Pog pictures – week 9

Posted on March 6, 2014 by thepogblog

Makingness, little people with and without fur and a random one.

27th February 2014: I made griddle scones and saved some for Mum and Dad. I wrapped them up, left the room and returned to find Norman cat had unwrapped them and was having a quick snack.

27th February 2014: I made griddle scones and saved some for Mum and Dad. I wrapped them up, left the room and returned to find Norman cat had unwrapped them and was having a quick snack.

28th February 2014: It made my day to be told that Gorgeous Godson would like a ball of wool for his birthday. Every wool fiend needs a wool bag though so I made him a quick one that would keep an eye on his stash for him :o) (I did get him a few 'real' presents too!)

28th February 2014: It made my day to be told that Gorgeous Godson would like a ball of wool for his birthday. Every wool fiend needs a wool bag though so I made him a quick one that would keep an eye on his stash for him :o) (I did get him a few ‘real’ presents too!)

1st March 2014: A bit blurry, but this is Gorgeous Godson, the morning of his birthday, rather happy with his wool!

1st March 2014: A bit blurry, but this is Gorgeous Godson, the morning of his birthday, rather happy with his wool!

2nd March 2014: A day early, but this is the birthday cake I made for my mummy. It had self raising flour AND baking powder and still didn't rise very much. Sponge is not my friend.

2nd March 2014: A day early, but this is the birthday cake I made for my mummy. It had self raising flour AND baking powder and still didn’t rise very much. Sponge is not my friend.

3rd March 2014: Proof that a cat wants what you want. Norman and I spent part of the day fighting over the same chair. I lost and ended up kneeling on the floor at my laptop on the table until he decided he fancied a spot somewhere else.

3rd March 2014: Proof that a cat wants what you want. Norman and I spent part of the day fighting over the same chair. I lost and ended up kneeling on the floor at my laptop on the table until he decided he fancied a spot somewhere else.

4th March 2014: I made a giant double chocolate cookie in my slow cooker. It was a bit burned on the bottom as I decided not to believe the instructions and cooked it for 5 hours rather than 3, but it is just about edible. (KitKat added to show the size)

4th March 2014: I made a giant double chocolate cookie in my slow cooker. It was a bit burned on the bottom as I decided not to believe the instructions and cooked it for 5 hours rather than 3, but it is just about edible. (KitKat added to show the size)

5th March 2014: Thank you, London Underground, for the slightly alternative service information.

5th March 2014: Thank you, London Underground, for the slightly alternative service information.

:o)

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A recipe for cheerfulness

Posted on March 3, 2014 by thepogblog

On Friday I had an MRI scan.  When you’re a bit wary of enclosed spaces, head first in a tube with a cage round your head is not a fun way to spend 30 minutes.  It’s worse when you’re feeling the relief of it all being over and you’re told they forgot some of the scans so you need to go back in for an extra 20 minutes.  (To my surprise though, I can confirm that they found a brain.  I was pretty convinced it was just sawdust and strawberry jam between my ears…)

So I was a bit stressed by that, by the whole having tests’ thing and the bit about not being able to drive my car.  But then I discovered the recipe for cheerfulness:

Identify two Fantabulous Friends, preferably the ones who created your Gorgeous Godson who just happens to be celebrating his third birthday with a superhero theme the next day.

Accept their offer to ‘help’ prepare for the party.  Pack overnight bag.

Be picked up by Husband part of the friends.

Arrive, drink wine, be fed, drink more wine.

Drink more wine.

Wrap pass the parcel.  Forget how many layers you’ve done and miss out chocolate between random layers ensuring confusion at the party the next day. Drink more wine.

Help the Wife part of friends ice the birthday cake by managing to add cocoa to the icing sugar, resulting in brown splodges on the brilliant white covering.  Apologise, back off, drink more wine and stick to the washing up.

Decide that your wrapping skills are required to help with the big present.  Discover that wrapping skills, that are lacking at the best of times, are not enhanced by wine.  Dance to Madonna CD instead.

d2

Appreciate Husband part of friends playing piano and singing (presumably in celebration that preparations are almost complete and drunken friend will therefore stop ‘helping’).

d3

Go to bed.

Wake up, surprised at lack of hangover, and equally surprised that your hair dye has decided after a week of being on your hair, it would rather be liberally spread over Fantabulous Friends very white pillow case.  Take pillow case to the bathroom to hand wash.

