Christmas revisited

Apart from all the horrible things that have been going on over Christmas we did enjoy ourselves sometimes. DD loved her presents & spent the day dressed in her Goal Keepers outfit. DH has enjoyed his Powerball & Family Guy Xbox game & DVD's.

I was totally spoilt. Firstly by DH who visited my Amazon wish list & bought me these:


Knitting books from DH

Plus this:


Lorna's Laces in Berry

DD bought me this with a HUGE hint from me:


Fleece Dog

I've got some rovings & felting needles from my trip to Wingham Wool Works earlier this year so will be playing soon.

Then I had another box of presents to open from my friend CL in Canada. As I opened the beautifully wrapped gifts I felt like a kid again:


Christmas presents from Canada

CL sent me so many things that I couldn't even get them all in the photo but above you can see:

Yarn - Andean Treasure in lilac, Essential in Petunia, Knit Picks Gloss in Concord Grape & Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe but I'm already playing with that so you can only see half of it. Plus some other Knit Picks goodies including a Wraps per Inch tool, their own Circular needles & a Canadian / American needle gauge which has already proven useful. Also included were some really cute Christmas ornaments, a tape measure with the Canadian flag on, some maple syrup sweets, Hersey chocolate for DD, candy canes, a Canadian key ring for DH as he was jealous of the other one that CL sent in her last parcel + more.

The yarn is so gorgeous - I can't convey how delighted I am with it all & the Andean Treasure is going to become a pair of beautifully soft lacey socks. I had sent CL some presents too which included a kilo of Cashmerino Super Chunky in purple, Baby Cashmerino in red, the first Baby Cashmerino book & some English chocolates & biscuits. Thank you so much CL - I really enjoyed choosing your gifts & get the feeling that you did too.

Christmas - bah humbug!

It seems that everything has been against us having a wonderful Christmas.

DH & I were both due to finish work on Wednesday which was also DD's last day of school however they were both violently ill with a sickness bug so I took the day off to care for them. They were both feverish & throwing up constantly It was at some point on this first day when I was doing yet another load of washing that I noticed that whenever I had the washing machine on water was coming back up into the sink but I couldn't deal with it then.

On the second day they weren't so bad & DD was up to sitting on the sofa under a blanket so I rang our Water provider & they recommended a company to look at our drains. Once booked for the following day (Friday) I tried to forget about the problem but it wasn't easy as we had a huge pool of mucky water in the garden & the kitchen sink often had the same in it

Friday came & went & still the drains weren't sorted. The drain company turned up & poked around a bit but then declared that they couldn't fix it as their big pump had just died but we weren't to worry they had another & it'd be with us later that afternoon. Not to be. The workmen also mentioned that they thought it was a problem with the public sewer & if so we shouldn't have to pay for it which sounded ok. DH researched the term they'd used & it looked right so he spent the evening on the phone & we were promised a solution the following morning - Hhmm!

Early on Saturday we received another call from the Water provider who had actually decided that our problem wasn't what the company had said the day before & the we did have to pay. We weren't too bothered about the money but we were concerned about the fact that we couldn't use the washing machine, dishwasher or kitchen sink. We were also avoiding the shower, bath & avoiding flushing the toilet too as we were worried that the toilet would overflow in the house Luckily MIL lives a few doors away so we ran down the street whenever we needed to 'go'!

Our confidence in that drain company was gone so we ended up ringing a local company who were on site within 30 minutes of DH making the phone call & the problem was fixed within 10 minutes - a cheque was very happily handed over plus a bit extra in cash as a tip. So now we could wash the clothes, pots & flush the loo

It seemed to go ok after that. DD was a good girl & stayed in bed until 7.30 on Christmas Day morning before she bounced in with her stocking. She loved her presents as did her mum I was throughly spoilt by DH & CL my friend in Canada but that deserves a post all on it's own. But as a teaser I'll just say books, lots of books & yarn - beautiful yarn!!!

However our nice Christmas really wasn't to be - poor DH fell ill again in the evening & after I witnessed him rolling around on the floor clutching his belly in absolute agony I rang the emergency doctor. MIL was called back to the house to look after DD - she'd only been gone half an hour as she had lunch with us & I took him to the surgery. Luckily I'd only had one glass of wine with my meal hours before so was ok to drive.

The diagnois - gastro problems caused by excess acid - DH admitted that he sometimes forgets to eat at work as he gets caught up in a problem & tends to have erratic meal times as he often works late. So temporarily armed with some chalky tablets until I can get his perscription medicine tomorrow (or later today as I've just noticed the time) he's now happily in bed.

