positive thinking: week 2...or not...

I know its only a couple of weeks into the new year. And I know I promised myself I would post each week a positive thing for each day. But its not going to happen.

I am still trying to make a note of a positive thing or a happy moment each day but some days its a real struggle to articulate anything and some days I just don't want to make those things public. So I've decided this is one thing I need to give myself a break and compromise on.

I had actually written this post, almost in full but then I reread it last night and kind of depressed myself! Which wasn't the idea!!! I think I am better to just share a few moments as and when I can and I'll keep the other things to myself. So I hit delete....

Plus, ridiculous though it is, I don't like trying to categorise things into 'sections' to blog about. I get in a muddle with my photos - was this meant to be a photo hunt pic? Or a positive moment pic? Or can I just drop it into a post?!! Aaagh, can't do it....

So this is not a positive moments post, just a random collection of things that I want to remember.

The hyacinths slowly opening on my kitchen windowsill...

I'm not much of a TV watcher and hardly ever see a garden programme, but one evening in October time I saw Monty Don doing his thing on gardeners world. He informed us all that the next day was The day to go and get bulbs to plant for forcing indoors! I dutifully did - well they haven't come up for Christmas (I think maybe my house is a bit too cold for forcing! They still think they are outside!!) but they are very slowly beginning to unfurl and I am enjoying them each day. Better to have them after Christmas anyway, in my humble opinion... As a kid I always loved to grow runner beans in a glass jar - I have always been fascinated by the developing roots and these glass hyacinth vases do it for me too.

As does the fragrance...

I spent a couple of days last weekend in Shropshire with middle son and girlfriend. It was good to see them. They taught me a new card game, with a name that I couldn't possibly repeat on here! Simple things, great fun...

I was introduced to Charlie, the chameleon...

I have to confess to a combination of fascination and revulsion with Charlie... He is kind of transfixing with his weird independent eyes and strangely hand-like feet, but you don't want to know what he does to the live crickets they feed him...eugh...

Loving Kerry's cosy, stripy slippers...

...and a bit of time with my boy, over a cuppa in Stafford library come contemporary art gallery...

It was seriously cold, with just a bit of snow on Monday morning...

...followed by rain and more rain!

Then driving back to Norfolk on Tuesday, it was like a race against the forecast and 7 miles from Norwich it all ground to a halt! Nuneaton to Wymondham (135miles) - 1h 40 mins... Wymondham to home (8miles) - 2h 30mins!!

But it was very beautiful, if a bit hairy on the roads. The trees looked like they had just been dipped in white paint...

Murphy's law...I'd been at a complete standstill for 20 minutes when I decided to try to take a photo across the A11! At which point the traffic decides to get moving again! And as I had the camera on a slow speed because the light was low, it was all a bit blurry - but you get the gist of how lovely it looked!

And it soon stopped again...

And we have had snow ever since. To be honest, it can go now... Everyone has been in a constant state of anxiety about getting anywhere, people are shopping as though the end of the world is nigh and half of the staff haven't managed to get to work (not great in a hospital, patients are still there!!). Of course, lots of people have rallied round, several people have camped out at the hospital, done extra hours etc but in my little team, I live near to the hospital and have no school age kids...so definitely no snow days for me!! I haven't even had time to go for a walk in it to take photos!

At the moment, its coming down again, which is not good news as there is already ice on the roads so doubtless things will be a bit of a challenge again in the morning. Oh well, best off to bed and be up early again tomorrow!!

Maybe I'll have some proper snow pics next time!

Sx

Monday moments...

Some days are full of little things that make you smile. Monday was one of those. A mixture of doing and hearing things that felt good.

From my naughtily unseasonal post-Christmas blues prevention tulips...

And equally unseasonal roses...

...to a phone call from my middle son to say that, finally, his student loan has come through! Only a term late!!!

Then a phone call from youngest son to say that he has got a job! Not a full time job and not something either he or I can see him doing for a career but a commitment to some regular hours each week (he's been working in retail when he doesn't know from one week to the next whether he will get no hours, 4 hours or 20 - awful for planning to do anything) and just such a boost to his confidence which has been at such a low ebb. I hope it will just give him a chance to feel a bit more independent and some time to think about what he really wants to do.

I attended my local blood donor session and (hurrah!) was able to donate for the first time in about 18months. I have chronically low iron levels and have been persistently just the wrong side of their threshold for being able to donate, so it has become a bit of a 3 monthly anaemia check! But I've obviously eaten some of the right things over Christmas and felt very virtuous when I was reminded this was my 41st pint!!

And to top the day, on a bit of a whim, a friend and I went out for a bite to eat at a little cafe/bar we've been eyeing up for a while. It had a lovely atmosphere - unpretentious tapas type dishes, quirky decorations and board games you could get out and play. Oh and a couple of glasses of very manageable Tempranillo... We think we might make it our 'local'....!! I have some friends who are definitely positive people and others who have a bit of a knack of bringing you down - this was a fun positive, full of laughter, night which made me think that's what I need more of!! 

