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.

Dash it Obby! Dash it! It twinkled! I like twinkling things!

Magpie - The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew.

We may have a problem. Gonzo has a new favourite perch on top of our shed/storage thing in the garden. Unfortunatly a Magpie has decided to build it's nest in the tree directly above Gonzo's perch. The nest is about 4-5 foot above where Gonzo sits, he's far too heavy to be able to get up there, but we have one very irate Magpie who has spent the day lunging and diving at Gonzo trying to scare him away.
Let's hope Gonzo's eyes don't twinkle too much...

The weekend was quiet. Mum and Dad came up on Friday to do some DIY, then Jimmy and Robin came up Friday night we drank beer and had a silly game of Balderdash (not that it's possible o have a sensible game of Balderdash). I also slept a lot, read a little, and started crocheting a new bag.

Who needs expensive Noro yarn, when you can get 20p balls of yarn from Charity shops that work up like this!

It's quite fluffly, and using a 4mm hook it's working up quite firm, I'm having to feel where to put my hook in, because I can see any gaps. The finished result is great, almost like it's been felted. I'm not sure how tall it will be, probably about the same height again, I'll just keep going until I run out.

Work today has made me feel a bit more comfortable as I've found out what my new role will be. I was basically given a choice between working in Customer Service, Accounts, or Operations. As I hate customers, and have never worked in Accounts, I went with Operations. Which is what I wanted to do anyway. Now I get to process orders, sort out faults, and shout at BT and YC a lot, and not have to speak to customers. I'll also be the only female in a team of men which is how I like it. Women are wierd!

Finally we had Drama this evening!
Porl came downstairs asking what the beep beep beeping was. He thought it was on the telly, I thought it was a car alarm. After a minute or so of trying to work out where it was coming from he shouted "call the fire brigade it's next door!"
He'd seen smoke coming from the vent next door, but no windows or doors were open so we thought they were out. I phoned the Fire Brigade, while I was on the phone to them the neighbour came out, and smoke was billowing out of the door. I tried to tell them it was okay, but the Fire Engines were on their way already.
Her dinner needed 20 minutes to cook, but she'd left it in for 2 hours. The house was full of smoke. The fire engines arrived, we apologised and explained it was a bit of a false alarm, but they checked everything out and used big industrial fans to clear the smoke for her. They left then I had a chat with her and calmed her down. I was shaking like a leaf, and she was crying. Thankfully there's no lasting damage, and I understand her a little better.
That makes 3 times in 2 years that we've had to call the fire brigade. That must be way above average. I'd like to not have to do it again for many many years.

Hurrah for the return of pictures. It's all been getting too dull around here lately. So now we have pictures to illustrate my weekend, and a new design is hopefully on its way soon.

Had a relatively productive weekend. Yesterday I went to town to collect an Amazon package (CSS and HTML books, also a new Naked Lunch for Porl), while I was there I got around to joining the library (the rest of the books shown, 3 on the history of Tameside, 1 on crochet, and a great one on wirework.) Then I had a quick look around the charity shops in search of double ended needles. Failed, but did manage to get a couple of patterns, and some great yarn all for the grand sum on 60p. I gave them a £1. I'm not sure what type of yarn it is, but the colours are great, it goes from pink-purple-dark blue-purple-pink-purple. It's quite fluffy too, I think I might be using my re-found knitting skills to make a bag. The patterns are for a non-70's jumper, and a Mr Bean teddy bear. I hate Mr Bean, but I do like teddy bears. Which bring me onto the newly washed Donbit, doing his Marvin impression. He is sporting the latest in next winters fashion, hand knitted hats with knitting needles and paper clips in the top. He doesn't look happy, but I'm dead chuffed with this. I've got as far as I can with the circular needles, hence my hunt for the double pointed ones. Shelly I need your help. Fancy meeting for a drink at some point? Or I might just find somewhere online and by my own set of circulars and DPN's, I can see than getting a lot of use in the future.

Today Porl and I went for a walk, the paper has been advertising "Tulip Day" at Stamford Park, a kids fun day, with craft stalls, and a free tulip for all. We've not been to Stamford Park yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity to find out where it was. Well we found the park... eventually... but we never found "Tulip Day". We were only walking for an hour, but since getting the office job it's the most I've walked in months, my legs were like jelly by the time I got to the car.

When we got home I spent some time in the garden. Hopefully in a few weeks time we'll have some cut-and-come-again lettuce, also rocket & coriander. That is if the slugs don't have it, or if Gonzo doesn't use it as a litter tray, as I caught him trying with one of the other pots! Bloody cat!

Back to Alderley Edge tomorrow. I've found another thing good about it, the Newsagents has the largest collection of Craft mags I've ever seen! Hence the Simply Knitting Magazine. It's dangerous on my pocket though, and it's still MILES away!

2 days into the new job. First (and second impressions). It's MILES away! It takes me about an hour and a quarter in the morning, and an hour at night, I work longer hours, and the office is boiling, they're also stricter with the internet access. On the plus side, the people are nice, my TFT monitor is gorgeous, Alderley Edge is quite pretty, with posh charity shops, a craft shop and a cheese shop.

The biggest problem though (after the distance) is that I'm not entirely sure what my role is. Before I was Customer Services/Sales Admin/Order Processing/General Skivy Person. This company has a Customers Services Department, and Opps do all the Admin and Order Processing. Which leaves me with General Skivy. So whereas before when the Sales Guys annoyed me with their inane questions and their Peck-Peck-Pecking I would take so much, and then tell them to do it themselves, now it seems it's my job. I'm not particularly happy about this. But we're still getting set up, I haven't had any training in any of the systems yet, I haven't even worked out where the departments are yet, so we'll see. Hopefully over the weekend someone will invent teleporters and I'll figure out what I'm meant to be doing there.

In other news. I met up with Shelley on Monday. She's set me off making a hat. Last time I knitted anything other than a square was when I was 7, but the knitting skills seem to be resurfacing from the depths, as I'm finding it quite easy, so long as I don't try to talk and knit, then I get confused and knit bits which should be purls. It was so nice to be able to chat to someone about crafty things without them thinking I was a freak. I'm not sure the other people in the pub thought that though, we did get a few peculiar looks when we were knitting.

Last night was the Craft Club again. I got let off work early so I could get some tea before heading up there. It was our last week of card making. I was so tired I half thought of giving it a miss, but I'm glad I decided to do. A couple of hours playing at cut-and-stick and all my stressed dissolved. I'd take some pictures of what I made, but I'm exhausted. Instead I'm going to curl up on the settee with my knitting, and watch the man with the nice voice on Grand Designs.

Hmm, silly Blogger. Usually it plays quite nicely for me, but it's being annoying tonight. Earlier it posted something twice, so I deleted one of them, but it crashed halfway through. I came back home and there were still 2 posts, so I deleted one, and now both have gone. Nevermind it wasn't very enlightening anyway.

We've just got back from seeing Hitchhikers. In the 9 years of living in Ormskirk I think I must have been to the cinema about 6 times. It was just too awkward and too far to get to. Now we have a cinema 10 minutes away, so we're trying to go more often. I'm always horrified at the price though, when I used to go regularly it was £1.50. Now it's £5.40.

Anyway Hitchhikers was good. I didn't like Zaphod, but then I never did in the books either. The soundtrack was ace, but I love anything Neil Hannon has a hand in. Marvin was a little bit too Japanese, but I'd still like a knitted one. I don't want to say much more, it's only just been released and I hate it when people spoil films for me by blabbering on about them.

Decided to do some late night gardening when I came home, dead-heading the daffodils. I discovered why they looked so tatty so quickly, the slugs have been eating them. They were covered! So I got the salt out and killed them all.
What a nice vegetarian I am.
I hate slugs. My love of walking barefoot means I've trod on too many slugs in my life, and I'd be happy if every last one of them died a horrible shrivelling death. There were a few snails around too. I don't mind snails (although I really get the shivers when I tread on them.) They were pulled off the plants too, and pointed (thrown) in the direction of the neighbours garden. Maybe they'll eat all their dandelions.

The Week from Hell continues, and just to make it more exciting my hormones have joined in the party too.
I have managed to resist snapping at customers, however the boys at work have born the brunt of my temper instead. As the week has drawn on they have begun to tread more carefully around me, especially when asking complicated questions like "How are you this morning?"

