A space for me

There were many odd things that I did immediately post break-up.

One was completely emptying all the cupboards in the kitchen, cleaning them and throwing out things that were past their use by date / bit gross / for no reason whatsoever. Seriously I went to get a lot of things in the couple of months after that I swear I used to have in there and suddenly no longer did.

Second was a take-over of the space that was the spare bedroom. This had been His domain, where his computer was set up. Where, you know, he'd been sat planning his new life, buying furniture for his new flat whilst I sat oblivious in the next room. Maybe it was my subconscious taking control and wanting to clear the room from as many bad memories as possible, or maybe it just wanting to keep myself busy. Who knows. Either way I set to work carving out a space for myself.

My crocheted blankets have found a new home hanging out on the sofa-bed and in the days and weekends immediately following the break-up I found myself actually sitting in here quite a bit. It was where I sat when I was on the phone with family and friends as I recounted the story for the umpteenth time and tried to not cry. It was where I took to sitting in the mornings at the weekend, reading books and drinking tea - the sun streams in through the window first thing and it was actually a really nice habit to get into instead of the usual walking into the lounge and turning the TV on to watch something incredibly not good for my brain.

The desk became a place for me to finally set up my stall to do all my online 'stuff'. Sitting in front of the TV with the laptop burning a hole in my thighs meant that I was never terribly productive. I was too easily distracted from getting stuff done that really needed to be done, like blogging, and also found it too easy to get idly sucked into nonsense on the internet - not really concentrating on the laptop or the TV.

I have seen many an image of people's home offices and have been tainted with the green fingers of envy looking at their perfect shelves and inspirational washi-taped photos, postcards and platitudes taped to the walls. Somehow I'm just never able to pull it off myself though. I just don't possess the ability to create Pinterest-worthy interiors.

And so stuff is randomly stuck on the walls with absolutely no order going on whatsoever. I do mean to try and make these a bit more ordered but it's not going to happen. In fact, it's probably my intense need to make them ordered that is my downfall - as much as I love 'randomness' when I look at pictures I'm just not quite capable of creating it in real life.

Remember, if it's not a right angle it's a......wrong angle!

My favourite and best stuff is reserved for the corner of the desk. I bought this lamp for Ikea. I picked it up and put it down, and picked it up and put it down again. I knew that I didn't really have anywhere to put it but I just bloody loved it and so home it came with me. And I really didn't have anywhere to put it, until I had the chance to make this space my own and out it promptly came.

These two postcards are two of my favourites. I have a slight problem for buying postcards that I'm never going to send to people because I want to keep them for myself. I've never had anything to do with them....until now.

The pigeon postcard makes me smile every, single. day. How could it not? 

The leaf is one that I picked up from the pavement when I was tramping around Leicester with Janet before Christmas. I'm a sucker for leaves in Autumn and it's only fear that people with think I'm a crazy person that I don't constantly stop as I'm walking along and pick them all up. Clearly I am unconcerned about Janet's thoughts about my sanity. 

So this is where I sit when I'm typing up this stuff. Nice to be able to picture where someone is when you're reading the blatherings isn't it?

I'd ask you to show me pictures of your office but I really don't know I'd be able to keep my jealousy in check...

BEDM Day 15: Home Sweet Home

My Mum is good at a lot of things, (obviously, she's a Mum) but one thing she is really good at it is pulling a room together. She does it naturally, without really thinking. She is capable of visualising what she wants to achieve and then she sets out and makes it happen.

She was painting furniture long before the word 'upcycling' existed and every time I go back home she's added something else, or taken something out, or is planning on painting another wall for no particular reason at all.

Sadly I have not followed in her footsteps. I am not really able to formulate what I want to happen into a coherent form that allows me to actually make a start. I am not a creative person in that sense - little wisps of ideas appear in my mind's eye, only to float away before I can get a grip on them.

But I have become determined to do something about it now. I am a little tired of living in a flat which is a mis-match of random bits of furniture that have been collected and gathered and very kindly donated. I love them all, but nothing really makes sense together and it feels a little bit like living in a student flat.

Although there isn't much we can do in terms of decorating, given that we live in rented accommodation, I can make a start on making what I do have in to some kind of coherent 'style' - even if the word 'style' isn't really a word to describe me.

From L-R: Colour Flash Monogrammed cushion /  Piped Edged cushion by Catherine Colebrook / Scandi Flowers cushion / Woodwick candle / Gurli cushion cover from Ikea / Cat cushion by Rustic Country Crafts / Hello Sunshine printed cushion

I saw a wedding some time a go which had a yellow and grey theme and I fell in love with it there and then. Of course, as with most things that I like, I have chosen a trend which is hugely popular. It seems to be my lot in life to always be one step behind everyone else. 

Luckily for me however, I'm not swayed by what is popular, merely by what I like. This is handy actually because the sofa that we bought when we moved into this flat is grey. Look at that - I've already made a start!

I'm already making plans for our coffee table, a very kind donation from Heather when we moved into the flat in August. I've seen way too many magazine articles and things on Pinterest of people having fun with spray paint and I need to get in on the action. I have how-to articles pinned on how to tape off chevron patterns and I've eyed up the colours that I want to go for. 

And then I'll be one step closer to living less like a student and a bit more like a grown up person.

Possibly...

BEDM Day 8 - Local History

As I've mentioned about a billion times before, I live in a tiny place. Tiny.

One main street, not really any high street shops, no train station - but many many pubs.

