This weekend I will be mostly...

1. Laughing at these two.

Yep, they're back for a visit and will be staying until Wednesday. Hopefully there'll be plenty of hilarious photo opportunities like the above. Yes they seriously both got in those bags by themselves. They know I need good photos to show you guys.

2. Le cross stitch.

We have a project on the go at Stitch & Bitch, hoping to put on a mini exhibition. I think this one deserves a post all of it's own on another day though.

3. Shopping for wool

I need to stop putting it off. Just go out. Buy the wool. Attempt the crochet. I will not be defeated by the devil's craft!

4. Getting my bake on

Haven't baked anything since before Christmas. Mostly because there's an unfortunate side effect of baking. Having to eat the produce. I either eat it and feel guilty because if there's one thing these hips don't need, it's extra inches. Or I don't eat it and end up throwing it away. Equally not good.

5. Enjoying a Saturday night in

This is the first Saturday night I'll have stayed in for 6 weeks. I know, I'm such a giddy party animal aren't I? My post box is simply overflowing with invites to all the best shindigs. No, not so much. It just happens there's been a flurry of activities lately and I find it actually impossible to say no in case I never get another invite out and have to spend the rest of my evenings in for eternity.

What will you be mostly up to this weekend?

Tree Project - The first 6 months

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn in to an arborist.

(Are you impressed I know that word?)

(Don't be. I asked the boyfriend.)

But I just wanted to show you this. Purely because it took me longer than necessary.

You know when you've decided to do something and then halfway through you think to yourself "What the hell are you doing?" but you've gone so far and you don't want to have wasted the last half hour of your life?

This is what happened to me yesterday.

Really I blame The Curious Cat because it was all her idea. "Why don't you do a 6 month review?" she says. And I think "Oooh yeah great idea."

And then I set about trying to do it and realise that actually when it comes to things like that I'm pretty much a technical moron. Why else do you think my blog layout is rubbish and boring? It just stresses me out trying. What I really need to do is pay someone to do this kind of stuff for me but I couldn't bear to that either, so I'm stuck known as that Girl with the Boring Blog.

So why would I decide to try and do this montage?

Because I'm a fricking idiot.

But at least I had a go, right? Right? RIGHT?

(This is where you talk to me like you would a child who's brought home a splodge on a paper and you have to pretend that it's amazing and the finest bit of artwork you've ever seen when in fact you're thinking "Do I really have to put that on my fridge?")

So. Here's a collage of Mr Tree's First 6 Months....

I don't even know if you can make it bigger. I've given up stressing about it. If you come round to my flat I can show you my laptop because it's my desktop background (hey, I'm proud of my splodge) and you can see the writing and everything.

In summary.

It had leaves, then the leaves turned golden, then they fell off, then it snowed on it, and now it has some green shoots.

Shocking I know, right?

Do you ever think to yourself sometimes, "Why in the name of all that is holy am I about to click 'publish post'? You know it's a bit crap, you know that people probably don't want to read about a frigging tree two days in a row, just delete it!! But I have rubbish self esteem and know that you guys are going to be my proud parents telling me I'm wonderful, so bear with me, ok? I'll come up with something better in a couple of days.

Tree Project - February

Hey Mr Tree,

How's February been?

I know it's been pretty rough for you - it's snowed on you, it's rained on you, the wind has battered your branches. I would imagine you're pretty fed up with it by now. I know I am.

At first the snow was a novelty and it was exciting, now it's just dull. And annoying.

And more importantly, it's cold. Really really cold.

I'm bored of it being cold, are you? You don't even have any leaves to keep yourself warm.

You look so miserable and see, even your berries are all dying and stuff. It's so sad.

But what's this I see?

GREEN SHOOTS!

Keep the spirit of Spring alive Mr Tree, keep it alive.

I took these photos this morning as I was setting off for work. I had to get my blinkers on and focus on what I was doing. If I'd stopped for a second I'd have realised how ridiculous I looked to all the people also on their way to work. I tell you, the lengths I go to...

Tell me why I don't like Tuesdays

Tuesdays are the worst days of all.

I have declared them Stupid Tuesdays because they are, you know....stupid.

Allow me to explain.

Mondays: They are indeed rubbish. You're back at work, the whole week is ahead of you and it would be easy to sink in to a deep depression. However they usually pass in a blur for me because I'm still adjusting and living in the weekend. (Also Glee is on E4 at 9pm which makes Mondays worth getting through.)

Wednesdays: Well come on. It's Hump Day isn't it? It all gets better from here on in.

