Nearly Not a Fail.

Wherethejourneytakesme - thanks for the heads up about the Music Festival. I'll keep an eye out. I've subscribed to a few of the local email newsletters, which will also help. The Mikado is being put on at Batley Town Hall at the end of April/beginning of May and it costs less than £20 for both bear and I! It would cost more for pizza for us.

I dived into Aldi again today and passed the temptation of the yarn

It's not a brilliant picture, as I was trying to avoid other shoppers, and it leaves a load out. And I walked past it afterwards! I didn't put any in my trolley. Unfortunately when I went around the corner there was another pile and I couldn't resist 1200g of royal blue chenille type yarn that was perfect for the pattern I wanted. And looking back, I should have picked up some of the aran as it would have been ideal for making hats to send off to the charity at £4.99 for 400g. As a bonus, the chenille type yarn had been marked down, so instead of the £4.99 for a pack of 4 100g balls, they rang up as £1.99 each, so I got 1200g of yarn for £5.97. It was a complete bargain! (also completely unnecessary at this time but we can skip past that)

I'm not happy with my driving yesterday. I couldn't get fast enough on the ring road. I had tried to avoid it when I put the route into the satnav, but I think bear chose the faster route which took me on the main roads. I was so stressed, and sometimes barely reaching 50 in a 60 zone at rush hour. I am painfully aware that this makes me a hazard, and I was struggling so much. I need to crack this. I will not be trying tomorrow, however as the weather forecast is for tough conditions and I'm sending good vibes for those in the most affected places, especially Jill.

Hugs to all. 

Getting Back to Normal

By the time I had dropped bear and pal off at school, worked out what extra groceries were needed, picked them up, got home, sorted some washing and a few chores, caught up with some work, dived out and tried a new route to pick up (I sincerely apologise to the driver behind me at the awkward junction, I am so sorry), got bear home and changed, it was time to go out.

Bear had heard about excerpts of some Gilbert and Sullivan being performed at Yeadon Town Hall via his amazing music tutor. I had a few issues finding parking, but we scuttled in to the hall in the nick of time.

It was amazing. It is an amateur company but it sounded so awesome that it was hard to believe. There were great costumes, an orchestra and it was so much fun. Bear loved it. I was a little worried, as it is something completely new to him, but he couldn't get enough of it.

I admit I may have made a mistake. I took him into the bar with me. He is thirteen. I'm not sure about the ages. Though it wasn't exactly a den of iniquity. Bear brought the average age down by about thirty years, and there wasn't much drunkeness or debauchery. He had a blackcurrant and I had a diet cola, then went off to sit in a quiet corner.

I picked up a flyer for some more amateur Gilbert and Sullivan at Batley Town Hall in April, so we may get to see some more.

There were a few issues getting away from Yeadon (there was a one way system, and I don't really know the area), but now we are home and bear is still thrilled with it.

Wherethejourneytakesme - yes, I remember that, and I had to choose one of either music, drama or art and I chose the one I was least bad at as I was unimpressive at all of them. They haven't asked for that at bear's school, but they have said that you could only choose one of Graphics, Resistant Materials or Food Tech because of the amount of coursework, which is reasonable enough, I suppose. I am still not exactly sure what Resistant Materials involves as bear has made a perspex phone stand and not much else, but I don't think they cover sewing. Graphics is like computer graphics, I think. as bear says that he is learning Photoshop in this part of the course. I am deeply relieved that Food Tech hasn't been considered, but I'm confident that bear will make up for it in other ways.

I really need to remember to take pics.

Hugs to all.

Not Quiet

Wherethejourneytakesme - you had to say it, didn't you?

I dropped bear and pal off at school and headed to Tesco in a vague state of panic. I had just remembered that DH has some friends coming from abroad and I wanted to get some goodies for them as they are staying in an AirBnB. However I not feeling at my best as I am up against the clock on a few things, so while there is tea, coffee, biscuits and cake, I am hoping that they are the right sorts. Then I went to drop off my brother's laptop. He wasn't there. I had arranged to call in, but the email letting me know that things had changed had gone to my spam folder. It isn't a huge amount out of my way, but I tried to find a different way back and only just kept on course. I managed to get some bits done before DH came home at lunchtime and we hung out together for the first time in a few weeks then I went and picked up bear and pal.