For this reason I'm always a little bit coy about saying exactly where it is I live. I don't really know why, there are photos of my face on this blog, it could be fairly easy for someone to stumble upon it and realise who I am, but I feel like I can maintain a semblance of anonymity if I don't reveal the exact name of the place where I live.

It felt easier in bigger cities like Hull and Preston - you are one face amongst many and it's easy to get lost - but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there are not that many people blogging here in Tiny Town, so I feel as if "exposure" is more likely.

Nothing like being dramatic on a Thursday morning is there?

But what with today's BEDM topic being Local History month I thought I would give you all a little clue as to where it is I live:

You get bonus points if you don't resort to Google to guess the answer.

Bonus castle picture

My grass isn't greener

It's funny really when I think about it. Although 'funny' in that way where you feel like you might be hysterically laughing to stop yourself from collapsing on a heap in the floor crying.

I never would have thought in a million years that I'd be sat here in 2013 saying I'm in a worse place than I was in 2012.

I know right. How could anything be worse than 2012? Going from being made redundant, to having to move away from my friends and family in Hull, to being unemployed for a few months, to ending up in possibly the most depressing job where I got bullied. I lived in a city where I had no friends, other than The Person, oh and in the middle of it all I had a pretty spectacular meltdown.

2013 was the ultimate in fresh starts. Literally moving on the 1st January to a new place and starting a new job on the 2nd January which I was loving. There were challenges in the form of living in my sister's box room and having The Person live all the way in Preston but I was feeling fairly positive.

So how is it, that 2013 is heading towards a close and I feel worse than ever?

It's as if multiple things have conspired against me that seem determined to try and block my happiness everywhere I turn and, with no potential solution for some of them in sight, I can feel the 'badness' (those looming, crushing feelings of awfulness that seem to always be hovering over me in the background but I manage to keep at bay) starting to begin it's slow and painful creep over my shoulders.

For a start, the place I live in is tiny. I don't really know how to stress that word enough. The main 'town' is literally a street. A small street. We have one high street clothes store which is about the size of my living room. Luckily I'm not that interested in clothes shopping because that may have pushed me over the edge a long time ago. The fact is that there is just nothing to do here. Basically once you've visited the castle you're kind of out of things to do.

Frustratingly there's a whole host of things to do pretty much on my doorstep. I'm not a million miles away from some decent cities - Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, heck even Birmingham isn't that far away. There's the National Forest practically tapping at my window and National Trust properties galore. The problem? Absolutely none of them are accessible if you don't have a car.

Welcome to the sticks people, where public transport is non-existent and you are left with a situation where visiting Pets at Home and Wickes is the highlight of your weekend.

I have a huge bugbear about people with cars not understanding what life is like without one. I would love for them to come here for a week and be faced with constantly having to say "I'd love to, but I can't get there." or "I'd love it, but could you give me a lift?" Nothing like being 30 and not being able to independently get anywhere to make you feel good about yourself. The closest town I could get to is Burton, which takes 45 minutes on a bus, despite being a 25 minute car drive away and I think I can get to Leicester, although it appears to take 1.5 hours and involve a convoluted and difficult bus journey where you may have to get off a bus but also might not have to - I've been too scared to try it in case I just end up on a bus for the rest of my week.

I do technically have access to a car in the form of my sister's tank but to borrow that means a mile and half walk to her house (and back home again after dropping the car off) and actually, funnily enough, she needs to use her car as well. I'm probably not great at asking for it when I need it because, again, nothing like not being able to independently travel anywhere etc etc.

Secondly, I am 30 and it is well known that the older you get, the harder it is to make friends. I have been here a year and still don't have anyone I can call a friend. Don't get me wrong, I get on with lots of people at work. Lots of people - lots of chatting, lots of laughs - but they are restricted to 9-5. There has been nothing which has materialised into an outside of work friendship. Actually a lot of that is again down to location - most people don't live in this town, but live in other places and commute in, so they're not about to meet up or do anything with. Those people that do live here have lived here all their lives and are the ultimate in small town cliques - no matter how well you get on with them in work, it's not going to translate to an offer of a night out.

I am an extrovert in the true sense of the word. I need people around me to gain my energy. My spark comes from talking to people and interacting with people. I'm not like introverts, who see social interaction as something that drains them - it's honestly my life force.* Me without friends is just not pleasant. And on top of not making friends here, I have slowly but ever so surely drifted away from my friends back home. It happens, people get boyfriends, you don't live there any more, life moves on and leaves you stranded behind it. But it means I have no-one to talk to about the crushing loneliness I'm experiencing here.

All of the above has added up to put pressure on my relationship, and whilst I don't really want to go into that on here (at the moment) things have not been great between us and we are needing to do some emergency repair work. Which is actually difficult when you have nowhere to go because you have no transport (begin that loop again.)

Which brings us to wok. And again without wanting to go into that too much - things have not been great there. My role has changed due to unavoidable circumstances and whilst I appreciate that a new role has been found for me it's not a) what I wanted to do and b) I'm receiving absolutely no guidance at all on how to do it. It's frustrating and just really really gutting because I'd finally found something that I wanted to do and thought I was doing well at.

So there you have it. The holy trifecta of work, relationship and friends has slowly but steadily crumbled over the past few months, leaving me feeling like I'm hanging over a precipice. One from which I have no escape because there isn't a bloody bus back from said precipice.

I joke.

Not really.

Last year, I may have been unemployed and without friends but I lived in a city. There was plenty to do and plenty to explore and there were other places that were on our doorstep that we could get to because there were public transport links. Living here is like experiencing cabin fever on a major scale and feeling as though the other shoe is about to drop...

