and so to 2011

And so we enter 2011...

It's sunday evening, the perfect time for tea and relaxation, to contemplate new plans and to reflect on the past...

On reflection December 2010 was "educational" - I learned that one does not rely on the postal service or indeed to Great British weather to organise Father Christmas' deliveries. Currently there is a package sat in the sorting office awaiting collection containing half of my mother's present, half of my father's present as well as the winning "worst possible CD present" for my father. This package (in addition to the other one that arrived last week) were infact guarenteed to arrive on or prior to Dec 24th however due to the recent snow did not.

The snow was fun to say the least! On this plus side this time I did not end up stuck on a car park, wedged onto the garden wall or having an "off road" experience after failing to stop! I did not however find it amusing during the snow to come out of work one evening having completed a 14 hour shift (and they have not been good ones recently) to find that the car park men had taken the time to clear the carpark of snow only to pile a large portion of it up behind my car wheels and therefore whilst everyone else was able to just drive away I still had to dig my car out! Thankfully, for the time being at least, it does seem to have stopped and I have to say I have never been as pleased in my life to come out and find that it is raining (if it rains then I do not have to de-ice).

Another thing that I did learn during December (unfortunatley the hard way) was that one does not drink to excess at the work Christmas party! I do not usually attend work parties, I tend to get myself too worked up about what to wear, how to behave and all that before I actually get there and therefore I tend not to enjoy myself as I am scared of ending up as the embarassing story of the evening. This year however I decided that I would go. It was a good night (from what I can remember) however the fact that it was a free bar was not the best of idea especially since I had been dieting prior to the event and therefore had consumed very minimal calories (about 600/day and no carbs) for about 8 weeks before the night. We started the evening on rose wine (never a good thing with me) at a friend's house before moving onto the venue (and buck's fizz) and to the meal (and red wine). The plus side of the evening was that I did lost 4lbs in weight and I had a lovely evening with my collegues, the bad side was that I vomited on the motorway hard shoulder and did not stop until the following evening!

Christmas and new year were unfortunatley busy episodes being that I was working however I did find time for some enjoyment with my family and I was very very spoiled by both my family and my friends.

With Christmas and New Year now out of the way I plan to start 2011 with new resolutions and goals! My main goal (like most of the population) is that I plan to lose weight. I have added a few more goals however. Some of these goals stem from last year such as my desire to learn to cook (I bought too many Martha Stewart cookbooks last year and so I really need to try and use at least one) and my desire to learn to knit in the round and to knit socks. I have however got some other goals this year which are as a result of Christmas presents that I received - so this year I AM going to learn to sew and learn to crochet!

All that said, it is time to crack on! Got plenty of knitting projects to be getting on with at the minute. There is a new baby set to join the Raddish patch next month and so lots of late winter/springtime clothes to be made!

Gah!

Today I am irritable!

Not just grumpy and short-tempered, I'm full scale, head spinning, skin turning green and clothes ripping (actually that's probably just my pie-arse and thunder-thighs) downright unreasonable irritable!

People have not been helping in this matter.

On the plus side I have shown some personal growth. Last night some idiot at a concert bumped into me spilling half my pint over me then just walked away. I did not chase after him and deck him. Now that is maturity - if it happened today I am not sure that the outcome would have been the same!

Still working on the log cabin blanket at the minute but it is beginning to grow - pictures to follow soon!

It has been such a long time since I last posted a blog! I don't even know where to start! Let's see...

Well those socks that I casted on are still in the same shape that they were back in March I am sad to say. I plan to get back at them at some point but it may be some time as I have become the master of unfinished projects this year! So far on my needles I have:

• the socks
• the premature baby hats
• a newborn cardigan
• a baby twig-cabin blanket
• a newborn knitted set containing cardigan, hat and booties (for my expected cousin)
• a cat blanket (don't ask!)
• a blanket for myself
• a scarf
• an aran cardigan for myself
• the granny squares

In addition to that little lot I have the wool ready to go for:

• 3 baby blankets
• 2 scarfs
• 2 newborn cardigans
• a cardigan for a little girl
• fingerless mittens
• more pairs of socks than I will probably wear in a month

On top of that I also want to knit:

• another scarf for myself
• a navy-blue cardigan for work

It is not all bad though! I have in the course of this year completed:

• 5 baby blankets
• a baby cardigan
• a newborn cardigan
• a scarf
• quite a few of the premature baby hats

I think I might need to get my act together!

