happy new year!!

in engalnd we ahve 6 minutes to go until we enter te splenidid year of 2007. we are listeninINXS and i am a littlw tiddly. we are watichign a lock that is acccurateb to 1 secnd with every 290 years. i am pissed which is unsusual and causing many speling mistakes.

earlkier tis year jen sentmea text to wish me a happy 2007 from the beginning od next year. we have al dicisded tat it feels better to be moving into 2008 but alas wea are oving into 2008. i feel i9 sould apoliogise to andrew jone for y drunkeness. i don't know why. carla sufggests we should move towards morw fun in 2008 but i don't thinki have more fun whe i'm drunk - instead i just spell more badly!!
rach aims for more pointy bits and andy is [utrting 'a blast from the past' on the stearoe. rbital?!! orbital when i conscentrate. carla is taking a thigh as a pillow and rach is trying not to fart.

barnaby has just had the same text from 2 very un-related people. it reads like this - always remenber - lofe is short - forgive quickly, quiss quickly, love truly, love truly and benevre forget new year's eve (please note my keypad is having trouble with the c key.)

rah says we are all saddos with our mobiles.

maybe this is the most realistic expression of a new year's blog ever.

andy ad carla are reflecctung on the orbital live track.

HAPPYNEW YEAR..

Tolstoy said...

"I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish him to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back."

reflect on this at your peril. it is humbling.

also, just wanted to mention how exciting it is to see poeple reading our blog from places that we would never have expected. i wonder if i know you or maybe you just happened upon us and won't come back again, or alternatively, happened upon us and come back regularly!

here is a picture of the blue Christmas tree outside Sheffield train station. it is the most Christmassy photo i took i think!

some pictures

me and jos

robin's snowman for andy to have in the office!

robin dressed up as a mexican (all his own doing!)

andy and me

it had to be done.

jos' first haircut. a sad event because he has wonderful hair but it was actually interlinking with his eyelashes. i only layered the top so we are now heading for mullet territory but andrew jones wears a mullet and he's one of the coolest chaps around.

hilarious!

i always thought clothes were put on manequins to make them look desirable - as if they would look really great on you. check out this dress at topshop to see how sometimes it can go really wrong!!

2 things... and a ps.

1. the following quote from the Design Council Report 1998 @more for less' has challenged me and my thoughts and actions:

"80-90% of the total lifecycle costs of any product (environmental and economic) are determined by the product design before production even begins. "

2. i am a human being and i have needs - one of these needs is words of affirmation, particularly in the form of blog comments. when you comment i get a zingy sparkle all through me. it makes me feel loved and special and thought of. when you don't comment i just think that no one reads my stuff anymore.

ps. at present i do not recommend the ammazing change website for anything other than information. it's got great info about slavery and your response to it, but the community side of it is not happening - i can't even post on the forum for goodness sake.

treesforlife

"*** SHIPMENT CONFIRMATION - PLEASE PRINT AND RETAIN FOR YOUR RECORDS ***

Hello andy marshall,

Thank you for placing an order with Books For Trees! For each book ordered we donate 5p to Trees for Life. This enables Trees for Life to replant the Caledonian forest in Scotland with native trees. For more information, please check out www.treesforlife.org.uk or email us.

Your Amazon UK order, number 736-7603764-1686545, has been processed and shipped via standard mail on 12/6/2006."

a slavery update

if you go to this link then you can find out all about William Wilberforce who was a key player in the abolition of slavery 200 years ago. Quite an amazing person, I think you'll agree!

sleepless nights...

spent the past two nights finding it hard to get to sleep having had loads and loads of ideas going thru my head about a new miniature based wargame that i've come up with.
the usual advice is write everything down, get it out of you, but i seem to find i just get more and more ideas as i write.
add in a jos who likes to wake up for an hours adventuring at 3am and its not going well!

knackeroodled like a poodle

so tired that i am going to bed - at 9.10 pm or thereabouts. jos teething and also snuffly and coughing so not getting much sleep. earlier i posted a link to a picture but it didn't work. instead, check out the whole site called postsecret and enjoy in a weird kind of way! thank you to jen for reminding me of that site - i'm not sure why i filed it away for so long!

