I am a numpty - part 1
I'm at Site this week. Yesterday, during my drive up, I reached into my handbag to check my phone and realised, with a cold sick feeling, that I'd left it at home. Stopped at the Services, where I normally text/phone DH to tell him "I'm OK and have got this far"; tore my bag apart. No phone. Dashed to a phone booth to call home: yes, said DH, my phone was were I'd left it, dangling from the bedside table while it was recharging.
Damn. Damn. Damn! I need my phone when I'm travelling: it's my link with home; my alarm clock; and the main way people can contact me.
Solution: stopped at the supermarket and picked up the cheapest pay-as-you-go mobile phone I could find. £19 plus £10 for the top-up. I'd rather not have spent the money but it'll do for the week and will work as a backup phone/guest phone for overseas visitors. And the top up doesn't expire.
I am a numpty - part 2
As you know, I travel to Site a lot, every second week at the moment. That involves hotel bills, meal bills; mileage claims and buying my lunch, etc. I put the vast majority of my spending on a credit card, while I'm here, so that I don't have to fund my expenses (I claim them back from work and pay before the due date). I've been doing this journey at least once a month for the last three years. The Project has about three months left to run.
About two thirds of my regular grocery shopping is at Tesco, together with 99% of the fuel we purchase for the car. Tesco has a "Clubcard" which enables you to collect points that give you vouchers quarterly of £0.01 for every £1 you spend in store. They also have a Clubcard credit card that gives you points on all your spending over £4 plus double points when you shop "in store". I've had a Tesco credit card for over two years. Got it for a 0% balance transfer and never used it since.
It only occurred to me a week ago that maybe, just maybe, I should be using my Tesco credit card during my trips to Site because (well, d'uh!) I could be getting a free penny for every Pound I spend. Mental head slap time. At an average of £500 a trip, that's an free £5 each time I come to Site.
I AM A NUMPTY!!!
- Pam (better late than ever)
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Sit-Rep 2010 - June & July
Apologies for the lateness of this Sit-Rep update. It's not my fault! In the last week of July, DH put a tank of diesel in the Toy for me and I've waited two weeks for him to tell me by how much I needed to reimburse him. (Proof that nagging doesn't work - I must have asked a dozen times.) Anyway, here is my update. My last update is here.
STASH Maintained cold sheep up until the day that I visited KnitNation on 31st July, when the lovely Sarah at Brownberry Yarns sold me 6 beautiful skeins of Artesano Alpaca Aran in a denim blue (photo to follow - I have a KnitNation Report to post). I bought their last six skeins in that colour, right out from under the nose of another knitter. At the time, I wanted 8 skeins because I'm a bit worried about the yardage (6 skeins = only 864 yards/790 metres), so I've ordered 2 more from Brownberry but couldn't get the same dye lot.
In other Stash/Kniting news, I've knitted another skein of Heathland Hebridean into the Brown Cable Cardigan (almost finished the second front). I didn't mention, last time that I started the second skein of the Wagtail Mohair half way up the back of the Mohair cardigan, which is now almost complete - I've got less than half of one front to go, plus the edging. Two skeins of Phildar Shoot went into a 5 Hour Baby Sweater for a colleague, which left me with 3/4 of a skein - that yarn was a charity shop find in 2009. The leftover Cherry Tree Hill yarn from my sister's Zig-Zag socks went into a pair of fingerless mittens using the same zig-zag pattern. And I've finished off another skein of sock yarn. So that's 5.5 skeins for a total of 15.5 skeins. Doesn't seem like a lot, given the amount of knitting involved.
GARDEN Guess what my birthday present from was this year? A terracotta strawberry planter filled with compost and three strawberry plants! The plants are thriving and have given us a handful of strawberries (it is very late in the season). One of them has already put out a runner, so we anchored it in a spare hole in the planter and now I have four plants.
On to the rest of the garden. Didn't get a huge number of broad beans - while I was a dedicated squisher of blackfly, they won several battles. The butternut squash is taking over the world, as are the tomatoes. Most of the onions are doing well and the two broccolis which survived from last year have thrived (they were last year's failure-to-thrives that somehow survived being neglected in pots over the winter). Some of the peppers and chillies are doing well but a couple of the jalapenos are just sitting there 3 inches high and sulking - in their case, I'm wondering if they were getting waterlogged in their grow-bags. The rocket did well, then bolted and now is setting seed. We've harvested two of the three potatoes and they were heavenly.
On the failure side: I planted out some pak-choi and it died in the sun. I doubt the garlic harvest will be that good but at least, now, I know what I've done wrong - garlic needs a freeze early on to prosper. The courgettes failed to thrive, as did the runner beans; the plants didn't die; they just didn't grow any bigger. I think watering may have been an issue, since June and July were both dry months and, although we watered every night, I don't think they got enough. About 3 weeks ago, I invested in a soaker hose, which seems to be helping.
As well as buying and planting out my garlic before Christmas next time, the other thing I need to do is to get some fresh seeds. The broad beans were grown from old seed, which may have been a factor in their not growing many beans.
FITNESS Weight Watchers? What's Weight Watchers? Let's not go there, shall we? I'm still attending Pilates and Yoga classes, but I need to add some aerobic exercise pronto. At least I've located my new running shoes (bought at Christmas).
OVERDRAFT Paid back a combined total of £233.02 for June (£127.76) and July (£105.26) which gives a total pay back of £970.18 for the year. Although I'm glad to see the balance is decreasing, I know is has slowed down a lot. There are two main reasons for the slow down: I've set a couple of new savings goals (next year, I will pay cash for my Chelsea season ticket for the first time ever); and I've increased the amount of money that goes into our joint account, in order to cover more of the shortfall from DH's unemployment. I already know August will be a bad month for paying back the overdraft: KnitNation fell into August's spending (it was after payday) and I've already run through my entire "Money To Live Off" budget. The only hope for August is that I won't spend so much money on diesel for the car*, so the balance of the diesel accrual can be offset against the overrun.
SOCKS As suspected, I didn't knit a complete pair of socks in June; instead, I did the Zig-Zag Fingerless Mittens and about half of one sock. I finished those socks in July - they're my typical Use It Up Socks made from the leftovers of the self-patterning sock yarn and some Lisa Souza Sock! in ecru. Hopefully, I can catch up in August.
