One Week To Go

Well we're about 2/3 packed. And most of that has been done by me. DH has absolutely no sense of urgency and I know that in his head there's plenty of time left which is why he lazes around and I pack boxes...

To be fair, I spent a large part of Sunday packing up my books whilst he did the parental duties but it's the evenings where I'm packing 5-6 boxes a night and he's not that are starting to bug me. So I've rebelled and demanded that he packs tonight while I sit on my bum stitching and watching the TV.

To be honest I'm so anal that I prefer to be the one that does the bulk of the packing because then I know where everything is. All I'm asking him to be responsible for is his stuff. I tell you they're not wrong when they say Moving House is right up there with Death and Divorce as the most stressful things life can throw at you - there's a fair chance this house move could result in either of the above!

Having said that I guess I could be accused of not supporting DH in his early forays into packing and so actively encouraged his lack of motivation. The following is a conversation we had on the phone about three weeks ago while I was at my parents:

DH - I've packed the first box!
Me - Cool
DH - Some of the stuff from the office. I've worked out the best way to label the boxes is to use my spray glue and then stick some paper on it.
Me - Okaaaaaaaay
DH - So I put the label on and wrote Office on it
Me - But we don't have an office in the new house
DH - Yes I know but I figured that we could tell the removal guys that when it says office we really mean Bedroom 3.
Me - Here's a radical idea, how about you don't write office on the box but write bedroom 3 instead?
DH - Okay but I'll have to glue another label on
Me - Whatever you think best dear...

Men!

Not only that he decided his next attempt would be the DVDs. It took him almost an hour to pack one box as he had to work out the best way to get the most DVDs in one box...

Still we're slowly but surely getting there, I'm certainly not about to panic that there's too much to do and not enough time.

I've phoned all the utility companies, re-arranged furniture deliveries that were ordered before our completion date changed, organised the family menu for the next week so we take as little food as possible (and I can get the oven cleaned at the weekend) and also organised the carpet cleaners to come in to the new house on the tuesday after we move.

Lia's settled down again which is good. Poor thing has even less space to play in than normal as there's an awful lot of boxes around. Still, most evenings it's home, dinner, bath, In The Night Garden (CBeebies) and bed. Once we get past this weekend it won't be too bad for her as next weekend she'll have a huge amount of space to run around in. Fingers crossed for some good weather so we can take her out to the park a lot.

DH's parents have finally booked their flights to come over and see us. They won't be staying with us, they've booked a hotel, and they'll only be around for five days, one of which I'll be working, so fingers crossed we manage a visit without a row! We're going to take them to the Berkshire County Show which will be something completely different for them. I'm also thinking we could go to Legoland on the only other full day they're with us that I'll be home. That way we should manage to keep them occupied.

Still it all depends on the weather I guess.

Anyway, this weekend I'm seeing a couple of friends which will be a nice break and I'm sure next week will pass in a flash.

Finally - we've Exchanged!

Last minute on Friday. Literally. The cut off time is 4.30pm and I think ours went through at 4.25pm!

We are all set to be moving a week on Friday (24th) which is the friday before a Bank Holiday here in the UK - the particular Bank Holiday that one of the biggest music festivals in the country is held at the town we live in...

I'm pretty sure we'll be okay, the festival is the other side of the town and, apart from a couple of hours panic when my parents (our child care) couldn't find a hotel, it's better than I'd hoped for.

We're now about half way with the packing. We got rid of some of our unwanted furniture this weekend and then promptly spent an absolute fortune in IKEA replacing it LOL. We went with a list of items we wanted but ended up buying a new dining table and desk as well. It was a bit of a nightmare getting it all in the car but one of DH's top skills is packing so after three loads and unloads we got it all in.

We're using this move to replace a lot of the old furniture that I've had for years or we bought cheaply when we had a lot less spare cash. We're also 'inheriting' a few things from my Mum as she's moving in three months so apart from our beds, Lia's furniture and some shelves it's all going to be new. I even found a great unit at IKEA specifically for having my stitching stuff in - DH hates it lying around (I'm terrible at leaving it on the backs of chairs and stuff).

So it's going to be a manic 10 days. Poor Lia seems to be a bit unsettled. We moved a futon out of her room on Saturday and she's had two terrible nights sleep since then (I'm running on reserve power after about four hours sleep last night). Hopefully she'll settle down quickly after we move but it's going to be hell trying to move and cope with not much sleep if she keeps this up for the intervening time.

Ho Hum

I like to be in control. I'm a very organised person. I write lists. I have a great memory for dates, times, appointments, etc. I'm very rarely late.

To put it another way, I'm not the kind of person who should ever consider moving house...

We're still waiting for our Completion date to be confirmed. We're hoping it's the 13th - yes, just one week from today - which is the date that I thought everyone was working towards but late on Friday our sellers solicitor stated the 28th. This morning I spoke to our Solicitor who has faxed over letters to the other two referencing 13th and now I have to wait to see if it is agreed.

Half my life is packed into boxes. The house is completely upside down. I have removal men booked for the 13th (the fourth date I've given them). I have furniture ordered that will be delivered before the end of the month (to either address but obviously it would be better to have it delivered straight to the new house) and I have no idea when I'm likely to be moving.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I hate my life being out of my control. I hate walking round boxes, constantly trying to remember where things are. Realising something is packed that I need. Not having a clue how to schedule things because nothing is certain.

We could be moving in a weeks time and I haven't even begun to let the utility companies know. Or the post office. Or the milkman.

To add to all of that Lia has been car sick several times over the last couple of weeks. At least I'm almost certain she's being car sick as she's absolutely fine one minute, chucks up and is then absolutely fine again. I've been cleaning her up and continuing to nursery where she's shown no further symptoms.

It's only happened in the mornings (stop start traffic) so I'm hoping it's not too bad but given my ability to throw up in stationary vehicles (yes my travel sickness is that bad) I'm certain that's the issue. I'm going to move her car seat into the front of the car tonight to see if that helps.

On a less stressful subject I've been back in the family fold twice in the last fortnight and so have had plenty of cuddles with my Great Niece who is gorgeous - here's a pic to prove it...



Mother and baby are fine although my niece is still learning how to live on absolutely no sleep LOL.

My poor sister has had a tough few weeks. She had a big birthday at the beginning of July where she officially became a pensioner, she then became a Grandmother for the first time nine days later and then her mother died five days after the baby was born.

I should say that she's my half sister so we have the same Dad but different mothers (mine is still very much alive and kicking). That also explains the huge age gap as my sister is 24 years older than me (so no, I'm not anywhere close to becoming a pensioner LOL). Still this weekend was quite an emotional one as my sister and I are very close and I spent quite some time with her.

While we're on cute babies here's a pic of my Greek Nephew Lefty...



As you can see he too is thriving. I've yet to meet him in person and won't until sometime next year now as the house move has dragged on so long that we're not going to be out in Greece this year. DH's parents should be visiting us next month as soon as we're settled in the new house.

Stitching wise I've been getting on with Bent Creek's Big Zipper project but haven't taken a WIP picture. I also finished up Luisa's birth sampler:



I may never stitch another Tatty Teddy design as the back stitching is truly horrible! However, my Niece loved it so it was worth the effort. I stithed it on a piece of 'Sparkling Fairytale from Sparklies
and it's as charted apart from I used an Old Willow Stitchery thread for the text and corners to brighten it up.

All of my stash is packed now apart from four not-too-large projects that are my focus pieces between now and being settled in the new house. I'm itching to start Sleigh Ride again but the chart is packed deep in a box somewhere so I'll just have to be patient.

Finally for Even-Star, the bookmarkers are from a Sue Hawkins kit which you can order from her website. Once I'd mastered the kit I just bought more Perle No 5 and kept going...

I Should Moan Here More Often!

Shortly after posting that last update I had an email from our Seller saying that she had instructed her Solicitor to go as fast as possible so we can meet the 6th August Completion date.

Then this morning at 5am my Great Niece Luisa Marie was born weighing 8 pounds 1 and a half ounces. Mother and baby doing just fine.

A Newsy kid of post

In which the news is that nothing much is happening...

House move - still nothing happening. Our seller is the elusive woman and all we're waiting for is her to get on with things. We're ready to Exchange with our buyer but we're waiting and waiting and waiting for the paperwork from our seller. I've emailed her again today to chase but she's not responding to us, the estate agent or her solicitor so there's only so much we can do.

DH is talking about starting to look at other properties but I'm hanging on in there for a while as we've invested quite a bit of cash in this sale and I don't want to just give up.

It's disheartening though as I'd hoped we would be in the house by now - we've already missed two potential moving dates and the third (suggested by our seller) is likely to be missed too.

Stitching - I'm going great guns on documenting my stash (the link to my stash blog can be found towards the top of the right hand menu) and it's certainly focussing me on staying on the wagon!

