Christmas brought:
A scanner (so I can scan in those hundreds of photos I have of my ancestors)
4 pairs of pajamas (I did need them)
Benny & Joon DVD (have to buy a DVD player in the new year, I gave mine away to my Dad as a present. He wanted one, and mine was new but didn't do what I needed it to do.)
Socks
De-icing Scraper Mitt
A healthy amount of books (finished one of them already)
A box of Thorntons Continental
A Chocolate Orange (it isn't Christmas without one)
A huge plant pot, compost and seeds
Beads
Waterstones vouchers (hurrah more books)
A cardy (not sure about it but have the receipt)
A Pink Adidas Beanie hat (?)
A calendar
Some Oil of Ulay bath stuff (the secret santa pressie)
A little teddy bear bag (?)

Christmas Day was okay, my Christmas Dinner was fantastic though I do say so myself. I managed to convert Jo (the girl I worked with) into liking parsnips with my parsnips roasted in parmesan, she went back for seconds, depriving my of my midnight munchies. I'll let her off though as while I was cooking the meal she got one of the clients to help her wash all our cars. The clients were a little confused by our early tea, it messed up their routine, so by 7:30 two of them had taken themselves off to bed and the 3rd was yawning his head off so I had a very quiet night.

Boxing Day I got home at about 9am and went straight to bed. I woke at about 2pm and we opened our presents then I spent the rest of the day on the sofa reading, it was lovely.

Christmas has also brought the discovery of Last.fm I know it's been around for ages, but I never seemed to get around to signing up. Now I have it's kick started my obsession with ID3 tags again. I'd only just managed to break the habit, but Last.fm won't display the tracks unless the tags are correct so my obsession is back in full swing. If anyone is interested my profile is bilblio let me know if you have an account on there so I can add some friends, I feel all lonely at the moment.

Finally thankyou to everyone who sent me Merry Christmas text messages. I felt so rude not replying but I was out of phone credit. Which reminds me I still need to top it up.

Merry Christmas to One and All!

Not that I feel Christmassy in the slightest.
Spent the day at work, mostly in the kitchen. The Turkey hadn't been taken out of the freezer so I've had it in bowls of cold water all day, the label says by doing that it will take 20 hours to defrost. I've also prepared most of the veg for tomorrow, so in the morning I only need to prepare the potatoes, stuffing, and Yorkshires, and stick everything on to cook. Which means I can concentrate on opening the guys presents up and entertaining them. We're not eating till 3pm, so it will be a lazy morning. I've also decided the other staff member can go and take one of the clients on a long walk. It means he will get tired and won't be restless from being in all day, and I'll get respite from the staff member. I can cope with being in with clients all day, but you have to have conversations with staff (as opposed to talking rubbish to the clients) and it's tiring.

I did the same today, 2 staff took 2 clients out while I made a couple of lasagne's (one meat, one veggie) both of which seemed to go down very well thankfully. While they were out the other client had a nap (the joys of being 80+) and I stuck the radio on and had a dance to cheezy party tunes. When they got back we had a session of blowing up balloons, then I used the static from my hair to make them stick to the ceiling. I managed to get 23 up there, and 21 of them were still the when I came home. I was quite proud of my accomplishment, but no one else seemed to share my enthusiasm.

Now I'm off to check everything is ready for tomorrow. Presents need putting in bags for Porl to take to his parents, the litter tray needs getting out again, and I need to find my camera and pack my sleep-in bag. Roll on Boxing Day, I'll be home by 8:30 I hope, then I'll probably go straight to bed for a couple of hours before surfacing to open my prezzies.

Hope everyone has a Fantastic few days.
Merry Christmas!

Also not so happy about seeing Dukes antics.
He spent 5 minutes stood at the patio door making muffled miaowing noises at me expecting to be let in.
The miaows were muffled as he had a mouth full of mouse.
Thankfully the mouse was dead.
However, that fact did not make the sight of seeing Duke "playing" with the mouse any easier.
Especially when the playing involved throwing the creature up in the air, or at the patio window then catching it again.

The horrible little cat only got let back in when he had stopped playing and had put the mouse down.
Also when he was thoroughly wet from the rain.

Now I'm going to make sure he's not decided to sleep on my bed.
Horrible cat.

3 things making me happy at the moment.

Gu (sorry can't do the silly little dashes that should be over the u.)

The possibility that Burscough might get to play Man U in the FA Cup. If it happens we have to go and cheer them on. You never know they won the FA trophy 2 years ago beating a team 2 leagues above them. Hopefully they'll do it again. Man U are 7 leagues above them though.

Another 3 day weekend where I'm avoiding the computer and the rain. I might have to brave the shops tomorrow though and get some Christmas shopping done.


1 thing making unhappy at the moment.

The fact I'm doing the Sleep-in on Christmas Day, so I'll be in work from 8am Christmas Day to 8am Boxing Day.
Christmas is being postponed by 24 hours, and Porl is probably going to his parents for the day.
Thankfully I've got the 27th & 28th off, and also a couple of days over New Year.

Bah humbug!

I love snow. However I might not be saying that tomorrow when I have to get to work.

Tomorrow is my first proper day at my new job. I went over to the house Wednesday last week and met my new clients. They're 3 very nice elderly gentlemen. One has profound learning disabilities, and the other 2 are moderate to severe. Compared with other places I've worked, it should be very easy and relaxed. The staff seem nice, there are only 3 of them at the moment plus a Deputy Home Manager, they've been coping with agency staff for months. I think they were relieved to have got someone with experience. The manager seems very laid back, and the staff seem to be on my wavelength (we work for the clients, they come first, and we should be out of the house every day possible.) The house is in a lovely area, very posh! Not like Skem where we had kids breaking the windows.

The shifts are great! I only need to do 3 a week. 8am-7pm, 11am-9pm and the sleep-in shift is 8am-8am, that seems harsh, but it gets it over with and you're technically off duty between midnight and 7am. I would be home for 9am, and if I was tired (which is inevitable) I could grab a few hours sleep and still have a decent amount of the day left. The sleep-ins where I used to be were 4pm till 12 midday, which meant you were dreading the sleep-in all day and didn't have time to do much for yourself, and by the time you got home the following day and caught up on sleep the day was over. It's still going to take me 45 minutes to an hour to get there, but 3 times a week to a job I enjoy is fine by me.

For the first month I'm not doing any sleep-ins, but I'll still only be working 3 long days, and a half day. Bliss! No news on what I'm working over Christmas yet though, please let my have some time off and get to see my parents for a change!

I've made the most of my long weekend. Friday night we got invited out to sample the delights of StalyVegas. We've avoided these delights so far because the music played really isn't our thing, but a lad Porl has been doing some recording with invited us and it would have been rude to refuse. We started at Wetherspoons, where we met Carl, his girlfriend Rachel, and all her nurse mates, then over the next few hours we went to Lounge, Pad (where I had a dance to some remixed 80's songs, unfortunatly no-one joined me). Then we ended the night in Rififfi's, which may look like the Arriba in Ormskirk, but thankfully it doesn't smell like it, the music is better, and the clientele are generally at least 10 years older. The over 25 rule in StalyVegas isn't stuck to strictly, but it does help to keep out the worst of the riffraff.

Saturday was spent nursing a hangover. I can't handle booze anymore, Sunday we fought the crowds at Tes-cos and did our usual lunch which was as delicious as always. Both days successfully managed to avoid turning on the computer, and instead spent a lot of time on the sofa sewing this.

I started this over a year ago, but I haven't done any cross stitch for months. I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago and since then I've done most of the sea. I'm hoping to get it done for Christmas. The top half is done, thankfully the bottom half is less detailed so I might be in with a chance.
I doubt I'll be making my Christmas cards this year, and I'm not sure when I'll get any other presents made. Hopefully with these short weeks I'm working I'll fit everything in.

Well the job is still going great, I'm feeling a bit sore because for the past couple of days we've been doing Physical Intervention, and Restraint techniques. After a year of sitting at a desk all day my body is complaining about having to use muscles again, even for the most gently exercises. It's been interesting, I just hope I won't have to use it.
Tomorrow I'm going visiting the new home where I will be based. I'm a bit nervous as no-one I've spoken to so far has been able to tell me much about the clients, I'm hoping that means they're all nice and quiet as it's always the harder ones that you remember.

I've learnt, and confirmed a few things about myself too this past week. First that this is definitely the job for me. I knew that already, but it's nice to be reminded. On Tuesday evening I was sat at the PC with a big grin and feeling so relaxed, all the tension on the past year had vanished. Also I've been coming home at the end of the day (or early afternoon) and I have the energy and enthusiasm to do something other than fall asleep on the sofa.

