A Long Weekend!

This is a photo less post, because I am crap (not really, read on to find out why!)

As I mentioned a few days ago, I was going away for 2 whole nights to see family in Scotland.  Well, seeing family wasn't the actual reason, that would have been the Hanson concert that I had a ticket for (and they were bloody excellent!  And the atmosphere was like chipmunks on acid).

It started off so well.  I was super early for my flight, take-off was a breeze, I finished one row of a crocheted scarf I'm working on.  That's where the good luck ended.  After that one row, I couldn't will myself to do any more.  Turbulence coming into Glasgow lasted for 20 minutes, and I was sweating like a pig after it on the verge of a panic attack (this is not unknown to me).  My dad was running late and wouldn't be there until 30  minutes after I landed.

And this is where I learn a valuable lesson about family communication (or, in particular, my familys communication).  It does not exist.  At.  All.

My dad phoned me when he arrived at the airport, said he was in the car park pick-up area.  So I run across to the car park - no dad.  Cue 45 minutes of phone calls between me, my dad and my mum to figure out where in the name of hell he is.  In trying to direct me to the pick-up area (which I was in, but my mum takes noone at their word), she happened to slip in the phrase 'as if you were driving into Edinburgh Airport....'.  I may have shouted and swore at this point.  It was beyond cold, beyond windy and really really rainy.  If you are unsure why I shouted and swore, please read the second paragraph of this entry.  I can wait.

Got it?  Yeah, my mum had told my dad I was flying into Edinburgh, despite me telling her numerous times, that I was landing at Glasgow.

The disaster story does not end there.  No, I was clearly being punished for looking forward to my 2 nights of perfect sleep.

It was decided I would get the shuttle bus into Glasgow, and get the train to where they live, and someone would pick me up.  So I got on the bus.  Sat down.  Got my phone out to send a text message and BAM.  My phones screen goes all pixelated and then dies.  Not a battery failure.  It hadn't been dipped in water.  And yet it was dead.  I wanted to cry, not least because this meant I would now need to use a frigging pay phone to tell my mum when I'd be arriving on the train.

Did you know pay phones need 60p minimum in them now??!!!!  I was aghast!  60p!!!!  I could buy a can of irn-bru for that!!!!!

The rest of the trip was uneventful by comparison.  I ate lots of square sausage, drank lots of Barrs lemonade.  Got my hair cut, which Jitterbug hasn't noticed.  Got a Hanson t-shirt, and had a blast with my mum, sister and cousin.

The turbulence on the way back was terrifying, and my scarf still sits at one row long.  I also have to figure out if I hedge my bets on HTC saying the phone is water damaged (condensation was rife on anything with a cold surface, I had to take my glasses off on the bus!) and send it straight to the insurance company, or if I can really be without my phone for 2 weeks at the least.  I am currently using my old phone, which is already on borrowed time due to being dropped down the toilet a few months ago.

And it is for that reason that I have no photos.  Simples :).

I need another holiday.

WIP Wednesday & Yarn Along

This, as it turns out, is going to be a massive post.  I'll list the WIP and other crafty stuff first for those who don't want to see the other stuff!  You'll have to forgive the not great photos for the WIPs, I woke up this morning with a blurry eye and it hasn't shifted.

February Lady Sweater is really starting to get me down.  I think it's time for another break from it.  It was going really well, until I watched Paul while working on it, and I messed it up.  And then again when I watched The Green Hornet and worked on it.  I didn't even notice until I was few rows passed the mistakes, both times.  I am getting quite close to the end though, since I've decided I won't be doing sleeves.  

I think I just need a week or two doing something different, so I'm going to try working on Lizard Ridge - for realz this time!  Either that, or actually knit the hat I've been promising Jitterbug for the past 2 years.

Next up, Brownstone!

I am really pleased with the progress now.  Before we left, I managed to get the sleeves attached, and I've since knit about an inch since then.  The rows are quite long now, but another 3 inches and I can start the decreases for the shoulders!

I should get a fair bit done this month, Jitterbug is out a couple of nights, I'll be at Stitch n Bitch, then he is away for a week at the end of the month.  The next major problem I foresee with this is where am I going to block it?!!?

I already shared a crap photo of the embroidery thread I brought home, so here is a good one.

I plan on doing this:

Crafting Shelves by This Tiny Existence caught my attention a while back, and now I just need to get some black cotton in 2 sizes and I can start!  It'll have to wait until next month as I splurged quite a bit this month :S

Some lovely lovely yarns!  The Alpaca is for mittens, the Karisma for hats probably, and the Malabrigo Sock for a scarf.  I do love me some red!  I bought these from The Yarn Cake, in Glasgow.  We went on a Thursday night which is their knit night and they were getting Japanese takeaway just as we went in - smelled delicious!

