I'm wondering if I should take this as an insult?

LOL

Job

Well it's official, I am, as of yesterday, considered 'at risk' which means I will either be redeployed or redundant by early December and either of those options is a considerable step up from where I am now.

Redeployment is, of course, the preferred option for Management as then they won't have to pay me. The way things work is that I am required to only apply and interview for jobs within the NHS that match my current job skills and my additional requirements (so part time working hours plus it needs to be within 30 mins travel time of home) so, unfortunately for them redeployment is unlikely as my job (web developer) isn't a common one in the NHS and if you add to that my part time and location requirements, the chances of a job coming up are extremely slim.

Of course that's not to say I won't take a job if that happens as location requirements mean I would be working in the town I live in rather than 30 mins drive away and, when all is said and done, a job is better than no job.

But if redeployment doesn't happen my redundancy package should be enough for me to stay home for a bit and I can see if I can pick up some contract work to bring in some extra cash as well.

Staying at home for a year or so would be great.  I've always said I'm not designed to be a stay at home Mum but I'd be home with Connor between the ages of 18 months and around 3 years which is much better than the 0 - 18 months stage LOL.  My house, garden and hobbies might get some attention too!

Plus with my intention to move into teaching I can use the time to get some qualifications.  I can't look to start teaching until Connor turns 3 and childcare becomes cheaper but I can at least work towards that goal.

So all in all I'm currently considering myself one of the lucky ones.  It's so bad here that one of the senior managers handed in his notice yesterday without having any job to go to...

To Journal?

So I've been thinking about creating a craft journal to document all my finishes and I'm just not sure whether to take the plunge or not.

On the plus side I'd have a record of all my finishes, who they were for and what became of them, together with thoughts on the process of making them, maybe scraps of the fabric choices, etc.  On the minus side it's almost a new hobby getting all the bits and pieces together and journalling about them and do I have time?  I have plans to make scrapbooks for the kids and haven't done them yet so surely they should come first?

Also, if I start now do I go back and try and include all my previous work?  I'm not sure I can even remember all my previous work LOL.  But then if I don't start now I'll have more projects to add if I do decide to do this in the future.

I'm wondering if it's one of those times where the idea of something sounds great but the reality is just a step too far.  Like most of you readers, I don't have enough hours in the day to fit in all I want to do along with all I have to do and one more thing on the list could tip the balance into madness LOL.

However, I just keep coming back to the fact that I'd like to do it.  I'd like to create a reference for my work that my kids can look back on, hey one day grandkids and beyond, you never know.  I do have a lot of the information I need purely because I've blogged about my finishes over the last six years, so it wouldn't be too hard to find most of the stuff I've done.

Another tick for the 'yes' side is that I have a large amount of papercrafting stuff.  If I start this journal some of that will get used and it will probably kick start me to get the kids scrapbooks going.

So do any of you keep a journal of WIPs and/or finishes?  And if you do what information do you include?  I'm going to have a smurf (yes I know it's surf but in our house it's always smurf) around the web to see what others might be doing and get some ideas. 

Only ideas for now you understand, I haven't made my mind up yet...

This weekend I...

- had a great lie in
- cleaned the house
- sorted out some kids stuff to go to charity
- made lemon meringue icecream
- stitched on Tatty Teddy birth sampler
- spent too much on food
- because we had a BBQ today
- had a lot of Greeks around
- enjoyed making new friends
- spent a lovely afternoon/evening in the garden
- was proud of my son for being so well behaved
- was proud of my daughter for playing so well with the other kids
- was the tooth fairy as Lia lost her second top tooth
- baked buns
- enjoyed the sun
- didn't enjoy Lia getting a bit of sunburn
- anxiously kept checking Connor for signs of Chicken pox - the 'incubation period' means we have another couple of days before we know he's free this time.  Normally I wouldn't mind but if he gets it now we'll have to cancel our trip to see my Godson's new baby brother next weekend.

July Roundup

1. Blog more - Not a good month.  But I will be back in August!
2. No stash purchases - only two Weeks flosses I needed
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list - yes!  One finish
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - still holding out 
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - not much sewing happened this month
6. Read at least 50 books - 5 read this month taking my total to 20 so far this year.
7. Reduce the clutter in the house - yes, lots of junk from Lia's room sorted to be given away
8. Lose weight - 3lb!
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - a month within budget, now I just need to work out how to save some every month too.
10. Work on the garden -just kept it tidy

Stitching WIP List

As it's around half way through the year I thought I'd revisit this list and see how I'm doing. I split the list into groups of 'hope to finish this year', 'want to make progress on' and 'probably won't be touched in 2011'.

I've crossed out finishes and italicised those I have worked on so far this year.

1. Bent Creek - Snapperbets
2. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
3. Dimenions - Noah's Ark Quilt
4. Prairie Moon - Thine is the Trick and the Treat
5. Tournicoton - Coeur de Brodeuse
6. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
7. Stitching Kitty - Snowman Trio
8. Polstitches - Beaded Heart Biscornu
9. Anchor - Baby Sampler
10. DebBee's Designs - Hot Stuff
11. Just Nan - Counting Bats
12. Wool Tapestry Butterfly Cushion
13. Lizzie*Kate - Halloween Sampler
14. Shepherd's Bush - Halloween Night

15. Margaret Sherry - Santa's Journey Afghan
16. Glendon Place - Murky Manor
17. Just Nan - Four Wishes
18. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
19. Ink Circles - Cirque des Cercles
20. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
21. Lizzie*Kate - ABC Lessons
22. Lizzie*Kate - Christmas by the Letter
23. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride

24. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
25. Stoney Creek - Noah's Sub
26. Shepherd's Bush - Be Attitudes Afghan
27. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan
28. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
29. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet
30. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven Above
31. The Primitive Needle - Witches Hollow
32. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds

On paper I've not done that much but 4 Wishes and Cottage Garden have had a lot of attention and will probably be finishes this year.  The Noah's Ark quilt and Baby Sampler may well be finishes this month too and, if not, they'll definitely be finished next month.  Along with 4 Wishes as I want to get that one out of the way.

So fingers crossed I'll have 7 finishes for the year by the end of August which I'll be very happy about.

Snowman Trio Finish

Yay, finally a finish.  These are Snowman Trio from Stitching Kitty done on a piece of 'Cosmos' from Polstitches.

They've been a WIP for quite some time and I'm happy they're finally done.  They've been added to the pile of 'Karen's Finishing Service' wants LOL

As usual picture is clickable for a bigger version.

Some Beautiful Finishes

And I can tell you that they're beautiful because I didn't do them LOL.  For a long time now (years!) I've been in awe of the finishing skills of Karen so I was thrilled when she launched her finishing service a while back.  Admittedly it's taken a while for me to get round to using the service but I sent three pieces off to her last week and have been bowled over with what I received back today.

Without further ado, here they are (all are clickable for bigger pics):

Spooky Spots by Shepherd's Bush finished as a wall hanging

Fa La La by Shepherd's Bush finished as an ornament

A design that I embarassingly cannot remember the name of finished as a cushion

I sent Karen some lavender which she included in the cushion stuffing so I'm typing this as the scent is wafting around me.

I'm now trying to decide which pieces I can send after the next pay day!

So, in case you missed it, it's Karen V's Finishing Service and it comes highly recommended (not just by me).  The service is extremely thorough and professional - I think we exchanged over 20 emails discussing finishing options - and certainly great value for money.

No affiliation at all, just a very happy customer...