I've spent a lot of time making bookmarkers from a Sue Hawkins kit. I made a load last year and gave them to all the women that came to our wedding - my English SIL asked me to make some more as her friends had been admiring them so I ended up making another 19! Here's a pic of 15 of them

and here's a picture of one so you can see how they look not all tangled up!

I've also just completed Bent Creek's Snowbound stitched on a piece of the sparkly blue fabric I dyed at the Weekend GTG. I changed the colour for the snow from DMC 644 to WDW Whitewash but other than that it's as charted. Apologies for the truly awful picture, I'll try and get a better one during daylight hours

I'm currently stitching on a Tatty Teddy birth sampler for my Great Niece which is almost done - I'm just doing the backstitching which, as anyone out there who has done one of these desgins will know, is just awful!

The baby is now officially 9 days late and my Niece is showing no signs of producing anytime soon. She's had one 'stretch and sweep' and is due for another on friday if nothing has happened and an induction on Monday if the baby is still not willing to come and meet us. My poor niece is not only huge and fed up but July is birthay month in our family and she's desperately hoping that the baby doesn't end up sharing a birthday. She's missed her Mum's, her sister's is today, my brother (her Uncle, obviously) is next tuesday and her Dad is the 27th. Her BIL's is also today.

It's a family joke that we should all avoid having babies born in July or December but my niece obviously just forgot how to count. For me I have my Sister, Brother, Younger Niece, two BILs, one Step Sister and Two Nephews in July as well as the children ot two of my close friends. And of course Great-Niece whenever she decides to appear. December is DH, Elder Niece, English SIL, Step Sister and Two BILs.

I'm now determined that I'm going to have my next one in July just because it's a family tradition LOL.

In other less interesting news we bought new sofas (so we need to get in the new house by the end of September!) and we're looking to find a desk - we think we've found one but as we've only seen it in a catalogue we're going to see it IRL this weekend.

I'm eagerly awaiting the final Harry Potter book this weekend. I read the first book soon after it came out (but not soon enough to have a first edition to sell for loads of money) so was a fan before all the hype. I'm only really determined to read it asap because of all the spoilers that will be floating around. DH has promised to do childcare for the weekend (luckily he's not a reader) so I can immerse myself.

We saw the latest film last weekend and really enjoyed it. DH hasn't read the books and hasn't liked the films that much up until now but was really positive about this one. I've read a lot of comments about how much was missed out or changed but there is never, ever going to be a film of a book that is able to stick totally to the text so for me, as long as the essence of the story is the same, then the two should be enjoyed as completely separate entities. If you spend all your time looking for what's missing you're going to enjoy it less and less.

So that's about all the news from here. At the moment we're treading water until the house move is confirmed so I'm getting on with stitching as much as I can as I know there'll be much more to take up my time once that really gets moving.

A Pretty Picture

We were at a friends wedding at the weekend and my little tomboy was all dressed up!

The Good, The Bad and the Downright Frustrating...

The Good:

I love tennis. This fortnight of the year is always bliss for me as the BBC have great coverage of Wimbledon with their interactive service and DH knows that he has no chance of watching anything else. Not only that the IBM scoreboard that can be accessed through the Wimbledon Site is even better this year so even when I'm at work I can keep up with games in real time.

The Bad:

The weather. God it's awful weather here in England and whilst we thankfully live away from the worst of it, the news is full of awful pictures and stories and four people have died due to floods so far.

The Downright Frustrating:

Solicitors and Estate Agents! We've ground to a halt with our house move due to our Sellers Solicitor not having answered a request from our Solicitor first made on 1st June! We've been held back for four weeks for the want of one response - everything else is in place. Now it looks like we won't be moving till mid August, which is so frustrating. I've asked the Estate Agents to put our desired moving date of 16th July to the other two parties but given our seller needs a rocket up her a*se to do anything I can't see her agreeing.

Damn, damn, damn...

In other news I've started cataloguing my stash with the idea that seeing exactly what I have written down will scare me to not fall off the wagon. It's working so far as I'm shocked at the amount of fabric and threads I have (I've had a list of projects for a while so that's not too much of a surprise).

One final piece of niceness for this post is that the wonderful ladies who joined me on the Stitching Weekend were incredibly generous in their thanks (I did the organising) and I got four Flower Fairy Lili of the Valley Cross Stitch Kits and a £25 gift voucher for Lekker Threads!!! To say I was stunned is an understatement. I've said it elsewhere but it's worth saying again, thank you to all of your for your generosity. I used the voucher to buy four more charts and some red threads for a redwork design I want to start so my projects list has increased yet again (but at least I'm not out of pocket)

A Cracking Good Weekend

The weekend before last 17 women descended on a group of holiday cottages on the Staffs / Derby border called Dove Farm Cottages for a long weekend of stitching and nattering at it was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.

We're all members of an online community and have met up before in smaller groups but we took a gamble that we could all survive a weekend in each other's company and it was a good gamble because we had a fantastic time.

Firstly the cottages are amazing. Clean, well equiped and in the middle of the most gorgeous countryside you can imagine. Not only that they have alpacas, one of whom was kind enough to have a baby shortly before we arrived - if you go to the website I linked to above and click to read their blog you'll see some pictures of Cocoa. We had various plans to steal him but we figured as we want to go back next year we'd better leave him behind.

As well as forays to Wye Needlecraft and a local Patchwork shop Kate from Sparklies did us proud with a floss / fabric dyeing class and I can safely say I haven't had that much fun for years. I regressed to childhood and behaved like a two year old - the immersion dyeing was good but the sponge dyeing was terrific fun. And yes, I'll admit to it being me that named a fabric colour 'basically bonkers' but in my defense Kate used the description for me first so she should take the ultimate blame.

It was late nights, too much food and not much stitching but we shared WIPs and HDs, wish lists grew and Sparklies sold about half it's stock. I did manage a small HD (pic to follow) but generally I was laughing too much to be able to stitch - 'I can't get it in the hole' was the recurring shout over the three days and yes, we were talking about needles...

One of the great things about the cottages is they come with a Seminar room big enough to house 18 people (the maximum who can stay in the three cottages) so we were able to all sit together and chat and stitch. Having said that the weather was wonderful for us and we did spend a lot of time sitting outdoors.

Anyway, we're booked again for next year and I can't wait. I'm currently trying to work out how to schedule a pregnancy around the chosen weekend LOL

Where does the time go?

On Friday 1st June my baby was 2!

Not only that the previous Sunday was our first wedding anniversary.

Here's some pics of the birthday girl:

Meeting the horses

Jumping with Mama and Grandad

I'm so grown up!

We've actually had a week away from home - four days in Brussels and then we spent some time with my family and celebrated Lia's birthday with them before heading home and having friends to stay for a couple of days. All in all I'm glad of the rest now I'm back to work LOL.

Brussels was great fun. I spent too much money but as it's more than likely our only holiday this year I don't care. Plus the budgeting will be tight after we move so I thought I'd make the most of the gorgeous toy shops and kitchen shops we found before I have to feel guilty about spending money. Lia did very well out of us, we found two amazing toy shops where I could have bought one of everything but limited myself to a set of plates, bowls and a cup, a doll, a wooden shape puzzle, a set of stackable boxes and a small dolls house. Yes I know that's a lot but most of it has been put away for her to have between now and Christmas. Plus I used some money that the Greek relatives sent for her birthday so it wasn't all from us.

She also got spoilt with presents from others. Greek Yaya sent a set of wooden animal dominoes - not like the game, animal shaped pieces that you line up in a row and knock over. I'll take a picture when we get them home (we left most of the stuff at my parents), my parents gave money for new curtains and furniture for her new room, my sister and niece bought several sets of Early Learning Centre HappyLand toys and other relatives gave money.

I also bought a few things in Brussels for our new kitchen as it was hard not to. I know we've not exchanged contracts yet but we're still heading in the right direction and I'm so excited about the space I'll have that I want to fill it with pretty new things.

Talking of the house move, the surveys have been done and all is progressing as it should although our Vendor seems to like to take her time over things. She's had two jobs - engage a solicitor and fill out some forms. Both have taken her two weeks (and that's consecutive, so four weeks in total). However, now that's done we should be able to gee up the Solicitors to get on with the sale. Our hopeful completion date is now 16th July

Coincidentally, not only has my brother already moved house this year my Mother and Step-Father are now going to be moving too. They're buying a new-build flat not far from their current house but as well as downsizing to a more managable size for two septagenarians they'll be right next to a bus route instead of a mile up a country lane.

The only downside to them moving is that now my Mother is attempting to get rid of all her junk (sorry, unwanted items) onto me. I made DH promise not to say yes to anything while we were there and I've told her she'll have to wait until we're in the house before I commit to having anything. Don't get me wrong, there's things I'm more than happy to have but until we actually live in the house we won't know for sure what we need.

I'm starting to worry about packing. How come we manage to accumulate so much junk? I'm quite glad we'll be budgeting hard in the new house as I need to use up the Stash I have before getting more (both stitching and papercraft) and I'll have to stop bringing more into the house. I'll also be gaining a new hobby of gardening so there'll be less time to devote to my other hobbies, not more.