Wonder at Gorgeous Godsons excitement over the wool you gave him and at his big brothers ability to snaffle the Batman costume that was a present from him to Gorgeous Godson!

d4

Prepare for party by donning a Villain costume (a role you were warned about in advance).  Scare Fantabulous Friends and remove eye mask in case it traumatises children too.  Discover that moustaches make your nostrils tickely.

d5

Marvel at the little super heroes

d6

Get chased around the garden by small superheroes as they try to recapture the gold you stole.  Be impressed by small superheroes’ ability to effectively tie up a villain five times their size.

d1

Watch gorgeous Godson’s face light up at his birthday cake (brown bits hidden to perfection by his mummy).

d8

Leave, with a slice of birthday cake, a big smile and no memory of evil MRI :o)

Thank you again, Fantabulous Friends.  Should there ever be a next time I promise to stay away from the birthday cake and bring my own pillow case :o) x

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Not so boring Bumpkinsville

Posted on February 28, 2014 by thepogblog

On Wednesday I was feeling a bit sorry for myself.  It was turning into a long week, and after the loveliness of seeing people on Monday things were getting a bit lonely and uneventful at Pog Towers.  (That is, other than the deliveries of chocolate buttons from Sister 2.  We have noticed that shortly after opening, they just evaporate.  We are investigating this phenomenon – Sister 2 has taken to buying chocolate buttons from different shops to see if the same thing happens when sourced from different places.  I can confirm that so far, it does).

I’ve taken to working in my front room so I can watch people going up and down the road.  I wasn’t expecting the days events though.

I was concentrating on something or other and movement outside my window caught my eye.  My neighbour wandered into my front garden – easy to do as we don’t have a separating fence or anything – and started kicking some of the stones I have around my tubs of tete a tete.  Then he kindly picked up some rubbish that had floated over, wandered to my bin to throw it away.  And then it got weird.

This is how close I sit to the window:

pog towers

To be fair, the neighbour in question is partially sighted, but…as he wandered back, he stopped, cupped his hands around his face put his face against my window and peered right in!  I didn’t know quite how to react, sitting about 4 feet from him so I stayed still until our eyes met.  He then hurtled back to his house.  I was slightly bemused but I guess he may have noticed that the car’s not moved for a while and might have thought I’d been a victim of the Spinster with cat thing.  You know, when the cat gets a bit peckish and eats you in your sleep.  Quite why he didn’t just ring my door bell, I don’t know.  I don’t think I want to think about it…

The neighbours on the other side are also odd.  The standard number of people there is three adults and 2-3 children, with random additions for anything from a few days to a few weeks.  Lately, the couple have hit a rocky patch.  Well, more mountainous than rocky.  And mostly just as I start a teleconference.  On Wednesday they had a real humdinger and I went outside to ask them to at least keep it inside their house.  I backed off though as the woman threw something from the door.  Now, I could be wrong, but I think she shouted ‘And you can take her with you!’ as a pot flew across the road scattering what looked like ashes in the process,  But surely nobody would do that?  It would be a rather unceremonial scattering but then, I guess if you like high drama…

So maybe Pog Towers isn’t that uneventful.  Although I would be happy if neither of those scenarios were repeated! :o)

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Pog pictures – week 8

Posted on February 26, 2014 by thepogblog

This week, spring, crochet, family and…um, toilet brushes.

20th February 2014: There's not a cloud in the sky!

20th February 2014: There’s not a cloud in the sky!

21st February 2014: Norman getting involved in my crochet, again. 'I'm just giving it a cuddle, honest'.

21st February 2014: Norman getting involved in my crochet, again. ‘I’m just giving it a cuddle, honest’.

22nd February 2014: Sister 2, just before she mistook the role of 'interrogator' for 'wingman'. I think this picture sums up how that happened. It was alcohol.

22nd February 2014: Sister 2, just before she mistook the role of ‘wingman’ for ‘interrogator’. I think this picture sums up how that happened. It was alcohol.

23rd February 2014: Little Pea eating a (brand new) toilet brush. Obviously.

23rd February 2014: Little Pea eating a (brand new) toilet brush. Obviously.

24th February 2014: The big boss of my team asked for creative things to brighten our corner of the office, so I crocheted The Wise Owls of Internal Communications - one for each of us. And then it was pointed out to me that I spelled the big boss's name wrong. Maybe I should demote my owl...

24th February 2014: The big boss of my team asked for creative things to brighten our corner of the office, so I crocheted The Wise Owls of Internal Communications – one for each of us. And then it was pointed out to me that I spelled the big boss’s name wrong. Maybe I should demote my owl…

25th February 2014: Just chillin'

25th February 2014: Just chillin’

26th February 2014: Spring, springing in sunshine :o)

26th February 2014: Spring, springing in sunshine :o)

:o)

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Bumpkinsville buses

Posted on February 25, 2014 by thepogblog

Not being allowed to drive combined with the odd collapsing moment has meant I’ve been working from home for the last few weeks.  I really wanted to see my friends at work and get away from Pog Towers for a bit though, so yesterday I attempted the Bumpkinsville Bus. It was a …different experience.

