Birthday & goals for the new year :)

It's my birthday today, or it was, since it's now well past midnight. I really should get to bed, because I have to get up early tomorrow and pack. We're going back to our apartment to start everyday life again next week.

I celebrated my day with a nice breakfast (the mother had boiled eggs for me), then I got a couple of presents. One was a gift certificate for a music/movie store and the other was this cool cat bowl which I will probably use for candy:

Later we had taco wraps for dinner and I made cookies for dessert! I got a cool set of cookie cutters from Ikea the other day, and I wanted to test them :) Slightly burned (but very tasty!) hedgie cookies:

Tonight we went to visit a friend who's had the flu lately, and I brought the cookies to cheer him up. Who wouldn't get better from hedgehog cookies?! :)

So... The new year has begun, and I'm about to start a whole new education. Feels sort of like a new beginning, so I've decided to make up some goals for the new year:

* Study hard and try not to let my urge for crafting take up precious study time (this will definitely be the hardest - when I get a crafty idea it won't leave my head until I've tested it, which makes it very hard to concentrate on math...)

* Try to find a job (preferably part time - but only a little income would help our economy a lot)

* Make up a budget and spend less of it on craft supplies that I really don't need (I tend to go all out and get lots of supplies as soon as I find a new hobby, and then I get tired of it and never use the stuff again)

* Try new food & eat more vegetables (we plan to be mainly vegetarian from now on)

* Work out a little (walking to and from school doesn't count...)

* Lose some weight (only a few pounds would do, and hopefully the above goals will help with that)

* Try to control my temper (I will never be completely zen, but I can at least appear less grouchy)

* Learn to sew (I have a sewing machine that's been in the closet for at least five years & has been used once! Very sad. I really want to learn to sew useful things that are not made entirely of felt, like bags and stuff)

Hmm, I think that was it. I will do my best with all these resolutions, but I also have to try not to be too angry or disappointed if I fail at any of them. At least the minor ones, my studies naturally take priority :) Hope you've all had a nice start of 2011, and that you have lots of good things coming! :)

Summary of 2010...

Let's see... What happened, and what did I do last year? I'll start with the crafting and patterns I've made. There are quite a lot... I've made six sets of Cute Little Dudes!

Forest Dwellers vol. 1

Forest Dwellers vol. 2

Forest Dwellers vol. 3

Happy Pets vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 2

Then there are the Great Big Bugs, which - as someone correctly pointed out in a comment last night - aren't really bugs at all! True bugs belong to another order of insects than the ones I've made; Bumblebee, Ladybug, Dragonfly, Dung Beetle and Fly:

And then there are two arachnids; Spider and Scorpion:

I've also made a few free crochet patterns, plus I've participated in a number of fun amigurumi CALs during the year :) I've learned a new craft: tatting. I've become totally hooked and have even made a new blog for it! I've even got a new tattoo to celebrate two very important things in my life - crafting and Bollan:

During the spring term I decided to quit the university for a while, partly because I  didn't feel like keep trying to get an expensive education that had no real job opportunities for me, and partly because I realized that I'd lost my motivation and wasn't really good at it anymore. So I only took two exams of the four I'd originally signed up for, and I didn't bother to sign up for any more for the fall semester. 

This summer I had a taste of work life, and I found out (again) that I'm not made for working in social occupations. The cleaning job I had for four weeks suit me just fine :) I then decided to start studying again, but something completely different - biology! I honestly think that it's something I'll be happy & comfortable working with later. I just have to get through a few mandatory math courses first (eek!)...

As for my personal life, well, I guess it has been as usual. Since I dropped the university I haven't had the study support that I normally get, and my boyfriend hasn't had a steady income either, so the lack of money has been quite straining. Hopefully that changes when I start studying again! Don't know if everyone supports my choice though, I feel like my boyfriend still wants me to finish my bachelor in linguistics, and he doesn't really believe that I'll get through the biology either. He says I quit on everything that doesn't go my way right away. Blah :/ I'm not the most optimistic person, but his attitude sure doesn't help. 

