Home
Strength Through Absurdity.'s Journal

> recent entries
> calendar
> friends
> profile
> previous 20 entries

Advertisement

Monday, February 8th, 2010
11:09 am - Creativity and Hang Overs.....
The crocheting is going well.

I've had a look online and done further research and found I was wrong about etsy, it's actually cheaper than folksy although all done in dollars and stuff so I may have a shop on both.

I need to make some stock first though so there's no point getting over excited about that just yet.

====

I got SO drunk this weekend. It was someone's leaving doo at work and we went for a very nice meal and then he decided that rather than hit the frankly quite awful bars and clubs that Peterborough has to offer, we should find an off-license get some drink in and go back to his place for a flat-cooling party.

After he started getting off with his boss (which was an inevitability after it previously happened at the Christmas party) we all decided to leave them to it and head back via a lot of other people's houses until I got back to mine about 5am.

I've become pretty good at handling hang overs though, using the technique of only sleeping a few hours and then waking up still drunk, but awake enough to administer orange juice and breakfast which stops most of it ever arriving.

=====

Stu's away at his Mum's as it's her birthday today so I have the house to myself and should probably try and clean some of it.

This is a boring update but I have decided I am going to try and write something every day just so that I am writing SOMETHING.

current mood: awake

(7 comments | comment on this)

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
12:00 pm - Inspiration....
Today I will be mostly doing crochet.

I was given some wool on freecycle a while ago and decided to earn how to make those little crochet squares that you sew together into a big blanket. But while I've got the hang of it, I've been a bit stuck on how to make it in any way cool or trendy.

But today, thanks to the amazing inspiration that is my Stu, [who is now much better] I have got lots of new ideas all at once.

I'm starting with a baby blanket as a Christening gift for one of our friends who has recently reproduced, and then there will be no stopping me.

I'm going to start a little online shop on www.folksy.com when I have enough.

Watch this space people!

[Sorry this post is a little vague, I'm just all excitable and want to rant about it.]

current mood: excited

(5 comments | comment on this)

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
9:35 pm - What romantic texts does your other half send you from work?
Mine sent me this the other day:

I'm on my way to a teenager with a toothbrush up his bum! Xxx


Lovely!

It's your NHS people!! Use it well.

current mood: amused

(3 comments | comment on this)

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
4:25 pm - Walking!
I've been up north on the family run round after Christmas in the last week.

Part of this was spent in the Lake District visiting my aunty and we went on a little walk while there to the local waterfall.

I was absolutely knackered after about 5 minutes. I've got so weak from driving around and living in flat flat flat Norfolk and Cambridgeshire that my legs just cannot cope with hills any more.

So I am going to try and boost my fitness so I can get back to doing all the crazy things I like doing.

Well today Stu was at work so I went for a wander into the city centre by myself. There is a big park on Google Maps so I thought that might be good to look round. It's your typical Victorian type of park which is quite nice and I can tell the Rose Garden will be gorgeous when in bloom so I will aim to go back there with a frizbe and some friends in the summer time.

I think I did about 10 miles so I'm quite proud of myself although now I'm STARVING and since I'd like to lose a few pounds at the moment I'm resisting the urge to cram my face with crisps.

Mmmm crisps.....

current mood: chipper

(4 comments | comment on this)

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
6:23 pm - Ok
So it's got to the point now where I am avoiding LJ because I just feel guilty about my lack of posting.

But the good news is that it's a whole new year, and I've decided to forgive myself for being generally rubbish in 2009.

The writers block and various stupid moments of despair. They have gone and we have a new decade to play with. YEAH BABY!

So I am back, and I will update with all my stupid thoughts that I worry none of you want to read.

I'm going to leave it short and sweet for now because if I waffle on then I'll end up coming back to finish this later and justify the length... and that will never happen.

Big resolution for 2010 is to accept my faults and find ways to work them into my life rather than just shouting at myself to change.

