Bobbles!!

I learnt how to crochet bobbles yesterday in class :D I also did a raised flower design which is pretty neat!! My friend was annoying me in class, usually I don't mind but she just keeps on taking the teachers attention for ages and then pretending to cry because she can't come to class next week. She is almost 30 for gods sake, no wonder her BF gets annoyed at her!! Anyway rant over. 

My knee is very unhappy, I now back on one crutch when I am going any distance. This probably accounts for the above rant. I do not cope well with extra pain on top of what I am used to. Today I am trying to mainly rest it, however I have already been out weeding the front garden. I had a really unmotivated start to the day but then I appeared to find my motivation and now nothing seems to be stopping me! I have already started my table seating plan (though I suspect that I have missed at least one person off!!)

I went to see the venue yesterday and it was stunning so I was very relieved!

Geocaching

Had my first go at geocaching today and loved it! I can't wait to do more, need to make a chiropractic visit first though as my knee is still unhappy. 

My first find:

I also ordered my business cards yesterday and have had my presentation to the general public at one of the large vets in York for next month confirmed which is super good news :D Now I am resting and doing crochet before I head out to meet some friends for drinks and to pay in the money I made from my training client last week... yay!!

The case of the Kipper Killer

Today we went to Whitby and did an adventure trail, the idea was that a local man who smoked kippers had been killed. You had to collect clues using landmarks around the town and use them to figure out who the killer was. So Poirot (the BF), Hastings (me) and Miss Lemon (the puppy dog) all went and figured it out. It was an amazing morning and great fun even though a couple of clues were no longer there!

This is Poirot exercising the little grey cells!

We were supposed to duck to go under this but there was no need for me lol.

Other than this we went trying on suits yesterday for Chris (best man) and my dad. They all looked very dapper :D I also had another training session with my one and only client. She is doing really well with the puppy but ended up in tears in the end as she was just exhausted. I think I left her feeling better. I certainly came away feeling better than I did last week :) My friend is not splitting up from her partner... I think she was being a little dramatic, but I am very glad they are staying together. 

My parents are away this week so I am going to try and knuckle down to getting back on track with my life. I am doing better than I was but still not brilliant. Back to the gym tomorrow too...

Granny blanket for the dog

Today I learnt how to put my granny squares together in class so I had a go when I got home and so far I have a Tess sized blanket, she is modelling it in the photo below!

I am very pleased with what I have so far :) But there is still a long way to go and I am also attempting to make a crochet bag. The wool is soooo soft to the touch, but so far I only have a couple of lines of it so I am not bothering to put a picture up. I want to get some more granny squares sewn together first before I make a proper start on the bag. I have too many squares just hanging around but they will be a bit more manageable if put together. 

A friend of mine and her partner may be splitting up which is a real shame as they make a lovely couple. I am only looking in through the window but it seems like they are going to throw away a year of going out (living together for most of that) just because they are having a few rocky days. I hope she is exaggerating things and that it is all a....

Other than that I have just been updating my website and putting some more behavioural stuff on it about signs and symptoms that owners of dogs may want to watch out for. Yesterday I was very naughty and spent the day on the couch watching Lord of the Rings and eating chocolate. I am mentally slapping my own hand!! Oh but I have started reading a book about cat behaviour so I am starting to read something other than fiction :D I am also attempting to plod through a book all about badgers at bedtime, I am enjoying it but it is hard going... have had it out from the library for far too long though!!

The longest puppy ramble

Today I was supposed to go on a short puppy ramble with the parents, but we ended up just walking and walking. In the end we were out for 1 1/2 hours and my knee was not impressed. It was just such a lovely morning though as the sun was out and for the first time this year it felt warm!

Yesterday we went to a talk on Lindisfarne Island which was at Yorvick Dig, I was pleasantly surprised when we got there as they gave us free drinks! Luckily the parents only had two glasses each or I would have had to pour them into the car lol. It was a good talk though, I had no idea how little archeology had been done on the site. 

I am not really managing to stick to my daily plan but I seem to be getting lots done and that is the main thing! I have a client booked in for puppy training sessions too every other Friday so that should be good :D

 

Sutton Bank

Today the BF and I went up Sutton Bank which is where he proposed to me. It was the most fantastic morning, the skies were blue (even though there was a bitter wind), we could see for miles and we met a black and tan cavalier called Teddy :D Tess utterly loved it and spent much of her time bouncing around 

This photo shows the bit where he proposed and kept getting interrupted by tourists! They have also built a new cycle track there which I plan on doing after I have got my new bike (very exciting things happening this year!). 

Other than that I have removed all the work from my PGCE and old teaching files, though I have yet to organise what is left (but that will occur tomorrow when the parents are around). I have three big bags full of paper to throw away. I feel it has had a cleansing effect on me, plus sorting things and throwing out is fun :D

The BF and I had a long chat last night and he is going to try to come out and do more things with me, he is very anxious and worries about things too much. But I hope by coming out and nothing bad happening that it will habituate him to the outside world. 

This is my crochet effort for the weekend, I love the one with the shell type pattern. 