The Amazing Change

I've just signed up to a website called The Amazing Change. It is part and parcel of all that is to do with the bicentennial of the abolition of slavery and the new film coming out next year called Amazing Grace. You can go to the website here. I'm going to be blogging about slavery as i remember - it's something that is hard to ignore when you start finding out the facts.

The following is some info taken from the website:

What Is Slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

Forced to work -- through mental or physical threat; owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse; dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property'; physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

--Source: AntiSlavery.org

What Types of Slavery Exist Today?

Slavery exists. Whether we call it trafficking, bonded labor, forced labor, or sex slavery, it exists: globally, nationally, and locally.

Bonded labour affects at least 20 million* people around the world. People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. To repay the debt, many are forced to work long hours, seven days a week, up to 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter as 'payment' for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down for generations.

Early and forced marriage affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Forced labour affects people who are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Slavery by descent is where people are either born into a slave class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labour.

Trafficking involves the transport and/or trade of people -- women, children and men -- from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into slavery conditions. Human Trafficking is now ranked as the second largest criminal industry globally?second only to drug smuggling, and tying with illegal weapons transactions. The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 15 and 20 THOUSAND individuals are trafficked into the United States to become slaves EACH YEAR! This does not include those U.S. citizens trafficked from city to city within our borders.

--Source: AntiSlavery.org and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

this is brill - mum sent it me!

Life Cycle


I think the life cycle is all backwards.


You should start out dead and get it out of the way.


Then, you wake up in an old age home feeling better every day.


You get kicked out for being too healthy;

Go collect your pension, and then when you start work,

you get a gold watch on your first day.


You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.


You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous

and you get ready for High School.


You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play,

you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, and then...


You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury,

in spa-like conditions; central heating, room service on tap,

larger quarters every day, and then, you finish off as an orgasm.

a few more photos

aint they cuties....

he done gone and got a tooth!!

our little jossy woo has got his first tooth through - at last! for moths it's been threatening, slowly working its way down through his gums and the last few days i've noticed the bulge and now it's here. so tiny you have to feel it to relly join in with the excitement! robin is particularly excited - i think his fingers were in jos' mouth more today than in the 8 months he's been with us!! not to worry though, robin will soon learn that jos' mouth is no plac eto leave his fingers idling!!

just done a pampered chef show in barnsley. it went really well and Praise God i got a future booking. it's not til may but it's there and they have not been very forthcoming i tell you! also, my sales this month have gone over £1000 so i get a £20 bonus in my pay packet - yehah!

i really should be sleeping

this morning i had jos sleeep for 45 minutes from 8.15 til 9 so that he would be ready to go to sleep at the same time as robin when robin usually does his 2ish hour sleep. but robin isn't going to sleep so i can't sleep. i am very frustrated because i'm so tired having done a pampered chef show last night and then feeding jos 7 times in a 6 hour period last night. irritates me that i was self-disciplined and thought through my day and planned for it and set limits (all of which don't come naturally to my ENFP personality type) and then i get no good consequences from it - apart from robin demonstrating his excellent patience skills because although awake he is, for the most part, being quiet in his room. i expect he will fall asleep at a time just before jos wakes up and when i start calculating the time left before bedtime and so possible worrying that he won't sleep later.

i was also hoping to make it to the museum this afternoon but not sure that's going to happen if he is so knackered/falls asleep just before jos wakes!

robin loves diggers. we continue to raise him in a household that tries to blur the gender lines in terms of identity. totally want our boys to know that they are boys, one day to be men but don't want them to think that they are therefore denied pink, dresses/skirts, dollies, nail polish, fairy outfits etc. i am often quite shocked when people say, 'aren't you worried they'll end up gay?'. no, i'm not worried - not that for a minute i think people are gay simply because they had parents who gave them the freedom to explore the world through a child's eyes instead of cultural rules that have not been thought through. but anyway, it wouldn't be a problem if either of them was gay. far more important that they grow up knowing that they are loved, that they are loving to others, that they develop good boundaries with themselves and others so that they take responsibility for their choices and whatever consequences go along with those and that they serve others in a 'love your neighbour as you love yourself' way.

