Hiya,

Welcome to my Journal. Firstly, if you have come this far to have a look at my everyday ramblings, I really appreciate it. Thanks.

I don't have the most exciting life in the world, but I hope to write down my thoughts and feelings here, just things I have been up to, or things that pop into my head, movies and TV shows I love, news I've heard or books I'm reading, and fun random things.....oh and my little dog Mac. Well technically he is my mum's dog, which probably makes him an adopted little brother lol, I like to claim him as my own, and I love talking about him and sharing pictures of him.

Check out my profile in the "This is Me" link at the top of the profile to find out more about me.

If you like what you see in my Journal, perhaps have similar interests to me, please don't hesitate to add me as a friend, I will check out your Journal and add you too. I am only to pleased to find new friends and interact with new people. I try to comment as much as I can to people's Journal entries too, but if I missed your entry, I do apologise, sometimes not enough hours in the day.

Why not pop in here and say hello, introduce yourself, I am pretty friendly.

Thanks for listening, I look forward to creating some good online friendships.

Gemma
xx

I was really getting excited for the release of the complete season 4 boxset of Supernatural on the 2nd of November. I have been waiting for it all year. I don't by the seasons in 2 parts, instead I wait for the complete set with the special features. I thought that I night wait a little longer to buy the boxset after the release date in the hopes the price might come down a bit, which it did. I was so glad that I decided to wait because I then read the reviews for the complete boxset on Amazon.co,uk and well to say that people are unhappy with it is a bit of an understament, a lot of people have complained about it. Complaints including the complete lack of any special features on the discs when the packaging clearly states that there should be and also the episode listings not matching those that are on the discs. This is really disappointing to say the least. Amazon have pulled it from their website so its only available from Marketplace sellers. There is no word yet on when or even if the complete boxset will be sorted out for us to purchase in the future.

This is not the fault of the sellers but the manufacturers and Warner. Its pretty poor form, and once again it seems that UK fans of tv shows or movies get stitched up with the lack of special features and extras that are included on American versions of the same thing. I would like to know how this is fair because we pay the same money and are just as big fans of these pieces of entertainment, but we don't get the same things.

I just wanted to share my disappointment for not being able to purchase the complete Supernatural season 4 boxset because of these silly errors and warn anyone who reads my Journal about it. I am eager to buy it, but can't until they sort it out and who knows how thats going to be, so I have to wait even longer. :o(

Gem
xxx

So, Channel 4 here in the UK decided to air the first season of True Blood on Terrestrial TV for the first time. Since I don't have Sky or Cable, this is brilliant, I finally get the chance to see what all the fuss is about concerning this show. The announcerwarns at the beginning of the episode to expect scenes of sex, violence and blood from the very beginning. I was also told by friends on Twitter what to expect from the show too, so its pretty much a very adult themed showed. Which I think is great, I love all my TV shows and sometimes its good to watch things that are a little more grown up and mature, like Dexter, which by the way I absolutely love.

So far 3 episodes of True Blood have been shown, last night being the 3rd episodes airing. I think that I am really getting into it. The sex scenes and the blood doesn't really bother me at all, because they are that shocking after seeing worse in movies and to be honest they aren 't for very long. I am really enjoying the story of the main characters, they all have interesting tales to tell which I am sure will continue to be fleshed out as the season progresses. I am enjoying the Southern American accent and setting, I must say that its a refreshing change from the usual middle America accents and settings we are shown. I love the look and feel of the show and really think I am hooked. Sookie is a great character, I really like her, Anna Paquin is a brilliant actress and Bill the vampire played by Englands own Stephen Moyer is pretty fine too.

I can't believe that I was watching it on Channel 4 last night, it got right to the last second when Sookie opens the door to Dawns house, looks shocked at something, but don't see what because the picture cuts out and the announcer says "Sorry we are having trouble with the program will be back in as soon as possible" but when it comes back its half way through the credits, so I missed the last few seconds of the episode, although I am fast learning this is a show that likes to leave evil cliff hangers to keep your juices stewing all week until the next episode.

Well just thought I would say something about my newest TV show love.

