Knitting with biros...

I kid you not.

At work on Monday afternoon we (my boss and I) were putting the finishing touches to our festive decorations.  We'd taken inspiration from a previous display at Carterton Library, where they'd used old deleted stock (books) to make Christmas Trees with.  Essentially you fold over the pages from the outer edge to the spine a couple of times, and repeat all the way through the book.  This gives a cone form which can then be decorated with glitter glue and the effect is, well, appropriate for a library...

Our version of the trees this year is part of our display in the junior fiction area.  After some experimentation with the glitter glue spray can, we went for gold spray paint sprinkled with glitter. We're all about the bling!  Here's the end result...

In the middle of the display (to the left of this) there's another camel, and a fluffy sheep, and of course, a shepherd...

We also made paper folded angels... there's a paper folding theme here, and it's not origami!

But the 'pee-ace de resistance', our show-stopper, our magnus opus is the snowmen.

Again, more folding of books deleted from the catalogue...  Actually, you'd be surprised how many books we delete a week. Why do we do this?  Well, if the book is over 6 yrs old in circulating terms, and has come to the end of it's rota, and hasn't issued for more than 6mths (fiction) or 1 year (non-fiction), then it's deleted from the catalogue and sent back to central to be sold.   This way they make something back from something that's outlived its useful life in circulation terms.  But, I digress.

So the snowmen were folded slightly differently in order to make the more spherical shape (they're actually a bit pointy in the middle, but no-one's perfect).  Polystyrene balls were purchased for the heads, and twigs were collected for the arms.  So far so so. But, but, but. What do all snowmen need?  What do they call out for in the chill of the night?  What do they want to keep them warm?  A scarf.

We looked in the craft box as Pauline thought there was a scarf already made, but we couldn't find it.  We did, however find 2 balls of wool.  Useful.  If only we had knitting needles.....   IMPROVISATION is a great skill, and one which should be taught in schools.  We used biros.  6 stitches, and you get a really chunky garter stitch.  Nice.  1 hr later, both snowmen were suitably attired, and the job was done.  See what I mean?

Bless, this is Pauline's (my boss) scarf.

This is my effort.  Ho, ho, ho!

So, how we'll cope after Christmas I don't know, in that we've made all these decorations which will more than likely go into the bin, as we're so small there's no storage space to save them.  It'll seem jolly plain once we've taken it all down.

On a more positive note I'm actually looking forward to Christmas this year (after last year's stressy time with the business going into administration and us being redundant...).  My library closes on the Saturday 22nd at 12.30pm, and re-opens on Thursday 3rd January, and it's only costing me 3 days leave.  So here's to Oxfordshire County Council, I'll give them my vote of thanks, and wish them a very merry one!

I'm off to see what's happening in LCL (Lady Chatterley's Lover).  Wish me luck!

ttfn.  Kat  :)

The day my hair went purple...

I missed by blogger birthday.  Last year on 9th November I dipped my toe in the blogosphere for the first time, and I'm still here (just) having my quiet rants to myself...

Busy weekend, went out last night to celebrate Howard's 40th birthday.  He was the youngest of the group and his wife Lesley had organised a meal out early as they're invited to a wedding on his birthday.  The night out was 2 days after Simon's birthday, so he celebrated being older quietly... he was 48. The evening was very pleasant at the Vyne and Spice in Long Wittenham.  Food very good, but I am a stick in the mud and eating late makes me a bit discombobulated. We got home at midnight, so quite tired today.

Today we drove to see our friends Martin and Rachel and their children Eliot and Abigail who live in Carey in Herefordshire. SatNav said 2 hrs there, 2 hrs back, but took 5 hrs travelling because of the weather/traffic.  The worst floods were on the A417 before Faringdon - which I've been driving through all week on the school run.  There was evidence of flooding and flash flooding on the single track roads that lead to Carey, and even though that road skirts the river (can't remember it's name) and was close to flooding we got through safely.  The river was a magnificent red colour from the local  soil, and there was debris floating along a quite a lick, so it did add a little edge to the journey...

That said, had a lovely lunch with our friends and a good catch-up.  Took my camera and forgot to take any photos.  doh.  Must be going potty.

So, for a change I thought I'd colour my hair.  The box said 'rich chestnut, semi-permanent, suitable for less than 50% grey' which I thought ticked the boxes.  Well.  Not exactly chestnut.  More of an aubergine, plum, purple sort of colour, and that was two weeks ago.  'Washes out in 24 washes'...  and it has faded and I'm quite happy with it.  But I hadn't coloured my hair for about 4 years, so it's been a bit of a talking point for quite a few people I've bumped into.  Mostly complimentary, and it's only hair, so will grow out eventually.  I may keep it that way.  We'll see.

Will keep it short tonight as am tired from the weekend's excitement!

ttfn. Kat :)

The pressure cooker.