- Pam (photos to follow)
* For my trips to Site, I habitually offset one tank of fuel against the money from my mileage claim since I use approximately one tank extra that week. Since I'm going to site more often at the moment, it's possible I won't spend as much of my diesel accrual as I would in a more typical month.
STASH Maintained cold sheep up until the day that I visited KnitNation on 31st July, when the lovely Sarah at Brownberry Yarns sold me 6 beautiful skeins of Artesano Alpaca Aran in a denim blue (photo to follow - I have a KnitNation Report to post). I bought their last six skeins in that colour, right out from under the nose of another knitter. At the time, I wanted 8 skeins because I'm a bit worried about the yardage (6 skeins = only 864 yards/790 metres), so I've ordered 2 more from Brownberry but couldn't get the same dye lot.
In other Stash/Kniting news, I've knitted another skein of Heathland Hebridean into the Brown Cable Cardigan (almost finished the second front). I didn't mention, last time that I started the second skein of the Wagtail Mohair half way up the back of the Mohair cardigan, which is now almost complete - I've got less than half of one front to go, plus the edging. Two skeins of Phildar Shoot went into a 5 Hour Baby Sweater for a colleague, which left me with 3/4 of a skein - that yarn was a charity shop find in 2009. The leftover Cherry Tree Hill yarn from my sister's Zig-Zag socks went into a pair of fingerless mittens using the same zig-zag pattern. And I've finished off another skein of sock yarn. So that's 5.5 skeins for a total of 15.5 skeins. Doesn't seem like a lot, given the amount of knitting involved.
GARDEN Guess what my birthday present from was this year? A terracotta strawberry planter filled with compost and three strawberry plants! The plants are thriving and have given us a handful of strawberries (it is very late in the season). One of them has already put out a runner, so we anchored it in a spare hole in the planter and now I have four plants.
On to the rest of the garden. Didn't get a huge number of broad beans - while I was a dedicated squisher of blackfly, they won several battles. The butternut squash is taking over the world, as are the tomatoes. Most of the onions are doing well and the two broccolis which survived from last year have thrived (they were last year's failure-to-thrives that somehow survived being neglected in pots over the winter). Some of the peppers and chillies are doing well but a couple of the jalapenos are just sitting there 3 inches high and sulking - in their case, I'm wondering if they were getting waterlogged in their grow-bags. The rocket did well, then bolted and now is setting seed. We've harvested two of the three potatoes and they were heavenly.
On the failure side: I planted out some pak-choi and it died in the sun. I doubt the garlic harvest will be that good but at least, now, I know what I've done wrong - garlic needs a freeze early on to prosper. The courgettes failed to thrive, as did the runner beans; the plants didn't die; they just didn't grow any bigger. I think watering may have been an issue, since June and July were both dry months and, although we watered every night, I don't think they got enough. About 3 weeks ago, I invested in a soaker hose, which seems to be helping.
As well as buying and planting out my garlic before Christmas next time, the other thing I need to do is to get some fresh seeds. The broad beans were grown from old seed, which may have been a factor in their not growing many beans.
FITNESS Weight Watchers? What's Weight Watchers? Let's not go there, shall we? I'm still attending Pilates and Yoga classes, but I need to add some aerobic exercise pronto. At least I've located my new running shoes (bought at Christmas).
OVERDRAFT Paid back a combined total of £233.02 for June (£127.76) and July (£105.26) which gives a total pay back of £970.18 for the year. Although I'm glad to see the balance is decreasing, I know is has slowed down a lot. There are two main reasons for the slow down: I've set a couple of new savings goals (next year, I will pay cash for my Chelsea season ticket for the first time ever); and I've increased the amount of money that goes into our joint account, in order to cover more of the shortfall from DH's unemployment. I already know August will be a bad month for paying back the overdraft: KnitNation fell into August's spending (it was after payday) and I've already run through my entire "Money To Live Off" budget. The only hope for August is that I won't spend so much money on diesel for the car*, so the balance of the diesel accrual can be offset against the overrun.
SOCKS As suspected, I didn't knit a complete pair of socks in June; instead, I did the Zig-Zag Fingerless Mittens and about half of one sock. I finished those socks in July - they're my typical Use It Up Socks made from the leftovers of the self-patterning sock yarn and some Lisa Souza Sock! in ecru. Hopefully, I can catch up in August.
- Pam (photos to follow)
* For my trips to Site, I habitually offset one tank of fuel against the money from my mileage claim since I use approximately one tank extra that week. Since I'm going to site more often at the moment, it's possible I won't spend as much of my diesel accrual as I would in a more typical month.
Friday, 13 August 2010
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Something you don't see every day.
I think they got their fuel prices confused at the Tesco petrol station in Scunthorpe, when I was there last week. Diesel is never cheaper than unleaded petrol.... until now, that is. Me thinks someone at Tesco made a mistake.
That's the 'per litre' price, so the diesel was about £4.40 per US gallon.
I double checked the prices shown on the bowser, before I filled up the Toy. Yes, the diesel was 4p cheaper per litre.
- Pam
That's the 'per litre' price, so the diesel was about £4.40 per US gallon.
I double checked the prices shown on the bowser, before I filled up the Toy. Yes, the diesel was 4p cheaper per litre.
- Pam
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Poppies
One of my favourite sights of the English summer is when the poppies appear in the fields. If you have ever browsed a copy of the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady or the spin-off craft and knitting books, you will be familiar with Edith Holden's water colours of English poppies.
Although I loved the pictures that appeared in the books, I must have been in England for 12 years before I saw the real thing in the flesh. They only appear in uncultivated fields or in the margins on the side of country roads and, until that summer, I'd pretty much always lived and worked in the city. Then, one June, I spotted something orange at the side of the road and realised it was a poppy!
A month ago, when I was driving home from Site, I was treated to the tripple bill of poppies on the side of the road and wild roses growing through hedges rich in elderflowers. Unfortunately, it was tipping it down with rain and I kept missing the best parking places from which to take photos. Eventually, I gave up.
Two weeks later, I was back at Site and, on the way home, I tried again. It was too late in the season for the roses and the elderflowers, but I managed to find some late poppies.
and
Although I loved the pictures that appeared in the books, I must have been in England for 12 years before I saw the real thing in the flesh. They only appear in uncultivated fields or in the margins on the side of country roads and, until that summer, I'd pretty much always lived and worked in the city. Then, one June, I spotted something orange at the side of the road and realised it was a poppy!
