there is a hat
picture to follow once I figure out how to get it off my phone and onto the internet

Crochet

...is going well so far. I have almost achieved a round, although it is quite uneven and lumpy. If you leave the glass on it then you can convince yourself its a coaster.

on to greater and flatter things!

String and snow

people (well, person..hi Rach!) get the award ready... I have mastered crochet! it's taken me 26 years and several very failed attempts but I can now make chain stitch *victory dances* it's going to be quite a while before I transfer this new found skill into hats and things though. Unfortunately anything more than chain stitch turns the wool into the aftermath of a kitten attack.

In other news it is still snowy, and the 'news' has turned into an extended weather report. I'm scared to try and get into work because of the icy roads and scary images in my head of spinning and sliding and gliding straight into oncoming articulated lorries (thank you bbc news). I was working up the courage to try and get in for 9am tomorrow as I have a full clinic booked when one of my friends (who works in the adjacent town - about three streets away) basically warned me off. Apparently she got a lift into work because she couldn't get out of her street, her office was shut at lunch time and all appointments cancelled, then she crept home and it was scary.

Of course it's highly likely that no-one will turn up anyway, because there are no buses in town, and sensible people are staying at home. But what will my boss say?(if she, or anyone else is even there) and the all-knowing-weather-people are predicting that there will be no thaw for at least a week. I can's stay at home forever, I have no child as an excuse. (Explanation; in English employment law you have the right to stay off work with pay and no negative implication to care for dependants. If you have no dependants the legal position is basically get your skis out and get on in, so I'm starting to worry that I'll have to repay the hours or take a pay cut - not sure that's fair).

So crochet celebration and work related snow worries. A mixed, but good enough day so far and an evening of knot making ahead of me. A hat is not beyond me, eventually.

"Keep breathing" is about right, I hadn't realised how long it's been since I was here. Life's been a backwards forwards always driving more people to visit hectic few weeks.
I frantically tried to create homemade pressies for my nearest and dearest...starting on the 19th December. Organisation is still not my strong point, but I'm working on it. I did get almost all of what I'd planned done though, and into the post. It felt like christmas miracle number one.

Today we've been having a snow day...England simply can't cope with a foot of snow, Rosie's stuck on the drive and I got to trample in snow, laugh at A cannonballing into the giant snowball he made, watch birds washing their hair and hands and face in snow...all the wintry stuff. We walked to town and I'm starting to ache in muscles I didn't know I had.

The forecast is not looking good for tomorrow either; ice on top of the snow, so I'll see how it goes. I could be working from home, which could be a much needed chance to get organised.

I've been reading a few blogs about getting organised, since it's an area that keeps coming up (we're planning to move house soon and all this *stuff* is not moving with us). They're probably old news in blog land but I've been soaking up the wisdom at three interesting blogs -

Art of Non-Conformity http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/
Zen Habits http://zenhabits.net/
The Happiness Project http://www.happiness-project.com/

time for hot chocolate and a bath right now...winter can be beaten by bubbles and candlelight, it can it can it can.

speak sooner, I promise x