Things I don't want to forget...

Connor's speech has come on really well in the last couple of weeks.  We now have:

Hiya!
Bye
Mummy
Daddy
Eeeea (we think this is Lia LOL)
Pappou (Grandad in Greek)
Yia Yia (Grandma in Greek)
Bubble (thanks to the 'I had a little turtle' song)

Any phone or item that looks like a phone is clamped to his head and he walks around shouting 'Hiya' in it and every morning we are greeted with Hiya, Mummy, Daddy, Hiya. So cute!

We've been trying to remember Lia's 'special' words.  I remember that Hiya was her first word too (we must say it a lot LOL) but we had:

Finnens (fingers)
Bossies (strawberries)
Moom (moon)
Basgetti (spaghetti - she still says this and I think we always will in our house)
Trouders (trousers)
Hodshed (cottage - we now routinely have Hodshed Pie for dinner)
Sukermarket (supermarket)
Andriels (angels)

MIA

I guess I've been a bit quiet here lately.  I am around, I am reading blogs and I am crafting, I'm just a little distracted.

Unfortunately for me the distraction is work and not really in a good way.  I posted a month or so ago about how much I'm not liking my job and how there are changes coming my way that may result in redundancy.  Well it's now likely that I will end up redundant in around 4 months time as I have been told that my working from home request has been refused and this means I will be officially classed as 'at risk'. 

The way it works is that when I'm put at risk I spend three months looking for alternative employment within the organisation - I get preferential access to jobs (I still have to interview) but I don't have to apply for anything unless it matches my skill set and requirements (part time, location, etc).  If no alternative is found after three months I am officially made redundant after my notice period of a month.

None of the above is a bad thing.  I'd welcome alternative employment and I'd also welcome redundancy.  The unpleasant part of all of this is the way that I'm currently being treated by my Manager.  Now for reasons that I'm sure you understand I am not prepared to post my problems on a public blog but let's just say I have made both verbal and written complaints about her treatment of me and I have requested that she is not involved in my redeployment process in any way.

Hence my slight distraction.  It's not a particularly fun situation and my anger at her treatment of me is what is causing me stress, not the issues with my job. 

But hey ho, whatever will be will be.  I am at least stitching - I'm working on Stitching Kitty's Snowman Trio and have finished Snowman 2 and made good progress on Snowman 3 so that's making me happy.  I'm also part way into the Autumn (final) band on 4 Wishes so am hopeful of having at least one finish this month (it's been a while).  I haven't done any sewing but I'm determined to get back to that soon.

I've also finished up two books and am half way through a third this month.  Being at risk means I'm making sure I take my full 30 mins lunch break and being a fast reader I can get through quite a lot in that time.

I'll do some proper project updates soon.

Housekeeping

So I was thinking about my plan to make at least one project from every craft book I have over the next 12 months and I thought it might be fun to get down the books and choose the projects.

As mentioned before, I don't have many books - somewhere between 20 and 25 I guess - so I piled them up and started checking them out and  I was more than a little surprised to find that, quite a lot of the time, it was difficult for me to find even one project I wanted to do in a book.  To the extent that I now have six books set aside to sell because I can't imagine ever making anything from them.  Not only that, there are a further four or five that when I've made my one project I can't see me bothering making anything else.

I can't believe it.  I wouldn't have said my tastes have changed much over the last few years but they must have I guess.  Three of the books are quilt designs and I have made one quilt from one of them, probably three years ago now, but the rest just don't inspire me at all.  Maybe it's because I got the books when I was a novice and now I know a bit more I'm up for more of a challenge.  I know I have lots of patterns and projects I'd like to do outside of the books so I'm not worried I'm going to run out of projects, I'm just surprised that it was so many of them I wasn't inspired by.

On the plus side, if I sell the books I'll have some cash to buy some backing fabric and wadding for the tops I have to finish up.  And I'm more likely to manage to complete my challenge if there are less books included LOL.

I have moved on to my next project and it is a quilt top.  I should confess that this is also a long standing WIP so I'm killing two goals with one stone. The only problem is that the fabrics are horrible to work with.  Really thin and flimsy despite the stupid amount of starch I've been using.  I have to say I'm not enjoying it so much but I'm not ready to give up just yet.

June Roundup

1. Blog more - Another month with the equivalent of a post every other day
2. No stash purchases - Erm, well maybe just a couple.  In my defence it was the first time I've been in an LNS for two years so it was rude not to.
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list - I made good progress on 4 Wishes but no finishes in June
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - absolutely.  I intend to try and keep this going for the rest of the year now.
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - yes the bug is back.  I need to focus on finishing up some quilts though
6. Read at least 50 books - 6 read this month taking my total to 24 so far this year.
7. Reduce the clutter in the house - some baby clothes headed out and I've done some stash tidying too
8. Lose weight - pass
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - didn't do too well - I blame leaving DH alone with his parents and him feeling like he had to take them out.  And my mini stash purchase...
10. Work on the garden -seedlings all planted out.

A Quilt Top!

Well that's the top done. It's taken a bit longer than I thought as all those star points were a pain. Simple enough to sew but they meant that blocks had different size logs on the outside layer depending on their position in the quilt and I had to make sure I didn't sew the triangles the wrong way around so I actually had to concentrate. I managed really well up until the last two logs this afternoon both of which I had to unpick LOL.

Anyway I love this, it's totally me! Although I'll have to fight DH for it as he wants it too. I saw the pattern in the book (Jelly Roll Quilts, Pam and Nicky Lintott) and the versions in there are pale florals with white or cream stars but it instantly shouted at me as the right one for this jelly roll as long as I used black for the stars.

The book calls for a border around the logs and I'm not sure yet if I'll bother, I may just bind it in black. I have some jelly strips left over so I'm thinking of putting some squares together for the backing - I think I have a plan but I'll need to think about it a bit more. Plus I need more fabric for the back whatever I do and that won't be bought for a while.

Even more books

Just a fly by to note this weeks reads. Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton (who knew? I read The Borrowers as a kid but never realised this was by her too. Or that it was two books).

The Prodigal Sister - Laura Elliot. Fab girly read, finished it off in 24 hrs which is something of a record for me these days!

Can you tell what it is yet?

No prizes - it's not exactly hard LOL.

Here's a taste of the blocks (there are 16 all together) with two rounds of logs.  There's one more round of logs to go but the last round have to be 'modified' a bit so that's the next step.

The colours are much bolder in real life (yes really they are!) I'll try and get the next pic in daylight hours.

A quilt started...

Well I've made a resolution to get one project made from each craft book I own by this time next year.  This isn't quite as ridiculous as it sounds as I only have around 20 books (yes really, that few!)  They are all either quilting or sewing project books so no cross stitch is included in this challenge. To be honest I have no idea if I'll manage it or not - the idea is that each project I do has to be completely finished - so all quilts quilted, etc and, as far as is possible, I have to make each project using my current stash.

To this end I've started my first project from my 'Jelly Roll Quilts' book.  I had a Moda Marbles citrus jelly roll that I wanted to use but was two colours short so when I met up with some friends yesterday I bought two long quarters of additional colours so I could get going.

So here are my fabrics:

And here are my cut pieces:

Now all I have to do is sew them all together!

This weekend I...

