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Alphabet in August – M to P

Posted by on Thursday 25 August 2011 in meta | 3 comments

This is a month-long creative exercise led by Chiot’s Run: descriptive words and pictures about me/my life starting with each letter of the alphabet. Most people are doing a letter a day but I’m doing it in groups instead. I’m a little behind at the moment because of one of the words for L… ;)

(It was supposed to be “M is for mushrooms” but I found this one while looking for fungi pics. I’m very interested in fungi. I’m very amused by muddy dogs.)

M is for…

  • Maps: I love maps – reading them, drawing them. I have a very good memory for them too – if I’ve looked at a map of an area once, it’s in my brain for good.
  • Mediocre: My greatest fear and my growing realisation.
  • Mouthy: Fitting with all the “argumentative” style words up to now, I just don’t know when to shut up sometimes.
  • Multitudes: Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
  • Myopic: It’s all a blur after a few feet.

(As much as I like being outside, I think I prefer the night to day really.)

N is for…

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Not fishing in Whitby

Posted by on Thursday 18 August 2011 in goals | 8 comments

I’ve had “go sea fishing” in the North Sea on my goal list last year but faff and disorganisation meant it didn’t happen, so it was pushed onto my goal list for this year. Eight months through the year, faff and disorganisation were at risk of having their way with things again, so rather than postpone any longer, we decided to go risk going in the busy summer holiday period yesterday.

We found an afternoon “taster trip”, took the doggie to her granny & pop-pops’ house for the day (she’s their granddog) and organised our schedule with a good hour/hour-and-a-half buffer zone between getting there and needing to go to the boat, just in case we got lost, got stuck in traffic or had trouble finding a parking space. That hour/hour-and-a-half buffer zone would have covered one or two of those eventualities but, as it turned out, not all three. It took us nearly twice as long to get there as it should have done, and we missed the boat (literally) by about ten minutes. Somewhat annoying.

Lemons/lemonade – we were in Whitby, my favourite seaside town (sorry Southport, you might have birthed me but your sea is, frankly, a bit rubbish) and had already mentally committed to having an afternoon off so we played tourists: a walk on the beach, fish & chips, donuts, some casual jet jewellery window shopping and some serious seagull watching. We parked at the Abbey so got to have a distant gaze at that too.

I also indulged my craft bone with a visit to Bobbins, the mostly yarn/some antiques shop in the shopping area on the east of the harbour. I stroked various yarns before buying some King Cole Riot DK (very nice, even though it’s 70% acrylic).

It’s a shame we didn’t get to go fishing but we still had a jolly pleasant afternoon in the sunshine. We were hoping to actually go fishing next Wednesday but as the Whitby Folk Festival starts next Monday, I suspect it’ll be too busy for us – but we will get there, we will eventually, we will!

(Photo from a previous wintery trip to Whitby – we didn’t think it would be sensible to take an expensive camera out on a fishing trip so didn’t have one yesterday. Imagine the same shot with a brighter blue sky and about a hundred times as many people :) )

UK people – have you been to Whitby? What are your favourite spots there – any recommendations for places to eat/drink for when we do return to fish?

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Alphabet in August – I to L

Posted by on Monday 15 August 2011 in meta | 0 comments

This is a month-long creative exercise led by Chiot’s Run: descriptive words and pictures about me/my life starting with each letter of the alphabet. Most people are doing a letter a day but I’m doing it in groups instead ;)

(I love it when it’s icy in winter and I have a good excuse to hide inside near the stove, crafting with animals on top of me :) )

I is for…

  • Interested: in everything. All the time.
  • Introspective: this exercise is an example of this! I’m generally much more negative when introspective in my own brain though and have had to stop keeping diaries because they just became negative introspection feedback loops.
  • Introverted: I came across this list of myths about introverted people a few months ago and nodded a lot.
  • Insolent: I generally don’t mean to be but I often come off that way because I don’t blindly abide by a number of social pleasantries for the sake of it (see “introverted”). I also usually beat myself up about it for hours afterwards (see “introspective”! ;) )
  • Idler: Different from being lazy (which I also am, see below), I greatly value regular periods of idling – downtime playing computer games or relatively mindless crafting etc. With those distracting my conscious brain, my subconscious can figure things out all sorts of things for me or produce a variety of creative ideas.

(John, my favourite meatbag. Well, human meatbag. We share a brain as well as a home but we rarely share dessert, oh no.)

J is for…

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Alphabet in August – E to H

Posted by on Monday 8 August 2011 in meta | 2 comments

This is a month-long creative exercise led by Chiot’s Run: descriptive words and pictures about me/my life starting with each letter of the alphabet. Most people are doing a letter a day but I’m doing it in groups instead ;)

(Natch.)

E is for …

  • Eclectic: I like (and do) a whole load of different stuff.
  • Elephant-memory: Although I usually don’t say I have “good memory” but a good retrieval system (I say my brain is like Google; John, who can’t ever remember anything, is like Lycos circa 1996. Both of us have the results but I can find them more efficiently.)
  • Envious: Not of diamonds and wealth, but of soil, growing conditions, seed selections… I can’t read growing or making blogs without wanting to do it myself too.
  • Euphemistic: My favourite Twitter hashtag is #notaeuphemism
  • Emoticon: I’m not a fan of fancy ones or multiple ones used in rapid succession (which my dad does, all the frickin’ time) but I use the basic smiley one a LOT – including every time I sign my name (electronically or on paper). It makes me smile whenever I type it. :)

(Food and [marrow flower] fritters – double whammy!)

F is for …

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Alphabet in August – A to D

Posted by on Thursday 4 August 2011 in meta | 2 comments

Susy from Chiot’s Run is running a themed creative exercise this month: words or ideas to describe ourselves, using a different letter of the alphabet each day, often accompanied by a letter-focused photo.

A good number of people are taking part, doing their letter each day like they’re supposed to, but as you will read when I get down to “R”, I’m rather rebellious and not good at following rules, so I’m going do them in batch form instead, picking no more than five words for each letter. My photos will be things in my life which start with (or evoke) that letter too, rather than the actual letters themselves.

Here’s my first few letters – A-D:

(I’m rather over-excited about the achocha growing in our garden at the moment.)

A is for…

  • Animal-lover: I prefer them to (most) humans.
  • Addictive-personality: Thankfully my worst addictions are video games, not noxious substances.
  • Animated: When I get into a conversation, I REALLY get into it.
  • Argumentative: See “Animated”. Rarely productive or beneficial to the situation.
  • Atheist: Something I often get animated and argumentative about. ;)
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August 2011 mini goals

Posted by on Wednesday 3 August 2011 in goals | 2 comments

I didn’t set myself any mini goals last month as I had nothing particularly pressing. This month though…

Personal finance

1. Actually switch my cash ISA as I had planned to (but didn’t) in May.

2. Sit down with John and redivide the bills (they’ve been a bit of a jumble for a while)

3. After my spendy-spendy last couple of weeks, spend no more than the £100 in my “save as you spend” categories (eating out, books, clothing, crafts, entertainment, “frivolous”, and gifts).

House stuff

John’s been giving away a lot of big things recently – I feel I need to do some micro to his macro!

4. Clear out the kitchen cupboard opposite the cooker, and the cat cupboard and the dog cupboard – lots of junk in there

5. Clear out the porch cupboards

6. Fit the skirting board & flooring in the utility room

Growing, making, cooking

7. Make another giant bean bag for the office (since the old office one is now in the living room)

8. Make a new purse

9. Handmill some of my vegetable oil soaps to make some scented ones

10. Make 2 meals worth of ravioli

Have you got any mini-goals or big things on your to-do list for this month?

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