October Round Up

Another rambling post of disjointed bits - not that you lot seem to mind, so that's ok. Pull up a chair though - you'll need to sit down. I'm planning on going on a bit.

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First up, Georgie-cat was in the mood to pose the other day, and I got some really nice shots of her. Here's my favourite:

It shows off some of her markings beautifully doesn't it? She is a British Shorthair cat, from this breeder. You see that big male silver spotted cat at the top (Moonshadow) ... that's Georgie's dad. He is the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life. Georgie's mum was also a silver spotted shorthair, but Georgie is gold spotted. The breeder wasn't quite sure how that happened - only one of the litter was silver, the rest were gold. She was the only female in a litter of 5. We first went to see her when she was one week old - I fell in love with her on the spot. She's such a lovely cat - easy-going to the 'n'th degree, friendly and intelligent. She's brilliant with the kids too.

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October has been a bumper month blog-award wise ...

I would like to thank Indigo Blue for passing the BFF (Blogging Friends Forever) Award my way. As you can see, it takes the shape of a gold credit card. IB has some marvellous crafty stuff on her blog, and what's more teaches it to some small people too. She is hosting the Christmas Decoration Swap, the button of which is in my sidebar. Thank you IB - x - I really appreciate it. As always there are 'rules' attached which say pass it on to four bloggers who are regular followers of your blog and who live in your own country. Then to one regular follower who lives overseas. As you know, I'm not good at following rules at the best of times, but I will pass this award to some UK bloggers who really helped me this year. They didn't mean to, they just kept in touch and offered care and encouragement at times when I needed both. So consider yourselves awarded: Suzy B, Kaz, Lily Wren, Lesley, and Trashy. And from overseas, Dawn is always caring and supportive, Blossom did all she could via email to try to prevent my spirits being too downtrodden, and MI never stopped letting me know she was there. Thanks guys - x.

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Now I have to thank Tilly Tatas for this award. Tilly is a fairly new 'find' on my blog radar, she's a bit bonkers, has an OH called 'Mr Earplugs', and children named Miss Muffet, and The Nipper. She crafts and blogs about life stuff - go and visit her, you'll like her.

Anyway, this award is for great commenting - which is a new quality on me. But commenting is an important part of blogging isn't it? It's how blogging alliances and fledgling friendships are formed. I very much appreciate all the comments left at the Bloggy Bits, it's always nice to know someone's reading, but those who take the time to comment are especially appreciated. Thus, I will pass this award on to all those who commented on my last post. So that's: ....

Trashy, Katy (Ginger Monkey), Rachel (Four Wise Monkeys), Sal, Tintock, Gina, Ron, Dawn, Mrs Locket-Pocket, Josie, The Mother of This Lot, Mike (Tongue In Check), Twiggy, Sharon (Yes, I know you haven't got a blog, but have an award anyway :-p), Raining Sheep, Alison Boon, Elaine, Tilly, Malach, Dottycookie, Gigibird, Periwinkle, Kaz, Troy, Blossom, Mal Intent, Tracy (Pink Purl), Country Bliss, Lesley (Moogsmum), Jackie, Amy, The Dotterel, Lily-Wren

Sorry not to link to you all, but quite frankly, I can't be ar$ed. :-p Thanks for the award Tilly - x - and thank you to everyone who takes the time to comment here - your comments are both welcome, and very much appreciated - x.

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Another award landed in my lap courtesy of Tracy at Pink Purl. Thank you so much Tracy - x. (For those who don't know Tracy's blog, she makes such stylish things - bags, jewellery, knits, and more; go check her out). This award is named 'The One Sweet Blog' and features a blonde lady either in a frock resembling a cupcake, or else she is actually sitting in a giant cupcake. I wouldn't mind sitting in a giant cupcake - I can see the potential for fun in that situation.

Anyway, the award comes with a tag for a meme - a '7's meme. Here we go:

• 7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1. See my children grow to a healthy, happy, fulfilled adulthood
2. Find some contentment
3. Overcome my mental block about making bags!
4. Visit that special place in Ireland
5. Have the self-discipline to practice yoga regularly instead of sporadically
6. Eat at least half my body weight in Milky Bars
7. Grow some of my own vegetables



• 7 Things I do now:
1. Listen to music - a lot
2. Enjoy blogging a zillion times more than I ever thought I would or could
3. Talk
4. Love seeing the kids find out what makes them happy, interest them or ignite their enthusiasm
5. Hope. Big time
6. Struggle to believe in myself
7. Laugh at lovely, silly, witty, funny (and often childish) things and people



• 7 Things I can't do:
1. Overcome my mental block about making bags!
2. Walk past a shop that sells socks without checking out their latest stock for monkey potential
3. Resist buying fabric, even though I have way too much already
4. Stop myself sneaking a regular peek throughout the day at my Google Reader, to see what treasures by fellow bloggers it might hold
5. Speak another language fluently
6. Stand the sound of cutlery doing that horrid squeaky *s*c*r*a*p*e* sound on a plate .... :-O I get goosebumps and shudder just thinking about it.
7. Give up hope



