Whatever The Weather

I've moved...

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:43:58 +0100

Didn't like the ads on here and I don't use it enough to want to pay to get rid of them, so I've gone elsewhere.

Find me here.

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Apparently I am fennel

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:55:52 +0100

Just a bit random, LOL

Your Score: Fennel You scored 50% intoxication, 25% hotness, 75% complexity, and 0% craziness!

You are Fennel!

You're a cool cat. Crisp, clean, fresh, and extremely complicated. You're like quantum physics or modern jazz. Think Niels Bohr meets Ornette Coleman. You may look normal now, but once you sprout, you look kind of, uh, funny.

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Wake up kitty

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:46:37 +0100

This is sooo funny, anyone who cats will recognise this...

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Luxe, limited

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:31:07 +0100

The fabby scrapping manufacturer Luxe is releasing some special limited edition kits for the festive season, how cool is that!
You can even have a chance to win one here

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Busy busy

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:28:16 +0100

Lots on at the moment, mainly work unfortunately. Haven't been getting home until 8pm or so most days, so not much time for anything else beyond eating and sleeping!

I've got a long list of finished books somewhere that I ought to post, I also took some back to the library without making a note, duh.

I passed my driving theory test last weekend I was pretty confident about the multiple choice questions, but more nervous about the hazard perception bit. I was too stingy to buy the DVD as well as the book, so the only practice I'd had was the mock test I did with my instructor weeks ago. It all worked out ok though, I got full marks on the multiple choice, and 62/75 on the hazard perception - you have to get 44 on that bit to pass so I was comfortably clear.

Andy gave me £50 to treat myself with as a reward, and the weird thing is I'm having a hard time spending it. I picked up a CD later that day, but I still have over £40 left. There are lots of things I'd like, but it's difficult to narrow it down, and nothing has really jumped out and said "Buy me now" yet. I'll inevitably end up with scrapping supplies of some form or another but what?

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My personality!

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:21:08 +0100

My personalDNA Report

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Lists

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:41:59 +0200

This is a "for reference" post, with lists of things which come in sets (mainly scrapping stuff) that I like and which items in the set I have. I'll add it to as my collections grow...

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers

Sunshine Yellow
Hazelnut
Raspberry
Silver

Colorbox Queue Inks

Chalk - Misty Meadow
Chalk - Pumpkin Patch
Chalk - Chocolates & Blueberries
Chalk - Primary Elements
Chalk - Rose Petals

Versacolor Ink Cubes

11 - Canary
21 - Green
24 - Opera Pink
25 - Cardinal
26 - Boysenberry
35 - Lilac
42 - Lime
53 - Cocoa
57 - Old Rose
63 - Split Pea
64 - Khaki
69 - Bamboo
80 - White
94 - Bronze
101 - Camellia
131 - Narcissus
133 - Seashell
136 - Baby Blue
151- Sand Beige
152 - Ash Rose
155 - Paprika
156 - Raspberry
157 - Amethyst
159 - Mountain Lake
161 - Green Tea
182 - Bisque
183 - Cement
185 - Polar Blue
187 - Sage

Stickles Glitter Glue

Icicle
Diamond
Frosted Lace
Platinum
Gold
Golden Rod
Yellow
Orange Peel
Fruit Punch
Candy Cane
Xmas Red
Eucalyptus
Aqua
Green
Turquoise
Dark Blue

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A picture at last

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:36:30 +0200

I figured I really ought to sort out posting a few piccies as previously promised, so here's one to start with:

This is my most recent LO, which I did at my crop last Saturday. It was the only thing I did, so it's a good job I like it! It's the story of a pretty unsuccessful attempt at making fire...

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New toy

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:23:14 +0200

I got a crop-a-dile, courtesy of my brother, how cool is that

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Busy Bee

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:27:01 +0200

I've been really busy at work recently. It's budget time, and the report deadlines seem to be coming around so quickly. As seems to be usual I am a bit stuck as I'm waiting for higher-level decisions to be made, although I've got plenty to be doing in the meantime! I just hope the decisions are made in time...

