DIY

I have to block the lounge door or isis sneaks down to the kitchen, eats the cats food and then suffers from chronic wind! I used to slide an old kitchen unit door across, but during my Ikea trip I bought a gate and put it up today, all by myself!

Bling-a-Berry

I'd love to put those Swartzkopf crystals all over my phone, but to have it done properly, I'd have to send my phone off. Well I don't really want to send it away so I bought a snap-on fascia instead and a mirror screen protector.

I think it looks quite snazzy!

Although I'm still debating about figuring out how to take the housing off so that I can do my own bling job!

77 years old…

…and still going strong!

Get a load of this!

Isn't she beautiful! I spotted her in Tesco petrol station today and I went rushing over requesting to take photos. Unfortunately, I only had my BlackBerry with me instead of my proper camera (because the proper camera is too big and awkward to carry everywhere!), but I did get a few shots.

The gentleman that owned her said she was made in 1932, gives him no trouble whatsoever, does 25 to the gallon and he's taking her to France next month.

Fantastic!

Annual Southampton trip

When my second son Matthew was six weeks old, they discovered a hole in his heart. When he was 10 they operated to close the hole and tighten up the aortic valve which had been pulled towards the hole and had become saggy. The surgery went well, they almost closed the hole completely and they said they would see him for check up's every year. It's a pain, but it's for a good reason.

So, the school was notified that Matt wouldn't be in today and we headed off for the ferry in the car. Mel came with us and we were going to go to the new Ikea in Southampton. Because of this, we decided to take the car over ~ usually Matt and I go over on the passenger ferry and catch the bus.

The ferry was delayed leaving the island due to an elderly gentleman being taken ill, there was a half hour wait for the ambulance to turn up and get him off the ferry then we were underway.

By the time we arrived in Southampton, we were all starving so a quick stop in KFC and then up to the hospital.

It was heaving!

In the end, I gave the car keys to Mel and told her to go hunting for a parking space and rushed in with Matt. We burst through the door at children's outpatients and announced our arrival.

They hunted for our papers, but couldn't find them or any record of our appointment. I pulled out my appointment card and handed it to her; she looked at it and then informed me that the appointment is actually scheduled for the 12^th! We always go over on a Monday; we NEVER go over on a Thursday! Fancy sending us on a Thursday, what a ridiculous idea!

Thankfully, Dr Roman agreed to squeeze us in. He had his ECG, echo, height and weight (which haven't changed from the 55kgs and 173cm since last year) then went in to see Dr Roman.

He said everything looks good, the residual leak is tiny and the floppy valve is holding up well ~ they made it quite clear after his surgery that he'll probably need a valve replacement, but it wouldn't be until he's an adult. Today he said that that surgery is a long way off due to the fact that Matt is never ill because of his heart and has had no adverse effect. He did say that next time we go, he'll probably have a cardiac MRI which will be repeated every 3 to 4 years because his heart has pretty much stopped growing now.

Then we left and headed towards Ikea. Thankfully, that wasn't too busy but it's bloody HUGE!

As soon as I got in there, my phone rang. It was Alex who had had an argument with Kyle. Kyle had given him a bloody lip, been yelled at by Jess and my mother, had thrown a sheet of MDF at Jess which then landed on Isis and then he had stormed off. Alex was upstairs in a right state yelling down the phone at me that he was bleeding and feeling quite picked on. Everyone yelled at everyone else and hung up on each other.

I found a few bits I wanted to buy and while I agree that Ikea appears fabulous, it's just simply too big! There's too much there and walking for any length of time causes me back spasms. After all the telephony arguing, I really wasn't in the mood so I got what I needed and headed home.

I've had a calm and reasonable discussion with the kids, told them that they're not to use the computer (which is how it all started) if I'm not at home, informed Kyle he will not get pocket money for the next two weeks and everyone is now calm and either watching TV, playing the X-Box or gone to bed.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe I can do some knitting now………………………………

Finally finshed

My mum is big on DIY, really big. She has tools that most men don't own!

So a while ago she decided that it was time she had a go at tiling and set about tiling my smallest room. There were ups and downs, mutterings and numerous complaints from my children (all sensibly when Nan wasn't here to hear them!), but today she has finished! The toilet room (as my kids call it) is now finished!

I think Mum has done a great job and I'm very proud of her, what do you think? (Sorry the pics aren't that good!)

