Never start Ephiphany resolutions....

unless you intend to keep them....one of mine was to stick something on the blog every day. Jeez louise, this could be boring even for me!
Well I have decided how we are going to build the raised beds for the veggies....I have found this stuff it looks easy to build, relatively inexpensive (compared to what we could make a hash of and the arguments that could ensue from trying to cut and screw lengths of wood, on our one day off together. Link a board just slots neatly together...so the plan? buy enough for 1 bed that will be 3m x 1.2m, that should be enough for now. If it is still being "played with" in 2009, I may just buy another. In the meantime, until I get round to ordering it, I have planted into anything I could get my hands on, and today I have mainly planted peas, perpetual spinach (perpetual, dear god, it sounds like something like the Magic Porridge Pot, I love that story ;-) I cold have spinach coming out of me for years to come not a good image eewwww!), and lettuce; after the last lot bolted cos he didn't eat it, I thought I would give it one more go.
When the bed is in, I am hoping to get some carrots and a few wintery veg in....what has life come to whe at the age of nearly 41 I am excited about my raised bed and some veggies - mind you with the price of my grocery shop today it could be best thing I have got excited about in a long time.
God I really must empty my memory card on my camera and take some photos, at least my daily post would be more interesting!!!

Pictures of anything will follow later this week, and will include knitting and cats.....did I happen to mention I am on a yarn amnesty........

I'm sorry it must be Monday...

Today I listened to "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" - it made me laugh so much. Hopefully this is a link to a few clips, it is worth a listen.

Anyone got Greenies??

I decided I really should go to work today – well it was either that or go out to a family meal with a roast dinner carvery, lots of roasted veg, Yorkshire puds, and proper gravy. Would I really have wanted to go there? you bet I would, but we were short staffed so I sacrified my mango sorbet, and felt a better person for it - though mango sorbet would have been very nice. And instead I threw myself into serving unhappy looking people who valiantly battled into town against very strong autumnal winds, who’da thought it is June?? certainly not the people I saw today!

I was woken in time for work by Topsey, she of the rescued variety. She obviously felt the need for me to go work. She came in and woke me up by hawking a carcass of some description onto my bedside table. I ran to get paper to clean it up but promptly retched in the bathroom and couldn’t move, so DH came to the rescue – thank god, as she proceeded to bring up the rest under the bed – foul animal. I understand that they like to bring their humans pressies sometimes, you know, to say thank you for feeding me and allowing me to shed my fur all over your house, all of the time - I must have cleared up enough to knit at least 2 more cats - anyone interested in trying? I guess she just needs to change her current method of delivery – though the Post Office aren’t feeling threatened yet.

I retched my way to work, had a cuppa, and got on and “did”. Came home, had baked beans and then sat and surfed t’internet for various things: food from Tesco (but I got bored so we only have limes and loo roll at the moment), raised beds, compost bins and potatoes, as you do.
And DD and I sat and howled along with Gary and the boys, aaawwwww (thank you, youtube). Wouldn’t it be great to be able to actually sing – properly, without scaring cats and all other living things in the neighbourhood?? I refer to me and DD not Gary and the boys.

DH and I are setting about growing our own veg. I bought the book last year, and this year it is going to happen. We went out in the Force 9 gales and measured up. No word of a lie, the trees in the garden were horizontal because the wind was so strong. We are off to Jewsons to buy the bits to build the beds on Saturday, then calculate how much dirt we will need and then….go for it!! I am already growing cauliflowers in tubs, but as we have a bit of garden spare, we figured we would give it a go, as 10 caulis aren’t going to feed us for long, especially as MIL has expressed a very unhealthy interest in cauliflower leaves – she is northern though. If we make the beds and its all a 5 minute wonder, it won’t have cost too much, and the scouts can have the timber for November the 5th. And have you seen the cost of ready made ones???? Wow! it would be cheaper to buy organic veg all year than try and grow my own.

Did I mention that we are going to get a chicken - well, we aren't but friends are, and they have said that we can have one - doing dance of jumping excitement - I guess she will have to be called Maryannlucy, cos that is where the name came from, toy ones granted, but Maryannlucy is from 2 chickens. I have asked if I can have one with feathery feet, and apparently I can....pictures will be posted as soon as Maryannlucy arrives.

Going back to yesterdays post – just to clarify something that I hadn’t thought about until Bezzie mentioned it….when I say taking control, I mean in terms of knowing that I have the control to have spontaneous fun, to go with the flow when I want to and to recognise that it is my life - no one elses (yes, I am slow on the uptake!). To allow myself to take a step back when I want to, like yesterday, to know that only I have the control over me, and when I make a decision I make it is for me, and I am not making the decision to please others. And also to grant myself the ability to know when to stop waffling ;-)


And before I go, anyone got a cure for VERY SMELLY cat breath??

Mid Life Crisis - Pre or Post....my choice I guess...

And it gets better....

Edited: cos it was ranty, pissy and a reminder of something I don't want to dwell on

Do I have "KICK ME" tattooed on my forehead?

Edited: reasons? as above

A sunny morning...

brings out the furry purrers...I found one on the trampolene having a lick!
Then she gave me "the" pose. Isn't she purty?

