TGCC 2011 Update 2

Today I finished my second cardigan of the challenge.  It's actually (bar buttons and blocking) the first one I've finished.  I've concentrated on it solely whilst I've had the first one's pieces blocking... all week!  So, without further ado, the second cardigan:

Proper photos in decent light will be taken once it's got buttons and has been blocked.


My next goal is to get the first one finished over the next couple of days.  I've started sewing together the bits, and so far, it's looking like the pre-blocking soak has got rid of excess dye.  No hints of blue fingers, just yet!

So this takes me to my checklist and a progress report.
 
1) Both parents, although not sure what I'll do for my dad.
2) Grandparents (UK ones only, it's not practical to get the SA ones things)
3) Brother - although haven't given it much thought as to what - I have the perfect fibre to spin and then knit a hat with.
4) Aunt and cousin - I have two hats, which are without ownership, they maybe heading here.
5) Sarah and Martin - I have a start of an idea
6) The Clark girls - 70% done
7) The Clark baby
8) Conner
(6, 7, 8 are all little kids, so they are to get a cardigan or sweater each, make this rule 6!)
9) Emma - There's a very Em hat here, that I think will take on her name, and maybe a little something else ;).
10) Lorri
11) Sam and Kev - potentially something for Sam
12) Mary - I have an idea
13) Fiona
14) Mrs Spoon

Not very far yet, but it's getting there.  The kids clothes were always going to be the biggest things, and I've made a fair dent in those, and between have made the biggest two, and with the thinnest/slowest yarn, I'm sure the other three with fly by.... does it sound like I'm trying to convince myself?

And in other news, I've spent the weekend barely leaving my bed.  I've had a cold, and whilst not a particularly bad one, I've luxuriated in it as my excuse to snuggle up and rest loads.  Friday night in particular, when I got in from work, dug out my hot water bottle, shoved on a pair of freshly washed hand-knitted socks and crawled into bed and didn't surface properly until Saturday afternoon.  The first half of the weekend in particular was the perfect autumny day to snug up under a blanket with toasty toes.  What did I do before my hand-knit socks - they're so wonderful at keeping me warm! I'm now feeling very lazy. But at least I've managed to rest, ready for the grind of work again tomorrow.  I just need to get through the week, and they I have a whole week of annual leave, and I can't wait.  It will no doubt give me a great opportunity to make TGCC progress.

Catching up (aka. procrastinating)

I'm supposed to be packing.  I hate packing.  And I'm bunged up thanks to the tail end of a mild cold from the weekend.  My ear is popping like mad and I feel not quite of this planet... somewhat floating.  It's hard to concentrate on anything serious.  Just wanna sleep and veg.... but oh well.  I decided I'd make a start on a catch up post.  My poor little flat has been so deliciously crowded and noisy over the last couple of weeks.  Such a change from just me wondering round.  It's also a bit of a tip, because it's a tad bit packed, laundry everywhere (I want everything to be clean and fresh before it goes into storage), knitting/fibre everywhere, new books (on sock knitting, natural dyeing and spinning), I've been to lazy to doing the dishes (made a start this morning, they're drying naturally before I do the second batch).  Yup, it's a mess and chaotic, and right now I really just couldn't be bothered, with any of it.  I just want to sit here and ignore it all.  But soon time will pressure me into it all.  I have a provisional leaving day of Thursday, so I REALLY need to get a move on!... but not now.  Let me share the last few days.

I've mentioned the important things.  Yes, I am now a doctor.  Apparently.  It's a strange anticlimax.  It was this stressful build up and to be honest, I don't really feel any different.  I *know* that things are about to change, and I seem to be getting on with the planning, but it doesn't really feel like it's actually happening.  I think that when I start the job, this might be different.  But for now it's this surreal daze of "okay... now what?"  Maybe part of this is to do with the fact that I have so many distractions.

The Clarks arrived on Wednesday, after my morning nap to get over the night shifts.  My tiny one bed flat was very quickly childed!  My teddies were claimed, corners explored and things got into that I thought were suitably out of reach or at least temptation way.  After their long journey and my mucked up body clock, we mainly settled for a lazy afternoon at home.  As it was starting to cool down, we headed to the park, to burn off energy, to get some fresh air and to have a little picnic the the beautiful weather.