• 7 Things that attract me in the opposite sex:
1. Humour and wit
2. Intelligence and knowledge
3. A kind and caring nature
4. Sociability and friendliness
5. Honesty and openness
6. Talent
7. Lovely eyes



• 7 Things I say most often:
1. "Did you wash your hands?"
2. "Gosh, really?"
3. "Well done!"
4. "I'll do it in a minute"
5. "Oh bums"
6. "Why/How/Where/When/Who?"
7. "Hello You"



• 7 Celebrities that I admire:

What, precisely, qualifies someone to be a 'celebrity' I wonder? I'm sure at my advanced age, I have no idea who many who are considered 'celebrities' actually are, or what they do or did to make them celebrities. There are famous people I admire for their talent or work, many are now dead, but these ones aren't:

1. Eric Clapton
2. His Holiness the Dalai Lama
3. Stephen Fry
4. Govinder Nazran
5. Robert Hand
6. Billy Connolly
7. Betty Jackson



• 7 Favourite foods:

I've done this one before, so instead I asked the kids what their current (homemade) favourite foods were - as a sort of 'snapshot in time':

1. Pasta in cheese and tomato sauce
2. Lemon cheesecake
3. Roast chicken dinner (this includes roast potatoes, and of course that traditional accompaniment to chicken: yorkshire puddings *rolls eyes* No.1 likes yorkshire puddings with each and every kind of roast meat/dinner)
4. Chocolate caramel krispie cakes
5. Flapjacks
6. Cinnamon and ginger cookies
7. Chocolate chip muffins



• 7 Bloggers who need to do this:

  Nobody needs to do this, but I'd like to pass the award to, and would be interested in the answers from:

  1. Julia at Marmalade Kiss
  2. Lisa at Periwinkle
  3. Malach
  4. Burby at Moments In Suburbia
  5. Meggie at Life's Free Treats
  6. Jennie at Falling Down The Rabbit Hole
  7. WW at Wonderwoman (not)
  
  
  

  No pressure guys - play along if you want to, but don't worry if you don't.

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A big thank you to Ron for The Award That Goes Like This. I guess it does what it says on the can? Thanks Ron - x. I like the clean white lines of this award, and the modest size of the trophy. I'd like to pass it on to the following bloggy peeps with my thanks for entertaining and enjoyable blogs:

Fan My Flame, Family Affairs, paper-and-string, Queen Of The Froggers, working mom knits, Militant Ginger, DottyCookie, ...all the GOOD blog names were taken..., LucyKate Crafts..., Can Bass 1, Suzie Sews, BORN TO READ and knit, Little Cotton Rabbits, Mind Spillage & Thought Leaks, i'm a ginger monkey, Snapdragon's garden, Four Wise Monkeys, Malach, Pencil Dreams, TrashCan, Caffinated Cropper, Hetty's happy days!, lazylol, Tombo's Blog, Pink Purl, mollycupcakes, Menopausal Stoners, Falling down the rabbit-hole, Cupcakes at Home, periwinkle, The Stash Basket, C. Rag, life's free treats, Moments from suburbia, Sal's Snippets ;-), Twisted Sister, Blossom creates, Tongue In Check, Dogdaisychains, ethel and edna, Leni and Rose, MarmaladeKiss, Another Day in the Same Life, sykesssillysite, U-handblog, dutch colours, The Quixotic Hierophant, Gigibird, monda loves…, pink-petal-designs, Divorce and Onwards, The Daily Narcissist, Mommy Has A Headache, Indigo Blue, Moogsmum, Dragonfly, Lucy Locket Recycled Her Pocket, Domesticali, The World of Twiggypeasticks, wonderwoman (ironic title!), the japing ape, Oddball Observations, 23BeechHill, Why I Have High Blood Pressure, mother's pride, The Flour Loft, Ric-Rac, Froglegs N Vaseline, raining sheep, Slightly Wonky Crafts, Rachael Rabbit, Malicous Intent, Lilly-Wren has a pen..., Don't look now!, the vicious chicken, Quilty's Corner, Tintock Tap, Dyan Whyte, Pig in the Kitchen, The Thoughts of Chairman Bertie, grit's day, Twinklythings, The Pigeon Loft, all things lovely, A Gemini Miscellany, Greedy Nan, Oddball & Sticks, silverpebble, Honey Bee, Just Another Row, Caton Darling and Moore, and Monkee Maker.

Apologies for not linking to each and every one - I'd be here until Christmas (2013) if I did that. Ok, ok ... the truth is, I can't be ar$ed again. I know not all of you 'approve' of awards, but just accept it, and tuck it away, ok? I love your blogs. So there.