Anything else? Can't remember, so probably nothing important :p 

Merry Christmas etc. :)

In this house the holiday is practically over. People are going back to work tomorrow and I have biology to do. Looking forward to studying again :) Think I've forgotten to mention that I've actually been admitted into a college math & physics course this spring, which will give me the credits I need to apply for biology at the university :) So happy that I got in, I was so sure I wouldn't. Over 200 applicants and less than 80 available places. So from Monday the 10th I will be busy busy busy with math and stuff. Hope I'll do better than I did on my own this fall! Didn't even get past the first chapter in my math book :/

So did you get anything fancy for Christmas? I'm very pleased with my loot :) Mostly practical stuff like kitchen utensils and new trunks (our old ones are seriously falling apart and won't survive another trip), but I got two macrame bracelet kits + a gift certificate for the craft store. Can't wait to go shopping next week! I think there will be lots of new beads :D

From my mother I got a convertible cowl/hoodie thingy which I've used a lot these last days because it's freezing cold outside. It's really nice and warm around my neck (I never wear scarves because I feel they choke me) and I like it a lot. Problem is, though, that a few days before Christmas I just started crocheting one! Hmm... I just fell in love with the yarn and the colors and it's so cold around here I had to make something, but now I'm not sure what to do about it. I guess I can always use two of them :) Here's what I have so far, I think it's about half done:

Well, enough with the ranting. Hope you all are having/have had a nice weekend! Enjoy next weekend as well, and have a happy new year if I don't post any more this year :)

Whew!

I had my long dreaded Biology exam yesterday, and it went surprisingly well :) I was nervous for about two minutes, then the rest was almost stress-free. I got a 5, which corresponds to a B, so I'm very pleased :D I do think that I've could have got an A if I hadn't been nervous and stuttered in the beginning. Words came out wrong and I forgot to mention some details. When they asked me about the details, I got everything right, even when they asked me things that are not in my book :) After the exam yesterday my boyfriend surprised me with a bottle of yummy red wine, and then he made taco wraps for dinner! I have the best bf :)

I've had so much fun reading Biology, I almost can't wait to start the next book in January! I hope I can get it before Christmas and start reading as soon as I've had my math exam at the end of November. I have given up getting a passing grade in math this year, because so far I don't understand anything in the book and I need more time to absorb everything. Three short months just aren't enough... Luckily I can give it another try in the spring semester, which is longer than the fall.

Today I thought I would relax and start writing a short article for the Norwegian Egyptology Society Bulletin, which is published twice a year. The first issue came out just days ago, when we had our second meeting since we officially became an organization. Right now we have only about 20 paying members, but the number is growing :) On Saturday we had a board meeting and on Sunday a few people had lectures about subjects related to Ancient Egypt. Because of all this I had no time for studies the whole weekend, and I had to work my bum off the following days to get through the biology book. I made it, but now I'm really tired. I've been at the library for several hours now, and I haven't written a word on the article yet. Oh, well... The next issue is not due for months yet, and I should probably try to concentrate on the math as much as possible. Kind of hard, though, with so much interesting stuff going on. In ten days the museum (with help from me and my boyfriend) is going to have an Egyptian Day, and there is going to be an 'authentic' Ancient Egyptian burial of a mummified hen! My bf and I are constructing a coffin for the creature, and we're making a replica of a mummy coffin that the museum has in its collection. Neat, huh? I hope the crowd will be pleased :)

I'm getting hungry and haven't packed lunch, so I think perhaps it's best to go home and eat something :)

Blah... and some yay :)

Suddenly got a annoying feeling... Suddenly I'm sad and very nervous, although I don't know why. I guess it could be a guilty concience for just ordering a few new tatting shuttles (I really can't help myself when I find brands that I don't already have!). Heh. And my biology exam is in just a week! I don't usually get nervous until the day before or something, but it's an oral exam, and that makes everything a lot worse. I can be very confident on a written exam if I'm a little unprepared, but on an oral exam I feel like dying no matter how hard I've studied. My mind goes blank and I stutter a lot. Utterly useless :( Good news is that my troublesome infection seems to be gone, and I feel a lot better now :) I've lost about three weeks of study time because of the troublesome infection, but I think I've managed to catch up most of the work the last few days... Exhausted!