Unfortunately, our trip to the park was marred by Morgan falling over.  Sarah decided it was best to get her checked out as she fell onto a rusty nail and there's always a worry of tetanus with things like that.  Fortunately she was fine.  And made it back for a rather late night of cramming on my little sofa and having cuddles.

On Thursday, we went to the Suspension Bridge and the camera obscura.  I love the camera, it's such old, simple technology, but so effective.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no photos.  After we got back, there was the tense wait for the results email.  Then celebrating, swimming, more friends round for champagne and fun.

My Bristol friends on the whole don't spend much time around little people, but they were all so gentle and sweet with the kids.  I really couldn't ask for more amazing friends with which to spend such a special day.

Friday was another very long busy day.  Since I am now officially leaving Bristol, I thought I should try do some of the things that I've been meaning to do for the last seven years, but never quite got round to.  SO we caught a ferry, went to @Bristol and the aquarium.  @Bristol was amazing, so much fun, and so interactive.  And the planetarium was awesome!

 Exploring a veggie bed whilst waiting in Castle Park for the ferry

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We rushed round the aquarium at breakneck speed so we could see the imax 3D screening, which rocked!  And then we attempted to go around again but didn't really go much slower.  We did manage to catch up with one of the feeding times which was really well done.  The girl who did it was really informative and told us lots of things about the various fish and turtles in that tank.

Afterwards, we descending on the fountains in the square outside the museums to cool down, relax and have ice creams in the late afternoon sunshine.

Paddy very kindly invited us round for dinner, and let the girls play on his wii, the baby had fun climbing into the washing machine and waving at people walking past down below from the balcony.

Saturday was a lazy, more self-indulgent day.  After all the long days and late nights, and my cold rearing it's ugly head, I think us grown ups were feeling less and less motivated.  Sarah and I abandoned small people with daddy and headed to Get Knitted to indulge ourselves in all things yarnie.  And we totally didn't buy over 20 balls of on sale Sublime...

Sunday was a slow day at home, with a roast dinner before my visitors headed home.  And now it's back to the quite of my flat and the hassle of packing.  But before I do... some of the new pretty colours and toys in my life:

My absolutely beautiful new spindle from Wildcraft.

And I think it is officially the first time my Dad has actually written me a card.  That sort of thing is usually left to my mom to sort out.

Now really must get on with some somethingness.

Having a cold = not much revision

I've really been off the ball today.  I have mainly been sitting around feeling tired and sniffly.  And a little worse for wear.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly on death's door and it's not a particularly bad cold.  But it still makes me very unproductive.  Reading for long periods is like torture.  I either get a pounding congested headache, or my eyes start stinging and watering.  And so it's just no fun.  Not at all... queue even more guilt about how much revision I've been doing.  But all I can do right now is keep up the fluids, put oodles more vaseline on my lips and sleep, and blow my nose... yet again.  I need to recover and get over this in record time.  So, keep fingers crossed everybody!

Knitting and poorly babes

I finally have finished my latest project which is a sweater for Connor.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out, I used this gorgeous wool (Sublime, which is a cashmere, merino and silk blend).  It's lovely and soft and was really nice to knit with.  As I'm still in Derby, I had to get Harold to stand in as a model for Teddy (he's not got such a nice rounded body, so doesn't really fill it out as much as Teddy would have).

 

As you can see, it was this gorgeously cute pattern, pretty simple.  With a basket weave pattern throughout, and a beautiful retro sports sweater neck, which was the main reason I wanted to make it, it's so cute!  And I'm sure will look a bit better when on Connor, who will (eventually) fill it out a bit better and in proportion than poor old Harold here.  The neck was knitted seperately and was a bit fiddly to sew on, but on the whole, a nice simple, easy straightforward pattern from the same booklet that I made Connor's other sweater and RoRo's cardi.  There are a couple of other patterns in it that I would like to make, but they're not priorities, and would require wool, and whilst I don't really need any excuses to go yarn shopping, I really shouldn't.  And I also have the wool to do several other little projects that I have lined up.  I was discussing this with my mom as we were doing the dishes this evening, and she laughed and seemed a little horrified!  She found it her maternal duty to remind me that I should be concentrating on uni, and that perhaps I should leave some of these till after exams.  Hell no!  That would be June! And besides, I don't really need to buckle down with the revision for another couple of months yet, and even when I do, it would be nice to have things to do whilst taking revision breaks!

