taking stock

I thought I'd give one of Pip's Taking Stock lists a go today.  Here it is!

Making : Final tweaks to an exciting new gocco design and secret crocheted baby goods
Cooking :  My mum's rice salad and hard-boiled eggs
Drinking :  Fizzy things
Reading:  The Luminaries and my own blog
Wanting:  A spare day to do my gocco printing
Looking:  Pale and in need of a shower
Playing:  Matching pairs with Dulcie (not yet actually, but it's guaranteed to happen soon)
Deciding:   What to wear to a wedding (so I don't have to decide anything more important)
Wishing:  For the sort of happiness it seems like everyone else is getting
Enjoying:  Dulcie's company - big time!
Waiting:  In queues - a rare day in the city centre shops today
Liking:  That some of our plants are growing, albeit slowly
Wondering:  How to make things better for us
Loving:  Dulcie - big time!
Pondering:  My health
Considering:  Phoning my consultant
Watching:  Boj (repeatedly) and Mad Men - gone back to series one
Hoping:  I can hold it together
Marvelling:  At Dulcie's brain and speech
Needing:  A new heart?  £30,000 and someone to give half of that to.  A bit of bravery.
Smelling:  Cats (have two on my knee as I type)
Wearing: Yesterday's clothes (but clean pants and socks)
Following:  The routes of public transport
Noticing:  Pregnant people everywhere
Knowing:  That this list is turning out more depressing than I'd hoped
Thinking:  *#@*$*#*!!!
Feeling:  Ill and unhappy
Admiring:  Don Draper - phwoargh!
Sorting:  Wedding outfits for Dulcie and I
Buying:  Cardigans and children's underwear - planning to ditch nappies soon!
Getting:  Hungrier
Bookmarking:  Very near the beginning of The Luminaries
Disliking:  My situation
Opening:  The windows!
Giggling:  Not  much today
Feeling: De ja vu (didn't I already answer this?)
Snacking:  Healthily
Coveting:  Babies
Wishing:  I had a less depressing answer for this. Oh, wait!  Wishing Mad Men hadn't moved to Sky so we wouldn't have to wait for the DVDs to catch up.
Helping:  Dulcie on and off escalators
Hearing:  An unknown baby crying outside, Dulcie's drum machine

time-travelling tuesday (part 4)

8th February 1988

Today I went to swimming.  But I didn't get to do much.  I slipped on the ice and cut my knee at playtime.  At gym I did a good cartwheel.  Kerry passed guide test.

9th February 1988

Today we learnt a new song at singing.  It goes like this.  Oh there was a little drummer and he loved a one eyed cook.  Yes he loved her Yes he loved her though she had a cock eyed look and there's a bit more.

10th February 1988

8 8 8 8

Today we went to the Huntly post office for a visit.  We saw the piigoin boxes [pigeon holes] for the letters.  We found Drumblade school.  Had a lovely time there.

11th February 1988

strange writing --> Today I had a bronie sale. [This is written in zig-zaggy writing, but Blogger, amazingly, has nothing similar in its font list.  Normal handwriting resumes from now on.]  I got loads of bargains at it.  At school I got to start a book about Scot.  It was snowing so I built a snow dinosour.  It's the kind with spikes.

12th February 1988

Today I wrote a long story.  It was all about sharing.  Then I helped Mrs Smith tidy ip up the classroom.  Lyndsey was sick today.  She wrote a love letter to Garry N.

13th February 1988

Today is Saturday as Rigadon [pictured above] would say.  Tomorrow is Valentines day.  Love and romance. ♡ ♡  I am sleeping with Gran Gran.  Kerry hid my nightshirt.  This morning mum baby sitted sat Ly Linsay.  I got Got new trousers.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ 14th February 1988 ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Mama Mea its valentines day already.  Menu Romeo and Juliets.  I went swimming with Scot [my uncle].  I managed to jump in.  I made loads of cards tonight.  Shops for Gran Gran.

day trips in may (trips)

 I had more weekends off work than usual in May and we managed to make the most of the opportunity to squeeze in a few day trips.  Edinburgh Zoo was the location for my birthday day trip and it was great!  It's really easy to get o by public transport (the bus stops right at the front gate) and is absolutely massive so we were able to spend a whole day there quite happily.  Dulcie was thoroughly entertained and seriously exhausted by the time we got back on the bus.  Here she is giving her version of a thumbs-up with a stuffed panda.

 The chimpanzees were quite interesting to watch, but I wouldn't have wanted to get this close to a real one.  Monkeys and the like have always given me the heebie-jeebies.

 Spot the difference?  Dulcie's getting pretty expert at posing for photos nowadays.

 I was quite sceptical about the pandas before we got there and thought it was a bit OTT that you had to book your ten-minute time slot to see them when you arrived at the zoo, but they definitely turned out to be a highlight.  This is Dulcie's namesake Tian Tian (meaning sweet, you see) but Yang Guang the male was the most entertaining - munching bamboo constantly in a serious bulk-up attempt.  Apparently he poops around 100 times a day and some of them weigh almost twice as much as Dulcie!  Wowsers!

The penguins were good too, although the "world-famous penguin parade" was slightly disappointing.  One penguin!  One!  Still, the crowd's unimpressed reactions were quite entertaining :)

 The following weekend we took a train to Balloch to visit the aquarium, which was awesome.  I can't believe we had such a good aquarium so close to home and never went before.  Most of my photos didn't come out (the fish don't like flashes) so you'd be forgiven for thinking we spent all our time with our heads in this bubble.  Actually, we were in there for quite a while!