A month ago, when I was driving home from Site, I was treated to the tripple bill of poppies on the side of the road and wild roses growing through hedges rich in elderflowers. Unfortunately, it was tipping it down with rain and I kept missing the best parking places from which to take photos. Eventually, I gave up.
Two weeks later, I was back at Site and, on the way home, I tried again. It was too late in the season for the roses and the elderflowers, but I managed to find some late poppies.
and
Aren't they pretty?
When I sort out our garden for good (as opposed to the annual temporary measures), poppies are one of the plants that are definitely going in.
- Pam
Saturday, 24 July 2010
The Code
There is a code amongst women. I don't know where or when we get inducted, but it seems to pass from one generation to another, almost telepathically. No one talks about it. Not every woman has it. Do men get inducted? I haven't a clue. It is: no idle hands (or "don't just sit there. Do something!"). It's there when I can't sit down until after the dishes are done and lunches prepared for tomorrow. It's there every time I sit watching TV, or travelling on a train/in a car/on a plane. I can see my mother reaching for her crochet, for something to do in those snatched moments of time, and then see myself doing it too.
I keep remembering a woman I encountered on a train once. Christmas 1996, Dumbo and I caught the night train from Sydney to Melbourne. Sitting on the other side of the aisle was the stereotypical Aussie Battler and his wife together with their three children: an 8 year old girl, a 5 year old boy and a toddler. I watched them covertly, facinated. The Aussie Battler* and his wife are mythical country people, fighting against the odds, battling drought and floods to raise their cattle, farm their land and breed their sheep. And here they were in front of me.
They looked to be old parents, probably in their 50's, their faces weathered by the sun. In their dress, it could have been the 1950's: he wore proper trousers and an open-necked short sleeved shirt (I'm sure there was a tie tucked away somewhere); she wore a floral shirt-waister. From snatches of their conversation, I worked out that they were farmers who'd been to Sydney for the day - they'd visited the bank and a medical specialist. Why? I didn't hear. They were making a long round trip to/from Dubbo, so the visits must have been important. (Dubbo has a big hospital and plenty of banks) Whatever had happened in Sydney, they were worried and relieved to be heading home. It hadn't been the best of days. Through much of that long evening, until 2.30am when they left the train, she knitted away her worries. She said as much, once, to her husband when he asked her why she didn't have a nap.
To that Aussie Battler's Wife, from one member of the Code to another, I salute you.
- Pam
*If you ever get the chance, read Henry Lawson's "Joe Wilson's Mates". Joe is the embodiment of the Aussie Battler.
I keep remembering a woman I encountered on a train once. Christmas 1996, Dumbo and I caught the night train from Sydney to Melbourne. Sitting on the other side of the aisle was the stereotypical Aussie Battler and his wife together with their three children: an 8 year old girl, a 5 year old boy and a toddler. I watched them covertly, facinated. The Aussie Battler* and his wife are mythical country people, fighting against the odds, battling drought and floods to raise their cattle, farm their land and breed their sheep. And here they were in front of me.
They looked to be old parents, probably in their 50's, their faces weathered by the sun. In their dress, it could have been the 1950's: he wore proper trousers and an open-necked short sleeved shirt (I'm sure there was a tie tucked away somewhere); she wore a floral shirt-waister. From snatches of their conversation, I worked out that they were farmers who'd been to Sydney for the day - they'd visited the bank and a medical specialist. Why? I didn't hear. They were making a long round trip to/from Dubbo, so the visits must have been important. (Dubbo has a big hospital and plenty of banks) Whatever had happened in Sydney, they were worried and relieved to be heading home. It hadn't been the best of days. Through much of that long evening, until 2.30am when they left the train, she knitted away her worries. She said as much, once, to her husband when he asked her why she didn't have a nap.
To that Aussie Battler's Wife, from one member of the Code to another, I salute you.
- Pam
*If you ever get the chance, read Henry Lawson's "Joe Wilson's Mates". Joe is the embodiment of the Aussie Battler.
Friday, 23 July 2010
Frugal Friday - to save or not to save, that is the question
As I struggled out of the office today (lugging my laptop, my handbag, an envelope full of invoices and a lidded plastic bucket that had just been emptied of the last of the office's dishwasher tablets), I started thinking about CrazyAuntPurl's recent post about clutter and obsessively collecting stuff for the sake of having stuff.
(First though, a diversion: why the plastic bucket? To make a nettle "stew" to feed my tomatoes next year. Stuff the bucket with young nettles, chop them if you want. Cover with water and a lid and allow to rot down for at least a month. Use as a liquid feed, pouring undiluted around the tomatoes. You can dump the residual gunk around them too - apparently, they love it (it's rich in nitrogen). It stinks, hence the lid. You can do the same thing to comfrey to make a more nutritious "tea", but I don't have that growing whereas nettles are free and not hard to find. I just stalked a suitable bucket and purloined it when it was almost empty.)
CrazyAuntPurl talks occasionally about how too much stuff becomes oppressive and that you end up feeling like the stuff owns you, instead of the other way around. It takes over your home, preventing you from relaxing because a) you have to clean it all, and b) you can't readily find whatever-it-is you were looking for because there is too much stuff in the way so you end up buying a new one. And, eventually, you end up living like a bag lady in your own home because there is so much junk hoarded there that it takes over.
As I struggled with the door to the office car park, I looked at the bucket in my hand and I wondered if that is the slippery slope I'm heading down. I don't need it "right now" - I won't be able to make nettle stew until next spring - so will have to store it. Will it turn into just another thing to find a home for/get in the way/forget about?
I don't think of myself as a big collector of things. When we put the house back together, I won't need a wall of display cases to show off my collections. I don't collect Royal Doulton figurines or stamps. Nor do I clutter up the spare bed with stuffed toys*. But I do collect books. And knitting magazines. And yarn. And embroidery stuff...
...And bread bags. And the tubs from Innocent Veg Pots. And small plastic containers. And soup containers. And Douwe Egbert jars. And Yeo Valley yoghurt pots.....