We had several long talks about what we want from the next few years and we've got three long-term goals:

1) Pay off as much extra on the mortgage as we can
2) Do a loft conversion in the new house to make a fourth bedroom
3) Have the holiday of a lifetime to Kuala Lumpur, Oz and Disneyland

And of course, baby number two is the next work in progress after the house move.

We're lucky in that we should be able to knock several years off our mortgage by overpaying. We can't afford for me to now work right now but with me working we have spare for overpayment. I'm hoping that I may be able to drop down to part time at some point so packing extra cash into the mortgage now is a good plan. The good thing about us overpaying the mortgage is that the money comes off the capital and interest but sits separately so we can get at it if we need to.

As for the loft conversion, we need to get it priced up and then work out how long it'll take us to afford it. It's not necessary straight away but we'd like to be able to do it in around five years (cue laughter!)

Finally, the holiday is something that will be done when the kids are old enough to appreciate it so again, we're looking six or seven years in the future at least. I've always wanted to go to Oz (and was close to booking a ticket before finding out I was expecting Lia) and DH loved Kuala Lumpur when he was there in 2005 and wants to go back and take me. I added Disneyland as, if we're going that far, we may as well come back via LA and really finish off the kid's holiday in style

So, with all of those things PLUS a second baby there'll be very little spare cash floating round the Family V. This means I'm going to bow out of the 50 project challenge and go full time onto The Wagon. I've talked about it before but now it's essential. I'll just have to use birthdays and christmas for stash acquisition.

So that's you caught up with us. I'm away on a jaunt this weekend leaving DH to look after Lia for four days - it's a weekend GTG of stitchers (around 20 of us) which should be great fun. After that I'm back down staying with my parents as I'm booked on a four day course in London and they will have Lia for the days. It's useful as it means DH gets a break after exhausting himself as a sole parent.

We certainly don't hang around...

As I mentioned in my last post we have decided to move house. It's something we've been talking about for quite a while now but have been putting off for no real reason so we decided we should just go for it as there seemed to be a lot of 'signs' telling us we should.

So the last 10 days has been:

Thursday 3rd May - Decide to move
Friday 4th May - I go to a couple of Estate Agents to arrange them to come round and value the house. I am given the particulars of a house.
Saturday 5th May - The house is valued and we are left to decide what we want to do. We view the house we have the particulars of and offer the asking price. We then put ours on the market
Tuesday 8th May - Our offer is accepted. Estate Agents get the details of our house together to send out
Wednesday 9th May - A sold sign goes up on our 'new house' and a For Sale sign goes on ours. We have two weeks grace to sell otherwise the vendor can put their house back on the market
Thursday 10th May - The particulars of our house are mailshot out
Friday 11th May - two viewings of our house, two offers. I also have two quotes from removal companies
Saturday 12th May - we arrange our mortgage and accept one of the offers on our house

Monday 14th May - I resist all urges to collapse in a heap as there's so much to organise still...

Not bad for 10 days work! We only viewed the one house and it's so perfectly what we want that we didn't bother with anything else. It has a huge lounge and kitchen downstairs and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The garden is 150ft long and there's enough parking in the garage and next to the house for about six cars. Oh and it's next door to a Primary School.

Hopefully today the Surveyors will call and we can organise that asap. There's no chain so we should be able to move quickly - we're hoping the last week of June as that fits perfectly in our schedule.

We've already started the great 'pre-moving-de-junking', for people living in a tiny house with no storage space we certainly have a huge amount of junk. DH is doing a bootfair this weekend and then there's charity shops and freecycling for stuff we can't sell. We're also using this opportunity to get rid of a lot of furniture and the guy buying our house is interested in some of it so that's great (and nice and simple).

I have to say, the idea of packing is daunting to say the least. We have a huge amount of loft space in the new house but not many built in cupboards so we're having to think quite carefully about what we are going to have where.

So that's us. People on the move. You can expect many boring updates regarding the status of everything for the next few weeks as I'm incredibly excited about it all and have a need to share LOL.

Cut Thru Igloo HD

Just a quick post for now to show off this finish:



It's a bit manic at our end as we've decided to move house and things are going way quicker than we expected so I'm rushed off my feet with a million and one things to think about.

Totally Spoiled

Last Thursday was my birthday and I've been totally spoiled for the last four days.

I try not to work on my birthday so I booked Thurs and Friday off to make it a nice long weekend. No such thing as a lie in when you have a toddler so I was up early Thursday morning opening cards before DH went off to work. Lia and I then headed to my parents as we'd arranged for them to have Lia for the day on Saturday and I wanted to make sure she was settled in before leaving her for the day.

My Mum was good enough to buy me one of the new Michael Powell designs - Greek Village 1 which I had asked for as well as giving me some cash to spend in London. I also saw lots of family and had a nice, if quiet, day.

The main excitement was all arranged for Saturday. DH and I met in London in the morning and the first thing we did was go on one of the London Walks - we've done some of these in the past and really enjoyed them so it was nice to do our first since becoming parents. The weather on Saturday was absolutely perfect - lovely and warm for walking about but not too hot that you just want to flake out. After the walk we went to a food market near London Bridge which was amazing, the smells were enough to fill you up. Unfortunately for us we couldn't buy anything as we didn't want to carry it around London for the rest of the day but we did have a good lunch...

We then walked back from London Bridge to Covent Garden (crossing over on the Millenium Footbridge) which was quite a walk! Covent Garden Bead Shop was the destination to spend not only the cash my Mother had given me but also some of the money DH's Mother gave too (although DH wouldn't let me spend all of his mother's gift there as he'd never get her to understand how I could spend all that money on beads...)

We continued to walk around that area for about two hours - stopping for a drink in a nice, amazingly uncrowded, wine bar and then heading to get another part of my birthday gift from DH's Mother - a case for my new Ipod which was itself my gift from DH). I know I moan about my in-laws but they're good with gifts - they just send cash and I can get whatever I want!

We were booked to see Mary Poppins on Saturday evening so we were wandering around near the theatre looking for a place to eat and squabbling over what we wanted when we found a lovely little Moroccan restaurant just around the corner from the theatre. The food was very reasonably priced (£53 for both of us - three courses, wine and coffee) and it was really good. No I can't remember the name but DH got their card so I'll post it later as I'd definitely recommend it.

The final treat of the day was Mary Poppins which was amazing. I will admit that by this point we were flagging a bit given the amount of walking we'd done but the energy of the show made it impossible for us to not join in with the clapping and shouting.

So that was birthday treat and it was truly a wonderful day.

Sunday we had to drive home from my parents (a 2 hour drive) but we went to a French Market that was in town before we left and got some great food for our lunch (a picnic in the park). Last night all three of us were totally exhausted so we just ignored the housework that needed to be done and vegged out in front of the TV (well DH and I, Lia went to bed).

In addition to the above my other birthday gifts were:

Michael Powell's Cottage Garden 2 (the last part of my gift from MIL)

The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag, Grandma's Thread Minder, Alyssum Scissor Pocket and Spring Fever - all of which are shown here.

Teresa Wentzler's Sun Dragon

Michael Powell's Snow Series - Church Window Chart (you can get the charts from US shops but UK shops only have the kits)

A Mon Ami Pierre's Nine Red

All that and I still have some money from my FIL to spend but I'm going to a LNS this saturday so that will probably vanish there.

See, the post title is true - I have been totally spoiled!

Babies, babies everywhere!

As you know from previous posts, I'm an Auntie to a little Greek nephew, well finally here's a picture:

You can tell he's Greek - he has sideburns already!

I'm also an 'Auntie' to another new baby who arrived on 11th April weighing 7lb 7oz and is a sister for my Godson. Here she is at just two days old:

And just so he's not left out here's the proud big brother who is two and a half:

I've had a wonderful weekend - I was due to go 'Up North' (ok Oldham - but that's very north for me LOL) for a Stitchers GTG this Saturday (14th April) which coincided nicely with my Best Mate (who lives up that way) being due to produce her baby on the 7th April. However the little tyke had other ideas and wasn't ready to come out - I was beginning to worry she'd not bother coming out to see me so I gave her a good talking to about how sensible it is to keep on the right side of Auntie Joy-Joy and she obviously took it to heart and popped out just in time.

I'm quite seriously broody so spending the weekend cuddling a brand new baby hasn't helped me get over it at all LOL.

Back to the stitching GTG - Rach was kind enough to open up her house for a few of us to get together and natter - I even managed a few stitches (but not that many). It was a great day and I finally got to meet another Stitchers little boy who, whilst still technically a baby at seven months old is rather a big boy! Still, I got some cuddles and that was the main thing.

Oh and thanks to Rach's DH who did us proud - cups of tea were served, he laid out lunch for us and was even brave enough to come out to the pub for some dinner at the end of the day (I think the lure of beer was the deciding factor).

