My Family & Other Animals

Thursday 15 May 2014

"Call Me Any Any Time..."

Or as an absolutely last resort you can always try Skype!
Good Morning Gentle Reader, it's time for a quick rage against the machine again but this one is more tongue-in-cheek than my usual rants!
Now I'm sure there are millions of users of Skype out there that are very happy with the service that they provide, I myself was one of those happy people a couple of weeks back when I had to Skype Jo from Blackpool but at least once a week or so, Jo (my darling wife) Skype's her sister in Jersey and it has started to become the Maureen and Jo comedy hour!
To call the connection intermittent would be an insult to the word intermittent, each burst of conversation can last up to ONE whole minute sometimes before the connection drops, the picture freezes or you lose sight but still retain picture or vice versa.
Each call starts with my wife giving lighting directions to her sister quickly followed by a briefing on how to hold the tablet so that she can see all of her sister's face and not just from the nose up!!
Having gone through this routine (EVERY call!!) all I then hear is one or the other saying "Can you hear me?", "Can you hear me?" "I can hear you but I can't see you, can you hear me?" "I Can see you, I just can't hear you as the sound keeps dropping out, no wait, I can see you now, turn the tablet so I can see all of you, I've only got the top of your head here!" and so the conversation goes for the next hour or so or until one of them gives up in an exhausted heap on the sofa!
Now I don't really blame Skype for this, not 100% anyway, I have to take into account that her sister's signal is provided by a dongle (never come across one yet that has a strong enough signal for anything other than checking e-mails!), plus neither end-user is exactly a tech-head! but I do feel Skype could help their users by making the software a little more user-friendly and if they are allowing people to use dongles to connect then surely they could help with the signal strength too.
So, rant over and just enough time to tell you about the new challenge over at the Kenny K Krafty Krew blog. As per usual the theme is Anything Goes, but this fortnights twist is Male cards.
You can enter with any Kenny K image you like and if you win you will receive 3 Kenny K images absolutely free, but if you follow the twist and win then you get an extra two Kenny images.
Just imagine the possibilities with five of the best digi stamps on the market, go on, have a go, it's well worth a punt.
Anyhoo Gentle Reader, it's time for me to split, it's nearly lunch time and haven't had breakfast yet!!
See you again soon,
take care,
hugs 'n stuff,
Andy.
xx
Entered Into:

Thursday 1 May 2014

"Found Myself In A Strange Town..."

Hey Hey Hey!
Look who's back and with a brand fire new outlook on life. I have not been in the right headspace for a while now and consequently, doing my blog was among the first things to fall by the wayside but with some proper care and attention - I'm back!
Why am I back on the first of the month? Well that would be mainly down to The Kenny K Krafty Krew and their latest challenge which starts today. The theme for the next two weeks is Anything Goes (as always) with a twist of 'Femme Fatale'.
Please remember, you MUST use a Kenny K image - available from Kenny K Downloads.com, as there still seems to be some confusion over whether or not you have to use Kenny's brilliant artwork or not (and let's be honest, a quick look around his site and you'll be hooked, talk about something for everyone!!).
My image is called Socialite (available here) and I think that because you can't see her eyes, she looks like a character from a 'The Third Man' movie, she is definitely up to no good, skulking in the shadows and so I thought I would go black and white. Colouring the image though took every shade of grey I own in my Copics but I am quite happy with the finished image. The Die behind her is a Spellbinders and all the others are Tattered Lace (my current faves!)
So there you have it;
I'm back,
there's a new Challenge with the Krafty Krew
and the sun is shining again!
Hope you are keeping well Gentle Reader, I will be back soon with some more things made during my absence.
Take Care,
Hugs 'n Stuff,
Andy
xxx
P.S. As the last post was done for Mothering Sunday, the lyrics were from A Song For Mama by Boyz II Men. The ones for this post shouldn't stump too many people!!