Early birthday pressie

Thanks to Samantha, John, Oliver, Edwin and Becki for taking me to Saffron tonight for a meal.
It was an early birthday pressie, and Samantha rang me on Wednesday asking me what I was doing Friday night....When I said nothing much she told me she'd booked a table at Saffron on Friday night, and she was treating me for my birthday!
***Happy Dance***
I really do like Indian food.  Saffron is a "BYOB" place, with a corkage charge.
We had a lovely evening, and I did wonder if Oliver would come as he is off to Italy next weekend.
***Smiley face*** Yes, he did, he has brought me a tiny owl ornament from his trip to Japan.
Right now I am full of delicious food, and happy

New car, well, new to me

I've collected my new, to me, car today.
I've called her Aurora Rover, as she is a Rover 25 impression, and very pretty.  Smaller engine than Midori MG ZR, and petrol rather than diesel so is 6 insurance groups lower.  Samantha bought Midori off me, as she has a 90 mile round trip each day to work.
I like driving, but as my ankle is slowly but surely collapsing again, the diesel car was a little heavy on the clutch for me.

2012!

Started pretty innocuously.
Nothing much doing.
Then February came around...Aunty Sylvia, Mum's twin came over to UK, from France, as it was cousin David's 50th.  She had heart problems and was admitted to Blackpool Vic .
My Dad died, the day before Oliver's 23rd birthday.
Baby, Amelia May Hooson was born....on time..a first for a Hooson, on 2nd March 2012.  Just a few minutes before Dad's funeral.
April, Ann was 50.
May, not much.
June, Samantha was 25.
July..again nothing much here, but Olympics started.
August, same as July.
September, Edwin left for Carlisle to study/read illustration.  First time properly, I was left alone or more than 24 hours.
October, Mum's first birthday without Dad around, plus Ofsted in at work.
November...just flew by.
December...at least I saw Oliver and Edwin over the festive season.

Post Yule/Christmas

Well, it's all over for another year.
I hope everyone got what they wanted
Seeing as I didn't particularly want anything, it was nice to get what gifts I did.
Oliver, had been on my Amazon wish list and plucked things from it.  A Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre, and a couple of books about English language.  For two of my three years at uni I took English Language alongside, Literature and Creative Writing.  I dropped it in the third year in favour of Creative Writing. I wish there had been a way to carry all three on.  When you study English Language and it's roots it is very useful if you have an understanding of other languages as well, as you can see where the words that we use in everyday language have come from different roots, due to us being invaded constantly until 1066.  I won't bore you with any more of this.
Other things I got, a whistle/bird call shaped like an owl, an owl handbag, a jigsaw, loads of sweets, liquorice, fudge, drumstick lollies.  I did get a couple of boxes of chocolates, but they were from people at work who don't seem to have noticed that I don't eat chocolate, but I still appreciate the though and will share the sweets with others.
Samantha managed to track down a copy of a Tom Holt book that I had only been able to get for my Kindle, this one isn't signed, but it means, I think, that I now have all his comic novels.
I finished seasonal knitting on Christmas Day and took John, Samantha's partner, his scarf last night and stayed for a short while at their party.
There is one weird thing that has happened.  I have lost some weight! :O, not much, but it is now obvious to me that I definitely "comfort" eat when I am alone, so need to do something about that.
This has meandered around for long enough, so I'll sign off.

Cheshire Cat Moon

Around ....must be twenty years ago now. My two eldest and I were sat in our car waiting for their Dad to come out of work.  One of them said that the moon looked like the Cheshire Cat's mouth, (as in the Disney film, Alice in Wonderland, they'd been watching it on video.)  I wrote this poem because of that comment.  Tonight there was a "Cheshire Cat Moon" again, and it reminded me of the time when my children were young.
So here it is, the poem....

 

Cheshire Cat Moon

Cheshire cat moon

Grinning in the sky.

Why’s he grinning?

He’s eaten the pie.

Then he curled up

Had a little dream,

Woke up again

And ate all the cream.

Cheshire cat moon

Grinning in the sky

When Mum finds out

I’ll be the one to cry

She’ll not believe

That you are real

Call me, “little liar!”

A smack is what I’ll feel.

Cheshire cat moon

Grinning in the sky

Growing bigger and bigger

Night after night

The food you steal

On nights clear and still.

Food people leave

On their windowsill.

Cheshire cat moon

Grinning in the sky

Green cheese diet

Is one you’ll never try?

I am quite pleased with the poem, but it also makes me think back to when both my children and I were so much more innocent.

