Changes Afoot

Over the next few days I'm going to be playing around with the design of my blog as I fancy a bit of a change.
If you stop by, and things look a bit of a mess, please bear with me. I'll get there in the end!

Changes Afoot

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Linda to tell seven amazing things about myself. I'm not too keen on the word 'amazing' as that feels like bragging and makes me feel uncomfortable, so I'll settle for seven 'achievements' instead:

1). Despite the very negative attitude of my teacher, I passed my O Level in English Literature with a grade A. During class I sat with a girl who constantly gave the teacher a hard time. I kept my head down but unfortunately got tarred with the same brush. The teacher hated me and gave me a really bad school report. Luckily my parents took the report with a pinch of salt and I showed him!

2). I was the first person in my family to go to university. I grew up on a council estate and my Dad worked in a factory and my Mum did part-time cleaning. We were pretty poor and I remember that a lot of my teachers were surprised that I did so well academically. I was very lucky to have a couple of teachers who could see beyond my background and were really supportive.

3) This cardigan, made for Miss Muffett, was my first 'serious' piece of knitting. Each row took 12 minutes to knit and I dreaded having to answer the phone etc because I would lose my place in the pattern. Even though no-one else will ever wear it I can't bear to throw it away.


4). I've been researching my family history off and on for a few years and so far have managed to get back to 1790. We are so English and 'northern' at that! My parents live only 2 miles or so from where my Dad's ancestors lived - they just moved off the moor and down into the valley!

5). I am a very poor traveller. I get really bad travel sickness and so any travelling is usually quite stressful. A few years ago I did a tour of Peru - Lima, Cusco, Macchu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and various Inca sites, lots of air and coach travel plus a train across the altiplano, altitude sickness and a touch of 'dehli belly' too. Frankly I don't know how I did it! I couldn't have done it without Mr Earplugs and it's definitely one of my greatest achievements.



6). Having Tiddler has to be my greatest achievement I think. I wasn't sure I could face another pregnancy when I lost a baby last year. Tiddler's pregnancy was such a worrying time, constantly thinking whether everything was going ok, never mind factoring in my age (43). We are so pleased to have him and he's a lovely little lad.

7). My 1st Blogiversary! I have just realised that I have passed the one year mark! Look out for a blogiversary giveaway coming soon (or soonish anyway!)

(Sheep photo from answers.com)

Tagged!

Look What The Postie Brought!

I had a lovely surprise when I got back from dropping Nipper at nursery this morning - Beth's 'cheer-me-up' giveaway win!

I love Beth's blog, not just for her crafty stuff, but because she is so honest and always makes me laugh. I have great admiration for her as she manages to produce lovely crafty stuff whilst looking after 3 kiddies under the age of 5, plus husband, and she's in training for a triathlon!

The giveaway was for one of Beth's handmade cuffs but look at what she sent.

The gorgeous cuff:

A crayon-roll for Nipper (I've been meaning to make one of these):

And a lovely card:

Thank you Beth - you are very talented and very generous!

If you want to know what I said that cheered her up then check my comment on this post!

Look What The Postie Brought!

Back at Last!

Thank you so much for all your lovely messages while I've been poorly.

Things got rather worse before they got better. Despite the double strength antibiotics my chest infection got worse. Mr Earplugs got back from Spain and didn't like the look of me(!!) and whisked me back to the doctor, who said the same thing. I thought she'd just give me more pills but she sent me to the hospital with suspected pneumonia or a blood clot on the lung and they admitted me!!! I was completely unprepared - no spare underwear and badly shaven legs - lol!

My only encounters with hospitals have been when having the kiddies and I'm not too fond of them! Staying in for 2 days wasn't my idea of fun - nor anybody else's I'm sure. Whenever anyone comes near me with a needle my veins collapse and it's virtually impossible to get a blood sample. After 4 failed attempts the nurse called a doctor to take a deep vein sample instead and I still have the bruise. Add to that 2 attempts at a canula, an arterial blood sample, a shot of heparin, and a supersized canula for a CT scan and I felt like a pincushion! Apparently the risk to me of a blood clot was greater than the risk to the baby of having an x-ray (hence the CT scan rather than a standard chest x-ray). I would have preferred not to have an x-ray at all but didn't much fancy dying either! I don't know which was worse - the chest pain and not being able to breathe properly or the sickness caused by IV antibiotics and painkillers.

