Buried Under UFOs...

Some people.....

2012-02-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to have a moan....I (a middle aged woman, with a bad back by the way!) have just unloaded boxes of copy paper from a trolly while watched by a young man who was waiting to borrow it!

The web....

2011-11-25T04:39:00.000-08:00

Not the world wide web....I'm talking spiders!

I have a friend who likes to take photos, as I do myself. I wouldn't say either of us are good photographers, but we try.

Last weekend when it was foggy, unbeknownst to each other, we were both out in our gardens taking photos of the spiders webs all covered in the mist. Only one of mine really came out well, but my friend had one right by her door, with a great big spider in it. She emailed me the photo and my comment was, that if the background had been darker it would have been really good but as it was you couldn't really see the web. So she came back to me with another picture....

"I thought I would take it from a different angle" she said.....this is the result....

Is that a scary spider in that tree or what?!
Just to show off, this is mine...no scary spiders though!

Too clever for it's own good...

2011-11-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

I had to buy a new TV a couple of weeks ago. Nothing wrong with that I hear you say, and you're quite right. I got a nice one just the right size at a fairly reasonable price as these things go. Plus I can get £50 cash back from Sony! Plus I no longer have to watch green people like on the old one!

Far too clever for it's own good though this TV. It has a sensor which can tell if there's no movement in the room for a set period it then switches itself to standby. Good idea, I hear you say...saves power...indeed, except that I very often am at the other end of the room on the computer and I'm still listening to it and all of a sudden it all goes silent! Going to have to look at the instructions to find a way of switching that off!

More UFOs...

2011-10-10T09:40:00.001-07:00

I was at the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday. I used to go every year, but have such a lot of stuff now and not as much time to use it that I stopped going so I wouldn't be tempted to buy things unnecessarily (and also to not pay out the extortionate amount of money for entrance fee!). So for several years I've only bought odds and bits when I have specifically needed them to finish a project. But I thought I would go this year for a change. Although before I go on I have to say how much I cursed the North Circular. It's always busy at the best of times, but there were roadworks and the road I usually turn on to to go to Ally Pally was closed completely and there was a detour...so the journey which on a Sunday morning should only have taken about 20 minutes, took me three quarters of an hour!! So I got there about 11am and all the car parks were already full...I had to drive out of the park, which, if you know it, is huge and Ally Pally itself is right at the top of a very very steep hill, the car parks are at the bottom of it! I found a space out on the street not too far away, but too far for me to walk. So I had to get a bus up to the exhibition centre, boy , was the air blue....I was exhaused before I even started!

But....Oh my goodness, how I've missed it! I was very restrained though and didn't buy too much. I've just taken up knitting again, after getting sucked into an offer on Create and Craft TV, so I now have a new little list of UFOs.

I bought: a couple of balls of sparkly yarn for trendy narrow scarves for a couple of friends for Christmas.

a couple of balls of soft cotton and a pattern book for a little cardi for a friend's daughters new baby

How cute is that?

a set of buttons to brighten up an old black cardi that I wear at work all the time

and a couple of other balls of yarn....just because! (At the back of this little cluster) (Edit to say...I've just noticed my empty jam jars in the background....oops!)

Plus I have the yarn I bought from Create and Craft to knit a little cardigan with, which I've already used some of to knit a scarf for a friend's birthday....well....that's my winter taken care of!

I did have to tear myself away from some of the stalls, with fingers twitching and eyes goggling, and all sorts of ideas running round my head! If you've never been to one of these sort of events it is so easy to get carried away, but they are really great. A lot of the crafts that I do I have started by buying a kit from the show for something I've never done before, and just getting hooked!

Continuing the saga of my little baby quilt

2011-07-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Managed to get one completed block. Thought I would complete one after trimming up the huge centre that I'd managed to make. Luckily it came out exactly the right size.

not a very good picture but you get the idea. I went on to make the rest of the centre blocks, so it's now all systems go.

Hmmm...I'm note sure that I like the border fabric now, I don't think it's got the right tone to go the centre fabrics. C'est la vie....can't afford to buy more fabric!

Oh Christmas Tree....

2011-07-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't started early for Christmas!

Year before last I bought a growing Christmas tree in a pot. It seems to have been quite happy in the garden between Christmases and the other day whilst surveying what was going on in my postage stamp size garden I noticed teeny tiny cones starting to form....I was so pleased. (it doesn 't take much!) Here's a picture of the biggest one so far, but I don't think fully formed yet...

and the tree showing some others

GRRR....

