It's been a while since I've posted on my blog, a lot has happened. 

Grandchild number two has not only been born, but also celebrated her first birthday and grandchild number one has started school – already. 

 

I had a go at dying – big hint if you are going to go into anaphylactic shock do it when you have already been admitted to A & E. Turns out I’m allergic to a certain type of anti-biotics and now have to carry epi pens with me. Don’t knock the NHS in front of me, the quick action of three people in three different settings saved my life twice. I followed that up a few months later with another emergency admittance to hospital for something I’d never heard of but now make sure I stay well hydrated and watch what I eat. 

That about covers the highlights from the start of Lockdown to the end of 2023. 

I did manage some stitching, two Shepherd’s Bush stockings for my grandchildren. 

 

Shepherds Bush Stocking - Thomas

 

 

Shepherds Bush stocking -  Parker/Emily

Much of the rest of my time was taken up either reading, exercising, or gardening. We managed two big garden projects in 2023 and I finally got my greenhouse back into action. 

 

Now that I don’t have stocking to complete, I have picked up two cross stitch projects I abandoned to concentrate on the stockings, Apache Wedding Blessing and Celtic Autumn. The plan is to finish them both this year so I can move onto some other BAPS I’m keen to do. I’ve been doing the BAPS at the start of the week and setting myself a point to reach. Once I’ve reached that point, I’ve moved onto some small projects. 

Apache Wedding Blessing

Celtic Autumn

 

I’ve kitted up two of the Petites by Little House Needleworks and have two finishes from Winter Petites. I’ve also just finished Shepherd’s Bush Dashing Through the Snow. So far it is working well. 

Little House Needleworks Winter Petites & Sweet Petites

Shepherds Bush Dashing Through the Snow

 

I have also subscribed to the Cottage Garden Sampling Little House project, but I’ve yet to receive anything yet. Other cross stitch plans include starting a smallish Little House Needlework design, either The Library or The Bookshelf. I’ve had the patterns for years just need to decide which one to do and then kit it up.

Elsewhere the garden is springing into action, and I need to get seeds sown in the greenhouse and if it ever stops raining some weeding done. 

One final project I’m working towards is having a go at the Summer Spine - Challenger South. I’ve always wanted to do the Pennine Way and after my adventures in A & E realised, I’d better get on and do it. Rather than do it the easy way I’m going for the daft way which means getting very fit first is required although I'm aiming for 2025, not this summer. Fitness wise I have some exciting plans for 2024 although they have been pushed back a few weeks as my delighful granddaughter shared a rather nasty virus with me and it stopped me getting outside for almost a fortnight. I'm back out walking now, but currently only up to 3 miles a day, not the eight miles I was doing before she shared her germs.

Finally, here is my rather belated (by a couple of years) post for the TUSAL. The small jar probably contains all my orts for 2023 but at least half of them are from the last month. Since emptying the small jar into the big jar I’ve already got some orts for the next full moon. 

 

TUSAL Feb 2024

Perhaps more interesting will be to see if I actually have any readers left.

My Sort of Doctor

Just returned from a visit to the Doctor as I have been suffering from a bad attack of arthritis for the past three weeks. It seems to clear up but then returns.

Anyway, besides the pills she has given me she has also instructed me that I'm to do:

No Ironing
No Washing Up
No Hoovering

Shame I did them all before I went to the doctors, which probably explains why I've had another flare-up.

As you can imagine there are howls of disbelief from my Husband, Daughter and Son, knew I should have got it in writing.

As for me that's my sort of diagnosis, I'll be visiting her again!!

I've Finally Started

Just a quick post to say I've finally set my new blog up to encourage myself to get fitter.

No idea what direction this blog will take. Maybe I could make it a group blog and we could encourage each other along or maybe it will be deadly boring. More likely it will prove to be highly amusing for me to read next year to see what excuses I came up with for not achieving my goals.

I've Just Had Good Laugh

I have just looked back at the goals I set myself for 2009 and guess what, I achieved not a single one of them!!

Nothing there that wasn't achievable at the start of the year, although where on earth I thought I was going to get enough time to do all that stitching I don't know.

This year I'm not at all sure I should bother setting myself any goals at all accept maybe to try harder.

Lets be optimistic though, she says as she has already failed to start one of her goals for 2010!