I've finished a couple of books that I can remember, and I'm sure there must be some more that I've forgotten to record, oops:

The Last Spymaster (Gayle Lynds)
Darkness, Take My Hand (Dennis Lehane)

Scrapping has been good - I did 3 LOs over the weekend, despite being pretty busy with other things. They were all using bits from my Mystery Kit for UKS - we weren't allowed to use anything other than what was in it except limited basics, so it was quite a challenge. I stuck to ordinary LOs, but based on previous CCs some people will have done rather more fancy things with it!

I have my monthly crop next weekend, and I should have plenty to do as I haven't done any of the classes from last weekend yet, and I have kits for three of them.

We had a trip to IKEA on Saturday. After we kitted out my scrap room there were a few things that I wished I'd got more of, so it was already on the cards. Then Andy decided he wants to turn our stairs into a bit of a gallery for New Zealand photos, and wanted several more frames the same as one we got there. After the horrors of Purley Way last time, we decided to go to Lakeside instead, and given that it was Saturday didn't leave the house until 4pm. It took just under an hour to get there - less than Croydon last time and much less stressful! - and the store was really quiet. Perfect So we'll definitely do that in future if we want to go again. We found everything we wanted except one thing, plus a few extras, and still spent less than we had expected.

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Speed Reading

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:18:15 +0200

Two more books finished in the last 24 hours

The Little Lady Agency (Hester Browne) Absolutely delightful! Maybe a bit predictable, but a really pleasurable read, lots of fun and great characters.

The Coma (Alex Garland) I picked this up to start on the train to work this morning - by the time the train pulled in I'd read it and a paper! I knew it was short, but not that short - half the pages were blank, and half the rest illustrations. A quirky little story, nice exploration of the nature of consciousness.

I made lime jelly last night - another UKS challenge. Andy was cooking dinner, and when I started pottering around in the kitchen asked "are you making something again?!" I admit it's not really fair that he has to cook all the time, I'm just so out of practice, so I tried to make out that I was doing it "just to do something", that I might work up to doing a proper meal that way. I think I got away with it too - luckily he was asleep on the sofa by the time it had set, as I think me taking a photo of it and immediately uploading it might have given the game away

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Bad blogger

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:23:32 +0200

Had three days at home and not managed to post a thing, how poor is that!

Friday was Andy's birthday, so we both took the day off work. He got up really early (as usual), and went off to the post office to collect all the parcels waiting there for us. We'd been out for drinks the previous night, and I hadn't had a chance to wrap his pressies, so I jumped out of bed when he'd gone to sort it out. I think he was very surprised to find me up when he got back! (I'm usually up a couple of hours later than him at the weekends).

I made him open his straight away, he seemed quite pleased although there wasn't much that was a surprise. He knew I was getting him Crocs - he chose the colour - and the DVDs we'd ordered together (we were sucked in by the HMV sale and bought LOTS!). So the only unexpected bit was two ties - something he needed but not the most exciting present ever!

Then of course there were all the parcels he'd been to collect. Most of them were for me - my kits for the CyberCrop on UKS, and my monthly Little Red Scrapbook kit from the US. There was some seriously yummy stuff, but I haven't really played with any of it yet. He got a couple of bits too, and some more cards in that day's post.

We'd been thinking about going out somewhere for the day, but he struggled to make up his mind what he wanted to do, and in the end the weather was so miserable we just stayed in and had a quiet day. For the first time in what must have been months I actually cooked something - well baked in fact. I made a lemon drizzle cake for his birthday. That was the excuse anyway - but it was really prompted by a challenge on UKS for the CC! Not that I told him that It was very yummy though - and I even put candles on for him!!

