Wednesday 26 August 2015

Eleven Random things


  • This is an exercise in procrastination. I’m very good at these things. The more pressing something is, the better my ability to avoid it becomes. I should be writing a teaching session about Quality Improvement for undergraduate healthcare professionals but I’m not. I have 2 days at work before I need to do it. Not feeling the fear yet.

  • Whilst I was queuing (for a substandard university) coffee. A woman rushed in and apologised for being rude to one of the coffee shop servers the day before. She couldn’t stop herself from explaining how terrible her day had been and how awful she’d felt afterward and how she’d not slept properly because she’d been so awful. I wonder what she said. Then she had to apologise for holding up the queue. I think she was apologised out after that.

  • I’m feeling the start of Autumn. It’s definitely dark when the ABO gets up on earlies (4.20am today – ugh). There’s a nip to the air and the back to school stuff is in the shops. I love this time of year. It seems like the New Year to me, time to make lists and get stuff done. I feel energised and ready to buy new stationery. There’s nothing like a new pen and a notebook to get the creative juices flowing. At least that’s my excuse (see point 1!).

  • The start of Autumn also means I’ve got birthday preparation anxiety. BigR is 6 in a couple of weeks. I’ve ordered bits and bobs for the cake. It’s a ‘Frozen’ theme. Again. For ease the party will be done for us in a nightmarish soft play place a couple of weeks later. She’ll love it. In fact her social life is better than mine with no less than 3 parties that weekend. Will my nerves take it? She’s written a (long) list of things she’d like for her birthday including sparkly shoes (check), hello kitty stuff (check), a unicorn beanie boo (The eyes on beanie boos. is it just me? Hmm I’m not sure about them) and a real mermaid that swims (unlikely!).

  • We (using the royal we here, the ABO did the graft) redecorated BigRs room. I bought the paint and chose the curtains (and helped clear out the junk!). She’s overjoyed to now have an ‘Elsa room’. We’re lamenting over ever painting the room pink as it was blue before she was born.

  • There’s nothing like DIY and specifically flat pack furniture to bring out the worst in me. It’s one of the few things we argue have discussions about! Usually because we've hjad some 'Chuckle brothers' type moving shenanigans (to me, to you) before we get to the assembly! We’re quite good at flat pack stuff but the new bed frame almost defeated us. If Ikea made normal bed sizes we’d have bought it there. Still the instructions said it would take 50 minutes. There were 4 main pieces and the slats. Three hours later we were still trying to stick it together. The old bed base had been rained on so there wasn’t even the option to give up. Finally, it was done and with a little time before bedtime.

  • Apart from one room our entire house is now blue or green.

  • I’ve gone all retro and am reliving my youth making friendship bracelets. Bizarrely, when my friend saw the one I made for BigR she wanted one! I’m much better at doing them now than I was 25 years ago!

  • I’ve been enjoying digestive biscuits smothered in cream cheese topped with strawberries. Yum!

  • I’ve come across a Japanese word which I really relate to ‘tsundoku’. The act of buying books and letting them pile up unread. I really need to read the books I have on my kindle before buying any more!

  • I managed to grow a carrot. And some apples. Obviously we’re now self-sufficient with 5 apples, 2 carrots and a couple of radishes. Still there’s some tomatoes to come. If they ever ripen!


10 comments:

  1. I really like smoked salted almonds at the moment (instead of digestives and cream cheese). Well done for not throwing the flat pack out of the window. It can be tempting... hope you get your writing done in time. x

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  2. It's so nice to read an update all about your lives lately. Both of my kids have their birthdays in September and while we've decided not to have big parties this year, I'm still feeling like there's plenty of planning and orchestration to do. Your carrot is beautiful, well done. :)

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  3. Hey N,
    I can relate to tsundoku. But I also try not to make promises that I can't keep :))
    Good to see you here.
    Leanne xx

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  4. As it happens, a new notebook and pen fell into my possession at the local stationery shop today. Oh how I love notebooks. Love, love, love them. Well done on the flatpack assembly. I put together a terribly complicated bed for my littlest boy about a year ago. It's got drawers and a cupboard and things. I don't get any help, but fortunately I found a video on Youtube, otherwise I don't think I'd have worked it out. Love the friendship bracelet, I wish I could make them. The unicorn beanie boo is a terrifying thing. There's a whole different world out there that I know nothing about, having boys. Although I fear my littlest one would be rather taken with the UBB. CJ xx

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  5. oh I've never seen a beanie boo. those eyes are indeed truly terrifying.

    love posts like this. they are my favourite kind x

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  6. I love that Japanese word. I have a pile - mountain! - of books that that would apply to perfectly!! xx

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  7. I hope Big R' s birthday goes well. The good thing about having the party at a soft play place is that you don't have to worry about the entertainment, the kids can just go off and play while you get the food, cake,etc ready. I'm sure it will be a success. The friendship bracelet takes me back to my teenage years-- a very long time ago. I'm not sure if I still know how to make one..I'm not sure either about that beanie boo. I'm glad my girls don't know about them- yet. X

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  8. Making flat packs up is horrific. Fortunately my son is pretty good at it, even though he's only 15, and has tackled a few flat packs with success. X

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  9. Starting to feel autumn coming on here too and looking forward to it. Such a lovely time of turning inward. Glad I'm not the only one suffering from birthday anxiety! My son's birthday is on the 9th of Sep. and my daughter's the following day on the 10th (yes, you read that correctly - the horror!) xxx

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  10. Eugh, Bella's got one of those Beenie Boo soft toys too and the eyes freak me out. Thank you for teaching me that Japanese word Tsundoku, I feel that I have quite a lot of tsundoku going on in my living room right now.

    I'm liking the sound of your digestive biscuit combination. If you ever have any buttercream icing left over from a cake, it's amazing smeared onto digestive biscuits. xx

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