this post contains nudity, strong language and frightening stuff

We watched American Werewolf In London quite recently. It was Graham's suggestion one evening, though I had been thinking about it a lot. I've seen a few interviews with John Landis where he talks about his thinking behind this transformation scene and how it seemed obvious to him that it would really, really hurt for your body to change its physical shape that much, something that previous werewolf films hadn't really shown before. John Landis is a wise man. It never crossed my mind that pregnancy would work in much the same way. I swear I can hear my ribs cracking today. Ouch. Still loving it though :)

triple link whammy

Lovely mustard loggy wallpaper by Roddy & Ginger. It's right up my street.
Roddy & Ginger's online shop and etsy shop and blog.
Very lovely lighthouse print by Marcus Walters, posed alongside some equally lovely stripy glassware. Marcus Walter's online shop.

And the third link - notes to a further excuse, a lovely blog I started reading quite recently where I found both the items above this week. You should go and have a look round if you have a hankie ready for mopping up the drool. So much nice stuff in one place!

Man alive, blogging every day is hard now I'm back at work and doing the dreaded morning, noon and night shifts. The shift is only 10 hours long, but somehow leaves no time or energy at either side of it. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up my Blogtoberfest vow... but I'll try!

the end of my tether (an appropriately titled book?)

If I achieved one great thing in my week off (apart from making the world's greatest cardigan that I can't go a single post without mentioning) then it was to finish this book at long bleedin' last. It was a struggle. My concentration skills are not the best at the moment and maybe I would have romped through this book and enjoyed it at any other time, but then again maybe I wouldn't. Have you read it? Was it any good? I honestly don't know! I did like all the mythical folklorish stuff in it. It told me that cats born in May are guaranteed to be trouble. When were my cats born? Mm-hm! It also told me that you should spit whenever you see a white horse, something my granda always claimed, spitting in his hand whenever we passed a white horse in the car, though nobody ever knew where he got the idea from.

When I did the last Day In The Life post on September 2nd, I mentioned being relieved that one of the cats distracted me from a book I had just started because I couldn't work out who any of the characters were. Well, that was this book and 600-and-odd pages later, I still couldn't work out who was who, who was dead, who was alive or what was going on. I was tempted to stop reading this book so many times, but I find that very difficult to do so I kept going. I was still tempted to just stop reading it about 15 pages from the end, surely a bad sign! As I said, I persevered and finished it, though I'm not sure there was that much point. I haven't got a clue what I just read.

Now I am reading a book called The Adventures Of A Bed Salesman, which is not as naughty as it sounds (it's actually more about life in 1960s East Germany than it is about sex, I think) and so far I am enjoying its large type. Ah, the simple pleasures...

cosy cats, big bellies, special scones

For a while Poppy was a bit wary of my baby bump and Lola got my lap all to herself. Now, as you can see, the bump and my lap are both suddenly very popular. I love it when both the cats sit on me at once, especially when I have my crochet right beside me for easy entertainment within arms' reach. You can probably also tell from this photo that the glowing stage of pregnancy seems to be over. It was disappointingly short-lived!

The baby was actually investigating Poppy's purring head when this photo was being taken. I was surprised Poppy hung around as long as she did...

...but she did abandon me for Graham's lap eventually. Since I got pregnant, Graham's lap is usually Poppy's first choice. It's quite sweet really. Poppy used to go crazy and maul Graham every time he tried to stroke her. Nowadays she gazes at him all besotted instead.

And here's another cosy scene from the same night. I set my belly free for a bit (and broke my vow not to put any bare-belly shots on this blog) and Lola snuggled in. Soft cat fur on a bare belly is such a nice feeling. Mmmm! My belly looks like the moon here, but isn't it well moisturised? I got a few more stretch marks this week, but am persevering with the moisturisation anyway. That said, I've just realised I forgot to do it this morning. Oops.

So it's the last day of my holidays and I'm trying to have a productive morning before allowing myself a lazy afternoon of crocheting in front of the telly. I have made it into the mess of the craft room at last but am not sure where to start with the tidying. Hmmm. I think I'll allow myself to be satisfied with just a small dent in the mess. I was also planning to make cherry and cinnamon scones today (by adapting this basic recipe) but that would involve leaving the house to get cherries and it is dank outside. Yes, dank is definitely the word. Eugh. So I might leave the scones for another day, especially since I am making a scone-like pizza base for dinner tonight. I haven't made scones since I was a very small child, but have been fancying a cherry and cinnamon scone for weeks. (We have cinnamon shower gel at the moment, so I fancy cinnamon something most days.) When I was 17 or 18 I used to drag my long-haired motorcycling boyfriend to a little tearoom with frilly tablecloths about once a week so that I could have a cherry and cinnamon scone with a hot chocolate. He always looked a bit uncomfortable, but the scones were so good it was worth it. I'm hoping I'll strike it lucky and manage to recreate the taste of those scones on the first attempt. All scone-making tips gratefully received :)

fancy being a subtitler?

colour television, a photo by dropstitch on Flickr.