Gem
xxx

Gosh, has it really been a month since I posted anything on here? I really wish I could get on and post to my Journal more regularly, but even with all the best intentions my real-life just doesn't seem to want to let me. I always get on here when I can, and I have found myself some free time to post something, nothing major, just like to get some of my thoughts down, you know ramble which is what I made my Journal here for.

Things have been a bit up and down, but aren't they always. A couple of weeks ago we had a mini "Indian Summer" here in the UK. We had glorious sunshine for a whole week and a bit. Almost like the heavens gave us a little gift to make up for the lousy Summer and to help ease us into Winter. Well Mum, Mac and I didn't want to waste the opportunity so we went out walking almost everyday we could, managed four in that week, which was brilliant, nice to get out and take advantage while we could and some of the views were wonderful as always.

The week after that however, the weather went right down hill and so did Mum's health and mood. My mood wasn't too good, was feeling a little down too, I think. So there was no walking or getting out, which was a shame after how well we did the previous week, it was a set back. Even now we haven't got back into the swing of things because of one thing or another.

Last Saturday, Mac had to go to the vets to have scrapings taken of the skin round his eye. You see, his eye was sore and red and they wanted to check if a mite was causing it. The only problem was that they had to give him a sedative to make him go to sleep so they didn't accidentally poke out his eye. We collected him later that day and he was just not himself, We were told him might be a bit sleepy and not eat, but he threw up all night and just kept drinking. I had to go to work the next day, so I was worrying about him. Dad took him back to the vets who gave him a antibiotic shot in case he picked something up and some re-hydrating powders. He just had a bad reaction to the sedative. He is back to his old self again, which is such a relief, we do love the little guy.

On Monday Dad had a minor operation, so he had to be put under with anesthetic. Dropped him off at 12pm. Mum went to pick him up at 6pm but he wasn't ready to come home because he had had a bad reaction to the anesthetic, so he was feeling awful and wobbly. He was finally able to come home at 9pm, but was still a bit poorly. He is doing much better now though, even went for a walk today, but still in a bit of pain and feeling tired all the time. Mum did so well on Monday, out driving to and fro all day a real trooper and it took a lot for her to do that so I am really proud.

Its been a busy week, I have picked up the slack with the cooking and light shopping since Dad can't do it. I suppose everything is okay, but I am a little down if I'm honest. When I was at Uni studying for my degree in archaeology, I never thought that 3 years later I would be at home taking care of my mum and working only a Saturday job, plus tidying up the house and running around here, there and everywhere. I'm not mad at anyone, its no ones fault, it just feels like my dreams have faded quite a bit. My brothers still live at home too, but they don't really help with anything, still complain when they haven't got clean socks, like its my duty to do it for them amongst other things.....but anyway, I don't need to go on about that really, nothing changes where they are concerned.

Gem
xxxx

So, Sunday 13th September 2009, it was another lovely day, although it was rather cloudier so the kites had a harder time flying in the sky today. When the sun was out boy is was quite vicious, very intense, I am surprised that I didn't burn more because I had caught the sun yesterday but the cloud covered it over when it just got too much which was nice. It was another lovely day. It was nice to sit down in a corner with a picnic and soak up the atmosphere. We bought ourselves a Stunt Kite called a Bebop, its for entry level/beginners so we should hopefully be able to get that in the sky we eventually give it a go. Dad bought a beautiful Hot-Air Balloon Kite Spinner that hangs off a pole, rather like a fishing pole and lets the air catch it and twirl it around. I bought some garden spinners which look lovely when the wind catches them, be nice next summer in the garden.

For our first Kite festival we had a wonderful experience and we are completely hooked and shall be seeking out more next year for sure. We even want to go to a balloon festival too. We did miss Mac, we didn't take him because he wouldn't have had the patience to let us stare at kites all day, but it was nice to have a little break from him too. Mum met a cat hanging around the field we were camping in. It even spent a night in our tent with her and drunk a few bowls of milk too.

