Why you should always have a coffee first thing

Posted on June 5, 2011 by thepogblog

This weekend I have pretty much confirmed that I’m bad at sitting around doing nothing.  On the Pogimal front I have made a Squaddimal (who is off to Afghanistan for his adoption by a slightly more official looking squaddie), a YMCA-imal (who will shortly be touring Macadonia doing some charity work), a tiger-dragon-imal, and a two foot bumble bee. (imal).  (All pictures can be found in the Pogimals being rehomed face book page should you fancy a peek.)

Things were close to getting out of hand this morning though when I work up knowing that I HAD to varnish three frames before I did anything else.  And the ‘anything else’ included having a cup of coffee or waking my brain up a little.  Which is why I ended up in the garden, in my dressing gown giving my chest and neck a high gloss sheen.  It’s also the reason why 30 minutes later I was near enough washing in white spirit. 

Still, it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for getting things done so I ended up making three pictures and a strawberry and white chocolate cheesecake with….wait for it….home made strawberry coulis.  Get me!

Next weekend I won’t be ‘making’.  Next weekend I will be doing something very exciting…  But I’ll tell you abut that when we get to it :o)

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post it notes of smiles

Posted on June 1, 2011 by thepogblog

Today had a rather grumpy start (got scammed by pretend ‘person in distress’ at the tube station) and it continued in a similar vein.  While I was at the office, Sister 1 went to my house for Girl Wednesday duties and left me two smiles, one unintentional and one just lovely.

When I got home I found this on a kitchen cupboard:

I couldn’t work out why she would leave me a message saying ‘love you hike’.

Then I realised a few Post it Notes had fallen off and it was supposed to read ‘love you chicken’.

Thank you Sister 1 for your loveliness (and thank you Sister 2 who visited at the same time and left me some great socks for Pogimal making).  I have great little sisters :o)

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Bank Holiday Fair – featuring POGIMALS!

Posted on May 30, 2011 by thepogblog

My fingers are shredded and blistered. I ache all over; my knees my arms, even the soles of my feet, my ankles are puffy (surely I am too young for that one?!) and for the last 3 hours if I’d done something daft – like relax – I’d have fallen asleep on the spot. I also have a grin that a Cheshire cat would be jealous of.

Because I have had my first ever Pogimal stall at a real life fair. And as well as lots of lovely comments and meeting lots of lovely people, I sold *drum roll*….40 Pogimals! Yes, that is forty. Four. Zero! (I also sold quite a lot of candles in tea cups, lavender bags and beady pin things.)

I also saw some cheese rolling (?!) a tug o’ war and pony and trap rides. Only in Bumpkinsville…

Big thank yous to mum and dad who turned out to be expert gazebo putter –uppers, Sisters 1 and 2 and assorted partners for making the stall look very busy from the start, to cycling friends mum who came to visit despite having a hoard of people to feed later in the day and to Lovely Little Man and Gorgeous Godson (to be) who gave me lot of little people smiles and giggles. Also, thank you to everyone who did a sun dance for today. The heavens opened 10 minutes after I got home  :oD

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Planning, Pogimals and Panic

Posted on May 27, 2011 by thepogblog

I’ve been up every night doing it…I’ve been doing it in the garden…I’ve even mastered the art of doing it on the train…. Minds out of gutters please people – I mean I’ve been doing more than a a spot of Pogimal midwifery and eye surgery. Because…

…on Monday I will be hosting a Pogimal stall (do you ‘host’ stalls?) at the Ide Hill Village Fair….

Naturally, I am pooping my (big) pants that it may rain, nobody will turn up or, almost worse, that herds of people will arrive and swarm past my stall like locusts without a second glance. There is also a tiny panic in my tummy that I have way too much preparation to do between now and Monday morning.

On the off chance that it all goes swimmingly, should you be in the Ide Hill area of Bumpkinsville on Monday, the fair starts at 2pm, rain or shine and I will be there, with the Pogimals, obviously. Not quite so obviously I will also have lavender bags that I’ve made using local lavender, brooches and candles in teacups (both of which have also been made with my own fair hands. Ok, my own slightly rough hands.)

