New year new you

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas holiday. I've definitely exceeded my chocolate quota, and I'm no where near finished! Consumerism at Christmas is something I've always found difficult. Don't get me wrong I love giving and receiving presents, but I think sometimes we take our eye off the ball a bit. I guess its just a cultural evolution, I'll try to not start a science-culture -religion debate, sorry. But we're supposed to be remembering Jesus' birthday!

Any hooo its nearly 2013. New year new you, and all that jazz. This is one of those phrases that fills me with dread, along with "there's no cake left" *shudder* Any way what's wrong with the current me!? Don't answer that. Every year at this time the nation decides that they need to go to the gym, eat more healthily, take up a new hobby etc etc... now hats off to any of you that keep up your resolution beyond the 1st of February. But I don't even have the dedication and patience to think of one, let alone keep it up for a year! By the world's view I should be Charlo version 20 by now. Maybe I am and I just haven't realised it yet. Hmm...

So I'll finish by saying all the best for 2013, I'm sure you're all great just the way you are, and have a gander at Romans 12.2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Charlo x x

We all love them in our house!

There’s a whole shelf of them in our house,
All kinds of different animals, but not yet a mouse.
Quite expensive but a fantastic idea,
Loved by all ages,  it’s perfectly clear.
Sometimes in Asda they’re 2 for 1 pound,
It’s an old craze returned, an old love re-found
From figures of cars, to a figure of a lion,
to a flamingo playing hockey that looks Hawaiian
They excitement you get is second to none,
but all too soon it’s already gone.
What do kids love the most?
No I don’t mean cartoons or getting some post,
Nor do I mean playing outside or following fashion
Chocolate and toys of course is their passion.
Milk chocolate or White chocolate? Such a hard decision,
But both are provided with extreme precision.
A thin layer of each, moulded to the shape of an egg,
“Give me another” I will soon hear you beg.
For buried inside, in a neat yellow tub,
Is something more fun than a night in the pub.
The only disappointment is getting the same one twice,
So addictive -  ‘don’t get started’ is my only advice!
I’ve given out clues for you to analyse
Can you guess what they are? Of Course… They’re a KINDER SURPRISE!

Be Our Guest!

We like having visitors and we seem to always have a steady stream of guests popping in to the First Blue Door on the Left.  From family members who live far away, to people who seem to just live here….

My sister stayed with us for a few days and my parents popped in a couple of times so far. Katie’s mum had visited us and left us with some pie (nom nom nom). Sarah’s sister drove up to stay with us (I was away tho L )and there was a sudden surprise visit from a friend back home. Charlo’s friend from Sheffield came a'visiting recently and of coarse her lovely parents stayed in Preston for a weekend. Plus there had been church friends coming round, a house warming party, a birthday party and another DOUBLE birthday party coming up soon (everyone is invited! ahem...)

It has only been over 2 months since we've all moved in and it seems like a lot of people have come through this house. It has been a HUB of activity and I like it. Christian hospitality and all that.  I have met so many people in the last few months due to them being invited over by my housemates and I hope we will continue to invite so many more friends, family and strangers around, like our lovely neighbours, people from church or other students on our courses we don’t really know that well.

Like it says on our tea bag pot, Jesus love you, have a brew… so come on round, although it won't be fine dining like in 'Beauty and the Beast' (we are students on a budget)! 

See ya laters

Eve xx

P.S. On kettle related news…our new kettle was misbehaving (kept on turning our electrics off when we turned it on) so we had to replace the replacement kettle. We are going through them so quickly. I was tempted to make another kettle related post but… well… I’m not that obsessed…

We’ve named the kettle Kelly...

Holidays are coming?

It's a controversial topic I know, but I feel it has to be discussed. When do the holidays really start? I feel like we need a definitive answer once and for all. Here at The First Blue Door On The Left, my housemate Katie has already complied and started to play her Christmas playlist ( I must admit I chose some of the songs) as well as having a “countdown to Advent, Advent Calender”. It's only the middle of November for crying out loud! She can't be blamed for her premature celebrations though, we've already had the first viewing of the Coca-Cola and John Lewis adverts which for many start represent the beginning of the festive period. St.Arbucks have their red cups and every other shop is trying to sell us Christmas cards or jumpers whilst blasting out Kylie's version of 'Santa Baby'.

