GRUMBLE ALERT!

[Karan]:  I'm going to have a grumble.  I've worked for it, I've earned it and nobody's going to stop me!  Are you ready?  Here goes:

What exactly is the fascination with misery?  How is it allowed to pervade almost every aspect of our lives?  The reason I ask is manifold.  I stopped tuning into EastEnders over ten years ago because watching people arguing, fighting and screaming and each other doesn't entertain me.  I can't bear X Factor for all the (fake) tears and the supposedly broken dreams of teenagers, who have their whole lives ahead of them to still achieve everything they want to.  And as for the news, urghh.

The news in particular is a huge bugbear of mine.  I used to be glued to the Channel 4 News and the BBC's Newsnight almost every night, but then the recession hit and I switched off.  All the media seemed intent on doing was running things even further down and, arguably, making things appear worse than they really were.  The TV journalist Robert Peston, who specialised in the economy's descent was even touted as a main cause of the recession, because of the determined pessimism pervading his bulletins.  I don't watch the news now and I'm about to cancel my newspaper subscription.

I get that bad news sells papers and airtime etc, but let's have an equal - or at least a representative proportion - of good news, because it is out there.  It completely baffles me why people want, after a hard day at work and/or looking after the kids etc, would want to relax in front of "gritty" and "realistic" soaps.  I've never been to the East End of London, but the people I know who have say the soap bears little relation to the actual place or the population.  Likewise the now defunct The Bill: very little comparison could be made to the real police force.

As camp and glitzy as it may be, Strictly Come Dancing gets our vote on a Saturday night because it can change the contestant's lives, fitness, self-esteem and even body shape for the better.  I would rather my kids learn that hard work, concentrated effort and determined application is what is going to help them achieve, over how hard they can cry, what they look like and who happens to like them.  Why can't we have more balance with the original educate, inform and entertain mantra of a free media?

Our own situation is a classic case in point.  We're a small local business who is working through the recession.  It's not been easy, we've had our problems and continue to work extremely hard to make a success of our family business.  We opened our kitchen showroom in August and invited the local press to write an article and take some photographs, but they weren't sufficiently interested, even after several repeated invitations.  It seems they wish to focus more on job losses and the negative news, which of course needs to be reported, but I go back to my original point about balance.  Yes, there are many job losses and crime etc in and around Kettering, but there is positive and good news out there too, and it may just inspire other people if they were able to learn what it is.  Our local paper is losing readers hand over fist and is gradually becoming thinner and thinner with every issue - and is it any wonder?!  Why not celebrate what's great about Kettering and highlight who's doing well and what the town can be proud of?  Do you really want to spend your life in a dark vicious circle going downwards, or would you like to come up for air and into the sunshine from time to time?

With the obvious exceptions of death, divorce, redundancy and illness etc, a great deal of what happens to us can be made better or worse simply by how we choose to respond to it.  And it is always your choice.  So ask yourself when watching Phil Mitchell smoking crack cocaine on EastEnders (pre-watershed!) if this is really entertaining you, and if it isn't switch it off or at least over!  Why not watch your all time favourite feel good movie, talk to your best friend or read a great book instead?  Life's too short to spend it in the company of misery and determined negativity.  Break free and smile, because it increases your face value!

YOU'RE INVITED!

We're having a birthday party bash and you're all invited!

As many of you may already be aware, IKD Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms will be celebrating 18 years trading in August, and the best way to celebrate, is to throw a party!

So, grab your diaries and make a note of the following date and time: BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 30 AUGUST 2010 from 10am to 4pm and we've ordered spectacular weather too so bring your sun cream and beachwear!

We thought we'd take this opportunity to give you something gorgeous and distracting to look at whilst you're partying, and so we have installed - just for you - a brand new kitchen showroom display, complete with inspirational design ideas, innovative appliances and ingenious gadgets that have been especially designed for us by MI5, and will make your eyes pop out!  I made that bit up about our gadgets being designed by MI5, but they are really cool and we can assure you that your eyes will remain in situ for as long as you want them to.

There will be FREE wine, nibbley bits and light refreshments, as well as FREE children's activities throughout the day - so bring the kids and come and see what we've got!  We'll even throw in a FREE PRIZE DRAW where you'll be able to win amazing prizes for ... well ... FREE!  You'd be mad to miss it - it's going to be great fun and you'll be amongst friends.

The venue - obviously - is at the IKD Kitchen showroom, Units 5 - 6 Enterprise Close, Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering, NN16 8NS - click here for a location map.

So, come on - come and help us launch our first kitchen showroom in style - it's taken us 18 years to get here, and it is well worth the wait - we can promise you that!

See you soon!

Karan & Ian

BARBECUE WASH OUT

[Karan]:  Summer was on a Monday this year - I do hope you enjoyed it! True to form, following 74 days of blistering, sweltering sunshine, the Dennis family ventured outdoors for a BBQ, and it rained. Again! It didn't just rain though, oh no.  If you're local to Kettering and are able to remember Saturday night, we had a full blown electrical thunderstorm - complete with forked lightening and a tropical downpour for good measure, and it was all our fault.