robin does love diggers though! we went to the park the other day where there is a digger doing a great job of building a toilet block! we parked a bit away and walked along the river to the park and we saw the heron. i say 'the' heron because for some reason whenever i see him it always feels like he is the only one. i've never seen two together and he always looks the same. and he has a wonderful aura of authority - like he really knows that he owns the place! here's a picture (taken on my mobile at full zoom so it's not the best quality!!)

a few of the goings on of creative stream...

cliff plays the hideously vast collection of westlife songs (the majority of which are covers)
andy (me) creates totem poles in his lunch break:

cliff farts.
ant sings along to westlife.
andy woods asks cliff to download/ buy more westlife, then regrets it.
andy m puts his head phones on and listens to harry potter audiobook.

all in a days work.

some things i am thinking about

1. how to blog more - i like it but finding the time is hard.
2. myers briggs personality testing and how to strengthenm the bits of me that don't fit my natural personality type.
3. work-life balance
4. jonny cash's amazing worship album
5. prophecy
6. what i want for Christmas
7. ebaying again now that i can use my phone to take pictures and bloetooth them to my laptop.
8. the fact that i haven't worn my dungarees for ages.

bregazzi's - robin discovers the bohemian life...

....and jos looks a little quizzical.

thats the next 2 weeks sorted for entertainment...

just started watching it last night - its the virus one in case you can't remember - very exciting (altho a bit annoying i remember a little bit from when we saw the occasional episode when it was originally on...)

the latest addition...

having spent too long with a house filled with clothes, nappies and duvet covers hanging from every available hanging place, we have finally invested in a tumble dryer - its like my new favourite toy!!

stil enjoying the be good tanyas
they're playing in the UK in the next few weeks - i'd really (as in there's no other band i'd want to see live at the mo) love to see them, but getting out of town to see em is a bit tricky - york or manc anyone??

also enjoying blogging again. - hope you are too!

i've been to the spa and i look ten years younger (according to chloe's mum)

this morning chloe and i went to the spa together. it was lush and i am sure my face looks different as a result. i must keep drinking lots of water though because of all those pesky toxins trying to escape my body (which is a temple i'll have you know!). I t nearly all started with disaster as i went into town early to buy a swim suit having been reliably informed that M&S stock them all year round, only to discover that M&S do not stock them all year round anymore. so i rushed to john lewis - i need'nt have as they weren't yet open - where i felt like julia roberts in pretty woman when the shop lady is lovely to her. i explained to the lady that i was going to the spa and that i had to get a cossie and that i had a very short amount of time to do it. she was awesome and got me to the costumes and helped me look through all the sizes. i went into the changing room with two but i needed niples that stuck out to the sides for the bra bit to look right so i scrapped those but then the john lewis lady kept bringing new ones to try on. i put on a (shock horror) brown suit and it looked fantastic. i love it, even though it is brown. so i bought it and had a lovely time i the spa with chloe. i am a new woman!

barnaby is coming to stay tonight - hooray. we love him and he is Jos' life parent so it's about time he put in an appearance. only joking! he is very busy and important but we get him for an evening of chicken thariwala and wine and he's staying the night.

here is a random picture from the google search for 'grape snorkel'. it was andy's choice of wordswhen i asked him for the frist two peculiar words to enter his head.

For the body of Christ

you are our God - a communal statement

From before the world began
and after the end of eternity, YOU ARE GOD
From the sea bursting out of its womb
to the wind ceasing from its chase, YOU ARE GOD
In the vastness of the universe
and the forgotten corners of our hearts, YOU ARE GOD
YOU ARE OUR GOD AND WE BLESS YOU.

i love my new howies jumper.

i recently ordered two items from howies. one was a t-shirt that says 'new logo same shit company' and the other was ajumper with a mushroom on it. i got the t-shirt the other week and love it. got the jumper today and really really love it! here are some photos so you get the general idea!




today i am writing a 1 minute presentation for a business launch tomorrow. i am presenting on my role as a pampered chef consultant and amongst other guests is the Lord Mayor of Sheffeild!

very tired at moment and have persistent sore throat and earache.

andy is being amazing at giving me extra rest, particularly when i've been out working.

the link in html!!!