For some reason, I thought as I was leaving later than usual, it would be light.  It wasn’t:

bus1

I soon discovered that the timetable is a thing of great flexibility and that the bus route takes in just about every street between my house and the nearest mainline station.  What would normally take 10-15 minutes from my front door took 50 minutes.

It was all worth it to see people, catch up on gossip and get work done at a real desk.  But then I had to get home.  I walked out of the train station to watch the one bus an hour to Bumpkinsville pull away from the bus stop.  Grrrr.  I checked the time table to discover there was another bus that left Bumpkinstown in 20 minutes.  Bumpkinstown was a good 20 minutes walk up a very long hill.  I did it in 10.  (And I have the blisters to prove it).

And that was when I made my discovery.  I’ve commuted on trains and tubes for about 15 years, and can count on one hand the number of conversations struck up on my travels.  Most of them were drunken, and most instigated by me.  On the bus home though I heard:

  • From the old navy boy who, in the 1950’s used to get the bus from Plymouth to Paddington to London Bridge to Bumpkinsville for the princely sum of £3, 2 shillings.
  • From the young girl wanting to be a vetinary nurse who lived at home with her Mum and their 14 cats.  And showed me photographs of quite a lot of them…
  • And the elderly lady who was getting the bus back to the post office to get her pension because that morning the system had stopped working, and didn’t it always do that since they’d moved the counter from the front to the back of the shop, and….

So it’s different.  And it’s kind of a nice different.  But I’m rather glad that I have some fantabulous managers who have said it’s ok to go into the office just once a week for a while, rather than having to do that rather epic journey too often! :o)

Bumpkinsville bus

Bumpkinsville bus

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Ooops. On a number of levels.

Posted on February 21, 2014 by thepogblog

It’s kind of my own fault.  Since January I’ve been wanting a project – something to focus on for a while – and now I have one.

Short version:  I did a bit more of the collapsing that I started in November a few weeks back and went back to the doctor, just for a note so that work didn’t get worried if I took an ‘impromptu nap’ in the office.   I’ve had a few tests (I have a very happy heart, as it turns out) and I have a few more to come, but the really annoying thing is that I have lost my driving license for a few months.  That wouldn’t be so bad, but getting out of Bumpkinsville without your own wheels is a bit of a challenge.

You may have noticed that the blog has been getting very Bumpkinsville centered.  I’ve not been driving for a couple of weeks and other than a few hospital trips (chauffeured by parents) and a lovely outing last night (chauffeured by Gorgeous Godson’s mummy) to meet up with school friends I’ve not seen for 20 years, there’s not been much going on.  That might continue for a while, but if you keep reading, by the time I get my licence back you will have an intricate knowledge on Pog Towers and everything in walking distance.  I’m not sure that is much of an enticement to stay up to date with me though – I hope I don’t get too boring :o(

If you read my blog much, you’ll know I already do quite a lot of makingness.  I have already gone into overdrive on the crochet front (and have a heap of wool ordered for a bit more) and I have some sewing I can do, but you’re a creative bunch.  If you think of anything or see anything I could do in the evenings or at weekends that is a bit different, but not too expensive, (and which I can get everything I need for online), please let me know.

When I got home last night I wasn’t tired enough to sleep and didn’t want to lie in bed thinking about things so I thought I’d attempt a crochet finger puppet.  It was supposed to be a dragon.  I think what I achieved was a cross between a pig and…um…a poorly looking penis with ears:

dragon fp

It might be that I did something wrong with the pattern.  Or it might be that the white wine spritzers earlier in the evening were more potent than I thought.  Either way, I think it’s safe to say it’s one of a kind, but not in a good way…

So if you have any ideas to steer me away from similar disasters, to help keep me sane and so I have more to write about, please feel free to let me know.  Otherwise for the foreseeable future you’ll be getting pictures of Norman, misshapen finger puppets and a growing frustration with my neighbours who are have an uncanny knack of starting a shouting match and door slamming  the second I start a teleconference! :o)

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Pog pictures – week 7

Posted on February 20, 2014 by thepogblog
13th February 2014: With all the water in the UK over the past few months, this is possibly the most aptly named village.

13th February 2014: With all the water in the UK over the past few months, this is possibly the most aptly named village.

14th February 2014: What you don't want to look down and see when you are trying to crochet...

14th February 2014: What you don’t want to look down and see when you are trying to crochet…

15th February 2014: Beautiful Bumpkinsville skies

15th February 2014: Beautiful Bumpkinsville skies

16th February 2014: A cold start to the day

16th February 2014: A cold start to the day

17th February 2014: I have a king size bed. I sleep on the right. Norman has now decided he does too.

17th February 2014: I have a king size bed. I sleep on the right. Norman has now decided he does too.