Last year I wanted to lose about 3 stone in weight and get a lot fitter, neither of which I achieved. This year I have exactly the same goal and in an attempt to motivate myself I've set up another blog that I intend to update each Tuesday where I will keep a record of how much exercise I'm doing and set myself new goals each week. I had planned on starting it last Tuesday but I had an attack of arthritis in my shoulders so my original plans disappeared. I currently have a stinking cold so my plans for getting back in the pool will have to wait. We are also having yet more snow so getting out for a daily walk is not on either, as the pavements will once again be treacherous. Not a great start is it.

Sewing wise I have only two goals:

1. To finish Celtic Autumn
2. To finish the stitching I committed myself to for others.

My biggest goal for the year though is to still be happily married by the end of the year. The start of new decades are not good for me:

In 1990 my first husband was killed in a road accident.
In 2000 my second husband decided to trade me in a for a younger model.

Which is why getting to the end of this year with my marriage and family still in tact and with us all fit and healthy is really the only goal I have for this year. I truly don't want to make it a third decade in a row that starts on a low

The Expensive Thread Arrived.

Last week saw three shopping sprees which added to my stash haul.

Firstly I had an order arrive from Sew & So which was less than 36 hours from being placed to arriving. I also managed to break my daylight bulb so as I was out walking in that area I headed to Bakewell and Wye Needlecraft. For the first time in about a year they actually had the bulb I needed in stock so I went mad and bought two. I also picked up a piece of hand dyed fabric which I just couldn't resist.

The rest of the picture is my Sew & So order. Elisa had recently bought some Floss-A-Way bags from there and with the Belle Soie thread being so expensive I thought they would be ideal for keeping it safe and clean. I especially wanted to keep the red thread separate from the rest of my threads as when I was using it I noticed it bleeding into the white. The rest of the order will be used for stitching family Christmas cards.

On Saturday the Belle Soie silks and the fabric I ordered to justify the postage arrived. I have to say the fabric is gorgeous.

]This afternoon will be spent finishing my Mums birthday present then I will take it to the framers and hope that it will be done in time for her birthday.

There hasn't been much sewing over the last week as I've been busy working on my walking website, along with planning and writing up walks. Last week I was asked to contribute walks to a second local magazine, which is great news, but meant I needed to sit down and work out what walks I was doing when. It might sound daft but I spent a good few hours planning which walks I would be doing for not only the 2010 editions but also some of the 2011 editions. For some of the walks I need to take the photos nearly a year in advance in order to meet printing deadlines e.g. I can't take pictures of snowdrops in December 2010 to meet the January 2011 deadline for the Feb/March 2011 edition.

I have also more or less decided to set up my own business, which is going to take some planning and preparation. As the business revolves around walking the first task is for me to get much fitter. The second is getting my website converted to php and some new sections developed. On top of that I also need to acquire some qualifications, more for insurance purposes than anything, but they will require time commitments as well.

As if that's not enough I have also got some ideas for designing my own cross stitch charts and want to get some of them down on paper and stitched up. Not sure if this will come to anything but I did come up with a name. What do you think of 'Titch Stitches'. No prizes for guessing how tall I am or what I was called at school.

I think I need the days to get much longer!!

In Despair

So there I am thinking well I've been good this week, increased the distance I've swam, done more of the annoying, but effective (for walking) Rosemary Conley exercises and been out walking, more of which later. Avoided all the unhealthy stuff, eaten in moderation and what have I got to show for it? I've lost the weight I put on last week and not one bit more. Can't decide if this is good or bad, but either way it still feels like I'm doing a lot and achieving nothing.

I really could have done with better news than that after the events of yesterday.

Yesterday Husband and I went for a planned 8 mile walk in the Manifold Valley.

The Manifold Valley from Thor's Cave

As it was going to be hot I took my smaller rucksack and asked Husband if he'd carry my walking pole on his rucksack. Parts of the route were new to me so although I don't use it that much I like to have it with me in case I need it.

The walk itself was delightful until about a third of the way round Husband asks me if I can see my walking pole on the back of his rucksack.

Answer: NO.

Decision time, do we go back and look for it or carry on and hope it will be wherever it came off his rucksack. My choice, I decide we'll carry on, after all most people are honest and if anyone finds it will leave it alone or somewhere obvious. We are both confident it came off at the start of the walk so this makes the most sense.

Thorpe Cloud & Bunster Hill from Slade House

After we finish the walk we drop the rucksacks in the car and head out to where we think we lost it, on route from Wetton to Thor's Cave. No sign of it, so Husband goes back to the car and takes it down to the bottom of the Manifold Valley and I carry on walking downhill, expecting to meet him at Weag's Bridge. Get to Weag's Bridge no husband, car, walking pole or phone signal.