- Had new friends over for dinner
- Laughed a lot
- Agreed to be a school Governor
- Got a little further down my new career path
- Cooked two great meals
- Played Angry Birds
- Got excited about Wimbledon starting
- Stash dived and realised I have so many projects I want to start
- Behaved myself and didn't start any of them
- Got motivated to finish up some more WIPs so I can start some new projects
- Spoiled DH on behalf of the kids
- Got annoyed we're out of cash for the month
- Had fun with the kids at home
- Was impressed by Lia's reading progress
- Had lots of cuddles with Connor who was a bit off colour (but is better now)

Sunday stuff

Thanks for all your recent comments on my WIPs and finish.  I am hoping to get 4 Wishes completed this month and then go back to focussing on some other WIPs that are close to finishing and just get them done.  My plan to do some 'finish finishing' this month hasn't really happened so that may be moved to next month as well.

In answer to the comment question back on the Cottage Garden WIP, I usually stitch using q snaps.  I've never stitched in a hoop and I do have some large wooden frames but I haven't used those since Lia was born as I need my stand for them and it was just easier not to have that around with a toddler.  I stitch in hand very rarely but I am a bit unusual in that I don't like closing the q snap around stitching (I never wash my finished items) so I can often be seen stitching with a frame that only has a couple of sides of the fabric clipped down.

Work wise I should have some answers this week as I have a meeting on Tuesday to discuss my options.  I was worried last week as we were told that there would be absolutely no redundancy, if we didn't like the changes and wouldn't be flexible then we could just leave.  To be fair I was pretty sure this wasn't legal but I was waiting until I had my own meeting to hear it officially.  However we are now being told that redundancy is available although it is absolutely the last option.  That makes me feel better because I was worried that there was a chance I'd end up with no job and no pay off after 10 years.

The bare facts are that if they don't allow me to work at home two days a week or stay at my current base I cannot afford to continue to work as the childcare costs will be more than my wages.  It's totally simple and non-negotiable as far as I am concerned.  In order to pay for Lia to have after school care I have to pay less for Connor and the only way to do that is to work from home and have him with me, not at nursery.

I absolutely do not want to work 1 hour away from my children but it would only be for two years so I would do it.

I have spoken to my friend (as mentioned in my work moan post) as we had her and her partner over for dinner on Friday.  She was Headmistress at Lia's school until Christmas when she left to take charge of a brand new school (at that point it was an empty field!)  We always got on but it's only since she left that we've been able to start a proper friendship rather than a professional one.  I can't believe it's taken me this long to find out she stitches for a start LOL.

So it doesn't take a genius to work out what career I'm thinking of if I'm talking to a Headmistress right?  It looks like it might work out as I'd hoped too.  I'm going to start as a Teaching Assistant as with Connor so small I cannot train as a teacher just yet but the idea is start there, get some experience and once he's bigger and going to school himself then I can look at training to be a teacher.

I'm very excited about it all at the moment and there's a part of me wishes I didn't have to wait so long to get moving but my salary will drop by more than a third when I make this move and there's no way we could pay the required nursery fees so I just have to be patient and, in the mean time, there are some courses I can do to get prepared.

More book finishes

I've been on a bit of a roll reading wise and have finished the following books:

One Day by David Nicholls.  I really enjoyed this book - it tells the story of a relationship between Emma and Dexter who meet at Uni.  The book visits their lives on the same day of the year (15th July) from 1988 until close to the present and is just fab.  Even the ending was not one I saw coming.  No spoilers, just get yourself a copy and enjoy.

The Other Family - Joanna Trollope.  Another one I enjoyed (although not as much as One Day).  It starts with the death of a father who leaves behind a partner and three daughters plus a wife he never divorced despite leaving her 24 years previously and their son.  It's about the problems the two families having coming to terms with the existence of each other while dealing with their grief.  Not to taxing on the brain but a gentle read.

The Trouble with Magic - Madelyn Alt.  I'd never realised there was a chiclit/magic genre out there (although why shouldn't there be!) but I read a review of a book on another blog and checked it out on Amazon, followed the 'customers who bought this book also bought..' link and got me some.  This one I didn't enjoy too much.  It wasn't bad but I like my magic out there in the fantasy range, this one was too based in white witches, and voices of the dead for me.  It's the first in a series but I don't think I'm likely to read more.

Enchanted Inc - Shanna Swendson.  This one on the other hand I loved!  The story centres on Katie and her discovery that she is totally immune to magic (which explains why she sees fairies and gnomes and gargoyles in New York).  She gets a job at MSI Inc - a magical company that needs her skills to make sure they aren't being cheated by the spells of others.  It's very lighthearted chic lit but I enjoyed it enough to buy and read the next three books!  So Once Upon Stilettos, Damsels Under Stress and Don't Hex with Texas have also been read taking my total reads so far to 22.

My only gripe is that there is no plan for a fifth book in the series as book 4 didn't sell well enough.

Bag Finish

This is the bag I completed just before going away.  It's actually not completed as I was one covered button short but I think I'm the only one what will notice until I get round to getting another.

It's Bunny Hill Designs 'Jelly Bag' made using Moda's Spring Fever

Cottage Garden 2 WIP

Another WIP update - I've been stitching a lot on this one despite having a major problem with the symbols on the chart which led to some serious frogging as I didn't realise there were two different colours both using the 'L' symbol.  I was not happy!

Here's how it was last update.  You can see that I'd followed the yellow from the church up to the top of the sky - I was obviously not paying much attention when doing it but when I went back and thought it looked odd I dug out the pic and realised the mistake. 

4 Wishes WIP Update

Well I had a totally fabulous weekend away with ten other stitchers.  Not that I expected anything else of course, this was our fifth annual weekend away and I'm sure we laughed even more than we have in previous years.  Last year I took a very small Connor with me and got very little done but this year I went alone and managed a pretty significant amount of stitching on 4 Wishes.  I'd almost completed winter when I posted my last update pic so I'm well on the way to a finish!

Apologies it's a bit washed out.  The weather is dull and overcast here and I just can't get a better pic.

Away for the Weekend

I'm off first thing tomorrow for my annual stitching weekend away.  There's 11 of us going this year so a few less than previous years but still more than enough to have plenty of fun.  I'll be back Monday lunchtime so will post some pics then - I finished up a bag last night but haven't yet taken a pic.

Long Job Waffle!

Well after weeks and weeks of lovely sunshine the weather has turned a bit glum here. To be fair, we are used to weeks and weeks of rain so we shouldn't complain but we've been a bit spoiled recently.  I'm not normally particularly bothered by rain (unless it's freezing and windy as well) but where we go stay for our stitching weekend away has a lovely courtyard that we can sit out in so sunny would be good.

I'm so on the countdown to going away - I'll be leaving Friday morning early to go pick up one of the others and then we'll head off to a pub lunch and a detour to a not-so-LNS before arriving at the cottages around mid afternoon.  From then on it's total stitchy bliss until Monday morning!

Another bonus of the weekend is that it means a four day working week for me both this week and next which is great because I've gone past 'not enjoying' my job and moved fully into hating it.  I've been here almost 10 years and to begin with it was great - lots of projects to keep me busy and interested, always looking into new technology, meeting customers, solving problems for them and generally being happy.  Then I got pregnant and took 6 months maternity and the job I came back to wasn't the same at all.  I had trained up a junior member of the team to keep things ticking over but she didn't have the skill to do what I did, my work didn't buy in proper cover, and our customers went elsewhere so by the time I got back there was less work. 

