Dreams

The planner is becoming more trouble than it could possibly be worth. On one of the pages at the front, it asks me to list fifty dreams. I don't have fifty dreams. I've thought and thought and thought about it, but most of the ones that I come up with are more like a to-do list or are hopes for bear. It's somewhat depressing. Another slice of the dreams that I've managed to jot down are vague wishes. It's like, I feel like I ought to want to travel, but when I get down to it, it's a fairly lukewarm dream. I'm actually pretty happy trundling around here. I don't want a list of how to improve myself - that's not dreams. It's like a pressure to be better, but in a stern way rather than inspiration. However it's helping me narrow down a little of where I want to focus. I'm not risking putting down anything, as whatever I plan on here is immediately cursed, but I'll share if/when anything happens. 

Dinner was awesome tonight. It was a recipe from Tesco - Beef and Root Vegetable Hotpot, which turned out really well. However I think that I got the liquid wrong, and even though I used a casserole dish that was twice as big as recommended, the dratted thing overflowed all over the oven. I am not looking forward to the clean up tomorrow. It turned out beautifully rich as it was thickened with flour and tomato puree and had allspice as flavouring, though I think I'll add a little more allspice next time. Tesco recipes seem to be a little under-spiced. 

It's left me with a lot of veggies left over - I've got a leek, parsnips, sweet potatoes and plenty of onions. I can see a generous pot of soup in the future. It's getting to that time of year, and simmering those veggies up with lentils and plenty of garlic, turmeric and cumin will make me very happy and fill the freezer with good stuff. 

I haven't got any pics from today, so here's one from Unsplash that I think is good for the spooky season.

Photo by Marko Blažević on Unsplash

Hugs and good health to all. 

As Expected

I meant to have a sitting still day. I meant to have a 'keep up with the writing' day. I could possibly go for 'finishing that dratted shawl' day. 

I listed another lot of yarn on eBay, then I went to list this.

And I thought about it. I could turn this into a sweater as I had originally planned. However I wanted to knit blankets. I thought that I may possibly be able to sell blankets. I may as well knit the dratted blankets. I decided against listing yarn that could be turned into blankets and I'm rethinking some of my ideas. 

Of course, the sitting day turned out to be... 

I rummaged in my room and cleared out a load of rubbish. I moved a load of stuff around in the kitchen that should eventually make things a lot easier all round. I hung up all of bear's over-fabric-softener-scented kit to air, washed my bedding and got quite a bit of writing done as well as cracking on with the shawl. I even managed to take the recycling out, though the steps were a significant problem.  

I'll be honest, the pain is wearing me out. That doesn't mean that I can't be awkward, difficult and generally contrary. So, as expected, I've done the opposite of what I meant to do. I wish that I didn't. I don't feel in control of my fate and it's wearing me down. 

Writing stuff - I'm not taking part in the October Frights this year. I'm trying to concentrate on other stuff which may end up on Amazon. That doesn't mean that I don't adore AF Steward and the October Frights Blog Hop and I've written a quick post with links that you can read here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Unexpected Directions

I nipped out to the Co-op today to pick up some Lurpak for DH. It's his favourite and while I nearly cried at paying the price at a small, local shop, he works hard and he is absolutely worth it. However I jarred my hip quite badly and I've struggled since. DH was very nice but he mentioned that he hears me scream with pain several times a day and perhaps I should do something about it. So I rang the GP. They didn't have any slots, but advised me to ring the NHS advice line. They advised me to go the pharmacy and meanwhile put an ice pack on my back. I told them that the problem was with the hip, but it didn't get me anywhere. 

Meanwhile, according to the very substandard cleaning planner, today is the bedrooms. I leave the men to their own bedrooms and keep to mine, but instead of being sensible and vacuuming and dusting, I dug through the heap of yarn and listed some on eBay. For the first time ever, I was accidentally selling yarn on eBay. I don't feel comfortable sharing the pics I took for the two lots that I put on eBay, and I didn't take a pic of the shawl (progressing nicely), so here is a pic from Unsplash with lots of yarn.

Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

I've got all sorts of yarn stashed away, and I've decided that I'm going to only keep the stuff that I love. All this started with the shawl. I bought six balls of yarn for the shawl, but I suspect that I'll only need four. I was considering knitting a scarf, but I have several scarves and plans for some nice ones with the yarn I've rediscovered so I thought that the spares could go on eBay. Then I wondered about the stash sitting upstairs and thought - why not get rid? Any funds can be put aside for bear for when he gets to University. 

Speaking of bear, he sent in his application for University today. It's left him something of a nervous wreck. Tonight he spent his time on practice exam papers for Oxford and Warwick. For those who aren't familiar, bear has to apply to UCAS, which holds applications to all the universities in England. He has to apply for five separate universities who will consider his application and let him know whether they will consider him or not. A university could reject him, make him a conditional offer (eg, he will get a place if he gets certain grades), or make him an uncondtional offer (they will have him regardless of what grades he gets). If he wants to get into Oxford (his first choice) or Warwick (his second choice) then he will need to pass a maths entrance exam. When he took a break I showed him this.

Bear had views about this.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Mixing it Up

I didn't post last night because I was determined to finish the second part of the shawl, but by the time it was finished, it was stupid late and I just crawled up to bed.

I'll be knitting another square coming vertically from the right hand side of the shawl, so it will eventually be V shaped.

I had one big fail - I washed bear's clothes. He's been washing his own clothes and at one point wanted to use fabric softener. I use white vinegar but I got some Fairy free with an order and left him to it. However he is so overloaded with work at the moment so I offered to do his washing and I added the fabric softener. Apparently he's not been using it and the whole load stinks too much to wear. It's pretty pungent and I didn't use that much, so I wonder if it's fermented. We've washed the load three times, each time with plenty of vinegar, and it's still fairly strong. 

Otherwise I did quite well. I have a 'cleaning planner' which isn't brilliant or even comprehensive, but I'm taking it as a starting point. It may direct me to 'wipe down appiances' but I can ignore the spelling mistake and remember that Monday is the day to wipe things down in the kitchen. This meant that at least some cleaning got done. To be fair, I had to sit down three times while washing up, and I got less than I wanted to get done, but I cleared out a small set of plastic drawers to contain some of the kitchen clutter and generally started making some space. 

I also went to Aldi - and I remembered to take the spent batteries for recycling. Bear uses them for his Xbox controller and gets through a lot, even when studying. This evening he's had equations on two screens and one of those screens is controlled via the controller. I've been meaning to take them for far too long. I picked up the salad for DH and I didn't buy any yarn! I felt that was an achievement. 

I also managed over 3,000 steps. I've managed the same today, just pottering around. They may have been taken in batches of twenty or thirty steps, but they've still been taken. I even took the bin round to be picked up tomorrow. For some reason, someone had neatly set out a load of pans next to the bins.

I wonder about these things. Are they being disposed of? If so, why are they in the pavement and not in the bins? Are they being used by kids to play? If so, why are they left so near the bins? There must be a story here. 

And the yellow rose is still wonderfully scented and Gladys is thriving.

I hope that I can manage to keep going tomorrow.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Less Happy.

Do you remember this box?

The drawers inside had a thorough dusting of mould - like the wood had been soaked, become mouldy and then dried out. I had a look around the internet and followed the directions to spray with vinegar and leave for an hour. The smell was horrific. Then DH made a batch of pickled chillies and I swear that the smell got worse. Then I did bear's washing and by the time I added the fabric conditioner that he likes, I was ready to open every window in the house. I think that tomorrow I'll give the drawers a good wash in soapy water and then another spray. I really want to use them, but I don't think that I'd get much option if I tried to return it (Temu) and I suspect that the cost of returning the thing would be more than I spent in the first place. As it is, the joints and frame of the drawers seem sturdy enough, so I'll see if it can be sorted out. 