Or I could just be hungry :p Will go home and have dinner in a few minutes, and hopefully things will improve :) Tonight we get visitors for a Warhammer RPG session, which means lots of crochet time for me, hehe. Perhaps my second Great Big Firefly will finally get his wings today? :)

Excuses, excuses...

Just thought I'd post a little something about why I've been gone so long.. There are two main reasons. One is that I've become completely hooked on tatting since this summer, so I started a tatting blog to have a place to show off the things I make and buy (there has been some serious shuttle shopping this fall!) because there is just so much of it, and I didn't want to clutter up this blog completely :) This place is mainly for crochet, hedgehogs (of course!), some random craftiness and bits of my life.

(Warning: Long story ahead! Skip to the last paragraph if you're not interested...)

The other reason is that I've been sick for a while. I think I mentioned in the Pumpkin post that I had some wrist pains a few weeks ago, so I stopped crocheting and tatting for a few days as soon as the pumpkins were done, and the pain went away. A few days later my right breast started feeling really warm and sore, and then I found some lumps, so I immediately went to the doctor to check it out. I figured it was an infection of some sort, and I really thought it would be easy enough to get a prescription of antibiotics and be done with it. But nooo... The doctor examined me for about four seconds and told me I had something called Fibrocystic breast disease/disorder (or something), which was fairly common and harmless. And there was nothing to be done about it other than wait until it went away. I was sceptical at first, but then another doctor came and took a blood test to check for infections and the test came back negative, so I finally believed the doctor. He gave me a referral to get a mammogram and/or an ultrasound to confirm what he suspected, and then I went home, happy that it was nothing serious.

Curious me went home and looked up the condition online and read all about it. Pain was normal... So when the pain started getting worse, I didn't think much of it - I was going to get it looked at soon anyway. Or so I thought... The clinic that received my referral managed to lose it in a pile of papers or something, so I didn't get an appointment until two weeks later. By then my breast was swollen and red (the redness appeared the last two or three days before), and there was no way I was going to let them squish it in the mammogram machine of horror! The doctor took one look at it and said I didn't need to :) He did the ultrasound and said it was an infection that needed immediate treatment, and he made an appointment for me at the hospital the next morning.

I don't want to get too graphic with the rest of the story - let's just say it includes getting stabbed with a VERY large needle (twice!), and then a scalpel when the needles didn't work... The first treatment only made things worse, despite me chewing antibiotics like candy, and the second treatment just wasn't enough. Now I've been to the hospital five times in the past week, and finally it seems to be healing up nicely. Got a week left of Penicillin and going back for a check-up next Thursday, and that's it :) Crossing fingers...

Whew! Long rant. Hope I didn't make you queasy... Now onto something more pleasant: I've done some yarn shopping today! Feeling that much better :) Got more yarn to make some new Great Big Bugs. Progress is slow with the one I'm currently working on - I've lost count of how many times I unraveled it - so perhaps it is best to do something else in between. After my wrist started acting up I've been taking it slow with the crocheting - only doing a few rounds a day - so if you get bored with the silence in this place and want to see what I've been up to you could always check out my tatting place :)

Home again :)

My summer holiday is now officially over, and I'm back home in my apartment. The dreaded busride turned out to be quite nice this time. Not really sure what's happened, but I guess the bus routes have been changed or something, because now I only had to change buses once, and not in one of the places it used to be. And all my luggage was still with me! Yay :) Here's a better picture of all my stuff (the previous one was taken with my phone):

Because of the weight, that black bag and the big suitcase are now ready for the scrapyard... Oh, by the way, more than half of that pile is YARN! Some stuffing and finished amis as well, but mostly yarn :) I guess you can imagine Dung Beetle getting tangled up in all that, with the Velcro on her legs! She'd stick to everything and frizzle up my yarn... So I solved the problem by putting her in a plastic bag. Not the most pleasant picture! But I can assure you she survived the trip and is now happily reunited with her dung ball :)

Bollan, Glyptodon and I were all very happy to come home, but I think Piggen and the kids were just as excited! They couldn't wait to show the family pictures and tell all the stories of their summer adventures :) (I will tell you all about it in a later post, I promise!)

