New Year, not a good start.

So we started the new year with both Martin and I ill still. Martin had 2 days off and spent it either asleep on the settee or asleep in bed, in between popping painkillers, coughing and sniffing. I had already had the flu like thing at the weekend but last night started with the sore throat and chesty cough.

I so wanted to start on a positive note, but things are conspiring against me. I have spent all week attempting to pay my BT phone bill on line, and then New Year's Eve to pay through Paypal some Cricut mats from ebay. I kept being told there was a problem with my card and it wasn't being validated by my bank. I spent most of the evening changing passwords and trying to buy random things from all over the net, because I refused to believe there was anything wrong with the card. Martin has a second card on my account and only that morning he had been using it in petrol stations and supermarkets so why wouldnt mine work? Eventually yesterday morning, on a premium rate number, I called the card company who after a series of random security questions said 'go try it, it will work now. I had to ask before she told me my card had been selected for a random security check and thats why it had been blocked ... for over a week .... without them informing me or phoning for me to answer the questions! I was fuming, ok I am happy they are checking the security but why not let me know??? And the questions weren't what I would call deep .. which tv company are you paying? Well since there really is only Sky and Virgin I wasnt really taxed was I?

Once armed with my working CC I thought I might attack the sales, and get my self a new camera as although I love my S5100 for outside shots it is very heavy to lug around and its hopeless at indoor shots (as shown by my poor christmas photos). Jessops have a great deal on the IXUS which I have been told is a great little compact but they have none in stock for another 10 days, so in the meantime I attacked my Fuji with the cleaning kit! How often do people remember to clean their cameras? I havent done mine for nearl a year so no wonder it keft the lens cloth filthy and is now resulting in much sharper photos!

Apart from wanting to take some better pictures of Laura's wedding in August, I also want to take part in the 365 photo challenge. A huge comittment to take a photo a day of ordinary life, but to make it more managable some of the UKS girls have suggested a list of 31 topics/themes to run on a loop for every month. I loved the list by Claire on Minty's Magic and hope she doesnt mind me using it.

1st - My weight
2nd - The cat
3rd - The garden
4th - One of the girls
5th - Me, myself and I (self portrait)
6th - The weather
7th - One room in the house
8th - What is for dinner today?
9th - A family member
10th - Anything pink
11th - One of the boys
12th - What is it ? (close up of an everyday item)
13th - Cute
14th - A black and white photo
15th - Anything green
16th - It is midday – what do I see?
17th - What have I bought this week?
18th - The build project
19th - What have I done today?
20th - What am I listening to today?
21st - A tree
22nd - The front of the house
23rd - An animal or bird
24th - Anything blue
25th - What makes me smile/laugh?
26th - A scrapbook layout
27th - Anything yellow
28th - Pretty
29th - What am I reading today?
30th - Anything silver or gold
31st - A card I have made

I've changed a few of hers and my put more than one of the build in, as it progresses. but so far ...... not wanting to start my weight loss until Monday because of all the christmas food still about, yesterday became one of the cat, and a not too brilliant one at that as I was only testing the camera after cleaning, but at least I made a start.