Resolution review of 2009 and new list for 2010 coming at some point.

Love you all!!

current mood: bouncy

(2 comments | comment on this)

Friday, September 18th, 2009
3:37 pm - I wonder.....
I've realised that this 2 and a half years in Norfolk is the longest that I've stayed anywhere without moving house.

And I can't wait to leave this county for many many many reasons, and dazzle myself in the bright lights of Peterborough. (Peter Vagas as I'm calling is for now, Peter Bosnia as called by the people who live there already.)

We are going to be there for a couple of years as Stu's contracted to the ambulance service, but I wonder how long we'll stay in that first house? I wonder how long we'll stay in Peterborough?

Above all I wonder if I will ever find a place where I say "I really like it here."

current mood: contemplative

(2 comments | comment on this)

Thursday, September 17th, 2009
8:36 pm - Mini Update.
We had Stu's 30th Birthday and Leaving the Army Party the other week.

Not too many people came but it was fun none the less and we all got very drunk. He had a good time.

He's now technically unemployed which he's not very happy about but as soon as his CRB check [they contact all the police forces in all the areas he's ever lived in to see if he's likely to molest children or rape people] comes through, he can go and work for the ambulance service.

What with all the new teachers and everything that need to start work at this time of year, I imagine there is a bit of a backlog but it should come through soon. I hope so.

We still don't know when we'll be able to move house either.

We now need my aunty to be our guarantor. But because she is up north it has to be done by post and there has to be a 7 day cooling off period AFTER she fills it in, before they'll give us the house. GAH.

Why is it so hard to give someone some money?

It should be a couple more weeks at most though.

So now we are going into over drive on sorting out the house. We figure out that if we pick up EVERY SINGLE object in the house then we can easily decide if we actually want it, or if it's just gathering dust.

Sounds silly but we discovered we have 4 pan lids with no pans to go with them, and we found things in cupboards we didn't even know were there.

I'm hoping that doing all this now will give us chance to get rid of things in a nice way rather than just dumping it all in a panic at the last minute.... and when it comes to packing we'll know EVERYTHING can just be collapsed straight into a big box and go to a set room in the new house and come straight out again.

The local charity shops are doing rather well out of it all, as is the local free cycle network.

Plus it's progress, without which, I think our mental state would be a lot lot worse.

current mood: busy

(comment on this)

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
10:01 am - Oh Dear.....
I've had a lovely weekend and will update about that later but first I must just point out that I am sat in a radio station on my own.

Sales and everyone else, including the 2 journalists I'm covering for, have gone off to Alton Towers. We're taking our shows from London at this time of day but still.... So if something explodes and we go off air, I am entirely screwed.

My handover from last night said there had been a person hit by a train. No biggy, people throw themselves in front of trains all the time. This morning, it turns out that it's a 2 year old boy.

Sky news have just rang asking to steal any audio I get on it... so it looks like I'm off to deal with that.

Short version:
I am not at Alton Towers. I do not like dealing with dead children.

current mood: gloomy

(1 comment | comment on this)

Monday, August 31st, 2009
7:43 pm - Hair...
I may or may not be a ginger ninja.

They aren't freckles, they're kisses from an angel.

Ginger power!!

Photobucket

current mood: Ginger!

(4 comments | comment on this)

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
8:00 pm - Housing search and other things...
Well what's been happening?

We didn't get that house we wanted. Another couple got their application in before ours and so they got the house.

BUT the estate agent did give us a tip off about a house that had JUST come up for rental and today we went and had a look. It's SO much nicer!!! Which re-enforces my "things happen for a reason" philosophy about not getting things I want.

We had all our forms filled out and everything in order from the last house so we went to the estate agent and posted it all through their letter box there and then. I'll ring up first thing in the morning to check it's got to the right person and then hopefully things should run smoothly.

The reference checking usually takes about a week apparently so fingers crossed we should be able to move in some time before the end of the first week in September.