What do I do?

1. Sit tight and wait for the car to arrive.

or

2. Start the steep walk up the road to Wetton.

I opt for the first option and only by chance see Husband walking away from me at Weag's Bridge, he's gone down the wrong road and is parked 20 minutes away. In the end our 8.5 mile walk became a 12.25 mile walk and I've lost my walking pole. Even worse it's a compact pole that was just right for me, as I'm quite small, but of course they don't make it anymore.

Just as well it's my birthday at the end of the month, I'd already instructed Husband to tell everyone I'd like the money this year so as that I could replace my walking boots which couldn't be repaired. I was hoping it might also stretch to a new rucksack, the zips are going in that, but now I need a walking pole as well!! Hope everyone is feeling generous.

Husband is feeling very guilty, I'm just annoyed that the one person who felt they could take something that didn't belong to them had to be walking in the same place as me yesterday.

Stash & Books

As promised a picture of what the postman brought yesterday from Thread Bear.

There are 3 fat quarters of fabric for the backing of projects. I was actually just looking for something for one particular project but I couldn't resist the blue one or the pins one. Having seen them all now I'm not sure I'll use my original choice for the project I had in mind. I hope to get that project finished this week and once it has reached its new home you'll be able to see what I decided to do.

The DMC and Krenik threads are to enable me to get on with two other projects, one for Daughter and one of my PIFs.

The linen is a pure extravagance on my part. As soon as I saw the colour on the site I had to have it. No idea what or when I will use it but hey isn't that what stash is all about. I'm considering it an early birthday present to myself.

I've not done much reading over the last few weeks but before then I finished a couple of books.

I have now read the final book in the Martin Edwards series set in the Lake District.

I have to say I thought this was the best one by a long way. A really great plot which had me enthralled from start to finish.

I have also tried out a new author Sophie Kinsella. It seems that most of her books are about a shopaholic which given my aversion to shopping absolutely don't interest me at all.

When I started this book I didn't think I was going to like it all but I have to say once it got going, which took a while, it was a great read. It kept me up until 2:30 a.m. and then I had a quick 30 minutes of reading before I got up the next morning in order to finish it. Can't see me ever reading her Shopaholic books but any others by her will probably get picked up.

Finally I have a gift from an Aunt. She was clearing out her house and found this cross stitch book which she has given to me.


It has some nice projects in it and I think I'll stitch her up something from it as a thank you.

A quick thank you to everyone who posted such encouraging comments on my previous post.I'm not giving up on the exercise, in part because I have a more immediate goal than just losing 3 stone this year. I'd like to be able to get into and look good in a certain skirt for Daughter's Graduation ceremony .

A Celebration and A Moan

The celebration first.

Today is officially my Daughter's last day as a student and so yesterday two big cars went down and brought all her stuff back from her halls of residence in London. She is actually coming back home on Tuesday. None of us can believe the 3 years are over, it still seems like only yesterday we went down to visit Roehampton University with her when she was still doing her A levels.

On the way back from London we got a phone call to say she got her results, she had passed all her exams and has got a 2:2. She hasn't had the best of luck this year, getting stuff stolen at Christmas and also being dumped by her boyfriend on Boxing Day followed on from a friend dieing in October so this has effected her grade but Husband, Son and I are so very proud of her. So on the 24th July we will be back down in London attending her graduation ceremony.

Now the moan.

Now what is it the Governments current TV ads say:

Move More Eat Less to get fitter and loose weight.

So this week:

120 lengths/3 km swimming, one 8 mile walk, one 30 minute aerobic session and several walks of about an hour

surely qualifies as moving more

Not one chocolate biscuit, no snacks and generally cutting down

surely qualifies as eating less

Result

I've put 1kg or 2lbs on

My weight has actually gone up not down.

I'm incredibly pi**ed off.

Just been interrupted by the postman

Now I'm a bit happier my parcel from Thread Bear has arrived so a stash picture on the next posting .

I Ache...........

............ but I really don't mind as today I swam 60 lengths which seems much more like it to me. The 10 minute walk home from the pool was a very slow one and I'll certainly sleep tonight but at least I'm starting to see the benefits of the past weeks activity.

Perhaps I should point out that as a teenager I did train fairly seriously as a swimmer getting up early and swimming before and after school, hence the ability to do what to others seems like a silly number of lengths. Yes that does mean most of them are front crawl, with head in water and tumble turns at each end ,which explains why my arms are aching like crazy at the moment. However the words of my swimming coach are ringing in my ears:

"You only get out of the water what you put into the water."