Yesterday I got a lot of things done, but I'm still working on my CV and I haven't applied for any jobs yet... So many details to include! I don't even have all my records of school and previous jobs, so I'm not sure what to do about that... Looked all over the apartment today, but can't find them :( But at least I got to buy math and biology books yesterday. The biology book is so cute! It has a honey bee on the cover, because the book is called Bi 1, which is short for 'biology', but it's also a pun on the Norwegian word for 'bee' ("bi", even though "bie" is most common these days), plus the ring around the '1' sort of makes it read 'bio'. Very clever on so many levels. I think if I'd been high school age I would be embarrased for the people making this book, grownups weren't supposed to have humor back then :p Almost finished reading the first chapter already, and I love it! This is definitely what I want to do :)

Tomorrow I'll go out and talk to some councellor about jobs and financial support, because I won't get payed for the last week of work until the middle of September. That's a long time without food! Well... if my blog doesn't get updated in a while (within a week or two, I think - you can survive for a long time as long as you have something to drink!), I'll propably have starved to death or something :p

Bags are packed...

And I'm sort of ready to go home to my apartment. But only sort of. I hate traveling alone, especially by bus. Have tons of luggage and I have to change buses two or three times. Always worried I won't get everything with me, or that someone else will take my bags :/ They are locked and tagged, but still... And then the buses are so crowded this time of year, all the students coming to town at the beginning of the semester. At least I'll have things to pass the time on the ten-hour bus ride. Tatting shuttles wound with thread for a new project, yarn  & stuffing to make some Bug legs, and best of all, my new laptop has batteries to last at least six hours of music and movies :D Perhaps I even get to sleep some of the way, that will shorten the trip a lot.

But, when I finally get there with my 30+ kilos of stuff, I have to drag it with me virtually uphill all the way from the bus (can't afford a taxi on a Sunday), and the forcasts say it will be 24 degrees C and bright sunshine! Whew, think I'm going to die... At least Bollan and Glyptodon are anxious to go! Wish I could be carried home in a bag, too :) (Um, you know what I mean!)

When I get home I need to put together a proper CV and start applying for jobs. Really scary stuff. Worried I can only get crappy jobs, or that I won't be able to do the ones I do get. Maybe I can't find anything at all and end up on welfare or something... I know I can probably get a job as a cleaning lady fairly easily,  but I'm not sure if I want to have that as my first option. The cleaning itself is not that bad, but I've become allergic to the gloves that are used :( I've tried wearing cottong gloves inside the latex ones, but that only helps a little... 

Plus I'm no longer a university student. Was going to take a year off anyway when I couldn't begin a Master in Arabic this fall, but now I've decided to give up on languages & linguistics pretty much for good. It's all very exciting, and I'm pretty good at learning new languages, but I've come to realize that I'll never find a job with an education like that. I wouldn't survive as a teacher, getting a PhD also includes teaching and stuff, and that's pretty much all there is as far as I can see right now...

So, I've come up with a new plan. Since I'll be working for a year now anyway, I can just as well spend the time doing something useful, like studying! :p I've decided that if I go back to the university I'll study biology. To qualify for that I need to take some math and/or biology classes at high school level. I sent in an application to a school which has adult classes in the afternoon, but they were all full, so my only option is to try doing this by myself. Signed up for an exam in math and the beginning course in biology, and we'll see how it goes. Off to buy books tomorrow, and hopefully I get to spend most of next week reading biology :) 

Well, time to have some breakfast before I go! Ugh...

Worst song ever!

