Unfinished

Thought it was about time I did a crafty update.  Today it is knitting.

I've had a sort out and everything I have no intention of ever finishing (yes all those lonely socks) has hit the bin.  No frog pond for them.  Straight to the bin. Socks are history for me I think. They are BORING so definitely won't be starting any more for a long while!

This is what I have left. 

an almost completed pair of socks which I figured I could get finished in a couple of hours so too much work already done to bin.

these next two lots of socks I hung onto because they are very expensive yarn and the patterns aren't too bad.  They will be in hibernation for a while though until I can find my mojo for them.

next up is the Flit n Float scarf I started for the F fortnight

and another scarf I started with another of the more expensive balls of yarn.  This one is more of a stashbuster but should go OK with my brown winter coat

and lastly mystery lace.  Yes I know I said I wasn't doing any again but with the right yarn lace knitting can be actually enjoyable.  I have taken my time with it and still have almost 3 parts of the pattern to get through so a ton of knitting but I kind of like doing it.  The yarn is Zauberball lace in blackberry.  Again should go OK with any of my winter coats or maybe whatever winter coat I have in 3 years time lol

Skywatch At The Seaside

Despite a gorgeous weekend we are now back to drab grey skies which to be honest I actually prefer as it is cooler and I hate the hot weather.  Somewhere inbetween the freezing temperature of winter and the heat of summer is just right for me.  OK so we don't get much heat for much of the time but I don't like it when it is red hot.

So with grey skies here I decided to grab another picture from our jaunt to the seaside a couple of weekends ago.

and here is some of the rest of it

we had cheesy chips (fries) by the harbour with the seagulls for company

there were icecreams

and a donkey ride

Daisy had her first beach experience.  Living too far from the coast to visit too often we hadn't actually ever taken her until now.

The first thing she wanted to do was dig

but soon discovered the sea once we threw her toy in there.  Unfortunately she decided she was going to swim out and not get the toy which ended up with me wading in to get it.  After the swim out for a few seconds she didn't attempt it again but was happy to go a little way in.

there was also digging by the boys

the beach we went to is at Bridlington on the yorkshire coast.  Dogs are allowed to go on the south beach past a certain point.  South beach runs for miles.  Once the tide is out there is extensive space for dogs to run and kids to play.

J Is For ........

mainly Johnny & Jermaine.  Yep the second day into the J fortnight and goals by Jonathan Howson and Jermaine Beckford sent Leeds United jumping into the Championship. 

This is Jermaine Beckford after his goal with Johnny in the background

This is Johnny celebrating after the match had ended

My 2 J's were very happy.

Goodness knows why Jack insists on the gurning pose on every pic but a pic is a pic when all you want to do is hide from the camera. 

Also for Leeds United is Jason Crowe who has been injured so this is an old shot when Jenna met him last august

We also went on a journey to the seaside

Others J's we have done are

eaten - Jelly, Jacket Potatoes & Jalapenos (not all together)

drank - juice

wore -  jackets & jeans

Chili Peppers J is John Frusciante - guitar god.

and Chili Peppers J musicwise has to be a jam

A Tonsillectomy

My littlest boy had his tonsils out on monday after years of problems, mainly with his ears.  The consultant said a tonsillectomy should sort it out as they were huge.  Apparently they have grades from 0 to 5 with 5 being touching each other.  They wrote on his surgery form grade III/IV and to be perfectly honest they had come down in size so I can only imagine how uncomfortable they must have been for him.

It is so difficult to leave your child in the anaesthaesia room. Yes I know that is probably spelt differently.  I stayed until he was asleep but came out feeling rather annoyed with the anaesthetist.  We went for a visit beforehand and everything was explained in a child friendly way.  The canula was described as a spiderman webshooter and no needles were ever mentioned for obvious reasons with a child. The hospital is predominantely adult operations so the anaesthetist is more used to talking to adults and walked in grabbed his hand and said OK now time to put the needle in.  Instant tears.  Luckily the nurse was prepared with a big book to block any sight of it.

As a literal thinking kid with aspergers my son takes most things people tell him as true.  If somebody tells you something is going to happen then why think otherwise.  We know that it doesn't always work that way but aspergers kids don't always.  Anyway the nurse said we would be there when he woke up.  We went back to the ward to wait for the phone call and when it came they had changed shifts.  The receptionist on the ward told the new nurse it was time for us to collect him and, completely in our earshot, said well they will just have to wait until I have done this.  Assuming she was treating a patient I accepted it but was feeling panicky that I wanted to see my son.  A full ten minutes later she came to us to collect him and said she was sorry but she had some paperwork to catch up on.  UNBELIEVABLE!! She then proceeded to try telling us about her holiday she had just had. I was so so angry at this stage and I could see my husbands face getting more and more annoyed. 

The nurse in the recovery room looked just as annoyed too and said she was just about to bring him back herself.  He was in floods of tears because the poor little thing had woken up with nobody he knew around him when he had been told we would be there.  All because of NHS paperwork and a nurse who obviously thought more of getting it done than collecting a patient from theatre.