The rest of the weekend just seemed to disappear. I had my driving lesson on Saturday - mainly driving at higher speeds/on the dual carriageway. We went almost as far as Brighton and back, and it went ok, although I was a bit tense afterwards. Yesterday I did nothing until mid-afternoon, when we did a bit of de-cluttering upstairs. We cleared out a few crates that had been hanging around since we moved in, and sorted out all the clothes in the holiday/winter wardrobe in the spare room. Threw a few bits away, and there's a large bag to go to a charity shop and quite a bit more space! We're making progress gradually, and one day it might actually be as tidy as we'd like

Finished another book too: Codex (Lev Grossman) This was intriguing, albeit rather silly some of the time. The game plot seemed a bit underused/underdeveloped at times, and the relationships a bit strange. I enjoyed the *technical* parts about old books, and definitely learned some new stuff there. Overall reasonably fun, but probably not a lot more to it than that.

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Done!

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:46:58 +0200

Hurrah, I got Andy's card finished It didn't take me as long as I often take, and I'm really pleased with it. It's a bit of a change of style for me too - nothing drastic but not quite my normal clean graphic look - and I like!

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Wednesday wobbles

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:08:16 +0200

Lots of things to catch up on!

Books first. Recently I've finished -
Thorn (Vena Cork) Went backwards here - I'd previously read a later one in this series without realising it was a series. I really enjoyed this, it pulls you along nicely. Lots of twists and turns, I had an inkling about "whodunnit" early on but then allowed myself to be hoodwinked!

The Sixth Lamentation (William Brodrick) Fantastic first book. The characters were extremely well drawn, and it covered some very complex moral dilemmas and made me think. I occasionally thought it seemed unnecessarily complicated, but it all came together well in the end.

The Sign of the Cross (Chris Kuzneski) Another derivative of The Da Vinci Code (has one book ever been emulated by so many before?!) but a fairly good one as they go. Requires a serious suspension of disbelief, but an exciting, multi-stranded chase around the world. Good fun.

I've been almost totally failing at "flying" recently - I seem to be sooo tired all the time at the moment. Thankfully Andy is being very good, so the house doesn't look too bad. And I did manage to do 5 loads of washing at the weekend!!

And I've been relatively creative too. I needed a card for a friend due to have a baby, but didn't know the sex, so made one for each possibility. I also did a card for an Autumn challenge on UKS, and I have someone in mind for that. Having also finished a LO one evening, that makes it a pretty good week for me. Just hope I can keep it up. Most critically I need to make a birthday card for Andy - it's his 51st (!!) on Friday, and as we're out tomorrow night I really need to get it done tonight. Help!

Over on UKS there's a CyberCrop coming up. I've signed up and have bought myself several class kits. I'm looking forward to lots of lovely new stash! I figure that way I will at least attempt those classes if no others. And I like getting kits with bits in that challenge me to try new things - if I choose everything I buy it all ends up looking rather samey. I've also signed up to do an ATC swap - which involves producing 12 ATCs in not many more days, yikes! Thankfully they can all be much the same, so I'm going to aim to come up with one design I'm happy with, then just vary it slightly for each.

I've been doing more stash organisation too. I love Really Useful Boxes! My scrap room is due to be featured on this blog soon, so keep your eyes peeled

I'll post piccies of my recent cards and LOs soon, all being well.

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Journaling jars

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:57:56 +0200

I've been following this thread on UKS about journaling jars, and am really intrigued by the idea. I'm seriously thinking about doing some for my parents. In a way I know so little about them. I'm not sure whether they'd answer all of the questions, but I think they'd have a go at some at the least. My mum is seriously into genealogy - means my family tree is all researched for me! - and likes producing journals (printed & bound books with pics and text) of her holidays, so I think she'd be quite interested. Dad I'm not so sure about.

So my next mission is to find some suitable jars and books, alter them, and think seriously about what questions I want to include!

