Sunday 22 November 2009

Crafty!

Fizz and I had our crafty afternoon today. Started off by deciding what to make - flowers and rosettes were the order of the day and Fizz had just the book for it. Having never done anything like that before we supposedly started off small - the first thing took me nearly 2 hours to make!! But look-ee at the end result:


Proof that it was actually me who did it and not Fizz, who is, as we know, the most craftiest of us all:



The best thing about this is that it's especially for Christmas as the flower says Merry Christmas and it's all red and green and festive-tastic and will look simply sooper against a black dress that I now need to buy for Christmas Day!




The other one that I attempted was supposed to be a corsage but ended up being a bobble instead - oh pretty! I'm thinking that this is definitely going to be in my hair at work tomorrow so please feel free to pass on compliments, hehe:



That was as much as we got done due to the first Christmas flower taking so long but I had so much fun! And now I'm feeling all inspired for my Upcycle so will do some work on that this week. Will keep you posted.
Over and out x


Friday 20 November 2009

9 weeks

Ha! Bet you thought this was going to be some pervy post that is just half a week less than the infamous 9 and a half Weeks fillum...but you would be wrong. It is in actual fact the amount of time I have spent at my secondment. And today is the last day!

It's been a weird old time. Initially there was excitement. It was something new! I had escaped from libraryland, which was so badly needed it was untrue, and exciting times were ahead. One week in and boredom hit. Big style. The sad fact is that there's been nothing to do here. And so I've done what many people believe librarians get paid to do: read lots of books. And perfected my hand-eye co-ordination by playing lots of online games. But it's not all been bad. I've had a chance to schmooooooze with lots of people from the university that I would never have met should I have stayed in libraryland. And I've used new systems and I've met new people. All these things are very positive. Plus we've been working in a huge office with actual windows that you can see out of! And natural light flooding in, so much so, that we often have to close the blinds against the glare of the sun. It's been truly fabby to be here in Autumn when we've watched the trees turn red and gold before starting to drop their leaves and show their nekkid branches (naughty) ready for Winter. So today we depart.

Packed our desks up today and our side of the office looks all sad and bare. Well it would if we hadn't have come in to some wonderful gifts this morning. A beautiful orchid plant each (no mention of the b-word allowed Fizz!) and a card saying thank you, and bestest of all, a GIANT FRENCH FANCY cake - oh oh oh! And of course we had to have a tale for the last day and what a surprise, it involved travel. I was running late as had slept in, texted T to let her know I'd be on the next train, she texts me back, train not turned up, she's in car so she'll come pick me up. Then hit the armageddon rain which was only seemingly in far-off T-land as where Dizz lives was a beautiful day! Then we get closer to work and there were 3 horses running backwards and forwards across a very busy road, clearly escaped from a field somewhere and very very frightened. Slowing down to practically crawling speed we managed to get past them without incident and only arrived in work 15 minutes late, not too bad at all!

And so endeth the secondment. Mixed feelings abound. I'm really going to miss the windows, libraryland is oh so dark with its forced lighting and no visible windows near my desk. And I'm going to miss our colleague J too, as she's really rather lovely and we've had lots of fun in the past few weeks...but it will be nice to return to a place where work happens - what a novelty! I definitely won't miss the walk to the bus stop, the early bus, the walk from the bus stop down to the station (often a trot or all out run if late), or the train that sometimes doesn't turn up due to vandalism or leaves, and the looooooong walk from the station to the campus that in rotten weather (which we've been having a lot of) is simply hideous.

So fare ye well secondment. Thanks for having me. Of all the things that I could say about it, I will end on this: it provided rescue when I was sinking, in a libraryland that is descending, and for that I shall always be grateful.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Bounce!

I was sat on the train this morning, and rather than have my nose buried in my book which is the usual thing, I decided I'd enjoy some choons and gaze out of the window. I spotted a big trampoline and thought, oh look, there's one like my grotbags have but without any sides...oh and there's another one...and another one...and then I couldn't help myself, I was counting. And do you know how many I saw? 11. Yep, on that short 20 minute journey I went past 11 giant trampolines! Some of them had the netting covers, some of them were just open, 3 were right next door to each other - I had visions of the kids playing on them and chatting over the garden fence - up down bounce up down chat up down bounce up down gossip...but I think the oddest one of all had to be the one that was seemingly abandonned right in the middle of a giant field. The only other occupant of the field was a horse. Now I know horses are intelligent beings, and I'm sure they require lots of exercise, but trampolining? How? Why? What??

Sunday 15 November 2009

Wanna see my puppies?