No sooner had I finished Connor's sweater (literally just editing the photos I'd taken) than Em and Chris phoned, a bit worried about Connor, who has been a little out of sorts for the last week or so.  So I went to go offer my support and whatever services I could.  I ended up taking Em and Connor to the walk-in centre.  And I have to admit, was quite impressed.  We were probably home with in about half an hour, which I thought was lovely and efficient, and was wonderfully reassuring to all those gathered round to support them.  Emma also spoke quite highly of her experiences and how she was treated, so I'm always glad when healthcare gets a somewhat positive review, because people quite often (and to be fair, quite often validly so) have bad things to say.  And I know it's silly in a way, as I'm just a tiny tiny fish in the vast ocean that is the NHS, but I do feel quite defensive about it!  Probably because I've been on both sides and I've seen behind the scenes in two very different views. I know how hard, with mostly good intentions, the people of the NHS work, and how frustrating we find it too when the system seems silly to us as well, but feel so utterly helpless to fight the idiocy!  But anywhos, rant over! 

Connor is doing just fine, so after getting some reassurance, we headed home, where Sarah and Martin were waiting with us, despite Rowan seeming a little out of sorts herself.  Sarah had organised a meal for Emma, which I'm sure was very greatly appreciated, after having a stressful day, it's nice to have such an amazing support network ready to make it easier in any way they can (and man did I wish I didn't already have dinner plans, because it smelt goooooood!).  I stayed a little while, chatting with them and reading Morgan the same (all be it very short) book several times!  Morgan was particularly lovely today.  I gave her a sneaky quick peek on the cheek as she was sitting on my lap, and in the cutest move, like ever, she turned round and gave me one right back (these kisses usually get ignored or brushed off, so it was a real surprise to me when she recipricated!).  It was so sweet and cheeky and cute, I couldn't help but laugh and give her a hug.  She's such a lovely, adorable little thing, who's very special to me indeed!

And now, I'm busy thinking about getting back to Bristol tomorrow.  It's been such a weird break, to some extent, it has just flown by in a whirl of relative busyness, trying to see everyone.  Yet, at the same time, it's been so frustrating as I've been ill and lost out on so much of the valuable brief time I've had in Derby.  It's strange to be thinking about heading back and getting back into the swing of things, but I know it'll be good for me, and I'll enjoy it.  I do look forward to it, but will miss everyone in Derby dreadfully!

Go Ernie, Go Ernie!

Great news one and all!  I have survived the day, sanity intact!  And for the first time Ernie passed his MOT with flying colours, not even an advisory note in sight!  I am relieved beyond words to not be forking out yet another small fortune to sort out yet another list of things found wrong at the MOT.  Well, I say forking out, more like abusing the credit card and spend the next few months reliving the whole affair when the credit card statement arrived.  And I suppose I should also remind myself that whilst I didn't have to pay anything at the time of the MOT, I did get the new back tyres a couple of days ago.  Now if we can just survive until I start work, then this money thing will be less of an issue.  Roll on August!

My day mainly entailed catching buses in the freezing rain.  It was so cold this morning, after I had dropped Ernie off at the car doctors', I went to see Sam, and this meant getting into town.  My cheeks were stinging with the icy rain falling on them, it was horrible.  But I was very lucky that Sam was able to warm me up, good and toasty, with a lovely cuppa, food (steaming hot potato wedges - Sam makes the best potato wedges, she certainly has the knack! and choc cupcakes with lilac icing) and entertainment (in the form of Myst IV).  Poor lass had to put up with my streaming nose, which the cold damp weather had set to full throttle.  We also had loads fun hiding about three months worth of my toilet roll inners all around her flat for Kev to find.  I hope we came up with suitably inventive and entertaining hiding spots for him!