 Dulcie's favourite thing was the rock pools.  She touched a crab and some starfish but especially loved the anemones and spent at least 20 minutes just poking them and shrieking.  They were pretty cool though, their little tentacles would grab hold of your finger - a very odd sensation!

Graham loved the octopus who was very active, playing with a floating ball in its tentacles.

I loved the seahorses and the jellyfish and the giant turtle...  I love aquariums!

 Apparently you can have sleepovers in the giant glass tunnel, just £25 a head, although you need a minimum of 20 people.  I'm desperately trying to think of a reason to host one!  How much fun would that be?!

We finished the day off with a late-afternoon pub lunch.  I had a very unvegetarian steak (no, really!) and it was so good.  I washed it down with a pint (another rare treat for the fluid restricted!) which was amazing too.  Yum yum.

The following weekend we had to combine day-tripping with boring practical flat stuff, but Dulcie dressed for every possible day-trip eventuality.  I don't think her attire was entirely inappropriate for our destination of Ikea, not once we put the hat and sunglasses in the bag anyway!

 She enjoyed a wee lie-down while we tried out mattresses...

 ...and relaxed in a deckchair while we perused Bargain Corner.  It was a long and not especially entertaining day for her (I, on the other hand, loved it!) but she was really very good and patient...

...so she finished the day off with an ice cream - always a big hit.

You might notice Dulcie is wearing one of the T-shirts I designed for Mimi and Will in these pictures.  This was a sample not destined to be sold, slightly different in colour to the final design, so the girls behind Mimi and Will sent it to Dulcie.  What a lovely gift :)  I love seeing Dulcie in it and she got so many compliments on it on our way round Ikea!  "Why, thank you, it's actually my own design..."  Ha!  The T-shirt's been thoroughly put through the quality-control wringer too - stained, washed, tumble dried, romped in...  And I can confirm it has passed with flying colours - still looking as good as new and really high quality.  It's quite roomy on Dulcie thus far, so I think she'll be getting many seasons' wear out of it yet.  Hooray!

diagnosis book choice (not as catchy as diagnosis murder)

So, I opted for the slender Muriel Spark over the hefty Luminaries, but now I'm finished this and back to being between books, free to start The Luminaries whenever I like.  But it's actually going to necessitate finding a different work bag!  Excuses, excuses...  The sad thing is I really want to read it and think I will like it a lot, but it's such a thought.  It might take me months to finish and I'll have to carry it to and from work for all that time...  Maybe now I'm starting to understand why people get Kindles!  But I just don't think seeing progress through a fat book as a numerical percentage (rather than a visual chunk of pages read) would be nearly so satisfying.  I think I will read The Luminaries next after all.  I can do it!

Honestly, though, the thought of that extra weight in my bag makes me want to cry.  Man, I'm tired.  I'm going through a phase of realising/accepting that my heart is making the stupidest little things stupidly hard.  Stupid heart.  I tried to get a couple of days off as annual leave next week but those meanie organ grinders at the subtitling mine (talk about mixed metaphors) wouldn't let me have any of them.  Yawn!  I hope I'm not about to fall apart again :(

embroidered animation

If your ears can handle the racket (when did I turn into such an old lady?) there's a piece of embroidered animation, a music video, on Channel 4 tonight at twenty past midnight.  I'll be in bed, naturally, but I'm going to record it so I can watch it later.  Seriously, three and a half minutes of EMBROIDERED animation.  Can you even imagine the amount of work involved?!  It actually looks like a world made from heavy metal fans' patches, recently removed from their denim jackets.  There's more info about the people behind it and how they achieved this feat here.

time-travelling tuesday (part 3)

1st February 1988

Today I went to swimming.  I can dive in now.  I have to be sitting down mind you.  Tonight granny and papa are coming.  There here now.  (The end.)

2nd February 1988

Tonight I had to have an extra practice for tap and ballet.  We had to do half our ballet in the cloakrooms.  Sums at school.

3rd February 1988

Today it was sunny.  Wearing my spotty socks today.  Painted a nurse at school.  Rode my bike in the playground with Julia after school.

4th Februie February 1988

Today is Thursday.  I am wearing blue socks today.  Crisp damp but warm.  At school I played this stupid game.  Boys have to chase girls and give one a kiss.  Then girls do it.

5th February 1988

Today I had tap and ballet exams at quarter to three.  I think I have passed.  I wore my red nose to school.  Toby's fell into his pudding.  I watched comic realief.  Andy Crane in gunk tank. Ha Ha.

6th February 1988

Today I put on some make up then washed it off.  I went down stairs had breakfast and went to Jhon menzies and the library.  Today dad went to Glasgow.

7th February 1988

Today it was snowing so Kerry and I naturally were in the sledge for an hour.  Kerry and I also made up an act.  Percy, mum and dad all came.  We are putting the money to comic realief.

[Percy was my sister's cat.  Look out for his untimely demise later in the year - a sad day but a diary highlight!]

non-geographical rudeness

I saw this "artwork" (made from tubs of dip from Domino's Pizza) on my way home from work tonight.  I thought at first that it was a map of Britain.  It wasn't.  I think I need to be getting more sleep, or perhaps less?!  Oh, what has become of me...?