Before I sign off I just wanted to say thanks for the nice comments about my Peacock Chair (here and on the BB's) and to say to those worried about the finishing, it's not that bad - honest! I'm a real novice when it comes to finishing things so if I can do it, anyone can.

A Peacock Chair

So here's my finished Peacock Chair in all its glory. I've spent most of this Easter weekend doing the finishing which has really helped me learn patience as there's an awful lot of work to do to finish this off!

Anyway, no more waffle, here's the pictures

The finished stitching:

The first part of the finishing:

All the pieces completed:

The finished chair from the front:

The finished chair from the back:

Single Parenting

DH left for ten days in Greece yesterday so I'm single parenting at the moment. This is only the second time I've done it for more than a day or two and the last time Lia was only five months old so it's a while ago.

I wasn't bothered about it as I'm more than capable of looking after her on my own, but what has caught me out is her constant requests for Daddy. He left last night before her bed time so when I put her to bed she kept asking for him and this morning when I'd gotten her dressed she ran into our room calling for him and then looking confused when he wasn't in the bed.

She's too little to understand if I try to explain he'll be gone for a while so I guess I'm going to have to deal with her looking for him every day. Thankfully we're off in a couple of days to spend Easter with my family so that should distract her a bit. She doesn't seem bothered that he's not around - I think it bothers me listening to her more.

So what else is going on? Well the sleeping in a real bed is having mixed success - we've got a stairgate across her door and she tends to get out of bed and lie down in the doorway next to the gate. A couple of times now we've found her there asleep and have put her back in bed - the first time I did what any normal parent would do and took photos before moving her. LOL

Oh and that's Gung-Gah she's got with her...

She doesn't cry, she just gets up and sits by the door. We deal with it by going up and telling her to get back in bed (which she does) and then leaving. Nine times out of ten she's up and out of bed again within seconds but there's no way we're going to sit with her to keep her in the bed as that will just result in a whole different set of problems.

When she's really tired she stays put but as she's still napping during the day she's often not quite tired enough. It's difficult as she still needs a daytime nap so I guess we'll just keep on till she learns. At least she's not wailing and complaining.

In other news my nephew is home with his parents and seems to be doing well. I still haven't seen a photo but DH has promised to send some asap now he's out there. I've spoken to my SIL a couple of times and she seems to be adjusting to life as a new Mum. I think she's finding it hard because she's used to there being a yes or no answer to everything (she's a lawyer) and the one thing you realise when you're a parent is that there is never a right or a wrong way to do things, you just have to make a decision as to what is best for you and the baby and go with it.

Still, he's less than two weeks old so there's plenty of time for her to adjust.

I'm still waiting on news of two more babies. One was due on 30th March and one is due 7th April. The latter is my godson's baby bro or sis and I'm so excited - somehow it is much more fun when you don't know what's coming out.

In stitching news, I'm working on Cat's Whiskers Peacock Chair. The kit arrived on Friday and I spent Friday night gridding the fabric and making a start on the stitching. I love this design and my new found confidence for finishing things is going to be tested to the max with this one.

I have two other Cat's Whiskers projects that I want to do too - Grandma's Thread Minder and The Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag and there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything!

I've made good progress on Dimensions' Sleigh Ride:

Unfortunately all my big WIPs - Sleigh Ride, Noah's Sub and Cut Thru Igloo - have loads of blue so I get bored with them quite quickly. Still, at least I don't feel bad about focussing on the Cat's Whiskers designs instead

What a Week!

I spoke too soon at the end of my last post...

By monday night I was feeling awful - DH had been in bed all day and I collapsed once I'd got Lia settled. I didn't get up again for two days during which I was throwing up, shivering, coughing and generally being quite seriously unwell. All three of us were bad - we had a 'who has the highest temperature' competition going on for two days (I won, I peaked at 39.1) - and I was tempted to hang a plague flag on the door.

Poor DH had to parent for two days as I couldn't stand up. The only difference between us was that he could stand so even though he felt as lousy he drew the short straw. My Mum did offer to come over but I didn't want to risk her catching it as she's only recently got over something similar herself and she certainly didn't need it again.

So we muddled through and we're all now sporting terrific coughs that the doctor says there's nothing can be done for we just have to wait for them to get better.

In the midst of all this my SIL had her baby. We got a call Thursday morning to say things had kicked off so we spent the day waiting for news which finally came at 8.20pm. They knew they were expecting a boy so no surprises there but he was nine days early.

Unfortunately he hasn't been well and has been in Intensive Care having oxygen and being fed through a tube. News is a bit sketchy (I think Greek doctors tell a lot less) but apparently it's just due to the trauma of being born - he's been doing better and better though and is due to come out of ICU tomorrow and should be allowed home then. SIL is okay, very sore as she has quite a lot of stitches but obviously worried to death about her son.

The whole birth was turned into a bit of a circus by all accounts. When DH spoke to his mother on Thursday he reported back that there were 15 people at the hospital including friends and their boyfriends/girlfriends, SIL's Boss and his wife and the company taxi driver! Apparently this report was wildly inaccurate as there was actually around 30 people there all milling about.

I would have sent the lot of them packing - Lia's birth involved me and DH only and that's how I wanted it - I didn't even tell my lot that I was being induced. Poor SIL had to go through birth and then the following trauma with an audience of 30 (okay they weren't in the room but they were getting blow by blow updates) and none of them got to see the baby anyway as he was whipped down to ICU.

As I said, he is getting better - the grandparents all got to visit him for the first time yesterday - so hopefully we'll get some pics soon.

What a Weekend!

Looking back my weekend started Thursday evening approximately five minutes drive from our house when Lia threw up in the car.

Actually 'threw up' is not the best description, 'erupted' is a much better word to give you some idea of what happened - the poor thing was covered in it and we were on a dual carriageway with nowhere to stop. Of course she was screaming, the smell was awful and all I had in the car were some wet wipes (usually god's gift to mothers but in this case barely adequate...) so I decided just to get home and deal with it there.

Thankfully DH was also just arriving home so as I parked I opened the car window and shouted for assistance. He removed Lia and the car seat as one and disappeared into the house while I examined the car for any minute vomit particles that would lurk and stink the car out at the first opportunity.

He had stripped her naked by the time I got in and was washing her in the sink so I was left to scrape the muck of clothes and car seat (it's so much fun being a mother!) Thankfully the car seat cover is washable so the whole thing went in the machine and is now looking as good as new.

Lia's never normally sick whilst travelling (I pay minute attention to this as I have chronic travelsickness that is legendary in my family) so I wasn't sure what the cause of the eruption might be as she seemed fine, ate her dinner and slept through the night. Friday the stomach upset proper started (and I was home alone during the day). It's been a while since I've had to deal with nappies quite that bad and in such volume!

By Saturday morning she was running a fever and refusing any food offered. I decided to go ahead with getting her into her new bed as I figured being a bit under the weather she'd just be happy to sleep and stay put no matter where she was. She was actually quite perky most of the time, playing, chatting, etc she just wasn't eating and someone had turned a tap on in her nose so there was a constant battle with tissues. One of my pet hates is snotty nosed kids and I don't care how much she hates it her nose is wiped at the first sign of snot.

Anyway we got the bed up and she seemed really happy with it. Here's a couple of pics of her and Q testing it out.

We have a guard rail that is on the side now to stop her rolling out but she quickly discovered how to exit the bed herself. Thankfully she seems happy enough not to get out once she's in for the night. She did get herself up after her nap yesterday and this morning she was up and calling me too. So, fingers crossed it continues to be okay, we've got a portable stair gate that we now put across the door to her room as our stairs are incredibly steep and end at a laminate floor. She can come down them but I don't want her to attempt them when sleepy or in the dark.

Anyway she was quite pathetic and drained by yesterday morning - understandably given the lack of food compared to the vomit and nappies - so I spent mother's day morning with a little limpit attached to me just wanting to be cuddled (not that I objected). She's got such a good knack of finding me gifts I really love (amazing in one so young) so I got a book token, a copy of the latest Take That single and this Bothy Threads cross stitch kit:

I love this design (I don't know why) and can't wait to get started on it but I've told myself I have to have one more finish before I can start something new. I also love book tokens as a gift - there's nothing I like more than browsing around a book shop deciding how to spend my token. I've loved them since I was a kid - I think it's the fact that you *have* to spend a token whereas if people give you money your parents put pressure on you to save it. Anyway, there's nothing immediate on my wish list right now so I'll probably save it to buy the final Harry Potter book in July.

To end off my weekend Lia was much better by yesterday evening (although she still has a nasty cough) but DH was lying shivering on the sofa complaining of having the flu. He's home from work today but Lia's in nursery and I'm at work with a sore throat...

Stitching finishes

I've had two stitching finishes in the last few days. Apologies for the slightly dark pics - I'll have to start taking pics during the day rather than under artificial light.

Anyway the first finish is The Cat's Whiskers' Red Desert Scissor Pocket (limited edition release from last year). It's only my second project that requires 'extra' finishing and I'm pleased that I managed to produce something I'm proud of. My real problem seems to be that I'm too impatient to take time to be careful and neat but I'm working on it.