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I now need to say a public Bloggy Thank You to the lovely Kaz (she of the slightly wonky crafts). She sent me an email to say 'pssst, Wrinkle, what's your address? I've got a little house-warming something for you'. Well, the parcel arrived recently. Look what she sent:

She is a clever thing isn't she? The card is so lovely - I've admired her cards for a long time, and to have actually received one fills me with a warm glow - they are even better in 'real life' than the pictures on her blog suggest. The little clipboard is far too nice for shopping lists, so it's now my official 'Monkey List' holder. Anyone who enquires about a monkey gets listed here - so I don't forget who wants what. Thank you so much Kaz - x - oh and No.1 says 'how clever of you to send my very favourite chocolate!' Hmmmmm.

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My final thank you of October goes to Linda Walsh, for featuring me and the Bloggy Bits on her I Love Crafts and Craft Blogs page: 'Getting To Know The Artist' earlier on this month. Thanks Linda!

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Phew, that's it ... is anyone still reading? If so, you must be exhausted. Go and lie down immediately. Preferably with someone you love, but if not, a good stiff drink might be restorative.

© Author

My Smalls Are No Longer Small

It's the truth, I'm going to have to accept it. I looked at them this week, and there is no denying that they have become 'rather bigs' ... not quite 'my bigs', but definitely 'my mediums'. Except they can't be called mediums because mediums are people who talk to dead people, so I'll have to just call them 'kids' instead; and that's kind of sad.

No.2 is my smallest small. We measured him the other day - he's now 135 cms (that's 4.4ft for those of you over the pond) which means he's not small is he? He's just had another birthday, which was preceded by another birthday party. Like last year, he wanted a football party, and thus a happy couple of hours was spent in the company of lots of little boys running around getting hot and sweaty, and one little girl who said she didn't know how to play football, but had a jolly good go, bless her. The photos I took were mostly rubbish - this one sums it up:

That boy loves football as much as it's possible for a boy to love football. He would eat and breathe it if he could. Recently I was at one of his team's football games, and had my camera with me, having noted the week before, that they were rather nice surroundings in which to watch football. I made this collage with the resulting shots:

Sometimes when I go to watch him play football I take my knitting with me. I decided to make (rather than buy) as many Crimble gifts as possible this year, and since the local shop had a box of yarn on sale, well ... it would have been rude not to buy some, wouldn't it? So ... I'm knitting. It's only scarves, but it's knitting. Anyway, No.2 had said 'it's really embarrassing that you bring your knitting to football' so I'd kept it hidden away in my bag, vowing only to start doing it if I was everso slightly bored. But do you know what happened? A lady came up to me and said 'Excuse me, but have you brought your knitting this week?' 'Yes' said I 'Why?' Turns out she was trying to teach herself to knit from a book; and whilst she'd mastered the 'knit' stitch, she couldn't work out how to 'purl'. She wanted me to show her how. Ha! I felt vindicated in knitting at football games: it's obviously a public service!

He (No.2) has also been going through another of those phases of asking questions. One evening it was bordering on the surreal:

No.2: Mum?

Me: Yes Lovey?

No.2: Who invented pigs?

Me: Pardon?

No.2: Who invented pigs? Who thought up the first ever pig? And why?

Isn't this a brilliant question? I'm so pleased it occurred to him, because if you think about it rationally, why would anyone invent a pig? Anyway, we carried on ...

Me: Erm ... I guess creationists would say God invented pigs as He 'made' the first one like He made all the other animals on Earth. Evolutionists might say pigs evolved from prehistoric pig-like creatures.

No.2: Oh ok. ... Where do rats come from?

Me: What, you mean like pigs ... who invented them?

No.2: No, what country did they start out from? Where was the first ever rat?

Me: Erm ... I have absolutely no idea.

No.2: Oh, ok. ... Do they have snakes in Egypt?

Me: Erm ... probably. I'm not sure which types though. We'll have to google it, ok?

No.2: Oh, ok. ... You know Dodos?

Me: The extinct birds?

No.2: Yes. When, exactly, did they become extinct?

Me: Erm ... I'm not sure. I think that's another one we should ask Mr Google.

No.2: Were you alive when they were 'extincted'?

Me: :-O

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No.1 is now 152.5cms, which in 'old money' is 5ft tall. She's not small either then? How did they get to be this big? How can children grow, and grow up quite so quickly? I must have slipped through a black hole or been subjected to some sort of time continuum prank by The Universe, when I wasn't looking!

I have already posted about how grown up No.1 is these days, but I haven't mentioned that now she's at Big School, she gets to do Cookery. Well, it was called Cookery in my day, but now it's called 'Food Technology'. Whatever it's called, she's really enjoying it. Back in days of yore, when I was a pupil and not a parent, we packaged up what we'd cooked and took it home. I can well remember the very grim day on which I tripped and fell down the coach steps getting off the school bus. Egg Mornay splattered across the road - it wasn't a pretty sight. I can still remember the embarrassment as everyone laughed at me; I wanted to just disappear. I digress, but the thing was, I did take everything home.