I don't know why my stairs were so steep and wobbly when I got home though... ;-)

Cheers!

Sx

Beaches and blankets...

Norfolk is not blessed with stunning hilly countryside (I have just read Lyn's gorgeous post and it is making me feel rather wistful for walks that go 'up'!) but we do have beautiful beaches within easy distance of the city, both on the North Norfolk coast and on the Suffolk coast.

By 2nd January I was feeling a bit stir crazy - apart from a couple of wanders round the shops (confession time - I am seriously rubbish at shopping! Not keen on places that are overcrowded, hate the chaos of sale racks with everything shoved in anyhow, and get bored very quickly!) and a couple of days at work between Christmas and New Year (doesn't count as days out!) I had been mostly indoors and was really feeling the need to blow the cobwebs away. 

Youngest son was feeling much the same, so although the weather was pretty grey and drizzly we decided to head to Southwold for a bit of sea air. Southwold is a pretty place, with some nice, if slightly twee, shops and cafes. It does have a slightly 'posh countryfied' feel to it - delis and waxed jackets - but good for a wander and the weather wasn't really conducive to a long beach walk.

Although the sky looks blueish in this photo, it really wasn't! The wind was bracing and there was that fine rain that doesn't really look like its raining but definitely gets you wet! (think it is Peter Kay that describes it as - 'that wet rain'!)

We took almost immediate avoiding action for delicious chips in the cafe on the pier. They have little coloured plastic chairs and stripy tables and I felt a bit like I had gatecrashed a children's party venue but the chips were hot and crunchy and just what we fancied!

We made it halfway down the pier to where there is a clock that my kids were always fascinated by when they were small (actually me too - still am!)...

The light was so awful that you can't really see it here, but it has a series of pipes and gullies that water flows through that works the clockwork parts. Only a teeny bit of the magic was lost when Tom pointed out that the water couldn't really be the thing that was keeping it going seeing as the wind was so strong that all the falling water was being blown out of the channels! Spoilsport!

The wind was also cutting straight through us so we headed back towards the town. Southwold is famous for its rows of beach huts...

Even from the pier in lousy light, their brightly coloured faces are visible, and there is something about their neat uniformity that I like.

These are decidedly 'des res' in this town - I think they sell for anything from £20-50,000, but apparently last year one went for £70,000! I'm sorry, but thats barking! Pretty, yes. Lovely beach, yes (although definitely busy on high days and holidays). But its a glorified shed isn't it???!!! I'm probably only going to have about double that to spend on a new home and I'm certainly hoping for more space and facilities than 2 sheds!!!

We didn't really have any money to spend so we bypassed all the expensive clothes and arty/crafty shops in the town centre and sought out another cafe. Bit more upmarket and cosy than the one on the pier, with pretty bunting and hand made goodies for sale on display around the walls...

And the best cakes on pretty blueware china...

This was the most sinfully buttery coffee and walnut cake - definitely home made and delicious! I do love the blue and white china - when I first got married I had this dream I would have a dresser with blue and white china displayed... Never happened, I got a few cups and saucers, and a couple of plates, never got the dresser...

By the time we'd had tea and cake, the light was really going and we wandered back to the car. It had got quite misty and the lighthouse was sending out its signal through the sky...

More of a cafe tour than a proper walk but it was lovely to get out and spend a couple of hours with Tom.

Other news this week...finished object number 1 off the list!!

I don't really feel I can be too chuffed with myself over this because it was meant to be done for Christmas... However, scarf completed for my biggest son - made up pattern, lovely soft Rowan cotton/silk blend yarn (nothing itchy, scratchy about this one!).

I am conscious of Jacquie's advice on how to take good pictures for blogging... and these break all the rules, so apologies for the quality of the shots in advance! But, honestly, even in the middle of the day, my house is sooo dark! Pretty much all year, but at the moment... it's like living in a cave...

This is my attempt to show you what it looks like on...

Slightly depressed about the scraggy neck going on here...

Next job was to try to sort out my back of wool currently in use! I have been really lazy over the last few weeks and each project's leftovers (plus all the needles!!!) had ended up squished into my bag that sits by me in the living room, so I emptied it out...

Oh my word!

My next aim is to complete a blanket for the first baby of friends so I sorted out all the acrylic DK (mostly stylecraft but some odds and sods too) and repacked it...

...then started on some little solid colour squares...

And had a bit of a revelation! Having been a bit 'can't really be bothered with crochet' for a while, I have really loved doing these! I think its something about the fact that they make up really quickly and they can be stacked up into neat piles which I just can't do with the messy, different patterned knitted squares I've been working on. I don't really have a grand plan for this blanket, just going to try to use up some of the colours that seem to go together and take it from there. This is a bit of an attempt at stash  busting... but of course, I have already discovered I definitely need 2 more colours... Oh, well...!