Thursdays: I like Thursdays because I know that it's really when the weekend starts. I just have to get through the day and then it's Stitch and Bitch in the evening and I can stay up late because the next day is...

Fridays: And everyone knows they don't really count do they? I can actually do a lot of work on Friday and be 'happy' doing it because at the end of the day you get to go home and start your weekend.

Saturdays: You can't hate Saturday. It's physically impossible. A weekend full of promise lies ahead of you.

Sunday: Ok, it's not a great day because you know Monday's looming but it's still a weekend day. A day for laziness. And Hollyoaks.

Now.

Tuesday.

Ugh.

Tuesdays are far away enough from the weekend that it's just a distant memory, you've already been back at work for one day. And yet the next weekend isn't even a glimmer on the horizon and you have to get through another 4 days (4 days!!) at work.

And that is why Tuesdays are stupid.

However this Tuesday is not so stupid. The reason?

It's time to announce the winner of the 1 Year Blogaversary giveaway!!

Are you ready?

Is your breath bated?

(What does that even mean by the way?)

The winner is....

Now unfortunately Heather has difficulty commenting on some blogs (damn you blogger!), but I can assure you that she did enter the giveaway and I can even tell you what her favourite crisps are....Doritos with a hint of lime. A very fine choice indeed.

You should most definitely visit her - she has crochet skills to leave you in awe (I have appointed her my Crochet Mentor. She didn't know that until now.) and she has crazy escape artist rabbits. And even if she can't comment on your blog, she will reply to your comments on her blog by e-mail which makes her a very lovely person in my book.

Right.

I'm going to get back to hating the rest of Stupid Tuesday.

Any of you lot have a day of the week you particularly don't like?

Worst girlfriend ever?

So I have this group of girl friends and we’ve been friends for a few years now and everything’s great and I get on with them all really well, there’s just one small thing that really irritates me and on Saturday night it raised its ugly head yet again.

They have this thing where all of the boyfriends get invited out to our nights out. And worse than that, when the girls go out, the boys are encouraged to all get together and have a boys night as well.

I find it completely bizarre to tell you the truth.

You know how in America they have that whole, what is it, separation of church and state? I have separation of friends and boyfriends.

I don’t actively keep them away from each other but I’m not going to go out of my way for all of them to become the best of friends.

The boyfriend and I had been going out for nearly a year before he was properly introduced to this group of friends and before that they’d say “We haven’t met the boyfriend yet?” and I’d think, “Erm....and?” Am I looking for your approval of my boyfriend? No. Do you need to be friends with him to be friends with me? No.

I just feel like it’s irrelevant whether they know him or not. I mean I became friends with these girls long before the boyfriend ever appeared, my friendship with them has nothing to do with my relationship with him.

I feel the same way about their boyfriends. If I meet them, that’s great. If I don’t meet them I won’t be sitting at home wondering what they’re like, I doubt I’ll consider them at all. As far as I’m concerned, as long as the person my friend is going out with makes them happy then that’s all I need to know.

In fact it can get more awkward if you meet the boyfriend and don’t like him. Which is the case with one of these girls. I think her boyfriend’s a complete fool. I just want to slap him every time I see him and hear the latest inanity to come out of his mouth. But it doesn’t make any difference that I think that does it? Am I going to say with her “Your boyfriend’s a twat”? (Oh how I wish I could.) No I’m not because me thinking that isn’t going to make them split it up, it’s just going to make things awkward for us.

Also I like my independence. I like that I have my own friends and that’s my thing and they belong to me and the boyfriend isn’t overly involved in that area of my life. Like I say, I don’t go to great lengths to keep them apart but I equally am not going to invite him to every girl’s night out that we have. And as for him becoming friends with the boyfriends? If that happens naturally, of its own accord then that’s great. What I’m not going to do is force him into a situation where there’s a group of men that everyone thinks should get on, just because their girlfriends do. The logic doesn’t follow for me.

So on Saturday I went out for one of these nights. We were going for a meal for someone’s birthday and they’d said boys were welcome to come and I thought to myself “That’s nice” and left it at that. I did ask the boyfriend if he wanted to come and I could see by his face that he didn’t really want to so I said that was fine by me, he could have a date night with his one true love, the X-box.

I get to the restaurant and realise immediately. I am the only person here sans partner. And it makes me sigh on the inside because I know what’s coming next...

“So where’s the boyfriend tonight then?”

“Erm.....he’s at home.”

SILENCE.

It's like they can’t conceive that he wouldn’t want to come out for a meal with all my friends.