Luckily the scan showed no clots but some small areas of collapsed lung which would right itself over time (apparently!). I was sent home with even stronger antibiotics which made me rather sick. There was also some debate over whether I had pleurisy or a cracked rib from all the coughing. Since my ribs are still uncomfortable (sneezing really hurts!), and I've finished off the pills, my bet's on the cracked rib.

What was quite funny (well not really) was that I'd recently received the death certificates for my gt-gt-grandfather and his family (I'm a fan of family history). Pretty much all of them died of either pneumonia or TB. When I told my mate Pete he said my 'living history' experiment was taking research a bit too far! It certainly makes you realise how fortunate we are. Less than a hundred years ago people were dying for lack of antibiotics.

Pregnancy update:
I'm just over halfway through my pregnancy now and I'm getting very big. If I carry on at this rate I'll be like a house-end by 9 months! We had a scan on Friday which showed that everything seems ok despite my ill-health, so that was a great relief. They still think that new nipper will be a boy. Mr Earplugs was very pleased as he reckons he doesn't understand women. I said "even me" and he replied "especially you"! I guess ignorance is bliss?? (And we've been together 7+ years and just had our 1st wedding anniversary too!).

Hopefully I'll soon be able to blog something a bit more interesting than the state of my health!

Back at Last!

Kitchen Poetry

Toni at Simple Sparrow is having a 'kitchen poetry' week. The idea being that whatever's happening in your kitchen, be it poetry or chaos, just blog it. I'm signing up for the chaos as there's not much poetry in my kitchen!

This is the story of my life at the moment:


Peppermint Tea!

The cup and saucer is a lovely dainty little set, far too dainty for me, which I found in a flea market in Paris about 10 years ago. The handle is so tiny that you have to hold it with your fingertips. It's 'Porcelaine de Sologne' which has been around for over 100 years and is made in the Lomoges tradition (according to the good old www).

Kitchen Poetry

A Very Busy Few Days

We have had a very busy few days! Mr Earplugs took a few days off work and we thought about going away, but as I'm feeling rather rough I was happy to stay at home! It was a good thing really as Thursday was a flurry of appointments and dashing here and there - dentist appointments for us all, dry cleaning to drop off, Miss Muffett to drop at her Dad's, car to go for a service, visit to a nursery for Nipper, my long awaited doctor's appointment (more of that later), and then retrieving the car.

I was hoping to post a photo of a fabulous Halloween lantern but sadly my pumpkin is still in it's natural state. Miss Muffett wasn't too bothered as she spent Halloween gadding about London with her Dad, Uncle and Aunt (and they went to see Joseph too - lucky girl). Nipper couldn't care less either as he's been rolling the thing around the house like some sort of boulder.
This was the closest to Halloween that we got (display at Legoland):


Legoland is within reasonable driving distance of us and as we had some 2 for 1 tickets we decided to go on Friday. Nipper was too small for most of the rides but he really enjoyed watching them, especially the 'weeeeee splash' (the log flume). Aside from the pumpkin photo we only managed one more before the camera packed up. I bought a spare battery for just such moments but I hadn't charged it - doh! It was absolutely perishing cold (I may be a northerner but I really don't do 'cold'!) . We had a good time though, despite my feeling sick a lot and Nipper having a nappy malfunction whilst sitting on his Dad's knee! Again I was prepared for just such an event with a set of spare clothes (for Nipper at least), however I had left them in the car in the car park - doh! Are you getting a kind of theme here? The day ended with a fantastic fireworks display set to the music of Star Wars. Almost every kid in the place had a light-up light sabre and you could see hundreds of them glowing in the dark.

