Blah

Not much to comment on about today.  It was actually a very busy day - in from 9 - 4.30, boring lecture type thing on communication skills in the morning (you'd have thought someone giving a communication skills seminar would actually communicate better, and not make me want to curl up and sleep!) and ethics session in the afternoon, which got a little lively and was quite interesting.

Nipped to the bank at lunchtime to pay the credit card bill, and ended up having a review of my accounts - basically the woman trying to tell me ways to improve my financial commitments whilst I tapped my foot, glancing at the clock, thinking I needed to get some lunch and get back on time.  Hopefully this will have saved me money (in the long term at least) and eases my money worries for now.  I'm always a little skeptical in banks that they're trying to con you, so I asked lots of questions and I think she was genuinely trying to help me out.

This evening, as it was pay day, I decided to try out the cinema that is so tantilisingly close and went and saw Nine.  It was a musical, and quite interestingly shot and had an interesting way of depicting the songs and stories, but I didn't think the songs were very catchy.  All in all, I enjoyed it, but was nowhere near as lively as I was expecting. 

And then when I got back, did a couple of rows on the socks and then went round to one of the other flats for a glass of wine to celebrate someones birthday.  It was a lovely evening, and I'm very lucky to have such nice people on my placement.  There was plenty of chatting and telling of childhood stories (bizarrely enough!).  Was great fun.

And then just washed my hair and now it's past time to get ready for bed, so off I go...

Busy Sunday

What a day.  It feels like I've not stopped since about 8am!  It all started with Harry and Claire wanting to borrow my sat nav, and the best time for them to pick it up was about 8 this morning.  I have a new request to crochet Harry a red hat.  I sense another excuse to do the banned wool shopping!  But he said he'll refund me the money!  Can't wait to go shopping.  I want to get a really nice yarn, and I have an excuse, and it's not random pointless shopping for a vague project in the future, so I can get away with justifying this to myself!  I really struggled to get back to sleep despite the early hour. 

I eventually dozed off for about 20mins then got up to go pick up Ru (who had spent the night with another friend) and go to her old church.  I was quite excited about this, as finding a church is one of my things that I want to do under The Rules.  I think officially it's non-denominational, but it definitely borders on being evangelical, in the big, loud, stereotypical American kind of way.  Which seems a little OTT for me, so I'm not sure if I'll give it another try.  I did like the message and ethos of the church, which had a very "let's get down to business, bypass church politics, bypass distractions, focus on the Word" feel to it.  Which I really agree with.  Too much of Christianity is taken up with needless pointless junk that's been added over the years, but isn't really part of the original message of God and it's so easy to get side tracked with it all, rather than focusing on what a relationship with God is all about and how to cultivate it.  So, all in all, I'm not sure.  I think I will try a couple of other churches, like my local CofE, despite the fact I consider myself non-denominational.

Then Ru and I decided to make the most of our time together and went out to lunch, meeting up with some other people for some Nando's.  I'm really feeling guilty about all the money I've spent this weekend, but I don't think I was overly frivolous, but I really should be more controlled this week to make up for it.

Then it was goodbye to Ru, who I thoroughly enjoyed having around, and home to pack for coming to Cheltenham.  Which is where this is coming from.  I did find someone to give a lift to, so yay for being a little more environmently conscious and car sharing a little.  The accommodation here seems okay.  A little on the small side, and there was no linen, or pillows provided.  I've managed to locate a couple of old, sad looking pillows, so hopefully it'll be okay.  But there seems to be a nice bunch of people here.  The room looks a little like this:

(low res webcam photo, but gives an idea of the size)

I've not even picked up my sock knitting today, besides to pack it, and I'm missing it!  So tempted to do a couple of rows before sleep, but I know I really shouldn't.  I need to be up in the morning, which means according to The Rules, I should be in bed and all but ready for lights out.  And I know that I never really sleep well in strange, unfamiliar beds, so I think straight to bed/lights out is the way forward.

Mmm, a day of contrasts

After a super late night last night, we had a surprisingly early morning with a phone call before 9am!  Needless to say, we both went back to sleep after this!  Then we had a perfectly leisurely Saturday morning, going to the local cafe, meeting up with some people, having brunch, reading the Saturday papers, having random political discussions.  Just really chilled.