Hmm.... Maybe I could have a problem? My kitchen has the potential to be a hoarder's paradise. At least one of the letters published in the Tightwad Gazette laments: I've saved bread ties and egg cartons and orange juice lids, etc, but what do I do with all this stuff? Amy's response boils down to "only collect what you need. If it doesn't have a use, don't collect it".
It's a balancing act. One of the hard parts of frugally acquiring things that are useful is that they don't usually appear just when you need them. I've learned to snap up free/cheap items with potential because they won't be there when I go back looking of them. (I'm still lamenting not buying that double-boiler from the charity shop when candle making was only a vague idea in the back of my mind. I had to buy the more expensive microwave wax and sacrifice a glass jug because it's safer than heating wax directly on the stove top.)
I've only collect the bread bags, etc, because I have a use for them. I use the bread bags instead of freezer bags, particularly for meat and fish. I give the Veg Pot tubs away filled with coconut rough. The soup containers fit the freezer door's shelves so I freeze them full of stock, and smalz, and leftover stew. I store my spices in the Douwe Egbert jars. I use the yoghurt pots as starter pots when gardening. And they can also be used as plastic glasses for parties (we found this one out by accident when hosting a BBQ. People helped themselves to the tower of clear plastic "pint glasses" in the kitchen).
However, I don't need 100 yoghurt pots. And I recognise that there is a point where you have to call "stop" and just bin the excess however useful they may be in the future (for instance: I store the bread bags in an old tissue box; when it's full, I bin any excess). Hopefully there won't be an episode of Life Laundry for me.
- Pam
* I think I still own four soft toys: two rabbits made by my mother, a tiny teddy bear acquired from somewhere and Bearjing, a 12-inch white teddy bear that I picked up in Beijing in 1986.
(First though, a diversion: why the plastic bucket? To make a nettle "stew" to feed my tomatoes next year. Stuff the bucket with young nettles, chop them if you want. Cover with water and a lid and allow to rot down for at least a month. Use as a liquid feed, pouring undiluted around the tomatoes. You can dump the residual gunk around them too - apparently, they love it (it's rich in nitrogen). It stinks, hence the lid. You can do the same thing to comfrey to make a more nutritious "tea", but I don't have that growing whereas nettles are free and not hard to find. I just stalked a suitable bucket and purloined it when it was almost empty.)
CrazyAuntPurl talks occasionally about how too much stuff becomes oppressive and that you end up feeling like the stuff owns you, instead of the other way around. It takes over your home, preventing you from relaxing because a) you have to clean it all, and b) you can't readily find whatever-it-is you were looking for because there is too much stuff in the way so you end up buying a new one. And, eventually, you end up living like a bag lady in your own home because there is so much junk hoarded there that it takes over.
As I struggled with the door to the office car park, I looked at the bucket in my hand and I wondered if that is the slippery slope I'm heading down. I don't need it "right now" - I won't be able to make nettle stew until next spring - so will have to store it. Will it turn into just another thing to find a home for/get in the way/forget about?
I don't think of myself as a big collector of things. When we put the house back together, I won't need a wall of display cases to show off my collections. I don't collect Royal Doulton figurines or stamps. Nor do I clutter up the spare bed with stuffed toys*. But I do collect books. And knitting magazines. And yarn. And embroidery stuff...
...And bread bags. And the tubs from Innocent Veg Pots. And small plastic containers. And soup containers. And Douwe Egbert jars. And Yeo Valley yoghurt pots.....
Hmm.... Maybe I could have a problem? My kitchen has the potential to be a hoarder's paradise. At least one of the letters published in the Tightwad Gazette laments: I've saved bread ties and egg cartons and orange juice lids, etc, but what do I do with all this stuff? Amy's response boils down to "only collect what you need. If it doesn't have a use, don't collect it".
It's a balancing act. One of the hard parts of frugally acquiring things that are useful is that they don't usually appear just when you need them. I've learned to snap up free/cheap items with potential because they won't be there when I go back looking of them. (I'm still lamenting not buying that double-boiler from the charity shop when candle making was only a vague idea in the back of my mind. I had to buy the more expensive microwave wax and sacrifice a glass jug because it's safer than heating wax directly on the stove top.)
I've only collect the bread bags, etc, because I have a use for them. I use the bread bags instead of freezer bags, particularly for meat and fish. I give the Veg Pot tubs away filled with coconut rough. The soup containers fit the freezer door's shelves so I freeze them full of stock, and smalz, and leftover stew. I store my spices in the Douwe Egbert jars. I use the yoghurt pots as starter pots when gardening. And they can also be used as plastic glasses for parties (we found this one out by accident when hosting a BBQ. People helped themselves to the tower of clear plastic "pint glasses" in the kitchen).
However, I don't need 100 yoghurt pots. And I recognise that there is a point where you have to call "stop" and just bin the excess however useful they may be in the future (for instance: I store the bread bags in an old tissue box; when it's full, I bin any excess). Hopefully there won't be an episode of Life Laundry for me.
- Pam
* I think I still own four soft toys: two rabbits made by my mother, a tiny teddy bear acquired from somewhere and Bearjing, a 12-inch white teddy bear that I picked up in Beijing in 1986.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
accidental hiatus
It seems as if everyone is taking a bit of a hiatus in the blogosphere. Me included. I don't know if it's the lazy, hazy days of summer or the pressure of work. In my case, it's a combination of everything and sheer exhaustion. The bite on my ankle turned nasty, which probably hasn't helped. I'm on my second course of antibiotics for it. Cellulitis - I haven't seen it for 20+ years, but boy is it recognisable.
I have a week's leave booked for the first week of August and I'm really looking forward to it. We aren't going anywhere; it's just a chance to rest and recuperate.
In the meantime, I'm running on coffee.
- Pam
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Why do insects keep taking chunks out of me?
I am getting seriously pissed off at whatever it is that keeps biting me. Why am I such a bug magnet? I know that if there is a mosquito anywhere within two miles, it'll find me, but these are something else. What is making me so tasty? Whatever it is, I need to work it out soon, before I start looking like I've got chicken pox. (No, I don't have chicken pox for a third time. I have clear memories of last time and these bites aren't it.)