I've had to be a bit cryptic about what's been going on this week. Partly because I didn't know, but also because it's work related and the bits I did know were secrets. But basically the company is being bought out, and while I was pretty sure my job was safe I couldn't be certain. I've found out more today, and it's all moving incredibly quickly.

Tomorrow I have to go to the new company to meet everyone. This is scary. I hate first days at work, and we all have to make a good impression. My current job has a very relaxed atmosphere, jeans and t-shirts on a Friday, and only slightly smarter the rest of the week, for the 2 years before as a Support Worker I wore scruffy clothes, as I was never sure what bodily fluids would be on them at the end of the day. I've kept meaning to buy some smart clothes, but I hate shopping, so I've been putting it off. The lads were all talking about buying suits tonight, so after work thought I'd best go shopping. I went to Asda (it's cheap, it has things I like, and I don't care about labels) I wanted a black cardigan, and some black pumps. But they're not fashionable, so there weren't any. Instead I got a crocheted brown cardy, and some brown shoepolish to make my trainers look less scruffy. Not as smart as I'd intended, but at least my smart facade won't have as far to fall once they get to know me.

I got home just after 7, hungry and grumpy, and had to cancel meeting Shell again because it was so late. I've spent the evening polishing shoes and shouting at politicians on telly... quite theraputic actually.

Oh, my new place of work is Barrington House... and Danny Marsh works there too.
(If you're from the Ormskirk area you'll find this hilarious... if you're not, well I can't be bothered explaining. Night night.)

Rubbish day.
I hate money. I hate struggling to get by each month. I hate that when you got to the bank to try to sort it out they won't help you because you haven't got enough. "Sorry we can't help you in that way. Why don't you do this instead? It's 3 times more expensive, but we don't care!" Grrr

I also hate my work not being valued. Too angry to even form words about that one though.

And to top the day off I've found out we haven't had any buildings and contents insurance since we moved here, because Royal Mail are useless, the insurance company are useless (and okay, I got totally confused with Direct Debits and failed to notice that it hadn't been set up.) Thankfully that's sorted now.

Back to work tomorrow... lets hope no customers try to get narky with me or I might just lose my rag... or cry...

Woooooooo!

Finally it's done! Now I can relax.

In other good news... My computer is alive! It's been switched on for about 6 hours now and it hasn't turned itself off!

That's enough exclamation marks for one post.

The weekend has been ace. I spent Saturday afternpoon pottering around the garden, putting some plants in, and repotting the pots of herbs. Then Robin and Jimmy showed up, we ate, we drank rum and we moaned about telly being rubbish. Then we cursed our DVD player for being little more than an expensive dust catcher. It's extremely tempremental, but as Porl has a DVD player on his PC, and I rarely watch films we've never bothered buying a decent one. We should really though.

Today we did the usual Sunday Lunch thing. While it was cooking I cut the grass and tidied the patio up a bit. Not as well as I wanted to though, because Stupid Me has gone and lost the keys to my bike lock, so unless I can either find the keys, or I make friends with a burglar, my bike is permanently fastened to the garden bench. The lock is made of toughened steel, and the bench was my Grandads, so I'm not going to be hacksawing through either of them except as an extreme last resort. After lunch and digestion, Jimmy helped me put the new power supply in my PC, then they headed home (taking the scenic route; they took a wrong turning and got lost in Manchester City Centre.) Then I decided to have one final stab at the Shirokuma site. 4 hours, and a lot of cursing later it's done, and online. Feedback/Error Checking appreciated.

Day off tomorrow. I was supposed to be doing practical things, but as I've not organised any of them I'll just have to see what the day brings.

I'm sooo tired!! I went to town this morning for a wander. It was so windy. I think the combination of exercise and wind blowing my breath away is what has made me tired.

I got another power supply and had a chat with the guy in the computer shop. He suspects it's probably the motherboard too. I'll put the new power supply in this week at some point and if it still doesn't work I'll take it down the them to sort out... or give it Jimmy...

Also had a wander around the charity shops, picked up a couple of books, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", which I've never read, and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" which I've read numerous times, but I've lost my copy. Also bought a load of singles;

Pepsi & Shirlie - Goodbye Stranger
The Real Thing - You To Me Are Everything
Chris DeBurgh - The Lady in Red
Huey Lewis & The News - Stuck with You
Sister Sledge - Frankie

I know my music taste is a little peculiar, but don't worry, I've not bought them to listen to, (I've already got the mp3's,) I haven't a record player anyway, I'm going to turn these into bookends.

I've also put the new Shirokuma site online, not in the proper place yet though, I need to check things first. The first thing I noticed once it was online was that most of the apostrophies have turned into Control Characters. Haven't a clue why, but it means I've got a lot of checking to do.
If anyone wants to offer constructive criticism, it's online here I know the photos page is wrong, I'm going to get that right now, and I think I've uploaded the wrong stylesheet for the lyrics & album info pop-ups, oher than that, and any wayward apostrophies it should be okay. Let me know.

Actually I might go and spend half an hour in the garden before doing anymore webstuff. I've got plants that need putting in.

Aaaannnd Relax.....

I'm so pleased it's Friday, and I'm even more pleased I've got Monday off. My thoughts are making be crave a Crunchie Bar.

This week has been hard. I was going to trying writing something to keep this regular updating flow going. But I can't really be bothered... it would mean forming thoughts, and that seems too much like hard work just now.

I have wine, I have a belly full of Stew and Dumplings (comfort food made by the wonderful Porl), I'm clean, and in my cosiest clothes. I'm on the verge of falling asleep, but won't yet.

I think I'll do some web design work, the big question is what to put on the telly while I do it. Angel or The Box of Delights?

Came home from work early today, I was feeling really hot and queasy, (queazy? oh my brain isn't working.) Thankfully I'd got no work to do, so I didn't feel guilty about asking Lisa if I could come home early. Went straight to bed and slept for a few hours. When I woke I was starving, so had some cornflakes, felt okay, so Porl made scrambled egg on toast, but now I feel terrible again. It's probably stress/nerves about the impending job chaos. I don't know...

Last night was the first meeting of the Craft Club. All went well, everyone was really friendly, not many people my age, but it was far better than staying at home watching Eastenders. I made a decoupaged wedding card, and had a play at heat embossing which I've never done before. The best bit was the joy of raiding someone else's crafty stash. I felt like a kid in a toy shop. Looking forward to next week.

Now I'm off to raid the yarn bin, because tomorrow night I'm meeting up with Shell for the first time. She's going to help me master knitting.
How adventurous am I getting? Going out twice in a week!

Gah! Just spent the last half hour at work (lunch break) annoying myself with this Flash game. The Crimson Room. It's seems I'm only of "normal" intelligence because I've only found 9 objects and I'm still stuck in the bloody room. I can see this may be annoying me for a while.

Craft club tonight, vaguely nervous, but trying to ignore that bit... it will be good... it will, it will, it will... Annoyingly Shell can't come for the first few weeks, so I'll have to be brave and face them alone.
I used to be outgoing and gregarious, I used to speak to random people in clubs and round the fountain (down the ro-o-o-ad... sorry random pulp reference.) What happened? Surely growing up makes you more confident, not reclusive.
But I will do this. I will go, make friends and it will all be good... until in 6 weeks time when I have to do my teaching slot. Arghhhh.

So tired today, stayed up late writing emails to random people. Another cousin has been in touch, 8th cousin, 27 times removed, or something daft, but it's still interesting and sparked me off looking for things again, but without my PC I'm a bit stuck.

I swear when I get my computer working I WILL back up EVERYTHING.

I'm procrastinating.
I have to get Mark's website done, but the whole PC not working thing has really put a dampener on my day.
Earlier today I was looking at the other two sites I've been working on. They both look really washed out and boring. I nearly deleted them there and then, but managed to resist that temptation. They're going to need a rethink though. I need inspiration. I've order some books from Amazon, HTML Pocket Reference, and CSS Pocket Reference. I decided to buy some updated references when I realized that my most useful Webdesign book was published in 1996. It covers tables, touches on Javascript, and waxes lyrical about Scrolling Marquee and Blink tags. So pretty rubbish really. The new books won't be here for another 2 weeks, so I think I'll get the Shirokuma site done then forget about websites for a while.