Two posts in one day? Controversial! But I keep meaning to mention (and keep forgetting) that my work are hiring at the moment, looking for subtitlers for the Glasgow office. The deadline for application is the 14th and you can find all the details here. I really like my job - lots of nice colleagues, just the right balance of challenging/not challenging, plus you get to pat yourself on the back for providing a valuable service without it taking over your non-working life. Oh yeah, and you get paid to watch telly! Best not mention that last point in your application though ;)

the 101 of glamour (not really)

I made the mistake of looking at vintage craft books on etsy the other day. Now that was an untapped vein of greatness and consumer cravings if ever I saw one! I really want this book, among others, but if there is one thing I probably don't need, it's more vintage craft books. Well, I do have room for more on my shelves and in my heart, but I don't think I should allow myself to get into buying vintage craft books online, especially not from America. Hmm. You'll notice I can't bring myself to post a link to this book just in case someone else buys it, though! If I bought this (bargain though it is) I think it would be opening the floodgates and goodness only knows where it would end. I will resist... for now.

I told myself I was going to begin sorting out the craft room today, but our new neighbours are getting lots of work done to their flat this week and the builders keep setting off their burglar alarm. It is L-O-U-D loud! In the craft room it is really unbearably loud. I think I know this is a poor excuse. After all the baby scares and stresses of last week, it was a conscious decision to cancel any hard-working/practical plans and just use my time off to put my feet up. But now I can't quite believe I have to go back to work the day after tomorrow and then won't have any proper time off until (gulp!) maternity leave. What have I achieved in my week off? Other than crocheting the world's greatest cardigan, of course.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today, having been pushed over the edge by Boots (how dare they?!) sending me a parenting magazine. It was full of useful tips about what I should be doing to get organised in these final three months pre-baby, but I couldn't even look at it without having a flaky. I feel so far away from being able to tackle anything practical. I just don't know where to even begin. Sigh... Plus I was back at the doctor about my wonky ticker this morning and was hoping that would be the end of it, but my blood tests didn't provide any answers and then the doctor noticed yet another anomaly with my heartbeat that he hadn't picked up before so I am having to go and see a cardiologist. I'm not really worried about it (the doctor was very reassuring and thinks I am probably wonky within the realms of normality) but it just seems like one more thing that has to be sorted out/thought about.

I feel like I need to achieve something practical today for my peace of mind, but all I really want to do is have a nap on the sofa in front of some crappy afternoon telly. Hmmm. Do I use the last of my valuable time off to continue to relax and recharge, or do I force myself to do something, knowing that when I go back to work on Thursday I will have even less energy? Bah. It'll all be OK in the end, I'm sure, and at least the baby won't be short of cardigans!

annalise and the messiah

For most of the 1990s my friend Julia and I (pictured above in about 1997/8) were in a band together. To begin with we had a few more members and we went through a few different names, but ultimately the band was just us two and we were called Annalise And The Messiah. Before we were able to get into pubs, we spent almost all of our free time writing and recording songs, making T-shirts, writing stories about ourselves, even making a film, which I really wish I could share here, but I only have on VHS. We used to distribute our "albums" to anyone who gave us a blank tape to copy them onto. We also gave copies of our tapes to celebrities and bands that we liked. Two bands actually asked if they could cover one of our songs, though neither came to fruition. I have a postcard somewhere from Tim Wheeler (from Ash) thanking us for our "disturbing" tape and asking us if we'd mind if Ash covered Sheila The Impaler. Can you imagine finding a postcard like that on your doormat at the age of 15?! Very exciting!

Another of our band's highlights came in 1995 when we sent off a demo tape to Melody Maker. We were highly sceptical that it would ever actually be reviewed, but the very next fortnight, there was Annalise And The Messiah featured in the national music press! At the time I was 15 and Julia would have been 16. I don't think many people could understand why were so excited about such a scathing review, but to us this was the best thing ever and it still makes me laugh even now.

I was particularly proud that our lyrics were misquoted. Instead of, "You, you are the mango fruit of my bum," we actually sang, "You, you are the pamanga fruit of my bum," the pamanga fruit being a fictional fruit from an episode of Power Rangers. (Well, durr!)

I have lots of our songs stored right here on my computer and would actually love to share some of them with you in all their lo-fi greatness (you can hear Julia's mum cleaning the doorbell in the background to one of the songs) but have no idea how I would do that. Maybe one day!

Here are some pictures of how I looked back in those halcyon days. With green hair and a ridiculously flat stomach at T In The Park in 1995, sporting a rucksack I made myself out of a pair of my old school trousers and a top from the charity shop. I haven't really changed much, have I? Well, apart from the flat stomach!

And here I am in Julia's bedroom wearing a vintage top from a car boot sale and the tiniest little Union Jack mini skirt that I loved and my mum hated.

If anyone knows an easy way to share mp3s on Blogger then do let me know and I'll put up a selection of our tunes. I'll also add that postcard from Ash if I can find it.

I'll be back tomorrow with another very different press feature featuring yours truly...