I could also apply that to walking as yesterday I went for a walk in Lathkill Dale. I knew I was moving fairly fast but it was only when I got home and worked out that the route was 8 miles that I realised how fast I was moving, I did it in just over 3 hours.

Lathkill Dale

Limestone in Lathkill Dale from Cales Dale

Last Friday Husband and I did a 10 mile walk that included two climbs, one to Shutlingsloe and then a climb up to Shining Tor right at the end of the walk.

Shutlingsloe

The last climb to Shining Tor was a real effort for me and I was really struggling as my legs really didn't want to go up, on the flat they were fine but lifting them uphill wasn't good.

That last climb to Shining Tor

The lack of hill walking was showing, time to get the Rosemary Conley DVD out. I find doing the exercises tedious but I have to admit the programme is great at building up not only stamina but also the leg and thigh muscles that are essential for saving knees going up and down hills. It seems that the combination of the DVD and some easier daily walks around my local streets is already paying dividends. Now lets just hope that the weight starts to disappear as well.

A few weeks ago Son finally removed his train track from the lofts floor and so I was able to get to my jigsaw box which I haven't been able to reach for the last few years. So last week I enjoyed an old hobby and did my Charles Dickens jigsaw.

I'd forgotten how addictive they can be and found myself suddenly having spent an hour doing it when I was only going to put one piece in. Sorry Bilbo put your definitely taking the blame for this, posting pictures of your completed jigsaws on your blog started me off on this jigsaw. I daren't start another until I've got a few jobs out of the way.

I have been sewing but I can't show it as it will be a gift for someone who reads this blog, I just haven't decided who yet.

Fitness, Neighbours and Some Stitching

Considering I planned on losing about 3 stones this year I can safely say I am nowhere near to achieving it. Injuring my back at the start of the year certainly knocked me back two months but for the last two months I have been seriously lacking in the motivation required to get out of bed and down to the pool or gym first thing most mornings. I've also found that I'm even lacking the inspiration to hit the hills which has meant I have kept going in a downward spiral.

Two weeks ago I finally dragged myself down to the pool and just about made my way through 40 lengths or 1 km. Given that 50 lengths is my normal easy swim this is not good, even worse I ached all over the next day. As the first step is always the hardest last week I made it down to the pool twice and managed 50 lengths each time but I can definitely say it's going to be a long haul before I'm back to where I was this time last year.

When I'm getting over a back injury I also try to make a walk part of my daily routine. As I live in a hilly part of town I can make this easy or hard by varying the route to include as many hills as I want. Today I finally managed to get myself out for a walk so that's another step in the right direction. Two months later than it should of been but I'll let myself off that one as I have been doing a lot of walking anyway delivering flyers for Husband. Once I've got my swim up to a decent distance I'll head back to the gym which is the real test for my back and level of fitness.

I thought I'd share with you these roses, which aren't from Husband put a thank you from one of my neighbours.

I spent 5 hours on Saturday painting/staining the fence at the side of her house. As we share part of the fence with her I felt it was only right that we painted our part of the fence. As she didn't like the first colour she had already put on half of the fence I actually ended up doing all of the fence and not just the bit we shared with her but as it was a glorious day I didn't mind and I certainly wasn't expecting anything for it.

I have started a new stitching project, but I can't show you it as its a gift for a reader of my blog.

As promised here is a picture of Celtic Autumn which is the major cause of my lack of sewing this month.

She now needs to go onto a scroll frame but I just can't bring myself to do it even though I know I must if I don't want to end up crushing the metallic threads.

I've also made one small addition to my stash. Its a new Lizzie Kate design which I just had to get as nearly everyone of them is made for my shopaholic, shoe, bag, clothes and make-up loving Daughter. My idea of hell her idea of a great time.

Three Bottles of Wine

No that's not the amount I drunk last night, it's what I'm giving up in order to pay for the order I placed at Thread Bear on Tuesday, that arrived today. The drop in income that accompanied Husband's loss of job means we don't go out anymore and my one treat a week is whichever bottle of dry white wine is on offer at Sainsburys.

Now it's here it doesn't look much does it and certainly not like three weeks worth of wine. I can't tell you what it's for just yet, but hopefully all will be revealed in the next few weeks.

I have been doing some very secret stitching over the last couple of days, which I will be able to show you in a couple of weeks time. Alongside my secret stitching I have also been working on Love Songs.