The landlord is in the process of moving out of the house so he showed us round and mentioned he has no where in his new place to put his pool table. We said we'd be fine "storing" it for him. The garden is nice too so we should have a nice vegetable plot up and going and there's a flower bed and little arch so I'm going to plant roses and honey suckle.

EEP!!

In other news I popped up to the Edinburgh festival for a few days to visit my friend who's working there and I realised how much I missed it. I'm definitely not going to Iraq or moving house next summer so I am going to get my crap in order and get a job sorted so I can go up for the whole month.

That's about it to be honest.



Oh and I gave away my old sofa for free on the internet. I had several people want it and gave it to the woman who said "my sofa at the moment was a gift from my mother in law. Every week she comes round and turns the cushions and tells me I'm not looking after it and she regrets giving it to me. I want any old sofa so I can take hers back and tell her to shove it up her arse."

current mood: chipper

(6 comments | comment on this)

Thursday, August 13th, 2009
6:35 pm - Shooting Stars!
Last night was the best night of the year for seeing shooting stars.

And it coincided with a camping trip we've been planning to take with some friends of ours so we headed over to a campsite right on the east coast.

I haven't done much exploring over that way as it's a long drive, but we stayed on this farmers field just next to the huge sand dunes that stop Norfolk from disappearing under the sea.

The sand is soft and white and since there is nothing out to sea except a few oil and gas platforms / Norway, there is no litter and not even any drift wood.

We were also allowed to light fires so we lay on our backs and watched the stars.

It was great to get away and so today you are officially all invited to join us on a beach in Norfolk for next years Perseid Meteor Shower, plus much drinking and playing in the sea. Bring a tent, some booze and something to wear when you play in the waves.

current mood: happy

(4 comments | comment on this)

Monday, August 3rd, 2009
2:21 pm - I want a house.
I have been packing up and getting ready to move house recently. We don't have anywhere to move TO just yet but the thought of getting out of this depressing place is reason enough to go through old paper work and start selling old furniture.

I am determined that everything that comes to the new house will be stuff I:
1. Like
2. Have a place for it to go
3. Will be nice.


I've also discovered that if you do searches for antique furniture on ebay and search within a 50 mile radius, you can get absolute bargains on stuff that's marked pick up only.

The new house will get a new sofa and new Ikea bookshelves, and the rest will be lovely old stuff.


We've also been talking a lot more about buying a place. Stu will be in Cambridge for 2 years plus so he can get his paramedic qualification. If I get a job nearby then that time will extend for as long as we are both happy. So that's time enough to buy a place.

Stu is slowly coming round to the idea of buying a run down old building and doing a lot of work on it. If we can buy somewhere that the developers know is going to be a LONG haul job then they will not bother with it. You have to be in an out within a year to make cash on a house, otherwise the mortgage interest payments make it not worth your while.

When we were in Wales we went to the Centre for Alternative Energy (www.cat.org.uk) where you get to play with wind turbines and make wave power. It's been going for about 30 years and has experimented with just about everything on the market that creates electricity.

They had one little INCREDIBLY simple display that had a white bit of wood, a black bit of wood, a black bit of wood over insulation, and a black bit of wood over insulation under glass.

You could feel how, even on a wet grey Welsh day, each one was warmer than the last. Then you looked up to see an old radiator from someone's house, with glass over it, and could run water out of it to see how warm it was.

I have to say, I was shocked at how hot the water was on a rainy day.

So if you have a house I fully recommend looking into solar water heaters for your roof. It's though they pay for themselves in 7 years, and that's not including the value they add to the house, or if bills go up.

If we can get a little house with a solar water heater, and a wood burner, then I think we will be very happy.

current mood: busy

(4 comments | comment on this)

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
4:15 pm - Good News
I appreciate I have been rubbish at commenting and replying to comments recently. But I am lurking vaguely.

Well today Stu passed the assessment and so if you come to Cambridgeshire and need to dial 999 he may just turn up and make you better, or at the very least drive you to hospital very very fast.