It's also been interesting because I can see the changes in my attitude. When I was working for Chess I was always the quiet girl in the corner. Never spoke up, kept my head down and got on with the job. I couldn't do that as much at Atlantic because there were so few of us, but I doubt any of them would have considered me confident or outgoing. I was valued in the jobs, and I was asked my opinion, but I rarely spoke up.
However this past week I've been one of the more outspoken members of the group. I've even had to force myself to keep quiet to try to encourage others to speak. It's all because I'm confident in my skills and knowledge, and I care about getting it right, and helping others to get it right.
One of the managers at Atlantic said I wouldn't make a good manager because I was too quiet, but this last week I can see I could be a good manager in this job because I have the confidence. I can even imagine going on to do further study in topics then becoming a Trainer. Which would mean doing that most scary of things. "Standing up and talking to a group". Normally it terrifies me, but I've done it so often this week without even batting an eyelid.

So in conclusion. I'm happy. Hurrah!
I've got a cold though. Boo hiss!

Stupid Migraine.
First day at the new job went really well, would have been better had I not had a nagging head and felt mildly rubbish.

The first 2 weeks are training. Today we've done boring things like General Inroductions, Policies and Procedures, and Confidentiality. Also scary things like Fire Safety (I'm thinking about putting doors on the rooms downstairs, and I'm NEVER having a real Christmas tree again.)

Later in the week we get to do the fun things like First Aid, Breakaway Techniques and Challenging Behaviour. I've been working with people with Learning Disabilities for 10 years and I've never had training on Breakaway Techniques or Challenging Behaviour... although I have managed to train other people on them. So I'm quite looking forward to that.

I've also found out where I'll be based. Gatley. Which isn't great, but I don't care. It's not an office job and I'll not be doing it in rush hour. Annoyingly all the homes they had in Tameside are being sold off in December to a different company, so there's not much chance of being moved closer to home. Apparently it's a really nice easy home though, and the manager is very flexible so it should be good.

In the interview I said I'd like to work Part-time, but they obviously didn't make a note of that, so I'm Full-time. I'm pleased though, Full-time means that when the maternal instinct gets too strong I can have time off and get a decent wage, we'd struggle if I was Part-time. It also means more money if I want to try for a secondment and do a nursing course. But they're both thoughts for the future.

The main reason I wanted Part-time was so that I'd have flexibility with holidays, but thanks to Agenda for Change I've ended up with 27 days + 8 bank holidays. That's 7 weeks! That'll do me fine.

Now time for bed to sleep off the headache. I don't start till 9 tomorrow. Which means I get 2 whole hours extra before the alram goes off than I did this time last week. Luxury!

The last day at work went surprisingly calmly. On a Friday you can usually guarantee BT will cease one of our customers lines, but thankfully it didn't happen. Instead one of the problems which had been lurking for weeks got resolved, which was a nice ending to it all.
I got a lovely card off everyone, and assurances the if I change my mind about the NHS they'd be quite happy for me to come back... please... preferably next week.
But that's not likely.
Also got a big box of chocolates and a bottle of Rum... they seem to think I like it.
Which I do, but not as much as Porl does. I rarely drink much nowadays, but as Porl likes rum when I do drink that's what I end up with. Porl was most upset when I took this lovely bottle home and told him I was under strict instructions not to let him have any.

Yesterday I went shopping in Stockport, I finally got around to buying some jeans as all the ones I have now are either too big, or too small, it's lovely wearing trousers that actually fit.
I was also very good. I went to Hobbycraft and bought.... nothing! I've decided I'm going to save up for a £300 model Dolls House to make for my little girl.... when I have one... if not I'll adopt one.
I couldn't resist spending money in Borders though. I bought my Dad a birthday present, it's today so Happy Birthday Dad! A bead magazine, and another book which is going to be my main inspiration for Christmas Presents. Obviously I can't say what it is until I've decided who I'm making them for.

Last night I got all dressed up in my new jeans and we went into Manchester for Adam's 30th birthday. Adam was our lodger back in Ormskirk. He moved in for a couple of weeks while he looked for somewhere else, and he left about 18 months later to move to Manchester. It is partly thanks to him that out cats are as fat, and as friendly as they are.
Unfortunatly after about 5 minutes of driving in the dark my head started hurting. By 10 o'clock it was pounding and I was feeling sick so we had to leave. We got home I took 2 ibuprofen and was in bed for 10:30. I woke a couple of times in the night but fell straight back to sleep again until 12:30 this afternoon. I still feel woozy, achey and tired, but at least the headache has gone for now. I hate Migraines.

The only other thing I've done today is dig in my compost bin. In the dark. Moonlight gardening. My grandad would be proud of me.

1 day to go.
I'm starting to wish I'd given myself a few days break before starting the new job, but I need the money. Working part time means I'll have plenty of free days once the training is over and the new job starts.
The panic has set in at work. Everyone is trying to get everything up to date before I leave. I worked through every lunch break this week, and most of last week. But I've refused to stay late. I doubt I'd get paid for it.
Tomorrow I am Definately not. 4:30 I'll be out of there.

I have a leaving interview at 4pm tomorrow. It could be interesting. I'm curious what I'll be asked. I haven't decided yet how honest I'll be in my answers.
It depends who does the interview.

I've been avoiding the PC all week, I've been so tired and I'm fighting the beginnings of a cold, so I've been curled up on the sofa doing cross-stitch and trying to get early nights. The cross-stitch is coming on well, but I've not perfected the early nights yet.

10:55am


11:15am


It took all of 15 minutes for the 2 delivery people to put this up. I think the fact that it was chucking it down with rain may have made them more eager to complete the job swiftly. (The pictures are taken several hours apart really, hense the fact that the first picture is dry.)
Finally I have a space to put junk like pots of paint and tools, and my poor - probably rusty - bike.
My poor bike has spent the last year chain to a bench and covered with a slightly pathetic cover. I might have spent the rest of eternity in that state, but thankfully I've found the key to the lock so it can be released.
This also means the taunts about my Bike/Bench, or Bike with Sidecar, can be ended now... Jimmy.

I've had a lovely day off work today, meaning I have just 5 more days left. I've done very litle except play Caesar... I'm still stuck on the same level though.

I just got ID'd at the shop!
For buying cigarettes!!

Now I know I don't look 28, people usually peg me as early 20's, the look of shock when they find out I'm 28 pleases me every time.
Normally I blame my youthful look on the pigtails, but I didn't even have them in tonight.
I haven't been ID'd for a couple of years, so I thought those days were past, but getting ID'd for cigarettes is just silly. There's no way I look under 16... is there?
Maybe I have some wierd gene which is going to make me look younger as I get older. If I have I want to bottle it then I'll never have to work again.

Work today was interesting.
The guy who does the same job as me has been asked to leave. I haven't a clue why, he's a great guy and brilliant at his job. He's been there about a year, but I think they've just decided his face doesn't fit. My managers knew I was leaving before the decision was made, but it made no difference.
After that was announced, the team were then told that I was leaving. We were the only people who knew how to do our job, and it's a pretty key role. So that fact we're leaving within a week of each other has caused chaos. Rumours are flying around the other teams, Managers are in a blind panic, and if I wasn't stuck in the middle of it it might be quite fun to watch. I feel bad for the people I'm leaving behind, but the company knew the score so only have themselves to blame.
Thankfully no-one is being off with me. They've all heard me talk about how much I loved working for the NHS, I'm not going to the competition, I'm leaving for a more worthwhile cause.
I'm so pleased my notice period is only a week not a month.

The day started badly. The problems I'd had on Friday with BT hadn't been resolved, one of our customers had been without phones all weekend. So the usual routine started of me phoning BT, bosses phoning me, me writing emails to everyone under the sun began. At 11am we got their lines back up, but by that point another customers lines had gone down (2nd time in 2 weeks for that customer) and I'd started the routine over again. I'd also had some ominous news about someone I worked with which had put my head in a spin, and I didn't know whether I was coming or going.
Sitting under the table and crying seemed like a good idea.

By dinnertime things couldn't have got much worse.

So I told my boss I was leaving.

Seriously...

The exciting news I've not been able to say anything about is that I have a new job. I'm going back to work for the NHS as a Residential Support Worker, exactly the same job as I had before moving to Stalybridge, just working for a different NHS trust. I was offered the job in June, and it's taken all this time, 5 months, for me to get all the paperwork sorted and to get a start date. My last day at this place will be 11th November, and I start my new job on Monday 14th.

I have many reasons to be pleased about.

1. I'll be doing shift work again, I hated 9-5.
   
2. I'll be working in a home drinking tea and cleaning up, instead of in an office, answering the phone and sitting at a desk all day (I'm looking forward to losing the weight I've put on.)
   
3. I'll be contracted to work 25 hours a week, instead of 37.5, but there are always extra hours giving me lots of flexibility, bring on the 4 day weekends.
   
4. I'll be closer to home, probably Stockport which is about 25 minutes away. They have a home close to here, so if I'm really lucky I might have a 10 minute walk to work. Either way it has to be better than the 1 hour+ commute each way I have now.
   
5. I'll be working with people with Learning Disabilities again, and while they can sometimes be as frustrating as sales people, they're generally far more entertaining, and much happier.
   
