Dear People of London

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh wtf?

that is all

inspiration

Went for first proper bike ride in ages today. Well I say proper; because it was so long since I'd been out we only did 15 miles. Didn't cycle much last year due to a combination of CB's bad knees and my OU commitments. CB's knees are much better now. Her doctor told her it was her weight putting too much stress on them, and she has done as she was told and lost weight. She's gone from being big like me (size 24/26) to being a 16/18. She's lost 80 lb in 8 months by careful eating and lots of exercise. And so I see with my own eyes that it can be done.

One thing I have to get back is control, not just of my eating but of other bits of my life. If things go wrong and I feel disorganised and running around getting nowhere fast and everything's too much, then that is liable to trigger me back down into uncontrolled eating too.

So that is what I am working on for now, being controlled and organised instead of panicked, bingeing and chaotic. I have started to revive my gtd processes; I have all my open loops in 'in' and will be processing them tomorrow. The weekly review will return. And I am going to get back to belly dancing this week.

if only ....

Last night I watched Michael who cares, he's still a tory Portillo (and yes since you ask, I was still up) being hung in efigy, gassed and nearly asphyxiated. Unfortunately some Hollander saved him from death at the last minute. Actually it was a horrible programme, as Portillo tried to justify his belief in the humane application of the death penalty by investigating the ideal way to kill someone (hypoxia by nitrogen inhalation, it turns out). Still, I did like the bit where the smug bastard told a US death penalty advocate about his wizard wheeze and was a bit taken aback as this man made Portillo look like a wet librul gruaniad reader by explaining that any death penalty method that was painless was pointless. I hate Portillo. He is the epitome of smug tory bastardness. I once went to Halloween Party dressed as him, as he was the scariest most evil thing I could think of.

In other news, I have still been eating breakfast hurrah and will be facing The Scales tomorrow eek.

rare outbreak of efficiency

It is totally unheard of for me to book holidays more than a few weeks in advance. Or at least, it used to be. But now we have to juggle the only times we can go away (when school and university holidays coincide, which is not always) with the facts I want to go to summer school, that this is 'our year' for going to Ireland in the summer (we do it alternate summers), that part of my work programme for the whole year is being set up soon and I have a new colleague with school age kids (= competition for prime holiday dates), decisions had to be made. So this morning I emailed my boss and booked holidays in May (half term), July (summer school + ireland) and October (post-exam holiday).¹

My gran died last year, and left a small amount of money for each of her many grandchildren. We decided to spend ours on a really nice holiday, so we've booked a log cabin in a forest in Scotland. I booked that this morning, too.

OK now I'm off back to re-GTD-ing my office. I've thrown out or filed lots of piles of paper, now I have to crank through the paper I've kept.

1. I realise that if you are American this seems like a lot. Actually I get 6 weeks (ie 30 days if I was full time) paid holidays (vacation) a year, plus 8 days bank holidays. This is generous by UK standards but not unusually so.

big blue zoo

Heh. Louis the giant pacific octopus loves to play with his Mr Potato Head toy. There's a YouTube vid, natch.

Louis is so clever and so beautiful. Spokesmansaid "Louis is well known for his curiosity and intelligence. We've devised a series of puzzles, games and toys to ensure he's getting the mental stimulation he needs but Mr Potato Head is definitely his favourite at the moment,"

I love visiting aquariums but have mixed feelings about them. I hate zoos and aquariums seem the same. Louis may like his toys but I'm sure he rather be out in the big wide ocean playing with the crabs and sharks.

one week in ...

... and I have so far not eaten any pringles at all, let alone for breakfast. All hail Alpen (no added sugar version natch). And and and we have been doing that "getting out in the fresh air" thingmy, variously been to Alderley Edge, Staithes and Teesdale so far this year (combined with visiting far-flung friends). Not walked far at any location but at least it got Owen away from his new Nintendo DS (alright I admit it, it got me away from it too. I am hooked on Zelda and the Phantom Hour Glass. Knitting productivity is suffering).

Oh and of course we saw lovely rocks at these locations, and as there have been insufficient cephalopods lately, here's a belemnite from Staithes (pound coin for scale):

babystep no.1

my resolution this year: to take babysteps to where I want to go. First babystep for weight loss is to eat breakfast every day. I’ve let myself drift into some very bad eating habits over the past few months, one of the worst being not eating breakfast and then bingeing on pringles later. So, every morning I will eat proper breakfast food for breakfast.

