day: Lunch at the Choy Hing restaurant followed by tea at Nandos!

Inspiration Of The Day: Lauren Ryan's beautiful pipe cleaner animals. So amazing and life-like!

Photo Every Day #235

I'm spent a good chunk of my evening feeding my Pinterest addiction. I'm now also even more depressed as I can't afford my dream home! Boo!

Big Puppy:
Untitled

Song Of The Day: Madonna - Frozen
Reason: Not a massive Madonna fan but this song/video is beautiful. One of my favourite songs of all time.

Highlight Of The Day: A nice training session/walk in the park with my puppy.

Inspiration Of The Day: Cher. Shes such a creative, brave artist. Plus I love her songs!!

Thursday 29 August 2013

Pet Of The Week: Hermann's Tortoise

I've totally neglected POTW after only 1 post! How embarrassing. But it's back and I will stick to it!

Dave The Tortoise

Hermann's tortoises or testudo hermanni are from southern areas of Europe. They are small to medium sized, growing to around 8-10 inches and are yellow and black. Their limbs and tail are grey and they have beaks rather than teeth. As a species they are 'living fossils' and come from the age of reptiles. Each tortoise has the potential to live over 80 years so they really are a long term commitment.

 Tortoise

In terms of housing, tortoises do like to live outside if the weather is right, but as we live in the UK they are best kept on a tortoise table or purpose built enclosure, not a vivarium. They like to live in micro climate environments and generally prefer temperatures of 25-26C for their cooler spots and 32-33C for their warm areas. They really love to be in the sun, which is why a heat lamp rather than a heat mat is the best source of heat, and have plenty of space to roam around in the fresh air. They also need UV-B light to help them to properly use the calcium and vitamin D3 they intake. Hermann's tortoises will want to go into hibernation whatever environment they live in. They need a safe, secure place with temperatures between 4-10C, some suggest keeping them in a fridge used daily to ensure correct temperature and regular airflow. Tortoises also enjoy digging, burrowing and climbing so a deep substrate such as sand and dirt is essential. It's also good practice to provide them with a large water dish so that they can bathe as well as drink. Contrary to some advice, tortoises DO need drinking water everyday. They don't get all the moisture they need from their diet alone. 

Tortoise

Diet-wise they are herbivores and should not be given any meat as they are incapable of digesting that much protein. They need a diet high in fresh vegetation, calcium and low in phosphorous and protein. Calcium can be provided by adding powder to their food and by giving them cuttlebones which also help to keep their beaks trim. If they are not given the correct diet they can suffer from soft shell and pyramiding, both of which can lead to severe deformities. Generally a good diet will consist of kale, watercress, spring greens, leafy salad, dandelions, chicory, honeysuckle, sow thistle, white clover, heartease, mallow, mulberry and hibiscus flowers, carrot, parsnip, peppers, coriander, parsley and small amounts of non-citric fruits such as strawberries. Small amounts of dried food such as herb cobs can be fed but are not generally recommended.

 Tortoise

When buying a tortoise it's really important to ensure that you are given the correct certificates to ensure that he/she was bred in the UK as importation of tortoises from other countries is illegal.

Fascinating Fact: The shell of the tortoise is made up on 60 bones and they're all connected to each other!

Further Reading:
Tortoise Trust
Northampton Reptile Center
Simply Tortoise



Film Review: Dream House (1998)

Dream House

Directed by Graeme Campbell, Dream House is a film about a family who move into a fully kitted out, technologically advanced home. Designed by the father, Richard (Timothy Busfield) with the help of some Japanese investors. He moves in with his wife, Laura (Jennifer Dale) and son, Michael (Dan Petronijevic) and later sees the appearance of his daughter, Jenny (Lisa Jakub) and her boyfriend, Ray (Brennan Elliot) whom intend to rob the family. The house, known as 'Helen' (voiced by Pam Hyatt) then begins making too many of her own decisions and decides that the residents are no longer up to her standards.

The film has such potential as an idea and sadly falls really flat. The characters are really dull and sadly even the technology based house falls flat. I expected the house to be slightly on the unrealistic side with super fancy add ons, but really its gadgets and perks are probably dated even by 1998 standards! The plot was dull, the locations were dull; in fact nothing about this film isn't dull. The entire thing is really forgettable.

My advice, watch the episode of The Simpsons that references it (House Of Whacks - Treehouse of Horror XII). It's far superior!

Rating: 2/10
Simpsons rating: 10/10!