Ill and lack of sleep

I'm not in a very good mood today.
I've been cooking up a cold this past week, so much so that it made me have an asthma attack on Friday, so I spent most of Friday and yesterday in bed resting/sleeping.
Last night I was so tired I went to bed early. My youngest had gone out to a party. As luck would have it, it was being held in the flat where my daughter's bf lives. She and Becki brought him home, they rang me just as I'd managed to get to sleep..for around 30 mins.
So then I spent a very fitful night worrying about him and the neighbours....different ones from usual ...had a party that seemed to go on all night. Every so often a noisy bunch would erupt into their front yard, arguing, or just talking very loudly. The Police came to sort something out at 5am-ish, and took one person away in their van. So I had a lousy night, hardly slept, my temperature is all over the place. So, I'm a little bit grumpy at the moment, plus when I was just doing the ironing, Spark walked straight across me, I nearly fell over him, and he nearly knocked my ironing board with the iron on it over.
If I ate chocolate, I'm sure indulging would make me feel better.

Why?

I know I've titled blog-posts why before, but it is a question that constant puzzles me.

The why today is......

Why do people buy cheap cars, then spend a small fortune on them? Well...not so much that as, add body parts etc, so you can't actually tell what sort of car is underneath all the extra bits? These cars always have a really annoying sound system that plays music that sounds as if the car is falling apart as well.

I have seen some horrors around here.

One was a Renault Clio with so many extra body parts it really was difficult to guess what the car originally was.

I have also seen a Jaguar painted metallic purple, with green skirts and spoilers......why?

For heaven's sake...if you can afford a Jaguar, and can afford to run it, why do that? There are tasteful custom made bits that can be added. Or just save your money up and buy a better car.

It also annoys me when they put noisy exhausts on. All they do is make more noise, and the car burns more fuel. It doesn't make the car any more powerful.

One I saw last week made me want to cry though...I saw a yellow MGZR with mudflaps, but they were just yellow plastic....why? MG parts are still available, and surely they do co-ordinated mudflaps.

I'm not against all attempts at making your car look different though, as the picture shows. It's Sam's car, Milly, she put the patches of black vinyl on it before going to Download last year, needless to say she didn't lose where she had parked it. It also has a horn that moos, alongside the standard one. You'd have to meet her to know it is totally in keeping, makes her car individual, not an attempt to soup it up in anyway. And it only cost her about £20 for the vinyl, and a lot of patience. [That sort of customising is good, as it makes cars individual. Like tribal markings some people have on their cars, but it would be better if they actually knew what they meant.]

Random stuff

Yesterday I walked the dogs down to the market, on the way back I stopped to talk to the owner of one of the hotels. Whilst we were talking a man walked past me, but not very fast. When I carried on walking home I caught up with him. As I was walking behind him I noticed he was carrying two handheld steam cleaners, these were identical. [Now if you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know my mind has a tendency to fly off at tangents, so I just had to ask this man a question.]
When I drew level with him I asked,
"Is one of those for a present, or are they your chosen weapons?"
Luckily the man was on a similar wavelength. [As Samantha said when I told her...anyone who thinks a steam cleaner is a good birthday present is probably as daft as I am......No! I wasn't offended by that comment.]
He confirmed one was a present, and not his weapon of choice, for an impending duel.
Drat, wouldn't have minded seeing a duel with steam cleaners....I'd love to see the other person's face when he turned up with a "matched pair" of duelling steam cleaners.
Now my brain is off again, and I am thinking perhaps I should look up duelling etiquette. At least it would be a clean fight.

Waiting for repairs

At the moment I am waiting for my car, Midori, to be returned, and I have to take my pc to be repaired. Am also waiting for full sensation to return into my left arm and shoulder after trapping the nerve two weeks ago.
One thing I don't have to wait for any longer is Oliver's return from his backpacking trip. I will be driving down to Preston to collect him later, as the trains don't stop at Lancaster after around 10.30pm-ish?
Am just using Samantha's pc to make this post. Don't worry, am still here.

Oliver's home!

YAY!!!!!
Oliver's home from uni for summer, but how long he'll be here I'm not sure.
I know he has plans to go around Europe during July, and he's working Glastonbury, with Sam and some others of their friends. I also think he is working Leeds Festival, so perhaps he won't be around much.
I've just put the second load of washing in, and think there isn't much more washing to do, perhaps he's been doing his own this semester.
Sam has gone to Accrington ready for her OU exam tomorrow, she's stopping in a 4 star hotel, overnight, so she doesn't get delayed in traffic in the morning and miss the start of the exam.