The pile is growing fast, I'm already up to about 25 of these - will keep you posted on progress!

As for the rest of the heap that was on the floor...

I have tried to tidy them up a bit and added them to the box of yarn that lives under the bed in the spare room! This is a real mixture of chunky, cheap and cheerful, yummy bargain box yarns and some finer ends of sock yarn etc. Plus, top right, load of (not all the same!) white mohair! What on earth am I going to do with that??!! Any ideas for white mohair??? One of those balls must be pushing 30 years old, because I cannot forget it was left over from a lacy tanktop (Ok, we are talking 1984...big hair, shoulder pads, mohair tanktops were completely acceptable then...!) I made and then wore to a nightclub on my 18th birthday. Picture the scene - crowded dance floor, big group of friends, show stopping fluffy number...then, oh dear, ultra-violet lights on, white bra standing out like some kind of beacon through the fluffy lace (for some reason the mohair did not have the same effect in the ultra-violet). Now, having your bra on show is almost de rigeur, but then...just remember feeling completely mortified!

So, if anyone has any ideas for ancient mohair, or anything else come to that, do let me know! I did wonder about winding some together and having a go at that extreme knitting... What do you think??

Anyway, must get on with the day! Seem to have whiled away a disproportionate amount of time again!!!

Sx

Positive thinking - week 1...

I think this may be harder than I thought! Only 6 days into the year and I have definitely had a couple of days already when I have really struggled to find myself a positive thought out of the days events. Funnily enough, both were days when I had long and challenging days at work - will be interesting to see if a pattern emerges over the year that might help me pinpoint my low mood triggers!

Anyway, I've decided I'll try to post my positive thoughts for the week each Sunday evening. This is giving me a certain amount of disquiet, as my slight tendency to OCD means that I suddenly realised that this will necessitate some of the other things I want to post about having to come out of chronological order!!! But neither can I manage a mixed post of general rambling and deliberate thoughts... Oh the trials of a dysfunctional mind!!!

So here goes, can't quite believe we are already a week through January, but these are my positive moments for week 1...

1st January 2013

Beautiful blue sky to start the New Year - surely a good sign?!

2nd January 2013

Doing something that you wouldn't usually do can be a surprisingly good experience!

This was kind of a two in one, because out of the blue on 2nd, a friend called and said 'Did I fancy a game of badminton?'... Now the knee jerk, honest answer would probably have been 'Um, not really...' I've never been very keen on sports that require hand-eye coordination - largely because mine is rubbish and I usually spend all my time running around picking up the ball, so this is not something that immediately appeals. But in the spirit of my New Years resolve not to say no to things... And it was fun! And I wasn't that bad - I lost, of course, but we had a few good rallies and I didn't completely shame myself. And more importantly, we laughed a lot. It was surprisingly energetic - I think the blurry photo can only be blamed on adrenaline shakes post exercise! And I must have used very different muscles to the ones that get used running, because I knew about it the next day!!

3rd January 2013

This was a tough day, long day at work, some comments that I took the wrong way and a bit of uncomfortable feeling with a couple of colleagues who I really consider to be very good friends, left me feeling really fed up. Then in the evening, I decided to not stew on things and picked up the phone to try to sort things out - and we talked about how we were feeling which sort of helped. So my positive thought was - be open and honest with my friends, they care about me for me and sometimes can't be expected to know that I'm feeling a bit over sensitive!

4th January 2013

Ditto really... but my positive moment was sending the same friend a 'virtual hug' with a cup of coffee (I'm sure you all know what I mean by virtual hug? I think we send a lot of hugs across the blogosphere...) which elicited a smile... definitely worthwhile!

5th January 2013

 Simple pleasures really can be the best.

I picked up my crochet hook for the first time in I don't know how long - since I moved house maybe? And I got real pleasure from the easy rhythm of these little squares, which are the beginnings of the baby blanket for a friend (also on my New Years list!!).

6th January 2013

All in all quite a few positives today - took my Mum to see Quartet at the pictures (think we both laughed and cried in equal measure!), treated myself to some flowers to brighten the place up after taking the decorations down, had a good chat with my friend from work and definitely resolved any issues there - they were mortified to realise that I had taken things to heart!

But I'm going to finish the week on a rather silly positive... this evening I looked at my depleted fridge (haven't shopped for more than milk since before Christmas...) and came up with Brussels and Chestnut soup... Unpromising sounding, I know, and I have to admit that it didn't look that appealing either (hence no photo - looked a bit like something a cat that's been chewing grass might present you with...!!) but it was delicious - just a simple mixture of onion, garlic, celery, sprouts and vegetable stock, with the leftover bit of unsweetened chestnut puree, seasoning and grated nutmeg stirred in... Might even make it again, when I'm not forced to scavenge the post festive food! 

So today's positive thought was - not to be put off by the way things sound or look, the unlikely can be very good!

Hope you've had a positive start to 2013!

Til next time

Sx