6. Plus a billion other reasons.

I do feel bad about the way I've left work, but I didn't have much choice. This company only requires 1 weeks notice, that works both ways. I knew getting the paperwork ready would take a while, last time I worked for the NHS it took 3 months for me to get a start date. That time I told my employer straight away that I had been offered a new job, I had a Temp working with me at the time so they extended her contract, but it dragged on for that long that it got to the stage where they couldn't afford to pay us both so I quit. Luckily within days of handing in my notice the NHS gave me a start date so I was okay. I didn't have a mortgage then, I do now, I couldn't risk it this time. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll be able to convince my boss of that, I tried explaining that at the time, but he was in too much of a daze to take it in.

So I'm feeling a mixture of bemused, excited, worried, and ... I'm not sure. The butterflies in my belly are doing somersaults.

I think I've just got time to write my resignation letter before bed.

Oh one last note though, the new edition of Magknits is out. I know it's Halloween but I didn't expect to be scared by finding a Doppleganger.

Oh one other last note. We've have about 12 trick or treaters, in about 6 groups. But the lad who came round twice earlier on in the week with his "Halloween is coming, the witches are coming" song hasn't been round at all.

Thank Crunchie it's Friday (Hmm not had one of them in years.)
Also thank Crunchie (or someone) that my partner in crime is back in work on Monday. So someone else can share the task of shouting at BT, and being put on hold by them for hours on end.
I've missed him, not just because I've had to do twice as much work at a job that I'm still learning how to do, but also because everyone else who sits near me in the office is so quiet, I also sit with my back to them, so it's been quite lonely.
No doubt by about 11am Monday I'll be back to telling him to shut up as normal though. He has one of those voices that carries.

Last night Shell came round. We did some knitting, talked a lot, looked at books, did a very good impression of Threadbared whilst looking at my Mum's old Knitting Machine patterns, and lost an hour.
I have to either work out how to fix the time on the video recorder (which is supposed to set itself as soon as you plug it in... but doesn't) or make a point of telling people when they come round that the clock on the video recorder is exactly 45 minutes slow.

So this weekend I plan on sleeping.
Lots.
Maybe some other things too, but sleeping is definately in the top 5.

Congratulations if you made it this far. I should have probably given some warning about this move, but I do like to keep people on their toes. Please remember to reset your bookmarks, change links etc, I don't want anyone getting repetitive strain injury by having to click a link twice. This address is much easier to remember, but the redirect page will be there for as long as my kind hosts allow me to keep it, unless it gets deleted by accident, or someone else decides to write something better.

Anyway, please bear with me for the next couple of days, I didn't realize quite how many files there were to be moved, so I apologise now if you find any broken links or dead pictures. They will be back online at some point soon.

I'm in the mood for posting... and I've got to do something to stop me from playing Caesar again...

LibraryThing has added a recommendations feature. It's a bit hit and miss at the moment, suggesting books which I already own, but other suggestions are spot on... There seem to be a lot of Classics in the list that I've just not got around to reading.

1. The Leopard (Everyman's Library Classics) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens I was actually looking for a copy of this in the charity shop the other day. I've never read it and I want to before the new BBC series is shown on telly
3. Lady Audley's Secret (Penguin Classics) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
4. Belinda (Oxford World's Classics) by Maria Edgeworth Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
5. Possession : A Romance (Vintage International) by A.S. Byatt Classic I've not got around to.
6. The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald Classic I've not got around to.
7. Jane Eyre (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by Charlotte Bronte I own 2 versions of this already, I love it, but don't need a 3rd copy
8. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton I keep trying to read The Buccaneers by Wharton but can't get into it.
9. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee Classic I've not got around to.
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Already got
11. A Journal of the Plague Year : Being Observations or Memorials of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, As Well (Penguin Clas by Daniel Defoe Sounds interesting, I'll keep an eye out
12. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens Classic I've not got around to.
13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Never read any Woolf, should do
14. Aspects of the Novel (Pelican S.) by E.M. Forster I'll keep an eye out for it
15. Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen Already got, and love, studied it for A-Level so know it inside out
16. Literary theory : an introduction by Terry Eagleton No No No! I like reading, I hate Literary Theory
17. Alias Grace by Margaret Eleanor Atwood I'm sure I've already read this
18. Babel Tower by A. S. Byatt I'll keep an eye out for it
19. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
20. A room with a view by E. M. Forster Classic I've not got around to.
21. The handmaid's tale by Margaret Eleanor Atwood Read it, loved it, studied it at uni. Where is my copy?
22. The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit Already got
23. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling Already got
24. Adam Bede by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
25. The plague by Albert Camus Classic I've not got around to.
26. Shirley (Wordsworth Collection) by Charlotte Bronte I'm sure I bought this a couple of weeks ago, not read it yet though.
27. Ulysses (Oxford World's Classics) by James Joyce I'm sure we had a copy of this being used as a doorstop... the size has always put me off
28. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Heard of this, never read it
29. The Woman in White (Penguin Popular Classics) by Wilkie Collins Whenever I see Wilkie Collins I think of Jackie Collins so I've never read any.
30. Romola by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
31. Nice work by David Lodge Never heard of it, I'll keep an eye out
32. The remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro Never read this, but the other A-Level class studied it
33. Orlando: A Biography (Penguin Popular Classics) by Virginia Woolf I'll keep an eye out for it
34. Maurice (Penguin Modern Classics) by E.M. Forster Classic I've not got around to.
35. Sons and Lovers (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by D.H. Lawrence Classic I've not got around to.
36. The bell jar by Sylvia Plath Never! I've read bit of Plath and hated it all
37. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell I'll keep an eye out for it
38. The vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith Who? I'll keep an eye out for it
39. Moll Flanders (Oxford World's Classics) by Daniel Defoe Classic I've not got around to.
40. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears hmmm heard of the author, I'll keep an eye out
41. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Classic I've not got around to.
42. The god of small things by Arundhati Roy I used to pick this book up in Smith's every week when I was commuting, but I always ended up buying something else
43. Beloved (Plume Contemporary Fiction) by Toni Morrison I'll keep an eye out for it
44. The Age of Innocence (Modern Library Classics) by Edith Wharton More Wharton... I'll try
45. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy I'm sure I've read this already, where is my copy?
46. The English patient : a novel by Michael Ondaatje I'm afraid to say the film put me off
47. A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce Classic I've not got around to.
48. The Jungle Book (Penguin Popular Classics) by Rudyard Kipling It might ruin the film reading this :)
49. The Moonstone (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins More Jackie Collins... I'll try
50. Washington Square (Penguin Popular Classics) by Henry James I'll keep an eye out for it
51. A Song Of Stone by Iain Banks I thought I'd got this book
52. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon I'll keep an eye out for it
53. The name of the rose by Umberto Eco Classic I've not got around to.
54. Villette (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection) by Charlotte Bronte Already got
55. Ethan frome by Edith Wharton Classic I've not got around to.
56. The waste land and other poems by T. S. Eliot Not really a poetry fan
57. White noise by Don DeLillo I'll keep an eye out for it
58. Lake Wobegon days by Garrison Keillor I've tried to read this so many times, can't get into it
59. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Classic I've not got around to.
60. Barchester Towers (Oxford World's Classics) by Anthony Trollope Classic I've not got around to... but the surname has always put me off, I think of Joanna
61. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Classic I've not got around to.
62. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams Not interested
63. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) by J.K. Rowling Already got
64. Behind the Scenes at the Museum : A Novel by Kate Atkinson I've read some Kate Atkinson, not overly bothered.
65. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
66. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper I'll keep an eye out for it
67. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Read this loads, studied it at uni, my copy is at my parents
68. Madame Bovary (Bantam Classics) by Gustave Flaubert Classic I've not got around to.
69. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
70. Oliver Twist (Penguin Popular Classics) by Charles Dickens I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
71. The crimson petal and the white by Michel Faber I'll keep an eye out for it

One good thing, if I get through this little lot then I'll be a lot further on my way to completing The Booklovers Quest.

What a difference a few days off work can do.

Wednesday was Matt's birthday, & Thursday was Porl's, so after work I drove straight up to Ormskirk for celebrations. I had to pick Porl up at Burscough Train station first, I arrived there early and exhausted, so I fell asleep in the car while I was waiting, I slept for about half an hour, but it went dark in that time so I woke up utterly confused, and feeling like I'd slept for hours. Once in Ormskirk we went out to order Chinese and then a night of many pints began.
It was a great night, the gang back together, and everyone was in good spirits. Maybe one day I'll learn not to drink though. I haven't drank much this past year, and my tolerance for it has plummeted, so by the end of the night I was feeling a bit poorly sick. Luckily I woke up stupidly early the next morning, took some painkillers and went to bed until a more reasonable hour, at which point I felt mostly okay, and a walk round Ormskirk made me feel even more human. I'm jealous of Ormskirk's new Oxfam Book Shop though. I leave Ormskirk and they get a decent craft shop and then a 2nd bookshop. It's not fair!

