16 Days of Christmas - 12th Day

(the 16 days refer to my long holiday leave)

On the 12th day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
Nothing to do today
Except to celebrate the New Year

I've been thinking about resolutions.....but with me it's a bit difficult. I have given up smoking, drinking (mostly), biting my nails, gambling - there's nothing left to give up!

Oh, I do need to lose weight and start cycling again - once I have the hoped-for all-clear from the hospital.

So, perhaps I need to add to my life......but how......?

I could, to quote my re-enactment friend Master Simon Atford, '...spend a good chunk of 2009 pretending it's 1370.' Now that sounds like a superb resolution!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 11th Day

(the 16 days refer to my long holiday leave)

On the 11th day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
Some repairs to my tent,
Using an old pair of shoes!

Well, as I had the tent out anyway and MB is away at his parents, it seemed a perfect opportunity to have a crack at repairing the small tears and holes in the canvas. It has had a mouse hole in the roof for ages, so that was my first try, and a couple of the door ties had frayed through. I found an old pair of canvas shoes that could be cannibalised for patches. As Naomi points out (below) it is a big tent and sewing it was handful and a half. But here is my patched mouse hole.

Not too bad for someone who is still not brilliant at sewing. Now that with new waterproofing should mean my tentmate Kate should be able to sleep without her raincoat next season...

And, of course, lay anything out on our floor and it becomes an instant playground for certain people......

Also, I am working my way through my Christmas present DVDs - so far today I have watched Forbidden Kingdom (ooh, fun!), Amazing Grace (marvellous film of a true story) and Demolition Man (one of my all-time faves!). I also got Equilibrium, which I will watch another time. I also got music (Katie Melua, Seal and the Hoosiers) and books (Alan Bennett, Dawn French, some cat stories and Life in a Medieval City).

Tomorrow cyberkitten, bionicdwarf and sleepypete and me are off to see Twilight at the cinema - nothing like a vampire movie for Christmas!! :-)

cq

The 16 Days of Christmas - 10th Day

(the 16 days refer to my long holiday leave)

On the 10th day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
A cold sunny day to air my tent
And a warm empty house to dry it!

As regular readers of this blog will know I am a medieval re-enactor. It's an addiction and today I got out my tent to check its condition and see what repairs are needed. I was relieved to see its condition hadn't deteriorated during the time it has been stored in the shed and the repair tally stands at one mouse hole to be darned and three broken door ties to be repaired. I must also fashion leather flanges for the poles to stop the rain coming in!
Today I emailed two local firms to see if they could clean and reproof the tent at a reasonable price. At least a dirty tent looks authentic!

This picture of the trial by combat shows the size of the tent - big isn't it? It sleeps three of us women with room to spare and even medieval women have a lot of 'stuff'!

It also provides a playground for mischevious felines :-)

Update: I spent the last hour watching a programme on the 15 century Gutenberg printing press and reading the 14 century Forme of Cury (first ever cookery book!) - definitely a medieval re-enactor!!

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 9th Day

(the 16 days refer to my long holiday leave)

On the 9th day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
A trip to the supermarket.

Today is the Crazie Christmas - a day when the whole gang get together for the evening. I still pinch myself to remind me that I actually have a gang! We're a strange but loveable bunch of humans.
:-)
We all even have internet personas - Craziequeen, Aginoth, Mrs Aginoth, Cyberkitten, SleepyPete, Bionic Dwarf, RCA and KatGirl. Even the children have nicknames; Master Aginoth (aka Jnr), LMB and LMD.

Anyway, today's message is a British Christmas tradition. The comedians are, sadly, no longer with us, but the treasures they left us are priceless :-)

Thank you to Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise - you are legends and we still love you.

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 8th Day

(the 16 days refer to my long holiday leave)

On the 8th day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
some items to return to the store.

I was going to post something sparkling and very funny today, but as I was logging on I had the news on the TV in the background and I saw this story...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7800663.stm

I sat with my jaw dropped as the news replayed the 911 phone call from a distraught woman, who had just seen an eight year old girl shot in the face by 'Santa' (her own father) and then 8 more members of her family shot or burned to death.