I bought these from a friend, Kerry, who I 'met' recently (through Google+ games in fact!).  She and her husband run an etsy shop, Dye Spin Knit.  They do some lovely colours and blends, as well as mini-skein bundles and clubs (clubs sold out for this month, but email her and she may add a custom listing for you, and may also do custom dyes and colourgroups!) for the Hexipuffing addicts amongst you!  She really is so lovely, a really nice person; she offered to hold on to these for me until pay day, then held off posting them until I got back from Scotland!  I'll be buying more from them in the future I'm sure.

For more WIP Wednesdays, and more Yarn Alongs

Check out these buttons I got!

I found these in town when we were in Falkirk.  The ones on the bottom left came to £2 in a charity shop, the other came to £2 from a market stall!!  Hundreds of them!!!!  Not many different kinds, but enough to keep me happy  :)

I had a blast in Scotland.  I always do, but the week passed so quickly I barely got any photos!  We didn't do anything huge, just spent time with my family, having fun.  The fun fair came to town last weekend, so we took them on a few rides.

On the baby ferris wheel with my mum

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE"

See those scabs?  She fell down stairs!

They had an absolute blast!  Bubba seems to be quite the thrill seeker and went on a couple of adult rides with us too (he just scraped by on the height!).  

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also spot Bubba is sporting a new short(er)-do.  

Bubba 3 months ago

I don't remember if I wrote about his last hair-cut he had in Billingshurst, but it left me incredibly angry.  Even thinking about it makes my blood boil.  My mum commented on his hair when we were in Scotland and suggested we take him to her hairdresser, Anthony.  Everyone in my family at some point has had their haircut by Anthony, so I know he can cut hair, and I know that it grows out very nicely too.  I am so happy with the hair cut now.  It's shorter than we'd like, but it was needed and now we can concentrate on getting his hair healthy and grow it back out into a long style.  I won't take him anywhere else now for a haircut, every 4 months when we go to Scotland we can take him to Anthony.  He was also the first hairdresser Bubba didn't play up for, and loved him.  Gremlin will get hers done in December when we are up!

My sister also came through from Glasgow for a couple of days.  I was going to teach her to crochet, but we got distracted by my nails.  She runs a small business, Pinky & Perky, and does manicures and nail art.  My nails are pretty big, so she told me to grow them so she could do a few designs on them.  

I forgot to get photos of another design she did, but I actually found myself enjoying the process.  I love the newspaper print one!  I have such an appreciation for the time that goes into nail art now!  She threaded my eyebrows too, and wow did that hurt but the results were amazing!

UPDATE: Found my sister photo of the missing nails!

I also managed to find a huge sewing box on legs in one of the charity shops there which we brought back down, but I'll save those photos for when I've given it a bit of a clean and a paint job.  I also need to repair my current one so will do them both at the same time.

I've not managed much reading lately, since Gremlin broke my lit Kindle cover.  I am still waiting for the light I ordered for the new cover, they sent the wrong thing initially.  It should be here this week though!  I'm finding very easy teenage fiction great for the late nights right now!  I just finished the House of Night series and it was pretty good!  I'm reading The Alchemyst right now and it is also really good, but I can't pin it down to adult or teenage fiction.  I think adult, based on the cover lol.

Next year??!!!!

Jitterbug asked me last week how I'd feel if he got a job in Scotland for the start of next year.

My reaction surprised the crap out of me - I told him I wouldn't be hugely happy.

I still want to move there, but as a fresh start, without debt, and with savings.  I cannot and will not repeat the process of moving in to our current house where we took on more debt, and a bigger mortgage than we could handle, not to mention the large sum of money gifted from my father in law for the deposit because our old house sold for not much higher than the outstanding mortgage we had on it.

The housing market, in case you haven't read the papers in 3 years, is abysmal.  In order to sell this house, we'd need to decorate, fix the leaky roof, fix the broken guttering, and just keep it tidy.  I cannot and will not repeat the process of moving out of our old house, whereby I do all the cleaning and tidying and making sure everything is in its place.  It was hard the first time, and we only lived in a tiny 2 bedroom maisonette!  This house is already too big for me to do alone while also making sure Bubba and Gremlin are alive!

I want him to get a job when things are stable, not stagnating in a pond of rising inflation and rock bottom interest rates.

This time 2 years ago we were moving to Dubai, until I changed my mind.  It was a good job too, as the Dubai office shut down to bare minimum, and we'd have been stuffed.

I believe in trusting your instincts, and everything says now is not the time to be trying to sell a house (particularly when moving from the English selling system, and moving to the Scottish buying system), finding a house hundreds of miles away or finding a job hundreds of miles away.  Not to mention I don't think Bubba would take moving too well any time soon - no guarantee he would in the future, or Gremlin, but at least then we can consider their opinions. 

I feel quite angry now - why now?  Why not 3 years ago??  Hell, why not 2 years ago???