Bose Boy!

OK, so having listened to my dad's Bose stereo, I have to admit I've been hankering for some Bose stuff of my own to get that superior sound quality in our own home... And finally, having spotted an ipod dock, at a reduced price, I succumbed!

The dock is purely that - somewhere to dock, charge and play your ipod but with a hefty price tag - however the musical quality is superb, even if it is just MP3's that're being played! It's amazing that you can get such good quality from a small device (in comparison to the large stereo systems that some folk buy to get the best audio quality) and it looks pretty sleek too!



In addition, I stumbled upon the Bose in-ear headphones reduced by about £50 (a ridiculously large reduction) and having been so impressed with the ipod dock, I couldn't resist - they only took 24hrs to arrive too!



Soooo - All my music will sound even better than ever before - even if my musical tastes haven't improved! Hehe!

Next we'll have to invest in the Bose DAB, the Bose CD player, the Bose big headphones... Jxx

Going even greener?

Nope, I'm not deepening the colour scheme for Wooley Insights! We're greening up some more by switching energy suppliers!

We've long been unimpressed by British Gas but figured we were between a rock and a hard place as far as Gas supply was concerned... There is no 'green' gas as such as it's all non-renewable energy! However, following the recent, disgusting, insensitive, profiteering price rises by our gas supplier and with a hefty jolt from the Ethical Consumer magazine (Great Energy-Supplier article and comparison in this quarters magazine!), we've managed to make a Gas Supply switch that, whilst not entirely green, does offset some of our nasty energy usage by investment in renewables! E-On will be supplying our gas very shortly, dumping British Gas as a no-hope tragedy of fossil fuel hell!

We may even make some financial savings as a benefit!

But better than all this - our electricity switch has also just been actioned... Not content with the 25% renewable energy we were getting from the great and good Ecotricity, we've taken things a step further by switching our energy supplier to Good Energy - a 100% renewable electricity supplier!



Our CO2 emissions, based on our energy usage will be zilch, nil, nada! This can only be a good thing, though I've always applauded Ecotricity and supported their efforts to construct more Wind Power turbines so I feel just a tad guilty in leaving them - but then, with the lure of 100% renewable energy, I should soon be feeling just fine about our actions again!

Interested yourself? Why not check out GreenHelpline and enter your energy usage... You never know - green may just save you money too!



In addition to these online changes, we've also gotten our mitts on a rather nifty little OWL!



This wee device is a carry around digital display of our energy consumption at any time day or night... It's programmable to display the electricity use in terms of cost at that moment in time, Kilowatts per hour or by Greenhouse gas emissions, though the latter will be zilch, nil, nada, in our household very soon...!

It's fascinating and rather obsession-fuelling to watch the device readings go up and down as you boil your kettle, cook the Sunday roast and / or watch TV... And interestingly, we've discovered that switching on our energy saving bulbs makes no dent in our electricity usage whilst our one, old-style bulb in the bathroom has an impact! Proof that we're reducing our bills by switching bulbs...

All this means that we're going to be just another step greener over the coming weeks without having to spend a load extra... In fact, we may well be making savings over the coming months and years by being a little more Eco!

...Just a shame about the new car really - whoops! Jxx

Where's Wooley 3 - The Motor!

OK, so not quite totally planned but thought about for a fair while beforehand, along comes Eddie - my new car!

I'd been driving the same car since I passed my test, about six years ago - a VW Polo that was twelve years or more old... Time for an upgrade at last, especially with the steady income afforded me by the new permanent Sisters position, so here he is!

Mini One 1.6. Black with racing stripes / check roof. Air Conditioning, Radio / CD, Onboard computer thingy that tells me how many miles I'm doing to the gallon, average speed, how many miles I can do with the petrol I've got, etc...

It's a fab little mover, easy to drive and makes me feel dead cool compared with my old motor (who has gone to a good home!) I did some research and opted for the Mini One rather than the Cooper as the running costs (Tax / Insurance, etc...) are far cheaper and you can get a higher spec One for the same money as a low spec Cooper... I'm more than happy with my choice!