And I don't even think it is all the same type of bug. This is my arm, a week after I noticed the first bite appeared:
It wasn't itchy. Then something else munched me around the elbow, and boy did THAT itch. Then, on Tuesday evening as I parked up at my hotel, something took a bite out of my ankle. Again, I didn't feel the bite. I caught my ankle with my suitcase as I unloaded it and suddenly it was massively itchy and swollen. Yesterday evening, it had a deep red ring around a white spot. Today, not so much.
(Also, why is it when you wait for better light to take a photo bite marks go down? It was furiously angry 8 hours ago.)
I haven't got a clue what bugs are doing the biting - I've reached the point of longing for the days when the enemy was just honest to goodness mosquitoes.
- Pam
And I don't even think it is all the same type of bug. This is my arm, a week after I noticed the first bite appeared:
It wasn't itchy. Then something else munched me around the elbow, and boy did THAT itch. Then, on Tuesday evening as I parked up at my hotel, something took a bite out of my ankle. Again, I didn't feel the bite. I caught my ankle with my suitcase as I unloaded it and suddenly it was massively itchy and swollen. Yesterday evening, it had a deep red ring around a white spot. Today, not so much.
(Also, why is it when you wait for better light to take a photo bite marks go down? It was furiously angry 8 hours ago.)
I haven't got a clue what bugs are doing the biting - I've reached the point of longing for the days when the enemy was just honest to goodness mosquitoes.
- Pam
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
The best birthday present ever?
If you had a sporting fantasy, what would it be? For many of my friends, it'd be to score the winning goal for England in the final of the World Cup. For a few others, it'd be to score a century in an Ashes test match and then take five wickets. For me, it'd be horse related: riding at Hickstead or show jumping at the Horse of the Year Show or doing a National Velvet and riding the winner of the Grand National.
When I was trying to figure out what to buy DH for his 40th birthday last year, I wondered what his would be and whether I could give him a gift that would fulfil it. I don't know what his was, but I can make a good guess what it is now.
On Sunday, DH "spent" his 40th Birthday Present: a Formula Silverstone single-seater "driving experience": 20 minutes driving a racing car around one of the circuits at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix. He had a ball! I lost count of the number of laps he did, but he loved every minute of it. You can't see the smile on his face in the photo above, but I assure you it was there.
There were 18 drivers in DH's group. His session started with a short (20 minute) briefing about how to drive the track: when to brake, when to change gear, what is the best line to take through the bends. That was followed by a short "how to operate the car" briefing session in the pit lanes and then he was helped into his vehicle by a member of staff, who also went over the vehicle's controls. The cars were led out in groups of 6; each group had its own safety car. The safety car led them round the track at ever increasing speeds, before setting them free to race each other around the track for 10 minutes.
I'm really glad he loved it. I chose it for two reasons: it had the longest driving time of all the Red Letter Day driving experiences on offer, and it's something that appeals to me, which I thought would appeal to him too. Score 2:0 to me.
- Pam
When I was trying to figure out what to buy DH for his 40th birthday last year, I wondered what his would be and whether I could give him a gift that would fulfil it. I don't know what his was, but I can make a good guess what it is now.
On Sunday, DH "spent" his 40th Birthday Present: a Formula Silverstone single-seater "driving experience": 20 minutes driving a racing car around one of the circuits at Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix. He had a ball! I lost count of the number of laps he did, but he loved every minute of it. You can't see the smile on his face in the photo above, but I assure you it was there.
There were 18 drivers in DH's group. His session started with a short (20 minute) briefing about how to drive the track: when to brake, when to change gear, what is the best line to take through the bends. That was followed by a short "how to operate the car" briefing session in the pit lanes and then he was helped into his vehicle by a member of staff, who also went over the vehicle's controls. The cars were led out in groups of 6; each group had its own safety car. The safety car led them round the track at ever increasing speeds, before setting them free to race each other around the track for 10 minutes.
I'm really glad he loved it. I chose it for two reasons: it had the longest driving time of all the Red Letter Day driving experiences on offer, and it's something that appeals to me, which I thought would appeal to him too. Score 2:0 to me.
- Pam
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Random. Just Random.
In the things I wish I could remember department:
I wish I could remember how to reset the clock on the stove. (Or, alternatively, what we did with the manual.) I'm sure I used to know but it isn't intuitive and it's been 7 years since there was power to the clock and ovens. (We used the gas hob.) The electrician has wired it up temporarily for us and I've used both ovens, but I'd really, really like to set the clock to the correct time. I've emailed the manufacturer - fingers crossed they can help me.
-----------------------
Football
Have you been watching the World Cup? Yesterday was a rather nail-biting day for me. I'm cursed with having two national teams to follow: Australia and England. England needed to win to progress to the knock-out stages. If Australia were to progress, they needed both a big win (with a goal difference of 3 or more) AND either Germany or Ghana to win the other match in their group.
The canteen at work has been showing all the daytime matches on their big TV. The England match was at 3pm so a group of us went down to watch. (By the end of the match, there was 200 people in there.) It was nerve-wracking! I think I swore more in those 90+ minutes than I have ever sworn in the office. Fortunately, England played like a team, defended well and won by a goal to nil. It was the best they've played in this competition - their match against the USA was OK but they looked nervous, while their game against Nigeria was dire.
Australia's game was at 7.30pm and not broadcast on terrestrial TV, so I watched the German game. It was so frustrating! I have only managed to watch one out of the three Australian matches and I was hoping to watch this one. No dice. We won, with two good goals, but it wasn't enough to go through.
Congratulations to the American team for getting through to the last 16.
--------------------------
In Other News...
Can't remember if I've told you but DH is working a temporary job and has been since the second week of May. It's for a contractor for London Transport, which means that every day is in a different location. It's shift work. The hours are awful. And he has to get there by public transport so an 8 hour shift is really a minimum of an 11 hour day. It's not in his field. But any job is better than no job and he's happy to be earning some money.
- Pam
I wish I could remember how to reset the clock on the stove. (Or, alternatively, what we did with the manual.) I'm sure I used to know but it isn't intuitive and it's been 7 years since there was power to the clock and ovens. (We used the gas hob.) The electrician has wired it up temporarily for us and I've used both ovens, but I'd really, really like to set the clock to the correct time. I've emailed the manufacturer - fingers crossed they can help me.
-----------------------
Football
Have you been watching the World Cup? Yesterday was a rather nail-biting day for me. I'm cursed with having two national teams to follow: Australia and England. England needed to win to progress to the knock-out stages. If Australia were to progress, they needed both a big win (with a goal difference of 3 or more) AND either Germany or Ghana to win the other match in their group.
