Halloween 2009

1. A road trip down to the Midlands involving crazy traffic jams on the M1 and incredibly long-winded detours which result in the boyfriend's road rage reaching critical levels.

2. Special birthday presents for a big sister (it's a pink sapphire if you were interested)

3. Pumpkins (any Seseme Street fans out there who recognise two of them?!)

4. Playing with my most favourite dog in the world.

5. Trick or treating with little skeletons.

6. Stuffing our faces with Italian fare.

7. Retiring back to the house to share childhood memories which included Mum's horrific soup (and it must have been bad for all three of us to have a visceral hatred of it!).

8. Laughing so hard my face hurt.

9. Having group family photos the day after we'd got all dressed up and put our make-up on so we all looked tired and grubby.

10. Eating all the sweets from the trick or treating.

Say hello to my little friend...

I have a confession to make....

I've never carved a pumpkin before.

(I know, how deprived have I been?!)

I was so determined to do a good job that I decided I would draw it on before setting to with a knife. Except the ruddy pen was one of those Sharpies and you know what? They really do write on every surface! And you can't get it off for love nor money!

I said a bad word when I realised.

So he's not perfect but he's still scary right? RIGHT?

He's coming away with the boyfriend and I as we are off this weekend to my sister's house for her 40th birthday. I'm hoping she'll have got some in for my nephews so I can have another go and do a better job this time!

National Cat Day - Interview with Fred & Lily

Apparently it’s National Cat Day.

Well according to this website it is so in honour of it and in homage to this guy I have borrowed his Guest Cat of the Month interview to talk to Fred and Lily

Fred and Lily

Names:

Fred and Lily (variations on these can be found here)

Ages:
14 months

Owner:
Technically The Girl’s Mum (a.k.a. Big Mum) but The Girl is a proxy owner (a.k.a. Other Mum)

Favourite habits:
Fred: Seeing if I can scramble up on top of the kitchen cabinets before anyone catches me. Sleeping on beds. Working out how to get in the kitchen bin. Crisp fishing.
Lily: Scratching stuff, especially if it’s human flesh. Chittering at pigeons out of Other Mum’s bedroom window. Leaping on Fred when he least suspects it, preferably if he’s using the litter tray. Slinking round people’s legs when they enter the room.

What constitutes a perfect evening for you?
Fred: Finding the fluffiest, squishiest thing about before settling on it and sleeping the night away, always keeping one ear open for anyone entering the kitchen or opening a crisp packet.
Lily: Same as Fred although I let him choose where he’s going to settle and then clamber all over him and give him a thorough washing.

Favourite food
Fred: Anything. I am especially fond of crisps (any flavour) and recently discovered I love nougat after Other Mum went purchased some at the fair. I quite enjoy a nibble of Other Mum’s peace lily. I am partial to a bit of cereal and toast if I can grab it.
Lily: Anything. I particularly enjoy a good bit of plastic though, especially those safety plastic things that come off jars of food.

Defining moment of your life?
Fred: My magical mystery tour I came back an older and wiser cat and consequently hate the litter tray.
Lily: This one time Big Mum didn’t close one of the cupboard doors in the kitchen and I made myself an egg and Oxo cube sandwich. That was pretty awesome.

Any enemies?
Both: Big Mabel. Not her/his name but he/she is a big tabby that lives near us and comes in to our garden. He/she is WELL big.
Fred: Also the litter tray. It’s smelly and dirty and I get very upset about having to use it when we stay at Other Mum’s house. Such is my hatred that I try and hover over it and frequently miss, causing her to yell at me.

If you could do one thing to make the world a better place for felines what would it be?
Both: Ban kitchen doors.


Biography:
Big Mum (BM) and Other Mum (OM) had a bad run with cats after the death of Pickle, who had to be put down when she was 12 years old...
They went to the RSPCA and adopted Pumpkin who had to be put down at 6 months old when she was diagnosed with feline leukaemia...