I'm hoping that the rest of our time off work is more peaceful as we both really needed a break.

27/12/6 ETA: I've got a parking ticket now

No knitting going on

For a knitting blog this is getting rather sad as I'm hardly able to knit The offical diagnois is Tendonitis in both my forearms & I've still got a lot of related pain in my hands & wrists. I've been having treatment but it'll take time for the inflamation to go down. To make matters worse I'd signed up for an Afghan Squares swap on Swap-bot. One of my 4 squares is done but the others will be a bit late I'm afraid as I'm finding knitting painful at the moment

Housewise we still haven't sold ours; we've had another very interested viewer who came to a 2nd viewing only to submit an offer 20K under the asking price which we've obviously rejected. So all viewings are on hold until January as we need a break over the Christmas period.

DD has been growing like a weed over the past few months & we got a shock yesterday when we measured her - she's now 5ft 1 3/4" tall & turned 11 in October! She's 2" taller than my SIL who is gutted. None of her clothes fit her anymore including her school uniform so I need to get her kitted out again - last time was September

Blogkeeping

I've utilised my non-knitting status & have finally done some much needed 'blog' keeping. I've updated the links in 'Blogs I Read' on my BlogRolling account as I was reading loads of new blogs on my Bloglines but they weren't on my sidebar.

If you see a new one - go & visit!

It could be a lot worse

In my last post I mentioned that I wasn't knitting very much but didn't say why. I started experiencing pain in my hands about 3 weeks ago & it has gotten progressively worse. Starting in my knuckles it moved to my wrists which felt as if they'd been broken & even simple tasks were painful. I hadn't been knitting much since we decided to sell the house as we were so busy but all activity has now ceased altogether. I was scared that it was some form of arthritis & really worried that I'd be forced to give up many things that I enjoy including knitting.

However as the pain was worse in the evening & moved around I eventually suspected that it might be RSI & this was confirmed by my second appointment with a doctor on Friday. He has referred to a physio but that'll take a while to happen & I probably won't see someone via this route until after Christmas.

By chance yesterday I got talking to a private physio at a swimming workshop that DD was doing. He gave me some advice & was able to deal with my immediate pain by strapping my arm:


My right arm

He also gives a 50% discount to anyone associated with the swimming club so am currently trying to sort some cash out to get it sorted out properly. I'm absolutely over moon that I don't have arthritis and am looking forward to getting it sorted as it's still really painful

Thank you

to everybody who left a comment or sent an email regarding Tia. We'd lived together for over half my life so it still seems really weird not having her around & she's left a huge gap in our family.

Life is a bit cr*p at the moment for a number of reasons including the fact that we still haven't sold the house. It looked promising at the beginning of the week but wasn't to be. Our dream house had an offer accepted on it today so that's now out of the question.

Some knitting is happening but not a lot for reasons that I don't want to raise here yet.

Good bye Tia

It's time for me to say good bye to my old friend. We've been through a lot together but always came through it.

She's suffering now so I've got to let her go.


Tia spent last night using Annie as a hot water bottle

May 1988 - November 2006

Happy Halloween

Home grown Halloween pumpkin

DD grew this pumpkin herself from seed so was justifably chuffed with herself tonight. She went Trick or Treating with her best friend & dressed up as a vampire - another excuse to wear lots of black & her favourite black silk head band covered in skulls.

Susoolu surprised her today with a belated birthday present as DD turned 11 at the beginning of October:


Skull Stitch markers made by MLQ Knits

For once DD was speechless as she was so taken by them. Click here for a closer look.

Thank you so much Susoolu it was a lovely thing to do & you've made a 'not so little girl' very happy

Hot Socks Swap

Just before we decided to move & life suddenly went barmy I signed up for the Hot Socks Swap. Then as the deadline approached with a chance to pull out I realised that I'd be stupidly busy & should I really do this but I decided to go for it & I'm really glad I did.

I sent to a woman in Norway & she now has a beautiful skein of Fleece Artist Merino in Marine with some coffee, hot chocolate, a small scented candle & a bag of Thorntons Toffee. The yarn was gorgeous & nearly didn't make it to the post office!

My spoiler & I have really hit it off. She's an English woman living in Canada & I'm now gutted that we've had to postphone our trip to Canada due to our impending house move. My parcel arrived a few days ago & I wasn't disappointed when I opened it:


Gifts from Canada

I didn't stand a chance of actually keeping the moose & he's now taken up permanent residence in DDs' room. There was also a book on Canada but that's upstairs as I've just finished reading it & DH has nabbed it now.


