November

So it's November already, how did that happen? It must have crept up on me and now it's only 6 weeks until Christmas and I haven't done a bit of Christmas shopping. I'm usually finished long before now and being all smug about it. Not this time though.

I have an appointment in Glasgow on Saturday so I should get a chance to make a start to it then. That's when the tricky part comes in to play - what do I actually buy for people? There's little point in buying useless tat. That makes me sad to think that the Earth's resources have been used to make such rubbish and I would certainly prefer not to receive anything at all than some mindless nonsense that has no purpose other than to tick a box on the gifter's to-buy-for list. This might make me sound ungrateful but every year I spend a lot of time and energy into picking a gift that I think the receiver will enjoy and whilst I may not always get it right, I do try. I don't like it when others do not show the same consideration.

That said, I have 6 weeks to procure 24 gifts for family members (and make some gifts for friends) and this year we also have the added challenge of DH facing redundancy.

DH told someone recently about his fear that he may lose his job to which the other person, unsympathetically, told him they were looking to buy a house and asked him for mortgage advice! Way to rub salt in the wound! We wouldn't even still be in this country if it wasn't for the same persons Special Event next year. So our lives are on hold because of them and they can't even try to empathise?

Wow, 2 rants in the same blog post? OK, better settle down!

Took my niece up to Grays School of Art at RGU last Saturday for the open day. It looked really cool, I want to study there! They have rooms full of knitting machines and others full of sewing machines - Heaven! I think she really liked it too and we hope that she will get accepted for entry next autumn. Aberdeen was beautiful and sunny as it usually is when I go to visit. Again, trying to seduce me into moving back there. Maybe one day ...

I won't mention Aberdeen drivers though since I've already had 2 rants.

On another tangent, I was reading some nonsense article in the Scotsman, which led me to the Oranges and Apples blog. This was a fun read and I'm thinking about doing something similar like posting my Outfit of the Day or maybe I will try and do the capsule wardrobe thing. Not decided yet.

Paris

Whilst I've had the Paris videos on the video box on my blog for a while now, I haven't actually written anything about the trip. Well thanks to my Dear Husband I don't have to! Here is the link to his post: http://statanomaly.blogspot.com/2009/10/paris.html

Paris was indeed amazing and I'm looking forward to visting again sometime in the future.

I’ve dyed and gone to heaven

I got home from work on Friday and my Dad wasn't around. His cars away getting fixed so I figured he had blagged a ride from someone and was down at the bowling club. I decided that it was a good opportunity to dye my hair. I'd bought a brown/black colour and considering last week I was blonde, this was going to look very different!

I managed to cover the bathroom in black dye and just when I thought I mopped up the last of more appeared. It was on the floor, the toilet, the cabinets, the bath panel, my tub of Vaseline, everywhere! I used the Vaseline to cover my forehead and ears so they wouldn't get dye on them and those were probably the only places not to have dye!

I had to go into the kitchen to check the time and then I went to the sitting room window to see if my Dad was back yet. I swear I did not drip at all – I don't know how spots of black dye got on the floor! My route was clearly visible for all to see though.

Then came the rinsing and by god was there a lot of colour coming out of my hair! It took ages standing over the bath rinsing. That's when I noticed some of the dye on the floor, so I was quickly trying to wash the floor as well as my hair and then I knocked down the tray that has all the toothbrushes and mouthwash and everything and that all slid into the bath. It was chaos.

So I rinsed until the water looked clear as per instructions and got ready to pick up my hubby. I still hadn't heard from my Dad. Got hubby and visited my Sis, told her I hadn't seen Dad and we assumed he was in the bowling club. When I got back in the house I was getting worried about him and then my Sis called to say my Mum had been trying to get in touch with me and that my Dad was in Blackpool on the girls weekend with my Mum! Mystery solved. Hubby and I had the place to ourselves for the weekend – heaven!

(Although once my Mum see's the black dye mark on the bath panel and the bits of brunt on spill-over I've just remembered about from the cherry pie I made I'm going to be sent straight to hell.

It's damn fine cherry pie though.)

I’m not really the one to ask about career advice

When I was 4, just before I started school my Mum got a job as a stand-in cleaner at the local school. When I started school, she was able to become permanent and this was a perfect arrangement for us that lasted my entire school career. When I was 5 I wanted to be a cleaner just like my Mum. I was encouraged to set my sights a little higher, and there was no one higher than my Mum's boss so I wanted to be a Janitor.

My 3 older sisters left school at 16 to work in the local woollen mills. Perhaps like me at that time, they didn't know what types of jobs were available or maybe those jobs seemed like they were for other people. In my sisters' cases, I know that we were not a rich family in the financial sense and that they wanted to buy things like fashionable clothes and have fun nights out with their friends. The mills offered money in exchange for work and you didn't need an education to get it.

I think they knew this wasn't for them but it took them a few years and further study at college to find themselves on good career paths that they enjoy. As I was growing up, they all told me to stay in school and get an education and get a good job. As women who had returned to education as adults, they told me that it was harder as adults with other responsibilities such as homes, husbands and children.