Because of the cloud making it darker and the quality of my camera some of the photos below may be a little scratchy or out of focus, I do apologise, I took some lovely shots or so I thought but they were awful when I loaded them on the laptop, so this is the best of the bunch to give you an idea what I saw. :o)
( Click Here for photos.... )

Mum, Dad and I arrived at the place that was to be our home yesterday afternoon, after a 2 hour drive through a couple of busy cities. We camped in a rugby field, with toilets and wash facilities being provided by their clubhouse. Friday 11th September was pretty much setting up the tent and getting organised for the weekend. We even went out and got a Chinese takeaway to bring back to the tent which was lovely, but the portions were huge so we figured that tomorrows dinner would be sorted too, we would fry off the rest in the pan.

Saturday 12th September 2009 was a glorious day of sunshine, we really couldn't have asked for a better weather for this weekend. It was like a last gift of summer to make up for the lack of sun we had this year. The Bristol Kite Festival has been put together every year for many years. We have never gone to anything like this before and thought it might be fun to have a look. I am so glad that we did because the whole experience was magical and wonderful. We had no idea what to expect and we had such a great time. There were kites of so many colours, shapes, sizes and themes, all kinds of things you could imagine. I took loads of photos of the two days which I would love to share with you all below. I am not the best photographer and my camera is not the most sophisticated, but I try. I also found a lovely video on YouTube taken by someone who was there. I have asked for permission to link to the video so I could share it with you to go with the photos. The video belongs to
nomadworldtraveller:




Here are my photos from Day One - 12th September 2009:

( Click here for photos.... )

OK so I have been promising to post pictures of my Sunflowers for a while now. I took picutres of them starting off life as tiny little seedinglings and then every so often watching them grow to over 7 feet tall with beautiful bright sunflowers. i planted the seeds back in May and here is the life of my Sunflowers in pictures, I hope you like them, I enjoyed them in my garden so much but now their time has ended, I am waiting to harvest the seeds to try again next year. I apologise for my photography skills, I'm not a professional and I don't have an amazing camera either. :o)

Just a taster:





( Sunflowers in all their beauty - Click Here )

Last Thursday, I attended a job interview. Its only a small shop job for 8 hours a week on a Saturday. So its not really that much to many people, but its really important to me.

This morning I received a phone call telling me that I had the job if I wanted it. I am so happy that I have got this job. It will help boost my self-confidence again. I have spent nearly two years out of work supporting my mum who suffers from severe depression. She needed my full attention, understanding and support so that I could some how help her get back to being a bit independent and feeling more like herself again.

Its a very long story so I won't go into it. But I have been applying for jobs for a while now and not had any success, just need something small, so that I can still support my mum, to get me back into it slowly, give me something else to do anyway from mum for a little while and it won't be so much of a shock for her that I am going back to work.

I am really looking forward to this, and its a start because who knows how this might help me find more permanent work with longer hours. But one step at a time. I start on 5th September 2009.

So today is looking pretty good in the sunshine. :o)

Gem
xxxx

Hey Journal Land,

Haven't been around for the past few days, sorry about that. I developed a cough on Saturday night that just got worse, on Sunday it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, and by Monday I was in full-blown cold mode, how wonderful, cough, sore-throat, blocked nose, headache and generally feeling hot and crappy, you get the idea. So haven't really had the energy or brain-power to sit in front of the computer for extended periods of time. But although still feel horrible, I am feeling a little better, thats something, yay!!!!

I checked on my Sunflowers this morning, and two of them have blossomed. They are so beautiful. I can't wait for the rest to bloom and then I will take some lovely photos and share them in a progressive little picspam starting from when they were tiny seedlings. The unfortunate thing is that the leaves on the top have been completely ravaged by something and I can't seen what. Millions of holes in the leaves so something finds them tasty, I can't put slug pellets down because they might harm the boy Mac. But they will still look great.

I also found out about new Guest Star for season 5 of Supernatural.
( ~#~ SPOILER ALERT - ENTER AT YOUR PERIL ~#~ )


Well thats it for now.
:o)
xxx

So I have had a nice little day today. My brothers took me out for the afternoon. We had lunch out our local Toby Carvery pub, for £5 pounds each, sounds cheap, well the money is, but the food is lovely, proper meat and vegetables, lovely. Then they treated me to a trip to the pictures to see the new Land of the Lost movie starring Will Ferrell and Anna Friel.