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*For a cartoon which incredibly cleverly and easily explains the difference between introverted and extroverted people please see this How to interact with the introverted cartoon - it will honestly help you you understand the differences between the two. 

The Nest

I'm pretty much like a goldfish you know. I just expand to fit my surroundings and I'm good at making whatever space I'm living in feel homely to me. I'm a good little nester. I'm not fussed about having a show-room style house where everything is immaculate and has been chosen to go together and "tie the room together" (which is the wankiest phrase I've ever heard).

But even a goldfish has its limits and although I've mentioned the fact that I've been living in my sister's box room for the past 6 months I felt like I needed to show you that I am not exaggerating and also for you to praise me and say what a good person I am for having lived in this space for so long and not seriously hurt somebody/resorted to sitting on my bed and banging my head against the wall.

So I thought I'd take some photos.

That was a laugh in itself. This room is so small that taking photos of it proved almost impossible because I couldn't actually get any of the room in a single photo. Take this photo below - I had to get this by standing way out in the hall at the top of the stairs...

See?!

A - My bed. Most of the springs in the mattress have now gone. See those four drawers? They have some clothes in. Bottom left has all my running stuff in it, top left has a couple of jumpers and t-shirts in, top right has bras and a jumper in and bottom right has pjs, 1 pair of jeans and some lounge pants in.

B - Some extra storage - in these tiny drawers I have shoved my pants, tights and socks.

C - Unfortunately this TV does not actually work, there's no aerial.

D - My teeny selection of books whilst all my other lovely books are languishing back in Preston thinking I don't love them any more.

So that's what it looks like from the outside, what about the inside?

Well this hopefully gives you an idea of how small it is. I had to stick two photos together but what you see is what you get. In the above photo you should have been able to see that the length of the room is the length of my bed.

So when I'm lying on the bed, this is what I can see...

A - My wardrobe. Basically has my work stuff in it and some shoes and then space for all my dirty laundry because, well, I've nowhere else to put it.

You may be able to have worked out from this picture of the wardrobe and the storage in the above photo that I do not have a lot of clothes here with me. Actually I can highly recommend being separated from the majority of your wardrobe for 6 months apart from the absolute essentials which for me is my work stuff and pjs. It means that when I went back to Preston the other weekend to start packing for the move I actually just put the majority of my clothes in bin bags and took it to charity.

B - Why is my wardrobe floating in the air? This is where the stairs come up. It's weird innit? It's probably where the boiler should be which would possibly make it look a bit less weird.

C - My towels. They live here. They can't live in the bathroom because I live with 2 teenage boys and they're gross and I really don't want them near my towels. Gross but true.

D - Running shoes. Nowhere else for them to live but do you like how I've stacked them to create more room? Sad isn't it?

E - Hurray for over the door hook things. I'd be buggered without them. Here hangs everything for which there is no room anywhere else - includes scarfs, belts, bags, cardigan and hoodies.

F - Postcard from Heather that I love. It says "Have a totes amazeballs day!" - I see it every day and it makes me smile.

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So there you have it. My little nest. Little being the operative word. This is mostly where I am when I am blogging/tweeting/reading/crocheting/on the phone.

I know I shouldn't complain, I'm lucky to have a sister that has put me up for this long for what we both thought would be a much shorter time frame. But, as homely as my little nest is, I am longing to have all my things around me. To have everything at my fingertips instead of going "Oh I know what I'll do...no...wait...that's in Preston, can't have that."

I am muchly looking forward to moving to my bigger nest.

Walk to work - BEDM Day 17

Let us cast our mind's back to last year - this post here details my commute each day. For those who can't be bothered to read it now or can't bring themselves to read it again - let me paraphrase. My commute was horrible. It involved walking 5.5 miles every day and catching a train and all for a job which was so awful it made me cry almost every single day for 4 long months.

Fast forward to now and things are very different.

Most of the time I get a lift into work with my sister but if she's not able to for whatever I reason I make the walk in and out. It's only 1.5 miles which is a piece of cake compared to the last commute, and even better, there's plenty to look at for the first three quarters of the walk. The rest of it is just a long road which is terribly boring.

Confession time. I took these photos in the evening on a walk back home from the gym.

So shoot me. The light was nicer anyway in your face.

First point of interest is this wall of flowers not far up the road from my sister's house. I can never remember what this looks like when it's not all colourful. I'm guessing just like a boring stone wall but right now it's a much welcome burst of colour.

I walk along the road up the hill. It's not a big hill but is rather a very long road on a terribly steady incline. Trust me, when you're attempting to run at it you are all too aware that it is up-hill, but when you're walking at a nice steady pace it's hardly anything to write home about.

The apex of the hill is this bridge over the railway track. I look at it and curse it. Because no trains run on this track. This place that I live in doesn't have a train station, despite the fact that it's perfectly placed for people to commute to Derby, Birmingham and Nottingham. *shakes fist*

And then it is on to a very secluded and very long pathway. This is not a great deal of fun in the dark let me tell you. But for now it is light late in the day and the beauty of this long pathway is what is on it...

...First I come to an old fallen down building of some sort. But this is just a prelude to the real show...

The castle! I am still not bored of seeing this on my walks to and from town and to and from work and my guess is that I will never get bored of seeing it. Castles are amezzing and this castle may have seen better days but it is still awesome and a dilapidated castle is better than no castle at all in my opinion.

Chances are when I'm walking down this pathway I'm also looking at the sky because I have a bit of a fondness for the sky. And the chances are that when it is sunny I'm taking a picture of the sky because I seem to have developed a bit of an obsession with blue skies and white clouds...