If your trying to work out what I've done on it, it is the bit around the piano hinge.

I know it doesn't look like much progress but yesterday was one of those days when there were frogs and knots in abundance. I gave up in the end and had a glass of the bottle of wine that I'd opened for the mustard sauce we had with our pork for dinner last night.

Fitness-wise it looks like I'll be able to get back in the pool very soon. I had a long walk around our neighbourhood yesterday and for the first time since injuring my back had no aches or pain. I had been planning on a pulling on the walking boots and going for a short, flat walk on Curbar Edge today but the forecast sunshine is in fact thick mist and fog, so unless it clears up soon it will be the local streets again. I have to admit two weeks of very little physical activity is starting to drive me nuts, even if it was the correct thing to do.

Progress

First of all thank you to everyone who has wished me and my back well. I can safely say I am really and truly sick of being sat in the chair, but doing nothing, for most of the time, has been exactly the correct thing to do. Each day has seen my mobility improving. Yesterday I was able to potter around and do some housework and baked some chocolate chip muffins and today I'm planning on a very short walk outside. I'm still spending most of each day resting, as I know that is what I need to do, but it's time to start building up the strength in my muscles again, hence the walk later today.

For the last two days I have been working on Celtic Autumn and I have made some quite good progress on her. When I picked her up again I was surprised to find it had been exactly a month since I'd worked on her. Just in case you, like me, had forgot where I'd got to there are two photos, a before and an after photo.

Before

After

I have been concentrating on the swirls on her dress and despite spending a fair bit of time working with the gold braid most of the bits that are missing from the swirls are the gold braid stitches. She is also getting too big to fit inside my biggest hoop and as I don't really want to crush the braid I'm going to have to move her onto my scroll frame. I haven't used the scroll frame since I got my magnifying lamp so I'm not sure how that is going to work, all I can do is give it a go and see.

The First Finish of 2009

Sorry to disappoint all the stitchers out there but this is actually the first book finished in 2009.

Once the darts had finished on telly yesterday evening and I'd caught the end of Trial and Redemption (must watch the next one it looked rather good) the TV was turned off as there really wasn't anything worth watching on it.

I had been reading The Coffin Trail which is a crime/murder mystery in bed during the last week and now that things were starting to get exciting I simply had to finish it. The book came after a recommendation from Bilbowaggins and is set in the Lake District which is why it appealed to me.

At first the book seemed rather slow to get going but as its the first in the series I guess the author was just setting the scene and introducing the characters but the ending even I didn't see coming. If there was one disappointing fact about this book it was that there weren't really any clues to help you predict the ending it sort of appeared out of nowhere. Nevertheless I have the second in the series on order although it appears to be out of print so I hope it turns up soon.

Stitching wise I have been working on a snowman for SOLAK which I will show when I have finished him. I started him earlier this week when the threads and aida I needed to stitch him arrived from Thread Bear. This is one company that I can not recommend highly enough. My dad had bought me the Celtic Autumn chart for Christmas not knowing that I was already stitching it. When I contacted Thread Bear via email about exchanging it for Cirque Des Triangles and adding some threads and aida onto the exchange they responded very promptly, even though the shop was shut at the time.



I now have the threads and aida but not the new chart, as it is being ordered from the US and I've not paid for them yet as they won't accept payment until everything is sent even though I have offered to pay them up front.

The efforts to get fit have stalled a little this week, whilst I have visited both the gym and pool once I have also had an attack of arthritis in my shoulder so neither place will be visited again until that is better. I once went swimming when I had arthritis in my shoulder and ended up with a trapped nerve that required physio. According to my doctor, the nerve was able to get trapped because the joints was swollen due to the arthritis so that's a lesson I've learnt and remembered, arthritis and exercise don't always mix.

Some Goals for 2009

At the start of 2008 I set myself a list of goals that related to walking and getting fitter and up to May I was actually achieving them but then I injured the ligament in my ankle and everything fell apart. Just as I was starting to get back on track with regards to a fitness regime Husband lost his job and priorities changed and once again my fitness regime fell apart. So my primary goal for 2009 is to reduce my weight by 3 stone and to get back to the level of fitness I had achieved when I first knew Husband 5/6 years ago.