2011-06-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

Only just got around to starting sewing the baby's quilt. Merrily joining triangles, and then thought, "Hold on. Let's just make one complete block and make sure it's OK"

I'm doing a block called Windows which I got from Quilters Cache
an excellent source by the way!

I can't find a picture of it, but it's a very simple block with four triangles in the middle making a square and then a border....so there I go four triangles joined, and pressed. First border piece in hand and....o-oh...there's no way this is going to fit it's far too small! To cut a long story short....the triangles should have been cut from 5.25" squares, but my square was 6"! Duh....so I must have totally mismeasured all the squares that I made my triangles from!
I haven't got enough fabric to cut them all again, so I'm going to have to trim them up to the right size...good thing I have plenty of time!!

Quilting is good for you...

2011-06-13T04:48:00.000-07:00

It's official! Have a look at this article in the Daily Mail....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2002862/Why-quilting-uniquely-good-us.html

I don't know why but this reminded me of a friend at work, who doesn't have a creative bone in her body. When I showed her the quilt top I was working on and explained briefly how it was done, looked at it in puzzlement, and simply said "But isn't that very time consuming!" I think she missed the point!

At last....something crafty!

2011-06-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

At last I'm getting round to doing something crafty....it's been such a long time since I did anything remotely involving a needle and thread!

In true form this is another new project not a UFO (roll eyes)

It's going to be a little quilt for my cousins daughter (I can never figure out if this is my second cousin or removed or whatever!) who is expecting her first.

I have the fabric all cut out....

I hope to start piecing it this weekend...I've got plenty of time (famous last words!) as she's not due till August. I don't know if she knows whether it's a boy or a girl so I've put in a bit of everything! I couldn't believe how difficult it was to find suitable fabric for a baby quilt! I went to two shops, one of which was almost an hours drive....I searched on line and in the end I just had to compromise. The only one I found that was babyish was the blue one which has tiny teddies on it.

I am so bad.....

2011-04-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get back to low carb eating without much success. I might have to admit that I am a carboholic! (are there support groups for that!)

I had an awful day food wise yesterday…I had nothing but carbs!

An apple and cinnamon muffin thing for breakfast...biscuits with tea...chips for lunch, then a tube of fruit pastilles, and some more biscuits...I might even have had a cake as well but I’ve blocked that out...then I had pasta in the evening, with veggie tomato sauce and a couple of sausages. The sausages were very low carb so that, and the veggie sauce (which was actually ratatouille) were the day’s only saving grace.

Must try harder, must try harder, must try harder, must try harder....

Yummy....

2011-02-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

Made some great stuffed chicken breasts for dinner today. From Dana Carpenders Low Carb Cookbook. Very simple, if a bit fiddly.

Mix some cream cheese with chopped spring onion.
Butterfly a boneless chicken breast and bash it out a bit so that it's thinner.
Spread the cream cheese on it, and tuck in the sides and roll it up. Wrap it with a couple rashers of streaky bacon.
Recipe says to chill well and then put on the "grill" that the BBq to you and I. I put mine in the oven till cooked through!

It was delish, and I had some leftovers cold with Salad for lunch although I did scrape out the cream cheese. Definitely one to remember...and so simple. I love cooking but I'm getting lazy about it now I'm on my own. Anything with more than a half a dozen ingredients gets the heave-ho!

Aaaargh!!!!(2)

2010-11-19T03:02:00.000-08:00

More awful things that people do in public....this morning there was a woman who walked up to the bus stop, sat down and pulled a cotton bud out of her coat pocket and proceeded to poke about in her ears! Yuuuuck!! Not in public....please!!!

Why is it.....?

2010-11-18T09:47:00.001-08:00

...that when I need to get to work early London Transport conspire to make me late!!?

I left home three quarters of an hour early to get to work half an hour early....and I was still late!!! Grrrr!!

Aaaargh!!!

2010-10-27T04:36:00.000-07:00

Don't some people have horrible habits? Was just on the bus coming to work and had to sit next a woman who was picking at her ear, and then examining her fingernails and cleaning it out and then going back to some more picking.....yuuuck!!! I know we probably all do something like this occasionally....but not in public...please!!
Then she got off and another woman came and sat next to me and she was....sniff, sniff....pause....sniff, sniff....pause....sniff, sniff...get the picture? Every so often the sniffing would be interspersed with a weird little hiccuping sound! Aaargh!! Can you tell I'm not in a very good mood this morning?