All in all I feel my development stuff is coming along well, I have even designed myself a schedule during the day so that I can get done what I need to! Tomorrow will be my first day of attempting it so we shall have to see how it goes :s

Wrenched shoulder

I am so not impressed, whilst whisking yesterday I have managed to wrench my shoulder meaning that my whole shoulder now aches really badly. I am so angry with myself, there is nothing worse than a wrenched shoulder as I can't crochet or cross stitch and even typing is sore. I have had some painkillers so hopefully they will kick in soon. The BF is watching football so I can't even watch something I want on TV... boooo!! I hate having to watch football at the weekends (because of course the BF has to watch all matches, but not actually watch them just have them on in the background). I don't mind about the game it is the commentators that I hate, I much prefer the cricket or even rugby. I can't even read a book whilst they are screaming at you. I am a complete snob for saying this but they come across as common and crass (can you tell I am annoyed because of my shoulder? lol). I am also annoyed with myself as I think I have missed out on seats for Wicked when it comes to Leeds as I can only really sit in the stalls with my unbendy knee and they are all sold out :( I will ring them Monday though and see if there is anything they can suggest. I really shouldn't have looked at Wicked tonight as I now want to curl up into a ball and cry... pain and hormones are never a good combination... and I don't even have any chocolate *whimpers*

Anyway today I did the Viking festival in York and went to a talk all about Viking long ships which was really interesting.

This past week has been an ouch week

I have been getting a lot of pain with my knee the past couple of weeks, to the point where the house has really started to suffer. I am attempting to tidy up today as things seem to be easing off a bit. My development stuff has suffered as a result of my knee. However I have drafted up a timetable for me to work around each day so I stop wasting time 

I did managed to gate crash an RSPB meeting last night which was really just someone trying to persuade you to go on their holiday with their company. Still I found out some interesting stuff about the birds of Ecuador lol. 

So far this year I have read 9 books which is good going for me :) None of it is particularly deep stuff but I keep getting sucked back into the library and end up getting out more books!

My happy days are going well. So far I have had flowers from the fiance, teaching my mum how to cross stitch and egg yolks forming a flower in the bottom of a mug. 

I have also learnt how to crochet around a corner:

Today is Valentines day and I am cooking a lovely dinner for the BF and I :) He is making a fondue starter and then I am doing a vegetable bake type thing for the main and my mum and I spent two hours making a marbled chocolate cheese cake. The cheese cake seems very wobbly so I am hoping that as it cools in the fridge it will solidify. It is the most adventurous desert I have ever undertaken, I had to whip egg whites and I was so chuffed as I could turn the bowl upside down like they do on the TV and it didn't all fall out!

These are the flowers I got for valentines day, though I got them yesterday as the BF wasn't passing a shop today. They are in a pitcher as I had decided to get flowers to go on the table for the meal earlier in the day... great minds lol

  

100 happy days

I have registered to do 100 happy days. Basically you just have to take a photo every day of something that makes you happy. Today it was this:

This is quite a simple crochet design but I have been wrestling with it for about 3 weeks, I am very pleased that I finally figured it out :D

I am slightly less pleased that someone seems to have scratched my car! I have kept it in pristine condition for over three years and then someone who I parked a good distance from has done that!

I have had some good business advertising advice from my chiropractor which I am going to put into action over the next few weeks... and it should be very cheap :D

Wedding invites and puppy training

I finally got my wedding invites finished (minus two that the BF is going to sort out). They are now sitting in a nice pile waiting to be sent off in the post which hopefully will happen tomorrow, they have taken hours and hours to complete but I am now really pleased with them. 

I can now have a breather for a few weeks before we need to start on the order of service!!!

I had my first paying client for the business on Friday which was nerve wracking but good :D I have been writing up her instructions etc. It was only a training session but I want to be known as giving outstanding customer service hence all the follow up documents!

Granny square wise I have not been making that much progress. I am following more complicated patterns now which means that everything takes longer and I have two where I have had to stop as I don't know what I am doing lol. I have also run out of a certain colour purple that I need! This is a picture of the only completed square so far. 

Other than this I have been on a few nice puppy walks to Knaresborough and around Leeds (the Leeds one is the one pictured... the puppy is in the far far distance with my dad!). I have also done a final confirmation with the architect so hopefully things will be good to go in May after the wedding. Not managing as much enrichment for the animals as I wanted but it is much better for them than it was. The only other thing to report is that my knee is really badly playing up and I can't really do that much at the moment without lots of pain... but I am booked in to the chiropractor next week!

I am half way there with name tags too but I need to work on them tonight!

More granny squares

Yesterday I worked on my granny squares, I am starting to get the grasp and they look like the pictures in the book lol. The bottom two are more advanced patterns than the top two (although I made up the pattern for top left one myself)

Other than this I have not managed much recently in terms of self development. I find February the worst month of the year, it is so depressing :( We are in full winter and there isn't any sign of let up *sighs* It isn't a bad year but I am now fed up of my winter clothes. I had a shower earlier and when I took my top layer off in one go I realised just how much weight I am carrying around with myself all the time. I am also fed up of saving money all the time, I do get myself treats but I am bored with never going out or doing much because 

Kings and queens progress.

I am trying to inspire myself to get on with a bit of my cross stitch. It has been a bit abandoned for my crochet and I am not in an amazingly good position to be stopping mid project. Today I hope to finish off some of my half completed kings and queens (after all the monarch deserves it lol). 

We are also off out tonight to this place which an railway carriages turned into a restaurant. I have wanted to eat here since I moved to Yorkshire about 7 years ago!