I also in recent weeks have tried my hand at some baking (and before you ask, YES, the house and the cooker are BOTH still in one piece!). Going down the domestic goddess route I have made my own christmas cake (and it did involve almost as much swearing as the casting on of the socks) which is currently sat in an airtight container waiting for december! I think what does not help is that I have gone back on the dreaded diet and therefore have developed that obession for food (or that which I cannot have - proper rebellious child - thank-you cognitive behavoural therapy and transactional analysis sessions!) but on the positive side if I cannot have it then when it all goes wrong I will not make myself sick!

So yes the diet is back on and so comes back all the OCD, the moodswings and all those fun things from last year! I must admit I have found it a lot harder this time that last and I have found that the weight is a lot slower to come off but thankfully I have got that determination again and so I am going to see it through to the end (and longer!). Thankfully I am back with a really lovely group all of whom have also done the diet before and gone back so we all know what one another is going through!

I have temporarily stopped the pole dancing just until I lose some more weight but that is something that I plan to go back to (when I can lift my fat backside up again!).

I have also this year purchased a sewing machine! It was just so pretty and I could not resist! There I was walking through John Lewis minding my own business when it was just there calling out to me. I tried and tried to resist, I even managed to walk away, leave the shop and carry on with the rest of my shopping, but well... I could not think of anything else and so in the end I just HAD to go back and get it. Since then I have taken it out of the box, looked at it repeatedly, shown it to Grandmother Raddish for approval.... and put it back in the box! It has been 14 years since I last sat in textiles class using a sewing machine and to be perfectly honest I was not very good at it back then, so much so that I once took my sewing project (a plain and simple cotton shopping bag) home to complete at the weekend and when Grandmother Raddish (a professional in the sewing field) caught sight of my "creation" she immediatley unpicked the whole thing and started it again. Still I am determined! I am going to take up Quilting (because I am just so good at finishing my knitting projects so why not take on some more!) and become a whizz at sewing.

This time next year I shall be a domestic goddess (although I wouldn't hold your breath!).

We did have some fun and games over the summer months with Mother Raddish developed appendicitis which resulted in a number of hospital and A+E visits over the course of a couple of weeks! Thankfully she has now fully recovered and I have to say that visiting the hospital from the other (general public) side has provided me with a new perspective. I can honestly say that neither myself, the patient, or the other members of my family can find any fault with the care that she received! I do have to say however, that when you are not the one in A+E who is either unwell or working, that it is such an entertaining place (especially at 2am Saturday morning).

Ah well that is enough rambling for now! Will not leave it as long next time!

Socks

After months and months of talking about it and collecting wool, needles, stitch markers, etc I've actually done it - I've casted on a sock! It is sat on 3 needles as I speak and I have chosen some old Regia 4-ply rather than damaging my lovely Krafty Koala or Laal Bear sock wool and I just can't bring myself to unravel my Zauberball.

Oh my stars I can't tell you how many swear words have passed my lips since I started. It has twisted (and still is), it had holes in it (and still does), and I even managed to move the wrong needle and actually removed one side of stitches.

This may take some time...

Stop the world I want to get off!

It's already half way through February! This year is moving at such a fast pace. I have so many things that need doing right now that I have not got round to doing yet.

There have been some ups and some downs. A major down in recent weeks has been that our little home has been without heating for about 3 weeks. This has thankfully now been corrected and the place can now be quite tropical but it was rather amusing to return from the Lakes to find ice on the inside of our windows. In all fairness the broken boiler was 30 years old (older than me!!!) and so it was coming but so long as it still works it is one of those things that keeps getting put off. Unfortunatley it decided to break in what I swear is one of the coldest of the last 30 years but hey that is like our family tradition - if it is going to go wrong then it is going to go wrong goodstyle, no messing around with little problems. I didn't realise how draining being cold was though - it's exhausting and certainly left me with a (even-shorter) temper!