Unique by pip wilson - a man, not a woman as i thought

Unique

i stumbled across this image when i was doing a bit of Rn'R on the web in the middle of my work day today. i've had a slow and unproductive day in some ways but in others a very productive day. i can't quite desribe how that works. I realise how much i am applying myself at the moment - parenting, pampered chef and boobyjuice (or whatever it ends up being called).

yesterday my first ever pattern fell through my letter box. what an achievment to have got one of my designs down on paper as a pattern. there's obviously a lot more to be done before that pattern becomes a garment i ma pleased with but an achievment necer the less.

so back to the image!! here it is - i am unique and accepted and LOVED just as i am right here right now without being any different. to me that is an incredible thing to be reminded of because it isn't something that dwells in me richly (a few words from the bible that i am holding onto - that God's word would dwell in me richly). i can't get the image to load up so you could follow this link to find the image i'm referring too! (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/516/139/1600/UNIQUE%20PIP%20WILSON%20%3F%3F.jpg)

man i wish i could remmeber how to do that html stuff!

a wee blog on sugar and design...

so i stopped eating sugar about 4 or 5 months ago. i noticed that i constantly craved sweet stuff, was really lethargic and my moods were up down up down up down. decided to see what would happen if i stopped eating sugar (not including natural stuff like honey, fruit, maple syrup etc)and very quickly i had more energy, more level moods, and also unexpectedly weight started falling away too! i've had a few blips but mostly it's fantastic. when i have a blip and eat sugar, even a small amount, i start to feel unwell within an hour or two - kind of groggy and hung over! so i think a life without sugar is here to stay but the benefits to my energy levels and mental health are a definite motivator.

in terms of design, i have designed a collection of clothing for breastfeeding women which i am in the proess of seeing through to the manufacturing stage and then on into wholesale and retail distribution. my first pattern is in the post right now which is very exciting! i'm trying to get in touch with british manufacturers as i'd like to keep as much of the process here as possible. if anyone wants to suggest a business name that would be great - my favourite has caused a couple of murmurs of derision so i'm keeping an open mind!

kate, any questions?!!

new header..

...the previous one was pretty uninspiring....

yeah baby yeah!

last night i had pampered chef training - in fact it was a cluster ralley!! anyway, i won 2 prizes - firstly for having the highest sales for October and secondly for having the highest sales average for October. in itself that is really quite amazing i think you'll agree but just wait til you hear this... October was my first ever month of Pampered Chef. Yeah baby yeah!! my team is about 7 strong so i had some good competition.

jos is on the move and also pulling himself up at every opportunity. the clock change was an hideous experience and meant that we were awke from 4.30am. mum and dad came to visit and they ook us out for a lovely lunch at thyme cafe.



the photos above are robin and his friends - robin and ruby on the elephant and hannah on the giraffe. these are the kids that robin spends most of his days with - to the extent that they are almost too familiar with one another. more scrapping goes on when these guys are together than when when robin is with any other children!

my pattern cutter called me today to say that she has finished the pattern for my first design and she's sending it ot me to look at. this means that as soon as i have decided on a manufacturer i can get a sample made! all a bit scary in an exciting kind of way!

i love knitting but at the moment i feel too tired even to knit a lot of the time. but the other night i did have the energy to watch anchorman which was hilarious. i recommend it!

bees in our attic

somewhere in our attic is a bee's nest. we thought it was a wasp's nest until i got stung today by a bee lurking on the computer mouse. andy thinks it was a been cos it left part of it's body behind which he thinks wasp's don't. if we could find the bee's nest it would be quite a bonus because the critters look like honey bees so there would be womderful honey and wonderful beeswax. however, our attic resembles a junk shop so finding the nest could be difficult! anyway, i got stung, my hand went into paralysis, i screamed and screamed with proper tears until andy returned and got the sting out. i did try doing it myself but my other hand was shaking so much i couldn't use the tweezers properly (have since found out you should scrape a sting out, not pull it due to the barbs on the sting).

if people coul dcomment on my posts that would be great - words of affirmation are very important to me and my sense of well-being!

The Eye of God

This is a picture NASA took with the hubble telescope.
Called "The Eye of God". Apparently it only occurs every 3000 years. Now, I know that it's possible that this may be a clever creation of a computer geek or maybe not. I don't have time to check it out.