Tut

Well, I failed the daily blogging challenge already! I meant to post Monday night after knit night, but I was in bloody agony when I got home and in no fit state to sit here and type stuff! Then I was going to post last night, but I spent most of yesterday in a medicated haze with a hot water bottle plastered to my back and anything I typed wouldn't have made much sense.

So, knit night was great! A couple of newbies arrived and it was a very noisy chatty night, if we keep going at this rate, we're gonna need a bigger table! We average about 10, but there are more depending on weather, light, whether it's the holidays, etc.

I'm doing well with MD/AN, I'm about halfway through the second half and I'm hoping that it'll be finished in a couple more weeks. I can't wait to show it off!

I'm going to make Louhi next in purple and I just know it's going to look gorgeous! I saw the yarn in our local haberdashery store and just cleaned them out lol.

I decided enough was enough today and I called for an appointment to see the doctor. I didn't ask for an emergency appointment, because it's not a bloody emergency, I'm not dying, I'm just going in to moan at him about the injustice of it all again in the hopes he'll give me SOMETHING that'll help with the pain without turning me into a zombie at the same time.

The next available appointment is in TWO WEEKS!!! That's bloody ridiculous! I said to her "It's a good thing I'm not dying!" and she offered me an emergency appointment immediately. It really is no wonder that I rarely see me doctor with the receptionists giving out emergency appointments willy nilly! Mum said "You'll be better by then." And while I agree with her that this flare probably will be over, the underlying problem will still be there. They rarely do anything when I go up there, other than give me new medication to try. I realise that they've got hundreds of people to see each week and couldn't care less about me or my problems, but I care dammit and I want someone else to care, someone that can do something!

We're going to be blitzing Alex's room next week, he's gotten too tall for a single bed and my friend Dana has offered me a double bed free, her boyfriend is even going to deliver it for me in a couple of weeks. So we need to get in there, have a good sort out, move a few bits around and get rid of whatever he doesn't need so that there's room for this new bed!

Being homely

I've been quite the homey mummy recently - a week or so ago I made laundry detergent - very successfully (well, I like the results!) and fabric softener. At first the mixture was very runny and I was in two minds, but it worked, my clothes were clean and smelled gorgeous so I didn't worry too much. Over time though, the solution has all merged, the liquids have been soaked up by the dry ingredients and I have a crusty sort of goo in the airtight container. I've just put a load on and I don't anticipate a change in the way it works! In fact, I'm rather glad that it's less liquidy.

Then I made a cake for Jess and Alex's birthday - which was very yummy!

So today, I made shampoo! I've just got out the shower and my hair is still wet, so the jury is still out on how good it is - my 15 year old son is not convinced lol.

Edited to add: Wow, I’ve just realised that this was my 100^th post, coooooooooooool!

The shampoo came out okay, but it’s a bit too oily so I’ll need to dilute it a bit…just need something to dilute it in…

Happy Birthday Alex

Today my baby, Alex, turned 13.

Where has all the time gone? Omigosh, what a clichéd saying LOL

Here's a pic of Alex - all 5ft 9ins of him wearing the boots he wanted for his birthday, a close up of the boots - yes, they're New Rocks! There's also a pic of the chocky cake I made mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Which is better?

Kristen moderates a group on Ravelry that I belong to and she came up with an idea for us each to blog every single day. Sometimes I find it quite hard to think of a subject, then other days there's LOADS I want to say.

But which is better? Stick it all in one great long post, or do a post per subject? Personally I favour the post per subject idea; it would look tidier and be easier to find something later on.

Thoughts?

If you look back, you'll see that that is how I've done it previously. Today, I'm going to go for an all in one post!

This blog every day thing got me thinking - I love my new phone and I think the messenger is great so I put an idea out on the two BlackBerry groups I belong to on Rav but with messenger. The idea is to message someone whose pin you've got but you haven't yet chatted with and have a conversation with them. I have a loathing of contact lists full of people that I don't speak too. It comes from when I was a chatroom addict and everyone who used the same chatroom was on my contact list. I never talked to any of them.

Now I rarely, if ever, sign into AOL and I can't remember what I found so appealing about them…

I've had a very nice conversation with a woman called Pam from California which stretched over most of the evening LOL.

I'm still recovering from our trip to London - blimey, I ache! Every time I get into the car, my hips and lower back protest. I seem to be doing something every day at the moment and all I want to do is curl up in a chair and knit although I know that movement is good and stops me stiffening up too much. Doesn't mean I have to like it though!