I've got a general lack of enthusiasm for everything at the moment. Mainly because work is really really cheesing me off. I try not to talk about work here because I can never be sure who's reading, but I need to vent.
The company is going through some complicated changes, and I'm not feeling particularly secure. However if on Monday I found out I no longer had a job I wouldn't be too upset (except for the panic about bills, mortgage, eating etc.) I'm really not enjoying office work. I miss the freedom of shifts, I miss the ability to earn extra money, I miss sitting around reading books with Lizzie and drinking coffee. But mostly I hate that instead of being paid to support and care for people, now I'm paid to help other people make money.
Not exactly the fulfilling life I'd pictured for myself.
I keep scanning the papers for NHS Support Worker posts, but nothing has come up, well I've seen one, but I'd need a sex change. None NHS doesn't pay as well, or have the benefits, so I'd only do them as a second job.
I'll keep hoping that work gets better, or something else come up, I'm not one for giving up on a job, no matter how grim it gets. The other problem is that if I was to leave I'd feel unbelievably guilty about leaving people in the lurch. Oh for an easy life.

Anyway rant over. Very sorry.

On a positive note Porl found an Angel Box set in Morrisons today. Season 3, part 2, but it only cost £4.99!
Guess what I'm watching.

Grrrr I hate computers.
I finally got around to going in the loft to get the spare power supply so that I could fix my computer. I was quite pleased with myself when I found the note in the box that said "I work! I'm the power supply from Celeste's old PC case." How very organised of me.
So I put the PC back together, and it worked 1st time (5 geek points for me). Next I rearranged the dining room area so that I had a comfortable workspace, where I might enjoy sitting while I worked on websites.
Finally at 6pm I was able to sit down and start working.
6.15pm the PC turned itself off again.
... ... ... ... ...
I think the mother board is drawing too much power.
So I unplugged the CD-rom drives, the second HDD, just leaving the 1 HDD plugged in which has all the data on it.
But the bloody machine won't turn on at all now!
So I'm back on the laptop.

I'm going to have to buy a new motherboard aren't I Jimmy?

I might start a campaign to bring back chalk and blackboards.

Oh, and what a surprise, Politicians lie.

When the Weather Forecast tonight said "snow on high ground" I thought they meant in Scotland.
Not here, now, in the middle of April!

I don't think I'm going to get the garden done this weekend.

Bourbons!!!!
I have just had my first bourbon in months.
I'm a happy girl.

Thanks to a tip off from the appropriately named hot milk with cookies,(thankyou so much, I owe you a drink, or bourbons, or something.) Porl and I went on an expedition tonight to find the Morrisons in Dukinfield. With A-Z in hand, it took just 2 three-point-turns, and a realization that the place marked "supermarket" on the map was probably where we wanted to be.
Thankfully we were both relieved that the Dukinfield Morrisons is better than the Ormskirk Morrisons, which opened just after we left and is reportedly rubbish. It's closer than Asda and cheaper than Tesco's so we'll probably go there regularly.
I can't believe I'm talking about supermarkets. I need to get out more.

This weekend I'm looking forward to staying in and pottering though. The grass needs cutting, also now I've realized I'm not allergic to Stainless Steel I want to make some earrings. Lastly I'm determind to get at least 1 of the websites on the list done. At the moment Mark's, my craft site, and this one all have half finished redesigns, and Danny has asked if I can do something new, but I haven't even thought about that yet.
If I was getting paid I'd be busy enough to make a living out of this!

I've been looking through my referalls.
A few notes.

To the people searching for the following;

Cheese parcel up
gore vidal on brett easton Ellis
sewing machine "won't turn on"
munchkin cats sites with webcams

Sorry, haven't a clue.

Since the Bourbon Biscuit post my traffic has trebled. I'm obviously not the only one with a Bourbon addiction, but I'm quite chuffed that typing Bourbon Biscuit Shortage into Google, lists me at no.1. If anyone finds any let me know.

gonzo knitting - I wish! He could teach me then.
run down houses pictures manchester - Seen lots, not got any pictures though.
glory holes manchester - Again, got lots, but no pictures.

Apologies to the person who typed this into Google.

iv got a pain on my lower left hand side of my belly

Seeing the following probably didn't make you feel any better

manic kitty
... afternoon I'd got a nagging pain in the lower left hand side of my belly. ...
The doctors gave her 4 months to live, that was nearly 2 years ago. ...
www.coastaltown.nildram.co.uk/2003_09_01_archives.html - 29k - 10 Apr 2005 - Cached - Similar pages

I promise they were 2 completely seperate incidents about different people. Google just decided to combine them.

The person searching for COASTALBLOG. I think you want Matt, he's here

Finally, the Nicky Wire fan who lives vaguely near here going by the name Manic Kitty.
She isn't me.
Neither is this person.

Most people, with names like Jane, or Sarah, or Paul will know of tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of people with their name.

I can think of 3 people called Celeste.

The actress Celeste Holme, there's a character in an American Teen show about Witches or Vampires or something, and lastly there's the girl I briefly met in a training seminar in London.

If I see, or hear my name I assume it's refering to me, and it almost always is. Which means I've just spent a long time reading those posts just checking I've not aquired split personalities who are posting while I sleep. An unusual thought but it would explain the tiredness.

So tired, can't think straight, must sleep.

Saturday was ace. Went to Ormskirk for Alex's Birthday and Robin's Welcome home. Gin was consumed, songs were sung, people were talked too, (or at as the gin kicked in), fantasic veggie lasagne was eaten, and a great night all round was had. We wandered back "home" through the woods at 6 in the morning, I felt like I'd regressed 3/4 years. I loved it.

Sunday was not so ace. I was a poorly girl. Everyone was going to Matt's poetry reading at the Walker Art Gallery. I again bailed due to the poorlyness, and the fact I was still drunk. My wonderful friends let me stay in bed and I slept till about 5.

Matt I am so very very sorry! I will make it to a reading...one day.

This evening I went over to meet one of the Craft Club ladies in Hattersley. They've bought loads of beads and wire, and wanted to know what else they should buy. I'm getting excited about it again, still nervous, but less so now that I've got a plan in mind. The first meeting is in 2 weeks time. Luckily we've a few weeks of card making and glass painting before I do beading, so I should get chance to know people.

Lastly, I've a new obsession flickr. How could I have missed this for so long? I love other peoples photos. I'm spending hours looking through the groups.

Ace weekend, so tired now though.

Friday night I lounged around doing very little. Saturday we did some gardening, the front garden is looking more respectable now, and I've put loads of seeds in. Before we left Mill Street I went round collecting seeds. I also mentioned to the neighbour that I loved poppies, and she gave me half a jam jar of poppy seeds as a reminder of her.
I love getting plants off other people, especially seeds because you never know what you're going to end up with. Most of the seeds were in little brown envelopes with things like "tall blue flowers by the fountain", and "exploding plants from Larkhill" written on them. I need to come up with better descriptions, because they mean nothing to be now. Nevermind, in a few weeks time the garden should be a lovely, colourful surprise.

Saturday night we went up to Ormskirk, for the return of the boy Robin. We sat in the Windmill and it was like we'd been transported back in time 7 months. Everyone was there again.
I like my mates, we can have great discussions about literature, computer games, and the political situation in Bolivia. We'll then go on to discuss in great detail (and acting out) the most recent silly adverts on telly. They're a weird lot but I love them.
We were planning on coming back to Stalybridge, mostly because we thought Robin would be jetlagged and it would be an early night, but his body clock was somewhere around early evening, and the lure of vodka was too tempting for me. I finally stumbled up to bed at 6 in the morning.

Sunday we headed back to Stalybridge. It was too late to make a full sunday lunch, but we managed to make 2 hearty stews (one veggie one meaty). Porl made the dumplings, without the disaster of last time, (I'd told him to add water till it was a dough, but he added water till it was a batter, after rescuing it we ended up with dumplings as big as our heads!) We've got enough stew left to last us a few days, so I predict that I'll be eating tea and falling asleep for the next few days.

I've had an email off the people setting up the craft club in Hattersley. It looks like the first meeting will be in a couple of weeks time. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to getting out of the house one night a week, and the chance to meet people and learn things. I can also pick their brains over where the best craft shops are. I've only found 1 since I moved here, which is good for my wallet, but the temptation to buy online is getting a bit much.