So here's the front:

And here's the back:

I stitched it on an anonymous piece of 28ct linen from my stash and it came with the Dinky Dyes threads required. My only change was to not stitch the date but to use my initials instead.

My second finish was a design featured in WOXS magazine a couple of months ago. I'm so useless at keeping track of things that I can't tell you which issue or which designer but it's perfect as a birthday present for my sister.

So as you can see hobby wise I've been quite busy lately. I'm also up to six books read so far this year which is great. Shame I'm not so diligent about the housework...

Lia's new bedding did arrive on Monday so that's what we'll be doing this weekend - I'll post a few pics when it's all put together and report on how she's settling in with her new sleeping arrangements.

I'm also planning on tidying up the garden as the weather here is absolutely gorgeous. Thankfully we had the garden paved last year so 'tidying it up' involves a bit of sweeping up and probably painting the fence. I was sad to have the garden paved but with other hobbies and Lia something had to give and that was it. Hopefully the next house will have a bigger garden and I'll be inspired to get back to that hobby too.

Blooming Typical

So I waited in all day yesterday just in case the bed linen for Lia's new bed arrived and it didn't. Today I had to go out and of course, missed the delivery, so I have to go pick it up on Monday.

I'm so disappointed as I was looking forward to getting it all sorted this weekend and now I'll have to wait another week. Okay, it's not much in the grand scheme of things but I was excited and to make it worse we have the bed, the mattress, the quilt, the pillow and the guard rail but none of it is any use without the linen...

We'll have to wait till next Saturday as we have to take the cot apart and attempt to store it somewhere (probably under our bed once we decide where the rubbish that's there can be moved to), make the new bed, move the stair gates and organise her room. Still, we didn't have any other plans for next week so I guess we've now got something to fill our time.

Here's a picture of Lia reading to Neh-Naw the Cat.

I've had a couple of suggestions as to where the names might come from but as you can now see maybe Neh-Naw is Lia speak for 'Freaky Coloured Cat'! We got him in Greece (he's actually Neh-Naw mark 2 as Neh-Naw 1 got washed a few too many times and is now consigned to the back of our wardrobe for emergency use only). I haven't taken a pic of Gung-Gah or Q yet but Gung-Gah is also Greek and quite freaky (in a blue way), Q is a good quality M&S Teddy though (which may explain his lack of syllables, very English and reserved).

Oh and no, Neh-Naw and Gung-Gah aren't close to the Greek words for cat and dog either so that doesn't solve the mystery.

All Grown Up!

Isn't it amazing how time flies?

I spent this weekend buying my baby girl her first bed! She's 21 months old now and too big for the cot at Grandma's and travel cots so if we want to go anywhere she has to learn to sleep in a proper bed.

We were going to IKEA until I discovered their matress sizes didn't seem to be standard so I ended up getting this one from Mothercare together with a mattress. I did look at bedding from Mothercare too but I find them so uninspiring and bland that I didn't bother.

I love bright colours so I went to this place instead - Vertbaudet - and got some gorgeous bedding. All in all i spent around £220 to get bed, mattress, guard rail, quilt, pillow, four fitted sheets, two duvet covers and two pillow cases. Luckily my Mum was on hand to put some money towards the cost as Lia's birthday present and I kept some christmas money for this too.

I try and get things that are not specifically girlie just in case the next baby turns out to be a boy. I went for the jungle bedding and some plain orange / yellow bedding. Much of what we already have in her room has jungle animals on so it'll fit right in.

So now I'm eagerly awaiting the deliveries and hoping it will all come by the end of this week so we can get her bedroom organised. DH is worried about the added work of keeping her in bed but I figure if she gets up, she gets up, she has to learn how to sleep in a proper bed at some point. Plus, given that I am spending Easter with her at my parents and we're going to Brussels at the end of May we need to get her used to beds as soon as we can. I look upon all this as the next fun stage but I know there'll be nights when we find her asleep on the floor and we'll more than likely get morning visitations now.

I do recommend Verbaudet as they have some gorgeous things, especially furniture. I can't wait till we get in our new house and have more room to give her a proper bedroom instead of the bedroom/storage/spare room she's in now.

Talking of Grandma, my Mum is chuffed because Lia has given her a name. As Lia is her first grandchild she spent most of my pregnancy trying to decide what she wanted to be called and I think she settled on Gran. I started out calling her Grandma because I was confused as to what she wanted and thought that was what she had settled on. Anyway, Lia has now christened her 'Ma Ma' and Mum's over the moon, telling the whole world that as Lia chose that name that's the one she's going to use.

It's very sweet of couse, both the name and my Mum's excitement, but I tend to spoil the moment by telling people that Lia named her toy cat first. LOL. In fact she has three toys that sleep in her cot and they now all have their own names that she's chosen - she carefully introduces them to us all the time. 'Neh-Naw' is her cat. She also uses this word as a generic word for all animals but specifically referenced it is the cat. 'Gung-gah' is the dog and 'Q' is the bear. I don't know why poor old Q missed out on a second syllable but he's definitely just Q.

I also have no idea where these names came from, she knows that Neh-Naw is a cat (she tells me so regularly) but I can't see where the names might have derived from. Let's face it Ma-Ma is clearly her version of Grandma but it takes some twisted logic to get 'Gung-gah' from 'Dog'...

I'm working to a 'Calvin and Hobbes' theory. For those of you who don't know this cartoon strip it's a small boy (Calvin) who has a toy tiger (Hobbes) and whenever they are alone together Hobbes is real. Given the intense conversations Lia has with Neh-Naw, Gung-Gah and Q I'm inclined to believe they're real.

A Pic Filled Update

We're internet-free at home at the moment and have been since before Christmas. Changing our ISP seemed like a good idea at the time but we're certainly regretting it now. We chose Talk Talk (and yes we did know about the complaints) because they have a great package - £20 a month is line rental, 8mb broadband and unlimited anytime local, national and international phonecalls.

The hook for us was the international calls. DH calls home a lot. Granted, not as much as his mother calls us (two to three calls a day every day) but enough that the deal will be saving us around £40 a month.

We did know the horror stories about Talk Talk so we weren't expecting a speedy services but they certainly are moving at a snail's pace. Thankfully we can connect using DH's new mobile as a modem for only £1 a connection (up to 24hrs) so I now have limited access at home. The current ETA for broadband being back is 1st March so finger's crossed.

So, what's been happening with us? Well Lia is bigger and chattier. She seems to be doubling her vocabulary daily at the moment. Current favourite words are: Mummy (finally!), cat, bubbles, shoes, coat, chair, spoon, milk, toast, oh dear and oh no. Her animal impressions have extended to include snakes, dogs, sheep and monkeys and reading is much more interactive now she's pointing out the things she knows.

We've also caught her counting to five (okay, missing out one but definitely two, three, four and five) and she's taken to telling me when she's going to poo! All in all my little girl is growing up fast. She had her first haircut on friday - I did it and it's not as bad as I thought it might be. She looks like she has a mop-top mind you but my hairdresser advised keeping it quite short so it has a chance to thicken up rather than grow all wispy. It's also easier to manage.

So here's a couple of pics:

Pre Hair Cut

Post Hair Cut

Our Little Sailor!

As for me, no internet has meant more stitching time so I'm up to 13 finishes on my 50 project challenge and have made good progress on some larger WIPs. I'm on my fifth book of the year so I'm doing well with my reading challenge (but not so well keeping my reading blog up to date!) And I've also lost half a stone so my weight loss is going well too.

My latest stitching project was a biscornu. I'd never attempted anything like this before but Karen has had a hand in starting a Finishing Blog and I was inspired to give it a go. I'm pleased with my first attempt and have a bit more confidence to try new techniques now.

Here's the finished article - it's a freebie pattern and I used fabric, floss, beads and buttons from my stash so it really was a great addition to my challenge.

In other stitching news here's a couple of finishes and a couple of WIPs. Just to prove I do actually stitch. LOL

Lili of the Valley's 'Make a Wish' (I used Silkweaver Intrigue 28ct linen)

A Mill Hill Snowman Banner

Sleigh Ride WIP

Cut Thru Igloo WIP

So that's about all from me for now I guess. Next month sees the much heralded arrival of my Greek nephew so everything is focused on that right now. DH is looking for a new job (because he's bored rigid at the old one) and there's changes coming at my job (but nobody knows exactly what) but hopefully both of us will be more settled by the middle of the year so we can start thinking about moving house and baby number two...

Some stitching finishes

Here's a couple of stitching finishes. The snowman banner is from Rico Designs and was my last finish of 2006. The wedding sampler is a Michael Powell design and was my first finish of 2007.

For new readers of my blog, I'm taking part in the 50 project challenge where I have to complete 50 craft projects from my current stash before I am allowed to buy any more. These two are finishes 9 and 10 and I completed number 11 yesterday but don't have a picture as yet.

