The reason I joined ....

... is now happening! Joined the life of real living, I mean. Instead of going out to paid, more than full-time (ie work in the work I used to be in, does not end at 5 pm. Or, even start as late as 9 am) I now have to organise myself.

And, in the meantime, I can play. The above items (apart from the baby body suity-thing) is a knitted blanket and a home sewn bag to put the other items into, and then post off to a friend's daughter. She gave birth to Hamish, weighing in at 8 1/2 lbs (don't know what that is in new money) a week last Friday, and this is his welcome gift.

Now, I know that in the midst of all the wonderful crafty talent that is in blog interweb land, this is fairly tame, but it is done with love.

As was the late-lunch-fare I prepared this morning for nanny's best girl and her family, who are due to visit this afternoon. How lovely to have the time to do it. Bliss. There is another reason for their visit as well, they are staying here to look after the dog and the chickens while we are off to Cambridgeshire for The Wedding!

Cheery-bye, I'll see you again next week. Unless, of course, the hotel does have the wi-fi facilities it promises. I was more pleased that there are tea-making facilities to be honest!

And another Contest!

With a Yay!! and a Woo Hoo!! I am one happy bunny today! Jason Evans, over at Clarity of Night has another short story competition, which started today! (apologies to any who don't like added links within the text of the post, but this is v.v. important!)

I have only managed to enter one before (see over on my 'Other Blog' Pushing Pencil ----->) and didn't win but really enjoyed the push to get on down and write something! But, even better than entering and enjoying the feedback from Jason, is the reading of the other entries. There is such a wealth of Darned Good Stuff to read there!

Do have a go if you are into jottings, or just read stuff, it's great!

Cough, cough

I wonder if Beijing will be hosting some or any of the endurance races this year at all. It's just been on the telly, that there were over 300 microcosms of pollution in the air on one of the days that the man from the BBC measured it. I think you can put the air into a jam-jar and bring it home with you, it is so thick.

No wonder we came home with chest infections last year, cough.

It did mean, though, that I gave up the fags at the beginning of this year, though. Yay.

Can you tell there's not a lot to write about today? (snigger) There isn't, actually. Except I got my hair cut today, except it makes me look like the middle-aged, grumpy woman that I apparently am, grr. And, I know I've left it late, but I went looking for a wedding outfit and could find nothing at all that a) fitted and b) I liked. Except a lovely green silk blouse that is perfect.

The other thing(s) that is perfect today is my bust! I finally cracked and had my bosom chest measured for a busten-holster, and what a difference! The fitter and I had a giggle on the way to the till as I nearly fell over a shelving display while looking down at myself! tea, hea.

Gap Year

(picture courtesy of fotosearch)


Yay, here endeth my Gap Year, I hope. It feels like a lot longer to be honest but I'm so glad it is now over. When I say Gap Year, I don't really mean it, what I do mean is that the gap at the front of my teeth is now filled, yay! You cannot believe just how much I have hated, hated, hated the gap I had. And, it's been months in the development of a a filler for the gap. I promise I am not going to go into all the detail. Suffice it to say it is now over, phew.



And, it is timely in its completion as we have a Very Important Wedding to attend this weekend. We are orf darn saaaaf to Cambridgeshire for a lovely wedding that has also been a long time (at least a year) in the preparation, but at last we are nearly there! My bezzie friend's Daughter is about to become single no more and marrying the man of her dreams, for a fairy-tale life to continue, ahhh. We are really looking forwards to seeing her, meeting her chosen man and to meeting her baby daughter, all in one fell swoop! And, I shall be seeing my bezzie mate, with her uplifted and feathered person all rolled into one. Just what more can a person ask, eh?

A day out

Our craft group went out for a day trip recently, to the House of Dun, at Montrose, to see the linen weaver at his work. We had a splendid day with the morning taken up listening in fascination to the weaver, whose family have been weaving since the 17th century. He showed us two big looms, one of which can hold 11,000 threads and is used for weaving table-cloths. We spent a good two hours with him and also learned that he has several other looms close by, but the public are not allowed to visit there as they do couture work on these. Hmm, I wonder who uses an Angus weaver for their collections?



We had a fabulous lunch and then were due to look around the main house, with an organised tour. Three of us didn't want to do this as the sun was shining so brightly, and we each intended to return soon, so we walked around the gardens and then sat and chatted on a bench in the lovely, warm sun. It was a very pleasant day, spent with serious crafters, those whose living is made by their talent and those, of which I am one, who shilly-shally and dabble at the crafting and thoroughly enjoy doing so!



I also could not resist purchasing some 'apprentice-weaved' t-towels and a yard of linen fabric. I think I shall make a long-awaited, large and roomy shopping bag for me, and possibly a book cover, again for me. But, I shall have to see how much fabric I have left after my bag - and, I shall take a very good friend's advice and practice the bag on some cheaper fabric first!

Handsome fellows, aren't they?

* Editor's note: they don't sell yards anymore! I meant I bought a metre of the lovely fabric.

After the rain ...

The other evening nbg's mummy was at work and her step-dad had to go out to do an errand, so I went down to stay with the girls for an hour or so while he went and did what he had to do. Luckily, the absolute downpour of rain we'd had occurred before I went out. But, on my way home, at about 10 pm, this is some of the magic I saw along the way. Beautiful.

I had a telephone call today from my uncle John. He has lung cancer, but he's out of hospital and at home at the moment, until they can determine which type of cancer he has and therefore how and with what, to treat it, or not. He sounds quite strong, but still cannot talk about auntie Moreen without dissolving into tears. The next few weeks are extremely busy for me, but I have promised to go and visit him as soon as I can.

Back!

Yep, Nanny's best girl and her nanny are back from their travels and adventures! We had a lovely, lovely time together and we're both a bit sorry to be back, although one missed her mummy and the other was looking forwards to sharing her bed with only one other - as opposed to sharing it with nbg, who can snore for Scotland, and polo-bear as well as beany-bear, who all seemed to dig nanny in the back or the leg at least one time each throughout the night!

We took lots of piccies, including one of nbg's feet in the sand,

..... as well as the jelly fish she squealed at while keeping her feet away from them.

We ate fish & chips, cake and ice-cream each day, went to bed late and slept on in the morning; found a yarn shop (yay!) and toured the charity shops, where we bought Enid Blyton books, and nbg treated herself to a, lovely-to-her, pair of short grey boots that she simply fell in love with.

One of nbg's greatest talents is that she is brill at map-reading, especially wonderfully for me was how she steered us through the centre of Newcastle. If I went wrong anywhere she would say 'Dearie me!' And, when I needed to move over to the outside lane, but couldn't yet as there were other cars speeding down next to me, she told me 'Just put your tickers on nan, and move over!' This will now enter the annals of Tea and Cake's family sayings.