Oh and another bit of wonderful news, my Best Friend Kimberley phoned me this evening to tell me that her boyfriend had just proposed to her. I was so happy to hear her tell me the news, I am so happy for her. She was still at the pub/resturant where they were having dinner when she phoned, told me I was the first person she told, she was so exicited she had to tell someone. Yay, I wish her all the best. Looks like I have a wedding to go too next year too. :o)

I hope you have had a great day and the weekend is going well.
Gem
xx

Hiya, today, Mum, Mac and I decided to spend the afternoon at wonderful place called Farley Mount, its one of our favourite nature areas to go to when we want to get out in the fresh air and sunshine. It was a lovely afternoon, quite sunny, bit of cloud but certainly better weather than what we have had for the last couple of weeks really. It was beautiful just sitting up on the hill with a flask of coffee and a couple of sandwiches watching the world go by and soaking up the sun. :o)

I just wanted to share some photos of the wonderful view and some of Mac too.
Heres a taster:




Just click on the links below for more photos.


( The view from Farley Mount )


( For utter cuteness please follow )

I just wanted to say a huge sorry to anyone who has been reading my rambles. I haven't updated my journal in about a month, which I am very annoyed about. I have had serious problems with my internet. Starting with a certain member of the household, who didn't pay the bill properly (it being his responsibility), didn't tell us so we got cut off, kept lying about sorting it out and the account was cancelled, so we eventually sorted it out with he after 4 weeks of arguments and got a new account. That explanation is the super short version of what happened, but I don't want to bore anyone and moan about it too much.

I have the internet back which is great, so hopefully I will continue with posting on my Journal more regularly.

If you are still following my Journal, thanks for your patience.

Gemma
xxxxx

Puppies are the cutest baby animal. Just cute, cuddly little bundles of fluff. I just can't help saying "awww" when I see one. :o)

I think bear cubs (polar and otherwise) and tiger cubs come close too.

Invasion of the Not Quite Dead - Indywood Movie Project

I just became a Pre-order Producer for an independent film project. It is a zombie film, being made by a man called Anthony Lane from the UK. He is the Writer, Producer and Director of the film which should make an appearance in 2010. He is attempting the awesome feat of raising money to fund his project by selling pre-orders of the films dvd before the film has been made. And he is attempting this through the online netwrking site, Twitter, thats where the project caught my eye. I had been following his Tweets for weeks, becoming more and more interested in the project and today, I finally did it, I took a Pre-order package for £20. There are loads more packages, but this was the right one for me.

So I am Pre-order Producer number 212 and I am really excited, I can't wait to see the film, I even get to see my name in the end credits of the film and so will you if you want to take a pre-order too.

Here is the projects main website for the flim "Invasion of the Not Quite Dead", it will tell you everything you need to know.

www.theindywoodproject.com/

Oh and this is his Twitter page, if you want to follow his Twitterings too:

twitter.com/IndywoodFILMS

I just thought I would share this news on the day I ordered the dvd, to mark the occassion. :o)

Gemma
xx

Ok so I have never done anything like this before, always too shy or nervous, but this time I thought "What-the-hell" and I have gone for it.

I have entered Mac into the Daily Echo Prettiest Pooch 2009 - its a county newspaper here in the UK. I had a look at some of the other entrants and I thought that my little cutie my stand a chance, because he is so irresistible. I take a wonderful photo of him playing with his stuffed duck in the garden, so I entered that. The photo is below:



What do you think? Does he have a chance of winning the contest against the pooches already entered here: www.dailyecho.co.uk/photographs/competition_galleries/prettiest_pooch_2009/

It would have to be Chinese. I especially love to order any of the following, not necessarily all at the same time though: roast pork chow mein, Char Sui roast pork in syrup sauce, egg friend rice, chicken balls or capital spare ribs. Lovely.