I'm worried.

I'm beginning to show signs of either old age, or boredom, but neither are good. I'm only 27!

At the supermarket this evening I went hunting for a customer feedback form. I filled it in requesting that they write to me to explain why they don't sell bourbon biscuits anymore. (I also complained that their pen didn't work, but that's by the by.)

For months I've had to make do with Chocolate Digestives, or Fig Rolls, (both of which pale in comparison to Bourbons,) and Porl has had to cope with me complaining and sulking and stamping my feet about the lack of Bourbon Biscuits. Tonight though was the PMT induced last straw. So I complained.

Rather than come home and forget about it though, I came online to do a search for Bourbon Biscuits. I'm quite pleased that I did, because through the wonder of the internet, and A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down I have found that Tesco aren't Bourbon Philistines, but that there is actually a Bourbon Biscuit shortage, caused by the flooding of the McVities factory in Carlisle in January.



Thankfully the government have also realized how desperate this Bourbon crisis is, and they have offered McVities £1 million to help get the factory up and running again. Reading other news reports I've found that the factory still isn't open, but hopefully it will be soon. I don't know if I can cope with summer camping trips which don't include Bourbons.

I've just had a thought!
Maybe I'm not getting old, or bored.
Maybe I'm just have an acute Bourbon Addiction!

Soooo tired, but trying really hard to keep this semi regular updating happening.

The Easter break was much needed, and I got a lot done, unfortunately not all the things I wanted.

Thursday night my computer blew up again. Properly this time, burning fans don't smell good. We've come to the conclusion that it might be because my PC is next to the mains electricity box, and it's interfering with the power. So we've got to either find a new home for my PC, or when my Dad builds the cupboard to house the mains get the cupboard lead lined.

Saturday I decided to cut the grass. It's the first time I've had to do it since we moved here, my Dad did it last summer, and I now understand why he keeps suggesting we dig the front out and make a drive. The front lawn isn't very big, but it's on at least a 45 degree slope. The back lawn is slightly better but not much. I decided it was easiest to stand and the top and mow down the hill, but I nearly fell over a few times, but I got it done and it's looking pretty good, however my right hand is now bandaged up due to a sprained wrist and thumb. My shoulder is pretty sore too.

Saturday night we'd arranged for Gareth and Danny to come over, then Sam and Jimmy phoned too and came over from Ormskirk on the spur of the moment. I think Sam likes his late night motorway driving. It's the first time I've had a drink in a pub since early January, I wasn't too messy, but Sunday was a write off due to me feeling pretty delicate. Beer bad.

So we have a nice neat garden, I got loads of cleaning done, it's possible to walk into the spare room without having to climb over boxes, and for a few brief hours we even had an empty wash basket. Unfortunately all this domesticity meant that I got nothing more done on my Month of Softies doll, nor any other crafts either. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll be less tired, and my hand will be less painful, so I can get it done within the specified month.

If you click this link, you'll curse me for it's addictiveness. I've spent hours over this years playing this game, so an online version is a dangerous thing.

How's this for efficiency.

The boy Robin in a net cafe somewhere in deepest darkest Peru (I think) left a comment requesting pictures of our fat and furry friends, and around an hour after spotting the message they're online.

These were taken about a fortnight ago, Duke in typical Duke fashion decided that the prime spot to sleep at that precise time was the bowl on the Welsh Dresser that we dump our bits and bobs in when we come in the door, keys, pens, bits of post etc etc. As well as this bowl being full of junk, it's also about 3 sizes too small for a large cat to fit in, and due to it's small base it was precarious to climb into, he almost sent it flying. Gonzo though, as we know is far to clever to do daft things like that! He just spends his time chewing nettles.

Robin, since you went on your travels, and we moved here, Duke has got fat, and Gonzo has got fatter. So feel free to chase them round the house trying to pat them and go ahhhhh, because they need the exercise.

In other news, work has been a chore this week. I hate BT, and Phones, and Customers and YC. If I can get my brain to switch off and stop thinking about it I might be able to enjoy the Bank Holiday.

Today has been wonderfully lazy. I woke quite early, the newly fixed bed is very comfy, then I made the most of not having to get up, by laying in bed reading, and trying to spot any painting that needed touching up. Thankfully couldn't see any.

When I eventually surfaced we had a trip to Tesco's for bits and bobs. I've picked up a hair dye. I hate dying my hair, but I'm noticing more and more white hairs so something needs to be done. I'm trying to take consolation from the fact they look white rather than grey. I'd prefer my hair to stay dark brown, but that's not going to happen.

While Sunday lunch was cooking did some updating to the Shirokuma site. Just some new photos added, and the news about the download EP that Mark has done for Twisted Nerve Records. I've had some ideas about a new design and layout for the site, I know Mark wants me to do the work, but it's a bit too complicated to do for a freebie, so I'll have to wait until Mark talks to F&H.

After that I decided to start work on my Month of Softies dolly. Earlier I'd asked Mum and Dad how they pictured me as a child. Mum said "red wellies, red cagoule, yellow hard hat. Oh and a toy gun". Dad said "Red wellies".
Of course before making mini-me I went off on a tangent and re-organised the bookshelves, but I've got the main body and red wellies cut out, and I've picked the material for everything else, we've also got space to fill with more books.
I did get the sewing machine out, but then the internet distracted me, so hopefully I'll feel in the mood for sewing after work tomorrow.

Ergh work. My 4 day break has gone by far too quickly. But I'm not too disheartened. Only 4 days to get through before the next 4 day break. Hurrah for Chocolate Bunnies, Chocolate Eggs, Chocolate Jesus's and Chocolate Bank Holidays.

The main thing that I've done recently is to write some songs for the Harry Potter film, but that's just a shameless effort to try and ingratiate myself with kids.
This made me chuckle.

The bedroom is done. It seems bigger and lighter, it's great. If I could find the cable for my camera I'd post some photos. I'm sure it's in one of the "boxes things to be sorted".
I might get around sorting them out tomorrow, then I can post pictures again.

I've been looking at all the cool toys everyone seems to be making at the moment. I haven't made toys for so long, and I fancy a change. A Month of Softies this month is "Self-portrait of the Artist as a Young Child".
I had horrendous dress sense as a child, and I loved my red wellies.
I might get the sewing machine out tomorrow.

I forgot to say, I've been redesigning a lot over the past few days I've got a lovely new stylesheet, but I'm keeping it offline for a few more days while I tweek it. I have made some changes to the menu though, hopefully you won't spot any errors, but apologies if you do.

Little things making me happy tonight, Cabaret on telly, milkshakes and the wierdness of my friends messenger names.

There are reasons why I don't update often, and that's because I'm so tired that I can't think what or how to type, or how even how to form sentences. I'm like that now. But I'm determind to update regularly, so ...I...must...type...though this. Maybe it'll get easier.

Anyway, yesterday and today have been busy. My Mum, Dad and I have been painting the back bedroom. It's not been easy because it was a bit of a state, I think the people here before us did it in a rush, so we've had a lot of holes to fill in.
It doesn't help that the three of us are all perfectionists.

We've finished most of the painting, just another coat of gloss and some touching up to do tomorrow. The curtains pole is up, the broken light switch is replaced, and the phone wires are now finally fastened down. Never again will I trip over them, hoover them up, or listen to the cats "kill" them in the early hours of the morning.

Tonight Dad is making some taller legs for the bed. It's a very low bed, and there's no space for storage in the room, so he's raising the bed up and he's going to make some drawers for underneath. Hurrah for My Dad.

My original plan for this weekend was to have lots of days out and get to know the area better, pretend we were camping, but without the sleeping outside bit. But then painting got suggested and that seemed more important.
Everything will be finished tomorrow though, so I'm trying to decide what to do on Sunday. I could just relax, but we're thinking of going on an Adventure, and it could be a lot of fun... we'll have to see though, it might not work out...

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!

I've just got an email off a mate who I've been trying to find since about 1997.

I'm a happy girly!

In other news I've got Thursday and Friday off work. There'll be no relaxing though, the dire state of the bedroom has finally annoyed me enough to force me to do something about it. Tonight we've been painting squares and looking at lots of not-quite-white samples. We've decided we can't tell the different between any of them, so we're going to go with "Plage" because it's got a silly name.

