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

praise be to the cephalapoda

Had my first exam yesterday. Part of the practical section is to recognise a 'mystery fossil' and hurrah it was a piece of an ammonite (at least I hope it was). I like to think the cephalogods have smiled on me for my devotion to them and sent me one of their kind to help in my hour of need. There were several other questions where I at least had A Clue what they were on about (although there were a couple of I Have No Feckin Idea questions too).

Now I have to go and lock myself in the library for the weekend to cram for the Monday exam for the vile course. Ick.

Happy Octopus Day

In honour of the First Unofficial International Cephalopod Awareness Day, I shall be casting on an ammonite (for my long-suffering earth science tutor)



But that will have to be this evening, after I have spent another day in the library revising for my exams - the first one is this friday aaaargh

meanwhile, please to enjoy some cuttlefish p0rn

a dream come true

I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I can't quite believe, after all the years of hoping and waiting, it's finally happened. Oh yes. ISIHAC is being recorded in Manchester AND I'VE GOT A TICKET. I'm so so excited. I even think (fingers crossed) Jeremy Hardy might be on the panel. Be still my heart.

rugby's special

I might not have mentioned it before but I do like rugby, specifically union. It's often perceived as being a very middle-class game and in some parts of England it is. On some levels I think I don't like rugby players but actually what I don't like are tossers England players like this

Many rugby players are actually not bad, in fact all the men in my life are rugby players. In Scotland and Wales (and parts of England and Ireland) it's not just public school rugger-buggers who play. My dad played; as a kid I spent most of my Saturday afternoons on the touchline and one of my greatest heroes was a rugby player. R played all through school. And now O has started playing. We decided to try him on rugby instead of gymnastics. He's been doing gymn lessons for a couple of years now and not enjoying it as much as he used to, plus to be honest he's not really built for it (prop forward yes, gymnast no), also we think it would be good for him to do a team sport.

So it's off down the local rugby club to see if he likes mini-rugby. He went for the first time last Sunday and liked it. R liked it nearly as much, coaching from the touchline, I can see him turning into a rugby dad. Which is good, if it gets me out of cold wet winter mornings on the touchline. I'll settle for knitting in front of the world cup on the telly. And England scored nul points yesterday, even better.

oh bum

I have made little more progress with the big book since last time I blogged, and the fsking assignment has to be in tomorrow. Must grit teeth. Must finish book. Must do assignment. Must not watch tv. Must not knit. Must not open stash. Must not think about sock wars.


-----BEGIN KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 1.1

KEL++ Exp++ SPM+>+ Steel++ Bam+++ Pl- Addi? Syn- Nov-- Cot++ Wool+++ Lux++ Hemp? Bam+ Stash++ Scale+(+) Fin-- Ent? FI+ Int- Tex++ Lace+ Felt++ Flat Circ DPN+ Swatch- KIP++ Blog+ EZ? FO++ WIP+ GaugeF+ S? DK+ W+ B- ALT Cr+++ Sp?

------END KNITTER'S GEEK CODE BLOCK------

breathing space

I have two out of 3 of my assignments out of the way, and only a feck off big book to read before I get the third done. I dutifully trekked off to the library this morning to get on with it. But when I got there it turned out I'd left at home the vital dvd that I needed to work through at the same time. I took this as a sign I should go home, dump my stuff, go to the park and knit socks instead.

just one of the things I don't like ..

... when people don't say 'thanks'. At work, people email us with problems and we email back with information and advice that helps them do their job better; about one in ten of them emails back to say thanks. And at home, this week I've sent things to a couple of people (one something I knew someone needed, and one at the person's request and I had to go out of my way to get it) and neither has picked up the phone or emailed to say they've arrived or say thanks. It's not that I want people to grovel with gratitude, just a quick email saying 'ta' is all I ask.