We are now officially moving to Peterborough.

I have got rather excited and been looking at all the local groups listed on the City Council website. I can do Ballet, and Yoga, and Climbing, and lots of stuff.

I haven't found a writers group yet and I have a feeling that it won't be as good as the one I am in now, but we shall see.

I'm so happy because just about everything has been waiting for this day. Now all we need is a contract on paper and we can start looking at houses.

I'm all super motivated to clear this house now. Everything in the kitchen will come with us, but most of the living room furniture will go and we have a fair bit of sorting out in the rest of the house too.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

current mood: excited

(1 comment | comment on this)

Monday, July 6th, 2009
10:08 pm - Swine Flu?..... Apocolypse!
Not being funny or anything, but is it coincidence that Swine Flu starts killing people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8137115.stm

And the Monkeys are all trying to escape:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8136368.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8135148.stm



This is exactly the kind of thing they teach you to watch out for at the start of the Zombie Apocalypse.

If I see one mutilated body being investigated in the news then I am heading for the hills!!







NB. I know it's in poor taste to take the mick out of dead children, but they are not Michael Jackson so apparently no one is going to care.

(3 comments | comment on this)

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
3:06 pm - I Vant Your Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud!
Today I realised it's coming up to a YEAR since I gave blood last.

That's bad.

It would be miles easier if I could give locally but they are always in my local town on the ONE DAY in the week that I can't make it, and although we have a blood mobile that comes to the village, it's always booked up several weeks in advance so I can't use it.

I also have been injected with Typhoid and Hepititis A in the last year and been to a place that had a malaria risk quite recently, but I think I can still give ok.

I think that this time they send me a shiny blue card rather than a bog standard red one as a present for being so good.

There is a session on the 12th June in town, but I'll be in Scotland so can't go!

And the next one after that is in JULY.

Argh!

current mood: guilty

(5 comments | comment on this)

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
12:34 pm - This is a degu...



I love it when my 2 chatter to each other and have arguments.

Sorry I haven't been replying to comments very well. I haven't forgotten, I'm just being a bit useless.

Update soon though... I have a job interview! But can't jinx it by talking about it, so you have to pretend I said nothing and if I don't update about it then you must never mention it again.

(4 comments | comment on this)

Friday, April 17th, 2009
1:24 pm - Religion
I've been having a think about that big old Religion question recently.

What do I believe? By thinking that I am right about it, does that not make me extremely arrogant? Who am I to say I'm right when much cleverer people than me have put far more study and thought into it than me.

And can the human brain even comprehend life the universe and everything?

First: Disclaimer:

I am all for people having faith and belief and if it gets them through life and helps them and makes them happy then they can worship frogs for all I care.
I have people of various faiths on my friends list and you all work in your own way and you are all great and lovely people. I'm hoping some of you will comment and give me things to think about after this. And By faith I totally include Atheists as well. You have faith in science and logic and I think that has to be taken as a belief in its own right when it comes to the REALLY big stuff. Obviously we all believe in anti-biotics and the circulatory system.

[Unknown LJ tag]

Next: I was brought up Church of England.

This was the chilled out version of Christianity that allowed the King to be all powerful as head of the Church, but also was designed to be forward thinking in that it allowed divorce. (Ok at the time it meant divorce as in "trading in your boring older wife for a pretty younger model" but still, I know we are all far happier not being tied to a person for life even if they turn out to be lying violent scumbags.) I liked the Church of England in that it was pretty much a live and let live and just come hang out here on a Sunday if you fancy it kind of church. But over the last few hundred years, it's got more and more entrenched in the ways of the older more judgemental churches. One Bishop recently said that floods across England were God's judgement for legalising gay marriage. I realise that many vicars are fab and get that the church needs to carry on with it's original function of staying modern, but others do not and that is what puts me off it.