And then it was back to the car docs to pick up the officially certified healthy Ernie.  And after this I never really managed to warm up!  I have been absolutely freezing all evening, much to my mother's great concern, who has been fussing over my chesty cough and my inability to warm up, and the fact that I feel absolutely exhausted, despite the best night sleep I've had in about a week and not the busiest day  (but it's nice sometimes to be fussed over and feel looked after! Even if I am nearly 26).  My feet have felt like icicles hanging on the end of my feet, despite socks and slippers and being tucked up under a fleece blanket folded over double.  Brrr!  I've kinda got the rest of me to stop shivering, but the feet are seeming to be a lost cause... oh well, hopefully, under two duvets and thick bed socks, come morning, things will have improved!

Finally getting to eat some turkey

Yay, made it out of bed for the entire day today - I feel like progress is being made.  Even if I felt like a zombie for a significant proportion of that time!  And I even got round to eating properly, although as you may expect, with a bunged up nose, taste wasn't a big experience! 

My family and I went round to my mom's cousin's and his family for a lovely lunch of turkey curry (it is the quini-essential British thing to do with leftovers, isn't it?).  I had a serious appetite on me today after having barely eaten for two days and managed to enjoy all of the wonderful food on offer, and got to spend some lovely quality family time with everyone, something which I've also missed out on the last two days.  Again, I don't think I was really a full participant of the occasion, spending most of it sniffling, blowing my nose and feeling exhausted.  But I'm really glad I did it, was beginning to miss out on having company and it's always very important for my parents to be able to spend sometime with the whole family together (my older brother also lives away from Derby and makes it back even less than I do), even if it is just a token event.

I'm really starting to feel restless, I was really hoping to make the most of my time here in Derby, but with a cold, I feel kinda out of commission, as a lot of my friends have small children and even for those who don't, I don't really want to be going round infecting them, or making them paranoid that I'll be infecting them, and I don't know how much fun it would be for them to spend time with someone nursing the back end of a cold.  I'm hoping that tonight will be the first really good night sleep I've had since before Christmas Eve, but this will make it even more frustrating if I'm feeling rested but still coughing and sniffling.  I suppose that I could always get really stuck in with my knitting (good progress being made - now measures 17cm vs yesterday's 7cm, which may not really sound like much, but I was out most of the day!) or maybe go to the cinema as there's a couple of things on which I wouldn't mind seeing (Sherlock Holmes, Nine, Avatar) but they're both things I could do when alone in Bristol, and makes it all seem like such a waste of my valuable Derby time!  And I know I definitely don't want to be hitting the chaos that is town, because I don't really have the money to be spending and whilst I'm getting better, still don't think I will have the energy to tackle the crowds, and the lack of money (going full circle here) kind of makes it pointless.  Ohhh what to do, what to do...  I actually don't know why I'm getting so longwinded about this all here, I really should just have a proper think about it in the morning once I've had some sleep.  I'll aim for a nice lie in and then a good old bath and hair wash, drop my brother off at the train station around noon and then see how up for facing the world I really am.  This sounds like the most wise plan right now!  So off I go!

Another day spent (mainly) in bed

Oh dear, this Christmas is turning out to be a bit of a write off for me!  I've just spent most of another day in bed, feeling a little sorry for myself whilst the rest of my family trasped off to my grandparents for yet more festive feasting.  I'm feeling much better with regards to the gastro today, and although I have eaten a bit today, I've been taking things rather carefully as my gut is still not 100%.  But instead, today's ailment was a cold.  Yes for those keeping score, another cold, about three weeks since the last one!  I'm beginning to think that there maybe something wrong with my immune system, but having said that, most people I've been around for the last few days have had a cold, including my poor mum who is exhausted with hers, so maybe it's hardly surprising that I've come down with something.  And this one seems (touch wood) much milder than the last cold I had, even coming hot on the heels of a dodgy tum, so hopefully I will be able to recover quickly, especially as tomorrow we are supposed to be going round to some more family for yet another meal.  It would be nice to make at least one of the Christmas weekend family gatherings!