The train was delayed because of a faulty train ahead of us...same thing yesterday evening....same thing at least twice last week as well, without the other ad hoc delays during the week. I'm so sick of it!!

OK rant over! Sorry about that!

Who knew....?

2010-09-24T03:29:00.000-07:00

There's a Museum of Butter! Of course, it's in Ireland!!

Apropos of nothing in particular....

2010-07-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would record here my recent health (!) discovery and what I'm doing about it...

I have recently been told that I am diabetic (type 2). I have fairly regular blood tests because I have an underactive thyroid, and had one back in June which showed that my blood glucose was high-ish. Not a huge amount compared with some I'm sure, but what annoyed me was that I have been told in the past that my bg was on the high side of normal, and also my cholesterol as a matter or fact, but no one had suggested doing anything about it...so I didn't. Wish I had now! I had a blood test back in about Oct/Now 09 too which apparently had come back showing the my bg was high but the doctor who had looked at it hadn't followed it up. Unfortunately I didn't ask for the figures (I will next time I go), but I'm guessing that they weren't as high in 09 as they were this time!

Anyway, luckily my result wasn't so high that I have to go on any medication as yet, but I have been told to lose weight and basically to stay away from sugary drinks and a couple of other useless bits of information! (well probably not useless, but things that I will need to know some time down the line, not very helpful at the outset) The only good thing to come out of this was that I was given a little blood glucose monitor by the surgery. So off I went to do some research on what I should eat to reduce my bg.

That was on Friday Jun 18th (almost 5 weeks to the day) I have to confess I had a final fling (as it were) that weekend, and ate everything in sight! But went shopping still without any clear idea as to what I should eat and not having had access to the internet to look anything up as yet. I had a vague notion about avoiding bread and potatoes (starchy carbs generally) as well as sugar, so I bought loads of veg and some fruit, plus obviously a protein element for my meals (all of which I normally eat anyway, by the way).

After being able to do some research I have decided that I should go the low carb route, as I've done low carb in the past and it has worked for me. I would stress here that I am not a die hard Atkins fan....I don't agree with the very strict induction period that they advocate, and what I usually do is cut out starchy carbs and sugars, but I still eat fruit (couldn't live without it especially at this time of year!) So for the first week I lived on salads as it was extremely hot and there was no way I was cooking veggies when I got home from work. But I've gradually learnt more and more and I now occasionally have about 3 ryvita crackers with some pate or cheese, and once a week I've been having a few new potatoes. I have had a couple of slips....usually when I go out to lunch with friends at work or see friends at the weekend, but if I have carby meal or afternoon (if it involves tea and cakes!) I try not to eat anymore carb laden items that day and that seems to be working, but I'm aware that that can only be on an occasional basis.

The upshot of all this is that I have lost 7lbs in weight, as of today, which I'm pleased about, even though I'm sure it won't be enough for the quack next time I see him. I haven't even actually tried to lose weight as yet, the main thing I was thinking about was eating to lower my bg, and the weight loss is a side effect of that....I haven't been buying low fat yogurt or half fat cheese or mayo or anyting like that....I always dislike the idea of what they put into products when they take out the fat element, I'd rather eat smaller amounts of the real thing, if you know what I mean. A real life saver has been Total Greek Yoghurt, mixed with some chopped up fruit which I crush a little bit to release the juices and a little artificial sweetener (my only concession to chemicals!).

I won't say I haven't had cravings, for bread and butter particularly.....my lunches in the past have generally consisted of a bought sandwich and a bar of chocolate (not everyday!) or a salad bought in M&S on my way to work (which by the way all have pasta, or rice, or cous cous in them, unless you buy a bog standard green salad which doesn't have any protein in it!)

Well this turned out longer than I anticipated, but if you're still with me.....Congratulations! and thanks for reading!

Do you know what suddenly popped into my head today....?

2010-05-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

A Coke Float!

Hands up who remembers them! Does anyone still have them?/buy them?/make them?

I can remember my first....it was about 1964, and although we weren't rich, we weren't badly off... and I was on holiday in Italy with my mum and dad. Looking back I know that was very luxurious in those days....considering up to then the only holidays I remember were to Butlins in Clacton. Now that's bringing back memories too....to me and to you I'm guessing...mmm, now I'm going to have to go home and dig out the old photos!