Today has been a really long day at work! Not because of the hours, but because every second I spent cleaning I had the most annoying song ever stuck on my brain :( I get songs stuck very easily, and some of them stay for quite some time. The longest I've ever had the same song was a whole semester, about five or six months... Beethoven's ninth symphony. Not the worst song, but still annoying enough if you listen to it for too long. Today it was a song called "Oah" by Alexander Rybak, the guy who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway last year. Thankfully not with that song! I feel like such a traitor for hating his guts (and his songs!), but I can't help it. I just can't stand listening to pop music for too long, or I'll go crazy, I'm more of a rock 'n' roll kind of person :)

Anyway, this song has been playing on TV a lot lately, because the guy has a new album coming out, plus I sometimes hear bits and pieces of it when I'm cleaning people's offices and they have the radio on. I guess the melody is fair enough, but the lyrics make me want to cry! I first heard the song when I was at the dentist, and I almost choked when it came on the radio: "Oah, I love you Moa, you're way too young for me, but I don't mind!"...


Oh, so HE doesn't mind? Well, that makes everything okay! Hmpf! This guy is only 23 or something, which makes me wonder how old the girl is (or was when he wrote the song)... *shiver* If you should want to listen to this atrocity yourself, you can follow this link (haven't listened to it myself, I just can't, but there are others in case this is crap). 


At lunch I couldn't take it anymore and complained to my mother. She tried to give me "Aiken Drum" ("Åkken Bom" in Norwegian) instead, which also gets stuck in your head really easily, but even that had to give way after a while, to the horrible OOOH AAAH, I love you MOOOO-AAAAH.... Didn't make cleaning toilets any more fun! *sigh* I even tried humming the Hamster Dance song to myself, but that didn't help much either, now I have all three songs in my head playing on top of each other :/ But the hamsters sure are cute! :D


There, just had to get this out of my system! Sorry for the long and relatively pointless rant (and apologies to any Rybak fans out there), but I hope the song will disappear from my head soon! Hoping for a better day (and song!) tomorrow :)

Work, work & apologies

First I'd like to apologize to my readers and commenters for being really bad at responding to your nice comments the past weeks. I know it sounds like I'm lazy, but I just haven't had much energy for keeping up with my "online life" lately because of my job. Jobs, actually. Plural... I've been cleaning the town hall five days a week the past three weeks, and last week I also had the job of cleaning the town's public toilets & showers. That's not really much, just a couple hours twice a week, but it's still something I have to do after I finish my other job. Right now there isn't a lot of people working at the town hall because of vacations, so I use less time than I normally would, which is great, because I don't think I could manage to stay there for five hours every day. I guess this can sound like a piece of cake to some, but I'm not used to working this hard, and when I get home I just crash on the couch and can't really do anything for hours. Of course, my crafting really suffers because of this. I don't get much crocheting done during the week, creating patterns just takes too much energy and effort :( I sure hope I get used to living like this really soon, because if my creativity has to go, then... well, it's not the life I want :/

It's now almost half past eleven and it's time to go to bed, I start work at eight tomorrow morning. My final week in this job, and then I'll have some time off before I begin looking for a new one. Hopefully a more comfortable one, but beggars can't be choosers, so I guess I'll take more or less whatever I can get (within reasonable distance from where I live since I don't drive)... Anyway, once again I apologize for not replying to comments and stuff. Don't think that I ignore them, I really do appreciate all the nice comments I get! Thanks, and good night :)

The market

I know I promised to write more about the market and how it went, but I've been held up with computer trouble and work the past days, so it's a little late. But now it's time to dig up some pictures and make a real post :)

The market thing was supposed to start at noon on Sunday, but we had to be there very early to do one final rehearsal for the play, and still have time to prepare our sales tables afterwards. We got there at nine thirty in the morning, like we were told, but most people didn't show up until ten... The lady in charge was going crazy with stress and nerves, poor thing, so people being late did not help at all :/ This is the fifth year this market is arranged (but my first time to be home in time to participate), and she has finally had enough, she says she'll never do it again... 

I wish I had some photos from the actual performance of the play, but I couldn't find anyone to use my camera. I have asked to get copies from a friend, but I haven't got them yet, so here are some pictures I took at the rehearsals:

A big troll throwing the island further out into the sea so he could pass with his boat (the people in the background are a family that sort of tells all the stories that the actors play out - while the storyteller is talking, everything else has been recorded beforehand)

A ship in a storm - crew falling on top of each other

Two kids and a dead noble lady (a very floppy doll!)