Speaking of knitting, MD/AN is coming along nicely. I'm a sixth of a way through the second half which doesn't sound much, but that's about 100 rows in and it grows quite fast. Someone off Ravelry sent me a bag to carry my WIP (Work In Progress) around in which means I can carry the lace safely in a bag with a load of other junk and not worry about it getting tangled and/or ruined!

I made a chocolate cake today and we had Chinese takeaway for dinner as today is Jessica's 14^th birthday. I gave her a black sequined top, a new mp3 player and Mum gave her £50 as well as the trip to London.

One year on…

If any of you have actually had a look at the 'tweets' down the left hand side here somewhere, you will see that today is the one year anniversary since my last cigarette!

Now, I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but I'm afraid I am going to have to insist this time! I smoked pretty much solidly for 20 years. 20 smokes a day for 20 years is…………a lot!

Then a year ago I decided to quit. I smoked my last cigarette about 10 o'clock at night and before I went to bed, I threw away the empty packet, cleaned the ashtray and put it away and I put away all my lighters as well.

I didn't use patches or gum or anything like that, I just kept telling myself that I didn't want my first cigarette of the day yet. I just kept putting off that first cigarette and before I knew it; a week had gone past!

Unfortunately, I have become the world's worst reformed smoker. It's disgusting! I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke and being around it gives me a migraine and makes me feel nauseous. Even being around smokers is enough to make my head twinge.

I actually apologised to my children a couple of months after I quit for smelling like that LOL.

I didn't miss it too much and I actually found it a lot easier to give up than it had ever been on my previous attempts! Now a year has passed and I will definitely never smoke again!

Fed up with cold tea

I tend to get distracted when I'm knitting and my tea keeps getting cold, so I bought this!

It's called a Bubba Keg! Basically it's an insulated mug and it promises to keep my hot drinks hot for up to 3 hours and my cold drinks cold for about 10 hours.

It's GREAT! Much better than my old insulated travel mug which smelled funny and only held 0.4l. My Bubba Keg holds 20oz!

Now I have hot tea and my kids are happier because I'm not constantly begging them to pour away cold tea and make me hot tea :0)

Mamma Mia!

I have two birthdays to drain my pockets this week. Jess will be 14 on Friday and Alex will be 13 on Saturday.

Yesterday I took Jess to London to see Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre. It's the first time she's been to London and she had a great day. We also got to see the Changing of the Guard which was great as I'd never seen it before.

Here are some pics of the guard, Big Ben, Jess with one of the lions in Piccadilly Circus and the audience in the theatre during the interval (we weren't allowed to take photos during the performance).

It finally arrived!

It's status stayed as 'packing' until Friday morning. Then I received an e-mail telling me it had been sent.

I practically lived on the ParcelForce website checking the status.

It arrived at the hub at 6.10pm on Friday evening and then didn't move ALL WEEKEND!

It finally arrived about 2pm on Monday!

Oh it's LOVELY!

Packing!

Woo hoo, Will it arrive tomorrow??

I’m not poor!

Why do people assume that when I say I sleep on the lounge floor that we must be poor and can't afford to have a house with enough rooms so that I can have my own bedroom with a bed in it?

I live in a five bedroom house! I knocked a wall down between my dining room and kitchen so that I'd have a huge kitchen. I turned the smallest bedroom into a room for all the games consoles to live in. the three boys use the remaining upstairs bedrooms. My daughter sleeps in what used to be my room (all my clothes, my desk and other 'stuff' still live in there). I sleep on the floor in the lounge. why? Because I discovered after camping in Scotland last year that sleeping on the floor is really comfortable! I sleep much better as a result (usually), my back isn't as stiff.

The only drawback is that my kids are getting older and sometimes (due to too much insomnia and sleep finally reasserting itself or medication) I need to go to sleep before some of them do. Well, I just put down my bed (a duvet to sleep on with a pillow and blankets to cover me), Isis and I crawl into my bed and we go to sleep! When the kids have finished watching the TV or using the laptop, they turn everything off and go to bed without disturbing me.

So, I'm not too poor to afford a house big enough, I choose to sleep down there. Yes I'm perfectly comfortable thank you and no, it isn't cold down there, my wooden floor reflects the heat back to me.

Get me!

See that? That pic over there >

That's laundry soap in the big jar and fabric conditioner in the little bottle on top.

I made that!

Yay for me LOL

I'll let you know how it turns out later, first load in now!