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Photo Every Day #234

Today's PED is litte Dave the tortoise having his weekly bath! He doesn't really seem to like it but he does benefit from it so I'm afraid he needs to keep bathing!

Bathtime:
Dave The Tortoise

Song Of The Day: Lady Gaga - Teeth
Reason: I love the style of this song, reminds me of 1940s.

Highlight Of The Day: Spending time with my reppies at work! It's like having another 6 reptile pets!

Inspiration Of The Day: I love this bag! I will buy it one day!

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Photo Every Day #233

Tuesday is doing really well. She has the most beautiful blue-green eyes and she's so cuddly and playful! She fits right in.

Beautiful Eyes:
My Little Girl

Song Of The Day: 3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Reason: Lovely song.

Highlight Of The Day: Our little kitty!

Inspiration Of The Day: 3D dinosaur cookie cutters!

Monday 26 August 2013

Photo Every Day #232

This little girl is coming to stay for a while...

Tuesday:
Untitled

Song Of The Day: Johnny Truant - I Am The Primotologist Mr Robert Sapolski
Reason:

Highlight Of The Day: Meeting Tuesday properly!

Inspiration Of The Day: Zuhair Murad wedding dresses! Stunning!

Sunday 25 August 2013

Photo Every Day #231

Today has been a strange day of revelations and sabotage. Not good. Tomorrow may be better, it may be worse. Maybe I need some sex wax. It's the best for my stick apparently.

Sex Wax:
Sex Wax

Song Of The Day: Eminem - Without Me
Reason: I adore his lyrics.

Highlight Of The Day: Some interesting revelations.

Inspiration Of The Day: Lets face it, we'd all cavort around naked if Pharrell and Robin were there.

Film Review: The Cement Garden (1993)


The Cement Garden

"Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots, because it's OK to be a boy, but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl?" 

The Cement Garden is based on the book of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film, directed by Andrew Birkin, focuses on the disintegration of a family after the sudden death of their father. Shortly after his death, their mother becomes seriously ill, eventually leading to her passing. The oldest children, Jack (Andrew Robertson) and Julie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) decide to hide the body so that they can have free run of the house, preventing them from being taken into care. After a time with no adult guidance the children's behaviour changes dramatically, including incest, cross dressing and withdrawal. 

I really enjoyed the film. It was a slow and steady film that allows you to get to know the main characters well. The build up is great; it's intense and captivating. Even though Jack and Julie are siblings, you bizarrely want them to get together; it's like they were almost meant to be together. 

The location is really fitting to the new found freedom of the children. The house is semi-isolated and the landscape gives a baron feel. The casting is very believable and they all play their roles very well considering the ages of the actors.

The film is really worth watching and I was captivated throughout. 

Rating: 8/10

Photo Every Day #230

This evening we went to a friends house with my 3 best friends and their other halves to have a gaming night!! We played Guitar Hero which I've never played before and is hard to get the hang of! I think I managed to get a few points in the end though. We also played Buzz and Crash Team Racing as well. It's amazing how I can still remember the turns and course layouts for such a lot of the game! I'm definately a lover of the Playstation 2 games that I used to play and can't really get into these new fangled all-singing-all-dancing consoles and their games that I don't know how to play. I think I'll stick to my favourite games where I know all the characters, the story and how to complete it!

Evil Bear Necklace:
Evil Mouse

Song Of The Day: Rammstein - Du Hast
Reason: The song on Guitar Hero that I sort of managed.

Highlight Of The Day: Gaming night with friends!

Inspiration Of The Day: Amazing video footage of tribes of people that haven't been in contact with 'real life'

Saturday 24 August 2013

Photo Every Day #229

Today I wore one of my favourite outfits at the moment. It consists of a prom style skirt from Republic, a black vest top from Zara and my favourite bleached denim jacket. I also wore my blue Dr Martens and leggings. I accessorised with my Game Of Thrones Hand Of The King brooch.

Outfit Of The Moment:
Untitled

Song Of The Day: Beyonce - Best Thing I Never Had
Reason: Things definitely happen for a reason.

Highlight Of The Day: Day off tomorrow!

Inspiration Of The Day: Geordie Shore. Showing that drama is entertaining, so long as it doesn't involve you.

Thursday 22 August 2013

Photo Every Day #228

This evening we met up with a friend who moved to Singapore last year. We haven't seen her since so it was nice to have a proper catch up and to meet her new boyfriend, who was lovely. She also gave me a couple of gifts; some seaweed and some lovely earrings. 