Anyway, I digress. There we were in Italy, in a cafe, mum and dad were having coffee....and at about 12 years old and not very worldly I didn't know what I wanted. The very nice lady in the cafe asked if I liked Coca Cola.....I'm not sure now if I even knew what Coca Cola was. We didn't really have fizzy drinks or go out as a family to the sorts of places where you would have been able to buy them. Anyway the very nice lady said she would make me a special drink, and presented me with a Coke Float.....gosh it was gorgeous! All that frothy coke which froths even more when you mix in the ice cream....and I'm sure that Italian ice cream must have been good even on it's own. In a tall glass with a long spoon I was in heaven! Of course, I insisted on having one every time we went into that cafe, and even made my mum make them when we got home!

Urban birdsong

2010-04-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

I live in a very built up area of East London, and although I am on the outskirts of the borough it isn't very far to the edge of Epping Forest. I have cats, so don't often see birds in my little garden, but there is alway the twittering of the dawn chorus....even as early at 3.30 in the morning...a time when, for some unknown reason I often wake up and can't go back to sleep, so I wander downstairs and sometimes have a cup of tea.

The dawn chorus round here always sounds the same, but this year I've noticed a different little twittering, so I've been on the web to see if I can identify it. I found this great web site from the BBC where you can listen to all our different bird songs. (I can't get a clickable link to show up, but this is the address if you want to copy and paste http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/birdsong.shtml )

Well I think the only one that sounds remotely like it is the Bullfinch. Not a bird I would associate with east London!

Pretty isn't he!?

So now you know.....

2010-04-14T02:37:00.000-07:00

Why one HobNob just
isn’t enough!

Why is it so hard to stop eating just
one biscuit and so easy to finish off
the packet? Speaking to the Daily
Mail, Dr Carel Le Roux (Medicine) says
that fructose,
which is a sugar derived
from fruit, may be to blame. Fructose
is mixed with corn syrup and used in
processed
foods such as fizzy drinks
and biscuits to make
them sweet and last
longer. Fructose gives
us confused messages
about satiety,
explained Dr Le Roux:
“When we eat sugar,
our body releases
insulin
which tells the
brain that we have had enough to eat.
High insulin levels are one of the factors
that dampen the appetite.” He said:
“However, fructose doesn’t trigger
as
much of an insulin response as regular
sugar, so the brain doesn’t get the message
that you are full.”

I've copied this from our staff newsletter (you may or may not know that I work in a university) The quote is from one of our research staff. And there was me thinking that Fructose was "better" than refined sugar. Obviously not! Especially if you have no will power (like me!)

I know I haven't posted in an age.....

2010-03-01T05:04:00.000-08:00

but I am prompted today by the weekend that I've had. Some of it was good and some of it was bad....it's sort of a tale about people I don't see very often, but who I love very much...I'll start with the good...

On Saturday I met up with a friend that I don't see very often....still had her Christmas present to give her! We went to Olympia for the "Who Do You Think You Are" show. Now bearing in mind that both of us work full time, and have other things going on in our lives neither of us devotes much time to Genealogy....in fact I don't think I've done anything on mine since we went to the show last year! I probably had a spurt of energy when I returned and then it went by the board again. I guess this could be considered another one of my UFOs although it's an ongoing thing as you acquire more information.

Anyway, we had a lovely day...as we don't see each other very often, and she lives in Berkshire and I live in London, it's a good excuse to meet up and chat, have coffee, chat, have lunch, chat, have more coffee....are you getting the picture? But we also gleaned some more information about our ancestors, my friend in particular was looking for great grandfather who wasn't appearing on the census for a particular year, she knew he was a soldier, but couldn't figure out why he wasn't on the census even so. She found out that he was in the Gordon Highlanders and now knows where to look for more information. She has traced some of her tree back to the 1700s, but mine is a little more problematic as my family were immigrants around the turn of the 20th Century, and I don't have very much information about where they originated other the country. Much of the problems stemming from the spelling of their surnames. For example I have four documents with 4 different spellings, none of which give me very much information when I search for them. However I also managed to find some info on where to search that I hadn't thought of before so that's another avenue to explore.

Quite a long day...hard on the feet, and all talked out when we left!

Then yesterday, I had to go to the funeral of my favourite cousin. Such a shame, she was 2 years younger than me and had breast cancer about 5 years ago, had a double mastectomy and had been getting on really well then about 6 or 8 months ago it came back elsewhere in her body and last week she lost the fight. So I just wanted to say a few words about the lovely person....she studied and trained as a civil engineer back in the 70s when as you can imagine there were very few women in that industry. She took a lot of stick from builders on the sites that she worked on, but this always turned to admiration. She had a thirst for knowledge, and spoke several languages fluently, and we had something in common in that she was into arts and crafts in a big way. When she took an early retirement from engineering and surveying she really came into her own. She studed interior design, did mosaics among other things and evetually came to stained glass. First at evening classes and then most recently she did a years diploma course at Central St Martins (a very prestigious art college) in Glass and Architecture.