Unfortunatley that is not the only thing that has broken in recent days, my poor computer seems likely to be heading to that great scrapyard in the sky. I honestly feel like I have lost my right arm! I did not realise how much I used the thing and as my evaluation is fast approaching at work (just what a Saturday nightshift needs!) I really am missing it. Thankfully my dad is letting me use his at the moment for the essential things (unfortunatley it will not link to my printer) and I still have my iPhone for the other essentials (Facebook!!!). The most worrying thing for me at the moment is waiting to find out if things can be retrieved off the broken computer. Unfortunatley all of my pictures and doccuments were on that computer and the most recent ones were not backed up. The problem is that I have stopped backing up my computer monthly as my iTunes was getting so large that it was too big to be backed-up onto a CD. I have now learned my lesson well and if my files can be backed up I will be investing in some larger USB memory sticks for the important stuff and regularly updating my iPod.

The most important thing that I want to retrieve from that little lot right now are the pictures as the majority of them are from happy times with my best friend. I have the older ones from holidays to places like Budapest but the ones from our last holiday to Paris and our last Christmas are still there so fingers crossed. Speaking of my friend, I got a package this morning. It was the last package that I had sent her before she died. I have to say that I no longer have any faith in the postal service as the package that I sent contained a bar of chocolate that is now in powder formation and several (now shattered) shatter-proof CD cases. There were a couple of letters in there too (that I had written to her) and I have to admit that I have not been able to open them yet - for the time being the entire package is sat in a drawer until I am ready to return to it.

2010 plans!

I have decided that 2010 is going to be a better year. I can actually count on one hand the number of positives that were produced in 2009 and to be perfectly honest with you 2008 was not that great either therefore I am going to be more proactive this year.

So here is my plan:
1. I am going to learn to pole dance - this is one that I am already putting into action. It is something that I have wanted to do for a while, I am not very good at it but I am going to keep going because it is fun!

2. I am going to try pilates.

3. I am going to learn to run properly - so that my personal trainer does not stand there and laugh at me when I am doing so and so I can keep up with the lovely ladies at work!

4. I am NOT going to put the 5 stones that I lost last year back on this year - I have put a little more weight back on than I liked through firstly comfort then holiday and followed by festive eating so I am going to go back on the dreaded diet for a few weeks then actually follow Weight Watchers once I am back in my size 12 skinny jeans!

5. I am going to learn to knit socks - I have some fantastic Krafty Koala sock wool just begging to be knitted up (my favourite still has to be Twilight) as well as the best Laal Bear sock project bag and of course the essential set of KnitPro DPNs and therefore it would be rude not use 2010 as the year to learn to make my own socks!

6. I am going to learn to cook - I am 27 years of age and so this one has to be an essential at my age as I cannot live on salad and beans on toast. Plus I actually own Martha Stewart cookbooks so I am thinking that I need to use them.

7. I am going to make more time for my friends - 2009 above all other years has shown me how I need spend time with my friends as I have started the year without one of my closest friends which is something that I still struggle with.

There are other things in the pipeline but at the minute I am keeping them close to my chest!

There are a couple of other things in the pipeline but at the minute I am keeping them close to my chest.

Autumn

Autumn has always been my favourite time of year. Even from the days of being in primary school. I have always loved the fresh start of a new term and school year when all my uniform was new, my stationary was fresh and new and everything was at the beginning. I love when the leaves start to change with all the colours and how it becomes cooler but the sun still remains warm. I used to love harvest festival, looking forward to my birthday and how the build up to Christmas was just around the corner.

The other day I was waiting to turn onto the motorway and I started to smile to myself as I realised that time had come. The sun was shining and things felt good as I felt that I was in a place in my life that I really was happy. That happy feeling has stayed with me for the few days following that moment.

On Thursday evening I received a phonecall informing me that my best friend has died.

Autumn has lost that rosey glow, I have lost a real friend, and the world has lost an amazing person.