Long Time No See:

Song Of The Day: Green Day - Longview
Reason: Still a great song and video all these years on. 

Highlight Of The Day: Spending a nice evening with friends.

Inspiration Of The Day: Learning more about different cultures from a new friend.

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Photo Every Day #227

Today we saw the cutest kitten in work! It was so fluffy! I can't believe how big my two are now, they're little whoppers, especially Draco. This evening we've been watching more Downton Abbey. It's really good and we've gotten really into it. 

Puppy Kisses: 

Song Of The Day: Pantera - Walk
Reason: Such a timeless song. 

Highlight Of The Day: A customer saying I'd made her day by selling her some fish on her birthday! 

Inspiration Of The Day: Photos of babies pulling faces whilst eating lemons! How funny! http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/babies-tasting-lemons-for-first-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twistedsifter+%28TwistedSifter+%29

Monday 19 August 2013

Photo Every Day #224

Today I met up with some friends and was given an extra part of my birthday present that hadn't turned up in time. It was a Game Of Thrones Hand of the King badge!! It's awesome!!! 

Hand Of The King:

Song Of The Day: Demi Lovato - Made In The USA
Reason: Really catchy and upbeat. She's got a really good voice. 

Highlight Of The Day: Catching up with friends. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Canine swimming pools! Usually used for rehabilitation after injuries but we've found one we can take Stark to so we can swim with him. 

Sunday 18 August 2013

Photo Every Day #223

Today we took Klaus to the vets to get his paw checked out. He's been put on Metacam for the swelling and if he's not improved over the weekend he's to go back and be x-rayed. He seems to be eating, cleaning himself and pooping ok, which are all good signs. But the vet did say his lameness was very severe as he's putting no weight on it. Fingers crossed its just bruised. 

Mousey: 

Song Of The Day: One Direction - The Best Song Ever
Reason: It's been stuck in my head all day. 

Highlight Of The Day: Watching a film with stark asleep next to me on the couch.

Inspiration Of The Day: How animals just get on with life even thought they're in pain. They don't take pills for every little thing like most people do! 

Monday 12 August 2013

Photo Every Day #218

This evening I have travelled down to Cheltenham as I'm having some aquatic training tomorrow. I'm staying in a hotel nearby so I don't have to do a 250 mile round trip. I already can't wait to see my puppy and it's strange it being so quiet without all my furry babies. The hotel does have some lovely vintage furniture and my room has its own fireplace which is lovely. Now for a peaceful nights sleep! 

Dresser: 

Song Of The Day: Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is Exactly The Same
Reason: One of my favourite NIN songs and one of my favourite albums. 

Highlight Of The Day: A nice, simple drive down. Nothing worse than motorway traffic. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Gordon Ramsey's Hotel Hell series. I can't believe how bad some hotels are! 

Sunday 11 August 2013

Photo Every Day #217

Today has been a more relaxed day. I went to the garden centre as I have a voucher to spend. I've got a better idea of which type of plants I want but we need to put soil down first before we buy anything. We had a cake in the garden centre which was lovely! 

Meringue: 

Song Of The Day: Lacuna Coil - Heavens A Lie
Reason: Love Cristina Scabbia's voice. 

Highlight  Of The Day: First episode of Six Feet Under, I've tried to watch it loads but the sound was never loud enough. Really like it! 

Inspiration Of The Day: Plants! The more colourful the better. 

Photo Every Day #216

Today we had a BBQ with friends for my birthday. We went to Makro to get all the food and spent a fortune!  I had a good night and it was nice sitting next to the BBQ which we turned into a fire pit by burning some wood. We were left with tons of bottles of fizzy drink and around 50 sausages though!! Not lookin forward to all the sausage butties I'll have to eat for the next month!! 

Fire Fire:

Song Of The Day: Will Smith - Summertime
Reason: One of the boys faves. 

Highlight Of The Day: Spending time with friends. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Makro. Their cleaning product aisle is amazing! Bulk buying cleaning stuff is definitely on the menu next payday! 

Saturday 10 August 2013

Photo Every Day #215

Today we finished painting the main bathroom. It looks really nice and really suits the feature pieces such as the mirrors. We also went to The Chilli Club for a meal with my parents which was amazing as usual! 

Small Bathroom: 

Song Of The Day: Slipknot - My Plague
Reason: My favourite (along with Purity) song ever by the 'knot. 

