It feels like it’s been ages since I last blogged, and I suppose
it has been. May seemed to last forever. It's been a very busy month for both of
us. We got a posh coin for Kingy, ate a lot of cake at the local village hall,
we’ve been into the big Birmingham city, I’ve been down to Hatfield just north
of the M25, David has passed his kayak assessment for Search & Rescue so he’s
now on the water team, land search team, and driver logistics team. Show off.
Crochet
This month has been very quiet for crochet as I used all of
my brain power to make a cow without a pattern. It took a couple of attempts!
I also started another little project but I can’t say what
until it’s finished and posted.
I was also commissioned to make some woollen wristwarmers, just in time for the hot weather.
Craft Club was good, it was on coronation weekend so a bit quieter
than usual, but still good. Lots of happy crafty folk.
I have made the decision to open an Etsy shop, starting off
with commissions only. I started a spreadsheet with the costings and I’ll be
pleasantly surprised if anyone actually buys anything. The Etsy and Paypal
fees, plus VAT, plus postage, adds a fair whack onto things. I haven’t even
factored in proper hourly rates. A set of six dishcloths would cost over £125
if I factored in an hourly rate, so that’s never gonna happen.
Allotment
The plot is a bit of a chore at the moment, I’m not having a
good year again. Some things are doing great, other things are not. The dock
and bindweed are having a brilliant year. I think the peat free compost isn’t a
good batch as it’s not retaining water very well and seems to compact down a
lot, so there’s a lot of surface run off. Which isn’t great. I need to have a
rethink for next year, perhaps I need to put a lot of leaf mulch down, cover
the beds over, and leave them for six months. I dunno.
Exercise
I haven’t hula hooped or cycled or walked much.
I really need to get off my arse and do something.
Work
I submitted my report and research for a new 5year traineeship
scheme to launch this autumn and got told a firm no, and then was told that I’m
losing my job at the end of July, so it was a bit of a punch to the gut. I am
only a temporary contract so it was always a risk but there’s been a lot of talk
about different roles to keep me, so that was a real kicker to be told that
news. So I’m looking for a new job. I have had 2 interviews so far, and I had a
third but I decided not to attend for varying reasons. I’m now back to square
one, but I’ve a few applications in, and a few weeks before I start to panic.
Mental Health
Well, it took a bit of a dive to be honest. I’m still
peeling myself up from the floor where my self esteem seems to live now. The good
thing about that though, is that I don’t have to move upwards very far to get
off the floor. But it’s also easy to get back to the floor. Ho hum.
Cat Life
Mr Pippopotamus is a heifer boy. He lost his collar so I’ve had to order a new one with a new name disc. He’s had a spate of throwing up and eating grass so we think he’s either had a dodgy tumtum or has got a hair ball stuck. I’ve cleaned up a lot of cat vom this month.
Physical Health
I don’t even know what physical health is anymore. I had a
really heavy period that utterly wiped me out and put me in bed for a day and a
bit.
Money
The rear wiper motor went on my car and that cost £160 to
put right. My trip to Hatfield went on the credit card. Why is life like this. Why
can’t I win the lottery. Why can’t someone just GIVE me an extra £500 a month. I
need a sugar daddy.
Garden
The garden is fab! And lovely! And lush! And full of life! Except
bees. It’s been a very worryingly super quiet few weeks in terms of bees. I harvested
lots of herbs which went to the allotment to hang to dry, and I’ve been picking
small bunches of chives every few days to hang to dry. I tried to dry chive
leaves but that was shite, they ended up looking like dried grass. The flowers
are drying better and I will be able to use them on salads and stuff.
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| tree mallow |
Other Stuff
We had a new extractor fan fitted and the drill bit was
HUGE. They had to bore through two foot of sandstone, upwards to miss the
lintel, but not too much to go through the ceiling.
It was our second wedding anniversary but I was sick with
the menzies, but we managed to get out and trawl some antiques shops. I picked
up 7 more antique crochet hooks for my collection, one of which is silver and
was assayed in Birmingham in 1901!
I was too lazy to make the collage type photos for this blog
post, hence it being very picture heavy instead.
