To pick up from last time, Andy's clothes arrived at noon on Friday just as he was dressing for his interview. Nothing fit or was the quality we expected.  He felt that the interview went well but as everyone always does he was second guessing himself.  All in all he knows he did his best.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went shopping in Beford then back to Northampton and did some more.  Biiiig mistake.  My feet/ankles are still too sore to walk on.  We didn't even buy anything to speak of.  But it was a nice day together.

Last night I ran into pc problems.  Gmail problems to be precise.  Whenever I try to reply or forward a message I get a very big,very green box that covers from the to area to the message area so I can't see the subject line, attachment symbol etc  This box say something like drag here to add whatever.  And I could not get rid of it.  Restarted pc and firefox. Logged in with a different name.  Nothing helped.  So I looked on the forums and I'm not the only one with this problem.  I use the mail a lot so I signed up for new Hotmail and Yahoo mail accounts in my favourite username.  Well, I did Hotmail first until I couldn't access it on my phone.  So I then signed up for Yahoo.  It took hours to import all the contacts etc.  I went to bed a 4am.  (I also signed up a new acct for Andy.)

When Andy got up this morning I showed him the problem and told him about his new acct.  Went to the other pc and when I logged on to show him the problem, there isn't one!!!  It is on this pc and not the newer one.  And all that work.  Do you have any idea how many sites you are signed up to all over the place - ones that you want to give your correct addy to?  It is all a big pain and a lot of effort for nothing. And gmail is easier to use than Yahoo in my opinion, but I'm sure I'll like Yahoo when I get used to it.

Then tonight when I was moderating, the back button kept disappearing so I had to keep typing in addresses.  Not my weekend f

So now I will take my weary self to bed.

I ordered some clothes for Andy and paid extra for fast delivery.  They promised them for today.  Yeah.  It's 5.45 pm and so sign of them yet. Rang the company and they said they can deliver until 6 or 6.30 and if they don't come, phone again (on an expensive number) and they will refund the delivery charge.  What about the fact that I've had to stay in all day and miss out on doing other things?  Andy needs one of the items for an interview tomorrow.  Okay, it isn't the end of the world if he doesn't have it, but it would be better if he could wear something new.

And we need a new cooker. Our oven is dying - we never know how long it will take to cook something and twice recently the middle of a dish has still been cold.  We looked locally last evening and didn't like the choices instore so decided to look online.  Andy found just what we wanted at a really good price.  I was too tired and busy cooking dinner to look then, and fell asleep in the chair after dinner.  When I looked this afternoon, the price had gone up by £150.

Ah, well , at least we are all well and warm. It could be worse. And now that Chel is home I can go for the soak I've been looking forward to all day - I waited 'cause I didn't want to have to struggle out of the bath to answer the door.  And struggle is the correct word.

I made myself stitch some on the unicorn again.  I finished page 5 and started page 6.  I can't get up any enthusiasm because you don't really see progress on this one like you do the angel.  Actually, I started another card using one of the small squares from the  Serendipity Sampler several of us on Crossstitchforum did last year. (Serendipity Sampler is from Papillon Creations.) It is a lovely pattern to work on and I appreciate being allowed to do it. I'm using two shades of purple and one of turquoise.

I'm not doing any moderating at the moment - taking a break after doing so much for so long.  I'm waiting for the person who was away and is now back to contact me to say how she wants things done.  I've been looking and she is doing things differently but has not yet advised me of what she wants or  how she is doing things.  I left her a message but have had no reply so........it's over to her now.  It's leaving a gap but I was getting fed up with doing it all.  But that's life.
Maybe now I'm not doing that everytime I get on the pc I can write on here more often.

I'm still working on the purple angel.  She is a joy to work on as there is no confetti, or very little.  And I love the colours.  I haven't actually done much, I don't think, but that is okay.  Suddenly I look at her and realise that I am making progress.  And I know who she is for now.  The person has seen the picture and said she'd love to have it.  That is making it so much more special to work on.