Coming to the end of the pathway I come out to the church (the clock is broken btw) and then it is a case of dodging past the school-kids on their way to the school opposite and a walk to the end of the road where I come to one of my all time favourite signs ever...

This sign.

I don't know why it makes me so happy. Maybe because it's all looking a little weatherbeaten. Maybe it's the font. Maybe it's that it has the word 'sluice' in it which is a satisfying word to say in your head.

And then it really is a boring walk down a main road which would not only be boring for you to look at pictures of but would have been embarassing for me to take.

And that is just one more reason why this job is better than my last one...

March Project 365 Round-up

I can hear the groans.

"Oh god didn't we just have one of these?" I hear you cry. Well yes, yes you did, but that's because there was nothing in January and February and now we are nicely caught up. You won't have to feast your eyes on another of these until the end of April.

 

March

Clockwise L-R: The castle, Lily's close up, a wintry scene, sheepy sheepy sheep sheep, the Tetris blanket grows, SNAKE

2nd March - I live near a ruined castle and it's brilliant. It doesn't look that impressive but you can actually go up to the top of one of the towers, as long as you don't mind heights or narrow stone spiral staircases. If I walk into work (instead of getting a lift from my sister) I walk past it and it never. gets. old.

9th March - I went back to Hull for Mother's Day and Best Friend's birthday. This is a close up of Lily. You're welcome.

26th March - Oh hai snow, you're here again, aren't you fun? No actually you're not you total twat. Although you do make for lovely wintry scene photographs of churchyards. 

18th March - These sheep lived outside our Manor when I was away for my Bloggers Weekend and I was a woman possessed trying to get a good photo of them. Persistence paid off in the end and I got them all lined up and looking at me. Winner.

19th March - The Tetris blanket is veeeeeeery slowly taking form and it is exciting.

23rd March - Every time I go back to Preston, The Person and I take a mooch around Pets at Home because it's opposite the flat. We look at the rabbits and guinea pigs and try and stroke random dogs and it's awesome. Going in every time I'm over sometimes makes me feel like a loser but it paid off because today we went in and there was a man there with many creepy crawlies including a SNAKE and I totally got to hold it. What do snakes feel like? Well, they feel like a handbag actually. Not slimy and actually nice and smooth. This old gal mostly felt heavy, she was about 4 stone.

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March was a good month you know, I struggled to pick just 6 photos and thought about adding more but then figured that I'm struggling to hold your attention as it is and probably shouldn't make it worse.

Let's be having you April.

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If you were interested - all the other photos from Project 365 can be found on my photostream HERE

The weekend I attempted the impossible

After New Year I had an unexpected e-mail from The Person.


“When you come over next can we do things to make the flat homely?”

It was an e-mail which simultaneously surprised and didn’t surprise me. I remember when I moved into my new place and got myself all unpacked, he started round looking a bit confused before saying “But this room looks like you live here already, you’re all unpacked and everything and it looks like you. My flat looks like I’ve just moved in.”

What surprised me was that he wanted it in his place at all. I just assumed he was being blokey and liked things as they were. But the nesting bug must have caught hold of him somehow and the request was made.

At first I was in heaven. Getting to make a home for someone else is immensely fun. Mostly because it doesn’t involve you spending any money doing it. But I soon realised one huge stumbling block.

Homey things = girly things.

Trying to make a flat seem nice and homely whilst retaining a sense of masculinity about it was hard to imagine. Especially as I’m a girl. And whilst I don’t think I have excessively girly taste, I didn’t think The Person was going to get as excited about an ornamental birdcage as I would.

In the weeks leading up to me going to see him I started to have a little browse and pick up some things as presents to get him started. Some nice mugs which are colourful and can go on a mug tree in the kitchen but were without a hint of Liberace. Some decent tea towels to replace the dirty rags he currently owns. Some grey storage boxes – grey – how manly can you get?! And some little fake plants that require no care and won’t be producing any unexpected girly flowers on them.

But I knew there were going to be problems. I spotted this throw on Dotcomgiftshop (£49 reduced to £15? Yes please!) and suggested it because it was brown, thought that would be pretty manly. But it was rejected for being girly. Apparently if a sofa and a bed are already covered in fabric then why the need to cover them in more? It was a logic I found difficult to argue with.*

I went over prepared for a battle and, to be fair, I kind of had one, but by the end of the weekend things were starting to take shape. To really understand what I had going on here you have to imagine a student, who has just moved in to his first place. There was seriously nothing to work with. As in, he didn’t have a bin in the bathroom. Or a table to put a coffee cup on. Getting a picture? This wasn't really a case of getting amazing, expensive furniture that will last our whole lives, and more about just getting stuff, full stop.

So by the end of the weekend we had:

A nest of tables (one for each end of the sofa) A bin for the bathroom and a toilet brush
A toothbrush holder and soap dispenser
A bath mat (Hurray for 3 for 2 on Argos Colour Match stuff)
Some nice new colourful towels
Shelving unit (bargain from Morrisons for £9 – although I wouldn’t put much on it given that you didn’t actually need a screwdriver to put it together)
A bamboo plant
Coasters
2 table lamps (to take up residence on aforementioned nest of tables)
I also did a bit of re-jigging, moving the never-used small dining room table into a corner of the lounge and moving an uplighter to create a little dining area. I suggested getting something to sit in the middle of the table but couldn’t get agreement on anything, having a conversation that went a little like this:

Me: How about a bowl?
The Person: What would I put in it?
Me: Well nothing. You could just have a bowl. OR. You could put some sand/pebbles in it and a candle in it?
The Person: You know what would be good? A big giant rock.
Me: *silence*

I discovered that it’s actually difficult making somewhere homely when you’re not the person living in it – all I could really do is suggest things to The Person and see if he liked them. I tried again with the soft furnishings, I brandished a tartan throw from Primark in his direction and made him feel how soft it was and I thrust a cushion in his face in Debenhams exclaiming “Look! Pigeon cushion! How manly is that?!” But it was to no avail.**

I still haven’t won the battle over candles unfortunately. I think that’s a no- go. Although a utensil holder for the kitchen has been given the green light so it wasn't a complete fail.