Now I know if I can just get myself into the habit of going to the gym etc that I will actually stick at it but I also know that research shows that it takes up to 2 months for something to become so habitual that it is automatically part of your life. So I am hoping that the first two months of 2009 will see me set up the habits fitness-wise that I want to achieve:

Swim - Twice a week
Gym - Visit twice a week
Walking - To get out onto the hills twice a week

2008 has also seen me acquire the very bad habit of letting the posting of walks onto my website become delayed. Until last year the only walks that weren't posted within 24 hours of the walk being completed were the ones from walking holidays. This year I intend to get back into the habit of posting walks within 24 hours of completing them.

Of course 2008 was also the year when I set up my blog after finally getting round to buying myself a magnifying lamp and picking up my needle and thread for the first time in a couple of years. Hopefully the blog and the stitching will continue and this year I am planning on having more than one finish. Stitching wise I hope to finish the two big projects I'm currently working on, take part in the 2 new SALs I've joined as well as complete some smaller projects.

This years sewing will hopefully include work on:

Love Songs - to a finish
Celtic Autumn - to a finish
St Petersburg
Cirque Des Triangles

Weihenburg Christmas Quaker SAL - to a finish
Me Myself & I Round Robin - to a finish
Start another Celtic Lady as part of the Celtic Lady SAL

Complete & finish as many JA Monthly Challenges as possible
Complete and send my PIF to Robin Titan
Stitch several squares for SOLAK
Stitch Xmas gift tags/cards for my family

I am also planning on getting out in my garden far more often than I did last year, although what I actually do in it will depend upon finances so more of an update on that once I get a better idea of where we stand money-wise.

So that should be enough to keep me out of trouble for 2009.

Christmas

Well I hope everyone had a good Christmas ours was a little mixed, started out well and sadly went downhill for Daughter from early evening onwards.


After a late start to the day we eventually managed to drag Son and Daughter out of bed so as that we could open the presents.


In amongst the many presents under the tree were several books and Cd's for me. One of which was an Osmonds CD which has the two albums Crazy Horses and The Plan, it was a surprise gift from Husband and I'd forgotten just how good they were. Nice to know my first taste in music was actually quite good lol!! My brother had got me a book voucher so I have also ordered The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Nigella's Christmas and the second book in the Martin Edwards Lake District thriller series.


As you can see there were also several cross stitch related presents, including from Husband the Thea Governeur kit St Petersburg, which I'm itching to start. My dad ordered me all of the Celtic Lady charts thinking I'd missed out Celtic Autumn from the list so I'm hoping I can swap that for Cirque Des Triangles when Thread Bear opens next Friday. The Little House Needlework's chart was from Daughter.

Husband's speciality is wrapping presents up in strange ways and this 'spade' was for me but it had absolutely nothing to do with gardening and most certainly wasn't a spade. In fact it was an add-on for my digital mapping and only the bit at the bottom was the present the rest was cardboard.

Once the presents were all opened it was time to start thinking about the dinner, which went without a hitch, a big relief after Monday when my oven had packed up.

In the evening I was meant to be picking up Daughter's boyfriend put he then decided not to come over, so of course we had tears and then the next day he very kindly broke up with her.

Then as if she wasn't having things tough enough yesterday somebody broke into the 'crew-room' at MacDonalds, where she works, and stole her (favourite) bag with her I-pod, Blackberry, purse, keys and favourite make-up bag with her (naturally) expensive lip-stick in it, think Chanel and Dior. Whilst her purse, keys and cards were found and later handed into a local police station we have still had to stop all of her cards, lock her phone and replace the front door lock. Tomorrow we are going shopping for a new Blackberry for her and I think after the rough deal she has had I might even stretch to replacing one of her lipsticks for her and a new handbag. You may of course recall that I hate shopping and shopping during the sales is definitely not how I want to spend my time but in these circumstances I'll try my hardest not to moan when Daughter, who's number one favourite past-time is shopping, is dragging me all over Derby tomorrow.

What I haven't yet mentioned is that the week before Daughter came home she had a more expensive I-pod pinched from her handbag whilst she was Christmas shopping on Oxford Street and of course her friend died a couple of months ago. I really wish I could stop all of this happening to her, I feel so completely useless at the moment. She is feeling so low that last night she opted to spend the evening with Husband and I watching TV in the living room rather than be in her bedroom!! Thankfully she has plenty of friends who are also supporting her and keeping her company so hopefully the smile will back on her face soon.

Today in an attempt to stop me putting anymore weight on during Christmas I dragged myself out of bed early and headed for the pool and managed 50 lengths. I haven't been for a while due to the fact my swimming costume had become very, very baggy and needed replacing, which I finally got around to doing yesterday. One of my goals for 2009 is too reduce my weight by at least 3 stone and to get much fitter, so not gaining any over Christmas is a good start, I think.