I've made a couple of cards so far.  I bought a pack of 50 cheaply and got the quality I paid for so no complaining.  But as I'm doing them for charity, it shouldn't matter too much.  They just aren't the best quality paper

but have the concentration of a ??? (what has very little concentration?)  I''m getting tired quickly but that could be because of the disturbed nights recently.  If the leg cramps don't wake me, the knee or hip pain will. And if they don't manage to do it well enough, Stevie will wake Chel and that will wake me!!!  It's fun here, really.

I've been thinking this past few days about how fortunate I really am.  I am warm and well fed - and when I'm not it is by my own choosing to neglect myself.  I have enough clothes to wear and I like most of them. I mean, we all have those things we used to like but no longer do or that were mistakes in the first place. 

I have people who love me and people who like me.  They think more of me than I do of myself but I'm working on that.  I have a dog to keep me company and laughing.  I have laughter in my life.  I am able to get out and about most of the time even if it has limitations.  I am not in a wheelchair nor blind, don't have to depend on others for every little thing.  I can be useful to my family, friends and the wider world. That is all good.

I have choices in my life and about my life. That is more than some people can say.  I still have things I want to do and places I want to see.  And people I'd like to see.  How much better can it get?

I know I've let myself down by not writing this week but haven't had the concentration to do much at all, not even much stitching.  I've been asleep and awake at stupid hours - even for me - and have been quite ill.  Feels like a chest cold without the cold.  It isn't right yet, but how long will it take?  My energy levels are at my (swollen) ankles!!  I've had enough now and want to get back to normal.  But if this is the price I pay for such a good time with Agi that is fair enough. 

Back to the day with Agi:  Firstly, it showed me how much I have slowed down mentally.  It took far longer to read the underground maps for a start.  I was unable to read the maps on the tube walls to count how many stops.  Thank heaven Agi was so quick and clever and guided me around. I had an awful panicky moment when a load of girls, just a nice group of friends, crowded into the tube where I was sitting and I could not see around or over them to see where we were.  I was almost in tears of panic, but Agi gently told me we wanted the next stop. I've just realised that the cataract might be contributing to this lack of sight but whatever causes it the result is still pretty unpleasant and scary even. 

Alexandra Palace was massive and as much as I could see was lovely, with beautiful gardens.  I'd love to go back and have a good look around when it isn't so crowded.  But as you would expect with such a massive show it was heaving.  You moved with the flow and somehow managed to look at some stalls. There were more sewing machines than I've seen in one place and lots of knitting wool, fabric and all sorts of wonderful stuff.  I didn't buy anything other than a 3 month magazine subscription so I could get a Cath Kitston book which has a bit of fabric to make something.  I haven't even read it properly yet. I'm not too keen on the magazine but will give it a fair chance as it has all the Christmassy stuff in the issue I brought home.  I got five big spools of pink, purple, and mixed colour metallic threads just for giving my email address.  Fair exchange 'cos I have a delete button for email that I don't want and  a good spam filter!!

We shared food at lunch and I really enjoyed Agi's sandwich because it was so different to what I'm used to.  She seemed to enjoy my Tesco salad!  We wandered a but more then decided we'd had enough of the crush and headed off to Camden Market and Marine Ices.  I'll write about that another time.  I need coffee now and some breakfast.

but have been so tired and unwell that it just isn't going to happen right now.  Nothing to worry about, just me being me.

and am paying for it.  If the typing is all to pot it's because I'm using a different keyboard and am so tired.  I'm happy, though.

On Saturday I travelled to London to the stitching show at Alexandra Palace.  I'd like to go there in the summer for a good look round, but yesterday I didn't see much of it with all the crowds.  And I do mean crowds.  It was so difficult to see much at all, but I'm glad I went.  Agi, who is over from Hungary for a few days met me and we had the most wonderful day together.  I'll try to write more about it all soon.