She was also someone I didn't see very often, but at family gatherings she was always the one I was most pleased to see arrive. and she would always make a point to let me know what she was getting up to or to visit any exhibition where there was some of her work showing. The last of these was the end of year show at St Martins last sumnmer.

RIP Jacquie Harris....I shall miss you very much>

A Day At The Races....

2009-11-02T05:44:00.000-08:00

No, not a review of the Marx Brothers film! On Saturday I took my brother out for the day for a treat. It was his 60th birthday last week, and didn't want any fuss or parties, so I thought we should go out for the day. I'd asked him where he wanted to go and he didn't really know, but where we live is very handy for the M11, so we thought we would have a day out in Cambridge and look at the colleges there as we both like old buildings and stuff like that. Come Saturday morning though, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to go to Cambridge, so we were discussing where else was easy to get to up the M11! "Newmarket" he says....then, "not much goes on there though".

"What about the races?" I said. So we looked in the paper and discovered that there was a meeting that day, and it was the last one of the season....so off we went.

Neither of us had been horse racing before, so had no idea what to expect. However I had worked some years ago at a greyhound racing track and it wasn't dissimilar so didn't take long to get in the swing. I thought it was quite expensive to get in though at £10-£16 each, even with his newly acquired OAP concession! But the parking was free!

I really loved it! We soon got in the routine of watching the horses parade in the paddock before deciding which one we wanted to bet on...placing our bets and then going across to the track to wait for the start of the race. You could barely see the starting gate off in the distance, but there was a huge screen by the side of the track so you watch easily until they were coming up to the grandstand. You knew when they were within sight without even seeing them yourself as the cheering started on the far side of the grandstand and washed across the enclosure gradually getting louder and building to a crescendas the horses rushed towards the winning post.

I did my best Eliza Doolittle impersonation "Come on ....come on ....COME ON DOVER MOVE YOUR BLOOMIN ARSE!" If you've never seen it, watch it here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxtbOVWmTM
it's quite long so wizz it along to about 7minutes in if you don't want to wait!

Anyway...we were certainly on a beginners luck winning streak, we had a win or a place on all of the first five races (there were 8 altogether) and then we lost on a couple. so decided to call it a day and left after the seventh to avoid a big crush when the last race had finished. But the only money we laid out for betting was on the first race, and we played with the winnings after that. There was still a bit in the kitty when we left which I gave to my brother.

A thoroughly enjoyable day, the weather was kind to us, and unless it's against your religion or something I would recommend it for a day out, as long as you're not likely to get carried away with the betting you don't have to spend a fortune.

More about my holiday

2009-10-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've put some (well quite a lot) of my pictures in a webshots album here... http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574823110PhSlDK?vhost=outdoors Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get a slideshow on here even though webshots very kindly provide a code that you can copy! (duh!) I seem to have taken a rather large amount of pictures of flowers...even though I've had my digital camera for about 2 years now (or it might even be 3), I'm still fascinated by the fact that you get such good close ups of things like flowers and insects.

Talking about how long I've had my camera reminds me of an incident that happened while I was away....there was me standing on the end of the Cobb on Lyme Regis, when I decided to have my photo taken.....anyone who knows me will know that I absolutely hate to have my picture taken so this was a red letter day! So I gave the camera to my friend to take the picture. She faffed about for a while and complained that she couldn't tell it had actually taken the picture as there was no indication. Well it turned out that she had kept her finger on the button so long that there wasn't one picture of me but NINE!! Something I had no idea that the camera did was that if you keep your finger on the button it just keeps shooting.....Two years I've had that bloomin camera and how many times have I tried to take a picture of bird taking off or a bee on flower and been moaning to myself that by the time you take the second picture it's too late! You should have seen us....standing on the end of the Cobb with nothing but the sea around us, and we were just creased up with laughter at these nine photos of someone who never has her picture taken....ever! And wanting to go back in time to try for all those great shots that you wanted, but never could get!

also on the subject of my not being a very good photographer.....you'll notice that there is a video clip in amongst the pictures....no idea how that happened to get in there.....I do know that my camera will take short videos, but I didn't know at the time that that was switched on...don't know why it was switched on either as I'm pretty sure that I hadn't intended to take any videos. It only looks pretty good, because I took a picture of the swan (thus starting the video (?)) and kept him in my view waiting for him to do something else that might be worthy of a picture (that's why it goes off a bit wonky at the end!) Ah well, one of these days I'll take Geek lessons!#

Just back.....