I'm really lucky that I know what I like and I had a good idea of the direction I wanted to go in. When I was in primary school, my Dad and I programmed a basic card game into the computer and I knew I wanted to work in IT. I remember making a basic dating database for dolls lol! (I'm not sure if Sindy will ever forgive me for setting her up with Michael Jackson)

My niece has started college recently and I think she doesn't yet have an idea of what she wants to do as a career so the choices open to her are overwhelming, confusing and perhaps a little frustrating. She is studying art and building her portfolio for university which she plans to attend next year. I think she enjoys her course, but her lack of money (and the inherent problem of being unable to buy things) means that she is often swayed into flirting with the idea of dropping out and getting a job – any job. (And in today's climate, for high school leavers it's pretty limited to the service and retail industries, which is the normal market of the uni students looking for part-time work during their studies). It's a little bit like history repeating itself, since this is not unlike what her Mum did.

To my Niece: When it comes to this, you and I are different and whilst I would love to give you that one piece of great advice that would set you on your path to achieving your full potential, I'm lost. I will offer up this though; the world is a big place with lots of different and interesting people, places and opportunities. You are a creative, open-minded, adventurous and caring person and you won't let these opportunities pass you by. Maybe there's not just one career path out there for you. Maybe you're destined to be a sea-lion trainer, a makeup artist, an au-pair, a camp counsellor, then study at the open university before opening your own business. I might worry about you sometimes, but I know you'll be just fine.

Nike+

Time to shake up my fitness regimen. Actually, it's overdue. Maybe it should be time to TRY to shake up my fitness regimen? Urgh, I'm rubbish.

I've reset all my Nike+ stuff which means that all the lovely widgets I put on this blog are all useless now, oops.

But I will be starting again, or at least, trying to start again.

OK, as Bart Simpsons says, I can't promise I'll try, but I'll try to try.

UPDATE:

Woo, I went for a walk at lunchtime up a hill.

My picture of Corstorphine Hill Tower as proof! http://twitpic.com/h2nph

Wedding Season is Now Over

Since June, I've been to a wedding in each month. I'm beginning to feel like a professional wedding guest and my closet is full of wedding attire.

Things I have learned:

• Always wear nice undies; because I will inevitably tuck my dress into my knickers.
  
• A kilt works on every man. Day or evening guest, it never looks out of place.
  
• The photographs take ages; so have food before leaving the house (or put a sandwich in a bag).
  
• Print out the directions and a map to the venue so if there are road works another route can be found.
  
• I probably could have made it as a professional dancer.
  
• My husband is rubbish at remembering to take photographs!
  

Some of the highlights were:

• Getting to know my cousin Lesley and catching up with relatives.
  
• The groom's epic speech and musical showmanship.
  
• Meeting a whole bunch of new people.
  
• Seeing an old friend truly happy and in his element.
  

Not so long ago it was mostly funerals, but perhaps soon it will be baby naming ceremonies? Hmm, do I need different dresses for that? ;)

It’s been a busy week; I’ve hardly watched any TV!

I'm not very well and I'm feeling sorry for myself. This makes me grumpy and not a lot of fun to be around. I'm especially intolerant of swine flu jokes. So whilst normally I would wander around singing "woe is me" and enjoy the sympathy whilst spreading my bugs around, it's best that I avoid people – for my own sanity.

I think the events of the week have finally caught up with me and the bugs struck when I was feeling run down.

Last Sunday I was in Edinburgh for the awesome Mr Rhys Darby's show at the Udderbelly. (Follow @rhysiedarby on Twitter!) Afterwards we went to the pub to use up the £50 bar tab we had won on the Thursday night.

On the Tuesday we were back in Edinburgh for Richard Herring's Hitler Moustache show (Follow @Herring1967 on Twitter!) which was very funny and thought provoking. At the end we were all given stick-on moustaches to wear or stick on another fringe acts poster.

We were up early the next morning to go to the airport as Kane had to fly to London for business. Then the next day I went to visit my friends new flat and pick Kane up from the airport that evening.

By Friday I was glad to enjoy a drink and a giggle with the ladies but it was another early rise on the Saturday to go to Aberdeen.

My plan was to go to Aberdeen, maybe take a video for this here blog outside my old flat and further along the street to the flat that my grandfather lived in when he was a young boy (my sister discovered this from the old registers when researching the family tree). I also fancied checking out some of the shops and finally getting that Starbucks that I've desperate for for weeks now.

None of this happened.

Instead I dropped Kane off at the pub to watch football with Steve and Craig whilst I parked the car. I then wandered back to the pub had a good old natter with them then after moving to another pub, Steve's OH Kerrie came along as did Tosh and after a few more drinks were had we made our way to a restaurant for some food. We left a little later than planned, but sometimes things have a way of never going to plan and it's all the better for it.

I think by Sunday, the events of the week had finally caught up with me and that's how I got ill.

I'm planning to lay low for the next couple of days and let whatever's got me take its course. Early night yay!