After I wrote the above I went to bed and slept for a good eight hours and feel better for it. It's so easy for me to get overtired and it then takes days to get over it.  But it is usually well worth it.  You know the saying "Inside every fat woman is a slim woman waiting to get out"?  Well this one is also true "Inside every old woman is a young one wanting to get out".  (That one is thanks to Agi and is soooo true.)

Got to get ready to go for a flu jab now.

it's just because I'm so tired that things seem all at sixes and sevens today.  But at the end of the day I'm spoiling Princess Sheila by making 'her special room' nicer.  Just rearranging, clearing out and that sort of thing.   I want the overall effect to be one of relaxation and comfort with al the things I use daily to be close at hand.  It's coming along really nicely, if slowly.

I did housework and laundry - joy of joys (but remembering to be greatful for the machines to do it easily) then read the papers.  Came back to bed during the pm and slept soundly for a few hours.  That was novel as I haven't had a nap in ages. 

in paradise.  I didn't sleep much last night because of the pain in my knees.  I can only liken it to a toothache where you just cannot ignore it.  And I went to be overtired as well.  Also, knowing I would be out most of today didn't help.  But I did all I needed to do and am better off for it.

I went to the MacMillan Coffee Morning and met up with people I hadn't seen in nearly twenty years.  Then it was off to Milton Keynes (again) to get Chel's iphone changed again.  Then she bought more shoes.  She has a pair to return there.  She couldn't find the receipt so left the shoes home.  When we met I told her I still had it as she'd asked me to take them back and never gave me the shoes.  No prizes for guessing what Mommy will make another trip to MK in the near future.  It takes the best part of two hours to get there at least and the same to come back.  Good job I have my music to take with me.

I wanted an audio cable to link the pc and monitor and get rid of the speakers to make more room on the desk.  £15 in Currys.  £2 on a market stall that sells all sorts of stuff.  £3 from a market stall selling pc stuff.  Those £2 ones do a great job! No way was I going to pay £15 - for that we'd have kept the speakers going - after all, they have worked well since at least 1997!

Stitched on card this evening.  Now to make some more

I really haven't achieved much over the past few days.  First I had a problem syncing my mp3 player to the pc then my phone gave me headaches galore.

I've decided to leave the mp3 alone.  I still can't make playlists on it but it does have 1600+ tracks on it, sounds great and is lovely to hold and look at.  What more do I need?

My phone.....well, I tried to load the newer operating system on it.  It didn't work.  Samsung were mostly as helpful as a boil on the backside.  Finally I got one really nice guy (I was in tears on the phone, dammit) and he said to take it to Carphone Warehouse express repair in Milton Keynes. They fixed it this afternoon while Andy and I trolled round the shops for a few hours.  We simply cannot find soft light bulbs for the lounge light.  They are all clear, which I think are harder on the eyes as they are not covered.  I did, however, find a flatscreen pc monitor/tv with freeview for a reasonable price.  Andy said I could have it for a birthday/Christmas pressie if I really wanted it.  Of course I did.

I've spent all evening setting up the old pc in 'my room', a bedroom I use for all sorts of things.  The old monitor took up so much room it made it hard to do anything else on the desk.  The tvand digibox never really worked together so I never used the tv.   This seems to be an amazing piece of kit and I hope to use it a lot.  The 'big' pc is in another room but I've never been as comfortable in there for some reason.  It may be that this feels like 'my room'.  I keep my makeup and the like here.  Now I can do what I used to do, my skincare and nails while I'm reading stuff or listening to music.  Who knows - I could bring some stitching up here.....scary thought that.

I have only done a few stitches on the angel.  I am doing her again but making sure I keep the tension looser.  I also put the fabric for the midnight unicorn on a frame ready to go.

Off to a MacMillans Coffee Morning tomorrow, then back to MK to do an errand with Chel.

I'm happy and well. and still very fat.