Traditionally the countdown to Christmas begins on the first Sunday of Advent (4 Sundays before Christmas Day), which this year will be the 2nd of December. Fair enough you may say as this conveniently coincides with when chocolate advent calendars begin. But it seems that even 4 weeks isn't enough preparation for some people. On Saturday I overheard a women asking her son if he'd got all the presents he needed to get, talk about extreme forward planning! For all that I enjoy being prepared and unstressed I think that by starting so early is that you loose focus, discipline and momentum (sorry, St Toms fdm joke!) If you start in the middle of November then by the time you get to Christmas Day you can't be bothered any more and all the excitement has gone. After all Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birthday, we don't start planning and preparing for anyone else's birthday 6 weeks in advance, that would be crazy! While we're talking about festive numbers, what's with the 12 days of Christmas!? (please don't send me genuine articles explaining it, I don't care that much) as far as I can tell it's just a lot of birds, tertiary sector workers and some bling!          

Personally I refuse to acknowledge winter and the Christmas holidays until after MamaCharlo's birthday (24th November), that gives you exactly a month, plenty of time! When I lived with my parents the Christmas tree always went up the weekend closest to my birthday (18th December, you've got no excuse to not get me a card now ;) In my opinion the worst culprits are the people who buy Christmas cards and presents in the January sales, it's just wrong! By the time you get to the next winter festivities you've forgotten where in the attic you put all the cards & presents and have to go and buy more.

I don't think this is an issue that will be solved any time soon. Hopefully the tinsel won't go up in The First Blue Door On The Left for another few weeks.

Rant over.

God bless,
Charlo xxx  

A Small Insight

So I thought I'd let you all have an insight into what we get up to in our free time in our house!! Generally we play some crazy games or have some sort of heated discussion/debate about something!! I’ll give you a few examples.

First off we have… not just any old cluedo, but Harry Potter Cluedo!! Which is basically cluedo with an additional Harry Potter element to it. We soon learnt that this is Katie’s favourite game, as she always wins (which is why she always wants to play it)!! Although I have won twice!! :D

Then there’s Scattergories!! First time we played it we played for a grand total of four hours, going through all the lists and doing some of them twice!! I still haven’t managed to win a round of this, despite playing it many times other than this four hour period… but I put this down to always playing in the evening when my brain is ready for bed!!

For the first time in my whole life, I have finally found someone else who knows and plays canaster!! Me and Charlo have played one round, in which I absolutely thrashed her!! (Card games are generally the only games I’m good at :P)

We are quite a competitive household, so our games can get quite serious, but we also manage to have a laugh!!

Then there’s our heated debates/discussions, which generally move from topic to topic as we go on. For example, our most recent one started around the topic of sport which then moved onto class. Other discussions have been about how I will one day rule the world and make it a fair place to live (defo gonna happen)!!

But whatever we do, we always have a good laugh, which is what I love about living in this house!!  

Sarah x

BusyBusy

I was tucked up in bed last night, and I heard Charlo chattering away in her broad Yorkshire accent. Apparently it was mine or Sarah’s turn to blog… so I’ve jumped in first!
I’m sure that’ll “Be Reet” with everyone!

Sat thinking about what my blog could be about, a poem popped into my head that I found funny as a child (I don’t even know why). I decided it was rather fitting to life in The First Blue Door on the Left, so here it is…

A BUSY DAY
Pop in
pop out
pop over the road
pop out for a walk
pop down to the shop
can’t stop
got to pop
got to pop?
pop where?
pop what?
well I’ve got to…
pop round
pop up
pop in to town
pop out and see
pop in for tea
pop down to the shop
can’t stop
got to pop
got to pop?
pop where?
pop what?
well I’ve got to…
pop in
pop out
pop over the road
pop out for a walk
pop in for a talk.