Recently No.1 had to make 'Mini Carrot Cakes'; do you know how many of those small ginger-coloured cinnamon-y cakes made it home?:

Just four!

This week she made rock cakes. She doesn't like dried fruit, so each cake had a dollop of jam in the middle. Would you like to guess how many golden knobbly, melty-in-the-middle cakes made the journey back to Chez Wrinkle?:

Two!

A couple of weeks ago, she had to make 'Golden Crunch Biscuits'; can you guess how many of those deliciously oaty, crumbly-yet-crunchy biscuits made it home?:

Two!

The week before that, she made 'Cheesy Pizza Bread'. Can you hazard a guess as to how many of those lovely crunchy-yet-soft and gooey savoury delights made it home?

None!

It's not right, is it?

Lest you think she scoffed the whole lot herself, I must pass on that 'D wanted to taste one, so did C, and H, and B, S, A and ...' and so it went on. Oh well, at least she's getting on well with her new friends.

© Author

Yikes! A Monkey 'mergency!

There I was, having a normal day - well, as normal as it gets round here - when I got a call. An emergency call! Do any of you remember Munk Monkey? He was a gift for my cousin 'B's eldest son - this is him (the monkey, not the son. The son is altogether less ... stripey):

It seems the family dogs decided to 'play' with Munk Monkey with rather gory results. I can't be too cross with those pups as they are absolutely gorgeous. See:

On the left is Paddy, on the right is Max. They are Bichon Frisés, and absolutely adorable. Along with the adorable however, they also do bouncy, loud and playful. And I think perhaps Munk didn't want to play quite that 'rough'.

I said I'd try to give Munk some treatment, so he was dispatched back to Chez Wrinkle. He arrived looking very down in the mouth, and wearing a bandage:

I gently unwrapped the bandage ... the pain was obviously overwhelming, as Munk laid back and covered his eyes to try to prevent me from seeing that he was crying. Awww, bless:

Poor Munk! It was a nasty break, and I thought his cruciate ligaments, tendons and even his hamstring might all be affected! Look away now if gaping wounds aren't your cup of tea, or the sight of stuffing makes you feel faint:

Immediate action was necessary before the poor chap lost consciousness - he said he was in so much pain, it felt like he was slowly losing his mind. I didn't tell him he literally was ... as it travelled downwards and out through his left leg. Luckily, I have donor stuffing on the premises (rhesus monkey positive ;-) ), and after swabbing down the kitchen table with a good squirt of Dettol, I gently laid him on it and set to work. It turns out suturing is a lot like sewing - I used a gentle ladder stitch to do him up, and inserted the donor stuffing as I went along.

As you can see, he looked a lot happier by the time we were finished:

And he got a sticker for being such a brave little monkey.

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I heard from another monkey who was rehomed earlier this year. Millie Monkey, who belongs to one of No.1's friends, recently went on holiday to a villa in the Charente region of France. I'm told she lounged around by the pool, and did very little else, but she did send me this picture when she got back:

I'm very pleased to see she's using the sun cream as Sockburn is a horribly gruesome condition from which to suffer.

© Author

'Me' Stuff & The Box

I was tagged a while ago by Sweetmyrtle (check out her photos - they're fabulous) to name 6 random facts about myself. Well, this isn't too difficult - what's difficult is narrowing down my random-ness to only 6 items! OK, here we go:

1. I am left-handed (or as my dad used to call it 'cack-handed').
2. As a child, I used to bite my fingernails quite horribly. It was obviously an anxiety thing. Bizarrely, I stopped biting them the day I left school, and have never bitten them since. Both my smalls currently bite their nails - I wonder if they'll stop when they leave school too?
3. I had my ears pierced when I was 14 yrs old by a local GP who did it for free, in return for a donation to his favourite charity (which, I seem to recall, was The British Red Cross).
4. My feet are a British Size 4 (European Size 37). I googled to see what size this was in 'American' and found it was a 6½. In Japan it's a Size 22.5; in Australia it's a Size 5; In Russia it's a Size 35; and in Korea it's a Size 238).
5. I have very vivid and memorable dreams. I used to write them all down in a Dream Diary, but haven't done so for a few years now.
6. My favourite soft drink is Canada Dry Ginger Ale. If the makers of said soft drink would like to send me a complementary case for this blatant (and free) bit of promotion/advertising, I would gratefully accept same.

There you go Sweetmyrtle. Hope that was ok? Thank you for tagging me - x.

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To continue on the 'me' theme, here's a meme I shamelessly stole borrowed from Dawn's blog, Twisted Sister.

The rules are simple enough, even for me: Complete each sentence.

I am: Slowly learning to be me again.

I think: Too much about stuff which hurts me.

I know: I shouldn't ... but I still do ;-)

I have: The good fortune to have brilliant kids, and the best friends in the world.

I wish: Some things were different.

I hate: It when people are intentionally rude, ignorant, or spiteful.