I work for the NHS which is ever changing - I've sat at the same desk doing the same job for the same boss all the time I've been here but I've actually been employed by five different organisations.  Within the last five years the focus has been on amalgamating organisations so every time they merged potential customers became less to the point that around 2.5 years ago I was in line for redundancy.  I wasn't bothered, I even got a new job lined up, but then someone new was put in charge and she wanted my skills so I was back being gainfully employed.

But then I got pregnant again and this time took 9 months off.  I've returned to find that I've been moved to another team because 'it makes sense'.  Sure if you look at my job title it makes sense that I, as a Web Developer, am part of the Web Team but I work specifically with Microsoft technology and the Web Team work with Apple and open source.  So in fact, it makes no sense at all because what they do I don't have the skills for and what I used to do is now being done by someone else in my old team (yes, the junior I trained, who still comes to me when she has any problems because she's out of her depth a lot of the time).

In addition to the technology issue, my new 'team' consists of my Manager and one other and neither of them are really around so I'm now in splendid isolation, although still in the same office so at least have my old colleagues around me.  For now.  Because that's the next thing that's happening, we're going to move offices.  I currently work 30 mins from home but the new offices are 1 hour away.  I've told them I cannot work out of the new offices full time because I cannot (and will not) put Lia in after school care five days a week, we do not have the money.  What I can do is work from home two days a week and the money we save on Connor's nursery fees will pay for Lia to do after school club on the other three days.  I'm not happy with this arrangement but I could live with it in the short term.  I did request one or two days a week working out of my current office but I have no idea how flexible my employers are likely to be.

So there is, yet again, a chance of redundancy (if they don't agree to my working from home I cannot afford to work out of the new base).  I'd actually be over the moon with redundancy but I think I'm now in the position of having been here too long for them to afford to pay me off so I'm more likely to be shunted around even more than I have been.

All of which has focussed my mind on looking for alternative employment.  And not necessarily in IT.  I would say I never chose IT as a career but that's not strictly true as I did a Masters in Computing but only because I never really knew what I wanted and I had to do something to move on with my life at that point in time.  The best thing that came out of the course was meeting DH.  Oh and that I doubled my previous salary when I got my first job after graduation.

I've never really had any idea of a career - I know what subjects I enjoyed at school (Georgraphy and Chemistry) but I got pulled away from those for various reasons that made sense at the time (but not so much looking back now) and since then I've kind of drifted.  Of course I now have to work around the kids and their needs as, first and foremost, I am a Mum and that's the only job that matters to me.  What I don't want is to not work (I've said it before, I'm not designed to be a stay at home Mum) but I do want to be around for a good part of their day.

So I have to decide whether to stick at this job for the next ten years and see Connor through Primary school education (as long as this job is available of course) or to make a move soon.  Obviously redundancy will make the decision for me but I have pretty much come to the conclusion that, redundancy or not, I will look to make a career change over the next two or three years.  That timescale is kind of set because I have to be earning a certain amount to cover Connor's humungous nursery fees until he's 3 at which point we get some Government funding that assists with them.  Sticking where I am till he goes to Secondary school will mean that I will be looking for a career change at the age of 50.  Yes 50.  I think I'm pushing it now so I know that in 10 years time a career change will more than likely be impossible.

I need to do a bit more research into my options - I do have a plan but I need to have a good long talk with a particular friend to see if it's actually something I can do - but I think that if I have a goal and a firm-ish kind of escape plan it'll be easier for me to drag myself to my desk every day... 

And the Winner is...

Kathy!

Can you send me your address please, my email is joy dot anderson at gmail dot com.

May roundup

A day late but with good reason...
1. Blog more - Another month with the equivalent of a post every other day
2. No stash purchases - Yep
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list - I made good progress on Cottage Garden 2 but no finishes in May
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - check
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - not much sewing done in May unfortunately
6. Read at least 50 books - 4 read
7. Reduce the clutter in the house - again not much done this month
8. Lose weight - due to medication I am unable to lose weight fast but I have totally changed my eating habits, stopped snacking and given up fizzy drinks and have lost 2lb in the first 12 days of the new regime
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - budget was blown in April so May had to be austere
10. Work on the garden - again not much

So not a bad month as goals were met but not much was actually achieved.  I think we basically spent May recovering from April LOL.

June should be more productive - next weekend is my annual weekend away with stitchy friends so that's two full days of uninterrupted stitchy time for a start. Well, when I say uninterrupted, I should perhaps point out that sometimes on these weekends (this is our 5th) I laugh so hard I can barely hold the needle let alone get it through the fabric...

Happy 6th Birthday Lia!

Yes No 1 Dort is 6 today - where did those years go?

We've had a lovely day - the four of us went to London and did some shopping - her grandparents gave her money so we let her spend it on her choices (with a bit of guidance of course LOL) and she bought herself some new Crocs (pink!) and a Rapunzel doll, a charm bracelet and a couple of toys (Zoobles and Littlest Petshop).

We all had lunch together and then DH brought Connor home while I took Lia to her surprise present from us - The Wizard of Oz!  Lia loved it and I thought it was pretty good - definitely not the best I've seen (you want an Oz story, go see Wicked!) but the staging was absolutely amazing.  My biggest issue was that Michael Crawford is seriously under-used but the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion were great and the Wicked Witch of the West was amazing.

After that I took her to Hamleys (7 floors of toys) where we spent two hours looking at toys, having our faces painted and our nails done.  Total girlie bliss.  Then it was a Macdonalds tea and a quick hop on the tube to see Big Ben (her wish) and then a walk along the Thames to Waterloo station and the train home.  We left home at 9am this morning and the two of us got back at 10pm tonight!!!!

We've just chivvied her off to bed and I won't be long as I'm at work tomorrow.  Given our late return we haven't done the draw for the giveaway but I will do it tomorrow I promise.  Here's a few pics from the day

Birthday girl this morning:

At the tube station (yes Connor is walking now):

My boys!

 

How big is Big Ben really?

Face painting

Pinterest!

So I've found a new site to play with.  Pinterest allows you to create boards full of visual bookmarks and it's fab!  I have a huge list of bookmarks, many of which are a tad obscure because I've bookmarked them quickly without noting exactly what they are but with pinterest you can pin any image from a website onto one of your pinboards with a note and you have a visual reference.

I'm slowly tidying up my bookmarks this way and my pinterest boards are here - sign up or message me and I can send out an invitation as I have some spares, it's fun!

ps there's still a couple of days to enter the anniversary giveaway, just comment on my previous post...

pps I should warn you that looking at others pins can be dangerous, my wish list has grown a bit!

Six years!

Yep today is the sixth anniversary of this blog.  This time six years ago I was five days away from having Lia and I started this blog as a method of keeping track of how life changed when she joined us.  Who knew I'd be where I am now?

Looking back over the last six years it'd be easy to say not much has changed as I'm still with the same man, living in the same town and doing the same job but those are just the surface things.  The same man is now my husband of five years (or at least he will be in 24 hrs as it's our wedding anniversary tomorrow), we're now in a bigger house with a bigger garden and my job now only takes up 4.5 hours of my day instead of 7.5.

Of course more has changed - we're a family of four now for a start - six years ago I couldn't have imagined the little boy who completed our family so perfectly, it was hard enough imagining the little girl soon to be arriving LOL.  Around us our family and friends have also had babies which has been wonderful for us - Lia was only the second child born to our social group and, for a while at least, it was tough being in the minority as others didn't necessarily appreciate how our life had altered.  It should tell you all you need to know that 1 child attended Lia's christening and 36 attended Connor's LOL.