I guess my point is, there’s never a dull moment here, everyone’s always “popping” somewhere. Uni, Lacrosse, Boyfriend’s house, Bass Practice, Work etc…
Yet between all that, we still have time for each other, serious things, to hilarious things which do nothing but waste away an entire night. From cooking fajitas as a house, to 4 hours of scatagories in one sitting. From talking about a service after church, to trying to get a slinky won at blackpool (thank you mama charlo) to “slink” all the way down the stairs…

I always think it’s a “busy” house, one of us is always doing something.
But then I thought, what even is “busy-ness?”
Surely it’s something man made, because how much stuff do you have to be doing to be classified as “busy”?

We all think we’re busy, but just count how many times in a day you’re doing nothing of importance.

Okay, Okay I know it’s nice to relax, but seeing Corrie (or Fresh Meat in our house) isn’t REALLY busy, Is it?

I even looked online, and there were whole websites dedicated to instructing people on how to beat being busy. Apparently, you never stop being busy, because even when you physically stop, your mind is busy!

Who Knew…

Anyway my point is
1. You always have time – Always. End of. Fact.

2. Stop stressing and refer to point 1.

3. Don’t worry, Be happy, Cause every little thing, it’s gonna be REET!

And for those of you merry men reading this that have a faith in JC, remember:
Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God.

In every circumstance, he’s still God!

PEACE OUT
Katie x

The Day The Kettle Died

Sad. Tragic. Horrific.

Woke up one morning last week and toddled downstairs to make myself a hearty morning cuppa.  But to my horror, the kettle wouldn’t turn on!

Sad face L

To most people, it would be like, “Oh well, we’ll get a  new kettle ASAP. Maybe tomorrow… maybe the weekend… no problem” No No NO! A whole day without tea is out of the question! I had to boil water from the pan, which is just not the same. My fellow Yorkshire housemate, Charlo, was just as horrified, as our obsessive tea drinking habits are part of our culture. Southern housemate, Sarah, didn’t really care (but she broke it anyway… * coughs * but seriously not sure what happened it just died so its no ones fault * coughs *).  And Katie, who you’ve met before, doesn’t really drink hot drinks. We were all very sad.

Thankful, we were saved by MamaCharlo and Charlo’s dad who brought us a new kettle 2 days later. Thank you parents of Charlo!

New kettle is all posh like. It goes blue when you turn it on and is silver! Ooooo!

We wanted to hold a funeral for our dead kettle. We were either going to dig a grave for it in the back garden or throw it in the canal like a Viking funeral. We did neither.

It’s all drama in our house!

Talk soon, Eve x        

Katie’s Start Of Term Report by Charlo

So we've only been living in our house a few weeks but Katie seems to have learnt lots in this time.

1.       The toaster settings are browning not minutes

2.       That Magic Stars (the children’s chocolates) have faces on them

3.       When she laughs she sounds like a Tickle Me Elmo

4.       Accrington Stanley and Accrington are not two different places

5.       Butter goes on the outside of the toastie so it doesn’t stick

6.       Prague is a city, not a country

7.       Colon is a body part, not just punctuation

8.       The sticker on share pouches of sweets is to re-seal it

9.       The ‘M’ on road signs eg. M6 is for motorway

1.   In forensic  science, (her course) if the fingerprint is on the sticky side of the tape, that’s the side you check.

1.   Despite being slightly colour-blind herself, almost believed that colour-blind people see in black and white

So as you can see Katie is learning many important life lessons, and we hope this continues during her residences in the house. She has also learnt some new jokes, (see number 3 above) these are a selection of her favourites:

Why don’t owls date in the rain? It’s too wet to woo

Why are there no tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat ‘em all

God said to John come forth and you will have eternal life, but John came fifth and won a toaster

Very enthusiastic pupil and always tries her best, phys ed needs more work  ;)

Speak soon, Charlo x