Lastly, thanks to the wonderfully magic of Jimmy, both mine and Porl's computers are working again now. Jimmy couldn't really find anything wrong with them, and they worked fine at his house, so we've decided that, like me, they too were just feeling a little disallusioned and wanted a change of scenery. However, I'm still using the laptop, I've become strangely attached to it, plus there's a draft where my PC lives and it's warm here.

At about this time 6 months ago I was frantically running around a lovely old house in Ormskirk, cleaning up, checking cupboards, trying to fit the last few items onto the van, including stupidly, the doors to the cat boxes. Porl was termporarily richer, and we still hadn't had confirmation that we were okay to move into the new house.

So this is my 6 month review of life in Stalybridge.

The Good

• The view from our front room - I fear my neighbours think I'm incredibly nosey, but I love standing at the window looking at the view. Even when it's pitch black.
  
• The fact that the radiator is under the window so I can keep warm and look at the view.
  
• Laminate floors, so easy to clean, so much fun to watch the cats skid across.
  
• Seeing more of Mum and Dad.
  
• The general friendliness of Tamesiders. From the bloke at the corner shop, to all the people we've met in the pubs.
  
• Specific people we've met who've done so much to help us settle in, Dorne, Beckie, Bod, Cheryl, Herbie, Jimmy, Joan. Thankyou all.
  
• Rekindled friendships with Gareth, and Adam.
  
• No Students. I'd forgotten how annoying they were until I went back to Ormskirk.
  
• Snow. There's been snow on the hillside for 3 weeks now, and more is forecast for the weekend. Snow in Ormskirk never stayed for more than a couple of days.
  

The Bad

• I miss our Ormskirk friends.
  
• I really miss my old job.
  
• Cream carpets upstairs. Stupid idea.
  
• Gonzo thinks it's a good idea to pick fights with the huge dog (alsatian/wolf cross breed) next door. Stupid cat.
  
• No Little Italy. I haven't found a decent pizza place yet, the Thai place is amazing, but Friday nights aren't the same without Little Italy Pizzas.
  

& The Confusing

• The light switches, I still can't remember where they are.
  
• I keep calling Stalybridge Ormskirk.
  
• Things haven't worked out with the Manchester bunch, I suspect Porl and I have taken the blame for a lot of things which haven't happened, and it's a shame it's all turned sour.
  
• Tameside/Manchester. I'm getting bored of Magical Mystery Tours, I just want to get from A to B without going via the rest of the alphabet.
  

So in general Stalybridge is good. Some things have gone wrong, but the majority of things have turned out far better than expected, I was never expecting uprooting to be easy.

In the next six months there's one major problem which needs resolving, I can't mention it, but it will be obvious to those who know me. Then there's things like the start of the Craft Club, and getting my own website sorted out at last. Also the weather is warming up, which means camping season is coming.

The future is looking promising, fingers crossed the next 6 months go as well as the last 6.

... and then there were two.

Porl's computer has died now too.

Last night a light bulb blew. When a light bulbs blows in this house it knocks all the power off to that floor. So Porl's computer got knocked off. He went to bed and didn't think about it. This morning it won't turn on. Jimmy thinks it's the graphics card.

So now we have to learn to share the laptop. Thank god we still have the internet.

Wish us luck.

My computer has died. Not competely died, but it's not a happy bunny.

It started randomly turning itself off on Wednesday. It wouldn't stay on for longer than 15 minutes. But it didn't shut down completely, it was still whirring, and beeping at me. I've turned off and it's staying off.

Last time it went wrong I managed to fix it, but this time I'm scared. So it's sat it the corner until I either get brave, or get visits from people clevererer than me.

However today I spent about 45 minutes on the phone to Jimmy while he helped me get the laptop working. We got there eventually, and I cannot describe enough the aceness of Jimmy. He has saved my sanity. Unfortunatly I havent got access to all my files, and I'm loads of programs missing, but I've got the internet.

 

The broken computer has given me the push I needed to make a few changes which I have been considering for a while though. The main one for here is that I've take the RSS feed down. This won't make a difference to my sporadic posts, but it will make a difference to my attitude to blogging, and in my illogical brain taking the pressure off all makes sense.

Through 6th form and university I always had a notebook with me. I used to leave it lying around for people to write in, and I'd stick random things in it. I'd like my blog to be like that notebook. At the moment I feel like I'm it as a message board. In my mind taking the rss feed down make the site back into a notebook again. I never said my mind was logical.

I'm going to do a redesign too. Spring cleaning. I'm working on the craft site at the moment, as well as trying to update the shirokuma site, and it's spurred me on to have an overhaul. Unfortunatly I can't get photoshop at the moment so I'm struggling. I will let you know how it goes though.

When I worked shifts I never seemed to have too many problems getting up in the morning (or afternoon). Okay I always struggled with sleep-ins, but anyone would struggle to get up at 6 in the morning after having 2-3 hours of restless sleep in a strange bed. But generally most days I was quite happy to get up.
Recently though I've been struggling.
Today I crawled out of bed at 7:35. I have to leave the house at 7:45. Needless to say I don't do breakfast.

All day today I kept thinking it was Thursday. Then I'd remember it was Tuesday and the weekend and a lie in seemed so very far away that I could have cried.

Eventually the end of the day seemed in sight.
4:15 usually heralds the last trip to the drinks machine for the day, but today it was broken, so I sat there, sealing envelopes, feeling thirsty, fed up, and longing for home.

Then the boss came out and told us that as work is being done on the server tomorrow, our phones and computers will be out of action for at least the morning.

So we could all have a lie in, and not bother getting to work until 2pm!
He then told us 3 more times because no one believed him

I'm really hoping that the work gets hugely delayed and we get the whole day off.
I mean it's hardly worth going in for 3 hours is it?

Hope everyone else has a great day too!

Sorry about the lack of updates, but a lot has been happening, writing about it all seems a little daunting, so I've been putting it off, but I'd best get on with it.

A few weeks ago I spotted something in the paper about a meeting being held by some people who wanted to set up a local Craft Group. It seemed like a good way to meet some people and learn some new skills (like knitting and spinning) so I decided to go. I was a bit worried it might be a bit too "Mother's Union" but I figured if I didn't go then I'd never find out.

So one windy night off I toddled, there were only a couple of people there because the paper had got the date wrong, the main meeting was the following week, but we had a chat about what I did, what the group wanted to acheive, how it would go about things and it all sounds really good, they're going to have teachers come in about once a month and the rest of the weeks they'll use what they call their "gifted amateurs". I'd taken some of my jewellery with me so they had a look and were very impressed, giving me a huge confidence boost. I came away cheery and excited about the new project.

A couple of days later I got a phone call off the club secretary. She'd heard about the jewellery I make, so wuld I be interested in being one of their "gifted amateurs" and doing some teaching. Of course I said yes, so since then I've been racking my brains trying to work out what I can teach, and how to go about it.

Last week I was browsing random craft message boards and I came across someone asking for jewellery makers who would be interested in having a stall at a craft fair in Preston. The fair was in January, too late for me to be involved in, btu I wanted the organiser to know I'd be interested in any future events. I had an email back straight away saying that a jewellery stall had just dropped out, so was I certain I couldn't take part. I let her know I definately didn't have enough stock, but she then wrote back and said she'd looked at my website, and if I'd like to bring up any of my things to show on her own stall she'd give me some space. Typically I then had a week off work sick with migraines so I couldn't do anything. But it's another contact for another time.

So all this, plus some other comments I've had recently have also given me the kick start I needed to get a website sorted for selling my things. I'm picturing a day in the future where I can stay at home with a gaggle of kids, making jewellery and selling it at craft fairs and online. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I'm working on the website at the moment, ideas for names would be greatly appreciated, I'm tempted with just calling it Celeste, but I'm not sure. Also expect some changes around here too as I overhaul everything and pilfer content.

I have discovered that resting your bead tray on your lap while making jewellery is a very bad idea if you have a cold.

3 times tonight my sneezes have sent the bead tray and contents flying to the floor.

It's amazing how far beads will travel on laminate flooring.

This week has been poo. Nevermind Shit Wednesday, it's been Shit Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is improving.