I did managed to get myself out of bed by midafternoon, and I was determined not to go back as I really would like a proper night's sleep, something I didn't get round to having last night, mainly I think, due to having slept so much yesterday.  So, fingers crossed on that account.  This time out of bed was mainly spent watching mind numbing t.v. and Wallace and Gromit - soooo cute, I love that movie, those little bunny rabbits are so ruddy adorable!  I have made a slow, half-hearted attempted at my next knitting project, but I'll update more when I've got beyond the current 7 rows!  And now, off to bed for a good night sleep, hopefully!

Another wasted day

This is getting rediculous.  I'm getting so frustrated and fed up with this all.  I just want to get  back on with things, but no, I'm stuck feeling rubbish and tired.  I need to get back to normality, this is starting to get me down.  I'm missing on so much time at uni, but I've been feeling too exhausted or sick to do it.  I'm stuck here doing this stupid repeat year because I was disorganised and didn't clerk enough to practise adequately for my long case, and now, I'm in a similar situation - I've not clerked now for ages, and I feel like it's all running away from me.  And I know that I'm feeling down and frustrated, so this is making me lean to the negative side of things, but still, enough already.  I just need to summon up the motivation to get through the next week and a half of uni, then a long weekend of work, then I'm home for Christmas.  It seems so close, yet so far away at the same time.  At this rate, I'll just be getting back into the swing of things and then I'll have to stop for the break.  I'm looking forward to it sooooo much, but it will be even more time lost.

Anyways, rant over, I just really need to get a good night sleep, something which has remained rather elusive over the last few days.

On to other news, I got the results of the first stage of my job application form.  I already knew that I was going to get a place in the Severn Foundation School, as I had been offered this on the basis of having had a place in a job programme in Severn from last year.  So, maybe that's why I've been fairly indifferent to it this year.  Last year, it was so much excitment (both negative and positive) but this year... I feel more like I'm on the outside looking in as I saw everyone at my tutorial today being all excited and chattering and exchanging gossip.  Did not help with my feeling of disconnection that I've been experiencing today!  Also, I was slightly disappointed, I didn't score very well, I don't really know if I would have made it in if I didn't have a secured place.  Part of this is based on the fact that I lost out on a bunch of points becuase of repeating, I was placed in the bottom quartile of the year, when last year, my "true" quartile was the second one (we get a large part of our score based on which quartile of the year we are ranked).  I think overall, my answers scored very similar to last year, maybe slightly less, so yet another frustration about having to repeat. 

So, all in all a wasted day, I didn't clerk, my tutorial was cancelled last minute after having trekked all the way in, I barely knitted, in fact, spent more of the day feeling exhausted, coughing, blowing my nose and feeling sorry for myself than anything else.  Must fight and try very hard to get myself out of this rut... but I have a feeling I've said that recently and it's not materialised.  I can but hope.

Getting better

Yay, finally feeling like the end is in sight.  I am aiming to make some progress on returning to routine tomorrow.  I had the most awful night sleep - I was still wide awake at about 5.30 this morning, having tried everything - paced my flat, read, lay in the darkness, read, lay in the darkness, played on my DS, finally around quarter to six my eyes began to feel heavy.  What wonderful stuff!  And to make things worse, the competency assessment (a one on one session) that I thought was tomorrow, was actually today - had to get up at 9.30 to get myself presentable.  You do the maths!  And then was late to it anyway, and when I was there, I must have been spiking a temp, I couldn't stop feeling all hot and bothered and sweating, even though apparently everyone else had been complaining that they were cold in that room.  So much for my efforts to look presentable!
 
Needless to say, I made a swift exit from the hospital at that point.  Walked back to my car (up a nasty steep hill - great for cooling down!) in the rain, and without my coat on, desperate to cool down!  Mary had invited me to go sniffle on her sofa.  She had the day off, as she had some wisdom teeth out yesterday under general anaesthetic.  Brave girl taking on my sneezes, nose blowing and whining about my headaches.  We just chilled out on the sofa recuperating and watching mind numbing daytime telly, and every now and then, I did some half-hearted knitting when my headache would allow such things.  I was grateful for the company, and always it was lovely to hang out with Mary.  Definitely a true friend who will put up with your illness indulgences and moans!  She was even kind enough to feed me dinner!  Yay, one less worry for me, which was great.  Thanks Mary!