2009-09-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

...from a lovely week in Dorset. Lyme Regis to be precise, a beautiful part of the country if you've never been.

We stayed in a little cottage in the heart of the town, with the River Lym running right outside the kitchen window at the back on the lower floor. It was on a narrow road that was just big enough for one vehicle to drive down....no room to park though....parking was in a car park up the road, a 5 minutes walk the brochure said...and it was...what they failed to mention was that it was up a bloomin steep hill. One of those where you have bend forward practically at a 90 degree angle in order to get up it, and bend backwards on the way down taking little tiny steps so that your feet don't run away with you!! Oh!...and also stop halfway up to get your breath back and let your knees rest! What with that and the fact that the cottage was on three levels with a steep and narrow staircase, and everywhere else we went seemed to be on a hill....well, I'm abso-bloomin-lutely exhaused!!

I'm putting some photos into a webshots album, so I'll post more details when I've done that and then you can be really bored and look at all my photos!

Got My Grumpy Head On Today...

2009-09-11T06:05:00.000-07:00

I've got my Grumpy Old Woman head on today....just bear with me...ignore me if you will!

Stupid man got on the bus I was on this morning...on his mobile phone, standing in the doorway while two other people got on. Then he starts looking for his travelcard....still talking on the phone! It's not in that pocket, or this pocket...eventually he tells the person on the phone to hang on...then he starts looking in his bags that he's carrying. Meanwhile we are stuck at the bus stop...the driver won't close the doors and move obviously in case the man hasn't actually got a travelcard, but also because in the centre of town they don't collect money, you have to have a travelcard of some sort or buy a voucher at the machine at the bus stop. So there we are stuck while this stupid man looks for his card.....in his bags, in his pockets again, back to the bags, back to the pockets....eventually finding it in a pocket that he's already looked in twice .....insert picture of me rolling eyes heavenward!

What really annoys me about this, is the fact that he must have known he was going to get a bus, he's been standing at the bus stop for however long....why oh why had he not thought an iota about where his ticket is......

This is something that happens quite often...and I hate to say it, but it's usually women, they might have two or even three bags, and spend a good few minutes rummaging about by the door of the bus looking for their card or ticket......why do they put it somewhere where it can't be easily found? Why just dump it in your bag....put it in a pocket for goodness sake either in the bag or in your jacket!

OK rant over....normal service can be resumed!!

PS....I've just read this back, and now thinking how anally retentive it sounds....I think I need to get a life!!

Oh dear....

2009-07-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've started stitching with the thread mentioned below, and....quelle horreur!....it's a totally different shade to the previous ones I've had....right number but obviously the dye lot is totally different!!

OK, now I know you're saying to yourselves....."that's why you should buy enough all at once"....but in all the years I've been stitching, I've never seen such a big difference. I'm going to have work around it though as it was difficult enough trying to find this in the first place.....Grrr!!

At last....

2009-06-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

I'll be able to get on with my cross stitch project....I ran out of one of the threads and haven't been able to get any. Everywhere I tried even on line was out of stock! So, many thanks to Wye Needlecraft. Even though this wasn't on their online shop, a quick phone call, and even though they were busy, they rang me back, confirmed it was in stock, took my details and there it was my letterbox this morning! Yippee!!

Not much going on....

2009-06-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

There's not been much going on with my UFO, since the last time I posted. I have been trying to have a clear out at home and that's slow going as well. I have so many jobs that need doing indoors and so much stuff in the way, that I decided that I would rent one of those self storage thingys and clear out all the clutter so that instead of moving everything from pillar to post and back again it would all be out of the house and then I can get all the decorating and small repairs done at once.

My original plan was to do one room at a time, but I think that if I'm getting a carpenter (for example) then it's best to get him to do all the carpenter type jobs at once, rather than in bits and pieces. As well as it being easier if as he moves from room to room I don't have to constantly be clearing the way for him.

This will be an ongoing thing for a few months over the summer and I don't have much in the way of savings and may have to wait for each pay day to roll round in order to get on to the next bit! I'm hoping though that once the initial clear out has been done I might find some time for a bit of cross stitch! Luckily my brother is offering to organise the actual works for me and do the decorating!!

Wish me luck!!

2009-05-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Hey....I've got a follower! Thanks Angie!!

At last...something to do with UFOs!!