Then I found Archie in the hall basking in the sun (he isn't that fat, he used to be, now it is just a lot of loose skin - he is old you know!)

And just when I thought he may be dead, he raised his head to prove me wrong - thank god!

Where is Topsey - under the bed in disgrace! I must have jinxed her good behaviour yesterday as she disappeared last night at midnight. We searched the house, the garden, the street, she was nowhere to be found so we went to bed and hoped...........I then woke up at 3am thinking I was paralysed as Topey was asleep on my legs and I (once again) was pinned and couldn't move. It was all good!

On a not so good note, I have lost contact with a friend in China. I have emailed his yahoo address and keep getting messages saying that my emails are undeliverable - this could be explained by him changing his address and not telling me - he is an intermittent emailer. I have contacted a "cc" on an email he has sent me a few weeks ago, so hopefully I will get an email saying that this is the case and that my geography of China is crap - fingers and everything else crossed.

Monthly Catch Up

What a month...April was really really crappy, I mean REALLY crappy!!

This bit has been edited for the same reasons as above. My original vent is over I want to move on!

What else......Maddie came home in her little box which is bigger and heavier than she ever was, but it is very posh with her name engraved on a brass plaque on the top...I have never been so affected by the loss of a kitty, even today I cried a little! I only have to see her picture. She has had this affect on the whole family incl MIL who isn't really a cat lover, but even she teared up the other day...1 month today.

So much happened in April, I can't remember all of it, but maybe that is a good thing in a way....DH bought me a couple of books though, which was lovely:

I love this book. I sit and read it and I am sitting in a pastelaria eating a pastel de nata and drinking a bica, with the smell of mimosa...sigh...I would so love to close my eyes and open them and be there.....fantastic recipes including bitoque with a fried egg, and of course pastel de nata...

I love all of Tessa Kiros books, but this has to be my favourite

And DD also bought me this:

This made for really interesting reading. I am not sure I can go along with all of it - for example, the view that people who have a major illness have somehow brought it on themselves, but it has made me consciously alter my thought patterns at times AND it was a huge help during the shitty time at work....it made me stop and alter the way I was viewing it, so that has to be a good thing! It certainly came into my life at a time when I really needed it......

What else? Well we decided to look at adopting a cat from the local cat rescue place....we adopted 2 initially, DHs fault ifhe had had his way we would have had al of them, but 1 had to go back. We really weren't the family for her. She had come from an old persons house, so 2 adults, a teenager with friends coming backwards and forwards, 2 exisiting cats and another adoptee really wasn't the best family situation for her. After we managed to wrestle the clawy, fang toothed beast back into the cage, she went back and hopefully is waiting for the perfect adult who lives completely alone to come and take her back to her very unthreatening new environment. But we kept this one......please meet....Topsey Mallulah:

This is a photo of the lesser spotted outdoor cat. Apparently she used to be an outdoor farm cat who never lived inside..try telling that to the carpet underneath my bed! She only seems to come out for a little sunbathing, food, and to smother me in bed at night between the hours of about 3am til 6am EVERY BLOODY NIGHT........am I suffering from sleep deprivation? yes I am, but with a photo like the one above, I can forgive her most things ;-)

Having had such a physically and emotionally demanding few weeks, my body decided that today it wasn't going to do anything except sit and watch TV, so here is a photo of my day
yes, I was watching back to back Bewitched on Living, but at least I was knitting too - get me and my macro setting, I am pretty impressed with these:

This is sock No 2 for DH (the socks which kept his team in the Premier League apparently?!?!?!), and they are these - great pattern, they look great and are very interesting to knit, but I am a sock newbie.....

And I couldn't go without 2 more photos of the other furry purrers in our family. First off, Archie Welder, he's about 18, fat, arthritic but happy. Hobbies - sleeping, gravy licking (the others get to eat the sucked lumps - yum!), trying to escape from the front door at a fast pace (for him - so we just meander over to catch him), cat mind games and lying on newspapers that humans are reading.

And Pumpkin - also known as P McGee, Psome 3some, Pumpkinella, Pumpkin McGee - she answers to all and none! Today she slept for 9 hours!! 9 hours in her chair!!! my friendly robin lived to sing another day though!
ah, so lovely x

Weather Pixie

I delibrately chose one with a little black cat - and now the little black cat has gone. Art cruelly imitating life??

ETA - OH THE KITTY IS BACK! MUST COME AND GOES AS IT PLEASES - JUST LIKE A PUMPKIN KITTY

Knitting

And finally, looky here...you didn't think that I actually did this, did you?? Knitted on my fab Harmony DPNs...these are Pomatomus that I knitted for DD. I loved knitting these, and they look so good, though I am a little disappointed that they are looking fuzzy (technical term) already, despite DD only wearing them round the house a couple of times. The yarn is Opal Uni in the pink shade. I love this pattern, it looks great...

here is the close up:a keyboard shot:

and the "I've worked in retail too long (17 years too long), here are my fat ankles" shot!

Never work in retail, children, not only is it bad for the soul (it sucks it out......s...l...o...w...l...y...) it makes your ankles very very very very big (and gives you varicose veins)....one day I will list the good points - just don't hold your breath ;-)
Actually my ankles aren't quite that bad, it is a really crap angle - honest!