I miss: Being held.

I fear: Serious illness and/or pain for my family and friends.

I hear: D it on the Grapevine.

I smell: Of zingy lemon and grapefruit shower gel.

I crave: Happiness, peace, and Milky Bar.

I search: For the stuff that went AWOL when we moved. It has to be somewhere!!

I wonder: Whether the reality would ever be as good as my dreams?

I regret: The pain I've caused other people through the course of my life; and that my dad never met my son.

I love: The special people in my life, the home that the kids and I now have, and to hear my children and their friends laughing ... to name but a few.

I ache: Quite often. It's part of the illness I used to have very badly but which I now have not as badly.

I am not: Nearly as confident as people tend to assume. But after years of practice, I can sometimes put up a pretty good façade.

I believe: That what goes around comes around.

I dance: In the kitchen, with the kids. You should see my Macarena, and my Cha Cha Slide's not bad either ;-)

I sing: Along to the music in the car - which embarrasses my kids, which means I get double the pleasure from singing.

I cry: Less than I used to.

I fight: Like a terrier if it's over something which I believe is 'right'.

I win: By so much at Buzz: The Music Quiz, that nobody will play it with me anymore :-(

I lose: Sleep when I'm worried.

I never: Take my own advice. Or follow a pattern 'properly'.

I always: Cook too many roast potatoes. Then I have to eat them, to make sure they're not wasted. Tsk ... silly me.

I confuse: The two Chuckle Brothers. Which one is Barry and which one is Paul? It doesn't matter much, since they're both incredibly silly, but I always forget which is which.

I listen: To voices (I love voices), and to music, to nature, and to silence: sometimes the silence says more than anything else.

I can usually be found: Doing something creative. Or talking and/or listening. Sometimes all three at once.

I am scared: Of horrible swoopy, flittery, flappy, dive-bombing Daddy-long-legs.

I need: Communication. Without it, I am miserable. To have contact with those who are funny, intelligent, creative and caring is essential to my wellbeing.

I am happy about: The fact that Martin O'Neill seems to be turning things around at the Villa!

I imagine: Allsorts about everything. You wouldn't believe half of it.

For any bloggy peeps who are reading, feel free to pinch this meme for your own blog. To the others - it's probably best if you don't pinch it for the blogs you don't have. :-D

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Finally I must mention the phenomenon that is The Box. Some of you will have seen the badge, sitting in my sidebar for the last goodness-knows-how-long. It all stems from this post at Trashy's blog, and what jolly good fun it's been too. Waiting for The Box to land at Chez Wrinkle has been like waiting for Christmas as a child: excited anticipation. Anyway, it finally landed here - although not without a little complication (the story of my life).

The smalls and I were out last Saturday morning: No.1 and I were watching No.2 play football (his team lost! 3-1 up at half time, and they eventually lost 7-4 :-O). Anyway, on our return, we found a card through the door saying a parcel had arrived, but the Post Office had been unable to get it through the letterbox. Could I go and pick it up from the local Sorting Office, taking with me some form of identification. Well that's fine, except I have no identification for Kitty Wrinkle, and the parcel was addressed to she. I went online to request a redelivery (phew - I was wondering how I'd explain the name thing), and waited in all day on the appointed date. Did the parcel arrive? Nope. I was not a happy bunny. I called the Sorting Office and expressed a less than complimentary view of the service they'd provided. The lady apologised and said she would ensure it came here the very next day. The next day happened to be a day on which I didn't have to get up to get the smalls off to school, as they'd stayed over at their dad's. I'd decided on a nice, warm, snuggly lie-in. With associated dozing. Guess what time the doorbell went? Guess what time the Post Office decided to deliver the bleeping box? 6:49am!! I'm afraid I was not full of the joys of spring autumn. I took the box, put it on the kitchen table and went back to bed.

Some hours later I was ready to face the box anew; I'd forgiven it for it's early arrival, and fell upon it - but I couldn't open it, such was the density of the parcel tape and paper taped on by previous box recipients. When I did eventually hack my way in, I was thrilled to find so much loveliness. For those new to the concept, it started out as a box with some craft bits in it - provided by the lovely Trashy. Each recipient takes out three items, and puts in three new items of their own - then sends it on its way to the next name on the list. I have been watching various bloggy folk post about The Box for many weeks now, and finally it was with me! With oohs and aahhs I went through the whole thing, examining every addition; and eventually chose:

• An Art to Heart pattern for a Christmassy quilt. To be honest I doubt I'll ever actually make the whole quilt, but the figures are right up my appliquéing street for felt and fabric Christmassy pictures.
• A fat quarter of some delicious Kaffe Fassett fabric. (Because of course we all know I just don't have enough fabric. *blush*) When I unwrapped this fabric, I found a little 'extra'. On the card around which the fabric was wrapped, someone has written 'Patchwork is boring!' Should Mr Fassett be told that one of his minions is revolting (in a minor way)?!
• A beaded bracelet kit.