All in all – not bad for a weekend’s work say I.

Next time.....bedroom!



*But I totally went and bought that throw for myself anyway and I love it. It’s so so so so soft I just want to smoosh up in it all day.


** Or was it? Later on he admitted that the throw and cushion might not have been such a bad idea. Aha! I just had to plant the seed!

Not Really Resolutions 2012

So here we go. Not Really Resolutions 2012. Eek.

I think last year went pretty well. 9 out of 10 is a success in my book anyway, certainly as close to perfection as I’ll ever get.

So what’s on the list for this year? And more importantly, why?

1. Complete France 2010 trip album. Ha. Well it has to be on here doesn’t it really, given that it’s the only thing I didn’t complete last year. Shame on me. But this way it will definitely get done so it’s time for me to get my head down!

2. Furniture make-over. I have 2 items of charity shop furniture that need a make-over. One is a drop-leaf table and the other is this scabby looking chest of drawers that I picked up for £5 a few days after Christmas. They are very good at their jobs, but they’re not exactly pretty. I even know what I want to do with them, after getting inspiration from Tete en l’air last year, so it’s just a case of getting on with it. Think it might have to wait for more clement weather though!

3. Run 10km. A tricky one to put on the list as I’m still not overly sure if I am able to run 10km without my shin imploding. But if I don’t put it on the list I won’t push myself to try and achieve it so it’s going on here. I need something to aim for because once I’d run the 5km last year I stopped having the impetus to go running and as a result I’ve become a reet lazy so and so and I’m piling on the pounds as a result.

But I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t achieve this one because it’ll be because I physically can’t do it. Note that I’ve just said run 10km, not enter in a race, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself because then I’ll end up in pain – if I manage to run 10km, whether that be on a treadmill or running up and down my street a million times, I’ll count it as a win.

4. No buying of physical books for one whole year. Yeah you read right. I’m going hardcore for 2012. There is good reason for this. Namely that I do not need any more books. There are currently 92 books waiting to be read on my bookshelves. I read about 45 books this year, and 44 the year before that. Do the maths. Also I just don’t have the space to be buying books.

Which brings me to why it says no physical book buying. I decided this would be my resolution a couple of months ago and was all settled until Christmas Day when I opened up my present from my Dad and discovered I am the proud owner of a Kindle. I’ve had mixed feelings about these for some time now but I was mostly pleased because I saw a loophole in my resolution. I can’t buy any physical books but I’m allowing myself to buy books for my Kindle. I mean otherwise it would just be a waste wouldn’t it?

This one is going to be a tough one because I have a bit of a compulsion with book buying, as evidenced by the problem in the first place.

5. Learn how to do French knots and use them in an embroidered piece. These guys are the bane of my life. I literally cannot do them. Many have tried to teach me and many have wanted to poke me in the eye with the needle due to my complete inability to do it. But this year I am determined. If anyone has any links to any tutorials or videos that are good please tell me about them! I think French knots are going to be to 2012 what learning to crochet a ripple blanket was to 2011.

6. Use my alpaca wool. American Girl went all the way to South America to get me this wool (there’s a chance she also went for a holiday but we all know it was about me) and all I’ve done with it is turn from skeins into very neat balls of wool. This is bad behaviour. The main reason I haven’t used it is because I’m a giant scaredy cat because it’s not Stylecraft DK so I don’t know what to do with it. It is thin thinny thin thin and it frightens me. Any suggestions for what I can do with it (keep it clean please) then let me know!

7. Sell something at a craft fair. This requires me to be organised and get a stockpile together. Of what I have no idea but I like the thought of making money. Remember the mobile that I made for my niece? Since that one I’ve made 4 more for friends and it’s earned me some lovely cash. Now obviously I can’t make those – not unless I develop psychic powers and learn the names of my potential shoppers beforehand – but I’ve been bitten by greed and want to make pocket money for myself. I can feel a Gantt chart coming on...

8. Read 12 Classics. I had such a good time last year that I definitely want to carry this on this year. Mostly because of the stockpile I have – remember those 92 books? Yeah well 17 of them are Classics that I bought on speculation. And I can download Classics for free on my Kindle so no excuses.

9. Cook/bake something new every 3 weeks. When I was doing Weightwatchers in 2010/2011 I really started to enjoy being in the kitchen much more as I was always making myself new things. Since reaching my goal weight in February 2010 I’ve been lazy and that, plus the lack of exercise (see Resolution 3) has meant that slowly but ever so surely the weight is creeping back on. It’s not a big deal, I’ve just fallen into some bad habits, but I know what I need to do to change them so there’s no stressing to be done. But I thought this might help give me a kick up the bum.

Why 3 weeks? Well I knew that if I said fortnightly I’d never keep it up and if I said monthly well that’s just a big fat cop out isn’t it really? So every 3 weeks it is. God knows how I’ll keep track of this one.