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FlyLady

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:47:16 +0200

In an effort to keep my house in slightly better condition - so I’m not embarrassed by someone turning up unexpectedly, and don’t have to spend all day cleaning ready for visitors - I’ve been looking into a system by FlyLady. I haven’t quite done things “properly”, but I quite like the idea of it, and I’m picking up the elements that appeal and will hopefully work for me.

Essentially she encourages you to have routines, and to do little and often. You build up a control journal, where you keep details of all your routines. These include your morning routine (mine includes feeding the cats, eating breakfast and picking up letters to post, for example), and your before bed routine. I have a home from work routine too. The house is divided up into zones, and each week you focus your energies on a different zone - that way the whole house gets done, eventually! You have to thoroughly declutter the house before you get into deep cleaning, so that could keep me going for quite some time. Once that’s done she suggests a detailed list for deep cleaning of each room. But both decluttering and deep cleaning are only generally done in 15 minute bursts, so it’s manageable. To keep things ticking over in the rest of the house, you’re supposed to spend an hour once a week on tasks like hoovering and dusting. An hour total, that is, known as “Home Blessing Hour”. A bit American for me!

I’m achieving mixed results so far. I’ve come up with my routines, and am managing to complete at least part of them every day. Just making the bed every morning makes a difference. I still have my general to-do list, but I’m trying to assign tasks to specific days where I can. The hourly clean hasn’t worked too well yet - I can only really fit it in at the weekend, and events have tended to wipe out my available time recently. One thing I really need is to cut down my PC time. I can easily spend a couple of hours on it in an evening, and although some of that time is part of my routine, and some is productive, there are definitely better things I could be doing with some of it. But in general I do feel a bit more in control of things - I at least know what I’m supposed to be doing even if I don’t always get it done.

Along side all that, I’ve decided to set myself targets for scrapping and cardmaking. I’m aiming to complete 1 LO and 1 card a week - although I need to do 5 cards a week until Christmas if I’m going to make all of them too - which might not sound like much but is fairly ambitious for me, as I’m a slow scrapper. Having my monthly crop will help, and I have a CJ entry to do each month, but beyond that I really need to try spend time in the craft room rather than at the PC in the evenings!

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Extremes

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:35:51 +0200

It seems I'm going from one extreme to the other - no posts for stupidly long then when I start again I could write several entries a day. It'll be interesting to see how long this phase lasts! I'm trying to develop a few new habits (more about that later) so maybe this is another one. I guess once you've been doing it a while it becomes second nature.

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Northern Rock

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:34:00 +0200

There's been lots going on with Northern Rock over the last few days, which is a slight cause for concern for us. We have our mortgage with them, and just signed a new five-year fixed deal starting 1st October!

The thing that drives me mad is that it's all so unnecessary. I blame the media to be honest, if they hadn't made such a big deal of things in the first place there wouldn't have been such a big panic. All that happened is that NR asked the Bank of England for borrowing facilities if they needed them. Until everyone started taking all their savings out they hadn't even called on it.

So really it's just like you or I asking our bank for an overdraft facility. It gives you a bit more flexibility and security, but just because you're asking for it doesn't mean you'll ever actually need it, or that you won't be able to pay it back. It's normally just to cover short-term cash flow problems.

What people don't seem to realise is that, by all panicking and withdrawing their cash, they are actually making it much more likely that the bank will collapse, so they're contributing to the problem. I walked past a branch on my way in to work this morning, and there must have been a couple of hundred people queuing. I just wanted to shout at them all! I mean given the size of the NR, do they really think the BoE will let it go under? It would cause complete mayhem!

So I wasn't worried at all really. Even if they get taken over, which looks most likely, it shouldn't affect me as whoever bought it out would just take over my mortgage on the existing terms & conditions. As it's a fixed rate they can't change that, so the payments should be the same. The only slight concern is that as our new fixed rate only comes into effect on 1st October, I'm not sure if a new owner would have to honour that? If not, we could be in trouble.