See something I've shown you before? :p The three of them are supposed to be the divers that discovered a famous shipwreck just outside where I live, and the colors are to show where they are from. The guys in hats are supposed to be Swedish, and the one in orange and blue is from a nearby town - he's wearing the colors of the football team :)

After the rehearsal I had to run to set up my stuff, and fortunately my aunt had secured a table for me :) It was madness, with people taking other people's places... It was inside a large tent/pavillion with the front wall removed, so it was nice and open. Thankfully the weather was good (not too hot and not too cold - and not raining!), so I didn't freeze. Here is my table of stuff for sale:

I was in place with all my things about eleven thirty, and before the gates were open for real (at noon) I had sold three things! The hedgehog Dude went first, then the Great Big Bumblebee, and then the black and white crocheted hat :) I sold a lot of things to people I know (or people who know me through my mother), but there were also complete strangers from other places. I talked to lots of nice people and some very enthusiastic children, got served hot dogs and cake (because I couldn't leave my stand), AND I actually made money :D I did not come there expecting to sell much, because there aren't that much people (somewhere between four and five hundred tickets sold, plus a lot of children under 16 who got in for free), so I'm extremely pleased! This is what I had left after the market:

And now I've sold even more! A lady called my mother on Monday while I was at work and said that she needed to buy some things because her son had bought something on Sunday, and her daughter was now very jealous and sad that she didn't have any animals. I remember that the lady came to have a look on Sunday, and she said she'd come back, but unfortunately she forgot and went home. And then a friend of mine who'd promised to come to the market had also forgot, so she's coming by to buy some things later :) All I have left now is three Dudes, three hats, two owlets, two cupcakes and the two tiny whales. I NEVER expected to sell that much! I actually got enough money to pay for my new laptop :D

In the next tent there was a cafeteria, and they actually ran out of food, even though they had more than the previous year. And since food probably is the main attraction at these things, people started to leave a little early (around five). At five thirty the few harmless drops of rain that had fallen earlier suddenly turned to heavy rain, and that was pretty much the end of the show. Just as well, since it was getting cold, and the market would close at six anyway. This is a view of the market area (after a few of the stands had left because of the rain):

And this is the part of the harbor where we had the play:

After we had packed our stuff together there was a little gathering to review the day's events and the preparations, and all in all it had been a successfull arrangement. I only hope the lady in charge decides to do it again next year, and that she is a little better at handing out work so she's not as exhausted as she was this year... I definitely want to do it again, I had so much fun! :) 

Oh, and by the way... From the sale of amigurumi animals and a few hats I made more money than I've made from a week of cleaning! Crocheting and designing patterns is all fun, and cleaning is hard work that kills my feet - there is not a doubt in my mind what I'd like to to for a living! :p

Shiny new things :)

First of all, I got my new laptop today! So far I'm very happy with it, it has Windows 7 and everything :D No more Vista for me, yay! It's so tiny, it's pretty much the right size for Bollan! Perfect for posting her little tweets :)

Sorry for the bad photo quality, I took the picture with my phone, which isn't exactly brand new any more... But it has bluetooth, and so does my computer, so I can finally transfer all the pictures from my phone :) I've been wanting to do that for a long time!

Second, I also got new shoes today :D I started training for my new job this morning (the job I'm supposed to have this summer, the other one was just a substitute thing), and after almost five hours of walking and standing and cleaning things my feet hurt so bad I can hardly walk :/ It's especially bad under the heel and the part behind the big toe. My right big toe has been numb for days, I think I've been walking on a nerve or something... I thought I'd get over it from the week at the other job, because I'm not used to that much walking after seven years as a lazy student, but it's only gotten worse, so today I finally gave in and decided to get some more comfortable shoes. The ones I have are not at all uncomfortable - I think they are the best shoes I've ever had, but the soles are not very soft, so I guess that's bad... Anyway, I just wanted to post the picture of my new shoes beside my new laptop - to give you an idea of how tiny it is (or how large my feet are!), and again I apologize for the quality:

After the big day

This will be a fairly short post, I had a really long day at work today, my feet are hurting, it's getting late and I have to go bed soon. Just a quick summary of the market yesterday: it was great fun! I sold lots of stuff, talked to a lot of new people, met some old friends, AND I made it through the dreaded play :D I survived, haha :p The play itself went very well, too, the "actors" and the sound was well coordinated and everyone played their parts as well as could be expected. The audience loved it!