Highlight Of The Day: The lovely Thai food! The chicken and cashew nuts was definitely the best I've ever had. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Acana recommend rotational feeding to get different kinds of proteins into their diets. Good advice! 


Thursday 8 August 2013

Photo Every Day #214

We went to a friends for tea tonight and Stark got an invite too. He was rather rude and just wanted to play the entire time! Now he's rather tired! 

Worn Out:

Song Of The Day: American Hi-Fi - Rise
Reason: Nice, chirpy song.

Highlight Of The Day: Getting some home bits done. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Extreme Cheapskates. A documentary series on TLC about people who penny pinch. Some of it is way to hardcore for me but there are a couple of small hidden gems to save a few pounds. 

Photo Every Day #213

Today we started painted the downstairs bathroom. It's in 'soft steel' so it looks light and airy. I think it will make our pictures and mirror really pop. We also took Stark for a walk with our friends and their dog. We came across a dead bunnies and their dog decided it looked like a nice snack! Surprisingly Stark wasn't at all interested and just wanted to carry on playing ball. 

Snack:

Song Of The Day: Emanuel - Make Tonight
Reason: Love this album, such a great band! 

Highlight Of The Day: Going through some of my old stuff at my Mums. Really nice to see my childhood toys. 

Inspiration Of The Day: Killah. One of my favourite brands when I was younger and I'm gutted my old things don't fit anymore! 

Photo Every Day #212


Tuesday 6 August 2013

Photo Every Day #211

Today's PED is of a heart shaped honey nut cornflake. Cute! 

Heart Shaped Flake: 

Song Of The Day: Macklemore - Hands Up
Reason: Love him and his style, he's so clever with his lyrics! 

Highlight Of The Day: One more sleep until my birthday! 

Inspiration Of The Day: Candles. Yankee candles are my favourite but make me so hungry! 

Friday 2 August 2013

Photo Every Day #208

Today has been a good but busy day. Firstly, we had training from a berns food rep on the Acana, Orijen and Ziwipeak food ranges. I'm already feeding the cats on Acana and plan to swap Stark to it as soon as we get through his current food bag. Even the rats have some on occasion! It smells amazingly fresh! 

This evening I met a couple of friends for tea at Weatherspoons. I really miss working with them but I loved catching up! 

Acana Eaters:


Song Of The Day: Johnny Cash - Hurt
Reason: I love Mr Cash and the emotion in this song makes such a big impact. 

Highlight Of The Day: Seeing my friends.

Inspiration Of The Day: The Berns pet food rep. He was full of information and knowledge and presented in such a way that was engaging and memorable. He's not only helped me get a better understanding of their foods, but also of how food labels work plus some great selling points of these superfood. 

Photo Every Day #207

Today Starky has been playing outside on the new grass. It's growing really well! 

Grass Playground: 

Song Of The Day: Rancid - Ruby Soho
Reason: Up beat and summery! 

Highlight Of The Day: Weather that's not overly hot like it has been! 

Inspiration Of The Day: Cheap, tacky newspapers. Confirming to me that I am still an intelligent, logical human being.

Thursday 1 August 2013

Photo Every Day #206

Today I went to visit my friend and her gorgeous baby! She's so adorable and I really want one, but that won't be happening any time soon! Logic over maternal instinct. I also went for a Nandos with another friend and saw a couple of other friends briefly whilst I was out too! A very social day all in all. Back to work for 4 days now plus one day of training, then it's my week off. Very excited for a much need break. In other news, we tried a Tootsie Roll today, some sort of American snack. They are minging. I couldn't even say what it was! It tasted like something that had been in a bin for a week and was quite chewy. I would not recommend! 

Yuck: 

Song Of The Day: Nicki Minaj & Ciara - I'm Out
Reason: Really like the video, Nicki looks stunning! 

Highlight Of The Day: Seeing the baby! So cute! 

Inspiration Of The Day: Seeing how amazing my friend is with her baby. She's a real inspiration. 

Photo Every Day #205

Today we painted our kitchen! It's called warm red and looks really nice. It's starting to make it look a bit more like our home now. 

Warm Red:


Song Of The Day: Professor Green & Lily Allen - Just Be Good To Green
Reason: Love them both individually and love this collaboration. 

Highlight Of The Day: Transforming the kitchen.

Inspiration Of The Day: Auction houses. I've been trying to find local ones to visit during my week off and some of their catalogues look awesome!