New in February {One Word 2015}

Another month is coming to an end already! February is the shortest but it has still whizzed past. Time to check-in and see how I'm coping with all the new-ness in my life. Here goes...

I'm still the 'new girl' at work. This is fine, but I've had to consciously make sure I still allow myself some leeway! After a couple of weeks I lost patience with myself, feeling like I should have it all sorted out by now. Half term was great on that front: time to stop and catch up with myself, reconnect with members of the team who are based all over the place, and approach the next half term with my head screwed on. I'm sure I'll still feel new next month but I'm getting there... slowly.

Pete has become the 'new boy' too- he started his new job 2 weeks ago and seems to be loving it, but it's a very sleepy household on an evening! His journey time has proved to not really be manageable in the long term which leads me onto our next new:

We are going to view a house this week, and may have a new neighbourhood to add to the list next month! The house we're looking at is not very close to where I'm working but should be doable. It is however in the middle of where I spend a lot of my time out of work, where we have quite a few friends and where our church group is moving to later in the year so I'm happy about it.

Everything is still very much in flux around these parts, and to add to that there are a few exciting crafting things coming up: tomorrow I am going to a meet-up of some crafty ladies I met in Leeds before Christmas, this time in York; and next week I'm hosting a 'crafternoon' to raise money for comic relief! I've been trying out a couple of new crafts in advance of that so will be able to share some photos soon.

How about you: What's new?

A Tiny bit of TUSAL

There's a blog I've come across a couple of times where the writer uses the state of her laundry basket as an indication of how her life is going. I think ours would give a strong sign of our past couple of weeks- two loads down today and it's still three-quarters full! Still, normal service will resume shortly.

There has been another new moon (Happy Chinese New Year!) so it's time for me to share my scraps in the Totally Useless Stitch-along:

There are some extra greys and blues there from the novelty of sewing animals and water that aren't a variation on brown or orange!

I'm afraid I've got no further updates on stitching because you got two weeks worth on Monday. Three posts in a week, this blog has never seen so much action!

Writing about... The Past {Writing Tuesdays}

So here we are. I do so wish I had one more week to start this. The weekend was crazy, last night was full. My husband started his new job today so I'm cooking tea, and pancakes, and I have some soup to make. We haven't unpacked yet, the house is a tip. I want to cycle to work tomorrow and then we're going to a wedding on Thursday night. Yes, it's busy. But hey ho, let's throw our minds back to days gone by. This week's prompt was:

If you could travel back to any time in the past, what date would you choose and why? Would you attempt to influence past events while you were there? Why or why not?

I definitely wouldn't change anything. I'm a big fan of all the little things that happen to pull together life as we know it. Kind of like the Butterfly Effect, or that piece on snowflakes I wrote a little while back. Sure I have regrets, people I've hurt and things I will never do again, but my life would be very different if it weren't for just one of those. In light of that, my 'moment' is one that I could never have imagined would land me where I am now.

It was a bright spring Saturday, and remarkably free of "to-do"s. In fact, it was a day that cried out for a game of tennis. After a lazy-ish morning I sent out a text to the people I thought I wouldn't mind spending the afternoon with. Claire, Beci, Beth, Esther, Pete? I didn't really know Pete but he seemed nice enough and the type who might say yes to some sporting activity. I knew he liked his bike.

The replies came back and there was no tennis to be had. Beci was away, Claire was at a community day down the road, Pete was awaiting a sofa delivery. But I was welcome to pop round for something to do after lunch. I wandered down to the community day and acquired a couple of strawberry plants that were being given away. Safely installed in the front yard, I bussed it across town.

It was a beautiful afternoon as the sun shone in the back garden, and we sat out for a couple of hours just talking about everything and nothing. Later we had a pub dinner with some mutual friends and I showed up my appalling lack of film knowledge. Then I went home, happy that my Saturday had been filled with nice people and good plants.

I'd love to travel back and look down on that day again now, on our first 'accidental date' before there was even a whisper of romance.Just to soak in the moment now I know it's significance. I'd love to hear what we talked about and how we got along, the stories we told each other. But I wouldn't change a thing.

How about you? I'd love to hear when you would travel back to. Is there something you wish you could change?

Post your stories (or a link to them) in the comments and we can have some fun reading.

Next time we'll write about the Present:

It's been said that to be happy, you have to live in the moment. Do you agree with that statement? Why or why not? How well do you think you live in the moment and why do you believe that?

 We'll answer that one on 3rd March!

Gifted Gorgeousness

It’s been a busy weekend in our household as we’ve been up in Glasgow visiting friends and watching some Six Nations rugby in Edinburgh! I was never a sports fan before I got married and now I know more about more sports than I previously knew existed! Going to a match is good fun whether or not you really understand the rules (and I’m getting better…) because the atmosphere is great. Lots of sport on TV also means lots of stitching time for me and there are no prizes for guessing what my “Gifted Gorgeousness” post is going to be this month:

Yes, it’s very VERY nearly done! There are some birds flying over the top and of course the dreaded backstitching. But it will be a gorgeous gift, hopefully all done by next month’s check-in.

See you tomorrow for some writing time: I was hoping to have it all lined up and scheduled for the morning but we got back home later than planned tonight so it will probably be up after work, I’ll try harder next time!

Launching "Writing Tuesdays"... on a Friday

Well, the response to my creative writing suggestion was overwhelming! (by overwhelming I mean I had two comments and one was from my mum, but that's still way above average)

I've decided I'm going to write on a prompt every two weeks (one week is unsustainable, a month and the momentum would soon be gone) and post what I've come up with on a Tuesday, along with the next prompt. It would be great if you have a go on the same theme, to share what you've written or a link in the comments. How does that sound, good?

If no one joins me I'll just keep writing.

Here's our first prompt:

If you could travel back to any time in the past, what date would you choose and why? Would you attempt to influence past events while you were there? Why or why not?

It feels a bit like a school essay title! Feel free to answer some or all of it, for you or an imaginary character. I'll post mine on Tuesday 17th February.


Finally, LOOK:

The boat is DONE! There are some zebras and birds on top of the animals you can see are missing, then the eyes and noses, then the water, then all the outlining. 39 days to go. 6 weekends. It's on.