The unfortunate thing about Porl's birthday being the day after Matts is that Porl always has a hangover on his birthday. So it was celebrated by going to his mums and doing very little. At tea time we went out for a meal, which perked us both up, then we headed back home to 2 angry cats who don't like being left alone overnight.

Friday I had a lazy day pottering around the house, giving it a good clean, I was supposed to be going shopping with Shell, but my lack of organisation and laziness let me down again. Shell is too much of an early bird for me, but after Wednesday night I really did need the extra sleep.

Today Mum & Dad came up and inbetween the rain showers we weatherproofed the decking. We're getting a shed delivered in about a weeks time, so the painting had to be done today, rain or shine. Tomorrow I might actually remember to take some pictures of it, I've been meaning to all week. Then Porl and I drove off to Ashton to pick up a Freecycle table for his room, and on the way back we stopped at Ashton market to get picnic goodies to eat. Mum had given us some money for a Birthday take-away, but we were craving healthy food.

I can't believe I've only been off for 3 days. I feel like I've had a holiday, and I've still got 1 more day of the weekend left.

Oh the baking went down well. The response from my boss (who rarely speaks to me) as he passed me back the empty box at the end of the day was "Yes, very good, same tomorrow if you please". From Matt I had an email titled "MMmrrffphh prrrfll" which was the sound of him eating cake.

I'm pretending to be a Domestic Goddess. Scarily this is the 2nd batch of cookies I've made this week. The last batch were half the size, I was supposed to be making them for work, there were only 2 trays worth, and by the time the second tray had finished cooking we'd eaten the first tray. So I made my apologies at work and this time I've doubled the quantities. I don't mind taking this lot into work, they're not as nice as the first ones. Cookies are supposed to be made with soft brown sugar. I didn't have enough last time so I used half soft brown sugar and half muscavado. They were sooo rich and delicious. When I went to the shops to buy more sugar for this lot they only had demerara which doesn't melt properly, so there's lots of crunchy sugar crystals in these. Oh well they still taste good... just not as good.

Last week at work was the week from Hell. I got none of my normal work done, instead I spent 4 days on the phone to BT trying to sort out the fact that they had cut off someone's lines a week early. But not just anyone's lines... no, they cut off the lines to a £400 a night Hotel. I stayed late every night trying to get it resolved. Eventually I found out at 5:30 on Friday that it was fixed. I got very drunk Friday night and forgot about it all.
When I went back into work Monday I was told that BT had done the same thing to one of the customers other sites on Sunday! Thankfully BT contacted the customer and got the problem resolved themselves that time.
Today we had our "High Points" email listing the good things which had happened last week. I was given a special mention for my battles with BT.
I'm worried... if my week from hell is a high point what is a low point?

I'm almost fed up with Christmas already. I love Christmas, but I hate the fact that it starts earlier each year. The shops are full of decorations, the main topic of conversation at work is the Christmas Do, and on the news they were telling us yesterday "it's only 10 weeks till Christmas".
I had a little rant:

It may be just 10 weeks till Christmas, but there are only 52 weeks in a year which means Christmas is still a fifth of a year away!

I try not to think of Christmas until December, or at the very earliest my Dads birthday which is 6 weeks before Christmas, I'm certainly not thinking of it now...

However in complete contradition I am thinking about New Year's Resolutions. I don't normally make them as I never stick to them, but there are a couple of changes I really want to make next years.
First, cataloguing my books has made me realize I don't read enough. So I want to try to read 50 books next year (Matt how are you doing with that this year?)
Second, I seem to talk about crafts more than doing them, so I'm going to aim for 50 completed objects next year, hopefully it will be far more.

As a boost towards starting this I'm going to take up the ArtByTheInch challenge again this year. There doesn't seem to be any movement on the website, but the LJ Forum is still alive so I won't be alone in my challenge. Also Matt is doing NaNoWriMo again this year with his own added challenge (email him if you want to keep him in check and read each chapter as he writes it) hopefully we can encourage each other.

Also, way back in July I had some news which I couldn't share. I still can't... yet, but hopefully it shouldn't be much longer now!

OW OW OW OW OW!
I've just broken my thumb nail while re-arranging the bookshelves. Lots of people are envious of my nails, they're very strong, so I can grow them long very easily without any problems. They rarely break, but when they do it really hurts.
I was trying to get a book off the shelf, the books are squeeeezed in tightly, and I managed to bend the thumb nail right back. It snapped about 2mm below where the the nail parts from the skin. I couldn't find any superglue, so the only option was to grit my teeth and rip it totally off.
I now have a very short nail and a throbbing, bleeding thumb.
The bookshelves look good though.

I finally succumbed to ebay last week and made my first bid. I didn't win, but I tried again, and I now have this boat shuttle and bobbins for my sewing machine. It was the bobbins I needed as the machine only came with one, but the shuttle may be useful. Now I have to resist buying anything else. I'm "window shopping" instead, adding things to my watch list to see how much they sell for.
I'm watching lots of boxes at the moment.
Must... not.... buy......

I've just finished cataloguing all my Mr Men books on LibraryThing, and I've hit exactly 500. I still have 2 shelves of books to do downstairs, they're mostly craft books and old hardback books so they might not be easy to search for, then there are the books upstairs. I think the final count will be about 700.
Not nearly enough.
Feel free to have a browse, or there's a link on the side menu.

Today has been spent rearranging bookshelves, obviously, and pottering around the garden while Mum and Dad built some steps. The deck is looking great, next week they should finish building the steps and put the top on, then we have to go shed shopping. Once that has been done we have to build a (strong) railing to stop people falling off and breaking their necks. It's very high up.
I can then start digging up the grass and putting plants in instead.
We've decided it'll be much easier to look after, the plants will hide the front of the deck, and there's so little grass there that it's hardly worth having. I hate gardening most of the time, but I am enjoying browsing through books looking for plants I can put in.

I'm exhausted. I've had a busy night. We had the rest of the wood delivered today to finish off the deck, so after tea (a love curry courtesy of Porl) we shifted all the wood off the patio and onto the deck frame, neatly arranged in the order Dad will need to use it. He hoping the weather brightens up so he can work on it this week. He wants to get it done as soon as possible. The aim is to get it finished and buy a shed before winter.

When we were halfway through shifting the wood the man arrived from the garage with my newly fixed and cleaned car. I'm so pleased to have it back, and so pleased my insurance is fully comp. £1600 it would have cost, and that's just mine, I haven't asked how much the Mercedes I hit is costing to repair.
I've just realized they got the horrid little Ka back with an extra £15 of petrol, I wasn't expecting to get mine back until Thursday/Friday, so I put petrol in last night.

After welcoming the car home I decided to rearrange the living room. I was going to put the sewing machine in one of the alcoves by the fire, but that would have meant I'd have to re-arrange the living room everytime I wanted to use it. So instead the Welsh Dresser has been moved into one of the fireside alcoves, and my sewing machine is where the dresser was. The living room looks nicer now too, bigger, but cosier...plus it's tidy which is always an improvement, wonder how long we'll keep that up for.

And now for bed... so tired.

If you aren't seeing huge differences here, then press F5. I've finally come up with a design I like, and have managed to get it finished and online before having time to go off it.
Please let me know any problems with it. As always constructive criticism greatly appreciated.

I've not just been doing webpages though. I've had a fun few days.

Friday night I went straight from work up to Ormskirk, Porl was already there. We did our usual thing, pizza, sillyness and vegging out. At about 2am I was browsing the local freebie paper and an ad caught my eye. Next morning, I phoned the number, and I'm now the proud owner of this...

Well I wanted a nice cabinet to go in the corner. But that's not what got me interested.
The fact that it's an antique treadle sewing machine too is what makes me love it.

It even has the original instructions, and loads of diffeent feet in their box.

I've wanted a treadle sewing machine for so long, but I didn't expect to be able to get one as nice as this. The woman had bought it as a decoration, she was told it worked when she got it but she'd never tried it. Looking at it I guessed that some WD40, wax polish and some TLC would do it the world of good, and I was right. A couple of hours work on it and it runs perfectly. I love it so much I feel all goo-ey inside.

I really enjoyed restoring it, and I've spent all day looking at other things I could restore. So you can understand why I'm trying very hard to resist replying to the Freecycle post from someone offering a 1920's Dolls House which needs a little restoration. She wants it to go to a good home.
I'm a girl. I've always wanted a Dolls House.

Lastly I forgot to post pictures of the 3 Belfast Sinks I got off Freecycle. I've started cleaning them up now and they look much better, there's no blue paint on them for a start. The planting scheme needs some work though, the corinador looks lonely.

I've tried so many times to make a catalogue of my books, but it's always failed, mainly because I have so many, and to do it properly (ISBN no, publishers etc) would take me forever. So Library Thing is the little godsend I've been hoping someone would come up with. It's so simple. You do a search for the book and it pulls up all the different version it can find on the Library of Congress gateway, and Amazon (US, UK, FR, Ger). If you can find the right version then all the details are there, ISBN, publisher, illustrator etc. It's frustrating at the moment that it doesn't find the UK versions very often, but the site has only been online for 2 weeks, and in that time the author has added many things that have been requested, getting the site to search the British Library is on his list of things to do, so I'll forgive him for now. You can add tags to books (like in Flickr & Delicious), write reviews, and see which other users you have most books in common with, which seems like a good way of finding new books to read. Now I'll just have to spend the next few weeks adding all my books into it.

