Tired

Not sleeping well, aches & pains, little bear, etc etc.

I am hoping that this explains why I bought £50 worth of knitting books from Amazon. None of the books were expensive. I have absolutely no idea what possessed me.

I just hope I get the benefit of them. It may take me some time.

Thinking about it, I did see a book called 'how to stop shopping'. Perhaps that should have gone into the order as well.

Santa Who?

OH took little bear to see Santa at a nearby garden centre while I did the first few hours of ironing.

I saw them get out of the car and I wondered what had happened. Both of them looked exhausted and fed up. Little bear was clutching a cement mixer and looking even more tired than normal.

It turns out that they had queued for one hour and forty five minutes. OH said that by the end little bear was practically in tears. There is a photo of him on the desk next to me. It has Santa Claus plus little bear looking like he has just been told that Christmas has been cancelled, but he will still get a token lollipop if he smiles NOW.

I don't think I could put them through it next year.

Clean or clutterbust?

I have a blister on my hand from ironing. I have spent most of the day at the task. This has increased the washing pile with the 'darn, that stain didn't come out two years ago' items. I am more before hand with my ironing than I have been since before little bear was born. I still have ironing, just less. This is cleaning, or housewifery.

It is also clutterbusting as I have already pulled out a bin bag of clothes to go to the clothes bank (not adding it to total until it actually gets there) and hope to add more. Also I plan to get the last few bits of ironing done tomorrow (I guess a mere two hours) so that I can fold down the ironing board with a clear conscience knowing that OH has shirts for a week. The room has been too cluttered for me to risk putting the board down as I wasn't sure I would be able to get it back up without a serious battle. So I plan to take down the ironing board, clear, clutterbust and clean.

I fully expect to find another day's worth of ironing minimum once I get beyond the heaps. There is also a massive box full of old papers that have been downstairs for three years, untouched. I am planning to supervise little bear shredding - he lubs it. I really miss my old filing cabinets. Ideally I want to shred all documents that I possibly can, keeping the important ones and putting all reference numbers etc (but not passwords) into a file in Google Docs.

But then I can sort, stack etc in the dining room and walk in cupboard. At the moment I can't find things - like black bin sacks. We have a plethora of them, but somewhere, not in a logical place. That will, hopefully, change.

Also, I have been told that my sister in law will be babysitting on Saturday. I need to disinfect the house. All the house. Even the bits she will never see. I need to clean behind the wallpaper.

Also, I want to empty a cupboard that I have not opened in several years and have only the haziest recollections of what is in there. I put a lot of craft stuff in there, but the sofa is wedged against it and I haven't been in there for a while. I am not looking forward to it, to be honest, as I expect damp and mice have wreaked some havoc. But I want it clear to put the Christmas decorations in after Christmas and I want to empty it when darling father isn't around. He could well be forthright.

Does anyone want to bet on me having enough energy for all of this? Especially as I am too tired to write (have the next big chunk clear in my mind) and almost too tired to walk? I think I shall aim for self contained segments. Little bear permitting.

How warm?

There was a bee on the outside of little bear's bedroom window yesterday.

I know it is a little warmer but I did blink and look closer. Poor thing looked shocked, but it was 'washing its face' if you know what I mean, so was alive, and as I couldn't believe my eyes I looked closely to see that it wasn't a wasp but a bee.

Just thought - what's happened to the chimney? Too cold to go and look.

Gate on door

Little bear gave another six o'clock shout. Six o'clock isn't early to many, my sister in law would often consider it obscenely late, but she has early nights. I prefer late nights/late mornings and I am short on sleep anyway. Also I had trouble getting to sleep last night.

Tomorrow morning he will awake to a closed door gate!

Also, he is coughing. At least I have cough medicine in, suitable for his age.

Dear heaven, no-one let me near ebay....

Knitting gets me cross

I bought a knitting magazine - I should not have bought this magazine as it is an anti clutterbust move and spends money, but there was a rather nice man's sweater on the cover. I quite liked the pattern, you cast on eg thirty stitches, then increase into every stitch for the first row, then knit two together, purl two together etc for the second and repeat. I am already planning on trying it on a scarf. However it is heavy on the wool and for darling uncle it would take @ 1950g of yarn, which is a lot.

The yarn that they recommend is £7.95 for 100g. Give or take, that sweater would cost £150 - one hundred and fifty pounds!!!! Actually I think it justifies even more exclamation marks!!!!!!!

One hundred and fifty pounds. Or just under two months council tax (maybe one and a half months when next year's bill comes).

I remember when knitting was a way of getting affordable warm clothes.

Morgan - I am glad that you are feeling better, I hope you get plenty of rest. I have finished the pompom scarf and will post a picture as soon as I can remember where my camera is. Let me know how the cancan goes. Hester also recommends this. Actually, I shouldn't buy any more yarn, but who am I kidding.

Little bear continues. He had me totally blindsided this evening, as I ended up in an indepth discussion about the ownership of a sheet of reward stickers (he did a wee in his potty!) Finally I chased him upstairs for bedtime, and as he started up he gave me a cheeky grin - and handed me the remote that he had hidden under his top. I never even saw it disappear there, he managed to misdirect me and stash it.

Little bear is not so good

So far he has, before 9am...

Woken me at six
Fought over ever morsel that has gone through his lips, either for (chocolate biscuits) or against (cereal)
Frozen the computer, I thought he had finished it
Found a Christmas present (OH doesn't always hide things well) and forced me to try and disentangle the 10 Thomas the Tank Engine jigsaws packed together. (Thanks, jigsaw maker, I know that the biggest only had 49 pieces but it is just what my sleep deprived brain didn't need)
Insisted that he is too poorly to go anywhere
Insisted that he NEEDS to go to town
Insisted that he NEEDS to get dressed
Insisted that we go to the German market (not sure that it is still on!)
Insisted that he NEEDS a rest before getting dressed...

OH is still in bed. He had a bad night with a cough that could saw wood. He is really poorly.

I am feeling a bit battered.

Also, the norovirus here is, apparently, enjoying the novelty of attacking the respiratory system, so OH has a really, really bad chest. Little bear has just started coughing. Which means that the break of him going to nursery, which I am absolutely desperate for, is not likely to happen. I can't send him there with a norovirus.

I am wracking my brains for ideas now to keep little bear amused.