On Saturday we decided to go to the Sealife Centre in Brighton (more 2 for 1 tickets). I use the term 'we' very loosely as it certainly wasn't my idea to venture forth when it was bucketing down! We made it to Brighton in really good time. This was probably due to the fact that no-one else was daft enough to be heading for the seaside in torrential rain! The carpark by the centre was closed so we had to park a 15 minute walk away and got absolutely soaked to the skin. Even my underwear was wet! Not nice! It's a very interesting place to visit but Nipper spent more time jumping off the steps than he did looking at fish. I managed to get a photo of the Stingrays though most of the fish were just too fast:


Nipper might not have liked the fish but he was very interested in the Amazonian 'poison-dart' Frogs. I couldn't get a photo of them as their tank was all misted up but here's a good likeness (Nipper's rubber frog, bought as a souvenir):


Pregnancy update:
The spotting seems to have stopped, which is a relief. I'm as sick as a dog as they say but I'll try not to whinge on too much about that. If you don't hear from me for a while it's because being at the computer makes me feel worse! My trip to the Doctor resulted in being sent to the hospital to be stuck with a needle, twice actually, once on Friday and again this morning, in order to check for a rise in hcg levels. I'm also booked in for a scan on Wednesday morning so we should know by then if everything looks to be ok at this stage.

And finally, if you're interested in finding new and under-rated blogs then check out this idea.

A Very Busy Few Days

Cheating!

I have two more super-duper commenters who just have to have this award. This is cheating, I know, but rules were made to be broken!

Raina and Suzan have been with me from the very start of my blog and I love popping in to see how they are doing. Raina has the most beautiful photographs and was the inspiration for me getting on with my first socks. Suzan grows lovely vegetables which she preserves, hand-weaves on a beautiful loom, and has to deal with bears in her barn! And the super-duperest commenter of all (with 23 comments) is Mel Mel who gave me the award. Check her out, she has a lovely home and is such a sweetie.

Cheating!

Thank You.........

........ for all your lovely birthday wishes and kind comments about my socks!

Thank You.........

Decisions, Decisions (and a Tag)

This post contains information relating to a recent personal experience of loss. Please don't read any further if you think it will upset or offend you.

I blogged earlier about being at a sort of crossroads owing to a recent 'crisis', hence the sock knitting extravaganza! Two months ago I went for a routine antenatal scan and was told that the baby had 'stopped developing'. I'd had a miscarriage. Except that I hadn't actually miscarried but was having something called a 'missed miscarriage', something I had never heard of before and still can't get my head around. The baby stops developing but the rest of the pregnancy continues (placenta develops, morning sickness, waist expands!). And so started the worst 4 days of my life while I waited to go into hospital (emergency clinic only runs Mon to Fri). It was a terribly distressing time and I have to admit I'm still struggling with it.

But now it's decision time as we decide whether we should, or want, to try again. I'm no spring chicken (43 later this month) so we're kind of in the 'last chance saloon' and the Doctor told us not to spend too much time thinking about it but to get on with it - so to speak!
(Mr Earplugs is considerably younger than me. I have Miss Muffett from my first marriage and we were lucky enough to have Nipper when I was nearly 41).
And so I find myself at a crossroads. I'm scared stiff at the prospect of something like this happening again but will I live the rest of my life regretting giving in to the fear if we don't try again? It's a toughy and it's having a huge impact on me at the moment, hence my decision to write something here. Today was especially hard as our local toddler group resumed this morning following the summer break and 5 of the ladies there are pregnant. And yes the sock knitting is proving a good distraction - lol!

Anyway, on to cheerier things!

I've been tagged by fellow northern lass Mel Mel to tell you six fairly unimportant things about myself. This has come at quite a handy time as I haven't got much sock knitting done over the past few days so can't post about the finished item just yet!

Well, here goes:

1. I grew up in the North-West but have lived in a variety of places (including one semester at a US university) and now live in the South-East. Down here everyone thinks I have a strong northern accent but whenever I visit home I get accused of 'talking posh'.

2. I have terrible trouble sleeping. This is not good as Nipper often wakes up at the crack of dawn and I've hardly had any sleep. I'm often too cold to sleep but Mr Earplugs is always hot so doesn't want extra bedding. You'd think being a Northerner I'd be immune to the cold but not so. I've taken to wearing thermal pyjamas - soooo not a good look!

3. I'm also a terrible traveller. Much as I like visiting new places I find it quite stressful and it usually takes me a day to recover from the journey. I can't spend more than 15-20 minutes in a car without feeling sick. I'm a bit better than I was as a child, but not much!

4. My first pet was a budgie called Marmaduke. He was my only pet really as my Mum wouldn't let us have anything else as she reckoned she would end up looking after them (which is what is happening now with me, Miss Muffett and the guinea pigs!)