In other news, the webdesign has come on leaps and bounds over the past couple of days. There's still a lot to do on the craft pages, but I'm hoping to get the rest online in the next couple of days.

Hurrah! They phoned this morning to let me know my car is fixable. I'm so relieved. It will take about 2 weeks to fix, but they delivered me a courtesy car this morning. It's a Silver Ford Ka (odd co-incidence as Jimmy just bought his first car a few days ago which is also a Silver Ford Ka.) I haven't been out in it yet, but I'll have to before Monday, I don't want my first trip out in it to be the journey to work.

I'm not hurting as much today, but I'm still sore. My head still feels like a heavy weight. I'm going to spend the day relaxing, maybe getting some webdesign done, some knitting, and maybe some glass painting. It's 80's Weekend on TMF, so I'm getting to see all the videos that went with the songs I loved so much growing up (and still do.) Everyone goes on about the bad dress sense of the 80's, but I'm sorry... the dancing! After watching Vanessa Paradis' video for Joe Le Taxi I'm wondering how she ended up getting Johnny Depp.

I've never been in a car crash before, I didn't know whiplash could hurt so much. My neck and back are killing me, I can move my neck, but if I move it too far the pain makes me feel sick, as does the occasional crunch that my neck keeps making. My head feels so heavy. My knee is fine though, so long as I don't touch it.

I had to go to the Police Station this afternoon to show them my driving license etc. Annoyingly I got off the bus far too early, as the Police Station that the Council website pointed me too has been shut for years, thankfully the nice lady in the library pointed me in the right direction, and had a moan about the state of the old building, and the fact that if anything happens to you outside mon-fri 9-5 then it's tough because the Station is closed.

I spent the rest of the day knitting my first pair of socks, watching daytime telly (I'm sure it used to be better), falling asleep, and trying to find out about my car. Apparently the insurance people were assessing whether it could be fixed, but no one phoned me back to let me know, and I fell asleep at half 4 so missed calling them back. They will only let me have a courtesy car if they are going to fix it, and I can't have on until they've decided. They can't deliver a car until Monday, but if they have made by tomorrow morning then I could go and pick one up. However that would probably cost a fortune in taxi fares, and I don't feel up to driving yet anyway.

If they don't fix the car then I have to buy a new one which will take several days, including taking a trip to Sheffield to get some savings (best way of saving money, have a obscure bank account where the nearest branch is 35 miles away.) I wouldn't be entitled to a courtesy car, so I'd have to hire one because commuting to work by train isn't an option I fancy. I worked out it would take me roughly 2 hours from door to desk. I start work at 8am, so I'd have to leave at 6. Not good.

Why is nothing ever easy?

Nanana nana Nanana nana naaaaa We're gonna crash!

I've crashed my little brum brum... it's very poorly, possibly dead. I'm waiting for someone to phone and tell me what's happening.

Now that I've calmed down I'm okay, just very sore, my neck, back and right arm are getting stiffer by the minute, probably whiplash, and I'm going to have a cracking bruise on right knee. I was a complete nervous wreck when it happened, in shock, I couldn't think what to do, the other driver had to tell me to get the car onto the hard shoulder, then it took me about 4 attempts to get the work number right. The other drivers involved are all okay, no one hurt, and their cars were fine to drive away. The car I hit was a Mercedes, he'll probably get a new back bumper, although it would probably clean up with some T-cut, but the front of mine just crumpled.

It all happened on the M60 on the way to work this morning, I wasn't going too fast, probably about 50mph, but it was wet, and my brakes just wouldn't work in time. An ambulance came to check me out, and I spent about an hour sat in a police car waiting for the AA, then got driven home.
An eventful morning, but I can think of better ways to get out of work.

I've had 'Crash' by The Primitives going round my head since it happened, but boy am I glad I opted for projecting my 5 years no claims when I renewed my car insurance just 4 days ago!

Oh fiddlesticks!

When will I learn that colours on the laptop are always totally different to how they should really look?

I'm having another of those "determind efforts" at getting the new site online. This time it's more of an effort though, I really am fed up with purple, so the desk has been cleared, I've brought a comfy computer chair downstairs rather than using a dinng chair, and I'm going to try to get somewhere.

The problem is, that the colours which on the laptop were various shades of blue, are now a mixture of purple and green. I'm trying to decide if I like it or not.
I think not.

Back to the drawing board, I will get there eventually.

Lots of thoughts in my head at the moment. Lots of things I should post about. Lots of things I'm ranting about. Porl is pretending to listen, I don't blame him for zoning out. Most are trivial, some are big, I'll try to keep each as brief as possible.

# What is is with everyone leaving their jobs at the moment? At least half the people I know are. I'd say who, but I'm not sure whether employers have been informed in all cases :) Good luck to everyone though, I hope we all end up significantly happier.

# I hate the Royal Mail. Why do they always manage to deliver the junk and lose the important stuff? And why haven't my new Knitting Needles arrived yet?

# Again I'm grateful I live in the UK, where guns aren't sold in supermarkets, and communities can get organised - I keep seeing news reports showing aid being dropped into New Orleans and seeing a few people grabbing it and it not being shared. I wonder why no-one is challenging this and trying to get things organised. Then I remember that I wouldn't challenge someone who may have a gun, so why should they?

# I'm also getting sick of seeing Americans moaning about the cost of petrol.
When I filled up the car on Wednesday it was about 92p a litre. After doing complicated late night maths (3.8 litres per US Gallon, then $1.81 to the £Sterling,) I worked out that's $6.44 per US Gallon. Nearly double what prices are in America right now.
These are the normal prices, they haven't gone up yet because of Katrina, we'll probably be paying over a pound per litre by Monday, and no doubt it will keep going up.
I sounds like I'm moaning, "ooh poor us and our high petrol prices" but I'm not, I think it's good that driving my car is expensive.
Driving is bad.
Pollution is bad.
Making people think twice about driving somewhere that they could walk to is good.
I'm far from perfect, the car is easy, and I'm lazy, but I'm paying for my laziness. I also realized that because I work so far from home I spend around 10% of my wages on petrol. That is stupid, I need to work closer to home.
Also, the worlds' biggest polluter has been effected by a natural disaster, the severity of which is a pretty good sign of the effects of Global Warming. Then people are complaining about no longer being able to put petrol in their cars and continue to pollute the Earth... it seems like there are a few skewed perspectives.
< / rant>

# Freecyle is being good to me at the moment. Hopefully by next week I'll be the proud own of 3 Belfast sinks which I can use as plant pots in the garden. I'll also have got rid of the other computer monitor.

# Had a HUGE thunderstorm the other night, which I managed to completely miss. Heard a few rumbles down at work, I think I must have driven around the storm on the way home because I didn't see anything. It took me an hour and a half to get back, several substations were hit so there was a big powercut and all traffic lights were out. Fun! By the time I got home, the power was back on. Porl was a bit jittery though, I love thunderstorms, he doesn't. He saw lots of sheet lightening, then fork lightening hit the field across the road, then he heard an even bigger bang round the back of the house. He saw a fire engine not long after.

# Going to the Stitching and Creative Craft show at the G-Mex tomorrow with Shell. I'll try to be good and not spend too much money.

Happy Birthday Opera. The original tabbed browser.

And thankyou for giving away free registration codes in celebration today (30th Aug).

If anyone missed it and really wants one I got about 5 just in case...
So if you're really really nice to me...

I love long weekends. I feel fully relaxed, but I've also accomplished things.

Saturday I had a lazy morning reading in bed, got up watched cricket, Porl and I cleaning up then the boys arrived (Robin & Jimmy.) Watched more cricket, ate lovely tortillas, played on the internet trying to find none terrifying people on the Personals section of Hot or Not. Failed. Around midnight I was going to go to bed, then Jimmy took an interest in the scarf I was knitting, so I ended up teaching him and Robin how to knit.

Robin seemed to discover some deep seated memory and sussed it quite quickly. Jimmy struggled at first but I think he's hooked now. Sent him home with a new respect for my craftyness, and the beginnings of a blue scarf which he's making in a Knit 2 Purl 2 Rib. I do have photographic evidence of this (and Gonzo's attempts) but I've run out of room on Flickr for this month and can't be bothered resizing them for normal upload right now.
Can I justify paying for a Flickr Pro account?

Sunday Cricket, Cricket, Cricket, then hid behind the sofa (literally) to watch the last half hour of cricket. Then we had a celebratory take away from the fantastic Indian in Ashton. The boys went home, and I carried on knitting.