But i do like it and if it is real then that's even cooler!

more new music...

...my morning jacket have released a live album that is scarily similar in feel to when i saw them in the summer, so that's really good.
highly recommended.

and aint those boys cuties - that smile of jos'!! its non stop these day 9well, except when he's sleeping or trying to get to sleep)

the sugar crash from hell

congratulations alexander luke clifford for making it safely (and speedily-at-the-last-minute) into the world! i can't remember html so her's the link in a format that is not as helpful as a link. www.fishpie.net

i am typing slowly -
1. i am using my right hand to hold jos so left-handed fumbling is all that i can manage.
2. i feel rough from major sugar crash after fab night out last nighht.

yyeah - great night out for helen's 32nd b'day. 4 of us - b'day girl, chloe and kate and me. it was a giddy experience as we organised a surprise treasure hunt to get helen to the chinese restaurant. chloe and i positioned clues in the afternoon and were amazed that theyall stayed put and intact. even the clue in the middle of the peace gardens fountain! i've not been eating sugar for a few months now (apart from the odd blip here and there). chinese created big blip and i am paying for it today!

i do have fabulous bright pink nails though c/o the beautiful chloe noble. they are so wonderful tat i cannot stop looking at them - in the same way it was hard to take my eyes off the man in the thong, in the bath, on west street where it was very cold last night. how funny that sight was - these baths were electric (i think) and were being driven by semi naked men (2 of them in total). they even did reverse!

i haven't blogged for yonks but here we go - i am blogging. i am still setting up my business and i have also set up as a pampered chef consultant. can't be bothered to keep typing so here are some pictures i like:

return of the be good tanyas...

for some reason i thought the be good tanyas had split up and gone their separate ways, so it was a pleasant day when amazon.co.uk decided to tell me they had a new album out this month (and would i like to preorder it, to which i replied "yes please!") - 3 years on from their last release, and its just as good as "chinatown" - more similar to it than the debut "blue train", but with just as much charm, its well worth the purchase.

the legendary "W" party

perhaps starting on too high a note, i plan to present to the more discerning readers of the blog, a series of highlights from the by-gone years of sheffields burgeoning social life way back when none of us had kids, or (for the most part) were even married.


(click the photo!)

more to come - watch this space!!

new look!

got sick of the old one that was falling apart at the seams, so got a new one, and will try and get round to fiddling with it in the future...
its like an outward sign of a personal blogging resurrection, a rebirth, a renaissance if you will.

i won something else interesting....

i went sea fishing yesterday with a bunch of blokes form inner city life/ church - it was an interesting day with this hulk of a yorkshire man skippering the boat - i caught 4 mackerals and 1 whiting which was quite exciting, and then at church this morning, the guy who organised it had small prizes for the various people by way of letting everyone else there know what people got up to, and i won the prize for most understated fisherman, catching the second most fishes without people really realizing... so that and the most defensive player.... i'm sarting to see a re-occuring pattern here....

i get the impression no one reads this blog anymore....

...which is kinda our fault for not blogging much.
but i've been getting better recently, and making more of a concerted effort to post things.

stop child abuse

light a million candles

recent musical discoveries

the zutons, who killed the zutons - discovered these on the way to the games tournement (below) - definite similarities with led zepplin and stephen stills... a bit psychadelic in places, but pretty cool all the same
johnny cash, my mothers hymn book - got this from the CLC bookshop of all places - all traditional gospel songs as sung by johnny cash
jackie oates, jackie oates - on the way back from 'nam at the weekend, we stumbled across a folk music show on bbc radio shropshire or something and this song really stuck in my head, the staffordshire maid. had to contact the radio presenter to find out how to get hold of it.

beer festival update...

more of an ammendment really.
we are heading to the beer festival on the friday night with the crazy man hodgson.
be warned - he is staying at ours over night, so theres no limit to how much he might drink!
anyway, come and be amazed, friday night.