I carefully added my three items, sealed up the box, wrote on the name and address of the next recipient, and sent it on it's way. Who will be next? Hmmmm ... I wonder? I would like to say a huge thank you to Trashy for organising this Box Swap. It's been great fun, and if there's ever another, please count me in!

© Author

Coming Out of the Closet

When I started this blog I was very keen to keep everything very 'anonymous'. No details about who I really was, where we really lived, what we really looked like, what our real names were, etc. etc. I still think there is reason to keep the kids anonymous. If, when they are bigger, they want to stick themselves on the internet, then it'll be their choice, but for now they will stay 'No.1' and 'No.2' respectively. And for anonymity for their sakes, I will always be oblique about where, precisely, we live. This doesn't mean I frown upon those who choose to put their own kids on their blogs. I very much enjoy seeing those. Horses for courses, and all that malarkey.

A big reason for me being a bit mysterious was because I didn't want a specific someone to 'find' my online life. I have had a happy internet social life since I first joined the forums at DS in 2005. When my identity there was first discovered, I changed my name to try to prevent being 'tracked'. I can't describe how sad I felt to let go of that former identity - she had witnessed something of a re-emergence of the 'real me'. In a somewhat exaggerated form, I grant you (most forum members seem to have forum persona which isn't quite the same as the 'real' them) but together we'd had such a lot of fun. Still, I felt it was for the best. My closest friend and I sat down one day and tried to think up a new username for me, and Kitty Wrinkle was born. It took a while for the people who 'knew' the old me, to twig that Kitty was B (the initial of my former forum identity), and vice versa, but eventually most of them did.

However, as most of my readers know, my blog (and my identity at DS) is no longer hidden from the person from whom I was hoping to remain elusive. Therefore there seems little point in my attempting to remain completely anonymous.

As a step towards revealing the 'real me' here on the blog, I first visited wee-mee.com to make a little wee-mee to show you all. (Warning: If you are using Firefox as your browser, don't click on that link, or your FF will probably crash. If you are interested in going there, launch IE!) Here I am:-

The only problem with this picture is that I look about 2'6" tall. It's a cute picture though, and I loved that I could add a monkey!

Then I saw Tombo and Mr Cat having a 'go' with Face Your Manga, and thought that looked like fun. (This site is fine with Firefox as your browser). Here's my manga:

No.1 helped me make that picture - it's quite interesting to see how your kids see you. There was another hairstyle that I thought looked more like me, but no, she insisted this was 'the one'.

That still wasn't right, so in my quest I next paid a visit to Meez.com - a website on which one can play at building an avatar-type version of oneself. (Warning: Once again, if you are using Firefox as your browser, don't click on that link, or the picture below - your FF will definitely crash. If you are interested in going there, launch IE again!) Anyway, this is my Meez:-

Looking kind of foxy there, eh?! Teeny tiny waist, smoothest skin on the planet, and ... erm ... a permanent smirk, along with a head as big as my torso! :-O

Oh God, I thought, I can't let my bloggy readers think I look like that - it's not true! Therefore ... the only thing for it is just to be myself and to hell with it. I'm still going to be 'Kitty' for my online life - even though it isn't actually my real name - largely because it has become so much a part of me that I now answer to it along with my real name. Yes, the time has come for me to step out of the closet, and not hide behind the cartoon anymore. I'm not really sure why today feels like the right time to do it, but it does, so I am. Apologies for the resolution, which is cr@p because I took the picture with the webcam. C'est moi, punching myself in the jaw:

Hello!

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'Ello 'Ello 'Ello ...

... What sort of making's been going on 'ere then?

It all started when my old forum chum Mr Bertie Bassett enquired as to the possibility of a police officer sock monkey. 'Yes, of course!' said I ... obviously not really thinking it through. Because when it came to making this particular sock monkey I had a bit of thinking to do. Knitting a woolly bobble hat for a monkey is one thing; knitting a helmet is something else. I feel I should give a public vote of thanks to Jean Greenhowe for her Mascot Dolls knitting patterns since it was on her Policeman doll that I based the helmet for this monkey. I also want to thank Jodie of Ric-Rac for posting that she found kitchen roll to be a good material for pattern-making for the clothes of soft toys. It has been an invaluable tip to me in a few of my monkey characters, but none more so than this one.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce Plod:

Bertie's son has apparently always wanted to be a Police Officer, and when he achieved his wish to be accepted into the Force, his dad asked for this sock monkey for him. I hope Plod brings Officer Bassett plenty of long-arm-of-the-law-type luck, and that this is the start to a long, happy and successful career.

Another monkey who has made his way out of here fairly recently is this chap:

My cousin 'J' achieved her teaching degree this summer, and has just begun her NQT year at a local school, teaching a Year 1 class. She asked for a monkey as a sort of 'class mascot', and I was only too happy to oblige. The class all voted on a name, the majority decision being 'Rainbow'. Apparently Rainbow is the class cheerer-upper: if any small is feeling a bit down, or unhappy or under the weather, Rainbow sits with them to give them a bit of a lift. I'm told he's brilliant at his job and that the kids all love him. I'm sure the same can be said of their new teacher.