Earlier on I walked down to the market with the dogs only to walk past a prize giving of some runners. It's too hot to go running in the middle of the day. They were all looking rather exhausted, if they will run in the middle of the day, what to they expect?

A trio of scarves

Over the past few weeks I have been knitting scarves from Lynne Barr's Knitting New Scarves, book.

I thought I'd share pictures of the completed scarves with you.

The black one is called "Black Pearls" in the book, and Sam specially requested it. I have only just finished it, and I think she went out to work with it on.

The other two don't have owners, as yet. The Purple one was a practice for me, to see how the pattern works, I've got some lovely variegated mohair to knit one in for myself.

What I love about the scarves in this book is that they are all experimental, and different. I will be knitting more of them. Black Pearls was the first time I have knitted on short double point needles. I bought some bamboo ones from the Bamboo Knitting Centre especially, they are an absolute pleasure to knit with, and even though the needles are short, I didn't get cramp in my hands once when using them.

Clocks forward

Last night/early this morning , the clocks went forward onto BST. When this happens I usually change the clocks early evening and take what time they show as the true one. Not so bad seeing as I don't watch loads of TV.
I slept until 12.20 today. And am not sure where the rest of the day has gone to.
I did go into Lancaster with Samantha, and visited the bookshop, hey! anyone who knows me would know a visit to Lancaster without calling at the bookshop is nigh impossible. Yes, I bought some books, my books are equal to other people's night's out. At least that is my excuse.....and I'm sticking to it.
After the visit to Lancaster I went down to the market here, bought some wool, vegetables, and other bits.

Oliver is back from uni, and he didn't bring me a huge bag of washing this time. Thanks Oliver!

The horrid chest and throat bug I have had has almost gone, plus the doc has put me back on blood pressure pills, so things are much more under control now. It was scary coughing and sending myself so dizzy I felt like I was going to keel over.
Will be back at work tomorrow, not 100% better but much better than I was this time last week.

Mother's day :)

It's Mother's day in the UK today, Sunday 22nd March 2009.
Have been slightly spoilt today.
Sam gave me some Guinness and a Guinness glass, she also made me breakfast in bed..."get back in bed Mum!", dinner and tea.
Edwin gave me painting of an owl that he had done, and Oliver sent me text saying that he'd forgotten that there's no post on Sunday, and I have to look for postie tomorrow.
I feel spoilt today, for just being me, and doing "my job"
It has taken my mind off the fact that someone very close has found out their cancer has spread and they need an op. At worst...well...at best he will lose some of his voice. This has made me quite sad, I love him so much, and I know that he knows I love him, even though we never say such to each other any more, on the odd times we talk. after all, he's not supposed to talk at all.

200th post!

I spent most of today in bed, when I got up for work I felt soooooo sick, and the other, coupled with a horrendous headache. I went back to bed, slept solid through to 1.30pm. Then back to sleep until 6.30pm.
The headache was still there, but everything else had gone.
Tea did not come back at all. [Am glad about that as I adore gammon]
The rest of the evening I let TV wash over me, not really taking anything in.

Am not particularly sleepy at the moment, but then again, I have only been up 5 hours.

My daughter, Samantha, has one of the new Google phones, it has an inbuilt bar code reader, and you can battle products against each other. The best she has found is in the milk, a level 7 Samurai that is kicking every other products arse. Her friend, Olly, has found a level 8 in something. Everything in the house with a bar code is being scanned and battled against the milk.
Yes.....I know..you have to live here to totally appreciate it.

Back to work tomorrow

I think I managed what I promised myself I would do this holiday. I'd promised myself I would rest as much as possible, due to the fact I seemed to pick one bug up after another before Xmas.
I've done lots of knitting, mittens, and will add photos when the finishing touches are added to the last pair. I experimented making mittens from the "fur" type wool, and ended up with slightly "magic" mittens. You know those that stretch when you put your hand in.
I have also sewn the re-usable shopping bags I had ready to sew, done quite a bit of reading. So, I think I have managed to relax. The only problem I have had is one with sleeping, but last night I slept 12 hours, after having 4,( or was it 5?,) nights badly disturbed sleep.
Have caught up with housework......nearly, but the tree and decorations are NOT coming down until 12th night. Although not religious I do like to keep the decorations up until then.
I just have a tiny bit of ironing that needs doing today, then I can relax for the rest of the day.