Is this what happens when you've got too much time off work? Well, as I say, I had been thinking about a new car for some time and had drawn up a shortlist of possible motors - The Mini was always top of the list but costly, so I'd also considered Peugeot 206 / 207, Corsa (new design) Seat Ibiza, Beetle and a whole load of others but it always came back to the same longing... And so, Mini it is!

He's so lovley! Jxx

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

Not that we have any kind of unhealthy obsession but we're now the proud owners of not one, not two but three Mantle clocks! Yeah - Three! Every house should have three Mantle clocks surely... Ticking and chiming away in unsynchronised harmony!?

Well, a few years back, I'd really wanted a clock with Westminster chimes and whilst on a few days holiday in Holt (Near Cromer - Norfolk way!) we were perusing the antique shops and found our first beauty...



This art-deco style clock had a touch of something about it that I really liked and D agreed with the choice... Voila! It's only taken D about a year and a half to get it running to time and hey, so what if it only strikes eleven at twelve? It's still cool! Full Westminster chimes, it now takes pride of place in the dinning room...

But what about the living room and our fabulous mantlepiece - looking all lonesome with no clock to fit? Well, we recently decided to go on the hunt and both of us bought a clock... (ebay special editions!!) Firstly, I found this most unusual design:



An absolute bargain at £40 (inc postage!) and a very unusual design... I'm loving the octagonal approach! This clocks bongs on the half hour and hour only... Kinda lucky as it's got a very loud, macho bong! Alas, whilst hte clock is amazing, it's too light a wood to fit on the mantle... So how's about D's choice?:



What a find - another £50 shelled out but this is also a damn fine ol' clock! Full Westminster chiming with a dainty ring to it... Certainly not obtrusive enough for the living room? Well, it's got a few little eccentricities... Firstly you need to put two CD cases under one leg to keep it running... Yeah, it likes being on a weird angle! Also, the depth is far greater than we thought (you'd think we'd check these things out!) and it's too deep to fit above the fireplace!

So, here we are, three clocks down the line and still looking - but hey, what's a household without timepieces... The Octagonal beauty is now taking pride of place at teh bottom of the stairs on the windowsill and the fuller figured lop-sided affair - Well, I'm sure we'll think of somewhere!

The hunt goes on... Jxx

A week...

Sorry, it's been nearly a week since my last post (well, five days - that's 5/7 of a week!) but not a real lot has happened in that time - we cancelled a weekend away because of my toe, which has improved thankfully but I'm keeping my GP appointment next Monday to discuss long term treatment 'cos this ain't he first time it's been bad.

The toe improvement means I've been able to properly Wii Fit and it's great! The balance board is very clever and whilst my Wii Fit age may be nine years greater than my actual age, I should have some fun improving it! Hula, skiing, Step classes, Press Ups - I'm knackered at the thought of it again but determined to keep up the momentum! besides, Weight Watchers tonight is likely to be a disaster - I'll need the Wii Fit to get me back on track for next week!

I'm now officially a moderator on the Torchwood Forum... Well, on probation for six weeks - gotta make sure I check in regularly and keep track of the shenanigans of the members... AS well as balancing a work / social life mix... I'm sure I've got enough time for everything - what with D's birthday next week - which I've got pretty much all wrapped up - Hehe!

Got a new digital camera (yeah, another gadget) but the old one had such a teeny tiny screen that you couldn't show people the photo's proper on nights out and that's what everyone expects nowadays...? So, going against the Digital SLR grain, we've got another Nikon compact (Our Dig SLR's are Canons!) Coolpix s210 - basically a thinner, prettier version of the old Coolpix we had before (that still works but is battered and old looking and not beautiful enough to be seen in public with!)

Will be testing it's functions in a few weeks when we go on a Chinese buffet meal with work... Keep an eye on my Facebook pages for shots from that! It's also got video so, in response to D capturing my Wii Hula efforts last night, I'll be watching for the right moment to shoot embarrassing Wii footage of him also! I've already got some shots of the In-Laws bowling that're fun! Hehe!

Take care for now - I'll try and check back soon! Jxx