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Crop feedback

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:23:17 +0200

Well I went to my first crop on Saturday, and it was great. I wasn't really very organised. I'd printed some assorted photos, and had a few I'd already printed to scrap using classes from a UKScrappers Cybercrop. But I didn't have papers chosen for any of them, let alone embellishments, so I just chose a fairly random selection of papers and cardstock to take with me.

I met Vanessa first, as we were both quite shy about turning up on our own. As it was we were there first - oops! We were made very welcome (probably aided by us helping set up!), and got ourselves a couple of spots next to each other. I was pleased to see that one of the ladies brought her Sizzix and lots of dies, including a few alphabets. Vanessa then decided to pop back home and get her Cuttlebug and dies too (she's only a few minutes walk away)! I'll have to take my dies next time - I have a couple of different alphas amongst other things.

One of the ladies had brought an album she'd just finished so we were able to have a look through that, lots of good ideas and inspiration.

There were 11 of us there, and plenty of space, we each had a large table so were able to spread out. I started work on a holiday LO, but then decided that I needed some bits I'd left at home to get any further, so abandoned that one. I didn't get much done at all with the next one I tried, as I couldn't quite find papers to match. I did manage to put some papers together though, so I've made up a couple of page kits ready for photos for next time!

At that point I was struggling so I decided to have a go at a card instead, in the hope that I'd actually complete something. I'd taken some 7Gypsies papers with me to do the current "Use Your Stash" challenge on UKS, and fairly quickly came up with a plan. I used snaps to attach some flowers, and borrowed a Crop-o-dile - another gadget that has now gone on my wish list!

Then I decided to tackle one of the classes I'd prepared, and this time I managed to find the perfect papers. With a couple of buttons donated by Vanessa, and the use of her Cuttlebug alpha for the title, I just got my LO finished before the end of the day.

All in all I was really pleased with what I got done, although I plan to be a bit more prepared next time. Everyone was really nice, and I couldn't believe how quickly the day went. It was fun being able to see other people's work in progress. Even my husband said how fab my finished LO was - result! Can't wait for the next one now!

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Meddling

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:10:27 +0200

Now I'm actually blogging I'm experimenting with the design to get it how I like it. There will no doubt be lots of interim changes before I settle on something - sorry!

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First crop

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:12:46 +0200

I'm going to my first crop on Saturday. Maybe a bit premature as I've literally only done a handful of LOs so far, and I'm a bit nervous about it. I'm going with someone else (who I met for the first time last weekend!) and she's new to it too, so at least I won't have to walk into the room on my own - I hate that.

But as for what to take, I've got no idea. I've got a couple of photos printed out ready to scrap using classes from UKS, so I'll probably just take those. But even then I need to sort out supplies - what tools etc should I take, should I try get papers and embellies that match together or just take a selection...? And should I have some extra photos ready in case the ones I have aren't working for me? Plus what do I do about food/drink? I'll need lunch at the very least! There's just so much to think about/do in advance.

And I have enough to do as it is - I need to get a birthday card made for my brother, and some ATCs that I owe. I guess I could do the card at the crop, but that might be leaving it a bit late as we're seeing him on Sunday. I can't really afford to leave work early as I'm taking a flexi day for Andy's birthday later in the month, so I need to keep my hours up. Which means I won't be home until 7pm either today or tomorrow, and then the evening just seems to disappear. Must stay off the net!!

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Book update

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:05:03 +0200

Finished a couple of my books since my last post:

The Interpretation of Murder (Jed Rubenfeld). I really enjoyed this, some interesting discussion of Freudian theory, a topic I didn't know much about, all woven nicely into a murder mystery.