Oh! I forgot, I got a lovely late pressie from Blue, a knitting calendar, and two books. I had to laugh when browsing the calendar at one of the patterns. It's a skull and crossbones dog coat, better not let Sam see that, or she'll have me turning the dogs into pirates.

Quiet week and weekend

It's been pretty quiet this week and weekend here, but then the week started with Edwin not being so well, tonsillitis, then I picked something up, nearly lost my voice and kept having choking fits, and now Sam has it. Coupled with that Sam managed to scratch her eye taking her contact lens out.
It was entertaining to see that PIRATES! had hijacked a supertanker. Anyone who reads my blog will know that my three are pirate mad. I love this adaptation of Kenya from Weebl's stuff on the pirate theme. (By the way they don't seem to be "growing out" of the pirate stage, suppose they never will. Perhaps I should join them and dress up as pirate myself next time they decide to.)

Hat

I finished the earflap hat I was making. I did have to pull it back twice as I got the increases in the wrong place, the first time, the second time I lost track of where I was. My son's gf looked aghast as I just pulled it off the needles and pulled it back. I just had enough yarn to finish it, but there was none spare for pompoms and ties.

However, although I am satisfied with the result, I couldn't see myself wearing it, ever, I'd have different colours. So I put it in the staffroom at work with a note saying if anyone wanted it, they could have it, just give a donation to Children in Need.

Before I did this Sam tried it on, she loved it, but would like a black one. Today I went to the market, bought a huge ball of black wool and a circular needle. Am sure have the correct size in my workbox, but the this moment in time my workbox is buried under a pile of things. And once I knit one black earflap hat, I'm sure that there will be more requests and the black wool will soon disappear.

I also managed to put quite a few more stitches in the remaining birth sampler I have been cross stitching for work colleagues. This last one is taking some time; as it is mother and baby giraffe and the colours are very close. The effect is worth the effort though.

The other thing I have started to do this week is sort out seasonal presents. With only Oliver to sort something major out for now, and my youngest niece. I no longer buy anything for my other nieces and nephews as they are all over 21.

While I was at the market I found three prefect Xmas cards for Mum and Dad, and a couple of good friends. All three are humourous, and although they were expensive, I am sure they will be appreciated.

Pulling?

Tonight my daughter, Sam, wanted me to drive her into Lancaster to meet up with friends. When she wants a taxi service I agree these days, but drive her in her car.

This is fun, I get to drive a car that looks like a cow.

Can't remember if I have blogged about Sam's car, but will rectify that now, by showing pictures. Also, as I was driving her, another car passed us with lads around Sam's age in it, they shouted to us. Sam said..."that's not fair, I never pull when I'm driving" Don't think I had pulled, just brightened someone's day up.

Strange week

I always expected there just to be two of us left here...and I thought it would be Edwin and myself, but this week the world has been turned upside-down. Oliver returned to Manchester Uni to complete his first year at uni!!!!!!!! Yes! Already! And Edwin returned from France only to go to Scotland a day and a half later. Sam has either been working or with her bf, so it's been pretty much here, all alone. I suppose it is a taste of what is to come. The bloke I'm seeing is working in USA with no way of us contacting each other, so Ive been doing my usual distraction technique....that is bury myself in practical things to do so that I don't have time to feel so lonely.

The messenger bag I posted a picture of now has a home, but I may make others. In fact I did tell Sam I would make her one, and the lining is done, I just need to construct the outer. If you read this regularly, it will not come as a surprise that she wants skull and crossbones lining. The "fish" bags should be finished tomorrow, and I will be posting pictures of them here.

Parent's evening

Well, that time of year came around, again.
It was Edwin's parent's evening today.
I don't know why parents moan about these events. Mind you, I have never had complaints from any teachers, apart from when Sam was still at school, and she kept being ill. So her attendance wasn't up to much.
Anyway, tonight was about Edwin. It was funny, all four teachers I saw all were very pleased with him, and three of them complained that he isn't "vocal" enough in class. I nearly said, "he'll tell you when something is wrong" He's essentially a quite shy boy, and won't speak out unless he has to. Although he does in one lesson, I'm guessing that both the mix of children in that class, and the teacher make him feel more at ease.
As regular readers of this load of claptrap will know, I work at school, or do when I'm fit to. So it was nice to see people. Several wanted to know when I was coming back, and even the head came so speak to me to ask me how my recovery was going. I felt quite touched, especially when one of the teachers I work with told me that she needed me back, in front of the Headmaster.