New Year, New Start

So Happy New Year. Better late than never I guess :)

I'm not really big on New Year's resolutions but I have two goals for 2007 which are:

1. Stop talking and get acting on weight loss. I'm more determined than ever and have lost 3lb in the last week which is great. I've pretty much totally cut out soft drinks and am drinking much more water, I'm having an actimel a day which is really making a difference and no chocolate, crisps, biscuits or cake.

2. Spend less money. Given we want to move house and have another baby we need to curb our spending big time so I'm taking control of the finances and really counting pennies.

As well as those I shall be sticking to my 50 Project Stash challenge and extending that to cover papercraft stash and books as those are my only other expenditures really.

I'm also going to try and read more. My goal is 20 books this year which I'm ashamed to say is realistic for my current lifestyle. Ashamed because I'm more than capable of reading 20 books in a month (and have done so on many occasions) but given Lia, work, housework and other hobbies I'm putting 20 as a goal and any more as a bonus.

Junk clearance is also still large on the agenda. We did so well last year and I'm much better at moving things on once I've finished with them than I was. This year I'm hoping it's clothes that get more organised as I've got lots of hardly worn stuff in smaller sizes so as I lose weight, old clothes will go and I've got a new wardrobe ready and waiting.

Picture organisation. I want to make two scrapbooks - one of our wedding and one of Lia's first year so I will be making a start on those too.

I also want us to get away a couple of times just the three of us. A long weekend break somewhere in England and a long weekend somewhere in Europe (other than Greece). Given my SIL will be getting married (again) sometime this year we will be in Greece for a couple of weeks at some point but I'm not going to Greece more than once this year.

So what does 2007 hold for the Family V? Well, it's another baby boom year with the first one already having made an entrance on 6th January and five more being due between now and July. One of those babies will make me an Aunt for the first time at the end of March (DH's Sis) and one will make me a Great Aunt at the beginning of July!!! An Aunt and a Great Aunt in the same year!

The thing is that my half sister is 24 years older than me so my neice who is pregnant is only three years younger than me. Even spookier my Sis and DH's Mum were born two months apart, they both had daughters within a month of each other and now those daughters are due to give birth within three months of each other. Isn't it weird how these things come about?

Work wise I will be learning many more skills this year which can only be a good thing. It also means I will be using my brain much more which again, can only be a good thing. I tend to coast a lot at work as much is boring and repetitive so it'll be good to have something to focus on.

I would also like to think that we'll be at least trying to make baby 2 by the end of the year and also will have moved house. I won't be overly disappointed if that's not the case but I am determined that both of those will happen before the end of 2008 if we decide to put them off for a while.

So that's the start of 2007 for me. I'll be putting more links into my sidebar as I'll be keeping track of the books I read as well as my Cross Stitch projects and, as always there'll be plenty of news about Lia (who is doing really well at the moment which is great)

New Year, New Look

Okay, I'm playing so I may still tweak a bit but I fancied a bit of a change...

BTW I seem to have lost my stats counter so I'm off to hunt for it now.

Four fights and a wedding...

...otherwise known as 'My Greek Holidays Part One'.

So we managed to get out of England on the day that not many other people were so successful. For the non-English readers this was because fog pretty much closed Heathrow Airport for several days, the first of which was the Wednesday we left for Greece. I still have no idea why our flight was one of the lucky ones but given that around 50,000 people were not so lucky as over 300 flights were cancelled that day I thank whichever deity that was watching over us. We were however 2 hours delayed so we arrived in Athens at 3.15am local time - bleary eyed but relieved to have survived a four hour flight with an 18 month old that did not sleep at all!

We had stuffed our luggage to capacity with food, toys, gifts and clothing so had arranged that the first morning we were there we would go to a supermarket to pick up nappies, toiletries, baby milk etc. We duly set off with FIL as our taxi service to a large supermarket on one of the busiest roads in Athens. FIL insisted on carrying Lia around the store, a task that also involved feeding her from the shelves, encouraging her to throw fruit on the floor and buying her a toy that she picked up because she cried when it was taken away from her. Because FIL was paying for the toy he went to a different check out than us and then DH had to go and get some fruit weighed so I was busy packing the shopping. Once DH had returned and we had paid I was walking away from the check outs when Lia called me. I turned to find her alone on a display pallet near the automatic doors next to piles of electric heaters and wood that were taller than her. FIL was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

Yes, that's right, he had PUT MY CHILD DOWN IN A BUSY SUPERMARKET ENTRANCE NEXT TO THE AUTOMATIC DOORS THAT OPENED ON A HUGELY BUSY ROAD AND HAD WALKED AWAY FROM HER!!!!!

If I live till I'm 150 I'll never get over the fear I felt when I realised what he'd done. DH told him off but said 'my father's a bit absent minded'. Absent minded? Okay, forgetting to pick her up from school is absent minded, putting her down and walking away from her is irresponsible, stupid and so far away from 'a bit absent minded' it's not true.

Needless to say, I've been a bit more jumpy about her whereabouts than normal.

So, fight number one. This was between DH and myself on Christmas Eve because I refused to go out that evening anywhere that wasn't walking distance from the appartment. There were two reasons for this, one I wasn't feeling great as I'd had an infection in the run up to flying to Greece (at one point medical advice was not to fly and I was taking 17 pills a day to fight the symptoms of dizziness and sickness) and two, Lia had not been sleeping well as she was teething. Basically DH's sister had said we should have dinner together that evening and I said fine as long as we were close by so I could get back quickly and without ruining anyone else's evening.

This shouldn't have been a problem as there are numerous places to eat but DH hadn't bothered to sort anything so when his sis called it ended up with us not being able to agree anything and not going out at all. This all happened when DH and I were in a taxi so we arrived in downtown Athens with me in tears and him shouting that he was 'ashamed' to tell his sister that I was unwell again and couldn't go out. Apparently he has to use this excuse all the time and it bothers him so when I asked him the last time he had to use it he said 'I don't remember but I'll ask my sister as she remembers every time'. I told him to go stick his head back up his butt and if she had any issue with me she should open her mouth and tell me, not him. After about an hour of this I told him I'd fly home with Lia and he could spend the rest of the trip doing whatever the hell he liked without being ashamed of me.

The end of it was him saying that he was in the wrong because he couldn't cope with sorting out and booking a restaurant. It was an argument about nothing really but it gave plenty of Greeks some entertainment as it was conducted in public...

SIL is blooming at six months pregnant. Unfortunately my hopes of her baby being called Achilles so we don't have to use the name have been dashed as it will be Leftaris after the other Grandfather. Still I amused myself by telling SIL that I intend to call the child Lefty and that 'Lefty the Greek' sounds like he should be running an East End gang. DH's grandmother says she will call the baby Teari (as in tear paper) but SIL doesn't like that either - Leftaris is the shortened version of Eleftharios so Leftaris it will be apparently. Poor child.

The second argument was on Boxing Day between MIL and SIL. I have no idea what it was about but it woke Lia and also provided a wonderful atmosphere for the evening's meal out as the pair of them were sulking big time.

Argument three was the next day between MIL and FIL as she found out that he had two mobile phones. Of course, there is only one reason why a man would have two mobile phones and that is 100% the reason why my FIL has them. Obviously many of you will feel that MIL is justified in shouting at him and normally I'd be totally on the side of the person being cheated on but I'd challenge anybody to be married to my MIL and not look for a bit of light relief on the side.

As for the wedding. SIL got married in white between Christmas and New Year as, if they aren't married, the baby is officially illegitimate and the father has to fill in some legal papers to acknowledge he was the sperm donor. It is possible to arrange a church wedding in double quick time and get the whole thing over with in one go (I know because DH's cousin did it in October as her baby is due just after SIL's) but no, SIL has to have two weddings (date of number 2 still to be arranged) so we all get dressed up (I show how important I'm taking the whole situation by wearing exactly the same outfit to her wedding as I did to my own) and drive for half an hour to the mayor's office for a ceremony that lasted about 30 seconds. Honestly, I turned to pick up Lia and everyone started applauding because they were married.

For me the only interesting part of the whole thing was that the groom wore jeans just as he had done to my wedding and Lia's christening so at least it proves that was nothing personal, he just has no idea of what is acceptable dress.

So finally the fourth argument. I'm afraid to say that I started this one just this morning as I was sitting inside while FIL and DH's Grandmother took Lia onto the balcony. I have no issue with this, what I do have an issue with is the pair of them standing around and encouraging her to throw all the fruit on the floor. I stormed out, picked her up and shouted at them at which point DH came out and I explained that I found it hard to believe that two adults could honestly consider that this was acceptable behaviour. Apparently I expect too much from them to think they might now how to bring up children...

In other news, Lia now has 16 teeth, is shaking hands with people when she meets them, is saying daddy quite distinctly (instead of Dadda), occasionally managing Mummy, can moo like a cow, meow like a cat and roar like a lion (okay a very small cute lion but a lion nonetheless) and is coming out with new words all the time - 'oh dear' and 'oh no' being the favourites. She's also dancing an awful lot and we have some great video footage.