I'm making a bag out of the vivid yarn I made a poncho out of. I hate ponchos normally, but this one was a hooded one for camping use only. I love the bright colours so much though that it seemed a shame for it to be used in something I'll only wear a few weekends a year (if at all, we've not been camping this year :( ) So even though the poncho was almost finished, I decided to pull it down. Jimmy found this very off-putting, that as he was struggling to knit his first scarf I was pulling down hours of crochet.

Anyway, I did the bottom of the bag quite quickly, then realized I needed some circular needles. I don't have any circulars, except for one pair loaned to me by Shell (must remember to give them back.) So I decided to treat myself. I've ordered a set of Denise Interchangable Needles. I decided that as I have no circulars at all, that in the long run it will be cheaper than buying them all individually, and as they're a set I might not lose them. (I hope.) So now I just have to wait for the postman to arrive so I can finish my bag.

Today, another lazy morning, finished reading The DaVince Code, then decided to sort out the front bedroom. All the boxes of things that needed to go in the loft are in the loft, and when we get the shed the last few things can go in there and it may finally resemble a bedroom. Hurrah!
We've been here for a year on 10th September. It's taken me 11 1/2 months but I've finally finished unpacking!

We had our first Knitty Night tonight. I think Shell and I successfully put the world to rights. We didn't do much knitting... but then we never seem to, and I don't think that's the point either :) It was great fun.
Some other people did show up. At 6.30, half an hour before the time on the posters, and they didn't hang around. Maybe they'll come back next time.
Made a complete fool of myself too, by getting lost trying to get out of the carpark. Shelly I promise I'm a good driver, I'll happily take you to Ikea, or Holmfirth, or other adventures... But I could get lost in a paper bag with glow in the dark arrows pointing to the exits. I hope you can read maps :)

Things to remember...
Rip a DVD of Threads
And all the Billy Bragg stuff :)
Erm... sure there were some other things.

Oh and for all you lot criticising me for reading Dan Brown, (Jimmy, Matt.) Yes I know it's trash, but I've been feeling rough for about 2 weeks (migraines) and when I feel rough I like simple books to read. I usually pick kids books, or Mills & Boon or Catherine Cookson. Dan Brown is about as predictable, but I've not read it yet, and it's slightly more intellectually challenging than a Bonkbuster.
So ner! :P

(Also I can't find my Jilly Coopers I think I gave them all to the charity shop when we moved.)

I've been off sick today, last night I was feeling so sick, stomach churning and hurting. I went to bed but couldn't sleep because the world was spinning. I felt like I was drunk, really really drunk. I got about 2 hours sleep between the time I went to bed and the time I should have got up.
Now I feel like someone has taken the batteries out of me. I ache, I'm shattered and my stomach hurts.

I've spent the day pottering around the house, taking a few photos and reading a lot of "The DaVinci Code".

Today is my neighbours birthday, I went to posh garden centre in Wilmslow yesterday to buy her a plant. They had lots of carnivorous plants there and I couldn't resist them. I love carnivorous plants, we've had numerous discussions about whether it's right for a vegetarian to have carnivorous plants (especially as I feed them insects) but I like plants that fight back. They also look ace!

 

I used to have Venus Flytrap a couple of years ago. I didn't realize they hibernated over winter. I thought I'd killed it by playing with it too much. I threw it away. I know better now and promise to look after this one better.

Other pictures from the garden.

Home Grown Tomatoes

 

I've put quite a few other new pictures up on Flickr some old ones which I'm gradually uploading, and some new ones.
I've also found a new use for the Flickr tags. I've got a plant in my garden which I thought was a Hollyhock, but all the hollyhock photos I found had them with single petals and mine has lots of petals. A quick search for hollyhock tags on Flickr and I've found lots of examples that look just like mine. Now I just need to identify all the other plants in the garden.

I went up to Uppermill and Delph today to find out a bit more about the Saddleworth Crafts Co-operative. Unfortunatly they aren't interested in my jewellery becuase they already have someone who makes jewellery and they only have 1 person doing each craft. I'm a bit disappointed, the jewellery there is totally different to mine, but their policy states only one of each craft.
I'll have think if there's anything else I like doing which they don't have there. At the moment all I can think of is bookbinding, which I haven't done much but did enjoy, or making fimo models which I haven't done for years. The other problem could be that I would have to give up half a day a week to work in the shop. I'll see how the future pans out to see whether I'll be able to do that. Then I'll have a think again about whether to pursue getting involved.

There's some good 2nd hand bookshops in Uppermill though. I was good and just went to one where I picked up a Jean Greenhowe Soft Toy book, and an old Mrs Beeton's Cake Recipe book.

The Soft Toy book has my favourite toys in it Moo & Chew.

I made loads of these when I was at uni but lost the pattern, so I couldn't resist buying the book. There's also a pattern for a clown which my Mum made. It's about 4ft tall and has elastic straps on the feet so you can slip the elastic over your own feet and dance with him. I was desperate for mum to make me this when I was little. The body is made from vest material, by the time she had got enough old vests I was about 14, and the desire for a dancing clown had worn off a little.
There are loads of other patterns too, and as I've just got my sewing machine back I think I'll be having a play.

Gah! Just caught myself singing along to Oasis! (watching The Britpop Story on BBC4.)
Must move house now!
I'm turning into a Manc ah kid!

We've been in the garden for 3 days now. The frame for half of the deck is built, we still have the other half to build, then we're having a month delay before we lay the actual decking.

As promised, photos:

These first four are taken from upstairs at the end of day one. The frame was together and Mum & Dad were just starting to dig the first of the foundations. The shed will be going on this side.

The other half of the garden. The deck is going over here too. This will be slightly smaller, but we'll be able to sit up here. The back of the garden will have trellis up to disguise the horrid fence, and the junk that the neighbours behind dump in their garden. Look at the lovely fence that we built the other week too. The little brick wall at the back is built from some of the rubble we dug up when digging the borders.

This area was grass until 2 weeks ago. Now after digging up the grass, and rubble, and putting some soil in (it was mainly sand in this area) I have a herb garden. No longer do I have pots and pots of herbs which I have to water. Now I can just leave them and they'll flourish.

This is the other corner of the garden, and the only one which had plants in when we moved in. It still has plants, but they're hidden by the honeysuckle. Come Autumn the Honeysuckle will get a hefty pruning and next year I'll train it to grow along the fence.

The end of day 3 and the right hand side of the frame is built, and we're starting to do the foundations for the left side. This photo shows how high up the deck will be. The garden is very steep, after 3 days standing on it my calves feel like I've climbed Ben Nevis. This photo shows how high up it is. They'll be plenty of storage (cat hideyholes) underneath. We're also putting a trellis railing on to stop (drunken/little) people falling off.

Finally these will be the views we'll get when we're sitting up there.
I'm actually seriously considering turning the shed into a crafty workspace, only in the summer though.

 

Wow, so many comments on my last post, very odd, and 2 new people who found it. Goodle must be having an update.
So in reply to the comments first.

• Dave - I dont want to even think about what Palm Pilots do to my page, I try to design for all resolutions, but I think a Palm Pilot is pushing it a little. But IE has no excuse. If Firefox and Opera can get it right why can't IE?
  
• Shelley - I was going to ask if you wanted to come, but while I love my parents to bits, they can be a little daunting, and I don't want to scare you off already :) The next one is 17th September, so stick that down in your diary and we can go again, I'm sure I won't mind a second trip :) Also yes, I definately want to go to the G-Mex.
  
• Karen - Hello, I will get around to posting some pictures of the garden I promise. I'll try this weekend. Also I can't believe how much Toby looks like Gonzo, But I suspect Gonzo is fatter.
  
• Suzanne - feel free to come down and make use of my garden when ever you like (especially if you like cutting grass etc.) When it's done it should be great, and I'm making sure the seating areas will have great views of the hills.

I'm sure I had somethine else that I intended on posting about, but I've completely forgotten what it was. I suspect I'm suffering from Pimms induced memory loss.

Oh how I hate IE. I hate it sooooo much!
I've spent a couple of nights working on the new layout, and it looks great... in Firefox. But stupidly I'd forgotten to check it in IE as I went along. So I checked it, and the layout is all over the place.
Why? Why? Why?
I stick to nice simple HTML, and CSS. It's not complicated code! If I can understand it why can't IE?
Grrrrr!
I thought I had got to the stage where I could start applying the new design to all the pages, but instead I've got to go back to the manuals and online tutorials to work out why IE is so rubbish.

On a lighter note, the garden is looking great. I wish I'd taken some "before" pictures. While I was at work today Mum and Dad have been building a little wall, 3 bricks high at the back of the garden, well they had to find some use for all the rubble that we found under the top soil (numerous bricks, broken paving slabs, even 4 breeze blocks). They've moved the little shed, ready for next week when the wood and concrete blocks arrive so we can start building the base for the deck which the new big shed will sit on.
I spent tonight spraying parts of the grass with weed killer in an attempt at killing it before the plastic sheeting goes down. It does seem daft that Porl and I spent last night cutting the grass and now I'm trying to kill it, but it's got to be better than digging up the turf which was the other option.