10. Keep a diary with photos for one whole year. I loved doing Project 365 last year because it allowed me to look back over a year in my life and remember all the little things that happened. However it was a little limiting because I try to be as private as possible on the blog and not have other people’s faces in my photos etc. So I have decided that I will keep an actual physical diary for a year that will include photos. I’m not pressuring myself to write something every single day or take a photo every single day but I do want to keep a record of the little things that happen day to day. I even bought myself a cool book from Paperchase to do it in. Anything to oblige my stationary addiction.

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So there we have it. I am locked in. Bring it on 2012.

It's actually kind of scary. I think I might start thinking of valid reasons why I haven't completed these now, just in case...

Meet the housemates

I’ve just realised that I haven’t told you all about my housemates. And obviously you’ll be wanting to hear all about them.


So I live in a 4 bedroom house. (Actually it’s a 3 bedroom, but what would be the downstairs living room is a bedroom as landlords are wont to do to get more cashola in.) I live in what would be the Master bedroom and I’ve treated you to a little view in this post.

I currently live with 2 housemates. There were 3 but one moved out a few weeks after I moved in (totally a coincidence I would like to add) and the downstairs bedroom has had some building and redecorating work done on it since then so it’s just been the 3 of us for the past month or so.

It’s kind of cool actually because we’ve all moved in at pretty much the same time, meaning that we’ve been able to set up our own way of living and our own routines, rather than having to awkwardly fit in with someone else....like the poor 4th housemate is going to have to do when they move in mwhahahahaha.

So anyway I have 2 housemates. One boy and one girl.

The girl is Scottish so let’s be imaginative and call her The Scot. (I know. Don’t be jealous of my creativity people.) The Scot is actually kind of like me only about half my size and blonde. And Scottish. She is certainly the only person that I’ve met that gets as excited about cleaning products as I do and has an almost borderline obsession with Cillit Bang. This is good though because it means that there are at least two of us that are maniacally clean people.

The Scot is very straight-forward and has a pretty dry sense of humour so we get on very well. We’re still getting to know each other but I think we’ve had kind of similar upbringings and kind of similar views on life. She is single but does have a list of things she’s looking for in a man which is added to on an almost daily basis.

Then there is the male housemate. He is 31 and a trainee teacher but seems to be totally unprepared to actually grow up and face the harsh realities of life. We shall call him Peter Pan. I sometimes struggle to get my head around Peter Pan because I find it almost too difficult to comprehend how someone can actually revel in their immaturity as much as he does. He thinks it’s hilarious.

He’s terribly easy-going and although he’s not naturally clean and tidy he’s happy to do as he’s told and works well under direction. The Scot and I can set him the task of hoovering and he will quite happily do it but under no circumstances would he think to do it himself. But then I think that’s most men if you will allow me to generalise.

To be fair he doesn’t make that much mess. Particularly in the kitchen, although this is mainly because he doesn’t appear to eat. I’ve never known anyone go on a food jag quite like Peter Pan. Now I’m all for making a big massive pot of chilli in one go, it just makes sense, and then I will freeze portions and have a nice little stockpile in the freezer for days when I can’t be bothered to cook. Peter Pan will do the same but will then eat the same meal every. single. day. Not even I could do that.

Pizzas are his latest jag. He will make his own dough which is all very impressive and then will eat pizza every day for a week. Think I’m exaggerating? Last week Peter Pan had pizza on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, an omelette on Sunday and t hen pizza again on Monday and Tuesday. I kid you not.

I could write many a blog post about Peter Pan and I suspect he will feature on this blog pretty heavily because I will need to share more about him just so you can sit and stare at your screen in incredulity.

So there you have it. Those are The Housemates as they stand. I wonder who our next victim will be...

September Flickr favourites

Good lord what a busy month. So much has happened. In fact this month is exactly why I really like that I've been doing Project 365 because when I looked back at this month I found myself going "God was that really this month?! I thought it was bloody ages ago!"

This month has been very busy travel-wise - I've been to new places and old, I've travelled on trains and Megabuses, I've been away on my own and with The Person, I've met people (and animals) for the first time and in and amongst all of this I've been packing to move house.

Crazy.

3rd September - Today was the day I struck out on my own and boarded a train to visit a SBF - also known as a Special Blog Friend (said in the style of The Inbetweeners). I went to go and visit the Heather in her home town which was amazeballs because,

a) I got to meet someone new, and 

b) I got to visit a new place

But anyway you can read all about it here.

12th September - Today was the day that I went to meet a new dog. My Dad and his wife have got a new goggie in the form of Max, a Golden Retriever and this was his first day in his new home, so obviously I was there, banging the door down to meet him immediately. He really deserves a blog post of his own so I won't talk about him too much.

22nd September - Well you all know what I did on this day - I went to London. All on my own. Like a right brave girl. This is quite literally the only photo I took that day, it wasn't really a photo taking kind of day. I took this after I'd been to the Museum of Childhood and the Gallery Cafe. Read all about my awesome bravery here.

25th September - I'm full on talking about Christmas now people. No holds barred, it's Christmas talk all the way. I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with it. I've been on a Christmas tag kick lately because they are very quick to whip up meaning that you get pretty instant gratification. It would be easy for me to just keep making Christmas tags until the sun comes up and ignore the other projects I need to be getting on with. Thank goodness I have my Crafty Uber Geeky Gantt Chart to keep me on the straight and narrow.

