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By Gareth, October 7, 2009 22:28

As previously mentioned it has been a very busy time in our household.

 We have all been very busy bees!

New Business

At the end of July, Gemma and I began our new business venture. We signed up with Kleeneze to make a bit of extra money, which in the current economic climate will be well received.

In these early stages it is a bit of hard work, but as with everything, the more effort you put in the bigger the rewards.

If anyone is , or knows of anyone who would be, interested in earning some extra money then please let me know, or visit our business website. We’d love to hear from you.

You can also take a look at the brand-new Kleeneze TV advert, which I have posted here.

Download Video

New School

At the beginning of September, Ellie began at “big” school.

For the first few days she was only in for a few hours, as they built up the confidence of the children, and it seems to have helped Ellie to settle into her routine. I think that having spent her time at nursery has helped also. Although in her second week there were a few days where she was not keen on going to school. Thankfully this little hiccup passed very quickly, and it all seems to be going well.

Ellie has her lunch (or dinner, as the Mother-in-Law calls it) at school, and seems to be enjoying the experience. She comes home every day and I have to guess what she’s had that day. It seems that her favourite thing to eat is “cake and custard” which seems to be a common answer, and anything with pasta!

Even at this early stage in her schooling, Ellie is bringing work home for her to do, at the moment they are concentrating on reading skills. She brings home a book each day, and then at night either Gemma or I read it with her.

It really does appear that she is enjoying her time at school.

Going Mobile

It has been a while since Liam got a mention on here. Since that last mention, he has found his feet and is motoring around on two legs.

It has taken a while to find his balance and the first few weeks were very unsteady, but gradually his confidence has increased and he has become very steady. As each day passes he gets that bit faster on his feet. This is really good to see as he can now chase Ellie, and play with her (and also annoy her as he can move a lot quicker now!)

We really have to keep an eye on him now as he can be off like a shot, because if you turn your back for a second he can be up the stairs before you know it!

Trouble is not the word!

Well that’s a quick round-up of what’s been happening lately, and hopefully it won’t be quite as long next time

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By Gareth, September 2, 2009 13:34

I must apologise about the severe lack of posts lately, as things have been very busy.

New business ventures and family life are taking precedence over my blog, which I hope to rectify at some point in the near future.

I have a few updates to post, but it is finding the time to sit down and write it all, and get the photos to go with them!

Until such time I ask you for your patience for the next update!

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By Gareth, May 17, 2009 15:13

I am slowly adding some more new albums to my Photo Gallery. Here are the latest additions:

British Touring Car Championship, Oulton Park 2004

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By Gareth, February 26, 2009 22:44

As I said in my last post, I have got my Gallery up and running.

I have begun to add some photos, here are the first few albums that I have added:

Family Photos

Pennington Flash

Holiday in Nefyn

1828|500px

There are more albums and photos to be found at : Photos. Please check back regularly as I am continually adding new ones.

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By Gareth, February 23, 2009 23:58

I’ve got a working Gallery/Photos Page.

Since beginning my blog, I’ve been trying to get a gallery of some description working, and to my liking. It’s taken a while, but I think that we’re there!

My first attempt was a manual one, which was very labour intensive, and lasted all of two minutes.

I then came across “Gallery 2“, and its associated plug-in for Wordpress, “WPG2“, which my friend Sam had installed on his blog. This was a vast improvement on the manual way that I had been doing things. But sadly, I couldn’t get it to integrate as I wanted to with my blog. Whether this was the theme I was using for my blog at the time, or just me not getting my head around “Gallery 2″ and “WPG2″. I soon gave up, as I didn’t have the patience or the perseverance at the time.

The next plugin that I came across was the NextGEN Gallery. On first impressions this seemed to be the answer to what I was looking for, but over time, it seemed to be a little more hard work updating albums and galleries etc.

But now, I’ve returned to Gallery 2 and WPG2. And everything seems to have fallen into place. The Gallery is integrating nicely with my WP theme. I think what has made the difference is that I installed one of the standard themes for Gallery2.

Over the coming days, weeks, or whenever I will update the gallery with some more of our photos. Hope you’ll enjoy them.

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By Gareth, January 28, 2009 13:51

Originally, when I was first starting this post, I had intended it to be an update of how well my transition into the world of contracting has gone.

Unfortunately, I have now experienced the downside of being a contractor.

It is now 9 months since I became a contractor, and I have been enjoying every minute of it. That was until last Friday, when I was told that my contract was up. The situation had been uncertain since before Christmas when we were told that there would be a 20% reduction in workforce globally across the company.

Some sites have been worse hit than others, and it was just unfortunate that I was one of the last contractors to be brought into the company. So therefore, I was one of the first out. The relationship with the client has been good, and they have left the door open to return there in the future should the situation improve in the automotive industry.

I suppose that you have to take the rough with the smooth in the contracting world.

At the moment I am getting my CV out to recruitment agencies and contacting other companies. There appears to be a variety of positions available, I just hope that something bites.

If anyone knows of a company requiring the services of a CAD designer with experience in CATIA V5, SDRC I-DEAS then ask them to get in touch with me.

I’ll keep you updated over the coming days about my progress.