2009-04-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I got on with my current project. I managed at last to find out where I had put it....you know....so that I would know where it was!! It took me a while to figure out where I was up to and to get back into the swing of cross stitching (it's been a while since I did any).

I've noticed though that I'm having more trouble seeing the "holes" than I used to....obviously that's old age galloping up on me! I might have to succumb to a pair of specs for close work, something I've never needed in the past even though I've worn them for distance since I was about 13 or 14.

Anyway here's a pic of the work in progress, as you can see it is almost finished.....

Yummy little tea room I've discovered......

2009-03-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

I was in Greenwich yesterday with a couple of friends. One of them was from out of town, but she had been doing her homework and had spotted a write up in the Times (I think) for a cafe in the area which did a good afternnon tea. So off we went to Greenwich....toiled round the shops and the market....spent shed loads of money (it was hellish! ;o) )

About 2pm my friend dragged this bit of paper out of her bag and proceeded to point us in the direction of refreshment. Well, what a hidden gem it was when we eventually found it!
Royal Teas is a tiny little cafe off the beaten track. Quite unprepossessing from the outside. There's couple of plastic tables with chairs outside, and inside the furniture is a hotch potch of thing that have seen better days. The menu is small, but everything sounded delicious. It says they make everything on the premises, and I believe it. The prices are reasonable, and the tea was real leaf tea, in a pot, with a strainer....and china cups and saucers!!

We all settled for the afternoon tea, which was a smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, a warm scone with jam and clotted cream, a piece of cake and tea. the waiter was lovely and very patient while we made adjustments to what was wanted....the vegetarian said could she just have the cucumber and cream cheese in her sandwich.....said that was fine would she like avocado instead. The coffee drinker said coffee instead tea, and she doesn't "do" cream, so she just wanted the cake and not the scone! Personally I was going the whole hog!! (He liked me for b eing "normal"....we all laughed at that....he doesn;t know me!!)

After the scones, myother friend and I decided we probably couldn't manage a piece of cake as well , after seeing the size of the slices going past, so we had a piece between us, and again the waiter couldn't have been more helpful. We had refills of tea and coffee, and the bill was adjusted accordingly for what we hadn't had, and it all came to the princely sum of £5.50 each!! We were very impressed! We all said it was the best afternoon tea we could remember having. The other customers seemed to be local people, we even spotted a couple of actors, but middle aged, no brain cells women that we are we couldn't remember either of their name!! But we decided that this was indeed a very good find, and definitely on the itinerary for future visits to Greenwich....especially if you go there first and have breakfast before hitting the shopsor the sights!

Silly little thing I wanted to share....

2009-02-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Someone gave me a desk calendar for Christmas....you know one of those with a witty saying or thought on each page?

Todays saying is...."It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens that, whatever you say to them, they aways purr"....well it made smile this morning anyway!!

Bloomin' Cats.....

2009-01-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

One of my little darlings decided to wake me up this morning....padding about on the bed and sticking her nose in my face! I looked at the clock and saw it was 6.15....so I thought I might as well get up as I wanted to go to the loo anyway....

Went to the loo (sorry...too much information!), back in the bedroom for my dressing gown.....looked at the clock again and it wasn't 6.15 it was *!"%* 3,30!!!! Bloomin' Cats!!!!

This is she.....butter wouldn't melt eh.......

2009-01-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

At last I've found a few minutes to get on here.....this is not being a very successful ufo blog so far, so I promise to try harder in this new year. Since I last posted I've been a little poorly....nothing serious.....sciatica to start with some weeks before Christmas, and then a horrendous cough all over the holidays. So I just haven't been in the mood for anything very much. I've been very busy at work since I've been back as well, but I'm on top of that now...LOL....famous last words!!

It's been pelting with rain here this morning, but it's brightening up now and I poked about in the garden for about 5 minutes. It was lovely to see a few crocuses pushing through the soil. Also some new shoots coming on other plants as well. Most noticeably (sp?) on the hydrangea and what I only know as an ice plant.

Just had some breakfast and I'm off to do some shopping soon to get some sensible food stuffs, as I seem to have run out of such a lot.........

At it again...........

2008-10-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

I think I've got a new obsession....(where's the eye rolling emoticon when you need it?!).

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something in the dreaded "cupboard under the stairs" when I came across a box of blank greetings cards. I used to make quite a lot of cross stitch cards using the cards with a cut out aperture (I'm sure you guys know what I mean) As with most things the novelty wore off and they were all put in a box in the cupboard. Some of them even had bits of cross stitch with them, where they hadn't been finished. Anyway, I thought I would finish off those and see if I could sell them and I've managed to put a few up in an Etsy shop.