In my crafting life the biggest change is that six years ago I wasn't a quilter and I'm not sure I even really had aspirations to be one.  I remember the conversation I had with a fellow stitcher that led to the two of us taking quilting classes but I don't really remember what sparked my interest.  I do know that I am glad I took those classes when I had the chance as I was able to properly explore and indulge in a new hobby, a chance that I won't get for a while now as money for hobbies is bottom of a very long list until Connor starts school and we lose those pesky nursery fees.

I have never had an anniversary give away before as I'd never thought that many people were likely to read these ramblings of mine but with 47 followers I guess there are one or two of you out there paying attention to me.  So post a comment and I'll put your name in a draw for a pressie - I'll leave this open for the next five days and get Lia to draw a winner on her birthday (1st June).

Book 15

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

I'll admit I'd never heard of this book until the theatre production came about and there was a huge amount of press around it (I think there's a generation of children's books that passed me by - I can only hope that I get to enjoy some of them now my children are going to bring them home).

Anyway I got the chance to get a copy from a source of cheap books (The Book People if you're in the UK - I love them, especially the box sets which are super value) and I justified it by the knowledge that it would end up in the kids reading pile.

I think it's quite hard to review a children's book when you've only read it as an adult but, for what it's worth, I'd say this is a lovely read.  For those not familiar with it the story centres around (and is narrated by) Joey, a farm horse who is sold to the army and sent to France to serve in the cavalry in WW1.  Over the course of the war he serves on both sides and the book gives a good (IMO) insight into the conditions faced by horses and men during those times.

If this were an adult book I would say the ending is a little too nicely wrapped up but I think the happy ending is more than justified given its target audience.  Having said that it brought a lump to my throat which just goes to show you're never too old for a happy ending LOL.  Definitely one to read with the kids.

Ewe Look Fabulous

Apart from my splashing out on fabrics this is the only other stash item I've bought this year and I used birthday money for it so it is within the rules.

I don't know why this particular design appealed to me so much (I'm certainly not drawn to any of the other JABCO pin cushion releases) but I just had to have it.  It was actually a pretty simple put together - the hardest part was deciding whether or not to do the bunny ears but DH and Lia both voted them in so they won.

 

Also I swear that yesterday all four feet were at ground level but today it's wonky so I may remove that back foot and reposition it...

This weekend I...

- Did swimming lesson duties
- But let DH do ballet lesson duties
- Started a new family routine of DH cooking dinner on Saturdays
- Made my JABCO Ewe Look Fabulous pin cushion (pic to follow)
- Started sewing together a biscornu
- Swore a lot because I can't find the beads for the finishing of the biscornu
- Identified the projects I'd like to get finished in the next few weeks
- Tidied out my wardrobe and threw out a lot of very old clothes
- Bought a totally gorgeous jacket three sizes too small in a bid to motivate myself to lose weight
- Didn't tell DH about the jacket
- Read a lot
- Watched my son take his first three steps
- Finally caught up with our taped episodes of the Mentalist
- Realised it's only three weeks till my annual weekend away with my stitching friends
- Laughed a lot at the whole 'footballer super injunction' fiasco

Cottage Garden 2 WIP

I've been stitching on this quite a bit this month - lots of nice blocks of colour so easy on the brain.

Here it is when I picked it up:

And here it is as of today:

Not only a lot more stitches in, a much better pic from my new camera!

The News Where you Are

by Catherine O'Flynn is book 14 read this year.

I've made a conscious effort to take a book to work with me every day and read in my lunch break as I've been reading less in the evenings lately.  I only have a half hour lunch but can usually get a chapter read depending on the book.

This story is about a man called Frank who reads the news bulletins for a local TV channel and his former colleague Phil who died in slightly mysterious circumstances.  It's by no means a whodunnit, although the mystery of Phil's death does form the centre of the story, rather it's a look at the small details of lives and their importance.

It's difficult to describe this book really as it touches on a lot of subjects - Frank's father's obsession with his work, his mother's depression, the dynamics of a career in local news, aging, loneliness, and more.  I'm also unsure if I'd recommend it - I did enjoy it but it was never a 'I need to pick it up' book for me.

In other news I have been stitching and sewing but I haven't been taking pictures (despite my new camera).  I hope to rectify this issue at the weekend and provide you with more interesting posts!

This weekend I...

- Ran about like a headless chicken
- Took Lia to swimming, ballet and a birthday party (and that was just Saturday!)
- Watched the Eurovision Song Contest
- Was stunned that a song that made absolutely no impression on me won
- Looked up Azerbaijan on a map
- Didn't cook - DH cooked Saturday and we had a lovely dinner out yesterday
- Did a lot of ironing
- Made what could be the best cake I've ever made (same recipe I've used for 30 years - the planets just must have aligned!)
- Didn't get my usual long lie in
- Stitched
- Frogged (but less than I stitched so I'm still ahead)
- Really enjoyed the latest Dr Who episode
- Let Lia stay up till 10pm
- Did a lot of research on butterflies for Lia's homework
- Got surprised by DH asking to volunteer with the Scouts

Blooming Frogs!

Or rather, blooming people who make charts with symbols that are almost identical.  Grrrrr!

There are a million possible symbols you can use so why would you use two different half shaded circles - one split horizontally and one split diagonally?  Even horizontal and vertical splits would be better - more obviously different.

They even have have two symbols that differ only because one is bold face.

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!

This weekend I...

- Started the Saturday swimming and ballet routine again with Lia
- Remembered I should get some stitching with me while I'm sitting around when Lia's swimming and dancing
- Baked buns
- Did a huge amount of ironing
- Marvelled at the amount of clothes we now have for Connor due to donations from friends and family
- Enjoyed the rain - it's become a bit of a novelty!
- Stitched up a storm on Cottage Garden 2
- Had a lovely lie in
- Watched my son stand unaided
- Happily welcomed Nayno IV into the family ;-)
- Relaxed

Sunday Stuff

Thanks for your comments on the Nayno post - it's nice to know that we're not the only insane parents out there LOL.  You'll be happy to know that Mummy can work miracles and Nayno IV has been accepted without question.  He's slipped into his role like he was born to it and, apart from DH occasionally addressing him with a Mexican accent, it's like nothing has changed.

I should have added that if any of you readers ever come across a Nayno hiding in a shop anywhere out there please, please do purchase it for us as we feel now that we can never have too many - obviously I would fully reimburse you and more.

I finally pulled myself out of my mini stitching slump last night by pulling out a Michael Powell design.  It's nice to be stitching largish blocks of solid colour again - easy on the brain and not too much futtering about checking symbols and threading needles.  Talking of needles, I lost one last night and I still have no idea where it went!  I'd pinned it on my trouser leg whilst getting a new thread and I flicked it with my hand - after that who knows where it went!  DH and I must have spent half an hour searching the floor with eyes, then a magnet and light and finally I gave in and hoovered for fear of one of the kids 'finding' it.  I've never done that before and am still slightly on edge about where it went.

As well as my Michael Powell (Cottage Garden 2) I'm thinking this month should be the month of finishing.  I've got quite a pile of things lying around now that need to be properly finished and I should get on with it - in my 'tidying up' mode getting rid of finishing bits and instructions would help a lot so I'm going to dig a few bits out and decide which looks the least hard LOL.