If you can’t make it perhaps you could do a few sunshine dances for me? And next time I blog I’ll tell you if it worked. :o)x

The green where I will be selling my wares :o)

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The Proportions of Pants

Posted on May 24, 2011 by thepogblog

When I cycle I try to think through work (what should go in that presentation, how to write a specific e-mail), solve world issues (I’m pretty sure in the 80s mum was given some cake mixture that ‘grew’ so from the one cup of mixture we had a never ending supply of cakes.  I’m sure that would help out in the world hunger problem) or finish an argument (the bonus being that I always come out on top this way).

Today though, my mind wandered further.  To pants.  Specifically, the proportions of pants.

When I was little, big pants were called apple catchers.   Apple catchers were the biggest pants ever and something to be sniggered about.  Until I saw how big Nanny’s knickers were. They were enormous!  No knickers matched their magnitude, but as I grew up I realised that the proportions of pants were incredibly important.

Miss Fancy Pants and her friend...erm....Miss Fancy Pants.

Miss Fancy Pants of course, has her own tiny pants.  When I showed them to Geeky friends little boy, he almost collapsed laughing.  It’s been a long time since pants were funny but his hilarity got me giggling too. :o)

Years back I was a holiday rep in theCanary Islands. We had an airport run twice a week (happily I didn’t have to do this, unhappily it was because I ran the children’s clubs and had to stay in the resort at all times).  The girls who did the airport run though developed a dependence on their ‘airport pants’.  Airport pants were one size up from ‘big’ and, I can only assume were sufficiently comfy for spending a day at the airport.

In a similar vein to airport pants, I have weekend pants.  These are comfy, large, not to be seen by anyone but also, great.  They are best when it comes to cycling as they don’t move, they are that big (still not as big as Nanny’s though!).  At Tesco the other day I spied some reduced weekend pants…a bargain they were at £1.75 for four pairs.  Unfortunately, it turns out that ‘full briefs’ are not weekend pants.  They are Nanny knickers.  They go up to my tummy button!  And they are great…although I only wear them when I cycle – any other time and I could be accused of being in my 70’s after all and I may be a bit of an old spinster but I’m not that bad….not quite :o)

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The Secret Garden

Posted on May 23, 2011 by thepogblog

Last Thursday I invested in some new fat old clothes (The unfatness plan has not yet worked its magic – possibly partly due to the number of Freddo Frogs I get through a week – and I couldn’t fit into my thin old clothes).

Last night I was rummaging in the shed in the dark to find my gardening gloves.

This morning I (intentionally) went to work without my laptop.

 Why?

A Dragon Arum - it is HUGE!

Well, at the company where I work, we’re entitled to one paid day a year that we can use to volunteer in the local community.  This morning I joined 16 colleagues to help out at a charity called St Mary’s Secret Garden (a teeny oasis in Hackney  for the benefit of those in need of a bit of support as well as any one local who fancies a bit of gardening) where we became our own little makeover team worthy of a television programme.

 I discovered that:

  • I cannot drive a huge trolley thing full of plants
  • I cannot use a staple gun
  • I’m really quite pants with a screwdriver
  • I cannot refuse a second scone where a cream tea is concerned
  • Wearing an old t-shirt over your clothes doesn’t mean that you wont end up in the pub looking like you have rolled around in a muddy ditch and then run through a hedge

But…

    • I can mastermind the re netting of an anti pigeon frame (it probably has a better name than that but that is what it is…)
    • It’s possible to cook a leg of lamb on a bbq (and rather lovely it is too)
    • It’s knackering but it feels great to do physical work outside that makes a difference to people
    • Toilets make rather…erm…interesting…plant pots
    • It is possible for 17 people to paint a shed and tidy its inside, to take everything out of a huge greenhouse and re-board all the tables inside and put everything back, to move plants around like nobodys business, to paint an old Covent Garden mobile stall, to take apart two anti pigeon frames and re build one and do a spot of weeding

    I also arrived knowing three peoples names and now know 16.