18th February 2014: How to make things seem a bit brighter :o)

18th February 2014: How to make things seem a bit brighter :o)

19th February 2014: And how to make them smell a bit lovelier. (When I was at primary school we has a 'spring festival' where for some reason we all had to wear a crown of flowers and sing songs. All the mums bought their children's crowns from florists. My mum used to buy hyacinths, remove individual flowers and sew them to a head band for all three of us. Everyone looked daft, but we smelled lovely :o)

19th February 2014: And how to make them smell a bit lovelier. (When I was at primary school we has a ‘spring festival’ where for some reason we all had to wear a crown of flowers and sing songs. All the mums bought their children’s crowns from florists. My mum used to buy hyacinths, remove individual flowers and sew them to a head band for all three of us. Everyone looked daft, but we smelled lovely :o)

:o)

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Bumpkinsville based

Posted on February 17, 2014 by thepogblog

This weekend was a real Bumpkinsville one.

First Little Pea came to play.  He bought me some GORGEOUS chocolates:

b3

 And then did a spot of Auntie Pog climbing:

b7

Then we went to see the ducks (who were hiding):

b2

And the jumpers with legs (also known as sheep.  It’s a long story.):

b1

When we got home we did jumping:

b8

And then we had a bit of a lie down to look at the sky:

b9

On Sunday, for the first time ever, I had Mum and Dad over for Sunday dinner.  First, Mum and I went for a walk:

b4

And then I rather ruined it all with the dinner.  It was meant to be chicken pilaf.  It was suspiciously like chicken rice pudding…  I think (hope?!) I redeemed myself with a pudding of fruit brulee though:

b5

And the weekend finished in true Bumpkinsville style with two power cuts.

b6

Power cuts and chicken rice pudding aside, it was rather lovely :o)

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Cards, chocolates and cornflake cakes

Posted on February 14, 2014 by thepogblog

One good thing about Valentine’s day when you are a spinster with cat is that there are absolutely no expectations, so you can’t be disappointed*.

The best bit about having no expectations is that then, when something lovely happens, it’s twice as lovely.

So receiving a Valentine’s card from Norman via The Lovely Nut, (an ex’s mum, obviously.  Who else would arrange a card from your cat?!) made me smiley that she’d been so very thoughtful.

Translation: To the one I love - but I also love your wool. purr!

Translation: To the one I love – but I also love your wool. purr!

Then I noticed a bag attached to my front door.  A mystery admirer left me these:

 v3

It wasn’t a mystery admirer, obviously, but what a brilliant sister I have to do that for me.

And then I popped over to a friend’s and her three year old son had made me chocolate cornflake cakes.  Not as a Valentine thing, but just because:

v2

So tonight, I don’t feel sad that I’ll be crocheting on the sofa with Norman.  I’ll be feeling happy that I have such lovely, thoughtful people around.  And that’s a kind of love, isn’t it?

Whether you’re with the love of your life, curled up with your cat, or somewhere in between, Happy Valentine’s Day to you :o)

* of course I’d rather be swept off my feet with hearts and flowers, but you know, I’m being positive here :o)

'I'm just going to do a quick quality check here...'

‘I’m just going to do a quick quality check here…’

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Pog pictures – week 6

Posted on February 12, 2014 by thepogblog

All Bumpkinsville based this week.  I think I need to get our more!

6th February 2014: Norman: 'Nope, it wasn't me' (Attacked bread found behind the television)

6th February 2014: Norman: ‘Nope, it wasn’t me’ (Attacked bread found behind the television)

7th February 2014: Sister 2 decided sheep looked hungry

7th February 2014: Sister 2 decided sheep looked hungry

8th February 2014: Spring sprung (between the rain and hail on this particular day!)

8th February 2014: Spring sprung (between the rain and hail on this particular day!)

9th February 2014: I finally finished my spider web crochet jumper (the wool is as thin as a spiders web and was a real mission to use)

9th February 2014: I finally finished my spider web crochet jumper (the wool is as thin as a spiders web and was a real mission to use)

10th February 2014: When you have the teeniest hours in the world and a double patchwork blanket your mum made years ago, washing and drying it is a challenge. The solution: Turn the bathroom into a small tent.

10th February 2014: When you have the teeniest hours in the world and a double patchwork blanket your mum made years ago, washing and drying it is a challenge. The solution: Turn the bathroom into a small tent.

11th February 2014: The latest Bumpkinsville accessory: a 24 hour ECG machine. It's a long story...I'll tell you another time.

11th February 2014: The latest Bumpkinsville accessory: a 24 hour ECG machine. It’s a long story…I’ll tell you another time.

12th February 2014: When you can't sleep, make cookies!

12th February 2014: When you can’t sleep, make cookies!

:o)

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