I've also done a few loads of laundry and some productive pottering. Mainly, however, I've been knitting.

That's the shawl. It will look coherent when it's finished, but it's currently complicated. You go so far with increasing two stitches on every alternate row, then you split them. I my case I had 122 stitches. I left 61 on an extremely long stitch holder (which I'm terrified won't hold), then knit across the remaining 61 stitches and cast on 60 more. Now I'm decreasing two stitches on every alternate row at the centre of the working part, obsessively checking the stitch holder and have a shape that can best be described as 'odd', or possibly 'eldritch'. Once I've decreased to the end, I'll cast off and then do the same with the stitches on the holder, but as a mirror image. 

I still have the planner but I didn't look at it today as I was obsessing over the shawl. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Steps

I've been having trouble walking. Another problem is that the 'steps' app on my phone has been acting up. I downloaded the Google version and I've started watching it again. 

It's strange. I've been struggling so much over the last few years and suddenly I seem to be doing better, and I'm starting to slowly pick up. For the last six months or more, I've struggled to do more than a thousand steps per day. That's barely moving, and I've been crippled by pain. However, over the last week or so, I've been gradually increasing the step count. The app thinks that five thousand steps are the bare minimum. That's my long term goal, but right now I've been aiming for two thousand. Not only have I managed it for the last few days, but yesterday I managed to get past three thousand. 

This seems pitiful compared to those who run marathons and walk miles and miles daily, but I feel that all you can do is improve, and I'm improving, and I'm proud of it. Today I've barely scraped past two thousand, but I'm okay with that as I'm taking a quiet day after pushing myself a little. Besides, I've done laundry, cleaned a few spots and finely diced and froze a couple of pounds (one kilo) of carrots. As the weather gets colder, some carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes and lentils with plenty of turmeric and cumin makes a great soup that warms in all sorts of ways. 

Bear has been studying maths all day. I keep looking up and seeing all sorts of incomprehensible formulae on his screen. As far as I can tell, he's loving it, but I'm keeping a close eye on him. 

I've been knitting for most of today, and the shawl is coming on nicely. 

I'm almost at the end of the first 100g (4oz approx) ball and I'm feeling good about it. This blog has helped because I was determined that I would have a pic for the blog. I'm coming up to the next stage of this shawl, which will have to wait until Amazon deliver the circular stitch holder. I'll be putting around 70 stitches on a holder, which is fiddly. 

I haven't looked over the planner. That's a job for later. I've got a lot that I need to do tomorrow before I make some time for thinking. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Knitting Happens

Thank you, Bless, for suggesting St Anthony - I've found the planner! I haven't looked at it today as that's a job for tomorrow though I'm promising nothing!

I abandoned my current knitting project, which will surprise no-one, and started the shawl I wanted. 

It's a two stitch increase in the centre every other row and I've found it a little fiddly, but it's doing okay so far. I have to concentrate because of the way the increase works, so if I'm watching Doctor Who with the men, I'll have to go back to the blankets. 

I'm not likely to be watching Doctor Who this weekend as bear is studying hard. He's got entrance exams coming up and he really wants to do well. 

It's been strangely productive today. I got a head of celery finely chopped and bunged into the freezer. I've had washing in, done a little wiping around, done a chunk of writing stuff and made a decent dinner that bear practically inhaled. It was only burgers, mashed potato, peas and gravy but it was a really pleasant meal. There hasn't been a big achievement but there have been a dozen very tiny victories.

The tiny chest of drawers has a load of mould in the drawers. I need to spray it with vinegar, so that's on the to-do list. DH suggested staining the inside, and that may keep the mould away once I've done the whole spraying with vinegar thing I'll consider it. I'm making no promises. 

Writing stuff - I decided to post on chapter of Kane's old stories per day in October. Today I queued up all of Kane's stories and it will take me through until October 24th! I'm not sure what I'll do for the last seven days, but I'm sure that I'll think of something. 

Hugs and good health to all.