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.