See more progress on: lose weight

naughty or nice

We are off early tomorrow morning to catch the ferryboat, and today I shall be mostly packing and shouting "where's my new camera where where where??" at Amazon. I hope you all have a fantabulous holidays xxx

relief

I have my course results at last and passed both (well 3 actually if you include the summer school course); for the geology course and its summer school I got a grade 2 (2:1 equivalent) pass for both and for the nasty course I got a grade 3 (equivalent to desmond). So that is all my Level 2 courses completed, next year I'm off to Level 3 chemistry hurrah eek

all done (nearly)

well I was just about to post about how the Xmas knitting is now all done (I even blocked those scarves) but I've just remembered that O's dalek still needs finishing. Ah well, at least I have everything else done, and in time to wrap and distribute to peeps in England before we set off to spend Christmas in Ireland

he doeth protest too much

I think we've taken O on too many marches, demos and protest events at an impressionable age. When he gets seriously cross with us, he barricades himself in his room and makes protest signs. After an altercation on Saturday, his bedroom door is covered with "Keep Out! No Groanups!" posters, and he also stuck one up in the living room saying "Then be crule!"

look at the beautiful blue cuttlefish

go here and look. S'lovely.

Once the Christmas knitting is out of the way I'm knitting some of Hansigurumi's cephalopoda. Or maybe I'll make some socks (these maybe, or these or these or these or these ...... so many socks, so little knitting time)

Meanwhile, I can't get past Level 48 on the free rice word game, let alone reach Grumblemag's 49. Boo hoo.

my one vanity

Well pretty much my only vanity, my only 'girly-thing', is my hair. I don't do much make up, don't wax or pluck, don't have manicures, don't buy many clothes and certainly don't do shopping-as-leisure activity¹. Even with my hair I am well short of the beauty ideal, rarely blow drying and never going near straighteners. But I do like to buy it nice products and now that R has a job (at least until June), I can afford to go to a good hairdressers and even have it coloured. So that's how I've spent my morning, sitting around knitting and listening to podcasts with bits of foil sticking out all over my head. Now my hair is a lovely festive red colour hurrah.

A conversatin with my lovely hairdresser:
her: so are you ready for Xmas?
me: actually I pretty much am, due to my "if I cna't make it or buy it on Amazon you can't have it" policy
her: oh yes CDs and DVDs make great presents
me says: mmmm / me thinks: books, books make great presents that's what i buy from Amazon, the papery things with words in.

Although, my son is a disappointment to me in the reading department. With a pair of bookworms for parents, I fondly imagined he'd grow up an avid reader too. But no. It's not that he can't read - when he has to he reads fluently and confidently for his age, he just doesn't much want to. There's always something he'd rather be doing. But at last, a breakthrough. I've been reading The Hobbit to him for his bedtime story and he has started reading on for a page or two after he's in bed. It's not the easiest book to read and the pictures are few and far between, but he is enjoying it. What with that and having to decipher the backs of his Yu-gi-oh cards, he may just be seeing the value of reading after all.


1. Wool and book shops excepted, natch

an xmas-makes update

• ammonite for T done
• hat for sis boyf done
• socks for mum done
• golf club covers for dad (not actually sure about this one, dad is incredibly fussy and not sure if he'd use them) idea abandoned, bought him a book instead
• socks for E (on the needles, 1 finished 1 to go)
  
• dalek for O (all the crochet is finished, I just have to do some modifications to incorporate a dalek sound maker before stuffing it)
• hat for R (on the needles, to be knit in seekrit when on train trips etc) I finished this but then fecked it up trying to attach iron-on reflective tape, will try and rescue another time, but for Xmas am now making:
  
• socks for R (on the needles, 1 finished 1 to go)
• felted tea cozies for various peeps (2 made and awaiting felting, more to make if time) abandoned in favour of
  
• cashmerino scarves for various friends all made but need blocking, if I can find time and space
  
• hat for C (to match her scarf)
  
• socks and hat for sis (done, actually I redid the hat as I wasn't happy with the chunky yarn, and redid it in cashmerino. Yes I am in love with cashmerino, a very high maintenance passion)
  

The Great Anniversary Impasse has not yet been resolved.

unlucky 13?

