Sunday 5th July

Not much to report, mainly just plodding along with my inprogress ones.
Watched "American in Paris" starring Gene Kelly off of my top 25 musicals list, I quite enjoyed it but a bit too much dancing for me.

Ive finshed reading "Perfume" by Patrick Stuskind. Its a very good book, would never have picked it up usually. I am finding that a lot with this list.

The cake I baked for the month was for the Birthday of my good friend and sons godfather, it looked quite nice and tasted yummy.

Sunday 27th June 2009

Well a few more have been ticked off this week and lots more has happened on the ones in progress.

Below you can see my finished blanket for Soweto, I am quite pleased with it and it looks pretty. I am sure the child who gets it will be glad of it. I am going to knit some more squares and make more blankets and also some premature baby hats (now I have discovered how easy they are to make!) but I am happy now to tick off number 91 - Knit some squares to do my share.

Yesterday myself and some friends went to see Priscilla queen of the desert in the West End. The show was fab and we all had a great time. The costumes were fantastic and the songs were catchy. Unfortunately whilst we were enjoying the show the skys had opened and we then spent 6 hours trying to get across London to our car as all the tube stations were flooded. We didnt really mind and it was a bit of an adventure! So thats Number 54 - Go and see Priscilla Queen of the desert in the West End done!

I am also happy to tick off number 29 - Spend a day/ 2 half days visiting my town with a tourists eyes. I did start this one earlier by visiting the museum in my local park. On Wednesday last week my son and I went to the park again had a lovley long walk, a picnic and fed the ducks, I felt as if I were on my holidays so I feel I can tick this one off. On Friday my partner took a half day from work and we visited a lovely canal near by, again we fed the ducks, had an ice cream, enjoyed a stroll followed by a cool glass of wine. It was lovely.

By the Canal

Feeding the ducks by the canal

My little boy in the park after feeding more ducks. I should point out he isnt as near to the water as he looks!

All this duck feeding also counts towards number 86 - Feed the ducks at least 3 times


I`ve finished reading "The Magic Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton. It was nice to read of a simpler time when children said things like "oh golly" and "we must stay in and help Mother" !!!
I have also begun watching the top 25 musicals and started with "Meet me in Saint Louis" starring Judy Garland, it was a harmless film not my favourite but not the worst I have ever watched either.

Well, that was a long post! I will probably not tick any off for a few weeks now but will continue with the 35 in progress ones.

Week 5

Saturday 20th June 2009
So here we are at week 5 and I have been a very busy little bee and have completed another 3 tasks this week, it was very nearly 4!

So the 3 I have completed:

72 - Try Sushi - Have to say I wont be running back for more! It was OK, not hideous but not my favourite either. I bought a little pack that M&S do for £3. It had a couple of sorts in tuna, cucumber, redpepper and another fishy one.

53 - Get a water butt and attatch it the gutter - I am now able to water my plants for free, hooray. It was quite easy to fit and we got a cute litttle space saving one. I have wanted to get one for ages but never got round to it.

43 -Send random friendship cards to each of the 6 houses in the UK with the same address as me. In truth it was actually only 5 as when I had counted them I forgot to not include my own house, doh!! The little cards read " Hello, We live at............. in Northampton and we just wanted to say Hi! Hope this has made you smile." and then signed our names.

The 4th that I nearly completed was my knit some squares task, I have knitted all 24 squares but still have a few to sew together to form the blanket. I didnt want to cross it off until I ad actually finished.

Ive also managed quite a bit of reading and finished Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, thoroughly enjoyed it but would never have picked it up normally.
Ive also read a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, I love this story so needed no promting to read it, may well read it again nearer Christmas.
I have also managed to start to read The Magic Faraway tree by Enid Blyton, so a big blast back to my childhood.

Began to gather together some of the Musicals to watch and watched another film that I wouldnt have usually watched, Valkyrie.
Well I am off now to do some more stitching together, its a necessary evil but very boring! Hopefully I will finish it off by next week and can cross it off,I should also be able to complete a couple of others and continue with the ones in progress so watch this space!!

1 month in and going strong!

One Month in and Going strong!
Saturday 13th June 2009

Hello Campers
Well this week I have only managed to complete one of my tasks, but I am still plodding along nicely with the in progress ones. I am continuing with my reading and managed to get a few books from the list on Bookmooch. I also am waiting for a book on the American Presidents to be posted to me and then I will be able to start number 30.

To make up for my appaling lack of completes I thought I would "try" and add some photos, if you are looking at a blank page right now you will know I have failed!!


This is one of the photos from our family portraits taken this year. I am really pleased with them, especially this black and white one.

Here is a few of the crafty projects I am working on. You can see 2 of the 6 reusable bags for life that I am going tomake/sew as presents. Really pleased how these have turned out and looking forward to doing the next 4. You can also see the 2 little premature baby hats I have made and a few of the squares for my blanket, these are my knit a square to do your share tasks.

The task I managed to complete was :

25. Dye my hair a different colour - I am now no longer blonde but a reddy mahogonay colour. I have never dyed my hair before so it has took some getting used to but I am quite pleased with it.