I do not have any pictures to put in this post, because my laptop went totally crazy a few hours ago and I had to do a system recovery or whatever it's called, so all my files are now gone from my computer. Luckily I was able to transfer everything to an external drive first, so I'll find the pictures and upload them later :) Oh, and I've also just ordered myself a brand new laptop, because I just can't take the frustration with this one anymore. I get headaches from less... My new laptop is tiny (10'') and red, and I hope I can pick it up some time this week :D

Ooh, I just remembered! You could always look at my Facebook page for a few pictures from the market :) I have no fans yet, but I've been updating the page for a while now anyway. There you will find only craft related stuff, and no tedious ranting about computers that don't work :p

Before the big day

I am absolutely exhausted! I've been at work the last three days (scrubbing walls, doors, windows, floors, tables & chairs etc. at a school - kids are dirty creatures!), and today I've been preparing for the market/fair tomorrow. Well, "preparing"... We were supposed to rehearse the play (for the first time!) until we got it right (we are few people with many roles, and there's a lot of making stuff up as we go - there's a storyteller with no script, so it's never the same twice), but of course that didn't happen. We did the play once, and then we were going to get the sound system up before we did it again. That took about four hours... In the end it got so late before we could start again that people had to leave, and the whole thing became pretty amputated and somewhat half-hearted :/ Hope we have time for another rehearsal tomorrow morning, with full cast and a working sound thingy...

I still need to make a list of my things/prices and price tags for the items/boxes. I have no idea what kind of table I'll get, or even where I'll sit - outside or in a tent. Right now I feel pretty disheartened (is that the right word?) by the whole thing, like I never want to do this again... I'm so tired and grumpy I don't even want to be around myself :( My feet hurt from all the walking and standing and I think I have a fever...

*sigh* Don't know when I get home to my mother's tomorrow night, and I have to work on Monday (more cleaning), but I promise to tell you how it all went when I have time and feel a little more awake :)

My home :)

Okay, so I won't tell you the name of the place I come from, but I can show you some pictures :) (And if you are from somewhere around here, you will probably recognize the place!) This is the first view tourists get when they come to visit, in rain or sun:

They pass "the beach" fairly quickly (sorry about the blur - the picture is taken from a moving car):

Then they can stop and watch the Shelduck pair and their ten ducklings :)

Tractor eggs neatly lined up or scattered all over (many people here are farmers, or like to think they are when they find the time):

This is the part where my family comes from - practically the end of the world:

The washed up kelp rotting in the sun smells pretty awful at times...

But the birds love the stuff! At least the bugs and critters that live in it :p

A mother Mallard and her eight ducklings:

Then there's this...

The poor tourists come here to watch the birds and enjoy the scenery, but they often have a hard time getting anywhere because of flocks of sheep in the road. And they won't move until you push them with your car!

You can also meet this lovely cat:

You recognize Achilles? I know I've mentioned him before... He's not mine, but I love him! He is very cuddly and loves people, so in the summer he spends a lot of time wandering round the camping site to meet new people :)

But what the tourists really come to see is this:

The mountain and the birds that live there (well, used to live there, most of the populations are now declining rapidly due to over fishing and pollution of the birds' main feeding areas). The white stuff in the picture is not snow - it's bird poo! There are Gannets, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Cormorants, Guillemots, Razorbills and White-tailed Eagles.  Here is a pair of Kittiwakes, a colony of Gannets and a Puffin:

We can have some pretty awsome sunsets:

But this is definitely the best view of the world, from my grandmother's garden :)