OK, so I know we're all used to seeing bad news at Christmas, life and death doesn't stop for the holiday season, and we have the usual battles around the globe but somehow, this news makes the celebrations seem hollow and the lights on my tree are a little dimmer now.

So no jokes today. Good luck and prayers to the survivors of the ultimate betrayal.

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 7th Day

(the 16 days refer to my extended holiday leave - to rest my knee and nurse my depression)

I don't like the Christmas hoopla, which is why MB and I lock ourselves away for a couple of days. I don't do big family do's and I don't do parties - except the Crazies; but they are special, like me :-)

Christmas was weird this year, I started the day in tears and pretty much ended it in tears. I was inconsolable and have been periodically weeping through the last couple of days.
So, today I am tired. I am very grateful for my wonderful gifts but I am very tired.

My picture today is William, discovering the delights of wrapping paper!

Oh, and there is video too - after I hastily grabbed my mobile phone!

More tomorrow, dear readers.

cq

ps - for those of you who have followed the trials of my tree, it stayed up and decorated this year - although William is deadset on chewing the lights.

16 Days of Christmas - 6th Day

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

from all at the Palace :-)

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 5th Day

(the 16 days refer to the long break I have taken to rest my knee and nurse my current depression)

On the fifth day of Christmas
My chores list sent to me..
A tree to decorate.

Pretty picture - ok, obviously not the real thing.

This is our tree and decorating a small tree is not a challenge...

In this house - KEEPING a tree decorated is the challenge! Actually, just keeping the tree erect is a challenge.

Here's to Charlie not wrecking the tree this year - and that new boy William is not a destroyer of Christmas trees.

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 4th Day

(The 16 days are the long holiday I have given myself to rest my knee and get over my increasing depression)

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me...
changing the bed linen.

This is the bedspread I bought for a song in Victoria, BC earlier this year, pretty isn't it?

Thought for today; as I visit your blogs and spend time on Facebook and see everyone turning their lives upside down for the huge get-togethers being planned for Christmas I feel the spirit through you all. For all of you opening your homes and spreading the love to your families and friends, I offer you a simple wish - Have a Wombling Merry Christmas!

Wombles are pointy-nosed furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Their motto is 'Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish'. This "green" message was a reflection of the ecology movement of the 1970s. Although Wombles live in every country in the world, the stories focus on the life of the burrow in Wimbledon Common in London, England.

As a child in the seventies, I believed in Wombles - much like a child believing in Santa. When life is hard a child will cling to any good thing they see. My hero was Orinoco, singing the lead, and I also adored Wellington (cap and spectacles) because he reminded me of me a little bit.

Every Christmas I dig out the old Christmas pop songs and sit in reverie, feeling the joy and energy they infused into their audience, or sing along with gusto not felt for years. YouTube is an added bonus as I can watch the old footage and revisit old 'friends'.

cq

16 Days of Christmas - 3rd Day

On the third day of Christmas,
my chores list sent to me....
a trip to the supermarket.

And what a challenge that was! After two days of rest I was surprised to find my knee is still very weak and painful - which meant I still needed crutches for long periods. We went to the big supermarket thinking we could get everything in one go - and found that a lot of the stuff wasn't available in the big store, so MB has now trucked off with another list to the little store to get the leftovers.

Anyway, to today's subject - Bojangles. Nope, not the singer, the dog :-) And he is in charge of guarding the gifts...........

This is our first Christmas without the much adored Pandora, who went to the Rainbow Bridge in March after sharing our lives for 18yrs. Bojangles was the stuffed dog which she adopted and slept with every day as she grew older.Pandora (Pandy to her friends) enjoyed Christmas; the long days with Mum and Dad staying at home and making a fuss of her. Turkey trimmings, toys and snuggles made Christmas her favourite time of the year - sometimes she took things a little far!This is her waiting for Christmas breakfast - I think she fancied bacon and eggs! We have our hooligans this year, Charlie and William, but we still miss our grande dame Pandora.

(NetChick is hosting the 'Holiday Meet and Greet' this week, so if you have five minutes this holiday season pop on over and say hello - you never know who you'll meet!)

cq

16 Days of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas,
My chores list gave to me...
laundry to dry and shirts to iron.

