Another week in Elvyville

Well, you may ask, why are you NOT at a Concert in London? Yep, I sold out!

BUT.... We are going in three weeks to London, so twice in a month would have been too much.

So firstly, the catch up. A GOOD comping week - In the last Seven days, SEVEN prizes!

EMR Accountants (£20 M & S Voucher)
Find Me A Gift (Ga Ga Mask)
Kelkoo (£50 Amazon voucher)
Style Birmingham (Catwalk show tickets)
Fudge Kitchen (Box of Fudge)
Sendit.com (Star Trek bottle opener)
and finally a CD of JLS from Durex :)

But let's backtrack to why we're all going to London!

OOOOOOh....Now that's the BIG QUESTION!

In the meantime, I continue to cast the net out in search of the next piece of amusement....

Pink food, Pink Lady apples, Bittrex Taste testing......It's ALL Good!

Cooking with the Elvys

Now the Elvy's are a family that have never been your typical stay at home types. We are not exactly Olympians, far from it. But.... we do like to have some fun.

Today was surprisingly a nice day, not at all what was forecast, so we enjoyed an afternoon at the beach, little Gustybustyboo swimming out to sea and the girls making sandcastles.

And then we set to making tea..... today we went for the simple Cheese and bacon pasta, the wife filming as she complained of being too windswept to appear on camera. Following the phone conversation earlier this week we planned to upload a few meals for the Tesco Real food comp.... so.....ENJOY...

Cheese and Bacon Pasta with the Elvy's

WOW!

Another week...

with an AMAZING prize to finish it! and an interesting phone call in the middle...

I've actually picked up FIVE prizes this week. (Not including the free cheese consolation from Colliers)

1. A prize from  Greenalls Gin (as yet unknown, but expecting it is a small gift)

2. Cracking prize from Hyundai Cars comprising a family ticket to the Three Counties show AND a Hamper to be collected. Was planning to go today BUT the weather is bad so will probably have to pass this up....big shame, They might send me the hamper, that would be nice, but who knows. Got up this morning at 7 am to go, but it is not good out there!

3. A wicker basket with salad bowls, dressing bottles, tongs etcetera from Apetina - By the way, first time I've eaten Feta Cheese and it's disgusting :)

4. A pair of Boxers from Boden Clothing

5. And from Harley Davidson a cracking prize....2 VIP tickets to Hard Rock Calling next Sunday to see Rod Stewart, Bare Naked Ladies, many more including...ADAM ANT...Yay!!!!! At £325 per ticket, this is a cracking prize and I hope I'll be able to go, It'll take a lot to stop me!

So with this week earning prizes worth  about £765..... I am one happy bunny....

AND THEN.... 
                                       .......a nice chat with a lady from RDF television. Could the ELVY family see themselves cooking on a TV show? Let's see, I like to be silly, Mrs E likes to be sarcastic and the girls....little tornado's!
My answer was of course,

 'Does a bear Crap in the woods?' ( Which is of course....Yes)

 so now we must contemplate our assault on the kitchen and family friendly creations..... Watch this space!!!

Calming down!

Well, that's that for another year. The little angels have fled Aberystwyth and the next batch have put their stuff in the houses and gone home to wreak havoc! It wasn't actually too bad this year. I am concerned about TWO properties which are looking the worse for wear...BUT...I feel very organised this year and a P.M.A. approach (Positive Mental Attitude) leads me to believe they will come good soon enough!

Just in case some of you were unaware, Aberystwyth has been enjoying an unusual state of affairs at present with the retirement of the COUNTY traffic wardens. We are essentially a Parking free county until May 2012....It is so relaxing to just park and go! Check out this News report! parking chaos?

Having worked through last weekend, the arrival of this one was much appreciated and I enjoyed a long lie in until 10 on Saturday, VERY nice! Woke to Louise screaming at the children which though not pleasant, was understandable...they are pushing the buttons at the moment. Love the little darlings, but they can be trying :)

The week has been another good one on the Comping front and I have picked up 4 this week including -

1. Some cosmetics from SCOTTISH FINE SOAPS. I could choose any two items so that was nice. Chose an aftershave and a shaving set (£35 Value) Sottish Soaps site

2. A very nice Sterling Silver chain from BUTTON & CO. JEWELLERS. Wife has already claimed it. (£142 Value) Button & Co site

3. An inflatable Turtle from TURTLEWAX. Well you  gotta have a random! (£2 Value) 

4. A Wand from THE WAND COMPANY. Fancy remote control as seen on Dragons Den (£50 Value) Cool wands!

THREE of these were from Facebook with the Wand being won from Twitter. I am enjoying much greater success with those that I 'play' with and create a little poem or ditty. I've uploaded a few more that caught my eye. Below you can see me 'Bonding' with Phoebe! 

Very grateful to some sources of inspiration out there including Di Coke and her blog, The various 'Head's up' messages from a certain Mr Russell Hide on Facebook and many others.

Looking forward to another week. I've got FIVE on my 'to do' list. Finding it hard to keep up sometimes and Loquax is 50/50 at best!

Anyway, it's miserable out there today but must take the dog out....so onwards, Ill scream upstairs to the Angels that they have TEN MINUTES until go time! Catch you next week...

And we're off....

This is the only weekend of the year where I have to work. All the students are changing and I must fly around like a proverbial blue bottomed insect checking out their houses, how they've left them, and what we need to do to put them right lol!

With such stresses during the day...it means I am more likely to be silly at night. After creating the most wonderful pasta meal for me and the wife (Kids had eaten), I settled on the computer to 'comp' as she caught up on Eastenders....and then as I checked Twitter I saw my next mission. With FIVE hours on the clock 'Audio Affair' set us a challenge!

To #win the last and final #iPod Touch (latest 4th generation), just tweet something creative with hashtag #AudioAffair included. GOOD LUCK!

And I was off. A little chuckle and I started with the Morse Code (figured it to be original)

@AudioAffair Di-dah Di-di-dah Dah-di-dit Di-dit Dah-dah-dah, Di-dah Di-di-dah-dit Di-di-dah-dit Di-dah Di-dit Di-dah-dit #audioaffair

I then moved into the stranger world of Musical lyrics...

Touch (me), Touch (me), I want to feel your pod-y! (sereneading you with a little Blondie!) #audioaffair

But I was only just starting and the inevitable switch to Moviemaker and child manipulation followed!

I probably wont win BUT IT WAS FUN!

And so the game continues! 

I've got to say, these creative comps are fun and I LOVE the challenge. I hope a few of these happen in June

JUNE! Sunny and FREE over Aberaeron

Well a new month is on us and the family have gone North to Liverpool to spend a few days with Uncle Barrie and the new arrival, my little nephew - Samuel!

On the plus side this means I get to kick back with GUSTYBUSTYBOO (The dog) and chill at home. As I write I have coffee on the side table without a coaster and I am munching crisps with abandon.... this is FREEDOM and living life to the max lol!

I am looking for my next project on the comp front, I like one with a twist or one to think about. It's a good distraction from the day job and allows me to be a little silly!

MAY was fantastic. I managed to win 21 times! Only December was better. This included two large prizes including a smartphone from LG and the £250 of Morrisons vouchers! Other prizes included a signed Manchester United Football shirt in a champions league comp, loads of cheese, tickets to see John Bishop, £50 Size? voucher, a family sized George Foreman grill etcetera. so definitely spoilt in May!