Nobody ever told us how much gunk a tonsillectomy produces and that the patient swallows most of it. A lot of which comes back up.  His lips and the corners of his mouth were very sore because of the clamp they put on and his tongue was very swollen and needed steroids to bring it back down. I lost count of the number of times they asked us if he had any wobbly teeth.  Luckily they are all still there.

A night on a kids ward is a very noisy time.  Most of the kids who had ops that day had probes on their fingers to monitors oxygen levels and pulse.  They kept knocking them off when they were asleep so there was an almost constant beeping noise.  So many poorly kids.  The nurses must have to harden themselves to the crying and pain they are in. Would be nice if the doctors on call didn't shout everything they had to say during the early hours.

They gave him his mask as a keepsake and we ended up with a sick bowl too for just in case in the car on the way home. He has been wearing it as a hat.

Skywatch 20th May

This weeks skywatch picture is from a visit to Bridlington at the weekend with the pooch.

Loft Conversion Update

An update up to this morning.

a week or so ago we got some walls

and a window

this huge thing is what houses the turn of the stairs.  The underside of the diagonal bit is storage.  I've been trying to find a wardrobe to fit in the space but without success.  I might have to improvise with some shelving and a rail because whilst nursery wardrobes are perfect for the height they are too wide unfortunately.

I can't wait to get rid of that horrible blue paint.  It hasn't been decorated since our last renovation project which was 7 years ago.  Two boys who were then 4 and 7 no longer want rockets and stars.  Even my 6 year old isn't impressed with them.  Plain and simple I think with whatever pictures etc they want on the walls.  I'm guessing it will have a definite football theme.

We also now have lots of wires hanging from ceilings all over the house. This is in the living room and those wires will connect to the electricity box on saturday when the electrician arrives.

and another wire at the other side of the living room. I think this is going to be a smoke alarm. Building regulations on 3 storey houses are very tight and it looks as if the fire service fitted one we currently have doesn't fulfil their requirements.

and again in the kitchen. This one bothers me because it is a bit close to the cooker and I can just imagine it going off every evening.

the stairs are now plastered.  This is going to be one hell of a tall ceiling to paint.  Long rollers at the ready I think because there is no way I am dangling off a ladder on those stairs.

this is the other side of the loft where the headroom isn't high enough for anything other than storage.  It is currently home to most of the contents of the boys room whilst the builders did their ceiling.  It is actually bigger than it looks in the picture and once we have cleared all this stuff back downstairs I will take another pic..

again looking smaller than in real life because the landing wall is in the way this is the main part of the loft which is now plastered.

Skywatch

This is the view from my brand new loft window (update on that soon)

Tough Letters

Just realised I haven't blogged H & I in my journey through the alphabet.

These were two of the hardest so far.

For H we

had a hole cut in the roof of our house

the builder put his foot through and made a hole in a bedroom ceiling

had school holidays

saw some heather

harvested crops on farmville

ate haribo, hedgehog bread, houmous, hot dogs, habanero chilli peanuts

walked up a hill

My little one chose a lovely H word - hugs which was very nice.

Leeds United player is Johnny Howson

I found the Hipstamtic app for my iphone.  This is my absolutely favourite app so far.  It is a camera but retro style. This is one of the pics I took during H before I knew there were different films and lenses but more about those later.

and as always a Chili Peppers contribution.  This H is Hump de Bump. 

Then onto I.  This was definitely hard.

I had planned to go to Ikea but it never happened.  We ate icecream and iced gems.  I listened to my ipod and used my iphone.  I changed the ink in the printer. The builders were using insulation.

and Chili Peppers input is I Could Have Lied which is right up there in my top 5 of their songs.

The Point Of No Return

Skywatch viewers my picture is at the bottom of this loft conversion update.

The point of no return is the point we are now at.  After an almost 2 week break whilst the staircase was built the builders were back this week.

Tuesday saw the worst day for mess.  They knocked out part of a wall and some of the boys' bedroom ceiling to make way for the turn of the stairs.

This is what is looked like before they started.

and after the work on tuesday

and after wednesday (not same angle)

these are all the 100+ year old very local bricks they removed.  I was quite fancying some of them to stand my plant pots on and to smash up for rubble to put in the bottom of them for drainage but alas they took them away yesterday.

This is the stud wall that they made before their little break that I have shown you before

and this is what it now looks like after yesterdays staircase insertion

I was officially allowed a viewing yesterday before they went home.  The tape went up afterwards to stop the kids going up they said.

I was told I needed imagination but to be honest I can kind of see how it will come together.  Not very big but big enough.  The other side of the staircase is very low headroom but will be fantastic for storage.  I've given up on the craft room idea.

and since it is thursday here is skywatch.  It's a picture I took on monday using my phone so the quality is a bit rubbish.  We took a walk to the local car boot sale but went the scenic route and ended up walking past a local cemetery.  These blossom trees instantly caught my eye and I couldn't resist snapping them.  I felt a bit disrespectful taking a picture of a graveyard though even if it was through a fence.

Edited To Add: a car boot sale is where people take their old items they no longer want and sell them from their car boots (trunks) usually in a big field with lots of other people on a specified day which is generally a bank holiday.

tomorrow (fingers very crossed) I am hoping there will be some knitting content.