Then I found a new project to knit... well, a new project to add to the growing list.  Harry wants me to make him a hat, which I've promised will be my next project once I've finished with the socks.  And then, Ru would like me to make her some wristwarmers.  It was originally going to be gloves, an idea which I wasn't very confident about, since I've tried to make gloves before and they weren't 100% successful.  Most likely because they had seams and were for kids, so the seams were proportionally very bulky.  So at a push I was willing to attempt an adult pair, in perhaps thinner wool.  But when we were browsing through some patterns, Ru was quite taken by some wristwarmers, which I'm more confident about.  It's a really amazing looking pattern, so I'm really looking forward to knitting them.  And of course this lead to a deliemma.  And a trip to temptation central.  We went wool shopping, and it was so wonderful.  I had to resist some serious temptations (which I did successfully) made even harder by the fact a lot of the ones I liked were in the sale.  Darn!  Anyhows, the real dilemma was that I brought the wool.  Just days after saying I wasn't going to buy anymore for a while.  Oooops!  But it was for a good cause...

Then it was off to work for me.  It was a strange shift.  It was quite laidback and not very busy.  But there were some seriously annoying patients.  Two in particular.  Both quite young, and both I wanted to slap for being annoying.  But noooo, you have to be nice to the sick guys.  One was pretty much projectile vomitting just a few minutes before dinner, then decided it was a good idea to down a glass of apple juice, despite us nursing staff saying we didn't think it was a good idea.  And sure enough, up came the apple juice and then some.  And it wasn't just that he was being like this, it was the fact that he insisted on standing over the toilet, rather than bending down (yeah, I know, too much info, but you can see my frustration), resulting in an utter mess all over the toilet and floor.  Which of course muggins here had to clean.  And there's so much infectious gastroenteritis (diarrhoea and vomitting) going round, that now I'm really paranoid that he might have it just starting and thus he'll have spread it to the rest of the ward, and worse still, to me.  So I wasn't particularly amused.  And there was another HCA working (i.e. the same position as me) who decided it was a good idea to patronise me.  This is one of my biggest beefs in life.  I'm not stupid, and I'm not inexperienced.  Don't talk down to me.  It is not the way to create a happy Ashleigh and thus a good working relationship.  And then she spent a lot of the shift (badly) whistling out of tune.  Very annoying and I couldn't really say anything to her.  It made for a very long, boring, frustrating shift.  But at least there wasn't too much physical labour involved.  Anyways, rant over.  They did let me go 10mins early, so can't complain too much!

And then I learnt of Sarah's stressful day, which made me really wish I could be there for her, and give her a great big hug, and offer my support.  So my dear, I'm thinking of you and sending lots of love your way.  As I've said so much of late, you and your wonderful family are so special to me, and I would hate to think of something bad happening.  My love to you all, my prayers are with you and an extra special hug for the one person in this world who calls me "Ackseigh" and greats me so warmly when I come round. 

Thank you God for my darling Ru-kins!

I have found time, all be it a tiny window before exhaustion takes over completely, to post a quick blog, even though it is now 2.11am (Not technically breaking my time management rules, as it's not a "school" night!).  I won't go into my next rule area tonight, I will save that till I have more time to blog about it.  So this is all about today.  Any takers for what I grateful about tonight?!

It was the last day of my placement today, which is strange in a way, and we were all rather reflective about it today as we met up for our last teaching session.  It was good to hear that other people don't think they've been as productive as they could have been - so it wasn't just me then?  We were talking about how we have to get "the fear" going to really get us motivated, and it's so true.  It's so easy to put off things we know we have to do eventually, until suddenly the immensity of the situation overwhelms and forces action.  Unfortunately for me, this fear often comes very late in the day for me! 

Then this afternoon, I decided to treat myself to a trip to the cinema.  I found out this morning that I got some tax refunded yesterday (work always do this, tax me, then end up giving it back soon afterwards when they realise that I won't be earning that much in the year after all!), not much, but still enough to afford to treat myself.  After much umming and ahhhing, I decided to go and see "Up in the air".  It was pretty good.  It's getting a lot of hype and everyone's tipping it for award's season in the US, but I don't know if it's that good.  It was slightly predictable in places, but fortunately not in all, and it was a nice fresh story (there's nothing worse than sitting though, especially if you have paid to do so, something that feels somehow so familiar).  I came so close to staying to see another movie, but then decided to be strong and not.  And then was very tempted to go and treat myself to some sushi at Yo Sushi (my true food achillies heel!), but again resisted, remembering my money rules from yesterday.  So all in all I felt very good about sticking to my rules, even if it was only after a day!  But hey, it's a start.