I needed to get sandwich makings, and didn't dare when I was waiting for the kids as I only just got there in time and I didn't want to miss them, so I called in at the Co-op on the way back and did an amazing feat of parking - accidentally of course! I managed to reverse park into a spot quite nicely, but only just worked out the distance and stopped literally two inches from the building behind. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes! And of course it was on a slope so I had to nail the hill start when I left, but I do so many hill starts at traffic lights and such that it wasn't really an issue.

After I dropped bear's pal off, we got home and had a bite to eat before heading out. DH let me drive (bless him), and I know the short cuts, but we got bogged down in traffic and were a few minutes late for bear's options evening.

For those not familiar with the English system, all kids are supposed to sit their exams (tests) called GCSEs at 16. The results of these influence whether you go on to do that subject further, and are the things that you show employers for your first jobs. If all goes according to plan, bear should sit 10 GCSEs, which is quite a workload, but possible. This evening was to help chose the subjects he wanted to do for GCSE, and he has four to choose in addition to the compulsory English Lit, English Language, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. It looks like he is going to get his choices, but we will see. The teachers seemed pleased with him, which was very nice to hear.

Then we came home and I managed to show DH a different route from the one he knows because I have been driving these routes for nearly a year and have a low boredom threshold and get lost a lot. This means I know a lot of different ways between home and bear's school and all the different shops along the way.

And now I am going to collapse into bed as tomorrow is looking complicated as well.

Hugs to all.

Some Witterings

I sort of love it when there is nothing significant to write about. It means there are no disasters. I'll take that.

Also, headache continues.

Sharon - When it comes to faith, or lack of faith, I think that some people are awesome, some people are dreadful, most people come somewhere in between and whichever box you tick under Religion on a census has very little to do with it. I think you are awesome.

Hugs to all.

It's Still Only Tuesday!

I have a walloping headache and the grumps. I am somewhat dissatisfied with myself. Although I still have residual smugness from not buying the yarn, it's not lasting.

Today, as I was distracting myself from everything I should be doing, I googled for free hat patterns. I didn't go to my normal places for free patterns, and I'm quite glad. I want to do something for Lent. I am something of a fail as a Christian, and I have the willpower of a kitten with a feather duster, so giving up something is unlikely to be successful, but I thought I could do something. One thing I thought of was perhaps knitting hats or similar for the homeless, which is in line with Matthew 25:36 - I was naked and you clothed me.

I found this (non-Christian) site, Knit for Peace, which sponsors knitters for peace (ie women from divided communities knitting together) and which also sends knitted goods to places where they are needed. There are patterns on there, which seem awesome, suggestions, and even a raffle. I had a quick look and as far as I can tell they are registered and up to date with the Charity Commission, so I thought I would sort out yarn and get started in Lent (26 February this year). I thought it worth sharing. If I ever manage to get anything sent off (at the moment, managing anything seems a distant dream), I'll share.

Writing stuff - my response to this week's writing challenge here

Hugs to all.

I Didn't Buy It!

I called in at Aldi today and there was a huge pile of yarn of all sorts. I was looking at the fluffy yarn, but the Aran looked like great value and there was a ton of chenille type stuff and some really fine yarn that I suppose is sock yarn. It was all at Aldi's prices, so £4.99 for 400g of Aran yarn. It's only acrylic, but that serves many purposes. The online link is here for those interested. There is lots of lovely craft stuff, all very tempting, but it's not a permanent stock thing, it's one of those 'when its gone, its gone' marketing ploys to make you rush in to buying just in case, but the yarn does keep turning up on a regular basis.

I didn't buy any.

To be fair, I did put some in my trolley, but I put it back. This was particularly hard as I finally found a pattern for a sweater/wrap that I bought around 1990, wore to shreds and have never been able to replace. It needs chunky yarn that is listed as being for 6mm needles, and I managed to not find any in all the Aldi goodies, although some came close. I shall celebrate my restraint by pushing on with the blanket that I need to get finished for Friday.

(I may also do some browsing for the perfect yarn for the sweater in question)

Writing stuff - This week's writing challenge is here.

Hugs to all.

Slightly optimistic

Today was better. Bear had a wonderful day out with his auntie which included a trip to a cat cafe. It sounds awesome. Then he hung out with his pal this afternoon and generally is a lot better. I'm still keeping a close eye on him.

Justjill - I'll remind bear, as he has read Animal Farm. I don't know how much he understood, but we can chat about it all. I think he has also read 1984. There are worse things, though those are two depressing books.

Today has been a knitting day, as I have a project for friends that needs to be finished by next Friday and it's quite a big blanket. I've been watching YouTube videos and generally practising my calm.

Hugs to all