Canadian Hot Chocolate

As a confirmed non-coffee or tea drinker it had to be hot chocolate


Koigu Sock pattern book

I've done swaps before & never had an overseas pal before - now I know why I've always wanted one! And the best for last:


Koigu sock yarn

Thank you so much CL for being a great pal & I look forward to staying in touch with you & eventually meeting up when we get over there. Also a big thanks to indieknits for organising it all.

Now I'm spoilt for choice over the yarn for my next sock project - my beautiful new Koigu or the beautiful Posh Yarns Cashmere that Piglottie gave me. It'll be a hard decision.

Diamante progress

Started ages ago, when I was recovering from whatever knocked me backwards & then abandoned when we embarked on our manic decluttering, my diamante socks are finally back on track:


Diamante - gusset increases complete

Bad news is that I haven't made them long enough but the lifeline means that it's not too much hassle to rip out & increase a bit more before I do the gusset increases again.

I'm so excited...

we've found our perfect house It doesn't need much work apart from decoration as it was owned by an elderly couple previously. So now we've got to sell ours quickly - I'm sure the estate agent is fed up with me as I've spoken to her nearly every day this week - here's hoping......

Necessary Evil

Tia is really starting to go down hill. We've lived together for over 18 years all over the country. From bedsits in London, shared student houses in Bradford & for the last 13 years she has shared my life with DH. She is now on medication for her various ailments & is responding well.

However old age is catching up with her in another way as well & she's stopped grooming herself. I've been brushing & combing her to control the fur but she was getting really smelly. I was hoping that my vet could suggest a way of controling the grease - a sort of feline blanket bath but instead he suggested giving her a bath


Tia before her bath - stinking

I knew that she wouldn't enjoy it but it was getting the point whereby none of us wanted to cuddle her as she was so smelly so something had to be done:


Tia in the bath - under protest


Tia after her bath - skin & bone

I tried using my dog dryer on her on it's lowest setting but she didn't tolerate it so that was abandoned. She now smells much better & spent the afternoon doing something that she's done all her life - stealing dog heat:


Tia & Blue

Or even better - the whole bed!


Dog bed stealer

I think this will be her last winter

Progress

We went on the market yesterday at 9 a.m. & 13 minutes later had our first request for a viewing. A couple saw the house last night & put in an offer today!!! However they haven't sold their house yet so it's been acknowledged but not accepted. The photos and floor plan are happening on Friday & the board went up outside today. I'm hoping for a quick sale to either a cash buyer or someone who has already sold their house so we can move quickly.

For a bit of fun I saw this

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

on Random Fiber Ramblings & can't believe it that there is only 1 person in the US with my name. I don't have an unusual or foreign sounding name but it's been said that it's 'classical'. So I'm an exclusive woman - I wonder what DH would say to that?!?

Our home

The house was valued at the weekend & now we just have to instruct the agents that we've chosen & arrange another appointment for them to take pics & do a floor plan. DH took his own photos which I'll share with you below. Most of the images are clickable for a bigger picture.


our house

Can you see our extra pet? None of the estate agents were prepared for what they found when they entered the house:


Living Room


Kitchen


Our Bedroom


DDs' bedroom


Spare room


Our bathroom


Storage cupboard in the hall upstairs

Our Alarm system


Blue


Annie

I think we'll miss the kitchen, bathroom + storage most of all as both were planned & designed by us for us & DH of course built it all. None of the houses we've looked at even come close but we're moving to get into a certain area to get DD in a good school so have no choice. The last estate agent said that DH could 'do it all again' at which he made a face but I hope he does

Surfacing for air....

Phew - we've spent the past week and a half getting the house ready to sell. We've got 3 Estate Agents coming tomorrow to give us valuations & have found a house that we'd love to buy BUT we need to sell this one first.

DH has been off work all week finishing the little jobs that have been mounting up over the past two years & today the stair carpet is finally going back down I've got rid of so much stuff - it's amazing how much you accumulate. We've lived here 12 years next January which IMO is far too long.

We're both absolutely shattered due to working on de-cluttering & packing every night but it'll be worth it. I'm hoping for a quick sale as the house we want to buy isn't in a chain & we could move straight in without doing anything to it.

The best news of all is that our noisy neighbour situation unexpectedly resolved itself the weekend that we finally made the decision to move & we haven't got a problem anymore. I couldn't stop beaming at work the following day

I've got to go now - the empty boxes are calling my name again....