While this was going on, I happened across one those shopping channels on Freeview which was having a Craft weekend, and I was sucked into the cardmaking.....I didn't buy anything though (aren't you proud of my self control?) but I was fascinated by the selection of different papers and the demos of how easy it is to make the cards, and the fact that you can get CDs and print the papers yourself. At around the same time my friend and I went out for the afternoon to a Craft Village near Billericay in Essex and I was open mouthed at some of the papercraft stuff available....luckily no one caught me drooling! I still didn't buy anything (still proud of me?.....you won't be!) but with all these thoughts of hand made cards rushing around in my head......I just had to go and buy a load of bits and pieces (hanging my head in shame......Sorry!!)

So I still haven't made any inroads into my UFOs (there's a pattern here isn't there?) and I now have loads more stuff in my stash......There no hope for me......

Still nothing to do with my UFOs.....

2008-09-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

but I wanted to mention the fact that I just love the window displays in Harvey Nicholls in Knightsbridge....I go past on the bus every morning on my way to work. Their displays are always different....in all the years I've been going past I don't think I've ever seen anything repeated....I have the utmost admiration for whoever it is that comes up with the ideas!

The designs are very often a bit off the wall to say the least. The latest one unveiled this week, and they've just got two displays that cover all the windows on each side of the main entrance. Now I don't get much of a look some mornings so it takes a while to take it all in, but one of the displays looks to be a full sized (or almost) replica of a skeleton of a Brontosaurus (I think the design team must have had a field trip to the Natural History Museum up the road)....and here's the good bit it seems to be entirely made out of coat hangers!! If you happen to be in the area, I would say it's worth a look.

I have to say they defeat their object sometimes, because I could never tell you what clothes are on display, as I'm too busy looking at the props!! Still it brightens my journey a little bit!

Oh dear......

2008-09-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

I still haven't got around to doing anything more about my UFOs......I've been really busy at work, and soooooo tired in the evenings it's all I can do to rustle up something quick and easy to eat in front of the tv and flop into bed! The weekends get away from me, they just wizz by and before I know where I am it's Monday again and off to work......the words "vicious" and "circle" spring to mind!

Still, cooking's a craft isn't it? And I do like to cook when I have the inclination. As I've got older I tend to go for recipes that are quick and simple, although I will pull the stops out for an occasional feast! BTW if you have a look at my little list of blogs that I visit, (incomplete list I hasten to add in case any of my cheffie friends aren't on there yet! :o) ) you will see where my priorities are!! Feel free to visit their world, they are all lovely ladies that I have met through Recipezaar which is a great place to find new recipes as well as friends.

I made some lovely pasta last night, with a sauce that was simply some cherry tomatoes (from my one plant in the garden!) cut in half and cooked with a finely chopped garlic clove in a little olive oil. Heat the oil first and then stir in the tomatoes and garlic. Give it a good stir, cover and cook gently for about 10 minutes, then mash lightly with the back of a spoon. Stir it into freshly cooked pasta, with a handful of torn basil leaves (I'm loving my fresh basil in the garden too!) and sprinkle with parmesan......yummy!!!

2008-08-14T04:32:00.000-07:00

I can see this is going to be a very occasional blog......doesn't time fly?

Anyway, this is what I'm working on at the moment....I haven't had a chance to take a photo of my actual work so this is just a pic from the Mirabilia website.......

Recently dragged out of hibernation, as I haven't touched it for about two years!! (Shame on me). I'm about three quarters of the way through it now, but it's slow going and I really am having trouble finding the time to spend on it amongst all the other stuff that goes on in life!

One of my intentions is to sort out all my UFOs and see exactly what there is, but it's a scary prospect!

Be Gentle With Me.....

2008-07-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a virgin blogger......

I've no idea whether anyone will read this, or if you will all think it's just the ravings of middle aged grumpy old woman.....but here goes.

For those of you crafters out there who empathise with the header on here, I will be trying to work my way through a growing pile of UFOs that threaten to engulf my house. Over the years I've probably tried almost everything, and I know you will all recognise the obsessive compulsiveness of starting a new hobby and having to have all the equipment that you need and more materials than you can shake a stick at...or even hope to use if you live to be 120! Then you move on and are left with a box of stuff and various unfinished projects. Is it all sounding familiar? I hope so because I'd hate to think that I'm alone in this!

Back later to show you what I'm working on at the moment....