32nd steel city beer festival....

is the end of this month!
spread the word!!!
its on from the evening of the 28th till 30th september as the usual st phillips social club (near shalesmoor/ attercliffe tram stop down from the university roundabout).
i'll prob try head down on the saturday night - it tends to be a bit quieter - some of the beers will already have been finished but there's never a shortage of ones to try.
having said that, the friday might be viable as an option - post up thoughts on this and book it in on your calenders.

someone had a good weekend....

went down to newbury for the UK open gaming tournement for the wargame thingy i play here and there.
played 5 really enjoyable games and didnt get trounced in any of them which is always a good thing.

got to meet up several people from manchester i see every now and then at these things which was really nice, especially the other dads who ask how the kids are doing and generally dads to the other people at these things - kinda sweet really.

got to meet this guy called ali who i've know on forums for a while but never actually met in person - it was quite odd how much he reminded me of my brother owen in the way he stood, and his general manner, just a bit quieter and more laid back perhaps.... stayed up late on the saturday night drinking with him - we even got into a "you're my besht mate you are!" conversation and chatted about the young and married experience (he was 19 when he got married to a girl from houston - he's now 21...)

on the saturday i won the runners up prize for best painted army, getting a paint set as a prize.

and if that wasn't cool enough, i then won the "most defensive player" award (i'm sure that says something about my personality!) which was a little trophy and a whole new army of miniatures - i basically got to go to the trade stand and pick what i wanted up to the value of about £60!!!

still can't believe it now - i figured i had a chance of winning something in the painting competition, but to win something based on gameplay was just unbelievable.

so yeh - had a brilliant weekend - more fun that i could possibly hope for really.

(sorry if all the above is a bit boring and geeky!!)

jos has started eating food

(3rd post of the day)
having spent the past 2 months or so desperately trying to get at some food, he's finally got his first taste of it today and apparently loves it!
yay jos!!

the harlequin

i've walked past this dingy semi-closed pub every day i've been working at creative stream, being literally right next to the offices. then a few weeks ago they started doing it up, and today was its grand opening.
thinking we could go in for a drink to see what its like, we (or at least i) was amazed at the range of beers - some 10 cask/ real ales available from a whole bunch of breweries... this can only be a good thing, or bad, depending on which way you look at it!!
i had a beowolf heroes (which was free being the openning day)
i am excited tho - its good to see a pub (re-)openning that sells lots of interesting beers, and not just the usual carling, fosters, john smiths, strongbow and VK ice in the fridge.
starting to sound like a camra member now.... (which i am. err...)

praise god, drink beer, sing hymns!!!

second attempt at this post....
had an excellent time at greenbelt - p[robably the best one we've had yet - after past ones we've had to lower our expectancies of what we can do with kids, and with that in mind we probably did more than we expected.
had a great time watching nizlopi - weren't sure how it would work out with just the two of them but with the bassist beatboxing as well, it was awesome - gave robin an opportunity to dance too.
my morning jacket i'd heard before briefly but was blown away by them live - not sure why, they were just amazing to see.
and probably the highlight of the festival for me at least was the "beer and hymns" that included the sermon that makes the above title - simply take an organic beer tent, a couple hundred merry folks and a bunch of hymns and it made for one very enjoyable evening of singing and drinking. so popular was it that it got put on the following night and then the night after that.

lots of other good talks too including several on crazy shenanigans by shane claibourne, one titled "god bless adam and steve" by john bell and a couple of seminars on how to do podcasting...
just gotta get some photos up now...

freaky....

jompin chop?

johnny rotten?

and in other bizarre-ness, robins favourite phrase of the moment (aside from "daddy beer!!" or course) is "bob bor-derr" which translates as "bob the builder", his dvd of choice, and most commonly requested item. and then ben fuller and i spend all day yesterday pulling up carpets from our house ready to get painted, and when robin went up to his bath leaving ben and i he waved to us saying "bye bye bor-derrs"
how cute!!

this is unbelievable!!!

a 5m long lego aircraft carrier
more pics here

the world cup is over...

....and there are a lot of emergency services sirens going off this evening.

places i've visited - not that many really.