Finally before I head off for bed I should mention Saturday. I'm taking Mum & Dad to Holmfirth, to a Knitting & Crochet Guild Open Day (hoping to get some tips on spinning too). Porl is ecstatic about the fact that I'm not expecting him to come, he'll be happy at home watching the cricket (though I think it will be raining). My Dad however is happy to go, he likes his crafts too, and a trip to Homfirth means he can go to Ashley Jackson's Art Shop.

Oh nearly forgot... Well Done Jimmy on passing your Driving Test!!!
So when are you driving us to the Cairngorms then? :)

One of my favourite sites, Reusablog has made a comeback with a 24 hour Blog-a-thon for charity. I missed the on-going posts over the 24 hours, but I've been catching up today. There are loads of great ideas for re-using some of our rubbish, and I was chuffed to see that one of those ideas was mine. I can't link to it directly which just means you'll have to read all the other useful tips too.
I'm planning on making some more of these flowers soon as my garden is a bit bare until the plants start growing, so I'll post some pictures of them then.

Whilst on the topic of reusing/recycling I should post about Freecycle. I found out about it when I saw a flyer for Saddleworth Freecycle the other day in Uppermill. Freecycle is basically a way to get rid of your unwanted goods, by passing them onto people who do want them. It's run through Yahoo Mailing lists, and there are lists for areas all over the world. I've signed up to the Saddleworth one (16 members), which is relatively new, so still growing, and the Manchester one (1181 members) which is established, so I've had plenty of offers of things, from Greenhouses and Compost Bins, to everything I could possibly need for a new baby (maternity clothes, cots, buggies, sterilizing gear, toys, books, videos, etc, etc, etc.) For the past year I've been saying I'd do a car boot to get rid of my junk, I should do really I need the money, but after that I'll stick what's left on Freecycle. Everybody should sign up and we can all swap our junk around.

In other news, the garden is coming along brilliantly. The fence is finished (except for 1 panel which we missed painting.) We have a gate, so feel a bit more secure. Mum has been making wider borders and rebuilding walls, as well as raiding her garden for plants which should look great when they've grown and filled out.
We've taken up the turf on one side of the garden and filled it with herbs. I'm hoping that the scents they give off will be strong enough to disguise the smells created by the neighbour's not clearing up after their dog.

The next plan is to build a little wall at the back of the garden to retain the rubbish coming over from the garden behind, then we're putting decking across the back and putting a shed up there. We're still trying to decide what to do with the fence at the back. It's a green wire mesh fence, which is supposed to be held up with 2 big wooden stakes, but the stakes are actually held up with the branch of a tree. I would like to get rid of it completely as it isn't very safe, I'm scared that one day when the cats climb on it and it will collapse. Instead I'd put some trellis up there so we can grow plants to hide the mess, but Dad isn't keen on shifting it and want to put trellis infront of it. That worries me because it would still be there and be dangerous, and we'd be losing more of our already small garden.
We'll reach some agreement eventually.

Right now back to redesigning the website. I'm determined to get it online by next weekend.

I've finally started making serious headway on the redesign that I've been putting off for over a year, and it's given me ideas for the jewellery/shop website too. In preperation for it I'm having a cull on my Blogrolling list, and I'll be making a lot more use of del.icio.us instead.

Oh I feel old.
It's nothing to do with today being my birthday though. I've successfully reached the grand old age of 28 without ever having broken any bones, or losing any teeth. Which is a good job because I'm a wimp, I got stung by a wasp when we were gardening yesterday and nearly cried it hurt so much. (Although the pain could have also been due to mum giving me shocks from her mosquito zapper on me to try to stop the itching.)

I feel old because Mum, Dad and I spent 9 hours gardening yesterday The front garden is looking much more respectable, the back garden almost has a fence, and I've got more ideas of how I want it to look. Tomorrow I'll do some more, get the fence painted, and cut the grass.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend was Katpins wedding, which was great fun. I never know many people at most weddings, but I went on holiday for a week with a load of Katpins uni mates, so I knew a surprising amount of people there. Plus Jenny from sixth form, and Katpins Parents, her Mum was my old English teacher. Porl even managed to talk to Katpins brother who is from Ormskirk, and is a musician. Also Barnard Castle is a lovely town, full of antique and junk shops, plus a French Chateau. Had it not been for the hangovers (and Porl's boredom) I'd have spent hours wandering around there.

Today I had a lazy sleep in bed. Got up and opened some presents, not much really because I'd already had most things chocolates, bath stuff, bits and bobs accompanying much needed money. I also had a couple of lovely presents of my neighbour, a Rose bush called "Birthday Girl" and a Huge paperweight, which I love. I'm fascinated by paperweights, I got a few off my Grandma when she died and I'm always drawn to them in the shops but never buy them as Porl hates them. So I'm overly pleased with my slightly strange present.

After breakfast we decided to go exploring. We went up to Uppermill which is a little village near us. The Huddersfield Canal goes through there and they run Canal boat rides hourly, and there are loads of little craft and gift shops, and second hand book shops. Unfortunately we picked the wrong day. Most of the shops are closed on Mondays, so we're going to have to go back another day. Especially as the shop for the Saddleworth Craft Co-operative had a sign on the door advertising for Craft Workers to join their ranks. Shelley I think we need to investigate!

We then drove up to the tops of Saddleworth Moors and had a look at the views over the moors and reservoirs, and down onto Manchester. Then home onto home, via Tescos and had a lovely picnic on the living room floor.

The rest of my day will be spent drinking Pimms & Lemonade, browsing the web, maybe doing some redesigning.

Happy Birthday Me!

So.
Online Telegrams.

Message: DEAR ANDY. PLEASE TELL MARK C*RR*N TO RETURN MY COMPUTER. LOVE AND HUGS JIMMY. PS THIS IS A TELEGRAM

Mark is a friend. We didn't know his address, so this has been sent to Andy, the Manager of a pub where he drinks. It should arrive on Monday, which is his Birthday.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Sorry for not posting. I'm frantically trying to finish crocheting a cardigan which I'm supposed to be wearing on Friday. I took pictures of it to post on Saturday, it consisted of a the back, plus 1 and a half front pieces. Instead of posting them I carried on crocheting and I've now finished the front, and done 1 and a half arms. So I've got to finish the arm, sew it all together, put about 4 inches onto the bottom (I'm roughly following a pattern, but I want the bottom frilly) then crochet all around the sleeve and front edges... will I finish it? I really hope so. Oh I've also got to make some jewellery which I think I'll be doing tomorrow night at the craft club. There's nothing like leaving things till the last minute.

I've also got some really really really ace news... but I'm a bit scared to put it online where anyone may stumble up on it.
But it's ace, and in a couple of months time it'll mean I'll be a much much happier person.

Right back to the crocheting...

Planned on a quiet day off, crocheting, and doing nothing. Instead just been reading news reports.

Porl had his gig night that he organized last night, it went well, nerves at the start of the night when no one was there, then a few people showed up, no where near as many as hoped, but people relaxed and seemed to enjoy it. The 3 guys up from London were staying at ours overnight, so we eventually got home, had some food, a bit of a chat and went to bed at about 3.
This morning got up, played with cats, and a kitten which is trying to adopt us, cooked a fry up, chatted more, the guys left at about 12:30, porl went upstairs to go online, and Jimmy told him to check the news. I've been wach the news and reading reports ever since, feeling terrible because we don't know how to get in touch with the guys to find out if they've switched the radio on. Or if like most musicians are listen to CD's.

I'm half thinking about going into work. I'm responsible for dealing with and logging all the faults on customers phone lines over the next fortnight. My boss was to keep everything ticking over today while I was off. He's going to be swamped. The mobiles networks have been switched off as a precaution due to some of the Madrid bombs being triggered by mobile phones, they're also trying to free capacity up for Emergency Services to use. This is having a knock on effect on the Landlines which are also running at near capacity. I suspect they'll also be a fair amount of damage to lines too.
I don't think it's not worth me going in. It takes me an hour to get there, and BT will only work on most of our faults until 5. But I'll be busy tomorrow.

I'm not good about posting thoughts and feeling on here, so I won't except to say feeling numb and angry. Also grateful again that I live in Britain and not the US. All British news agencies are being very careful to only state what they know regarding casualties etc. The casualties are likely to be high, but news agencies here are so far only stating 2 confirmed dead, unlike CNN who are currently saying 45, and Fox who are saying 90, (Fox have also said there have been 3 buses explode, and that Michael Howard is the Mayor of London.)
There's still a lot of confusion though, most places are saying 7 explosions, but Charles Clarke has confirmed to the House of Commons 4 explosions (3 on tubes, one on a bus). Mixed reports may be from people being evacuated from different stations, and the original explosions were blamed on power surges, there will have been power outages so these may be what other people heard.

I feel numb, I'm going back to the news, need to digest.