Back at work Tuesday. Drinks machine wasn't working, so borrowed some money for some cans. Dinnertime went to get money out of the bank, none there. Panic! This month was supposed to be great for money, I doubled my income for various reasons, so how could I be skint 10 days after payday, and more worryingly, before the bills and mortgage had been taken from my account.

So I phoned the bank, and worked out I hadn't been paid. Straight in to see the boss.

So Tuesday and Wednesday were spent worrying while work tried to figure out what had happened and sort out paying me again. While I fended off the bank and tried to get them to be lenient (which they weren't). Thursday morning it turned out it was their banks error. So they are going to be presented with a nice list of all the charges I've had for being overdrawn, bouncing cheques, direct debits etc.

Wednesday I also forgot my work passes, so had to spend the last money I had on parking the car, and get a door pass off security, and put up with the usual 20 questions that go with them "You do know it's £30 to replace them" etc etc. Then on the way home I tried to find a shortcut, got hugely lost, ended up heading towards Oldham before I found my way home.

Thursday, again forgot door pass. 40 questions today though. However I found my parking pass, in the pocket of the passenger door where it must have hidden itself as I randomly threw it in my haste to get out of the car park on Tuesday. Mid afternoon my wages finally went in, and I got to unpack a HUGE stationary order, (the silliest things make me happy). I got home and within about 10 minutes was sparko on the sofa, all the worry about money had meant I'd not slept properly for 3 nights.

Friday and things have begun to improve. Except for the ongoing problem with our supplier at work, I got angry (a very rare occurance for me) one of the bosses got quite concerned and said I seemed angrier then than when I found out I'd not been paid. But we all got taken to the Lime Bar at lunch time. The boss paid. After one round he asked us if we wanted to go back to work. He was met with silence, so he went and got another round in. A lazy afternoon followed, the normally laid back quiet admin team (me and Nigel) got quite animated and chatty. Home time came, and an epic rush hour journey home followed... stupid friday traffic. Tonight I took Porl into Ashton, and came home to veg, clean and sleep. I spent most of hte night just blitzing the kitchen, the room will have to wait. About 9 o clock I was by the front door trying to find shoes so I could put the bin out when I heard "Hello, it's about your car, Hello, there's someone in your car... I'm not a burglar". I didn't know if it was for me or next door, so I opened the door and there's a lad there. I think it was the one I gave some coal too at Christmas for his snowman. Apparently there'd been someone in my car, (which stupidly I'd left open) but they'd run off down the road. It seems Stalybridge robbers aren't up to much (thankfully). Nothing had been taken. My stereo isn't removable, they missed the CD player, adn they'd left all the CD's too. I think they might have just been sheltering from the rain.
So lucky escape. I'll check the car is locked in future.

Then more improvements when I found a nice clean fragrant £5 in the tumble dryer.

This weekend will be mainly spent sorting out the mess of money, cleaning and sleeping.

This is what we woke up to this morning.
(Click for bigger images.)

I umm'd and ahh'd, but as the sky was blue I decided we'd risk the drive over the hill, just make sure we headed back before dark, and it started freezing. So I phoned Mum to say when we'd be over, took some pictures, made the bed and came downstairs, looked out of the front window, and phoned mum back to say actually we'd better stay put.

They were taken at about 11:30, then the second 5 minutes later. It's been snowing on and off all day. Sometimes light, sometimes very heavy, then occasionally we've had glorious sunshine. Everywhere is white over, except the roads which have been gritted, and the cars which had collected enough snow for the kids to have some great snow ball fights.

Luckily we'd got food in for a Christmas Meal just in case, there was no time for us to defrost the duck though, so Porl had a chicken breast instead. So it turned out okay, yet another year I've missed being with my parents on Christmas Day, but it is nice to spend our first Christmas in our little house. I'm torn now though. I really want to go and see people in Ormskirk tomorrow, but I really want lots of snow now, while I'm off work, so we can go and play in it. I've had quite a lot of White Christmas's, but this is Porl's first since he was about 9, so it'd be nice to make the most of it.

While I had the camera out I realized I've never taken any pictures of the house. So here is a our tree, fireplace, and the lovely red wall I painted a few weeks ago.

Finally, before I go and sit on the sofa reading my new books, and digesting my food, here's a picture of the necklace I spent last night making.

Merry Snowy Christmas from Stalybridge.

I'd like to wish everyone who reads this a Merry Christmas/Seasons Greetings/Enjoyable Couple of Days Bank Holiday.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family tomorrow, seeing lots of friends over the following few days, and being general happy about not being at work, and there being lots of good people, and good food around.

Big Christmas hugs to all the Manchester lot for a great night on Wednesday. I think I'm still recovering, but it was a much needed blow out. It seemed like ages since I'd seen everyone.
More Christmas hugs to the Ormskirk lot, I'll see you all Boxing Day (assuming the weather gets no worse, we've had rain, hail, wind, and thunder, but no snow yet.)
Lastly very big Christmas hugs to Robin who's enjoying the sunshine in Oz.

Hope everyone has a good one

The infrequent blogging is due to my new job. Working 9-5 again has been a bit of a shock to the system. Add to that the 3 hours of travel each day, and the fact that I have a tendency to hibernate when the clocks go back. It all means that when I come home from work all I seem to want to do is stare at the idiot box watching mind numbing programmes.

But my brain is finally coming round to the fact that the 9-5 job, or more accurately, the money I get from the 9-5 job will be a good thing for a little while.

Unfortunatly, all this work is distracting me from my crafty pursuits, so a plan has formed. My work location is in a fantastic location for views, but a bit rubbish for interesting things to do at dinnertime, except for wander around and around the outlet mall. So today, I brought my beads in. I'm sat at my desk making beaded snowflakes, and I think I'll spend most dinnertimes doing this from now on. (Maybe not snowflakes all year though.) This way I can still earn nice 9-5 type wages, but when I get home I can feel like I've accomplished something for myself during the day. Then if I am knackered and useless for everything but gazing at the idiot box, then I won't feel quite so guilty about wasting my life away.

I'm not sure whether the blog posts will become anymore frequent though, we'll see.

Still here, I promise. But sitting infront of a computer all day at work means the last thing I want to do is sit infront of a computer when I get home.

I've just found this idea for wallets made with paint samples. I've got loads of these at home. I knew there must be something I could make with them.

Since moving to this house I've not had much luck with computers.
First it took me 3 weeks to get the internet, then Porl's keyboard died, so I went keyboardless, then finally last week the switch on the pooter died. It wouldn't turn on at all, so I bought a new case.

Unfortunatly my techie wizard lives in Ormskirk, and I don't anymore. So I had 3 options.

• Wait a fortnight for techie wizard to come up and build it for me.
• Pay the computer shop to build it for me.
• Figure out how to build it myself (and possibly blow the computer/house/me up in the process.)

Being the impatient person that I am, I went with the doing it myself.

And it works!
Nothing blew up, no electric shocks, a few cuts on my hands, but that seems to be compulsary. My pooter is purring away happily beside me now, and it's much quieter as the fan got a thorough clean too.

I might have a new hobby, or career change ahead of me.

Internet access at work may be a dangerous thing.

Hello

Back again

Things have been a bit busy recently. However, we're in our lovely new house, there's still boxes everywhere, and will be until we get storage organised with the help of my wonderful Dad. We moved on Friday the 10th, we managed to get the living room looking almost straight by the Sunday, so it was starting to feel like a home. On the Monday we went into town to find a pub, we found the Q Inn, and there was an acoustic night going on, we've met some lovely people here, and the Q has beome our local, even though it's the furthest pub away from us. We managed to get Jimmy a bed sorted by Friday, and that's when it really started to feel like home for me.

unfortunately even though the net was working for Porl, the firewall continued to block my computers' existence. A couple of days ago Porl again tried to get it working (upstairs tweak something, come downstairs, check it, still no luck... repeat) after 2 hours of this I lost patience with the clattering up and down stairs so I had a look. Five minutes later tick box found, problem solved. So I'm back online, and I even waded though all the masses of emails (about 700 of them, must remember to unsubscribe from things before I next move house.) I'm quite surprised and touched by how many emails and other comments I've had from people who missed me, or at little noticed my absence.