I think this is the way forward for Mondays.  And that has nothing to do with the BBQ lunch or the cream tea this afternoon.  Well, not much… :o)

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Lessons Learned This Week

Posted on May 22, 2011 by thepogblog
  1. Lip salve on a bike ride sounds like a good idea.  It does ensure that your lips stay soft despite the wind.  It also ensures that every fly en route ends up stuck to your chops.  So yes, if in need of a snack it’s a great idea…
  2.  48 blind Pogimals look like this:
  3. 48 blind Pogimals cannot all be given sight on one day (and with a week to go, I have no idea how I’m going to be ready for the fair next Monday!)
  4. There are some really odd people out there…I passed this in someone’s front garden today:
  5. The boys have not killed off the entire slow worm population in Bumpkinsville.  I know this because Charlie Cat bought in a live one on Thursday night.
  6. Live slow worms are really tricky to pick up and keep hold of, particularly while trying to dodge a cat that is more than a little grumpy having had his toy stolen and particularly while also trying to open the front door.
  7. I can no longer comfortably fit on swings in children’s playgrounds.  I can however, still fit down the slides (and my god, a bit of weight speeds you up going down those things!)  :o)
  8. I have a new favourite Pogimal:

Have a good week people :o)

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Another Pogimal day out

Posted on May 19, 2011 by thepogblog

You felt the Pogimals needed another day out.  Like a loon, I thought they would appreciate a day trip to London.  Please bear in mind when you see the pictures that London is quite a busy place.  And taking socks…sorry…Pogimals out for photography opportunities in that sort of a place does result in a few funny looks…  I can only assume that the men in white coats were rather busy yesterday.  

 So, over to Miss Fancy Pants I think…

Well daaaarrlings, yesterday we went out the big door of Pog Towers once again and it was so terribly exciting.  Spike, bless him, got a little overexcited when the discovery of a chocolate machine followed the train ride and Pog had to extract him. 

 Next we went in a tube.  Sadly, for the duration of that we had to stay in Pog’s bag for some reason but she let us have a photo with a deliciously bright Canary Wharf sign afterwards.

Spike had trouble containing his excitement again, the little love.  The big stairs were just a little bit too much for him.

At the top of the stairs there was a really tall building that was just stunning.

And after than we went to view something called The Dome.  It was very high.  Beanie was so scared that he had to cover his eyes with his hat, but he was terribly brave and we managed to get a group photograph which is simply lovely.

 

That’s all for now folks…  I think I’ll keep a low profile for a while as even the cashier in Tesco tonight asked if the socks I was buying were for wearing or for cutting up… :o)

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A Slightly Surreal Saturday

Posted on May 15, 2011 by thepogblog

Last night was slightly surreal in a couple of ways…

It was the birthday of Sisters 2’s boyfriend so we all went out for the evening.  I was feeling hideously flumpy (fat, lumpy and more than a little unattractive) so met up with Sister 1 wearing the only outfit that seemed to work:  A brown paper bag.

 

I was then introduced to Sister 1’s two new house mates:

Dave

 

Davina

 Gorgeous!  They do make you feel like you’ve stepped back to prehistoric times though (albeit, prehistoric times with electric lights and beige carpets).

Then we met up with the others at the restaurant and I gave boyfriend of Sister 1 his birthday present.  Something he has been requesting ever since I started making Pogimals. 

Please turn away now if you are feeling a little sensitive.  Because I now present to you… the only two in existence (and the only two that ever will be  in existence!)….

The very unique…Pornimals….

There are no more words at this point.  Other than ‘sorry’  ;o)x

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Attention Seeking Furballs

Posted on May 11, 2011 by thepogblog

I’m thinking that the boys might doing a little attention seeking. Every night I have put it in the bin, but every night for the last three nights, Norman has bought in one of these:

It’s the remains of a cooked fish.

And they’ve taken it in turns to very gently bring in one if these:

It’s a…oh I can’t remember what it’s called but it is big…

So, they bring it in gently and then release it which results in me jumping around to catch it (they fly.  The beetles I mean).

Maybe they are being a little neglected while I cover the lounge with socks and the table with cotton felt and buttons.

They are not the only things being neglected though. I’ve got so bad at doing the cleaning properly (it’s currently just a bit of wiping before I embark on more Pogimal midwifery) that I have had to employ Sister 1 as my Girl Wednesday. And have had to insist on a confidentiality agreement.:

Anyway, I’d best get on. I have 5 blind Pogimals in need of some eyes. No doubt the fish and beetles will be presented to me shortly… :o)

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