It hurts…

First off, I apologise in advance if none of this makes sense, I've had painkillers and I feel very much like I should be in San Francisco during the 60's, ifyaknowwhatimean? ;0)

 

I suffer from Hyper Mobility Syndrome which used to be called Ehlers Danlos Type III and every now and then I get a bout of pain and it's a baaaaaaaaaaaaaad pain!

My knees hurt. So do my hips, thighs, calves, neck and back.

I've had a hot shower, taken some pills and I think I might just see if the pills have made me stoned enough to sleep lol.

I haven't even got my BlackBerry to distract me *sob*.

Oh! BTW, sometimes someone does something which totally restores ones faith in the human race! A friend of mine has this little bag to carry around her WIP (Work In Progress) which she got free with a magazine. I've coveted it since I saw it.

Today I posted an ad on Ravelry asking if anyone had one. A few hours later someone PM'd me offering me a (unused) one for free! How sweet is that! I told her to include her address so I can send her something as a thank you!

I'm going to go away now and try to sleep, but it's half term and the kids are all still up so it's not very quiet *sigh*

Don’t buy a phone from

Rrpsavings.co.uk because they're customer care is absolutely crap! I didn't get the call I demanded in an e-mail, nor did I get an answer when I called at midday. It's now 3pm and I decided they could shove it; they've just lost a customer!

I've ordered from play.com and there's a good chance it'll arrive tomorrow!

I hope the guys at rrpsavings don't work on commission!

Insomnia…

…is a bitch!

I am sooooooooooooooo bloody tired, but when I go to bed I either can't sleep or I seem to spend all night turning over/going to the toilet/etc. I'm exhausted, I've got a headache and I'm totally fed up with it all.

I'm going to have a drink tonight, see if that helps.

I need to be up early tomorrow because my son is going away on a trip with The Duke of Edinburgh awards for two nights and he needs to be there at something daft like 8am…course, it's the holidays and I haven't had a lie in yet!

Do you know what I hate…

…businesses that don't seem eager to do business with you! I contacted rrpsavings today as I've got it into my head that I want a BlackBerry phone and they were the cheapest.

Their business hours are 10am – 7pm. I called at 10.10 and got a bloody answering machine. It was over an hour before someone called me back and then they said they couldn't put my card through because there was a problem with the connection between them and the bank! They said they'd call me back as soon as they could put my order through. I'm a bit baffled how they'd know when the connection is open as they claim they don't keep any customer details on file. I waited…and waited…eventually I called them at 2.30pm and left a message on their voicemail again.

By 6.30pm I was getting extremely PO'd about the whole thing so phoned again and someone actually answered! They said they were still having problems, they can't give me the number of the department they called at my bank and when I asked him to get it from technical support, they said that tech support closed at 5!

I'm beginning to wonder if these guys are actually just one or two guys operating out of their own home. You'd think they'd be eager for business, but they really seem rather blasé about the whole thing.

I've just sent them an e-mail stating that I expect a call first thing tomorrow to complete my order and if they can't complete it I expect to be notified with a number for the bank so that I can sort it out!

If they don't get it sorted by morning, then I shall spend an extra £50 and bloody well go elsewhere!

Hey, when I get it, if anyone wants my pin so they can add me on that BlackBerry messenger just leave a comment here on the blog with a way to contact you and I'll send it :0)

Happy Valentine’s Day

As I didn't have anyone to celebrate with, I decided to do something different! I had a memorial tattoo done for Dad of a purple cancer ribbon - purple is for pancreas cancer - with Dad and his birth date - death date on.

I also found a gorgeous little shop which sells loads of gothic clothing, I bought a purple and black top and a full length crushed velvet coat :0)

Halfway there!

Woo hoo! I've reached the halfway point on MD/AN and it's looking great. I can't wait until I've finished and blocked it!

Tut, I want to knit!

Why is it that whenever you want a day to yourself to be as energetic or as lazy as you like, it never goes how you want it to? I seem to have gone out every day this week, so last night I decided that I'd do some catching up on Ravelry and then sit and knit while listening to Harry Potter audio books (I'm up to the actual tournament in Goblet of Fire!).

I knew it'd be quiet; the kids were all doing their own thing today. Alex was game playing upstairs (we moved the games consoles upstairs a few weeks ago), Matt went out with Arnie, Jess went out to the ice rink with Kyle and Ellie. The dog was fed and snoring. Perfect!

I logged in to Rav and spent an hour or two posting on forums and catching up on news. I was just getting ready to sit and knit when the phone rang…it was Kyle. Ellie had taken a tumble on the ice and an ambulance had been called because of her ankle.