And finally a quick update on the affair - it's still going strong (despite her telling me it's over) and she has made sure everyone knows the two of us have fallen out.  To the extent that not one person mentioned her absence to me at the Christening.  I've spoken to one of the other school Dads and he says everybody is dying to know what happened but nobody has a clue (or is brave enough to ask me LOL) - he knows all about it because he had pretty much guessed it was going on anyway but now both cheating parties are confiding in him!

The difference between this Dad and I is that 1) he enjoyed a minor flirtation with cheating wife although she knocked him back when he tried to take it further and 2) he cheated on his first wife, so they know he can't judge them and they think he's a safe pair of hands for their secret.  What they haven't considered is that 1) he didn't take the knock back that well and 2) all he's interested in is 'the game' and he'll play it his own way - I wouldn't trust him not to drop hints whenever he can...

On the surface at least it's not causing me any hassle - everyone is still being friendly with us - but it does appear that Lia is not welcome at cheating wife's house any more.  This is not unexpected but given the two girls are best friends it's a bit harsh - I did try and say that we shouldn't let it effect the kids but obviously that's not how it's going to be.  Lia hasn't noticed particularly yet but I'm sure she will and I hope when that time comes I have some idea of how to handle it.

So the saga continues...

A Tale of One Kitty

Our tale begins almost five years ago on 28th May 2006 when Lia was Christened and she received 24 pink dresses as gifts from various Greek friends and relatives.  All of the dresses were aged 12 - 18 months and all were extremely flouncy and totally inappropriate so I then spent almost a week going around Athens and exchanging the dresses for more appropriate clothes - something that wasn't exactly fun as approriate clothing in my eyes is far from what anyone in Greece thinks LOL.

Anyway, after three days of this I was extremely bored so when I saw the shop we went into first had toys I decided to get one.  After much deliberation I picked a cuddly cat that was orange and pink - just because it had a lovely face and a rattle in it's tummy.  This day just happened to be Lia's first birthday.

Scroll on six months and we were back in Greece for Christmas with various toys including the cat which she had taken a shine to.  On one particular day she was running around the appartment in Greece saying 'nayno, nayno, nayno' and we had no idea what she was doing (other than maybe being a police car).  Eventually she found the cat and picked it up saying 'Nayno!' and then proceeded to talk at it for quite some time.

From that point on the cat was Nayno (we have no idea why) and it (it started as a he and became a she and is now one or the other depending on Lia's mood) became Lia's one true friend.  The Hobbes to her Calvin...

Fast forward another six months and we were back in Greece with Nayno who had started to fray around the neck.  We found an identical cat in the same shop and decided to swap them as she was too young to notice.

This became regeneration 1 and Nayno 2 settled down to a life of adoration and adventure.  And much, much washing.  And a close encounter with her paw and some green gloss paint.

One year later we went back to Greece and DH's Mum announced she had found and purchased a third cat!  Number 2 was decidedly ropey after a year of love and attention (and the occasional vomit and nosebleed) so we did another swap.  Again Lia coped, her only comment being 'I've got a pretty Nayno!' when we gave it to her after a 'magic wash' from her Yia-Yia.

So here she was, a three year old with a twice regenerated cat and we thought that maybe, just maybe, the love would wane slightly and this one would last.  However here we are, just short of her sixth birthday and Nayno is still the companion of choice, still the one that must go to bed with her and still the one who is loved beyond all adult comprehension.

And the one who unfortunately now looks like this:

Too floppy even to sit up unaided!  If you hold her up to the light you can see through her neck and there are a lot of bald patches on her back.

An internet search brought up the horrifying fact that Nayno's are now extinct!  They ceased to be manufactured around 18 months ago and nowhere on the web could we find one.  Around 8 months ago a minor miracle occured and I found a Nayno on eBay - I eagerly bought and paid for it and waited for it to be shipped from France only to discover on it's arrival that it was in fact a mini-Nayno!  No matter it was Christened Naynaki (little Nayno) and became Nayno's baby to be loved in a similar manner to it's mother.

Then, against all odds, DH found a Nayno.  In Mexico.  Several emails and an EXTORTIONATE, never to be admitted, amount of postage later and Nayno IV was on it's way to us from deepest darkest Mexico, via Memphis (I think he went to Graceland - he is the coolest cat after all) and he arrived here this morning.

So now Lia is primed that Mummy, who can do anything, is going to work on Nayno tonight and fill up her stuffing, 'dye' her fur, sew up her holes and generally make her beautiful again.  Will it work?  I don't know.  What I do know is that if it doesn't and we end up confessing the existence of the original three Lia will have more than enough room in her heart for all of them - whatever they look like...

So Nayno IV has met his predecessors and submitted his references (proof if it were needed that DH is as mad as I am as he set up this shot)

He's bonded with them:

Had a cuddle with Nayno III

And taken up the baton of Naynodom on his own

Some Christening pics

Well I know it's been almost a week since the big day and I haven't mentioned it here but this week has been filled with guests, gifts, cards, tidying, cleaning and getting back into the school/work routine.  I'm only just feeling focussed on the here and now again - also Connor has been teething this week which has meant my usual sunny little man has been a bit of a grump who wants cuddles.

So the big party.  It was absolutely fabulous - the sun shone on us and all the guests showed up (with 30 kids invited its was an achievement to have them all healthy LOL).  The service was lovely although it did drag on a bit as the Priest insisted on doing it in both Greek and English so it took twice as long.  Because the church has a sunday school there was a kiddie play area so the mass of under 6's kept themselves entertained there.

Connor was a superstar.  He only complained when he was stripped, oiled and dunked and, to be fair, I think most people would do the same LOL.

After the Christening we all went off to a localish pub where I had arranged an entertainer and face painter.  Unfortunately due to the fact the service took so long we only got 30 mins of the entertainer and he got his full 2 hr fee!!!  Still, the kids loved him and it distracted them long enough for adults to get drinks and cake and settled into seats, etc.  The BBQ meal was amazing - fantastic food and everyone was most complimentary - those that stayed over said the breakfast was amazing too.

The facepainter was fantastic - I'd booked her for three hours with the option to extend that if it was popular and she was there for five hours before I called a halt and let her go (I did feed her).  All the girls had face and arms done and some of the boys had monsters (most of the boys were under 3 so a little too small to sit still for that long!)  Then I got mine done as a masquerade mask which meant the rest of the adults felt they could too so there was a very long queue!

The only minor disappointment was that I didn't really dance but this was due to me wanting to spend as much time as I could talking to friends so I can't really complain.

Here are a few pics from the Christening itself - I don't have any from later on at the party as I didn't take any so I'm waiting to see if anyone else did LOL

Connor not knowing what's coming

Post dunking

Hair being cut.  For info the guy in the glasses is the Nonos (Godfather) an that's DH in the corner in the grey shirt.

Getting dressed

Lia holding the candle

Books 12 and 13

I've read the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books since the first one was published but for some reason I totally missed a book being released last year (yeah okay, that could have been due to my son's birth LOL).

Anyway it has just come out in paperback as they latest came out in hardback so I bought and read both last month - The Double Comfort Safari Club and The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party.

I like these books because they are gentle and simple reads and the characters are extremely likeable.  To be fair not much happens in them but that's the point - it's a world where crimes and mysteries are simple ones - so if you like your mysteries fast paced these are definitely not the books for you!