5. I used to be quite hot on the dance floor - I lurrvve 'la salsa'. It's where I met Mr Earplugs. Nothing quite like a good shimmy with your hubby! Sadly we cant go dancing anymore as there's no-one to babysit the kids.

6. I'm the wrong side of 40 and Mr Earplugs has just scraped into his 30's and we're newly-weds! We got married earlier on this year. You're only as old as (the man that) you feel - so they say ;o)

As I'm very new to blogging I think I'll have to wait a while before I tag someone. I know some bloggers aren't keen on being tagged (I was delighted!) and I wouldn't want to annoy anyone whilst still being a newbie! If you happen across me and want to join in then please consider yourself 'tagged'. Let me know as it would be great to learn a few new things about fellow bloggers.

And "thanks" Mel Mel!

Decisions, Decisions (and a Tag)

Socks at Last!

I'm in the middle of a kind of personal crisis at the moment. I had quite a shock recently and it's left me at a sort of a crossroads. I'm not sure if it's something to be blogging about really so I'll leave it alone for the moment. However, I've been in dire need of a distraction from it (as if a house, a garden, a husband, a pre-teen, a toddler, a cat, two guinea pigs, a visit from the parents and a few days away haven't been distraction enough - but I'm sure you know what I mean!).

For a long time I've wanted to knit socks. I don't know why, I just have. I had an elderly great aunt who was a great help to the family. She had no children of her own but was like a second mother to my mum and aunties and uncles. Apparently she was an avid sock knitter and the sister of my grandma who taught me to knit. So perhaps that's where it's come from.

I've also recently come across Raining Sheep. I just love this blog. I find it interesting, inspiring and sort of soothing, and that's what I need right now. She also makes beautiful socks. So her blog and my 'crossroads crisis' have motivated me to get on and knit some socks of my own!

At least this time I had a valid reason to buy wool (rather than the norm of seeing it and loving it but having no idea what to do with it once I owned it), and the shop gave me a free (easy?) sock pattern. When I asked for double ended needles they said did I mean 'shorts'. As it happened they didn't have any 'shorts' in the right size so I ended up with long 'shorts' (approx 12") since I was too impatient to wait. This is what I came home with:

It's a Regia sock yarn with a Jaquard pattern and it's on 2.5mm needles. I've managed to cast on and do a few rows but I'm struggling with the long needles as I keep sticking myself in the stomach! I've ordered some 'shorts' (neither of the 2 stores in town had any in the right size) so I should hopefully get on a bit better very soon.

This is an exciting prospect for me - finally attempting a lifelong desire - I just wonder why it took so long, and a crisis, to get to this moment??

Edit: For the finished article see this post.

Socks at Last!

It's been 'Yellow Week'......

....over at Prickly Pear Bloom. I'm a bit late on this one and not a huge fan of yellow but I thought it would be interesting to see what I could find in a quick scoot around the house:

I obviously need a dose of sunshine to help me with the kitchen chores:

Some yummy cupboard stuff: Nipper has quite a lot of yellow:

Tykes gets in on the action:

I'm not much of a morning person so Mr Earplugs needs this crockery to get a dose of morning cheeriness:

I even found some yellow reading:And last but not least some lovely yellow flowers in the garden - they're actually weeds in the lawn but who cares when they look so happy!

And there I was thinking I didn't like yellow!!

It's been 'Yellow Week'......

To blog or not to blog........

that is indeed the question!

Blogging is very new to me and I only discovered it within the last year or so. I was listening to the radio in a half-hearted sort of manner - the way you do when you're loading the laundry or washing-up - and I heard an interview with Jane Brocket, author of 'The Gentle Art of Domesticity' and of course the wonderful http://www.yarnstorm.blogs.com/ I figured I had to check out her blog and get my hands on a copy of her book. Father Christmas was very good to me that year and that's where it all began for me!

I can't say I'm the most avid blog reader. I usually 'pop-in' to my favourite few when I have an odd spare moment. But each time I visit it sets my mind racing on what I've read and I often find myself chatting away to no-one in particular (the kids think I'm mad) with all the things that I'd put in my blog, if only I had one. So for the sake of my sanity, and to get some rest from all that 'chatting', I've decided to finally blog! I'm not sure if any of it will be of interest to anyone other than myself, but since there are thousands of other bloggers out there no one need get bored by me!

If you happen across me then please say hello!

To blog or not to blog........