Other happenings in no particular order include

• ITC gig - 'twas very good.
• Matt visiting - 'twas alcohol fuelled, involved another trip to the Q, late night ramblings, and rants at Presidential candidate debates.
• More trips to the Q and some fantastic acoustic nights, plus more friends made here.
• House warming party, with everyone visiting, lovely to see everyone. Some people loved our hills, others weren't so enamoured. I wish so many people weren't allergic to the cats.
• I handed in my notice. I'll miss my job a lot, and the clients even more, but the commute just couldn't be done.
• I got a new job (the cats have been giving me lessons on landing on my feet.)

The new job seems good, today was my first day, I think I'm going to like it. It seems sufficiently complicated to keep me interested, but a relaxed enough atmosphere to keep me from premature greying. Plus I do like being able to tell Sales Reps, sorry, Account Managers how to do their jobs. Working with Lucy is going to be fun. I made her go to the gym. I refused to be used as an excuse for not going. Now I've just got to try to find a way to help her quit smoking.
The only down side of the job is the travelling. I left work at 7:45 this morning, 20 minutes walk to the station, got the right train into Manchester, then stood on the Metro platform for 20+ minutes waiting for a tram. So I was about 20 minutes late on my first day in work. Not good. The bosses do know that the Metro is tempremental, but apparently they're going to clamp down on poor time keeping anyway. I'll try getting the same train tomorrow, but if it still goes wrong then I'll have to start getting an earlier train to compensate. Grrrr. Tonight I got in at 6:30, and I'm exhausted.

I'm sure I've missed loads of things out, but I'm tired and longing for a lie down. I promise to update again before the month is out.

Stalybridge is the 'slaef léah brycg', the 'bridge by the wood whence the staves are procured'.

The 'bridge' bit was added at a later date, so it's basically 'The wood where you get the sticks'.
Now last time I checked most woods had a surplus of sticks. The Stalybridge sticks must be pretty special for the place to be named after them.
Luckily the cats love sticks. They're their favourite toys. So the cats should be happy in their new home.

3 days to go.
Much packing has been done. Loads more left to do still.

Roll on Friday when it will all be over.
Except for the unpacking.

Two pieces of great news!

First, Sunset Beach is returning to Channel 5. Only repeats, but even so, Hurrah!

Second, we have a completion date! Friday the 10th, and hopefully we'll be moving out the same day. Which means I best get on with the packing.

But first I think I must procrastinate a little more.

Today has been extremely productive.

I've phoned and sorted out gas, electricity, phone and internet connections for the new house, filled in multiple change of address forms, paid all the bills which need paying before the move, and filed away all the paperwork which accumulates on my desk.Downstairs has been tidied and hoovered, and I'm going to do upstairs before I relax for the night.

I'm doing anything to avoid packing.

This is especially for Fiona, who left a message asking where I was. I felt loved.

I'm still here, and ever so busy. So here's a quick rundown of the main things.

Apart from all the overtime I'm doing at work, we're also up to eyeballs with house things. The house buying and selling is going through well, we're hoping to be moving in to our lovely new house overlooking the moors in about 3 weeks. So lots of packing and planning is going on. Phone calls with solicitors, estate agents, mortgage advisors, insurance advisors and what feels like a billion and one other people too. It's tiring and confusing and scary. I'll be so glad when it's over.

I've also had a birthday, combined with a holiday. Porl, Jimmy and I went camping in Derbyshire. We walked, we ate, we played cards and we watched lots of cricket in the picturesque village of Ashford-in-the-Water. Picture limestone grey tudor houses, village cricket green, balmy days, hot air balls overhead. The boundary line of the cricket pitch was the fence which kept the sheep next door in their field and off the pitch. It was lovely, and a much needed break with a couple of ace lads.

Of course in between all this I've been de-stressing with crafty pursuits. There's lots of new jewellery dangling off the corner of my shelves. I've also tried making beaded flowers and I have some cute bunches of pansies. I've had my first go at book binding, it turned out well, but there's a few things I'll do differently next time. Finally, the Spinning. I've been persevering with the drop spindle. It's going slowly, but I will get there.

So that's a rundown on the basics. Plenty of other stuff has happened, like Lynskey gigs for example. But it's far too hot to think about them, or type about them, so I'll leave it there. I'll try to write more often, but don't keep your hopes up. My new catchphrase seems to be "I'll do it after the move".

I bought the spinning wheel a few days ago. It cost £15. Happy Birthday to Me!

I visited the Wingham Wool Work shop for advice and supplies, and they were great.
The bad news is, that the spinning wheel isn't very good, and I'd probably never be able to spin well on it.
The good news is that if I take it to an antique shop they should pay around £150 for it. Which is almost enough to buy a lovely new spinning wheel.
Until I get that organised (i.e. after we move) point I am armed with a drop spindle and some roving
I also had a quick lesson at the shop, but I currently seem to only be good at producing lumpy strands that break and untwist a lot. I Will Persist!

House things appear to be going well. The survey has come back, this time round it's fine. Next week I have to organise the searches. I'm still trying to not get excited. Thankfully remembering that I have to start clearing out the glory-holes soon is calming me down.

For the past couple of months I seem to have had something planned everyday, work, house hunting, visiting places, etc. Over the next fortnight I actually had a few days with nothing to do. So silly me has volunteered to help on the Summer Playscheme for local kids aged 8-18 who have Learning Disabilities.
It's always great fun, and I absolutely love it. I haven't done it over the past couple of years though because of a falling out with some other people who volunteer. I've really missed it, and the people involved.
Without the playscheme I would never be in the job I am now so in a way I feel I owe it. I'll probably not be able to do it again because of moving, so I've decided to bite the bullet, and sign myself up. I'm fed up of missing out on something I enjoy just to avoid an argument. I'll do my best to steer clear of trouble and just get on with having fun with the kids. I'm hoping the other people will do the same.

I've been a bit busy recently.

Been to Sheffield too. Got a few odd looks for making bracelets on the train.

As well as a spinning wheel for my birthday, this would be nice too.
Steve Currey's Expedition Company - Voyage to Our Hollow Earth

"Cost: $18,950 US"

I really really want to learn to spin.
I have done for a long time, since I was a kid and got to do a bit of spinning at school.
I have half promised myself that when we get the new house I will get myself one

On the way home from work today I walked past the antique shop (Browzaround, just up from the library.) It was closed, but I spotted through the window a spinning wheel.
Tomorrow I'm going to nip in and see if it works, and how much it is.
Just for curiosities sake. I'm not going to buy it of course.

Totally unrelated note, but it's my birthday in 20 days time.

"Eeeeeeeee". Yup I'm happy again.

The weekend so far has been ace, and it feels like far longer than 3 days. Thankyou to everyone who's made it great

Friday Porl, and I were going to Stalybridge house hunting again. Jimmy and Robin decided (and were cajoled) into coming too. We were late getting there, and missed the first viewing (as usual.) Saw 3 houses, nothing special, had a nice meal at Wetherspoons and a browse around Stalybridge, then we went to Manchester for Amy.

Amy. Was. Ace.
Sweets, decorations, bands, lipgloss, dancing, shoe theft, champagne, more dancing, and friends. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, but I think we were all sad, and wondering what we'd do the 2nd Friday of the month.
I have pictures galore. I'll post a few later (the nice ones only, I promise,) but I've also got a zip file of the lot if any attendees would like to see them all.

After Amy exhaustion hit and we all got to bed pretty quickly. Saturday started with copious amounts of coffee and a Trof breakfast. Then Porl, Robin and I headed home. Whilst everyone else went to The Pixies, Porl and I went to OrmFest. Bought a CD, arranged a gig, saw some people, got rained on, came home.

In house news, things are looking up again. Monday, my last post here said we'd found a house we really really wanted, but then lost it as another offer had been put on it. Tuesday the Estate Agents phoned back to say that offer looked like falling through and we still had a chance, if we sold ours in time. Today it looks like we might have a buyer.
I'm trying to not get excited. But can everyone please cross their fingers, toes, eyes and everything else for us. Thankyou

Lastly, I've been on another crafty spree. Beadie necklaces, bracelets and insects, duct tape flowers, and in the past hour, a Beadie Man.

Yes, I know his hands are huge, but it's my first attempt okay!

Ahhh... loads going on, and I rarely have the time, or inclination to write about it, but here goes.