The canteen at work has been showing all the daytime matches on their big TV. The England match was at 3pm so a group of us went down to watch. (By the end of the match, there was 200 people in there.) It was nerve-wracking! I think I swore more in those 90+ minutes than I have ever sworn in the office. Fortunately, England played like a team, defended well and won by a goal to nil. It was the best they've played in this competition - their match against the USA was OK but they looked nervous, while their game against Nigeria was dire.
Australia's game was at 7.30pm and not broadcast on terrestrial TV, so I watched the German game. It was so frustrating! I have only managed to watch one out of the three Australian matches and I was hoping to watch this one. No dice. We won, with two good goals, but it wasn't enough to go through.
Congratulations to the American team for getting through to the last 16.
--------------------------
In Other News...
Can't remember if I've told you but DH is working a temporary job and has been since the second week of May. It's for a contractor for London Transport, which means that every day is in a different location. It's shift work. The hours are awful. And he has to get there by public transport so an 8 hour shift is really a minimum of an 11 hour day. It's not in his field. But any job is better than no job and he's happy to be earning some money.
- Pam
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Sit-Rep 2010 - April/May
Hi everyone! I'm still here. Life's been interfering a bit in my plans and I haven't been on-line as much as usual, hence the lack of blogging. Something similar happened last month, which is why I didn't post a Sit-Rep for April. However, I decided I couldn't let two months go past without comment, even though it's now the middle of June. (Hell, if BostonGal can do her monthly updates late, then so can I.) So here goes....
STASH Maintained 100% cold sheep, however I feel like I'm cheating since I rarely buy yarn on-line and haven't been near either a yarn shop or a show, so I haven't been tempted. Knitted a reasonable amount, however, completing the left front of the Brown Cabled Cardigan (Rav link) as well as 2.5 pairs of socks AND ripping out and reknitting the back of the Mohair Cardigan (Rav link) from Verena Knitting. The socks didn't use up complete skeins - even on the pair for DH I have 20g or so left over - so I estimate that I've used two skeins of sock yarn plus one skein of the Heathland Hebridean (in the cardi) and 1/3 of a skein of the mohair in the last two months. Also DH extracted the stash basket from storage so I've been able to give P's mum the two balls of Artesano Alpaca DK. That's 5.3 skeins of yarn, for a total of 10.5 skeins.
GARDEN The garden is a bit of a war zone, with me on one side and the weeds + black-fly on the other. Since the last update, I've sown/planted out courgettes, jalapeno chillis, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, runner beans, butternut squash and rocket. Most of them are in containers or grow bags beside the back door. I'm currently raising five pak choi seedlings, which I hope to plant out in a week or so. Harvested the first broad-beans on Sunday. I'll freeze the rest, when they're large enough. I watched Alys Fowler's Edible Garden on the BBC and was impressed enough to buy the book. It's well written, detailed and answers the sort of questions that aren't covered in other gardening books, things novice gardeners (like me) need to know but can't find the answer to.
FITNESS Very little to report. I'm attending yoga and pilates classes when I'm in the office. Haven't been near Weight Watchers and don't know if I've lost any more weight. Oh, and I still haven't run a step.
OVERDRAFT The debt pay down is going well: £153.54 in April and £228.24 in May, for a total repaid of £737.16 since the start of the year.
SOCKS Completed DH's Weird Science socks. I don't have photos yet, but when I do I promise to include one showing the pattern on the back of the leg - it's different to the front of the leg and was not shown in the pattern. (I don't think he's worn them yet, although he says he likes them.) The Zig-Zag socks were a big hit with Eldest Sis and I completed a pair of self-striping socks for myself. Don't think I'll be able to produce a pair of socks in June - it's half way through the month and I haven't started any yet. I'll do a separate FO show-and-tell post this weekend.
- Pam
STASH Maintained 100% cold sheep, however I feel like I'm cheating since I rarely buy yarn on-line and haven't been near either a yarn shop or a show, so I haven't been tempted. Knitted a reasonable amount, however, completing the left front of the Brown Cabled Cardigan (Rav link) as well as 2.5 pairs of socks AND ripping out and reknitting the back of the Mohair Cardigan (Rav link) from Verena Knitting. The socks didn't use up complete skeins - even on the pair for DH I have 20g or so left over - so I estimate that I've used two skeins of sock yarn plus one skein of the Heathland Hebridean (in the cardi) and 1/3 of a skein of the mohair in the last two months. Also DH extracted the stash basket from storage so I've been able to give P's mum the two balls of Artesano Alpaca DK. That's 5.3 skeins of yarn, for a total of 10.5 skeins.
GARDEN The garden is a bit of a war zone, with me on one side and the weeds + black-fly on the other. Since the last update, I've sown/planted out courgettes, jalapeno chillis, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, runner beans, butternut squash and rocket. Most of them are in containers or grow bags beside the back door. I'm currently raising five pak choi seedlings, which I hope to plant out in a week or so. Harvested the first broad-beans on Sunday. I'll freeze the rest, when they're large enough. I watched Alys Fowler's Edible Garden on the BBC and was impressed enough to buy the book. It's well written, detailed and answers the sort of questions that aren't covered in other gardening books, things novice gardeners (like me) need to know but can't find the answer to.
FITNESS Very little to report. I'm attending yoga and pilates classes when I'm in the office. Haven't been near Weight Watchers and don't know if I've lost any more weight. Oh, and I still haven't run a step.
OVERDRAFT The debt pay down is going well: £153.54 in April and £228.24 in May, for a total repaid of £737.16 since the start of the year.
SOCKS Completed DH's Weird Science socks. I don't have photos yet, but when I do I promise to include one showing the pattern on the back of the leg - it's different to the front of the leg and was not shown in the pattern. (I don't think he's worn them yet, although he says he likes them.) The Zig-Zag socks were a big hit with Eldest Sis and I completed a pair of self-striping socks for myself. Don't think I'll be able to produce a pair of socks in June - it's half way through the month and I haven't started any yet. I'll do a separate FO show-and-tell post this weekend.