And now, I'm back home, and getting ready for bed.  Definitely looking forward to a good night sleep!

Still nothing to say!

Yup, that's it, just another day of feeling sick. Barely slept last night due to constant need to blow my nose (yuk!) and a very heavy congested headache. So needless to say, another very long lie in was necessary to catch up on those hours of missed sleep. Woke up around 2pm, and actually made it out of bed today! And did some knitting. Slowly though, as just unable to keep up the concentration for that long. And that's about it.

Have decided to give up on the snowflakes, as I really don't think that the yarn I was using was that suitable, they just ended up looking too messy. So, have gone back to knitting some small things for Christmas pressies (and to help reduce my stash!).

I don't think I'll be heading into uni tomorrow. I'm sure by then, I will be feeling much better, but I don't think quite over it all enough, and caught up on sleep enough to get through a day of looking professional and presentable. But I am aiming for Wednesday, as I have something on then that will be signed off.

Snotty goodnights to you all!

Cough, splutter, sniffle, sneeze

Can you guess the general theme here.  Yup, I am sick... again, or is it still?  After having the energy drained out of me last week, and then a day of feeling a better, but with a sore throat, and then a day with a mostly better throat, but a sore ear (yesterday when I went to work), I've got a cold.  And I'm so annoyed.  Last week was more or less a write off, and now it looks like the next couple of days are going to be too.  There's such divided opinions on going into the hospital when you're ill - some doctors, etc, get really annoyed about you coming in and potentially infecting already vulnerable people.  Others are like "it's only a cold, get on with it".  I tend to err on the side of the first one.  As I do genuinely fell guilty at the thought of getting frail old biddies ill, and I once got seriously told off after trekking all the way to Bath on the bus for a clinic (didn't feel well enough to drive without sneezing and veering off the road!) and then sent home.  So, I'll wait until I don't have to blow my nose every couple of minutes - can you imagine me trying to clerk "So Mr X *sneeze* why did you *sniffle* come into hospital?  Excuse me one moment *blows nose*, okay continue" - sooooo reassuring for the patients!

Thank goodness I had the day off today, so I slept till nearly 2pm.  This might have something to do with the fact that I was wide awake at about 5am, when the rain was pouring down creating a heck of a lot of noise.  I ended up reading for ages, then sleeping on and off all morning.  The only thing that made me get out of bed this afternoon was the sudden thought that the shops wouldn't be open late, so if I wanted to get some lemon juice, and something for dinner (craving fresh, filled pasta) I had better summon the energy.  So, was out for about 30mins, and then following making a bit of toast, straight back into bed, watching stuff/dozing.  Thank goodness for laptops!  Yay!  It's all I need in one easy package - staying snuggled up and able to doze, and entertainment and communication. Haven't even picked up a bit of wool!  Must be the first day in months!  My fingers are feeling a little restless, but don't think I could knit/crochet very well with a drowsy headache going on.  Writing this blog is pushing it somewhat.

So needless to say, I have nothing to say, beyond what has already been said.

Glitter. glitter, everywhere glitter!

Yay, it's the weekend.  Booo!  It's the weekend.  This is my typical response to Friday nights.  It's nice to have the week over and done with, but the weekend also brings work.  Boohoo.  But on a more positive note, work gives me money, which helps with the bills, and leftovers for buying new wool/enjoying myself!  Oh well... trying to look at the silver lining!

Today was more recovering.  I've definitely got over the exhausted achy phase, but for some unknown, but very annoying reason, the sore throat has come back with a vengence.  Yuk! 

I finished Mary's hat, haven't got round to uploading photos of it.  But I did get a chance to give it to her, and she loves it.  She says it's her new fave hat.  This is always such a relief.  When I'm making things, I always end up thinking about the things the intended person won't like about it, or concentrating on the bad things/mistakes, that I always feel very encouraged when I here positive reviews.  So, thanks Mary, very glad indeed that you like it!