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

it has started

well - this is my first day in my new job working at creative stream - trying to figure out how to use a mac... hmm. my computer's not arrived yet.
bea's gone to filey, n yorks with helen dT for a few days holiday.
things going alrightin general - robin sleeping pretty well, jos sleeping pretty good too.
hmmm. yep

exodus

a start date has been set - as of monday the 5th june, i will be working at the home office just 2 days a week, spending the first 3 days of each week working with ant, cliff and andy woods at creative stream doing a mixture of web design, graphic design, maybe even some website/ database programming if i get a chance to learn it, alongside SAGE book-keeping and other project/ contract management/ admin.
the plan is to be able to leave my job at the homeoffice for good as soon as possible (ie when it looks like work at creative will be sustainable and regular enough to do so, hopefully within 6 months), but in the mean time i'll be working as a self employer web/ graphic designer.
in so many ways this is a dream come true - working in an environment that is project based, creative, visual, challenging, office based, uses computers, small company, has a future... everything i want from a job!
very exciting times.

jos is 5 weeks old today. he's doing really well and got weighed by the health visitor and is 12lb 11.5oz.

things are hard work - robin is extremely over-tired due to a number of cumulative factors and as a result is not sleeping well or going to sleep easily which just makes things worse.

had an awesome time on saturday night when our texan friends brian and whitney and their 2 boys came for the evening. hadn't seen them for 3 years but it felt like only 3 weeks. we ended the evening with a great time of prayer and they are now in orkney getting ready to explore scotland and find a place to settle there.

bizzaro!!!

two really wierd things to look at/ watch:
http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/44210/
http://www.citynoise.org/article/3629

something really upsetting happened yesterday so i am feeling particularly crappy today. have been awake since 3am being upset and woried. no doubt this 'thing' will get resolved soon but i feel like it has put me back a bit.

jos is great but very unsettled in the evenings - when he gats windy. quite normal for a little one but i really want to do some knitting!

two mini miracles happened on sunday - had an ansafone message offering practical help with shopping etc and also a friend popped by out of the blue with a meal and some sweeties!

juliet is back from her travels (she is a really good friend who lives half way up the road) so i have a nice cup-of-tea-getaway!

new photos should be up very shortly...

thought i'd post a little!

not doing so great so if you are the prasying type, youre prayers would be great. very emotional - sometimes feel i am only just holding things together. i've read andy's posts about some of what happened and in my head they feel much more traumatic and dramatic. my midwife is very supportive and she also found the birth experience very traumatic. my health visitor has told me about some specialist midwives who do something called 'birth after-thoughts' for women like me who have experienced trauma surrounding their birth experience. jos is doing great and in some ways the 4 days in the childrenb's hospital seem so far away. they never found what was 'wrong' with him and i tend to think my homeopath is on he right track when sdhe says it could well have been his way of balancing his body after all the puncture wounds (canula, blood samples etc) from our initial time in hospital immediately after he was born.

through all of it i found peace in God and he really was my rock but now i feel a bit lost and all at sea. i'm also struggling with where our faith is at because up until we started using conventional medicine with robin for the eczema, we had loads of faith for healing. now that seems to have diminished and we hardly pray for God to heal the eczema - it's as though we've resigned to the fact that medicine is what we have to settle for.

it would be lovely to hear from people - we have both felt quite alone and isolated in all the has happened and the aftermath of it. i know that some people like to have space etc but let's not forget that andy and i are the couple who tried to get home early from honeymoon becauuse we missed our friends!

Something of an update then? (for those who don't know)

Joss got admitted to hospital very early on Sunday morning due to a high temperature and some irregular breathing - they got him on antibiotics and paracetemol (to get his temp down), and then did a lumbar puncture to find out if there's any particular infection going on in there.
This then meant bea has been living in hospital since then (not a good Mothers day!) waiting for them to decide if they need to keep him in on antibiotics for another 7-10 days.
The tests came back today as all clear so they'll keep him in for 24 more hours without antibiotics and keep monitoring him, and assuming there's nothing wrong in the meantime, they should be out by this ime tomo.
At last!
Having said that, a doctor also noticed he had a slight heart murmour today - apparently they're not uncommon, and often heal naturally, but it's still not a nice thing to hear.
Robin's eczema's been a bit up and down recently too - as long as he's been smothered in steroids he's fine, take them away, and things go downhill again, so that?s been really disheartening too.
On top of that, bea's sore throat is also still there.
So there we are - it's all a bit crazy right now - any of you out there inclined to pray, we'd really value it right now!

day 5: more photos.

(click to enlarge)