- Pam
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Frugal Friday - Cheap Make-up Review: Tesco's All About Face range
Tuesday morning, I was a mile from Site when I brushed some dried mascara from my eye and realised that I'd forgotten to pack my make-up. I had a lipstick but nothing else so, after work, I headed into the nearest major town and went to the supermarket.
It's ages since I've bought make-up base, so ago long that I'm not even sure what is on offer now. Several years ago, I struck gold on the clearance shelf at Boots The Chemist - 6 bottles of their "17" brand make-up base, in my shade, at 50p a bottle. I thought they'd last, maybe, a total of two years. Instead, each bottle lasts about 10 months (and I've still got one left!). Also in my stockpile at home are a couple of containers of Max Factor Pan Cake (perfect for hot, humid weather when regular make-up vanishes in your sweat), and a tube of Pan Stick*.
On Tuesday, my goal was to find the cheapest suitable products in colours that suit me. I wandered up and down the make-up aisle in Tesco and checked out the special offers. As a minimum, I needed make-up base, powder, blusher and mascara. Oh, and a make-up sponge, possibly brushes too.
After a couple of minutes, I noticed a small range of make-up that wasn't in the glossy display cases: Tesco's All About Face range. At £1.49 a product or £3 for three products, it was the cheapest too. They only had a couple of shades to choose from and no testers. However, I figured the worst thing that could happen was that I'd waste £3 and be back there the next night buying products from a "known" range. So I purchased a base in Ivory, a powder blusher in Rose, and translucent compressed powder (no shade specified).
They had a black mascara, too, but it isn't waterproof so I opted to buy my regular Maybelline mascara (£4.99) instead. And I bought some own-brand make-up sponges (£1.50) and a Tesco make-up brush set (£4.79).
So how good it is? Well, the make-up base is light and a good match for my skin. I didn't use a massive amount, just dotted it on my cheeks, nose, forehead, and blended with a sponge. The powder covers well and is the same shade as the base. The blusher goes on lightly with a brush, spreads out well and blends in. The make-up holds up well to daily wear and tear. And doesn't look cheap and nasty. I asked a friend for her opinion and she thought the colours were great on me and that it still looked fresh at 3 in the afternoon. She was surprised when I told her how little they'd cost.
So, if you don't have much money and are looking for some decent make-up, do consider Tesco's All About Face range. It's very good value for money and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
- Pam (the brushes are very nice, too)
(Edited later to add: Skip the makeup base. It beads on the skin and isn't easily absorbed. When it does dry, it dries blotchy. The product that does all the work to get a good finish is the powder, so just buy that.)
* To use Pan Stick and not feel like you've applied a heavy layer of lard to your face or have it come off, apply as follows:
It's ages since I've bought make-up base, so ago long that I'm not even sure what is on offer now. Several years ago, I struck gold on the clearance shelf at Boots The Chemist - 6 bottles of their "17" brand make-up base, in my shade, at 50p a bottle. I thought they'd last, maybe, a total of two years. Instead, each bottle lasts about 10 months (and I've still got one left!). Also in my stockpile at home are a couple of containers of Max Factor Pan Cake (perfect for hot, humid weather when regular make-up vanishes in your sweat), and a tube of Pan Stick*.
On Tuesday, my goal was to find the cheapest suitable products in colours that suit me. I wandered up and down the make-up aisle in Tesco and checked out the special offers. As a minimum, I needed make-up base, powder, blusher and mascara. Oh, and a make-up sponge, possibly brushes too.
After a couple of minutes, I noticed a small range of make-up that wasn't in the glossy display cases: Tesco's All About Face range. At £1.49 a product or £3 for three products, it was the cheapest too. They only had a couple of shades to choose from and no testers. However, I figured the worst thing that could happen was that I'd waste £3 and be back there the next night buying products from a "known" range. So I purchased a base in Ivory, a powder blusher in Rose, and translucent compressed powder (no shade specified).
They had a black mascara, too, but it isn't waterproof so I opted to buy my regular Maybelline mascara (£4.99) instead. And I bought some own-brand make-up sponges (£1.50) and a Tesco make-up brush set (£4.79).
So how good it is? Well, the make-up base is light and a good match for my skin. I didn't use a massive amount, just dotted it on my cheeks, nose, forehead, and blended with a sponge. The powder covers well and is the same shade as the base. The blusher goes on lightly with a brush, spreads out well and blends in. The make-up holds up well to daily wear and tear. And doesn't look cheap and nasty. I asked a friend for her opinion and she thought the colours were great on me and that it still looked fresh at 3 in the afternoon. She was surprised when I told her how little they'd cost.
So, if you don't have much money and are looking for some decent make-up, do consider Tesco's All About Face range. It's very good value for money and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
- Pam (the brushes are very nice, too)
(Edited later to add: Skip the makeup base. It beads on the skin and isn't easily absorbed. When it does dry, it dries blotchy. The product that does all the work to get a good finish is the powder, so just buy that.)
* To use Pan Stick and not feel like you've applied a heavy layer of lard to your face or have it come off, apply as follows:
- Draw a cross on your forehead.
- With the angle pointing towards your nose, draw a ">" on one cheek and a "<" on the other.
- Put a one inch line across your chin.
- Dot once on each side of the tip of your nose.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Telekenesis anyone?
One of the stranger side-effects of all our building work is being without a stash. Virtually all my yarn is in a storage unit, with the majority of our belongings. The stash is corralled into at least two boxes, two baskets and a pine blanket box, in the furthest corner of the unit, behind everything else.
When we were packing up, I set aside the wool for the Brown Cabled Cardigan, as well as two pair's worth of sock yarn. I've finished three pairs of socks since then (I had one pair on the needles). Since I'm going "cold sheep", this lack of yarn has made me think about what I'll do with the little bits I have. At home, I'm knitting on the cardigan, so that's a no-brainer. I have a long neglected travel knitting project, the Bolero Cardigan from the Summer 2008 edition of Verena, which gets centre stage now that I'm out of socks. I'll get very close to finishing it this week, while I'm at site.
Right now, I have three partial skeins of sock yarn left and they aren't compatible so can't be combined into a pair of socks. (One is DK; the others, 4ply. The colours wouldn't mix either.) I could really do with a session rummaging through that dark brown basket, which is full of single skeins and sock yarn. I don't want to do a big raid - I'd just like to extract a skein of Lisa Souza's Sock! in Ecru, so that I can knit contrasting feet onto the remnants of the 4-ply. (Sorry, I know I haven't posted photos yet. I will get around to them when I post my Sit.Rep at the end of the month.)