And then you have the incredibly boring meal where everyone’s sat in their couples talking away and I’m wanting to stab myself in the eyes with my chopsticks because it’s just all so bloody boring.

The thing is it makes me question myself. They seem so surprised and shocked that he isn’t out that I start thinking that I’ve obviously got this all wrong. Should I be insisting that he comes out? Should I be having other couples round for sophisticated dinner parties?

And I thought to myself, my god, I’m a really horrible boyfriend, I’m making him stay at home with crisp-stealing cats whilst I’m out having a laugh.

I got back home and apologised to the boyfriend.

“Sorry if I’m rubbish”

“How are you rubbish?”

“For making you stay at home and not encouraging you to come out for the meal.”

“Whose birthday was it again?”

(I tell him)

“Yeah I would have come out but to be honest I can be doing without her and her boyfriend.”

And I sit back and think, maybe I’m not so bad after all.

Until the next ‘girls’ night out...

Why I won't be eating crisps this weekend.

Have I ever mentioned that I love crisps?

(Oh my god make her shut up about them)

So you know how your parents can pass on certain traits and characteristics to you?

(Don't worry I'm not trying to start a whole nature vs nurture debate.)

Like for instance my Mum has passed on a debilitating fear of moths and butterflies to myself and my sister. I know, I know they can't hurt me but if you want to see me run, stick me in a room with a lightbulb and a moth. Usain Bolt aint got nothing on me.

Anyway.

So I'm pretty sure that I've passed my crisp addiction on to Lily and Fred.

(Yeah they're my babies.)

They go totally loopy for them and the trouble is they're so ruddy quick. You're sitting there, enjoying your crispage and suddenly out of nowhere a paw appears and your crisp has been swiped.

Most probably along with most of the skin off your finger.

They've come to stay for the weekend and last night I was having my daily crisp intake. You can try and be vigilant and make sure they're not around. The other option is just to shove them all as fast as you can in your mouth (which is a pretty cool option, I'm not going to lie).

But sometimes you get engrossed in something and this happens....

Mutilated thumb ahoy! Courtesy of Fred.

Much as I love my crisps I think I like my fingers more.

(But only just)

And Fred's crisp of choice?

He's a classy boy.

(PS Have you entered the giveaway? Did you want to enter? Clickeroony here and go for it - you have until Sunday 21st 12pm.)

Happy Blogaversary!

Well. Who’d have thunk it.

This little blog has made it to one whole year.

I can’t actually believe it.

On this day a year ago I decided to start up blogging again and I quite distinctly remember, sitting on my bed in Mum’s house, laptop precariously balanced on my bed as I set about starting up again.

And a mere 184 posts later I have all you guys! Hello lovely blog people, you are great, have I told you that?

Recently I’ve gained a few new followers (Hello new people!!) so I thought that maybe it would be good to have a little re-cap, let you know what this blog’s about, who the people are that I’m talking about and other random bits of info. You know what it’s like when you stumble across someone’s blog and it’s bit like when you walk in to the middle of a party and you’re thinking “Whaaaaaaat are all these people talking about?” It’s like a crib sheet. So next time I talk about The Visitors you can be all “I TOTALLY KNOW WHO SHE’S TALKING ABOUT”.

So if you would like to know more then please click HERE (go on. You know you want to.)

But that’s not all. It would seem, on inspection of other people’s blogs, that it is customary to do some kind of giveaway on your anniversary.

I have struggled with this one. I’m supposed to be writing about living with my boyfriend what am I going to give away? Him?! (Hands off ladies.) My flat?! It has been the cause of much panic these past few weeks.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN THIS LITTLE PACKAGE OF GOODNESS?!

- Some material from that time I made a noticeboard

- A rather marvellous cross-stitched card to give to the person of your choosing (probably your Mum or your Granny as it is a little floral number)
- 2 little stitchlets to get you in to your cross-stitching groove
- A book from this month’s reading list (I apologise in advance for the jam on the back cover, I don’t even know how I did that)
- Possibly some more fun things?! (notice the use of the word possibly there)

So do you want to play?

It’s really simple, you just have to answer a question by leaving a comment. Just one. And then the names will be put into a hat and I will designate the boyfriend as Chief Drawer-of-names-out-of-hats and I’ll send you the goodness.

You have until Sunday to complete your mission.

Ready for the question? (It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy)

What is your favourite flavour of crisps?

(Told you it would be easy)

(Crisps are very important to me)

Now. GO GO GO GO GO!!!!