April Roundup

1. Blog more - well my posting dipped a bit but I still managed to post the equivalent of every other day
2. No stash purchases - There was a blip due to large amounts of fabric arriving in the house but, in my defence, it was birthday money I spent
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list - I made good progress on 4 Wishes but no finishes in April
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - check
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - as well as finishing the party bags I also made 1 quilt and put together 1 quilt top
6. Read at least 50 books -2 read
7. Reduce the clutter in the house -yep - 3 large bags to charity, 5 large bags of kids clothes to various people and 1 bag of toys to my Sister-in-Law
8. Lose weight -no but now the festivities are over I'm determined to focus on this goal
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - erm, for obvious reasons it was a month of spending but, to be fair, we did get given quite a lot of cash too.
10. Work on the garden - yep, DH built a wall round the patio and Lia and I planted lots of seeds

This weekend I...

- HAD A PARTY!!!!

4 Wishes WIP

So here's my WIP as it is now:

And here's how it was when I picked it up:

My Pincushion

Thanks for your lovely comments on my last couple of posts -

Paula, Sally and I have offered Gina a quilting lesson at Dove Farm so there'll be plenty of it going on

Amanda, there are some gorgeous quilts on that link you bad enabler!

Jo, I'm glad you feel inspired - I can't wait to see what you are inspired to do LOL.

So, my pincusion.  I don't know why but I didn't have a pincushion and had never thought of making one until the quilting bug started rearing it's head again.  I used a wooden curtain ring for the base and just a large circle of fabric pulled into a ball and sewn to the ring.  Nothing sophisticated or particularly neat but hey, it does what it's supposed to!

I made a quilt!!!

Okay it's something I've done before but it's definitely not something I've done for a while LOL.

This was actually destined for my son at one point - to the extent that I'd cut it and started putting the piano key border together - but now it's being gifted to a friend who had a little boy a month ago after five years of trying and six miscarriages.

It was a kit from The Bramble Patch and I quilted it very simply - between the blocks, round the border and every eighth 'key' on the outer border.  Because I'd done all the cutting and some of the sewing I managed to get the whole thing put together yesterday including the binding so it's ready for me to take tomorrow when I go and meet the little guy

I've been bad!

And no I don't mean the lack of posting this month.

Yesterday I met up with three of my fellow stitchers/quilters and had a lovely day out.  We visited three quilting shops as well as beading and knitting stores and had a lovely lunch and gossip.

It was the first time I've been to a quilting shop since September and so I had a shopping list!

I got these fabrics to back a quilt I'm currently putting together:

 

These for a new project:

 

And these fat quarters just because I could!

In my defence I used birthday money. Well mostly birthday money ;-)

Oh and you might have noticed that these pictures are much better than my usual offerings.  I have a new camera!  One of the large supermarket chains in the UK has an offer on using up their reward vouchers for double their face value so I used mine to get a completely free new camera.

And what's more it's red:

I absolutely love it and now need to go and take pictures of all my WIPs and finishes again so they look half way decent LOL.

Happy Easter everyone

40 facts

about 40

1. It's the atomic number of Zirconium
2. Farenheit and Centigrade meet at -40 degrees
3. It's the Ruby wedding anniversary
4. It's the code for direct dial international calls to Romania
5. Ali Baba had 40 theives
6. Lent consists of the 40 days before Easter
7. Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the US
8. David Tennant was 40 yesterday
9. Noah spent 40 days on the Ark
10. XL is 40 in roman numerals
11. 40 is a 'semiperfect' number - ie you can add up a subset of its divisors to make 40 - 1+4+5+10+20 =40
12. Venus returns to the same place in the sky every 40 years
13. One of the prerequisites for a man to study Kabbalah is that he is 40
14. Jesus fasted for 40 days
15. and 40 nights
16. 40 weeks is the average term for a pregnancy (in the UK)
17. Muhammad was forty years old when he first received the revelation delivered by the archangel Gabriel
18. The M40 runs from London to Birmingham
19. Ewan McGregor is 40 years old
20. BBC Open University is 40 years old
21. The Quran says that a person is only fully grown when they reach the age of 40
22. There were 40 days between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension
23. Some Russians believe that the dead linger at the site of their death for 40 days
24. A short nap is '40 winks'
25. Interstate 40 runs from California to North Carolina
26. Forty is the only written number whose letters are in alphabetical order
27. 40 is a song by Franz Ferdinand
28. Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for forty days before David defeated him
29. Decimalisation in the UK is 40 years old
30. Apollo 14 landed on the moon 40 years ago
31. On this day 40 years ago the Manson Family were sentenced to death
32. Jim Morrison died 40 years ago
33. Walt Disney World in Florida is 40 years old
34. Gary Barlow is 40 years old
35. Jo Frazier beat Muhummad Ali at Madison Square Gardens 40 years ago
36. Queen Elizabeth II is the 40th British Monarch since William the Conqueror
37. Louis Armstrong died 40 years ago
38. The Hebrew people lived in the Sinai desert for 40 years
39. Life begins at 40 because...

40. I am 40 today!!!

This weekend I...

- Dyed my hair - goodbye horrible grey roots LOL
- Went to pick up some extra blocks DH needed to build the wall around the patio
- Finished sewing the boy party bags
- Stitched on 4 Wishes
- Changed my haircut appointment from next week to today
- Had a lie in
- Completely finished the original Angry Birds
- Found out there's a new Angry Birds update released this week
- Cooked roast pork with FAB crackling
- Loved that I'm the only person in the house that likes crackling
- Coughed too much
- Painted my toenails
- Failed to tidy up

A long week

So my blogging has stalled a bit this week.  It's a number of things - I haven't been crafting that much so I don't really have anything to share on that front.  It's the school holidays here so I'm home playing with the kids rather than sitting on the computer and Lia's had a lot of friends around so I've been entertaining.

Along with all of that I've been trying to sort out my 'role' in the whole affair situation because it all became a bit too awful for me last week.  Without going into too much detail I had to pick Lia up from a BBQ at A&B's house and C&D were there and they all spent the evening together.  It was truly horrendous - watching the cheaters behave like everything was absolutely normal, her dancing around with his baby, him cooking the food even though it wasn't his house, all of that kind of thing.

Anyway I decided that there was absolutely no way I can spend time around them any more so I told A this today.  It's tough as we've been good friends for 18 months now and we've been really close - it was her who I left Lia with when I went into hospital to have Connor - but enough is enough.

It could yet turn crazy as she's told B that I've broken off the friendship because I don't approve of her drinking and flirting.  Anyone who knows me could tell you neither of these bother me so it's a bit of a useless reason.  Plus if she goes too far and starts telling everyone the problems are coming from DH and I then she'll find out that I'm not prepared to put up with slander.

I'm still feeling crap about the whole thing but DH has said that he can tell I feel better than I did.  I hope he's right as after this I'm out of options on how to deal with it other than telling all and I cannot do that and be responsible for destroying two families.

Ugh, not fun!  However I am putting it all in the past and getting on with life - it's my birthday in 4 days (OMG!) and I intend to enjoy myself not mope around.

And in other cool news Connor said 'bye' today.  Quite clearly.  Admittedly to a character on the TV but they were all saying 'bye' and waving and he responded.  He's been waving for a while now but the bye was definitely new.  He's saying 'ta' as well.

This weekend I...

- Enjoyed the glorious weather we've been having
- Bought my son his first shoes
- Got my daughter some shoes too
- Enjoyed a nice lunch out with the family
- Stitched on Four Wishes
- Played Angry Birds
- Cooked roast chicken
- Got lots of washing done
- Ate dinner outside
- Enjoyed an ice lolly
- Started the big tidy up
- Encouraged my husband to get going on sorting the patio out
- Spent two and a half hours on the phone to my best mate
- Got extremely excited about my party being less than three weeks away

A Paolo Nutini moment...