Then I meandered my way home, and vegged for a little while, deciding that I would tidy up in preparation for my visitor after dinner.  I made a start on my second sock, but haven't got very far.  Then I was just getting ready to heat up my dinner (I've decided to use up all the random leftover meals in my freezer, so as not to waste them, before I really buckle down with the food rules) when I decided to see if Ru had sent any word yet on her estimated time of arrival, when I noticed that being the ditzy fool I am, my phone was still on silent, and I had a couple of missed calls and a voicemail.  It was from Harry and Claire, saying that they had booked a restaurant for everyone, so we could have a little bit of a catch up, having not really seen each other since before Christmas.  Talk about in the nick of time, never got round to switching on the oven after all.  Unfortunately, they had made the reservation for less than an hours time, and it was across town for me.  So the tidying never really got done, just the bare essentials.   It was a nice little meal out, although it was at an Indian, which is not my fave sort of place to dine-out at, but I'm somewhat outnumbered in this view, and the company kinda makes up for it. And I literally just made it back home as Ru was arriving. 

And it's been wonderful.  I've really missed my Rukins.  We have so much in common, she is from Zimbabwe too, and is a medic (who passed her finals!) and is a Christian.  These are all very strong bonds for us.  And we certainly made the most of it.  Hence the writing of this blog so late.  I had with her the first really long proper chat about God and Christianity that I've had in a very long time.  It was truely wonderful and very rewarding to be able to talk to someone honestly and openly about my beliefs without worrying about offending her, or opposing her beliefs.  We also did my Bible study podcast together (WordLive podcast from Scripture Union) which was also something joyous to share.  It was wonderful to experience and grow together in our faith.  So many thanks to God for bring Ru safely back to me and for the opportunity to share with her.

So much for this being a quick/short blog.  It's now 2.48am.  Ooops, definitely time for sleep, otherwise I'll be a grumpy moo come morning!  And I have a shift tomorrow afternoon... and yet I keep on typing... can't stop... what's wrong with me?  Must sto

Hot water bottle

I've finally finished my hot water bottle cover that I've been working on for what seems like far to long, so I'll be cracking on with the socks again.  The hot water bottle ended up being a bit of a crazy mess, but hey, no one's ever really going to see it.  I made up the pattern myself, as it seemed easy enough.  It looks amazing from the front, but it took ages, so I ended up being lazy on the back.  And then I mucked up.  So it ended up being a mixture of three patterns, in a patchwork kind of way, and it's also going in the other direction to the front.  It's truely a unique piece of artwork, and I can't wait to get all snuggled up with it in a little while!

Really looking forward to getting on with the other sock now, it's going to be good to have a whole pair, it's how they're meant to be!  Also feels like the hot water bottle has taken far too long.  I really only set out to do as a quick couple of days, stash busting kinda thing (yes, you have seen this wool before, twice, Rowan's aran cardi and Sarah's wristwarmers).  So job done!

Right, area to tackle tonight is work and money management.  All in all, when looking at the list I've prepared, I actually think this is one that I will find much easier.  Or maybe that just means it's less well thought out and I haven't been strict enough with myself!

• Arrange and work 1-2 shifts a week, and not avoid work like the plague, and something I only occasionally, begrudgingly do.  
• Be more budget conscious.  This is mainly solved by issues discussed elsewhere, like food expenditure.
• Be more money organised - things like making sure my credit cards bills are paid promptly, and making sure that there's always adequate money in my bank accounts (as far as this can be done!)
• No more luxury, un-necessary spending, such as wool, until at least my birthday at the end of February.  I will allow myself the occasional cinema trip (max 2 a month - there's so much on at the moment that I'd really like to see!) but that's it.  No DVDs, CDs, clothes, etc.  I don't really need these things, so I can do with out, keeping the focus on less financial stress nearer exam time.

And that was about all I could think of.  So hopefully I can stick to them. :)

I'm really excited.  My flatmate from last year is coming to visit over the weekend, and is staying with me for tomorrow night at least.  I haven't seen her in months, and I can't wait to have a really good catch up.  She's working as a doctor in Cambridge now, so she won't be getting here until quite late, so I apologize now if my posts are scant over the weekend, I don't want to be rude to my guest.  Have a good 'un everyone.