That's all for now, I'm on dial up and my time is limited. Thankfully we're home on the 4th and life can settle back down to what we laughingly call normality. I'll update you with the fun parts of the trip then.

Normal Service is now resumed...

Okay, I'm over my irritated period now. At least I think I am.

I would like to say that, other than B from work and Anthea Turner, none of the comments I made in my last post were directed at anyone in particular. If anyone who reads this blog now thinks that I'm secretly irritated by them please don't. If someone irritates me I'm not good at hiding it and I don't bother interacting with them IRL or on the www.

So, what's new with me? Well we had our first official 'accident that involves at trip to casualty' yesterday. Lia was having a bit of a strop, threw her head back and smacked it square on the corner of a shelf. There was blood and everything! It was an almighty bang that scared the life out of me and DH. It's not a huge cut and she's fine but we spent 3 hours at the hospital waiting to get her checked out. They put some glue over the cut and we have orders not to get it wet for five days.

Thankfully, apart from a huge bump, she's fine with it and back at nursery today. I did think about keeping her home but she has way more fun at nursery and I'm completely out of holiday days so would have to take unpaid leave. I am jumping every time the phone rings though.

Our trip plans are coming along nicely. We have a huge pile of food to take with us - I'm pretty sure one whole suitcase will be full just with that. I'm also obsessing about the size of hand luggage as normally we're the family that everyone hates and have about 8 bags to take on board. Obviously with the new regulations we can't so I've bought a huge bag for all of Lia's stuff for the flight - it is pretty much the maximum size we're allowed and now we're going to get a second one for DH. Plus my slightly smaller hand luggage, three suitcases and a car seat, we'll be a real sight! At least we don't have a pushchair this trip as we left one in Greece last time.

Today I got my hands on the Christmas Radio Times which has all the TV listings for the two weeks we're away so I'm listing all the things I want to tape. Thank god I don't watch soap operas or we'd have no chance. We've got a DVD recorder which gives us around 40 hours of space so I should be ok LOL

Typically the one thing I REALLY want to see is on Sky which we don't have. It's the adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and I am a huge TP fan (have been right from his first discworld novel back in 1983). Still, it'll be released on DVD next year and I'll buy it then anyway so I can wait.

We're having a massive clean up this week as I'm determined to have the house in order before we leave. We'll be getting back around 11.00pm and I know things will just be dumped on the floor for me to organise the next day when DH is safely back at work so I want the mess that is there now gone so I only have one lot to deal with.

We're braving a trip to IKEA this weekend as we need to get a TV stand for the TV we'll be buying in the January sales. We sold our huge 32" widescreen TV this weekend in preparation and will be getting a flat-screen as a replacement. I'm letting DH do all the organising as to what we're getting because frankly all I care about is being able to watch CSI and Casualty. Whether or not there is a tiny amount of pixillation doesn't even register on my 'give a shit' register LOL.

We'll also be buying Lia her first proper bed as she needs to learn how to sleep in a 'grown up bed' now she's too big for travel cots and will have to use a proper bed if we go anywhere.

Despite all my organisation I still haven't written my christmas cards or wrapped any gifts. I have set aside wednesday evening to do that as DH is on his work's christmas party so I'll have the evening free. Also Lia has her christmas party on Thursday and I have to take a present for Santa to give her at that. I won't be able to join her as I'm in an all day meeting and I'm sure I'll be the only Mum not there but I think she'll forgive me.

Irritations

I think I'm officially turning into a Grumpy Old Woman. At the very least I'm well on my way to Tog-dom

I don't normally post about work. Not because anybody there knows I have a blog but because generally, I try to forget about it when I'm not there. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do (web design and development) but there is one particular person in the team that I work with that annoys me so much that I could spend all my time ranting about her which would pretty soon lead to you all going away and reading a less boring and ranting blog.

However as this post is about things that irritate me and she (B) is totally top of my list I can't not mention her. For a start she's thick. Really thick. When I was seven months pregnant and explaining to someone that I hadn't put any weight on which obviously meant that I was losing weight as the baby gained it B said (I kid you not) 'how do you know that, do they weigh you and the baby separately?'

You think that's bad? What about the time when I was talking about twin girls one of whom was white and one of whom was black B asked if they were identical...

And it's not just her stupidity that annoys me she has the attention span of a flea, she's nosey, she's lazy and she has a mental age of about 12. Oh and if anyone picks on her she cries. I absolutely have no time for her but because she behaves like a child (she's 28) people baby her and if I complain to our Manager I'm the one that gets told to modify my behaviour because B is delicate.

Delicate my arse. She's a manipulative cow that irritates all of us but only I bother complaining (the rest are blokes so they just suffer in silence). Thankfully things could be coming to a head as someone else has finally made a complaint so watch this space, I may be cheering soon. Or at the very least ranting again because nothing is done..

Now I've got that off my chest, how about some other things that irritate me. Rudeness for a start. General bad manners, especially in children. Leaving the TV on when you have guests. Not sitting down at a table to eat a meal. Littering. Reality TV. Political Correctness. The amount of stupidity that I see posted on Bulletin Boards and the Web in general. People who moan on and on and on about something yet do nothing positive to change things. My MIL and SIL. People who have children but treat them as a total nuisance. Anthea Turner.

And that's just what immediately springs to mind.

But I was thinking about all this irritation the other day and wondering if it's healthy for me to get so stressed about these things. Don't get me wrong, I don't spend all day, every day in an irritated state but when confronted with certain situations I do get irrationally worked up about them.

Take for example my SIL's impending nuptuals. DH told me that a Civil Wedding Service will definitely be happening between Christmas and New Year (with a full BFGW in June) and that Lia will be dressed up in something flouncy for the occasion. My instant reaction was irritation - I don't want my daughter dressed up in a hideous creation just as a photo opportunity for a start and are they actually going to ask my permission or just go ahead? DH and I then had what is best described as a minor spat and even my mother (who is usually on my side) told me to chill out and let them get on with it as it won't be costing me anything.

So I'm left wondering if I really should just grin and bear it but I know that I'll be glowering for most of the day (which will look great in the pictures I'm sure) because it's wrong as far as I'm concerned.

And while I'm at this justifying lark why does Anthea Turner annoy me so much when I've never met her, am never likely to and certainly don't watch any programme she might have running on TV (BTW how can you be a Perfect Housewife when you've stolen someone else's husband?)

See, irrational.

I'm probably ruining all your illusions about me being such an easy going lovely person now (HA HA) but in my opinion we should stop being namby-pamby about things and start telling the truth. I mean if B was told to buck her ideas up and start behaving like a grown up seven other people would have a better working day, stress levels would go down and I'd have one less irritation to deal with.

See I'd definitely be no good working for the Samaritans, my advice would consist of 'get over it and buck your ideas up'. LOL

But I should also add that I do realise that others are not always as capable of getting on with things as I am, that others have problems that are not easy to solve, that others can have medical conditions that don't help situations they are in and that others are free to make choices that I may see as wrong but they are prepared to live with. I'm not insensitive, in fact I have been told on numeous occasions that I'm a pretty good listener and I will go to the ends of the earth and back for a friend in need.

It's the ones who have so much to be thankful for yet moan and complain and whine that irritate the hell out of me...

Christmas is Coming...

...and I'm ready for it!

Not only have I completed my Christmas shopping I also spent the weekend making Christmas puddings which are distributed to various members of the family. All I have to do now is write my Christmas cards (most of which were bought in the January sales this year) and I'm done!

I know that's probably made several of you out there decide you hate me but in my defense we're off to Greece a few days before Christmas so will be having an early Christmas with my family before we go. Add to that the whole packing issue and you'll understand why I want to try and be organised.

Gift wise it has been relatively simple this year because as of last year I agreed with a lot of my family that we wouldn't exchange presents any more - now they just give something to Lia. It makes way more sense than scrabbling around trying to come up with ideas of things we'd like or things to buy others and Christmas really is Lia's time now, not ours.

My real problem this time of year is DH as his birthday is Boxing Day so I'm constantly being asked what people can get him and he's not the easiest of subjects (what man is?) Still, even he is all sorted now so I can relax a while before the panic of packing. Obviously we're not taking all the gifts with us - thank goodness Lia is still small enough to not understand Christmas and won't be disappointed at leaving all her presents behind (especially the tricycle from Grandma and Grandad).

We finally discovered the source of Lia's 'illness'. Now she'll let us look in her mouth she has four new teeth! Four all at once, no wonder she was under the weather. She's got a cough at the moment but apart from vaguely being disturbed at night she's not showing any real discomfort. I seem to have the same thing but I've pretty much totally lost my voice with it - I feel absolutely fine but I'm croaking like an old crone much to everyone's amusement!

A Newsy Kind of Post

Apologies for the gap in service but Lia's been a bit under the weather. I'm not sure what it is - a tummy bug or teeth but she's had a very upset stomach for the last few days and has been off her food.