I arranged for Alex to watch Isis and I got into the car and drove to the hospital. They weren't there, so I called them only to find out that they were still at the rink waiting for an ambulance. I was so bloody angry that they had been sat waiting, I got back into my car and drove to the rink. Naturally, just as I got there the ambulance arrived.

Thankfully, we weren't at the hospital long, they gave her painkillers and x-rayed it. She's sustained soft tissue damage and has been advised to keep weight off it for a few days.

It's now 8:30pm and I still haven't picked up my needles!

I can see a night of insomnia ahead…

I feel so clever!

Well, it took me a couple of hours of researching, then I found this site that shows me how to make my own Knitters' Progress Bars (designed by Matthew Harvey)! Absolute genius! Step by step instructions so that you can create your own progress bars in whatever colour you choose and at whatever percentage you choose.

What a great page. Now I can create my own little progress bars so that you can see what I'm working on!

A not so good example!

I went to Tesco last week for our usual shopping trip. If there's one thing that really bugs me about supermarkets, it's how people park in the pick-up point -– you know the bit, where you can pull in to pick up other people or quickly load some shopping into the car.

It is NOT a parking space, or a space for old farts to sit reading newspapers while their wives spend 3 hours wandering around the store!

Hampshire Constabulary, please take note!

MD/AN

It grows, quite fast too! I've now finished the second set of charts and I am working on the centre panel…let the beading commence in earnest! Here is my progress so far, I've placed my iPod Shuffle in one of the pics to give you an idea of how big it actually is.

Audio books! What a great invention! I always thought it was a smart idea because it gave blind people a way to enjoy the world of fiction that I have always loved, but I wasn't overly mad about them. Everyone on Ravelry raved about them so I decided to give them another try. They all said to pick books I know reasonably well so it doesn't matter if I get distracted and miss bits…I picked Harry Potter.

I'm not on book 3! They're great! I got so fed up with the TV being on that I needed something else to listen to. With audio books, I don't need to watch as well as listen. I'm listening to the set read by Stephen Fry, although I did start out with the American set read by Dan Gale. Dan Gale did a very good job and I laughed when he fist did Professor Lockheart because that's exactly how I'd imagined him talking. The films (what I've seen of them!) are quite good, but films never show it the way I imagine it. I've only just got the Stephen Fry set so I don't yet know how good he is...took me ages to find the same spot in the new set so that I can just continue flawlessly with Stephen Fry lol.

A New Day in History…

Today this man, Barack Obama, assumed the office of the President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold office. He promises many changes both in the US and worldwide.

I wish him luck.

MD/AN

Here's a pic, it's going well! I've been working on this for a week now and I think I would've been a bit further along if I hadn't decided to change the edging…that lost me a couple of days really.

But I've had a couple of all night sessions to catch up with the rest of the KAL group lol.

I'm now on the second set of charts which are fairly easy and don't involve any beading - I just hope I don't get bored doing them for the next 200 rows!

Lately…

So, let me think, what's been happening?

Well, Isis has had a hair cut…doesn't she look gorgeous!? I also bought her a warm coat as she seems to feel the cold after she's been to the groomers.

I decided to treat Mum for her birthday and take her to London to see Phantom of the Opera in April, the tickets arrived a couple of days ago and I'm excited already! I'd also like to see Wicked and Mamma Mia this year if I can.

I went to Mel's today and look what she had! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, she let me try some and it was bloody delicious. I must keep my eyes open and treat myself to some lol!

A week ago a worldwide KAL that I arranged on Ravelry to do Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights. I showed you a pic of my progress. Well, I REALLY hated those bloody loops. I hated them enough that I realised those loops would prevent me wearing it when it's (eventually) complete.

So I frogged it!

I then spent nearly 48 hours working out how to do the scallop edging from Magic Carpet Ride in its place; I had some kind of weird block though because my brain just wouldn't work. I took both patterns, yarn and needles to our local knitting group and sat with paper and pencil and Joy and we did some math. In the end I had an epiphany and I actually made a swatch shudders. This made calculating things much easier and we worked out that I needed to start with 343 stitches.

It's a very difficult pattern and I spent most of yesterday knitting, ripping and re-knitting the same four rows. Today I'm passed those rows and speeding along reasonably nicely. I'm 25 rows into the first set of charts and I'm starting to enjoy it. The beads are mega tiny, but they sparkle in the light and look well nice! I wonder if I'll still love it when I've knitted the whole thing (which is supposed to be 90" when blocked) lol.