Hopefully I will manage a few more tasks next week.
Bye for now and Templewytch keep a look out in you letter box! x x

Week 3 Update

Saturday 6th June 2009

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm so what have I been up to this week.......let me see?

Well I have completed 2 more of my tasks.

58. Take the time to write a letter of thanks when I have received good service
My mum bought a car seat for my baby for in her car and my partner and Dad couldnt fit it, so Mum and I trundle back to Mothercare and were served by a lovely young man called Oli. He elped us to fit the seat, showed us how to do it for ourselves, did many safety checks to ensure it was in correctly and was generally very pleasant to us. I wrote a little Thankyou card for him addressed to the manager of the store, we are all to quick to complain but few people take the trouble to write to praise.

33. Buy myself some stripey socks in honour of my friend Fay
As many of you who are on MSE know there is a lovely lady called Fay on there. Now our Fay has a liking for all things stripey and was actually kind enough to post me some fabulous stripey socks. I felt this was cheating though to cross this off my list as it clearly said "buy myself" so I am also now the proud owner of a pair of very long, over knee, pretty stripey socks!

Soooooooooooo what else have I been doing?

• Continuing with my blanket squares
• Looking into possible Diploma courses, think I have decide upon one but now need to try to and find the money to pay for it. I really wanted to do American studies but I cannot find a similar course anywhere.
  
• Ive now read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I quite enjoyed it, not a book I would usually have picked up so glad it was on the list. Moving on to 1984 by George Orwell now.
• I have written to all my elderly Aunties
• I batch cooked some Lasagnes, some for me but 1 for Mum and Dad as a Wedding Anniversary present. This will be their Takeaway treat as per 85.
• Posted 2 parcels, just because. One to Fay and one to Marie, another MSEer!
• I tackled my first spider armed with a jam jar and a piece of paper! He was unceremoniously flung out the window but remained unsquished!!
• I am enjoying doing number 57 and finding it quite easy to talk to 1 stranger a week. I think it helps having the baby as he is often a conversation starter!
• Ive watched a film I wouldnt normally have watched. My Grandfather and I watched "The Caine Mutiny" starring Humphrey Bogart. To be honest I do not usually rate old films as they seem to go on forever with very little content. I di however quite enjoy this one, never going to be my favourite but was definately watchable.
  
• Finally and quite a biggie I have instructed the Estate Agents to sell my flat, the HIP is ordered and it should go on the market next week. I am hoping for a quick sale as rather depressingly I am not going to make as much money on it as I had hoped but on the plus side my monthly outgoings will reduce massively enabling me to return to work Part time rather than Full Time.

Well I have been busier than I thought!!
Tune in next week for another amazing installment ..................................................................................................................................................................

Week 2

Wow another week has nearly gone by, where does time go?

Realised it was nearly the end of the month and that I really needed to get a shufty on for some of my monthly tasks!! So I baked my dad some Diabetic cookies, had a lovely bath and threw OH out and even conditioned my hair I dont think Ive managed to do that since my son was born 5 months ago!

Tomorrow we are having a no electric night, I love these, we turn the TV and lights off, open a bottle of wine and just talk to eachother whilst playing cards or a board game. It saves us money and I always feel very satisfied after.

I have decided to split

1: Spend a day “visiting” my town with a tourists eyes and go to places I would normally walk past e.g. – museum

into 2 half days so it will be easier with the baby. With this in mind I went to the little museum thats in our local park. I hadnt been in it since I was at lower scool (only a couple of years ago, ha ha!) There was also a nice art exhibition on so I had a good look at everything and then sat outside with Aidan and had an ice cream!

Ive booked to go to see Priscilla the queen of the desert in the west end with some gay friends (yep Im a fag hag!) we booked through Lastminute.com and got the tickets half price, £21! Its going to be a lovely fun day out and I will be able to be me again for a while not just a mummy. We are going in June so not long to wait, yippeee!

Still knitting my squares for my orphan blanket 6 down 18 to go!

Sent the first of my 20 presents to friends just because. One of my Moneysavingexpert friends was the recipient and she was pleased with the contents, it was more special as I hadnt told her to expect it so it was a complete surprise.

Hope to check in again for a week 3 update, bye for now x

The Top 25 Musicals

So here is the list of top 25 musicals I will be watching from, I have seen a few already but I am going to watch them again as they are just such classic films.

1 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
2 WEST SIDE STORY
3 WIZARD OF OZ
4 SOUND OF MUSIC
5 CABARET
6 MARY POPPINS
7 STAR IS BORN
8 MY FAIR LADY
9 AMERICAN IN PARIS
10 MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
11 KING AND I
12 CHICAGO

13 42ND STREET

14 ALL THAT JAZZ.
15 TOP HAT

16 FUNNY GIRL

17 BAND WAGON

18 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

19 ON THE TOWN,

20 GREASE

21 SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

22 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
23 GUYS AND DOLLS

24 SHOW BOAT
25 MOULIN ROUGE

Red = Watched