A Goals Catch Up & Flyering

Setting goals on a weekly basis is defiantly more successful than setting them by the month. That said I'm still too ambitious with how much I try to achieve so it's not surprising that I didn't do as much as I hoped. I also have to admit that when I made these goals I wasn't expecting to see Friday and Saturday become days spent flyering for Husband's business.

Swim - Twice a week (60 lengths) - Done
Gym - Go three times - Done
Walks - At least once a week - Done
Website - Post last 3 walks - No although I did get one walk posted
Love Songs - Work on it at least once -Yes, I worked on it for two evenings
Celtic Autumn SAL - Stitch on it at least once - Yes, worked on it for two evenings
Good Friend's Count SAL - Finish - No
Christmas Cards - Finish second one - No
Greenhouse - Clear out & clean - No

There will be fewer goals this week because most of my time is going to be spent flyering but as it has already produced several new leads I'm not complaining, although it was pretty miserable flyering yesterday in the rain by myself. Today in the sunshine and with Husband for company it was quite pleasant. Needless to say the goals aren't going to include many to do with getting fitter as the 3- 5 hours flyering each day are more than enough exercise, especially when you consider that where I live is essentially a collection of hills with lots of slopes and steps up to letterboxes.

Next weeks goals are:

Swim - One session of 60 lengths
Walking - Hopefully I'll be out walking on Friday
Flyering - Get them all out by the end of next weekend
Christmas Cards - Finish 2nd one
Love Songs - Stitch on it at least once
Celtic Autumn - Stitch on it at least once

I plan on doing some more work on Love Songs tonight, if I can keep my eyes open long enough, so I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Letters From America

I arrived back from the swimming pool this morning to find the mat covered in post and two of the letters were from America.

I entered a draw for some floss on Jennifer's site and was lucky enough to win some of her hand-dyed floss.

I haven't decided what I'm going to stitch with it yet but I suspect that it may well end up travelling back across the Atlantic as part of the thread I use for my PIF winner.

At the same time a postcard arrived from Daughter who spent last week in New York and yes her and her friend did plan the trip to coincide with the election. The text message I received at 5a.m. (GMT) last Wednesday from her just after Obama had been declared the President-Elect said that NY was insane. She is of course now home, or rather back at Uni in London, having visited the one place in the world she has always wanted to visit.

No stitching yesterday, Son occupied the living room in the afternoon to watch a film with a friend and then I was too shattered and in too much pain to want to sit and stitch during the evening. I have somehow managed to pull a muscle in my side which meant every time I moved my arm it was agony. I suspect it was caused by a combination of doing a different set of exercises at the gym and hoovering upstairs yesterday afternoon. As it only came on in the afternoon I reckon the hoovering must have aggravated it. Sadly as I managed 60 lengths in the pool this morning I can't use that as an excuse to get out of cleaning downstairs so I'd better get on with it but at least once that's done I have all afternoon and evening to sew.

Goals

Setting myself monthly goals isn't working as I'm tending to find that unexpected events like impromptu holidays throw all my plans out of the window. Also since Husband is now working from home my routine is fast disappearing. In an attempt to get back into the habit of achieving things and so as that I can account for the current lack of routine in my life I've decided to make weekly goals/targets instead. Here are this weeks goals:

Swim - Twice a week (60 lengths)
Gym - Go three times
Walks - At least once a week
Website - Post last 3 walks
Love Songs - Work on it at least once
Celtic Autumn SAL - Stitch on it at least once
Good Friend's Count SAL - Finish
Christmas Cards - Finish second one
Greenhouse - Clear out & clean

With my recent bouts of arthritis and two days of doing nothing last week due to a really bad migraine my fitness regime has suffered a bit of a set-back. Also with Husband now working from home I'm finding getting up early enough to go for a swim or to the gym before it gets busy very difficult. I gave myself a good talking to this morning and dragged myself down to the gym before breakfast and plan on going again tomorrow before breakfast.

As Sunday dinner is cooked and eaten and Husband's washing up, the rest of the day is going to be spent working on Celtic Autumn and watching the Strictly Come Dancing results show. Nothing against John Sergeant but I really hope he goes today as it would be a travesty if one of the other celebs went when he really was doing little more than walking around the dance floor last night.

A Little Bit of Stitching

At last I have managed to find some time to do some sewing. I have been able to sit down for an hour in the morning before work on Thursday and Friday and made some progress with Celtic Autumn.