Friday 5th June 2009
Today was a beautiful day, not particularly sunny like it has been here in Blighty all week, but it was good walking weather, little bit fresh, but not too cold. Mum, Mac and I set off on a lovely walk starting at 9.50am from a place called Upham along the Kings Way to Cheesefoot Head, where we ended our walk at about 4.00pm. This walk is about 10km or 6.2 miles long and it is one of our favourites, especially because of the lovely views of the countryside that it gives you. I would like to share some photos of the walk with you below, I am not a photographer so I apologise if they are a bit naff:

I love Daisies, so I thought I would show you this photo, there was a lovely bit of a grassy area with hundreds of them:



This is Mac on one of the few occasions that I can actually get him to stay still long enough for me to take a photo, also its the day before he had his hair cut, sort of a before picture that I will explain later. :o)



This is one of the views from the top of a hill that we sat for a rest. Its a 180 degree view but this photo is only part of it:



Nice wooded area we walk through:



Mac with stickybuds on his head, he is such a little tramp lol:



And one last photo,  the coutryside view at Cheesefoot Head:



I hope you liked the photos, we did have a great walk, and we were absolutely shattered afterwards :o) Just about managed to watch America's Got Talent on ITV2 before falling asleep, some good acts on there. :o)

Saturday 6th June 2009
Didn't really do much today, except give my room a complete overhaul and tidy. Mum gave Mac a good grooming, got rid of all his matted hair and downing from his fur, he had a good hair cut for the summer, to keep him cooler because he does have quite a thick coat and it did need a bit of maintenance. Dad had to hold Mac's head while Mum did the brushing and cutting, etc, Mac hates it and can get very snappy and bites quite a bit. Remember the photo of Mac I posted up there, the kind of before picture, well here are some of him after his hair cut, you might, oh my god what have you done to him, but trust me he really needed it and it will grow back:



I love this photo, he gave me the model look, perfect:



LOL, this is Mac being a diva:



Okie dokie, thats it for the photos, I just love taking picutres of the doggie. He is gorgeous. Rest of the day wasn't too bad, just chilled out really, watched Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, his guests had me in stitches. Great way to end the day.

Sunday 7th June 2009
Cleaned the kitchen throughly this morning, gave downstairs a good vacumming.

My brothers took me to see Terminator Salvation. I kinda liked it. It was different from the previous Terminator films in look and style, but despite some of the disappointing reviews I have heard about the film, I enjoyed it. Nice quote tributes to the original films and photo of Sarah Conner, even the surprise appearance of a special guest too. *winky* I liked the action, the mood and lighting, was all good and the terminators were pretty scary. Best thing is the film is directed by McG who is an Executive Producer for my favourite TV show of all, you guessed it, Supernatural. :o)

Well not up to much now, just updating my journal, hanging out on Twitter and general Internet surfing. Hope your weekends were good.
xxx

I have had an interesting day, quite a bit of pottering around. I did my duty and voted with my dad today, even got my mum to go down and vote which was good. We shall see what the results are tomorrow.

My Sunflowers are getting bigger everyday, they are growing so quickly its amazing, almost like they are growing before my very eyes. I even got a sprout from one of my other seeded pots this morning, I was going to give up hope. These are another set of Sunflowers, I hope that the other seeds I planted will start sprouting too.

Got Mum a new grooming brush thing for the doggy Mac. She tried it on him this evening, he hates being brushed, and he hated this, tried biting Mum's hands off, lol, so funny, he is a little scruff ball. Did a little shopping in Sainsburys, nothing too exciting lol.

Went for a lovely evening walk along the river with Mum and Mac for a few hours. Got a nice mushroom fritters and chips, supper to eat in the park, then got Dad to give us a lift home, had my pineapple fritter with ice cream and toffee sauce, lovely treat to end the day. The sun was shining, the walk was peaceful, even saw a group of Moorhen chickens on the bank, so cute. Mac had a good paddle in the water, he loves it, but doesn't really swim too much.

Ok, well thats about it for my day, I am sat here watching The Mentalist on channel 5. A new show that I have gotten into recently and really quite like it.

I can't believe that it has been 3 weeks since the Season 4 Supernatural Finale already. I can't wait for Season 5 to begin around September time, it will be awesome.

Hope you are all doing well today. Tomorrow, I may be going to a nice long walk. :o)
xx