You see, we have form.  I don't ever remember having a BBQ in the dry.  Years ago, before the children were born, Ian and I went on holiday to our bolt-hole on the South Coast.  We had been equally blessed with glorious weather and decided upon a BBQ with a couple of friends and a few beers etc.  The universe duly led us into a false sense of security by letting us buy the food, chill the drinks and prepare the salad etc.  Ian was even allowed to set fire to the BBQ, our preparations were all going swimmingly; this was going to be a great night!  Then the raw food came out to be cooked and the heavens opened, right on cue.

Ian is tremendously practical, inventive and a smidge stubborn at times; no rain was going to wash out his BBQ!  He then went on to devise a temporary shelter comprising of two sheds a wind breaker and an over sized umbrella, which he resolutely parked himself under as he continued to cook the food.  The rest of us ran inside and watched from a safe, dry distance, waiting patiently for our food to be delivered by a sodden but determined hero in flip flops!  There is photographic evidence of these proceedings somewhere, but I know not where for the time being - hence this rather accurate cartoon - with all thanks and recognition to Johnny Cartoons at http://www.toonpool.com/ 

And then history repeated itself on Saturday.  We have attended other people's BBQ's and the weather has remained gorgeous, even with us there - we just don't seem to be able to have a BBQ of our own.  As in the past, everything had been prepared; rolls buttered, salad tossed, sauces and drinks all ready willing and able - and all in glorious sunshine.  Then Ian made the fateful walk to the kitchen for the food - it even made it onto the hot coals, but then a minute later raindrops the size of tennis balls plunged to earth - our parched scorched lawn sprang into leafy green again before our eyes.  I could have sworn that the black clouds were just hovering over our house, but Ian said that I was being paranoid.  Now that we have children things are different.  We tried to wait it out under the garden umbrella to see if it would pass, but it didn't until we were all packed up and back inside the house.  We then had more thunder and lightening as the evening progressed, and other houses in the street got wet too, so it wasn't just us.  It appears I really am paranoid.

Sorry if your BBQ was drowned out on Saturday because of our irresponsible actions.  I promise - although Ian most certainly doesn't - never to BBQ again.

BEST FRIENDS WITH EARLY BIRD

[Karan]:  I have dragged myself out from under my beloved duvet at some ungodly hour this morning to catch up on some much neeeded admin and, once my body had got over the initial shock of what I was making it do, it has really paid dividends.

This picture is from the bottom of our garden in Kettering.  I wish!  Although it may not actually be from the bottom of our garden (not many beaches in Kettering sadly), it does convey the peace and tranquility of what it's like at stupid O'clock in the morning.

Now this is where all you shift workers are going to spit out your tea at me, when I tell you I was up at 5am - I know that's not early in your book, but I'm just a beginner at this.  Don't get me wrong, I've pulled a couple of all-nighters in my time - as recently as the week before Christmas when we decided to redecorate the lounge and were running out of time fast.  I've also had plenty of nights where I've hardly slept at all, thanks to our darling nocturnal babies, but this is my first time up with the sparrow's fart - deliberately - to complete much needed admin, before the rest of the half-term household wakes up, and before the phone starts ringing.

This is the beginning of the new financial year and I still had to process last year's PAYE records, whilst installing and setting up this year's PAYE records; and it's always advisable to concentrate whilst doing this, otherwise I could end up in the poopie (which is our son's newly found word for, well you know what for).

So here I am at almost 7.30am and all of my vital, absolutely cannot wait another second jobs are done, and I'm feeling good.  It may be worth checking back with me about 4.30pm to see if I look as though my batteries have been taken out - but hey - that's what coffee's for, isn't it?  Have a great day world!

RAPIDE+ BUDGET KITCHENS

[Karan]: As a wife, mother of two and (what seems like) General Manager of the Universe/IKD general dogsbody and gofor, I have very little time to myself. Which is why I love my steaming hot showers at the end of the day, where I can achieve five minutes peace whilst boiling my head and thinking a whole thought through to the end, without the phone ringing, the computer crashing or the kids wanting a thingummydodar.

It's not however all that easy to switch my mind off of what the kids have been up to, or my current work projects. I know I should set personal time boundaries, and I'm trying, but I need more practice. Clearly. I got to thinking last night about how the website is very nearly a year old and what, in the passing of time, has been the most hit upon item on the site - so I've just had a look, and the answer is ... [drum roll] ... our Rapide+ budget kitchen range. And I'm not at all surprised.

We have advertised this range of kitchens quite extensively on Google Adwords and Facebook, in a bid to offer a superior value for money range of kitchen designs at a truly incredible price. There are too many Bodgit 'n' Scarper merchants in the world who sell appalling quality budget kitchens, and we wanted to change that; which is why our Rapide+ budget kitchens come with a 5 year guarantee, on all ranges. This gives our customers a great deal more kitchen for their money, and the peace of mind thrown in at no extra cost.

As the Rapide+ kitchens are delivered with everything from feet to handles in a flat-packed box, the range appeals especially to the DIY enthusiasts who are capable of installing it themselves - saving themselves even more money! Property developers, landlords and carpenter joiners have also found this range hugely interesting and profitable and we are, of course, happy to sell the components as a Supply Only to anyone who asks. IKD would never insist on installing everything we can supply, unlike some of our competitors.

I have included a couple of images from the Rapide+ budget kitchen range for your reference, but should you require further information, please click here: http://bit.ly/RapidePlus or contact me on Kettering (01536) 415280 and I'd be delighted to discuss your individual requirements with you.