Some of you might have seen on WMK's blog, that a couple of monkeys winged their way Stateside. She asked for a Mr & Mrs Monkey to be given as a gift for a wedding/dedication ceremony. I found some lovely spotty socks at M&S and some coordinating cotton lawn which was given to me by a friend of my mum's when she was having a de-stash. Here is Mr Monkey:

Here is his good lady wife:

And here are the happy couple together:

They gave WMK and I a bit of a fright by taking absolutely ages to cross the Atlantic. At one stage we were wondering if we'd have to send out a search party. But they turned up in the end: tsk, that's honeymooners for you!

And in other 'making' news, I did a bit of 'ordinary' sewing recently. One of mum's quilting groups is having a sale of needlework, and whilst my mum is a fab quilter, she doesn't much like 'piddling about' (her words) at little bits and pieces, the type of which get sold on needlework stalls. As we all know, piddling about is one of my favourite things to do, so ... I made some pincushions:

And some matching needle cases:

To make some sewing-type gift sets:

Hopefully someone will like them enough to buy one!

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Tweenies

Those of you in the UK with children under 11 will, on seeing that title, probably think of Milo, Jake, Bella and Fizz (not to mention Max, Judy and Doodles the dog – oh yes, and Izzles the big fluffy purple canine creature). (Crumbs, that link to Wiki has revealed Milo was played by a woman! :-O) Which is/was your favourite Tweenie? No.1 always had a Fizz admiration going on – she liked Fizz’s pink girliness; No.2 liked both the boy Tweenies, but had a Milo soft toy, and appreciated the naughtiness of that character. That Bella was a right bossy one wasn’t she? For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about, this is them:

Anyway, as usual I have digressed from my subject. Tweenies is not only the name given to the tv programme for tiddlers, but also to those kids in the 10-13 age group (I have also seen them referred to as ‘Tweenagers’ or 'Tweens'). No.1 is in the middle of tweeniedom: definitely not still a small child, but neither yet with a firm foothold in the adulthood towards which she is hurtling at an alarming (for me) rate of knots. Being the parent of a tweenie has been something of an education for me (and after discussions with other mums, I know I’m not alone).

I’m not sure what first heralded the arrival of tweenie-ness. Perhaps it was the stroppiness which is at times, slightly reminiscent of ‘Kevin the teenager’? There have been some days on which, after having been growled at once too often, I've decided it's probably best not to speak - as she is being Miss Snappy Crocodile for the day. Or maybe a big clue is/was skin given to spotty eruptions, so that at times there seemed to be more spot than forehead? Or hair becoming lank quite soon after washing - do you remember baby hair? So downy and soft, with not an ounce of ‘lank’ within a hundred miles of it. She's now über-sensitive about how her hair looks, and wants it straightened every time she washes it (which is sometimes more often than I wash mine).

Another clue was the growing tendency to 'borrow' things from my bedroom. Of course it was a strange sort of borrowing in that the lending time never seemed to end. I have had to buy new tweezers, nail scissors, nail files, and a hairbrush because mine all went walkabout, never to be seen again. Nowadays if my things go missing and they're found in her room, she loses some pocket money. So far, this new 'arrangement' seems to be working. She has always been a girl who was fussy about her clothes - as a 4 year old she knew exactly which clothes she did and didn't like. That trait has magnified a hundred-fold, and I see her checking out the clothes of almost everyone we see. If I buy something for her and she doesn't like it, she won't wear it. End of.

But surely the most telling sign was the gender sensitivity issue. That’s a politically correct way of saying that first there was a general distaste for peers of the opposite sex, followed within months by a sudden realisation that some of them are actually quite ‘cute’. Even at Primary School, there was talk of so-and-so going out with Joe Bloggs. 'What exactly does 'go out with' mean?' I asked. 'Do they actually go anywhere?' It turned out that it's mostly a 'label' type thing - like Dolce & Gabbana, or Ugg. Although some of those boys look pretty 'ugh' to me ;-) All in all, it's utterly bewildering for the Tween Parent.

I have been asked what age I was when I had my first boyfriend, what his name was, did we hug, did we kiss, did we fall out, how long did it last, and who dumped who? (OK, for the noseys amongst you: 14; Peter; Yes, I think so; Possibly; Yes; erm ... something like 4 weeks, 3 days and 7 hours; He dumped me - the b@st@rd. And no, I'm not still bitter).

