How could I have forgotten how long it takes to finish a cross stitch.

I feel like I have been doing it for days - which of course I have, slotting it in here and there whenever the light  is good enough to be able to see what I am doing.

But it does just feel as though it has been going on and on and on and on and on.

Anyway to give my poor tired eyes a break today I did all my paperwork - it was starting to feel as though Mondays were becoming a bit too routiney with the piles of stuff that sprout willy nilly on my desk so I swept them all aside yesterday and cut out another couple of bag patterns ready for the weekend in my studio and deferred the paperwork to today.

How easy it is to fall into a routine, and how depressing when that routine is so drab.

Whoever dictated that Monday's should be reserved for horrid things like tax forms and bills?  I don't work in an office anymore, I don't have to do things in office hours, and I particularly do not have to sit down and sort paperwork on a Monday morning if I don't want to.  The problem is that I am just the teensiest bit anal about things.  I often wonder what it must be like to be spontaneous and, well, exciting.

I went through a stage of reading various chick lit offerings, full of girls who jacked it all in and ran away to do something much more thrilling, and I just found myself getting frustrated with the characters, practically yelling at them through the pages 'why didn't you just do x y or z ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!'

Not sure if frustrated yelling is a pro or a con when it comes to the enjoyment derived from a novel.

Rapidly returned to mystery and crime, it was a less disquieting read.

I also had a shot at Stephen King's Dark Tower series, reading the first couple of novels.  I am really not sure what to make of these, on the one hand I think I would like to finish the series, it may get better, but on the other hand, I would have to invest in the purchase of these and I am not sure if I would find them worth the money.

I recently had some swapsies with a friend so I have a new set of books to devour, handy when the weather is grey and sleeting - yes sleeting - brrrr.  By now I normally have a couple of books on my wish list for Christmas, but so far nothing is jumping out at me.  When bereft of a library, and only ordering books on line, I find it hard to cruise around and find individual titles that grab me, I prefer to find a series of books or an author, it makes it easier to order and find them on line, knowing I will enjoy what I get.

Anyway back to Stephen King - what happened to him?  He used to write such interesting books, and now they all feel like 100 page novellas streeeeeetched out to huge novels that go nowhere and have nothing new to say.

It may be time for me to try a new genre of books, I feel as though I have read crime, horror, mystery and chick lit to death, I am not touching romance, although I did read some Georgette Heyer and found them remarkably readable some years ago, I have read a few classics but Ivanhoe stumped me and I came to a screeching halt on those, and the vampire-were-mances are a no go after reading the ultimately dreary Bella, Edward, Jacob series (obviously just for research).  Maybe some Stephen Faulks, or perhaps fantasy, I do like David Eddings - ideas on a postcard.

Right - that's me done now, letters answered, cheques drawn, online forms filled in, off to the post office then to work, and then - yet more cross stitch this afternoon.

Cocktail hour....

...... well it is Thursday, which seems as good a reason to make a cocktail as any other.

My : - Sitting around reading Dick Francis on a Thursday afternoon cocktail  - recipe

Take one blender - you know the one, it's been lurking at the back of the cupboard since Christmas, yes that's the one, you smiled and said how lovely, but were really thinking how much you would rather have had that spa day voucher instead, anyway, take that blender by the horns and drag out into the light of day. 

Clean off the cobwebs and splash a bit of boiling water in it in a half hearted attempt to clean it before using.

Press a couple of the buttons to make sure it works - now press them again this time remembering to put the cover on the jug and so avoid getting splashed by that boiling water you just threw in there to clean it out.

Now look around the kitchen, pantry and garden and don't despair you have got something that you can put in there now you have gone to all this trouble to drag the blasted thing out.

My token cocktail recipe attempt is this:-

1 sharon fruit - no I didn't know what it was either but they were 5 for 1 euro on special offer and so I couldn't resist - turns out they are rather yummy in a firm fleshy peachy melony kind of way.

4 ice cubes of frozen strawberries pureed last year when I had run out of strawberry recipes.

1 generous glug of lemon vodka - yes of course that it a shot of the icebox in my fridge and yes of course all there is in there are 3 bottles of vodka - what else would you keep in tiny freezer in your fridge?

Where was I - fruit gone in, vodka in, about a third up the blender jug of rosé wine, then blend.

Do that now before topping up with fizzy water, and remember to put the lid on.  

Did you read that properly - don't whizz it with the fizzy water in - oh alright then, gone on, whizz it with the water in and come back in half an hour when you have finished cleaning fizzy cocktail off everything.

Then sit back - grab a novel and enjoy - it is Thursday after all and you're worth it.

Two day catch-up.

With Brendan's return eagerly awaited on Friday (not so much him but the car of goodies wending its way back across France) I thought I would spend some time in my studio before his return knowing that the weekend would be a bit manic and taken up with other things -like unpacking said car!

So I dug out the lovely material I bought the other week at the car boot sale, gave it a wash and an iron, and set to with my scissors and cut two bag patterns on Friday morning before work.  I decided to make one bag a two handled slouch with a contrast lining in cerise, and another tube bag with a denim base.

When I got back from work on Friday afternoon, it was much too hot for weeding, so I grabbed the chance to shut myself away for a couple of hours with my sewing machine, and managed to get the tube bag sewn up, I used a bit of the cerise again for the base lining on the interior, and finished with some burgandy ribbon I had lying around.

The slouch bag will have to be sewn up another time, as Saturday has been fully occupied so far with trying to find space for the UK bargains that he bought back with him, we now have a crisp mountain in the pantry, nestling in the foothills of rich tea biscuits and malted milks.

Off to cut up some trousers for Thea to make some shorts, having made a few snacky pizzas, quiches and salads ready for guests in a couple of hours.

Quick edit - one of the best things about Brendan travelling back by car is the fact that he could bring with him some of the books being hoarded kindly for me by my old neighbour.  It is almost enough to make you look forward to winter and a good read in front of the fire while it has a good old snow outside.

Dry day on Sunday - book swap

We had a lovely day on Sunday, it started dry and bright so out went the washing, and out came the hoe. Lots of weeding got done, ready for my onions and beans to be planted out in the week.

In the afternoon a friend and I had a girly trip out to a bookswap.

With English books few and far between and on-line retailers either charging a fortune for postage or a fortune for the books themselves (that is a Euro to Sterling price comparison - most of these sites don't seem to have an up to date exhange rate and in some cases a book for 5.oo GBP can cost over 10 euros), book swaps are an essential part of life.

As well as a bona fide reason to slack off in the afternoon for coffee and cake at someone else's house.

I am very happy with my loot, roll on winter months so I can get some time to sit down and read them.