Today is mine and R's 13th anniversary. It has not started well. He 'didn't have time' to get me present or even a card because the poor man had to look after O on his own all weekend, while I was off having such a good time granny-sitting C's frail, elderly, bonkers mamma so C could have a weekend away. Poor R. Just because he knew a week in advance I'd be away all weekend and did somehow manage to find time to spend Saturday afternoon on a demo, how can he be expected to get to the shops too? And having through no fault of his own (all my fault obv) failed to get me anything, obv it is entirely reasonable for him to get up at 6am to do some work without so much as a cuddle for me. No I'm sure I'm just being irrational, getting upset by it.

what is 'normal', anyways?

I am working my way through my Xmas makes list:

• ammonite for T done
• hat for sis boyf done
• socks for mum done
• golf club covers for dad (not actually sure about this one, dad is incredibly fussy and not sure if he'd use them)
• socks for E
• dalek for O (all the crochet is finished, I just have to do some modifications to incorporate a dalek sound maker before stuffing it)
• hat for R (on the needles, to be knit in seekrit when on train trips etc)
• felted tea cozies for various peeps (2 made and awaiting felting, more to make if time)
• hat for C
• socks (done) and hat for sis
  

On Saturday I finished sis's hat in black chunky yarn, then moved onto making the same hat for C but in a light olivey-green aran weight cashmere merino. After a few rounds I felt something wasn't right and stopped work on it. Picked up the work again last night and realised the yarn just didn't want to be a hat, it wanted to be a cute scarf instead.

Perhaps not everyone communes with their yarn but like I say, what's this 'normal' people talk about?

family fitness fun

Because of his having a history of heart probs, R's doctor does annual tests on him. This year's tests showed up something not-quite-right with his liver, probably due to excess fat/cholesterol. While waiting for some scan results, R's doc has told him to lose some weight (R is not very over his ideal weight anyways). So, what with that and me being between-courses, we have decided to resume Family Walks. O is not impressed at being forced to walk one whole mile around the Water Park. Just wait till we start on hills .... actually we have a cunning plan to borrow dogs and/or friends to keep him amused and whine-free.

Other exercise plans

• for R: he's started going for runs (well some walk some run for now) around the park while O's at rugby practice
• for me: me and O have started going to Caribbean aerobics (like normal aerobics except with reggae music, all ages welcome) and I've arranged to go back to belly dancing with a new neighbour, also I'm going to go back to going swimming when O is having his swimming lesson

If I can't get the food right, maybe I can at least get the exercise bit started

I need a rest

I feel like I'm running around running around all the time. This wasn't supposed to happen any more, not now my exams are finished, I was supposed to have lots of free time. But it's been Halloween and O's birthday and a pile of housework and work-work to do and friends and family to see, and now I feel tireder than ever. I've had my LOTR box set for over a week and no chance to watch it yet. Bah.

surplus to requirements

It being half term and my exams being finished, O and I have been away for a few days in a caravan. R couldn't get away from work. C was meant to come with us but in the end she couldn't escape from her various committments. So it was just the two of us. O quickly made friends and from then on only needed me to provide food, dry towels for swimming (indoor pool hurrah) and money for the arcade. Leaving me free to knit, read trashy novels and take the odd stroll down to the sea.

Now I am home alone, O has gone with cubs to Parents Get Lost and R has gone to a conference. The house is a mess yeah right like I am going to spend the weekend cleaning when there's knitting to be done.

3 years down, 2 (or 3) to go

Yay I’ve finished both my exams for this year and fingers crossed have done enough to pass. Now I have to decide whether to do 1 or 2 courses next year. 2 courses this year has been hard, but then I haven’t enjoyed the content. Perhaps 2 courses will be easier when I actually like the content? Plus I have friends who are university lecturers in the relevant field and can help me out if stuck. And if I take only 1 course next year, it takes me an extra year to finish my degree. On the other hand it will obviously be less expensive, less stressful and have less impact on my family if I only do 1 course next year. So I don’t know what to doooooooooooooooooo …........

See more progress on: finish my degree