Minority Report (Philip K Dick). I adore Philip Dick's writing. I haven't read anything for ages but this makes me want to read more again. The various stories in this were:
Minority Report - brilliant exploration of cause/effect and surrounding ideas (and noticeably different to the film, which I also loved).
War Games - one of my favourites in this book, clever diversion.
Imposter - another favourite, issues of self- knowledge/awareness.
Second Variety - not really my thing
What the Dead Men Say - really don't understand this one. Not that I have a comprehension problem, I guess I just don't "get it".
Oh, To Be A Blobel! - oh, sweet irony!
The Electric Ant - ostensibly a similar theme to Imposter (and 'Blade Runner') but a nice bit of philosophy about the nature of reality.
Faith of our Fathers - strange!
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale - the basis for the film Total Recall, nicely constructed.

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Current books

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:02:55 +0200

Thought I'd try keep my book list up to date again - probably without reviews this time unless something really stands out.

Recently read:
Black Fly Season - Giles Deacon
Salem Falls - Jodie Picoult

Currently reading:
Minority Report (collection of short stories) - Philip K Dick
The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld
The Sixth Lamentation - William Brodrick

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Prevarication

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:49:33 +0200

Well as usual I've managed to go over a year without updating, impressive huh! I honestly don't know how anyone manages to write a daily entry. I'd be quite pleased if I could manage one a month frankly.

I love following blogs though. Recently I've been adding more and more to my feed, mainly scrapping/card-making related. I spend most of my time on a scrapping forum these days, and blogging is so fashionable its unreal I'm vaguely considering actually telling someone this is here, bit scary though! I've been pretty cautious in what I've written about work, but you do hear horror stories about bosses catching people up to no good on their blogs. I really can't be bothered to carry on not naming people either, it's too much like hard work.

If I do publicise this I guess I'll start putting crafty stuff on too. Not that that would be much, my creative output is minimal to say the least. And I already seem to have about a million different places I post pictures, none of which are ever actually up to date.

But even though I produce so little, scrapping etc seems to be pretty much all I want to think about these days. Work is a definite hindrance! The next couple of months are going to be REALLY busy, and I'm trying to gear myself up for it, but I just don't feel at all ready. I've got 17 reminders of things I need to do popping up at the moment, but instead of clearing them I'm here resurrecting my blog. Hmm, way to go!

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Hello and goodbye

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:06:00 +0200

The car left us yesterday Our lovely convertible, and just in the middle of a sunny stretch too, it was very sad. We'd had it a couple of years or so though, and we always said when we bought our house we might not be able to afford to keep it. We could - just - but decided that now we have "responsibilities" we really ought to be sensible and save some money anyway.

It all happened a bit faster than I'd anticipated though, we had a test drive in one car because it was a new release, but quite frankly it was a bit pokey and nasty compared to what we were used to! Then A saw a special deal so we went to have a look, they only had a couple left so it was quick decision time. We initially said no, as they weren't going to give us quite as much for ours as we hoped, but then we realised we wouldn't get anything comparable for the price any time soon.

Of course it does all mean that we now have a swishy brand new car to play with again. We picked it up after work yesterday, and very nice it is too. I particularly like the 6-CD player, which is pretty funky Now I just have to learn to drive - A wouldn't let me anywhere near the last car!!

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Paltry efforts - and an update

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 23:36:58 +0200

Hmm, glad to see I kept that up well then. Life has been a bit hectic over the last few months, hardly an excuse but it's my usual one. I almost forgot this was even here to be honest.

Yesterday I randomly discovered my brother's blog, which has been going for about a year. And I've definitely been on his website during that time, how did I manage to miss that? So I had a year's reading to catch up on. The main thing that struck me was how much fuller his life seems than mine. How depressing does that sound!

At the mo I'm busy revising for an exam on Monday, yuck. I've been off work all week but I still haven't done as much as I would have liked, it is so dull! And there are way too many distractions in the house / it's too hot. Excuses all the way again, at the end of the day I'm just not confident I'm going to pass. At all. I really want to, to get the qualification and get it out of the way once and for all, but when it comes down to doing the work, I just can't seem to motivate myself. Tomorrow I really have to think about nothing else, with the knowledge that by Monday lunchtime I can forget about it all again. Am I really that impatient to do other things that I can't cope with 36 hours of concerted concentration? A sad indictment if so...