As long as I stitch on her during the day I'm enjoying working on her. I did try stitching on her one evening a week or so ago and wasn't happy with what I did.

I have also made some progress with Love Songs but nothing worth taking a photo for. Hopefully I will make some progress on it this weekend so maybe there will be a picture or two on Monday.

I have given up on Lorna Doone, I just can't get into it and the print is so small it makes reading it last thing at night a real chore. Ruth Rendell's, Inspector Wexford novel 'Not In The Flesh' kept calling out to me, so I have caved in and started that which is much more enjoyable.

Fitness wise I did 70 lengths in the pool for the first time on Friday and my sessions at the gym are slowly getting longer and involving lifting more weights. At last I have also been able to do what I call my 'long program' at the gym. This one involves running on the treadmill whereas my 'short program' just involves walking on the treadmill at different gradients. They differ in other ways as well but that is the difference that had stopped me doing my long program since my ligament was injured. I have deliberately avoided my long program because of my ligament injury but on Thursday I did it for the first time in about 6 months with no ill-effect on my ligament.

Where Has The Week Gone?

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who posted a congrats on the new job.

I've survived the first week at work which in actual fact was 3 days, or more accurately 3 afternoons. I have some idea of what I'm meant to be doing but I'm constantly getting lost using the computer systems I need to use. Thankfully the girl who is currently doing the job doesn't leave until next Thursday so I have a few more days of her rescuing me before I have to survive on my own. Needless to say it is very strange having to go to work after nearly 3 years of not doing so, which followed on from 2 years of working for myself. As my hours are 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm it also cuts right into the day and I seem to have got very little done at home. Did anyone besides me notice the difference I wonder!!

Last weekend was spent in the Lake District visiting friends, family and walking. We should have been camping but with the terrible forecast we abandoned camping in favour of a B & B. We only managed one walk, but as it was one that has been on my to do list for a long time it was great to do it.

For over two years now I have wanted to walk up the nose of Fleetwith Pike (above) and on Monday that's how we started out 7 mile walk that took in Haystacks as well. We didn't leave the pub in Buttermere until 6:30 pm and finally got home shortly after 10:15 pm.

Naturally neither child was in the house, although the evidence of the party they didn't have was. It was just as well it was re-cycling the next day as the glass container was already full, but they didn't have a party!!!

Although they had made some attempt at tidying up there was still plenty for me to do.

Why is it teenagers:

Can fill & run the dishwasher but not empty it.
Fill the bin to almost overflowing but not empty it.
Pile the recycling by the door but not actually take it outside.
Walk past the milk that has been delivered but not bring it inside.
Bring games consoles, DVD's etc downstairs but not take them upstairs again.

I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea.

Anyone with teenagers old enough for parties etc can probably add to it. Or maybe I'm just a complete failure as a parent. Although the conversation I had with my sister and her friends on Sunday night would suggest this is just normal behaviour.

So not only have I started work but I've been trying (and failing) to get my house back into some sort of order. This week I've also had to meet a deadline for a magazine I write walks for and attend a committee meeting for the Quiz League. Needless to say there has been very little time for sewing.

However yesterday I did spend a couple of hours on Love Songs. I also did some stitching on it last week so there is an update below.

Sadly I haven't yet started the JA Sal 'Good Friends Count' or the JA Monthly Finishing Challenge. I'm unlikely to get the second done now but I must get on with the SAL as I'm now two weeks behind.

I have also had two of the Little Women charts that I ordered come today.

I've only posted a picture of one, 'Reading' as the other is planned as a present for someone that I know reads my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Like plenty of others I have signed onto the Me Myself and I Round Robin and finally decided what type of neighbourhood I'm going to do. For anyone who knows me it won't be a surprise that I've decided on a Lake District village now I just have to design it.

Working has one big advantage, money. I decided after one week (yes I know its only a few hours ) I deserved a reward. I gave into temptation and ordered two My Big Toe Design charts from Jaynes Attic. I have been resisting them since she first posted but today I crumbled and ordered the Quaker Seasons and the Give Me the Cookie charts.

The one major disadvantage of this job is that if I want to get fitter I now have to get up earlier as the only time I can realistically get to the gym or into the pool is first thing in the morning i.e. by 7:30 a.m. So far I have been good and made it to both the gym and into the pool but next week will be the real test.

I'm hoping for a quiet wekend with plenty of time for sewing, gardening and maybe even some walking but first I'd better clean the house before someone does notice it's a tip.