Thankfully she's on the mend now and back at nursery (I'm jumping every time the phone rings in case it's them to say she's worse) and I am back to normal at work. I don't mind being at home with her (of course) but if one or both of us is ill the pair of us get very bored and snippy very quickly. She's been a tad pathetic for the last few days, lying around or asking for hugs which is very strange for my independent little thing and never a good sign. Not eating is also a HUGE deal as normally getting her to stop is the difficult part but she did eat a bit last night (hence the return to nursery) and will probably feel better being distracted by all the activity there.

It's nice not to be doing the nappies either...

In other news my quest against laziness is having mixed results. I've not been much better with cleaning but I have done some more stash-reorganisation (filed all my magazine designs, freebies and working copies) and have also made a small 'brag book' of Lia pictures for my Mum's christmas. I just have to make three more of the things for the Greeks - Aunt, Grandmother and Great Grandmother.

I'm also proudly able to claim that I have pretty much finished my Christmas shopping!!! I only have one person left to buy for and I've put a call in to a friend for assistance with that so I don't have to do much except pay her for her efforts and wait for the postman (as long as she agrees to it of course). I'm getting one of my stitchings framed for my Step-Dad so took four more to be done as well so this coming Saturday I should be the proud owner of five framed pieces (the first I've had done professionally) which is another tick in the 'getting round to it' box.

In other news DH heard today that he has finally been released from any and all military obligations in Greece. The back story to it all is that he never did his military service - he'd put it off to study and was due to go back to Greece after he completed his Master's Degree here in 1998. The plan was scuppered because we met on the course and he elected to stay for a bit longer (nine years and counting) so eventually he was court martialled in his absence and it's all been dragging on for years.

The rules about military service in Greece change all the time and the latest is that if you live permanently in another country and have done with seven or more years full employment there you are exempt from the service. It was a bit of a pain proving it (they required every payslip for seven years plus p60s and letters from employers) but it's done now and we don't have to worry about him not being allowed to leave Greece when we go back (previously they could arrest him at the airport and throw him into military prison!)

So that's great, it's a huge worry gone for us and his family. Because it involved the courts his sister has been representing him (she's a lawyer) and of course now she's having a baby that's a bit difficult. Talking of the imminent arrival she's had her mid-way scan, all is fine and it's a boy! That's good for Lia I think as there'll be less comparing along the way and she'll still be the princess of the family.

There's no news on name choices yet but I'm still holding out for Achilles to be included somewhere as that's my FIL's name and DH has been insisting that if we have a boy he'll be named after his Grandfather! I insist that it will be the middle name only, over my dead body will my child be called Achilles (I'd have to give up work and home school for a start. LOL) so if SIL uses the name I'll be totally off the hook. Fingers and toes are all crossed.

So that's us for now I think. I made the brave move to the beta version of the new blogger so if anything goes wrong with my blog it's not my fault...

After a good start...

I haven't been that great at getting over my laziness I'm afraid. Still, I have good hopes for the next couple of weeks as I want to really clean through the house, get rid of some more junk and get all the Christmas gifts sorted and organised.

I have also created a new blog to keep track of my Stitching Stash and my 50 Project Challenge (where I don't buy and stash until completing 50 of my current projects). At the moment it's just a list of my stash and WIPs but I will put in my project list and WIP pictures soon.

So here's the link Challenge Joyus and I'm going to include it in my side bar too.

In other news Lia's been heard saying Mama on more than one occasion so I'm claiming status as second official word...

Happy Halloween!

Here's my little devil all dressed up for a party at nursery today.

I'm not one for dressing her up but I have to admit she's totally cute (okay I am biased LOL)

Ooooooooooooh, get me!

Two posts in one day, I may have to go and lie down...

This is just to say that there are now three albums on my picassa site as I've done the christening and party ones as well!

A Good Start

See, two posts in two days how good am I!

In fact, better than posting I've managed to be less lazy already. I sewed up the hole in the side of my trousers last night and am have created my first online photo album in Picassa!

The album can be seen here and consists of the photos from our Wedding and the reception afterwards. I'm now working on getting the photos from the Christening done for the second album and there will be a third album for the photos from the formal reception after the christening.

Once they are done I'll probably put some pics of Lia up in an album and also create an album for my 50 Projects Stitching Challenge. See, I'm on a roll now, I just have to keep going with it.

Lazy

I've come to the conclusion that I am seriously lazy.

I've been scanning round the blogs I read and got quite miffed with one blogger who hasn't posted since 10th October. Quite miffed that is until I realised I haven't posted since that same date too.

Then I received an email from a friend saying that they haven't seen any wedding or christening pics.

Then I received an email from my Mum saying that I hadn't forwarded her an email as I had promised to do over a week ago.

So I was thinking about this. Okay, it takes a bit of time to write a blog entry but to forward an email? Especially when I'm in and out of my email account several times a day. So then I started thinking about other aspects of my life which has led me to the general conclusion that I'm lazy. Bordering on Extremely Lazy.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy enough that the house is a total tip, we're all in skanky clothing and we eat TV dinners but lazy in the sense that I do just enough to fool myself into thinking I'm not lazy.

We do cook most nights but we do give in INCREDIBLY easily to the lure of the take-away. I do the washing and ironing once a week but I'm lazy enough to not have sewn a button back on a shirt (it's the bottom one so does it really matter?) or a small rip in the side of a pair of trousers. I clean up enough that nothing nasty is growing in the house and there's no icky smells but I know a less lazy person would do more.

The truth is that I am more interested in settling down with my stitching or a good book than doing less 'interesting' things. I know that I need some me time and that it's good to have hobbies but maybe I should give over a little time to other activities as well.

I've been telling myself that I'll sort out all the wedding and christening pics, put some in an online album, some in a scrapbook and burn some to disks to send to a few people. It's five months since the BFGC and that's still not happened.

I also have to edit all the films we have of Lia and put those onto disks for us (safer storage) and the grandparents. I also have plans for some mini-scrapbook type things as Christmas presents but so far have been too lazy to do anything about any of that.

Then there's losing weight. I know I have to. I've even managed to lose a bit without trying too hard (the 24 hr D&V bug I had last week helped) but I'm too darned lazy to put any effort into it.

And that's just for starters.

So, I'm determined to change my ways. It may take some time but I'm hoping I'm bloody-minded enough to stick to my guns as it can only be of benefit to me, especially the weight loss.

I've struck up a mini-challenge with a Catsized friend to each lose half a stone by christmas, I'm aiming to have an online album set up by the end of this week with at least some of the BFGC pics in and this weekend as we've got no plans I shall do some papercrafting.

Watch this space...

First School Photo

So I make a resolution to keep the blog more often then get struck down with an infection that keeps me away from the computer for nearly two weeks. Then our router dies and stops me accessing the net from home. Someone, somewhere is making this difficult for me!

But I'm back, fully healthy and determined to stay that way if at all possible.

Life chez Family V has been ticking along nicely. We've just had an interesting weekend of molar teething which did involve several episodes where Lia would fling herself on the floor and scream blue murder for no apparent reason and two nights of really broken sleep.

However, the teeth are through now so we can just look forward to the next time. We are half way - 10 teeth have arrived - but as most of the rest are molars I'm sure we're in for a few more upsets.

Talking wise she's connected the word Dada and DH's presence a few times but, if I'm really truthful I'm not 100% convinced yet that she's really saying Daddy and meaning it but we're obviously very close.

We had a really fun weekend (apart from the teeth) as we went to Carter's Steam Fair on Saturday afternoon, it's smaller than I expected but worth a visit, Lia had her first ride on a carousel and both DH and I won cuddly toys for her (him at the archery stand and me by picking a winning duck!) Sunday morning we went to a local park and let Lia run around to her heart's content - she was up and down into the bandstand, up hills, up onto walls (with Daddy) and generally making herself laugh just by having space and freedom to run without holding a parental hand. It was a really sunny morning and the park was almost empty which meant we could relax and let her have fun without being too worried about losing her in a crowd.

She's now 16 months old and has just had her first 'school' photo taken at nursery. I wasn't going to bother getting a copy (we have A LOT of pics of her) but they are so cute I couldn't resist. We got the smallest pack possible - one 8x10 and four 6x4 - and it was still £16! Still, we get to keep the big one, my parents get one small and the other three small go to Greece. The best thing is that in this electronic age I can share it with everyone else too so here it is:

In other news I've taken up the '50 Project Challenge' which is that I will complete 50 Cross Stitch projects from my stash before buying any more. I've already completed 1 but I reckon it'll take me at least 5 years to complete all 50 so I've made one exception in that after 25 completed projects I'm allowed a one off purchase of stash as a half-way treat.

I've also decided I need to revisit my 101 things list as I'm woefully behind keeping up with it so I will probably revise the list slightly in order to have a chance to complete it.

That's all really, I hope that I will get more regular updates here now as several people have emailed to check where I am which is great as it's nice to know my ramblings are being read!