EAT MORE TRIFLES...EAT MORE TRIFLES!

I am really pleased with myself for today, I MADE JAM!  Five pots of Blackberry jam to be exact.  I was a bit OCD reading up about the process (and indeed which process to chose from out of the millions that are apparently possible) and making sure i had everything laid out properly before i started, but i need'nt have been so nervous about it.  Loads of people told me it would be difficult, that it would be very messy and i'd never get it to set on my first attempt.  Apart from a couple of splodges on the hob everything went to plan and oh my god!  Homemade jam is the bomb.  I'll never buy shop jam again.  I only put blackberries, sugar and a splash of water in mine.  I'm giving one pot to my mum, one pot to Tess, one pot to the Bear's grandparents and because Bear doesn't like jam, i'm only keeping one pot for me and Bear's mum so i have one spare that i don't really know who to give it to.  Oh, i've just thought, maybe Billy's mum would like it.  I shall enquire.

News this week.  We were far from winning the Bishop quiz on Monday.  I now see it as a social  event with Barry and Becky.  Various other people say that they will pop down and have a go, like Ed and Emily, but they haven't made it down thus far.  Ho Hum.

The gym is still going strong.  Trying to find a way to not be knackered by the time i reach the bike at the end.  I have my last appointment with a gym instructor this coming Monday and then i am left alone for ever to do my own thing.  How 'Citing.

No craft going on at the mo.  Scoured the library and both Waterstones (admittedly forgot about WH Smith) for a book on Macrame as there is a rather lovely macrame owl on Etsy and i want to make them as they appear to be very cheap and quick to make and women love them because they are a novelty.  My renewal dates for the items of craft i have posted on Etsy are expiring NOW and i don't know whether i should renew them at the moment.  Was thinking of winding it all down until we have moved...

OH YEAH!  We are moving (everything crossed) to Cornwall next year so that the Bear can manage his uncle's rose nursery down there.  I am rather excited at the prospect of getting out of this one horse town.  The joy that leaps up into my heart when i fantasise about handing my notice in makes me grin like a Cheshire cat.  I went to the post office yesterday to aquire a provisional driving license form.  Yes, i am going to learn to drive again, but in an automatic this time.  My head can't deal with having to look in a hundred different directions at once and have to co-ordinate my hand on the gear stick with my foot on the clutch.  Absolutely not.  I am absolutely petrified.

Yesterday i went through my nearly 300 postcards from Postcrossing and cut the stamps out of them before recycling the cards.  I intend to start a stamp album and be sad like that when someone buys me an album and maybe things like stamp tong and hinges with which to attach them to the album for Christmas.  I have just over 400 stamps, which i thing is a jolly good start to a new hobby.

We were about 6th out of 16 at the Oak quiz.  I started feeling a little bit ill toward the end but put it down to exhaustion after an 8 hour work day, an hour in the gym, followed by an evening of social banter and trying to look as jovial as possible.  No quiz for the next two weeks as QuizMaster Nick is on holiday so i hope for going home early on those nights, but we shall see.

Friday night really went wrong when i felt proper ill in the pub.  No energy.  Wolfie and Hannah were out with some of their mates so i made an effort for them because we never see them.  We started at the Oak and went to the OLd Vine which is now a completely non-smoking pub.  Full of pretentious business types and their dolly birds.  All Jaegar and fake Armani.  And too hot.  We went home after half an hour of getting there because it all got a bit much.

So i went to bed feeling like s**t and the Bear was fine.  When we woke up i was fine and the Bear said he was feeling like s**t.  Poor lamb had a full Saturday at work too.  After a couple of hours in the pub afterwards, i treated him to a pizza and took him home.  He looks a bit better today.

This week i have mostly been listening to Muse (surprise surprise) and Richard Hawley and i strongly recommend that Billy looks up Richard Hawley's song called 'Serious' if he hasn't already.  I also heard a very brief snippet of the new Vampire Weekend song which i thought was very good but also very different.  I don't know what it is called.

Till next week. x