Do you think it's a bit cold? Sugar obviously thinks so LOL

Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights

Yesterday I started Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights, I'm up to row 12 now and it's lovely except for one thing…the beaded loops, I'm seriously not loving the beaded loops……..in fact, I hate them!

They're not me and I don't want to spend ages making this stole up only to not wear it because of those damn loops. So, I bought the Magic Carpet Ride pattern which has an alternative ending so that I can substitute. I'm just waiting for Susan to e-mail the pattern. While I'm waiting I'll undo MD/AN sobs

Oh wow, I haven’t posted for so long…

I guess I've got some major catch up work to do as I haven't posted in ages!

I've managed to finish all my Christmas knitting and I did it in time to deliver to Kerry's on 23^rd December too! Here are pictures (click the links) of the stuff I've finished since last posting.

A sweater for Dominic , a scarf for Mel , a capelet for Rose (a client at the home my mother works in) and a snugly wrap for me! I also managed to finish the blanket that Kerry requested for her friend who is expecting a baby in February! I've just started the sampler stole from A Gathering Of Lace to keep me going until we start Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights on 3^rd January!

We had our knitting Christmas dinner on the 15^th, I'd really been looking forward to it and had new clothes for it –- aren't they fabulous? I ended up being sick twice due to a migraine and calling my mother to come and rescue me tut.

I was absolutely gutted to miss the dinner so a few of us met for lunch today and it was really nice.

I went to visit Kerry and the kids on 23^rd December; we had a lovely day even though Kerry, Phoebe, Alex and I all had the flu!

The journey was all too much for me unfortunately and I spent the next four days wrapped in a blanket with streaming eyes and a streaming nose. I haven't done any Christmas baking and I didn't get drunk on Christmas day like I'd been planning too lol!

I'm starting to feel much better so I shall see the new year in with style, even if I am just sat at home!

Happy holidays everyone!

Lots to catch up

So, let's see, what's been going on? Loads!!

Just over a week ago, Alex and I were messing around and Alex's elbow knocked my cup of tea over…all over my laptop! I yelled in shock and tipped Alex and Isis off my lap yelling to everyone to get some tissue.

Alex immediately got very stroppy and yelled at me so I yelled back at him and he stormed off to bed in a huff. Thankfully, the laptop turned out to be ok, but the next day I got a call from the school telling me that Alex had flipped out.

I went up to the school, but Alex refused to talk to me other than to yell at me shouting that he didn't have a home or family and that he wanted to be adopted. Normally I can pull him out of these phases he goes through, but this time, I was the cause. I ended up having to leave him at school…I left in tears.

About an hour later, Alex and his teacher came home and Alex gave me a huge hug. We were both exhausted and totally drained afterward.

Our X-Box 360 is on the fritz, of course I've made a deal with the kids that I'll buy them one big present and give them cash for Christmas (saves me the stress of all that Christmas shopping!). They all decided to have Guitar Hero for the X-Box 360! So we've spent the last week or so panicking that we wouldn't have an X-Box to play the Christmas present on, but I've just received an e-mail telling me it's on it's way home WOO HOO!

Whatever you do, DON'T buy a HP C7280 printer, what a piece of crap! I got one about a year ago when my last printer died because the man in Staples recommended that model. I found the software cumbersome to use, if I tried to print photos I had to load one sheet at a time or it would pull several through at once and print one photo over several pages.

Then about a month ago I started getting an error message telling me that the duplex module wasn't installed, I took it in to Staples and they sent it off. A couple of weeks later I was told to collect a new printer from Staples, but kept receiving the error message. This meant that I was turning the page so that printing was manual two sided.

A week or so ago I wanted to print a page and just told it to print anyway, when I went to collect the page, it had printed two sided automatically! It just meant that I had to click 'print' twice to get it to print anything two sided. Then yesterday I bought the Garden Variety Collection from Susan Pandorf, I was merrily printing away when I received an error message telling me that the Ink System had failed! I tried everything, I reset the printer and it printed the alignment page perfectly then flashed up with this error message again.

So I took the printer back to Staples this morning and told the manager that I wanted to kick the damn thing with my New Rocks. Staples finally agreed to let me pay the difference and upgrade, isn't this a huge piece of printer LOL

I finished what was going to be Nic's jumper but it came out so small I decided it should go to Phoebe instead, Kerry doesn't mind that it's blue…I think it'll suit her personally.

So I'm making another 'Weasley' but with a 'D' on it for Nic.

See what happens when you leave yarn lying around? Tut