More importantly, there are a couple of skeins of pink Alpaca buried in there that I'd like to give to a friend's mum. She's a knitter and she's not very well and I'd like to give her something special to play with. I reckon it will be another six weeks before we clear out the storage unit and I don't know if I can wait that long. I'm wondering if I can persuade DH to dig it out for me. Knowing my luck, it won't be in the brown basket (probability it's in there = 70%).
In my heart of hearts, I know can't really ask him to do it. There are dozens of boxes in the way as well as a couple of pieces of furniture. I wish I could TK the damn basket to the front of the unit and save all the effort needed to move boxes around/out of the way.
- Pam
When we were packing up, I set aside the wool for the Brown Cabled Cardigan, as well as two pair's worth of sock yarn. I've finished three pairs of socks since then (I had one pair on the needles). Since I'm going "cold sheep", this lack of yarn has made me think about what I'll do with the little bits I have. At home, I'm knitting on the cardigan, so that's a no-brainer. I have a long neglected travel knitting project, the Bolero Cardigan from the Summer 2008 edition of Verena, which gets centre stage now that I'm out of socks. I'll get very close to finishing it this week, while I'm at site.
Right now, I have three partial skeins of sock yarn left and they aren't compatible so can't be combined into a pair of socks. (One is DK; the others, 4ply. The colours wouldn't mix either.) I could really do with a session rummaging through that dark brown basket, which is full of single skeins and sock yarn. I don't want to do a big raid - I'd just like to extract a skein of Lisa Souza's Sock! in Ecru, so that I can knit contrasting feet onto the remnants of the 4-ply. (Sorry, I know I haven't posted photos yet. I will get around to them when I post my Sit.Rep at the end of the month.)
More importantly, there are a couple of skeins of pink Alpaca buried in there that I'd like to give to a friend's mum. She's a knitter and she's not very well and I'd like to give her something special to play with. I reckon it will be another six weeks before we clear out the storage unit and I don't know if I can wait that long. I'm wondering if I can persuade DH to dig it out for me. Knowing my luck, it won't be in the brown basket (probability it's in there = 70%).
In my heart of hearts, I know can't really ask him to do it. There are dozens of boxes in the way as well as a couple of pieces of furniture. I wish I could TK the damn basket to the front of the unit and save all the effort needed to move boxes around/out of the way.
- Pam
Friday, 21 May 2010
Cooking in the danger zone (and more house photos)
This evening, as I was cooking dinner, I kept banging into things. It occurred to me, while my sandal caught on the shoe rack residing in front of the draining board, that I'm cooking in a danger zone. Everything is temporarily in a different place to where it was before the building work started, and more and more things have found their way into the kitchen because there was nowhere else for them to go.
This is my kitchen at the moment - stove view:
That picture was taken before all the dust and a lot of the stuff migrated in. And as it is now...
Absolutely everything covered in dust and everything is in the way, including Spikey (the yucca plant), the uplighter that is our main source of light downstairs at the moment and the shoe rack that earlier tried to mate with my sandal.
Frankly, I'm just glad I can cook in this kitchen, even if it does mean moving everything out of the way and washing the dust off everything before I start cooking. Tonight, I found myself in the crazy position of holding onto the microwave to prevent it banging against the hot cooking pot when the washing machine went into spin cycle.
Looking the other way:
Yes, everything ends up on the kitchen table, because there is nowhere else to put it. We can't put it on the floor because the roof now has a tendency to leak in new and exciting places every time it rains.
One of the things that found it's way "into" the kitchen is a new doorway. You may remember the original doorway was rather low. (Turned out to be at least 6 inches lower than a regular doorway.) It was also, annoyingly off-centre when compared to the picture window on the other side of the kitchen. When the builders stripped off the plaster, they found this:
The doorway was inserted into a much larger space, which looked like it had once been a glass door flanked by two smaller windows. The lintel was miles up and very long. If you look more closely, you can see an arch built above the existing doorway.
I asked the builder if he could move the doorway about a foot over to the right. Two Mondays ago, I came home to find this:
and
The doorway had vanished. Sorry, they're a little blurry. (In case you're wondering, Spikey isn't sick. He's been decapitated because he was much too top heavy and we're waiting for him to recover from the shock. We chopped his "head" into two parts and both Baby Spike and Posh Spike are doing well, according to their recipients.)
I took those photos just before I rushed out the door to go to Site last Tuesday. When I got back on Friday, the new doorway had been built.
And from inside the kitchen.
By this time next week, it should even have French doors on it!
- Pam
This is my kitchen at the moment - stove view:
That picture was taken before all the dust and a lot of the stuff migrated in. And as it is now...
Absolutely everything covered in dust and everything is in the way, including Spikey (the yucca plant), the uplighter that is our main source of light downstairs at the moment and the shoe rack that earlier tried to mate with my sandal.
Frankly, I'm just glad I can cook in this kitchen, even if it does mean moving everything out of the way and washing the dust off everything before I start cooking. Tonight, I found myself in the crazy position of holding onto the microwave to prevent it banging against the hot cooking pot when the washing machine went into spin cycle.
Looking the other way:
Yes, everything ends up on the kitchen table, because there is nowhere else to put it. We can't put it on the floor because the roof now has a tendency to leak in new and exciting places every time it rains.
One of the things that found it's way "into" the kitchen is a new doorway. You may remember the original doorway was rather low. (Turned out to be at least 6 inches lower than a regular doorway.) It was also, annoyingly off-centre when compared to the picture window on the other side of the kitchen. When the builders stripped off the plaster, they found this:
I asked the builder if he could move the doorway about a foot over to the right. Two Mondays ago, I came home to find this:
The doorway had vanished. Sorry, they're a little blurry. (In case you're wondering, Spikey isn't sick. He's been decapitated because he was much too top heavy and we're waiting for him to recover from the shock. We chopped his "head" into two parts and both Baby Spike and Posh Spike are doing well, according to their recipients.)
I took those photos just before I rushed out the door to go to Site last Tuesday. When I got back on Friday, the new doorway had been built.
And from inside the kitchen.
By this time next week, it should even have French doors on it!
- Pam
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