28th September - Unless you've been living in a very deep and dark hole with the spiders for the past month you won't have missed the fact that I moved house. I picked up the keys on this day and got the second ever sight of my new space - the last time I'd seen it was when I viewed it before deciding to take it so there was actually a part of me that was a bit panicky that I was remembering it all wrong and it was half the size I thought it was. Thankfully it was as beautiful as I remembered.

30th September - Normally I'm pretty behind when it comes to anything related to pop culture. I don't know what's at Number 1 and I have no idea who the latest celebrity couple is. So when I saw these Screme Eggs in a newsagents in town I assumed it was yet something else that I was well behind the times on. However, having uploaded a photo to Facebook immediately, it turned out that I wasn't the only one who didn't know about these. They taste exactly the same as normal Creme Eggs but the centre is green instead of being yellow.

Not the best photo but the 30th September also happened to be ridiculously hot and it was melting in my hand!

I'm torn between being excited that I'll now be able to buy Creme Eggs virtually year round and being sad because I kind of looked forward to my first sighting of Creme Eggs each year.

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One more month down. I officially have less than 100 photos left to take. Wahey!

Wait.

That must mean that Christmas is getting uncomfortably closer....damn.

My Space

Oh hai.

Guess what I did this weekend?

I moved house.

It feels like it's been a long time in the offing but it hasn't really, just 5 weeks.

The Person very bravely offered to come over this weekend to help with the move. I did give him plenty of warning that I would be a big ball of stress and that he could come on the proviso that he not make any jokes because I would almost definitely lose my sense of humour somewhere in the move.

But actually as it turned out, everything went pretty smoothly. Thankfully my Dad has a Jeep, meaning that all it took was 3 trips and I was all moved. No I don't know how I have so much stuff, I didn't think I had that much but somehow what doesn't seem like much seems to fill boxes very very quickly.

Once I was all moved there was a slightly overwhelming sense of panic where I just kept looking at all the boxes and going "Okaaaaaaaay. Now. Where do I begin?"

And this lot was only the tip of the iceberg!

Luckily I am a machine so I just started and basically didn't really stop until I was finished. Of course I meant to take photos of my progress along the way but the robot in me didn't want to stop. I wanted to get as much done as possible. Mostly because I really hate untidiness and messiness and living amongst unsorted things would freak me right out, but also because I knew I was going out that night and would be hungover on Sunday and incapable of doing a lot of sorting.

I took today off work and I'm pleased to say that I'm pretty much sorted. There are little things to do here and there, but for the most part I am a settled little nested Girl.

One of the reasons I fell so head over heels in love with this room was because of the size of it. I have landed on my size 8 feet here and have managed to bag a flippin' well huge room. When I saw it I thought three things;

1. Oh my god it's massive

2. Oooh there are nice wooden floors, I can totally get a rug (the one in the picture came with the room, I will probably store it somewhere and get me a new one)

3. Wow a fireplace, I can totally crochet bunting and hang it from there (yes I really did think that).

So anyway, allow me to take you on a quick spin around my little space.

Let's start with the corner diagonally opposite the door. All pretty basic, wardrobe, laundry basket, chest of drawers with the TV in situ. I've tried to create little "areas" where possible so that the room kind of, sort of, makes sense. So if you take a little closer look at the windowsill you will see...

...My glass storage jars of wool. They don't look as pretty as they used to because I've used up all my scraps on my various projects, but they can look gorgeous with all the colours going on inside them. And beside the jars of wool are all my books relating to crafty stuff - cross stitch, crochet, embroidery and sewing - all in one handy little place.

Moving a little further round you can have a better view of that fireplace. No it's not for real life fires, but I need to find something to put in the space, big white altar candles or something. You can see Mr Toad taking up residence on the right hand side and on the left hand side are a load of things that will eventually need to go up on the walls. An important job but one that can wait for a little while longer.

What was that? What's that on the right hand side of the fire surround?

It's the books that I bought from Persephone Books on my recent trip to London. A few of you asked which ones I got - I did intend to tell you in the blog post originally but by the time I wrote it they had been all packed up and I honestly couldn't even remember what I'd bought! So there they are for you.

Moving round again we have the cupboard which has got hanging space and has also seen a lot of stuff shoved in it until a better home can be found for them - I'm operating on an "out of sight out of mind" policy at the moment. The grey drawers hold all my crafty stuff - from embroidery threads, to aida, to cards, to fabric to all random kinds of crap, it's all in one place for me to get my grubby little mitts on. 

The bookcase next to it contains my permanent book collection (barring 4/5 boxes that live at my Dad's until I can find space for them one day). As you can see I am harsh - very few books that I read are kept. There are so many books in the world that I don't feel I can justify keeping ones that don't set my world on fire so off they go. There's probably a whole blog post in itself about that bookshelf.

We need to spare a quick moment to talk about the white cupboard under the sink. This was The Person's Ultimate Job on Saturday. I knew that he couldn't really help unpacking because only I would know where things needed to go, so he had the job of getting his flatpack hat on and constructing some under sink storage for me.

This is possibly the best invention ever. The wheel? Pah. Sliced bread? Whatevs. Under-sink storage is where it's at. This guy is from Argos and has been a saviour - there's one shelf inside it and all my little things - razors, cleansing wipes, deoderant, hairspray, you name it, sits inside here and is all nicely stored away without taking up any extra space. Magical. Round of applause for The Person please.

Behind the door was the perfect place for my other bookcase to go. It was meant to be for this fella. This bookcase contains all the books I haven't read yet. I know. I have problems.