The vicar that married my sister in law to her husband was REALLY pushing her to say "honour and obey" in her vows.... Eh??? I made damn sure that I promised to honour and respect, never obey. That would have lasted about 5 minutes and then our marriage would have technically been voided.



The Old Testament:

I'm not a big fan to be honest. It makes a lot of sense if you read it in a historical context. Genesis roughly makes sense (correct me on this you science types) first came the light (big bang) then the land, then the creatures that crawl on the sea, and then the land and blah blah blah, finally comes man.

The laws and rules also make sense if you take them in the context of advice to run a tribe in the middle of the desert 2000 years ago. They may not be right, but they work as a rough guide if you use them right. Eg, women on their period must be sent off to deal with it outside the city walls for a week. Brilliant, no cooking or cleaning or babysitting for a week for her, just her and her close girlfriends who are on at the same time having a bit of a laugh. Eg2. Don't pick up sticks on a Sunday - everyone in the group gets a day off one day a week.
Yes some of them are rubbish, but as I say, they are 2000 years old and must be treated as such.


So Yeah: Jesus.

I honestly think I would have got on well with Jesus.
[I'm accepting that there is enough historical evidence that he existed, whether he was the son of a God is another matter, so we'll take that with a pinch of salt.]
He hated organised religion, he hung out in the rough end of town, he knew that he had the power of GOD ALMIGHTY within him and used it to get a Bride drunk out of her mind at her wedding.


But then there is: Science.

Science is awesome. But we have to separate the science of inventing iPods and cures for Man-Flu, from the science that is basically theories of everything.

I believe firmly in science. I think Stephen Hawkings and the Hadron Collider could provide us with some answers that will explain a lot of the great unsolved mysteries. But will they ever prove beyond doubt that nothing you do in life will ever make a difference in the grand scheme of things? That it really is just survival of the fittest as we should just kick people in the head that get in our way?

</lj>

So what is my theory on life... well I hate to disappoint you but I don't actually know.

I take my phillosophy from my all time favourite religious film though:

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

The 2 Commandments I will always try and live by are:

1. Party On Dudes!!
Always make the most of what life has to offer.

2. Be Excellent to One Another!
This covers everything from murder, theft and global warming, to littering and indicating to change lanes on motorways.

AIR GUITAR!!!

current mood: thoughtful

(9 comments | comment on this)

Saturday, April 11th, 2009
11:36 am - Stop all the clocks...
As some of you may know, I am an agony aunt on a problem page style website.

Now I know we have a global recession going on and having a read of Amnesty International's website, one might even think that some not very nice stuff was going down in the world but this problem from a 14 year old girl puts it all in perspective for me:

H1 i'm 14 and i have a boy friend and he has been busy for like at least a week for his basket ball thingymajig so i haven't talk to him in a while and his friend his best budd "J" has liked me for a while and has not told no on but he finally told me that he likes me and i like kind of like him a little to we have so much in common but i have a boyfriend that i really like so its hard for me to pick but my boyfriend doesn't know this issue!


HE'S BEEN BUSY FOR A WEEK!!!! What kind of evil minded misogynist arsehole is he???

current mood: amused

(6 comments | comment on this)

Sunday, April 5th, 2009
5:50 pm - We have degus!
Don't ask me how it happened. It just did, this afternoon while trying to buy peanuts and plant pots.

Anyway, since they are the last major purchase using army paycheques and they will be with us for the next 8 years, we decided to name them after something that would symbolise this past few years of our lives.

So we now have Euphrates and Tigris.

They are cute and I will update with a photo as soon as I get one.

Yey Degus!

current mood: giggly
current music: Degus saying nim nim nim

(4 comments | comment on this)

Saturday, March 28th, 2009
9:09 am - I know I don't do these things but....







Is it wrong that I'm quite proud to have a seduction style that's a bit too evil for them to feel good about?

You've got to have dark or you can't have light.

And I do want a puppy...

current mood: amused

(4 comments | comment on this)


> previous 20 entries
> top of page
LiveJournal.com