Flickr Photostream
Guardian News Blog
Fark Comments

I've been offline. The main reason is that Porl has a new PC, and the firewall is stopping me getting online. Last time this happened Porl spent a week trying to get it to work, then I fixed it in 5 minutes, but the weather has been nice and I've been busy, so haven't minded avoiding the PC.

I promise I'll update properly tomorrow, with pictures too.
As a taster, somethings which may be mentioned are... crochet, fairy clothes, ants nests, long-lost-dead-relatives, multiple interviews.... and my new job!

Night night

You scored as Madeleine the Rag Doll. You sit in your chair away from the others. However you are well loved use your position to carefully watch over your freinds. Madeleine the Rag Doll 81% Gabriel the Toad 75% Emily 75% Bagpuss 63% Professor Yaffle 56% The Mice 38% Which Bagpuss character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Hurrah!
Shirokuma is Steve Lamacq's record of the week on BBC 6 Music.
They've even taken my doctored image off the website. The original has a pink polar bear on it, I changed it to sepia to fit in with the old colour scheme.

The weekend was ace! I might get around to writing a full run down when I feel more awake.
In brief, I want a quad bike, salsa dancing is fun, but I'm rubbish at it, tapas is very filling, Bondi Beach Bar is very very very cheesey, and I really really want a quad bike.
One of my favourite moments (after the quad biking) was being taught a dance routine to "Call On Me" by Eric Prydz, then being told that it was the routine used in the school nativity at a Catholic School - it was performed by the 3 Wise Men of course!

Also as was pointed out to me today... isn't quad biking a bit of a contradiction? Quad=4 Bi=2

Job interview done. Went quite well, I'll find out next week.
Spent the rest of the afternoon clothes shopping.

I hate clothes shopping.
I quite like the floaty gypsy skirts that are in the shops now, but I know I'll never wear them, so I refuse to buy them. The floaty tops are nice too, but if you have anything bigger than a C chest then you look pregnant.
Also why is everything brown? I wear brown at work, (part of my trying to look smart without resorting to wearing black) I refuse to wear it on a night out. I want bright colours. Okay there are pink things, but I hate pink. I had the same problem 2 years ago. I was trying to find an outfit for my brothers wedding, but the punk look was in, so everything was black, white or red (or as I was shopping in Liverpool, velour tracksuits.) Hardly the right look for a wedding.

Eventually today I saw a nice denim skirt, which was short and frayed at the bottom, with a big belt. Then I realized I have one at home which is longer and I never wear because it's too long, so as soon as I've finished here I'm going to fray the bottom and shorten it. I'll wear that with an orange vest top, and a beady belt (bought a necklace going to reconstruct it), I don't like the big chunky belts that most people wear. Also when I get bored of the beady belt I can turn it into jewellery, (my Yorkshire spendthriftness is coming out) lastly I found some orange mules.

I still haven't a clue what we're doing on this night out, but I should be acceptable in most places wearing that outfit.

Last night was my first night teaching at the craft club. A bit scary at first, but I managed to get away with about 5-10 minutes at the front talking, then everyone got stuck into making things and I was left to wander around talking to people in smaller groups which I'm fine with. The jewellery everyone made was great, people stuck to earrings and memory wire bracelets, but they were all so varied. The majority of things I make tend to be blue, and I always use silver wire, but the predominant colour was pink, and a lot of people used gold wire. It made me realise I'd best change my habits if I want things to appeal to a wider audience than just me.

Now to go and order more craft bits for next weeks lesson, alter a skirt and make a belt (and possiblyy some more jewellery if I get chance.)

I hate my back.
At some point over the weekend, probably Saturday, I've done something which has made my back go again. So now I've got that weird burning/numb pain in the bottom of my back, and the steel-plate-inserted-under-the-skin feeling in the rest of my back.
I finally fell asleep some time after 3am this morning, then the alarm went of at 6am.
I phoned in sick.
When my back is this bad driving is the worst thing I can do, pressing the pedals uses all the same muscles that are screaming out in pain at the moment. Plus I refuse to drive on the motorway having had so little sleep.

So today I'm going to potter, do my physio exercises, and try to make my back looser. Then hopefully tonight I'll sleep and I can go to work tomorrow.

Wednesday I'm off work again though. I have a job interview. Eeep! I wasn't going to say anything here, but as no-one at the new place knows I have a website I think I'm safe. The interview is for Bank-Staff at the local Libraries. (Bank staff meaning they'll phone if they need you, and you can choose to work or not.) Nice and flexible and perfectly suited to my plan of returning to care work, for which I've also filled in an application form. I was holding out for a job in Tameside, but there hasn't been one advertised in the 9 months that I've been here, so I've applied for one in South Manchester. It's exactly the same job as I did in Ormskirk so hopefully I should get it. Fingers, toes, and eyes are crossed.

Right now I'm going to shower (lazy sod that I am, and I was too sore to do it this morning) then I may sort out the piles of paperwork that have been cluttering up my desk.... or more likely I'll do some crafty things.

I think there's something wrong with me.
I think I'm turning into a girl.

My best friend from 6th form, Katpin, is getting married at the end of next month, in preparation for this event I've been looking for pretty skirts to wear, and tonight I bought, and applied tanning lotion (only for my vanilla white legs though).
I rarely wear skirts, and I've certainly never tried tanning lotion. When I graduated I phoned Katpin to tell her I was wearing a long dress and sandals... with heels...for the Grad Ball. She didn't believe me, I had to send a photo as proof. The only skirts I ever wore when I knew her were Very Very short. To preserve my dignity (and my Dad's heart) I always wore cycling shorts or hot pants underneath them, any femininity the skirts gave me was destroyed by the DrMartens.
It's her Hen-Do in a couple of weekends time, it's been organised by a company specializing in Hen and Stag do's. I'll be wearing scruffy jeans during the day... well I'd look a real prat quad biking in a floaty skirt, I haven't thought about the night time, I'm not sure what we're doing, I just know it's in Leeds and we have hotel rooms booked, a shopping spree may be neccessary, I don't think my usual "night-out" clothes of jeans and a t-shirt will do this time.

As well as the floaty skirt (which I think I'll be getting Mum to make) I'm planning a nice lacy cardy. I've found exactly the style I want, right here unfortunatly there's no pattern yet. I've been hunting through all my knitting/crochet books and magazines trying to find patterns similar so I can merge them together, but no luck yet. I'll probably do it all in crochet, it's quicker and easier, but crochet patterns are very thin on the ground, and I've never actually made any items of clothing before, other than scarves and hats.
Getting scarves and hats to fit is far far easier than getting a cardigan to fit.
Hints and tips greatly appreciated.

I also finish my bag.

What would you prefer a brand new bag? or 20 fizzy cola bottles?
One can be constructed over the course of several hours, the other can be demolished in a matter of minutes.

My throats a bit sore today... no where near as bad as Porls head though.

Well done Steven Gerrard for sleeping with the trophy last night. I think I'd have done that too.

Now I just need Sheffield Wednesday to have the same luck on Sunday in their play-off against Hartlepool, then I'll be an extremely happy girl.

Is BBC3 trying to stop people having kids?
Tonights viewing was "The House of Tiny Tearaways", then "Desperate Midwives".

I can't watch Desperate Midwives, but I find The House of Tiny Tearaways quite interesting. I like Child Psychology, and I'm sure most people must watch it thinking "God what awful kids", I watch it thinking "God what awful parents".
I know I'm not a parent, but I've looked after enough kids over the years because of Mum's child-minding, my baby-sitting, oh and let's not forget those 50 or so kids with disabilities and Challenging Behaviour on the Playscheme. So I think I've got a fairly good idea of what makes children tick and how to handle them, even when they're kicking, screaming, biting and beyond reason.

Thankfully the advice the parents are given is what I'd do anyway.
It's relatively simple.
1. Remember who's in charge (the grown up, not the kid.)
2. Mean what you say. (Porl learnt the hard way. "You can hit me as much as you like it won't hurt." So the kid hit him as much as he liked.)
3. If a kid does something wrong explain why it's wrong.
4. Followed by the Playscheme mantra "It's the action that's bad, not the child."
5. Shower you kids with affection, (not money). Never let them go to sleep thinking they're not loved.
6. Respect them as people.
7. Show them Eddie Izzard from a young age. Make them believe it's all true. (Daddy is friends with the bees. Cats go to Jazz Clubs behind the sofa.)

Hopefully one day soon we'll be able to put this into practise (and try to stick to it). I think the offspring of Porl and I will be ace. Warped, but ace.

However if I see anymore than the 30 seconds I caught of Desperate Midwives there will be no little Celeste's or Porl's to experiment with.

Gonzo's eyes both continue to twinkle, and the magpie continues to swoop and cackle at him.

I'm going to have to take extra care to make sure Gonzo is in at night, otherwise that Magpie is going to be waking me up in the mornings.

The photos are very bad quality, but it was getting dark, (and I was doing my chav impression stood in the back garden in my pyjama bottoms... they're comfy, and I'd just spilt coffee all over my trousers)
I'm sure they'll be plenty of opportunities to take some better pictures over the next few weeks.