And to complete the circle we have my bed. I have plans to get a second hand armchair from charity or something to maybe put in front of the fireplace because I don't really want to get into the habit of watching TV in bed. Plus my I am prone to getting bad backs, and using my bed as a sofa won't do it any favours. But until I buy one, I've set up my cushions at one end of the bed to create a seating area.

What was that? What's the cushion on the far right? Aaah allow me to tell you...

How cool is Mr Owl?! He has flown for freaking miles all the way from another country. I won him in a giveaway over at No knitted knickers. Haven't visited her? Well do so immediately.

Or at least wait until you've finished reading this ridiculously lengthy post. The end is nigh I promise.

You may have noticed at the end of the bed a little brown table. I'd said I wanted a table to do computer things and craft things on in an attempt to stop the bad back issues I've already mentioned. Mum had suggested a drop leaf table would be good because it could be easily stored away. I mentioned this to Dorothy and on Saturday she spotted this baby for £19 in a charity shop and by the end of the day he had taken up residence.

So when I want to do computer things he can come out and sit like this...

And if I need more space to spread out then he can be like this...

Ta-da!! He's pretty battered at the moment but you know what that means....Project Makeover!! It won't be soon but it will happen eventually. I'm excited for it.

Yeah. I reckon I've bored you enough now.

Can you tell I'm kind of excited?

Pack up your troubles

Those of you who are in the know (i.e. follow my Project365 photos on Flickr or are friends with me on Facebook) will know that I am going to be moving at the end of the month.

For those of you not in the know?

I’m moving at the end of the month.

I’m not going far, this is not some grand relocation, I am in fact moving approximately 0.5 miles away from where I currently live, so less than a 10 minute walk.

If I could afford it I’d be living on my own, but until my debts are paid off (which if they were would give me an extra £350 a month. I know. Ouchies.) I’m going to have to content myself with continuing to share a house.

I played it cool when I saw the room, I didn’t want to give away too much but my insides were doing backflips. “Hello massive room!” my insides were saying. “Hello awesome wooden floor. Hello cute little fireplace. Hello SPACE.” The space bit was very exciting for me. At the moment, unless I hang up my clothes as soon as I take them off, it’ll only take 2 days before I have no floor space left. If The Person comes to stay there has to be system in place for getting changed in the morning because there’s definitely not enough room for two people in there.

So it’s very exciting. I don’t know who the people are that I’m sharing with. Some might say that’s a gamble, but given that the landlady only takes on professionals and comes and checks the house once a month, I’m feeling pretty confident. And if not, hey it'll give me some fodder for the blog!

The grand move in date is 1st October which isn’t that close but appeared much closer when I realised that I don’t actually have any free weekends up until the day that I move. That’s not good. I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve got a ton of boxes to hand, thanks to the fact that there’s a community cafe at my work, so my belongings are currently being packed into boxes formerly containing bags of chips and cans of tuna.

My approach is simple. As soon as I come in from work I make a start and keep going until I get bored. This approach has actually meant that I’ve pretty much packed as much as I can already. It’s not too hard really, my main baggage consists of books and dvds. I’m going to have to spend quite a bit of money when I get to the new place accumulating stuff because when I moved out of the flat I shared with the Ex, I let him take pretty much everything, so I don’t own basic things like, you know, plates or cutlery.

But I have taken the packing as an opportunity to get rid of stuff. Add in the fact that Dorothy is also having a clear out of gargantuan proportions and the result is that the downstairs has enough stock in it to keep various charity shops in business for the next year or so.

I would love to make some money out of it all, Dorothy has plans for a car boot, but I just don’t have time to be faffing with it, literally don’t have the time given that my weekends are blocked up. Where I can I’ve tried to make a bit of money though. A loads of dvds that were destined for charity have been packed up and sent to Music Magpie – you don’t get much for a dvd, probably around 30p, bit more for box sets, but I’ve managed to make £22 out of 27 dvds that I would have given away for free so it’s better than a kick in the teeth. An old mobile is going to Envirofone for £14 (check Mazuma and Envirofone before you sell, Mazuma were only offering me £12 for my old phone). So that’s £36 in the plates and cutlery fund already!

I’ve also been brutal with my books. I’m pretty brutal anyway, I read them and get rid. There are very very few that make it to the permanent shelf. And if you saw how many books are on the “to read” bookcase you’d realise that I really don’t need to keep the books I’ve already read. What are the chances of me reading them again? Slim to none. Out they go!

But then I thought maybe some of you guys would like them?

So here’s a select pile for you to have a look at

The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruis Zafon /
Wedlock. How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match – Wendy Moore
The Sea – John Banville
People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
The 19th Wife – David Ebershoff
Firmin – Sam Savage
The One From the Other – Philip Kerr
Fragrant Harbour – John Lanchester
(I have linked to each title so you can have a read of the synopsis and see if you fancy them.)

It’s simple. All you need to do is
- leave a comment,
- tell me which book you would like, and
- tell me anything hilarious that’s happened to you when you’ve moved/packed up to move

I’ll pick out THREE winners, let you know if you've been successful and send your books on out to you in the post. (I was going to give them all away, and then I realised that that would be my £36 that I’ve already made out the window and I’d be eating out of a shoe. You wouldn’t want that would you?)

You have until Friday 16th September to enter, whereupon I will close the contest, and pick winners out of the approximately 5 people who will enter.

GO GO GO!

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Apologies for the crap blogging lately. Funnily enough I have freaking loads to tell you but have found myself a) without time and b) without decent internet access to upload photos and we all now that we like a good photo filled post.