They went back to the RSPCA and adopted Mabel who went out one evening, never to return again aged about 8 months... Having lost 3 cats in the space of a year BM said “No more cats” in a scary voice but OM heard about us from a friend at work.

We were born to our Mum along with our 3 brothers, Lily was the only girl. The 5 of us and Mum lived in a one bedroom flat above a takeaway with a rather boisterous Rottweiler puppy and a 7 year old girl. We were kinda relieved when BM and OM came and took us away.

We lead a pretty charmed life with BM, although she doesn’t let us out as much as we would like – probably a residual fear from Mabel and Fred’s disappearing acts. But when OM moved out we inherited her bed, which isn’t so bad. When BM goes away we decamp to OM’s flat and have great fun because she spoils us and she has loads of bookshelves for us to climb on. Plus The Tall One lives with her and we love him as much, if not a little bit more than Other Mum.

But don’t tell her that, she’d be gutted.

Ant & Bee and the Rainbow

Once upon a time when I was a little girl somebody got me this little book.


Ant & Bee see a rainbow one morning and decide to make their own out of an old tyre in the ground. They paint it and then they make swings to swing under the make-believe rainbow, which they paint. Then they play bat and ball over a net but the ball keeps hitting the swings so they sit on top of the rainbow and watch the sky until it gets dark and they go home.


Then during the night it rains...


And it washes all the pain off the rainbow and the swings and the bats and in the morning they decide to paint the rainbow all over again.


And at this point I would demand to be the read the story again. And again. And again. And again.


So much so that my Mum, Dad, brother and sister would hide the book from me so they didn't have to read it for the billionth time that day.


Fast forward to about 20 years later...


Now wheneverthe boyfriend's niece comes to see us she immediately asks for the "rainbow book" and we have to read it to her.


And then we have to read it again. And again. And again.


This weekend I knew she was coming round and we hid the book.


Shame on me.


(I decided that I would buy the niece her own copy of Ant & Bee and the Rainbow but a search online revealed it wasn't to be that simple. The books were first published in the 1960s and then reprinted in the late 1980s/90s but are now out of print. And on Amazon 2nd hand copies of the series are fetching up to £100 with the Rainbow book going for £42!! I clearly had good taste!)

The wall of cross stitch begins...

When I decided a year or so ago that I was going to be a little cross stitcher I got a little worried.

I had visions of myself living in a house surrounded by cross stitched samplers and pictures like a very old lady. (I imagine I'd also have several cats, waiting for me to die so they could eat my face.)

It turns out that that hasn't happened.

You know why?

THINGS LIKE THAT TAKE FREAKING AGES!

I've done a couple of birth samplers that I have given to friends and they've been very appreciative but they take up some serious time which means that no time can really be spent on doing anything for myself. Add in all the birthday cards that I make and my dreaded vision so far hasn't come true.

BUT.

Now it begins...

For my birthday in April a friend knew that I was a geek and got me the perfect present. I set to it at once.

(That's a lie)

I didn't start it until August.

But I did track my progress...

Look! It's cross stitch! And cats! Combined!

And even though I finished it in August it's taken me until this weekend to get my backside in gear and get it properly framed. (Apologies for the rubbish last picture but it's dark in the mornings and and the evenings now - what's that all about?!)

And now it's on the wall. And I have stated out loud that he will be joined by other cross stitch projects that I will one day complete. There's one that I started on Boxing Day last year and have yet to finish. I've abandonned hopes of getting it finished within the year but now I have something to aim for - I want another one on the wall!

Sometimes I'm pretty sure I can feel the boyfriend despairing.

I know what you did last weekend...

This weekend I was galvanised into action. I was finally feeling better after my bout with the flu monster and there were lots of things to be done.

Things like:

1. Cleaning the flat from top to bottom.

2. Looking after two furry people who had come to stay for the weekend. Lily kept an eye on proceedings from the back of the sofa...

...and Fred just slept on the bed...