I can remember times when No.1 just wanted to cuddle up, and do a bit of sewing, do a jigsaw together, do some colouring (I'm not ashamed to admit I loved colouring) or just chat. Now she seems to have earphones permanently attached to her ears. At least I think they're earphones. Either that or she has grown wires :-O I often hear the 'warble' as one of her friends 'pings' her on msn - they've been together at school all day, but still chat away on the poota for some of the evening. (Mind you, I can remember my mum telling me off for being on the phone to friends I'd been at school all day with ... so things haven't changed much. Broadband just means the phone is freed up). She calls me to come and look at a video on YouTube - and half the time the music is crubbish, but apparently *cool* or *funky*.

I suspect another sign is the huge amount of eating and growing going on. Since the start of this year, she has grown and grown and grown. To fuel all this growing she's needed to eat and eat and eat. She doesn't stop! She says she feels desperately hungry all the time - which must be horrible really, mustn't it? I bought her a whole load of new clothes in March of this year. She's grown out of almost all of them already! I now buy her womens clothes (size 8 and 10) ... I thought 'she can just grow into them', although some of them fit her perfectly already. Her feet are now the same Size 4 as mine. I've made sure the latest shoes and boots she's got are ones I like too ... if she carries on growing at least there will be footwear I like going begging ;-) Our bodies might be almost the same size, but our tastes aren't the same: there is no way I'd wear the Spongebob Squarepants bra and pants combo she recently begged me to buy her (I refused).

And then there's the emerging passion for Charity Shops - because the budget she's on means she can shop there herself. The trouble is, she's interfering in my purchases! I recently found this gorgeous wool jumper:

It whispered "felt me!" seductively in my ear as my eyes fell upon it. I bought it. I brought it home, whereupon No.1 (who admittedly does share my love of the colour green) fell in love with it. She tried it on. I tried it on. I had to admit it looked a whole lot better on her than me. So we made a deal - she can have it until she grows out of it (which at the current rate will be a week next Thursday) and then I can felt it. I also found this brand new linen skirt from New Look in another Charity Shop recently.

The slub in the weave is fabulous. It fits me, but I don't want to wear it - I want to take the scissors to it. No.1 wants me to keep that skirt until she grows into it but tough luck! She got to keep the jumper, I'm having the skirt. I've hidden it amongst my fabric, so she can't pinch it.

You know how one day, you suddenly look at your child and realise the 'baby' has all gone? Well No.1's 'girl' has almost all gone now. There are still times when she switches back to the innocence of her younger years, but something's changed. She's growing up.

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Stash Sorting

One of the more pleasurable bits of the unpacking process was finally getting to grips with my stash. There were bits and pieces in bags and boxes all over the place (and in fact as I type, I still can't locate my aida, embroidery threads, or metallic yarns and fingering <- link included for those with some ambiguity of thought!)

So one afternoon I spent a couple of happy hours sorting out the mess that was and is my stash. I discovered that what I thought was merely a compulsive fabric-buying habit turned out to be a little bit of a yarn habit too. I now have the yarn safely stored in two medium-sized plastic tubs (all my needles in another tub, along with patterns - both knitting and sewing). I have four large plastic tubs of fabric, all now labelled with contents. Yes, yes, I colour-coded them for ease of use, but does that make me anally retentive? Let's not answer that. Let's leave it as a rhetorical question - it looks nice that way.

I now have a little tub with zips and velcro in. Another two house felts. Another contains - I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but yes, there is a small tub of - bobbles. Little bobbles the likes of which get sewn on to monkeys' hats. There are even smaller baskets of threads, buttons, cords, scissors, interfacings and bondaweb, needles and pins, etc. All in all it's looking pretty darned fab. Would you like to see a picture or two? Oh, ok ... here you go then:

What's that you say? ..."What is that pile of folded bits on the right?"...

Those are my wool and fleece blankets, and bits of fleece. I use them for 'backgrounds' of pictures, because they never need ironing to look good.

Here's the cupboard (I'm storing it all in the airing cupboard which is the biggest airing cupboard you've ever seen) from a different angle:

What's that you say? ..."What's in the white box on the left?" ....

Oh that ... that's just a box, nothing really. Just a white cardboard box with a lid - useful for storing stuff.

There you go. Like I said, just a plain white box. With a lid. And a silver bit on the front. Silver corners. The rest is white. Very boring. Cheap 'n' cheerful - an Ikea special. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing at all. Let's move along, shall we? As there's nothing to see?

What's that you say? ..."Can we see inside the box?"...

Oh you wouldn't want to, it's just a couple of bits of stash, one or two tiny items; I'm not remotely embarrassed about what's in there. It might as well not be there really - no real need for it. At all.

...

...

...

Erm ... well ... you see, when I was sorting, I found I'd got quite a lot of pairs of socks, so I needed somewhere to keep them. I thought a small tub would do it, but no. So I got a medium-sized tub. Erm ... but there was a teeny-tiny overflow problem - heels and toes sticking out and I couldn't get the lid on. So I got the white box. What you can see there, is only the 'top' layer too, like a box of chocolates there is another layer of scrummy-ness underneath. But it doesn't actually qualify as an addiction. Does it?

... Sock creature, anyone?

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