Hey, I put some new shoes on,
And suddenly everything is right,
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling,
It so inviting,
Oh, short on money,
But long on time,
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine,
And I'm running late,
And I dont need an excuse,
'cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes.

Birthday Boy!

It's a year since we had this:

and now we have this:

Happy Birthday No 1 son!

Well it had to happen eventually...

I've reached the 5th April and I officially have nothing to say LOL

This weekend I...

- took Lia to her final swimming lesson of the term (and she passed stage 1!)
- got thoroughly spoiled
- failed to come up with an excuse to stop cheating friend coming over on Saturday aftenoon
- heard waaaay too much information about the cheating (yet again)
- did successfully ignore cheating friend for the whole of Sunday
- watched Karate Kid (the remake)
- stitched on Just Nan's Four Seasons
- got all my chores done on Saturday so I could veg out on Sunday
- did I mention I got spoiled LOL?

Happy Mothers Day

At least to all those Mum's in the UK.

I'm having a day of doing nothing - lie in followed by chilling whilst DH and Lia are at Greek school and Connor has a nap and then stitching in front of the TV for the afternoon watching what I want rather than what Lia wants!  DH is in total charge of the kids LOL.

DH is cooking dinner and then there'll be more stitching this evening.

Pretty much a perfect day

You know you've been stitching with overdyes too long

when you totally forget you can loop start.  And you get confused as to why you have an odd number of threads left.  Confused enough to throw one in the bin...

I pulled out Four Wishes by Just Nan last night and am now back in the rhythm of DMC LOL.

April

I think April was always on course for being my favourite month of 2011 and I hope it doesn't disappoint.  This month Connor turns 1, I turn 40 (gulp!) and we have our Christening and birthay party.  Yes I know I've mentioned them about a million times already but I'm just so excited!

I've been putting the sweeties together for the party bags and bombonieres and here are some of the kids ones:

March Roundup

My goals are currently looking like this:

1. Blog more -yep I've kept up the daily posting for a third month
2. No stash purchases - I've been a good girl yet again this month
3. Reduce my stitching WIP list -1 finish and good progress on Snapperbets
4. No new stitching starts in the first half of the year - check
5. Find the quilting bug again and reduce my quilting WIPs - well I've been sewing like crazy on the bags so whilst my WIPs haven't been touched I have found the bug big time
6. Read at least 50 books -erm, I realised when typing this that I haven't actually finished one book this month!
7. Reduce the clutter in the house -a little
8. Lose weight -ahem, let's gloss over this one shall we?
9. Stick to the household budget and find ways to reduce expenditure - kinda
10. Work on the garden - the patio is looking great!

I also had the additional goal of making the party bags this month and I've made great progress on them

Boy bag!

So I finally started the boy party bags after getting thoroughly bored of the pink ones!  I have to say it's been a steeper learning curve than I expected as I was a bit blase about doing the casing.

However, I got there eventually and have 7 of the 12 done.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Anyone seen this film?  It's about a couple who erase their memories of each other when their relationship goes bad.

What I really need right now is a way to do exactly what they were hoping to achieve - erase all information in my brain pertaining to this bloody affair my friends are having.  Yes it is still going on and no, the spouses don't appear to have any suspicions yet.

I've removed myself from the situation as much as I can - I avoid talking to her about it, I don't respond to her texts that mention it and I've quite brutally told her that I don't like some things on a couple of occasions now.  But all this has done is make me realise that what I really and truly can't bear is their social engagements as two families together and I can't get away from the knowledge of that.

So now my head feels ready to explode with it all and I want to scream at the cheated on spouses for being too stupid to realise what is going on.  Obviously I won't as that just lands me right in the middle of it all as the bad guy but I just can't imagine how the pair of them will feel when all this comes out and they realise they've spent days out together with the pair of lying, cheating, two-faced, hypocritical idiots (writing that down felt good LOL).

It is now impacting on my social calendar as I refuse to do anything where the two families will be together.  DH has entered a 10k run that the cheated on husband is also doing and there's a family funfair on at the same time.  DH will be attending on his own as the other family are also going.  DH is fine about this as he understands my feelings (and doesn't exactly enjoy being around them himself)  plus he knows the more time I spend around them the more likely I am to say something.

Sorry to rant about this yet again but it's generally spoiling my mood at the moment and I'm trying to think of ways to keep it out of my head.  I've given up facebook as they are all on there posting pics of each others kids and talking about the fun times they have and I'm 'forgetting' my mobile quite a lot at the moment so hopefully that will help.

What I can't do is cut them out of my life completely though as I see them every day, twice a day on the school run and Lia and their daughters are best friends so I can hardly stop Lia seeing them.  Grrrrrrr.

I've even resorted to some retail therapy to cheer myself up.  No stash I should point out but stuff for the kids - storage boxes, beakers, books, etc - I am not even missing the whole stash buying thing at the moment but I'll admit it will be nice to get some exciting parcels through the post!

Oh and one last thing before I sign off this post, I'm 99.99% convinced that the pair of cheaters had sex in my bed when he was round cleaning our patio for us.  She promised me that she absolutely wouldn't do anything but when I got home that day my bedroom door was closed - we never, ever close the doors in the house and I was the last one upstairs so it can't have been Lia.  This is, of course, not helping my mood.

This weekend I...

- Had a late Friday night / early Saturday morning as I babysat for friends and got home after midnight
- Had a 6am wakeup call on Saturday
- Did the swimming and ballet runs
- Delegated Lia's cinema and pizza party invitation to DH
- Changed a few too many smelly nappies!
- Snuck in an afternoon nap when noone was looking
- Watched the boat race
- Visited friends
- Got annoyed with stupid cheating friends (who have still not been caught)
- Watched a film snuggled up with my husband
- Stitched
- Sewed bags

Connor

It's practically impossible to get a good picture of him these days as the minute he sees the camera he tries to grab it LOL

Snapperbets Progress

I've been stitching on this one for the last week or so and enjoying it.  I remember why I stopped before, it was because I had run out of Maple Syrup and discovered that the new skeins ordered were much much lighter than my original.  I was convinced I'd had an extra skein to start with but it never appeared so I must have imagined it.  A friend was good enough to send me some that she had but it still wasn't as dark as the original but a better match than the ones I bought.

So I'm in the position that I'll probably have to frog a huge section of the border as I've never found another skein of Maple Syrup as dark as the one I used originally.  However I have decided to completely finish the design and then see how I feel about how noticable the colour change is before making any rash decisions.

Enough of all that here's how it is now:

And here's how it was before I picked it up:

Not exactly like for like pics I know but you can see that the F and N were only just started and W is entirely new work.

Happy Greek Independence Day

To be fair I wouldn't usually celebrate today (DH sulks because it's a Bank Holiday in Greece but he usually has to go to work) but Connor's nursery have decided to go Greek for the day!

All the kids have been encouraged to wear blue and white, they have Greek flags and blue and white bunting up, DH translated some basic words for them (nappy, food, water, etc) and today's lunch menu is written in Greek and English.

I gave them some Greek colouring pictures to copy and also a CD of Greek nusery rhymes (it's a truly awful CD but they asked LOL).

Apparently they even have the local paper coming round to take some pictures.  It's great that they are so enthusiastic (and obviously the publicity is great for them too LOL) but I'm just wondering what the reporter will think of my little blonde haired, blue-eyed little Greek boy...