I also got round to making some more Christmas decorations today, both at home and at Mary's.  I finally started adding more decoration to my polystyrene balls, I give up trying to paint them anymore!  They've come out quite nicely, so am eager to make more progress.  Again, haven't taken/uploaded photos yet, but I will get round to it at some point over the weekend.   Still haven't got a tree, having a big debate about what sort of tree to get and how much money I am prepared to spend/can afford to spend.  Part of me really likes the idea of a real tree, but it's a little more hassle, getting it, disposing of it.  And then there's living trees, I think my future is too indetermined for this, and they are much more expensive.  Then there's fake trees.  At this rate, this is the most likely option, but decent "bushy" ones are quite expensive.  Oh man!  Such debates!

This evening, I picked up Mary and we went to Hobbycraft to pick up some bits she wanted.  I kind of inspired her to have a go at homemade decorations.  She has gone down a completely different path to me, choosing to use pinecones (something that hadn't even crossed my mind, despite it being somewhat obvious!!).  She has decided to use a combination of silver spray paint, and various colours of glitter paint.  So she invited me round to do basically what we had planned for last Sunday and did less successfully, we had takeaway (Chinese this time, my fave takeaway, so yummy!) and made decorations.  No mulled wine this time... which was probably just as well!  It was really good fun, and as always interesting to see how different people interpret the things they have in front of them and come up with completely different concepts.  Mary had got a whole bunch of pinecones online, so she's going to let me have some... once they're dry.

And that's about it.  I'm home now, watching CSI that I Sky plused whilst out.  Or rather, CSI is watching me type my blog.  Good thing I can rewind it!  My next craft is something for me for a change, something that hopefully won't take long, then I can get back to Christmas pressies, since I've only made one present so far.  I'm going to crochet (fancied a change! and also the effect I want is better in crochet) a snowflake garland for my tree, in this very white wool I found in the wool shop earlier this week.  It is derived from soy fibres, so I'm quite curious to see how it is to work with.  I'll let you know. 

Right, full attention to CSI now!  Have a good weekend everyone.

1st of December - one day, many meanings

I can't believe that today is the first of December, already!  Where has the year gone?  It feels like I've just got used to writing the date as 09, and now I've just got 30 short days of that left.  Arghhhh...  Scary stuff.

Today is "special" for many reasons.  The first, is that it's World AIDS Day. And of course, in this day and age it's so incredibly important to be aware of this and the global impact it has.  Whilst it may not always affect us as individuals, we have a social responsiblity and obligation to not forget.  Maybe it's because I'm a medic, maybe it's because I grew up in a country where it was so prevelant, maybe it's the nugget of social conscious that I have, but for me, AIDS is a huge issue.  Going on my elective last year to South Africa, to a rural(ish) hospital where HIV was the cause of a huge proportion of the work load, it was such an eye opener to the problems it causes.  And this isn't just the health issues, there's the stigma, the financial and the social aspects to the disease too.  The fight for getting anti-retrovirals to those who need them most is one of the biggest issues facing healthcare in the modern world.  And with their help, we can really help people fulfill the the catchphrase - Living with HIV.  And how people are HIV-positive in the truest sense, i.e. it's not an automatic negative thing.  And on top of getting meds to those who need it, we need to get education to those who need it, which is basically everyone!  So on this one day of the year, remember.  Remember the 80 000 people living with HIV in the UK alone, and the millions more who have lost thier lives due to this evil disease. 




And then the second significance to this day is that it is the start of Advent.  Well, that is according to Advent calenders.  This is something I don't usually do, probably because I never remember to get a calender in on time.  Of course, true Advent would have started on Sunday, being four Sundays before Christmas day.  There's a certain elegance and grace about lighting those four candles in preparation and contemplation for the day that is so special and significant to Christians everywhere.  So happy Advent everyone, regardless of it's meaning to you!

Anyhows, about my day.  I didn't have to productive day that I was originally aiming for.  Mainly because I seem to have come down with a bit of a cold, so I've had the whole sore, scratchy throat, sneezy, headachy, achy feeling going on.  Not dreadfully bad, just felt very lethargic.  So went into my teaching (bit of a waste of time, was boring as hell!) and then came straight home, bemoaning the short walk from the bus stop, as my limbs felt like they weighed a tonne!  So, aiming for a lovely early night, and hopefully get a good night sleep, following drugging myself up!