I'm supposed to be training for the Great North Run too, but that's been on hold for the last couple of weeks, as I've been back and forth to the doc's and on various medications, and haven't really felt up to running. I wasn't exactly improving quickly either, so when I get myself sorted I'll basically be starting from scratch. And now I've found yet another problem for the doc - anyone would think I'm a hypochondriac, but I swear I'm not! - I think I have, or am developing, a frozen shoulder. Basically the movement in my left shoulder is restricted, and if say I try to raise it above horizontal it hurts. Not excessively, but it's getting more awkward. It's affecting my sleep too as I like to lie on my side with my arm cushioning my head, but as my left arm won't go that high I can only lie on my right side. Supposedly this condition affects mainly middle-aged people, and here I am not even 30. Does that mean my body is like that of a middle-aged person, or am I just exceptional?

Other topics I really should mention if this is going to be a proper update, but I need to go to bed so I'm fresh for more revision tomorrow so they're only going to be mentioned in passing for now (and judging on my past performance maybe ever) -
- selling our lovely car
- being a homeowner
- my cardmaking obsession
- how my job is going

That's all the major topics I can think of at any rate.

Beddy-byes calling, think A is already asleep on the sofa as usual...

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Books

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:39:34 +0200

Have decided I really must try to keep a record of what I read, I get through so many books. So I'm going to make a note on here fairly regularly if I remember (or at least until I find a decent book forum to discuss it on).

Currently reading:
Liars And Saints - Maile Meloy
The Last Temptation - Val McDermid

5 most recent books:
The Time-Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
I loved this, it made me cry. A wonderful love story told via a really unusual concept.
Mobius Dick - can't remember the author
Interesting. It made me think, and I loved how he tied it all up at the end with some fantastic biting commentary on the state of the world today. It was a bit hard going at times though, and I definitely think it helps to know a little bit about philosophy and physics if you're going to get much out of it.
Fire Point - John Smolens
Not too much to say about this, I enjoyed the relationships in it, and wanted to know how they turned out. Nice characterisation.
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
I ran out of time to finish this, as someone else had reserved it , which was hugely annoying. I was enjoying it up to that point, which was probably about half way through. Will have to pick it up again at some point.
Wishful Thinking - Jemma Harvey
A nice easy read, but with some important things to say about love. Very nicely packaged, I loved the different women and the relationships between them, I was really rooting for them. Superior fluff, and a very promising debut.

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Lunchtime Leisure

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:10:02 +0200

I spent the most blissful lunch hour in the church immediately next to my office. They've had a music festival running all month, and today was a cellist & pianist, so I decided to make the effort to go (as I played both instruments in a former life). It was lovely.

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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:39:54 +0200

So much for our chain consisting of only two parties. Turns out the place they're buying isn't really vacant at all, but the seller of that one is buying a new build, which won't be ready until December. The builders want everyone in the chain to exchange within 28 days - but there are lots of delays on surveys from our lender at the moment, so there's no chance of that. It means our sellers may lose their property, which might make things difficult for us unless it happens soon and they find somewhere else. We may end up having to hold them to their offer of moving into rented accommodation.

I've now got some real work to be doing too, but it's been a bit of a funny day, as O didn't come in, C is on leave, and D & P have been in meetings all morning.

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Progress

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:41:34 +0200

Things are moving in terms of our house purchase much more swiftly than expected. A phoned the agents to arrange a second visit, only to be told the sellers have found a place. What's more, it's vacant, so there is no chain, just us and them. All we're waiting for now is the ok on the mortgage, then the survey. If their survey is okay (I'm assuming they'll have no mortgage problems given that they've already got one) we could be moving in a matter of weeks. Which means I've got an awful lot of sorting and packing to do.

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