A long long time ago I blogged about my dream of having one or two little dogs, I even got as far as working out names for them: they were to be called Basil and Chewbacca. About two weeks ago two tiny little furballs came into the world, already saddled with these cute but probably inappropriate names. And this weekend I went to visit them for the first time. They still haven't opened their eyes and they can't walk yet but they already have definite characters - Chewbacca is a bit of a boisterous boy but Basil is just chilled and laid back, totally unlike his namesake (Basil Fawlty).

So, here they are... introducing Basil and Chewy!



They look like teeny tiny rottweilers at the moment, but they are actually yorkshire terriers, this is their mum, Sian.

Sian is pretty small and so is their dad, so it's likely that Basil and Chewy will be fairly dinky too. I can't believe how small they are at the moment, but apparently they're already twice the size they were when they were born. Incredible.

I don't want to sicken you blog readers with gooey loviness, but aren't they adorable! Their favourite thing is to crawl inside my top and compete for a spot just above my heart. They also love having their tummies rubbed. Their paws are so soft and velvety, and you should see how cute they are when they yawn! I can't wait to have them with me all the time.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Heeeeeerrrrreeee's winter!

Just last weekend, Wavey and I were doing outdoor jobs in a teeshirt and vest-top respectively and today? Well today it was -1c on the car. Say what? Did we miss Autumn out? I know I remember watching the leaves on the trees outside turn from green to golden orange and red and now nothing, but I didn't suspect Winter would come upon us so quickly. It's such an essentially British thing, to complain about the weather. So I'm not going to do that. I'm simply reporting that chuff me, it's COLD! And I had to get out my winter coat, my pashmina scarves and my new pink gloves, armed and ready to face it head on!

For all, sheesh it's cold statements though, I have to say I love Winter. I truly do. You can see some beautiful scenery as you're driving/walking/public transporting to work. Yesterday as I was driving I was spending more time admiring the frosty fields and gorgeous orange and pink hued sky than I was watching the cars in front (note to self: not good plan). And I love all the clothing paraphernalia that comes with cold weather, cosy scarves, funky hats, gloves in every colour of the rainbow, thick socks, chunky boots...

Because I love it so I'm going to do a list of what I love best and then I'd like you dear readers to add your comments below of what you love/loathe about the coldest season of all. Okay? Here we go then:

1. Cooking up soup every Sunday to enjoy with crusty bread
2. Sitting by the roaring open fire snuggled up with Wavey
3. Sunday afternoons curled up on the sofa with a mug of hot choc and a good book
4. Weekend walks that turn your cheeks rosy
5. Room temperature red wine to give you that cosy glow
6. Christmas!
7. Sparkley frosty fields
8. Snow! Well you never know...
9. Winter food like casseroles and mash and gravy and all things carbohydrate-tastic
10. Snuggling up in a warm duvet when it's freezing outside

And now for the things I don't like:
1. Public transport woes - happens every winter, this morning I waited 20 minutes for a bus, missed my train so had to wait a further 15 minutes for the next one in a freezing cold waiting room and then the 15 minute walk from the station to work in a freezing drizzly rain, nasty!
2. Being cold at work - every year the same. Layers are the key to surviving
3. Sleet - the very thought of it chills me to the bone

That's as many as I can think of for now. I'm sure there's more in both categories. Over to you...

Thursday 5 November 2009

Pretty in Pink

We've come over all crafty on the blog at the moment as both Fizz and I are entering the Upcycle Christmas competition. Fizz being the more genius with the crafty stuff has already made about 3 things whereas I'm just evolving my idea for my items.

Quick rundown of the competition is that you got a voucher to go to a Sue Ryder shop, pick out any 5 items, and upcycle them for auction. These are the 5 items I picked:

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When I was looking around choosing what to pick I knew that the denim skirt would be the basis and the various other items that I got would be added to it in order to make it upcycled and funkay (always a requirement!) This is my jotted down plan so far:

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And my inspiration? Well it has to be the character of Andie in Pretty in Pink:

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Hideous prom dress aside, all my items are shades of pink, the skirt is so 80s in its bleached out loveliness, the handbag is so going to turn into a detachable bum bag...it would be a dream come true for Andie. I'll blog my progress as it's going to be most amusing to see if I can actually make my idea happen all by myself. Wish me luck!

Monday 2 November 2009

The weekend in pictures

First things first, yummy treats from our local bakery to celebrate Hallowe'en:

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Continuing on with the yummy treats, I made my very first meal in my brand new tagine, introducing Adventures in Moroccan cookery:

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We made spicy meatballs in a tomato sauce and they were absolutely bloomin' delicious!

For once Wavey actually found himself in the correct pair of socks on the first day:

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And because it was November 1st yesterday we were allowed to have the first fire of the cold dark nights. I built my very first fire:

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And look how it burned!

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And more:

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Ain't the weekend grand?