Everyone's under stress.  That's life in these consumer driven days.  The push push to get more more. Bigger, better, faster, sooner, newer, now, now, now!  The focus on growth all the time.  No wonder we   aren't 'happy' with our lot.  No wonder our children want things all the time.  Was it ever so?

And what does this relentless buying get us?  'Stuff'.  In other words, toys the children don't play with.  More packaging that has to be recycled.  Clothes we don't wear, shoes we don't wear, food we don't eat, books we haven't time to read, DVDs we haven't time to watch, CDs/music downloads we haven't time to listen to...

I'm as guilty as the next person.  I try to justify my spending habits to myself by saying that because most of  my purchasing is done in charity shops I'm: a) supporting a good cause; b) recycling; c) saving money. The fact is that by making the choice to pay for our children's education in the private sector, we have very little disposable income and have to be careful with what we do have.

I know everyone's having a tough time, it's austerity times and all that, and we're not exactly on the breadline, but sometimes, just sometimes I'd like to buy something without wondering if I'll make it to payday without going over my overdraft again.   There. I said it.  Ridiculous really at my age, you'd have thought that money wouldn't be a problem.   But this time last year the business we had went into administration, and we were both redundant for 3-4 months.  So we've still got some way to go before we catch our tails financially. Not complaining, just explaining. That's why it's still stressful. That's why it still hurts.  That's why it's still hard.

And you CAN find some really nice things in charity shops....  in fact I'm a little in love with my latest purchase, my Rohan Ice Pack jacket in lime green.  (I paid £25, which was a lot for me, but I needed a winter jacket as my Helly Hansen Ski Jacket was on it last legs, 8 yrs old or so, raggedy round the cuffs and a couple of seams split and unrepairable... and I was fed up of wearing Simon's old black fleecy jacket thing).

The Ridgeway towards Gramps Hill, near Letcombe

So here's the Ridgeway again, good walk - this is the return leg, we'd parked up by the trees on the horizon.  The Devil's Punchbowl is behind us to the left, there should be a dog somewhere, but he's off doing his to-ing and fro-ing, and missed this shot.

Time for bed - and more Lady Chatterley's Lover!
keep it sweet, Kat :)

Water under the bridge

A LOT has happened since this time last year.   Thankfully mostly good.  I've got a job I love at the Library.  Simon's working very hard and his job is going well.  Phoebe passed her entrance exams and is now attending the school she wanted to go to.  And Tom is your normal 6 yr old boy with the usual passions (Lego, Moshi Monsters, Monsuno etc).

I've learned a lot about myself.  Some good, some not so good.  Some emotional stuff, some personal stuff and some physical stuff.  I've cut out alcohol.  I'd been heading that way instinctively.  I'd stopped enjoying having a drink several years ago.  The taste didn't do it for me anymore, and the effect was to disrupt my sleep and wake me up with a dry mouth - even on one glass of wine... Whether it was the mix of stress and cortisone (stress hormone), or just my middle aged female hormones messing me around I don't know, but since I consciously gave up alcohol at the start of the year I've been feeling more centred, grounded, happier.  And sleeping better as well.

I've cut down on dairy.  Swopped milk on my breakfast cereal for soya milk.  Cut out cheese.  Cut down on yogurt.  This seems to have helped reduce my hot flushes immensely.  Or is it the improved stress levels now our employment issues are resolved?

In all the bother of the personal issues which resulted from the business going down last year, it transpired that I have high blood pressure.  The medication I'm now taking is working well and I'm feeling better, although the hbp was symptom free before diagnosis, so explain that!

Our dog is older and it shows.  He's smelly, as in dog smell and also fartier (is that a word?).  I've been telling other dog walkers that he's nine and a half for the last six months or so, so he must, by now, be ten.  We keep him light to avoid any flare up with his back problem, which is 3 yrs ago this Autumn.  Also if he's lighter it's easier on the joints, and he does seem creakier in himself, when he turns and turns to lie down, he's obviously stiff in places, morning and night.  I'll start giving him cod-liver oil capsules again (dog breath plus fish breath, ugh!).

Autumnal Berries in Ardington

So I'm still reading 'Blaming' by Elizabeth Taylor - will finish it although I don't care for any of the characters, her writing is good - easy and and well aimed, but I'll be glad to get to the end.  

I've actually read another book in the meantime.  'The Paperchase' by Louis Theroux.  This was a good read, although the denouement was actually a bit too clever and didn't satisfy entirely.  

I've finally started reading 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by DH Lawrence.  Nothing happened yet, two chapters in, but it's obvious what it's building up to, and his descriptive passages of the town and the setting up of the characters and the scene are expertly done, and again, not at all heavy going. Will reserve judgement on the actual 'nitty gritty' so to speak, as haven't got that far yet!

I don't usually read two or more books at once, but the Elizabeth Taylor has me at once annoyed and held captive - I don't really care for the characters at all, but I want to see how it turns out.... which probably says more about me than the book.

On that I'm off to bed.

ttfn.

Kat