3. We found some pretty little lamps in Asda for the grand sum of £4 which are now residing on the bedside tables that the boyfriend made the other week.

4. Pictures were hung (more on that in another post)

5. My wardrobe was given a grand clear-out, following advice from this lady. And what a difference it made! Some stuff went to the charity shop and some stuff went to that rag pile in the sky. My wardrobe looks lovely and streamlined now and if I'm honest all I threw out was stuff that I never wore anyway and would just sit in there, giving me evils and reminding me of a time when I was much younger and thinner. I was sad to see some of it go but I know it was for the best - much as I love that top I bought in Topshop and wore once when I was post-break-up skinny, I have to admit that I'm never going to have a washboard stomach that I would need to wear it again.

I didn't just stop at the wardrobe though. I went through accessories. I went through shoes. I went through anything I could get my hands on and I definitely feel better for it! Now I can see much more clearly what I really need to buy, and this means that I'm allowed to go shopping!

6. A trip to Hobbycraft was in order after I saw these cards on this lady's blog. As soon as I saw them I fell in love - so clever and yet so simple! So I went on a little spree to get what I needed and sat through Hollyoaks on Sunday morning with needle and thread in hand and made these bad boys.

So a MASSIVE thank-you to Petit Filoux for the inspiration - you see this is why I love the blogosphere! Now I have some pretty classy homemade cards instead of the usual glitter festooned creations that look as if I 5 year old has been let loose with a glue gun.

After all that activity there was nothing more to do but sit down in front of the telly and enjoy our extra hour before turning in for bed to get up and start the week anew.

What's the collective for a group of crafters?

I have made a discovery.

I’m not the only geek!

I realise that my love for cross stitching is not a completely normal hobby for a 26 year old. It’s one traditionally associated with old ladies but I am proud of my hobby (kind of).

Normally when I tell people I like cross stitching, I do it with slightly hunched shoulders and an almost wince on my face as I prepare myself for the onslaught of incredulity. It’s kind of the same pose I adopt when I tell people in Hull that I went to private school. It doesn’t go down well over here.

Anyway back to the cross stitching...

I no longer need to be afraid! I can proudly declare to one and all that I am a stitcher! Because I now have an army behind me.

Ok. It’s not an army.

A friend of mine has got a few people together who also like being crafty little so-and-sos.
And we meet on a Thursday in a coffee shop that stays open late and we sit about and do our crafty things and drink tea and gossip. (I’ve just realise that rather than making us sound cool I’ve just described us like a group of old ladies. Fail.)

There are people who crochet, people who knit, people who cross stitch and there’s a dose of embroidery thrown in. Some people come and go but there’s a faithful core of 5 of us who are there come hell or high water, needles and thread in tow. I’m not going to lie, I’m not massively productive on these nights, it’s more about the talking than the crafting for me but once Christmas is over and the last of the cards have been finished, I’m looking forward to getting one of them to teach me to knit or crochet.

And it’s been good for me. I was getting a little bit bored with myself to tell you the truth. Money’s tight at the moment (when is it ever not but I’m trying to get myself out of the mire of student debt so I am resigned to the fact that this will be my life for the next couple of years) and I was just sitting in and watching rubbish on TV. Not good for your social skills.

Now I know that at least once a week I’ll have somewhere to go and some people to see. You don’t need to spend loads of money to make yourself feel refreshed, you just need a break from home for a while. And yes, most other nights I will be sat at home, watching something dreadful on the TV like The Hills or another programme that rots my brain and cross-stitching, but on a Thursday I will be out on the plains, free to frolic and roam with my fellow geeks....I mean crafters.

The christmas cross stitching has unfortunately started a little late this year so only 'special' people are going to get cross stitched cards. I haven't decided what the criteria is going to be but I do know that this little guy is for my Mum...

(I've made it back to work! Managed to last the whole day today as well although I am now absolutely shattered so I'm going to take a holiday tomorrow and have a long weekend with plenty of sleep so that I'm fully recovered and back to myself on Monday morning.)