Found an ace house, lost same ace house, bugger. But at least we've finally found a town were we want to live. Stalybridge, it's like Ormskirk but with hills, canals and no Scousers (hurrah!)

What else? EP launch. It was lots of fun. The Lynskey band are looking and sounding better every time I see them. Maybe one day Jimmy will learn to play, and smile at the same time, or at least not frown. It was great to finally see Cartwheel play. I was hoping for good things, and they far exceeded my expectations.

We've had a couple of viewings on the house, even with the complete incompetence of Estate Agents (they took a photo of the wrong house!) fingers crossed it will sell soon, so we'll have more hope of getting offers we place accepted.

My Mum and Dad come back from Spain soon. Hurrah! I normally speak to my Mum for about an hour or so everyday, sometimes several times a day. While they're in Spain I'm limited to 15 minute conversations every couple of days while they use their free minutes. Maybe the money I've saved on phone calls over the past month will be enough to cover the cost of a flight over there in August. Hmmm plan.....

While my Mum is sunning herself and nursing insect bites, Porl's mum is having a rough time of it as she was rushed into hospital on Saturday. She's okay, but she gave us all a bit of a fright. Fingers crossed she'll be discharged tomorrow.

In other news... I've been making lots of jewellery, and I bought new pliers, (not the kind I wanted, but they're still nice pliers,) and painted plant pots pink, (or maybe they're purple or mauve, I haven't decided yet, but they're definitely not red, the shop didn't have red paint) and I've bought a new bag, (I meant to buy a new outfit for Friday, but failed miserably,) and I'm really really really looking forward to Friday.

I've been missing my books a lot recently, they're all packed up in boxes at the MIL's house while this place is up for sale. I'm having to beg, borrow, and buy new books to read.
This afternoon I was reading about Britains most cherished contemporary novels. I was quite pleased that I've read 14 of the 50 on the list. A meme found on Yarn Utopia, and I'm not quite as pleased, at least I've got some inspiration about what I can read next though.

Copy the list, highlight which one's you've read

Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Brontè, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
Brontè, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales (bits of it anyway)
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

I knew I'd forget something!

I have a Gmail account. This gave me the ability to spend a fun few days winding up my techie mates who really wanted one. But then I got invites and I made some techies very happy people (although my dire financial straight did make me consider selling them on ebay.)

I'll probably get some more invites at some point, so if you too want to gloat about getting the exact username you want then leave a comment and I'll know who to give the next lot of invites to.

I read something about blogging being what you do when there's nothing happening in life. This seems to be the case at the moment.

Since the last update, we've had several long tiring days in Manchester visiting estate agents and viewing houses. We know certain parts of South Manchester really well now, we can quote grid references from the A-Z.
We've seen about 15 houses, I'm losing count as they're blurring into one. Most have been horrid, some have been horrid to the extent that they became funny, a small few have been nice.
We've tried to place 3 offers, all have been refused, one as it wasn't enough, the second because a first time buyer got there first, even though we offered more money, and a third because when we phoned to place the offer we were told it already had an offer accepted on it. So what exactly were we doing viewing a house on a Saturday morning after 4 hours sleep when the house wasn't available?
I really really hate house hunting.
Friday we'll be doing it all over again.

In between all this house hunting there have been gigs galore. Porl has been involved in all of them, and as usual I'm the roadie, (not that can carry anything, but I'm the only one who drives.)
Lynskey is gigging to promote the upcoming EP Launch, the main bit of this will be at The Font Bar in Manchester on 25th June. If anyone's in the area come down, it'll be fun, and it's free!
Shirokuma played in a record label showcase in possibly the hottest venue in Manchester, The Night and Day Cafe, which really should learn about this thing called air conditioning.
Needless to say all the gigs have been great, and if I went into anymore details I'd be here all day.

Some other events of the past month, include trips to the vets after Duke developed a limp, he's fine now, Gonzo has his usual fat lip that he develops every summer, I'm sure the stupid creature eats nettles.
The blitzing of this house continues, we have new carpets everywhere, the smell of paint has finally gone, although I need to do some more touching up. I've been spending a lot of time gardening, the obvious signs of years of neglect are slowly disappearing, I hope the new buyers, whoever they may be, will appreciate our efforts.

I'm sure I've missed out plenty of things, but this month has become a complete blur fuelled by stress, excitement and disapointment. I'll try to write in shorter bursts from now on, it may be easier than trying to remember everything.

Poo poo poo poo poo

Everything was going so well with the new house, mortgage sorted, life insurance forms filled in, etc etc

Then the survey was done, and it's bad. Very very bad.

So bad that it looks like we'll have to look for somewhere else, because this house just doesn't seem financially viable.

Oh for the Scottish system of selling houses where the seller pays for the surveys to be done, not the buyer. This house has already cost me more than I can afford and I don't think we're entitled to any of it back.

I'd just started allowing myself to get excited about it all. I'd been planning where to put furniture and thinking about colour schemes.

Poo poo poo poo poo poo poo... and poo

Anyone who talks to me on messenger or talkers will know how bad my typing is. To make matters worse, half the keys on my keyboard don't work, the markings are rubbing off, and it's somehow the most un-ergonomical thing in the world. It cost me £5. I keep saying I'll buy myself a new one, but I never seem to have the money.

But being bad at typing doesn't neccesarily mean I'm bad at grammar.

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

And it's Quizilla, so it must be right!

I've got a million and one priorities in my life at the moment (packing, decorating, gardening, applying for jobs, mortgages, carpet fitters coming, remembering to phone the Council to get them to clean up the mess left by the fire Monday night*, going to work, and so on...)

In spite of all this, the one over-riding thought in my brain every time I sit down at the computer is "Must redesign website". I'm trying to avoid it. I'm trying to push it out of my mind until after the move, but it's so hard. I keep thinking to myself,don't do a full scale rewrite, just play with some ideas. But it's avalanche like. Every time I "just play with ideas", I always end up doing a complete redesign. It's unavoidable, it just happens. ("When you grow up, your heart dies.") I shall try not to give into temptation, but if things begin to go a bit wierd you'll all know why.

* Yes the fire. I forgot to mention that. I was at work, and I got a panicky phone call off Porl. He'd seen smoke coming from the back of the house, he thought it was from the neighbours kitchen, but he soon found out it was from our bins. He phoned the 999 and both the Fire Brigade and the Police came out. We have students living next door to us, and the back of the house is a bit of a mess, the council bin men only collect what is nicely wrapped. Plus as we're at the end of the alley the wind blows lots of things our way, so we have about 4 plastic dustbins there, the remains of a Christmas Tree, a kids bike and other random rubbish. There are only 2 kids who live near us, and they're not the nicest kids around. Last year they took to throwing stones at houses and broke a car window in the process. It looks like they got bored on monday night and decided to try setting fire to the Christmas Tree.
We were very lucky. It melted the vent for the tumble drier. If it had been any fiercer it could easily have got into the kitchen through the vent and it would have been bye bye Kitchen. Thankfully it was spotted in time and we just have 4 melted dustbins, and the trunk of a Christmas Tree to clear up. Something else for us to deal with. Hey Ho!

It's been a busy fortnight. On the fun side there's been lots of gigs, VIP passes and free champagne. On the not so fun side there's been lots of painting, lots of packing, and lots of serious grown up stuff like mortgages to arrange. I could go into it all in detail, but I'd probably end up having a rant, and that could be dangerous. So I'll bite my tongue and save myself getting into trouble.

Most of our belongings are now stored away in someone else's house, but sensibly I realized that I should keep some craft things here to stop myself going insane. So at some point I have to take pictues of the necklaces I've made. I also attempted to make myself a top, my first attempt at making clothing which needs to fit (unlike hats and scarves) unfortunatly it didn't go too well and it's going to need some serious adjusting, but it's going to have to wait until the house is either in some vague order, or more likely until we move. Last night I had a rummage and found some wool which had escaped the packing frenzy, so I started making a bag. It's just a simple string shopping bag, but it keeps me occupied.

Posts are likely to be infrequent for the next few weeks. With the move and Porl's music, life is very busy. I'd love to explain everything, but my tongue has too many teeth marks in it, rants are never far away, and I'm not certain of my readership.

Finally a little cartoon I found last night on toothpaste for dinner.