It's Sunday and a day of rest. MB has vacuumed and I will be doing the ironing while watching my soap opera - which will, no doubt, be building to the ludicrous annual Christmas drama/tragedy. We have strung up all our Christmas cards and the presents are piled in the corner. The cards for our immediate neighbours are ready for thrusting through their letterboxes.

Recently I had a lovely evening out with my darling Bobkat and we went to see Inkheart. The credit crunch was reflected in the half-empty restaurant (normally full to bursting the week run-up to Christmas) and the almost empty cinema screen. Bad luck to those who decided to save their money for another bottle of wine or the latest computer craze - Inkheart was wonderful! The story was cleverly crafted and the characters were magically brought to life by some inspired acting - best performances were Helen Mirren and Andy Serkis, but the whole film was stolen by the maturing genius that is Paul Bettany!

cq

16 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas,
my chores list gave to me...
one, two, three, four loads of laundry.

Day One of my magnificent two week break over Christmas. It is eating up all my holiday time, but will be worth it in the end. Obviously, I have stuff to do - Christmas food shopping, put the tree up (every day if Charlie lives up to his reputation), cleaning, cooking etc - but I am ordering my body and brain to slow down............

Lots of rest, junk TV, Christmas food, Christmas Day with MB and the Crazie Kittehs, the Crazie Christmas Party, some time alone with mah kittehs - and lots of time to rest my knee and get over the endless stream of colds and flu. And imagine my delight at getting a modest parcel all the way from the beautiful Hollywood Hills and our magical friend Naomi :-) It will be placed under the tree for the Day. (Other modest parcels will be distributed)

cq

Not Enjoying This Life

Some days you wonder if there is any point....?

Today I was nearly hit by a double decker bus while crossing a zebra crossing. I looked before stepping out, saw a decent gap in traffic, and as I got about a 1/4 way across I heard squealing tyres and looked up to see a bus about ten feet from me - brakes on hard, burning rubber. There was someone standing by the driver, so he was obviously chatting and not paying attention.

I feel sick.

I had my MRIs on my knee yesterday and the only clue the nurse gave me was that it was 'very swollen' - nah, you think?????

Now it's a waiting game until end of January, unless my orthopaedic chappie takes sympathy on me.

Update - the staff would not tell me if there was anything on the MRI or not - they refused to give out information and just said the MRIs would be sent to the originator. I have had several people (including the nurse at the MRI) tell me of torn ligaments and cartilage not diagnosed for months.

I am not a happy blogger.

cq

Ready for Christmas? er - no...!

So - how are things at the Palace....?

I have an appointment for an MRI scan on Tuesday - hopefully that'll be the step in the right direction to sort my knee out. Currently I am hearing all sorts of horror stories about people who it took months or years to diagnose torn ligaments/cartilage. I'm hoping this won't be me!
I can tentatively totter about the house, but anything more ambitious than that still requires crutches - and after two months I have just worn out my first pair!

I have had my second bout of flu in 6 weeks - which resulted in a touch of bronchitis. So I have been rather poorly lately and felt quite sorry for myself what with temperature and sickness and crutches!

I have managed some gentle Christmas shopping, and started wrapping gifts. I am meeting Bobkat on Monday for an evening out and her gifts are all ready to go. Follow the link in bold, go visit, say hello - she'll love the company!
My parents' gifts are almost ready, except the online orders. I just need to get the rest of MB's gift and I'm set.

The Christmas decorations are down from the loft, but we're not decorating just yet. It'll be a disaster with the hooligan cats we currently have; Charlie is infamous for wrecking the tree every year and William attacks everything. We will decorate, but are leaving it til Christmas Week.

I am tired. I am unhappy. I am disillusioned. I am worn out from being 'cheerful' at work and not letting people see how desperately low I really am.
This weekend I intend to chill with some movies - between doing the laundry, cooking and housework, of course!

Update - no movies today, MB has discovered a M*A*S*H Day on Paramount TV, so it's Hawkeye and Radar all the way...!
2nd update - the great Michele has retired from blogging! No more Meet and Greet!
3rd update - And just when things are at their darkest I find out the Meet & Greet is being continued by NetChick, a blogging legend - an excellent way to spend the weekend!

cq