Pianist problems

Over the last year, we’ve struggled to find pianists to play for rehearsals and show week (meaning I end up sharing the playing for rehearsals whilst we’re between pianists). We were some way into the rehearsals for Fiddler before we found a pianist and it has been even worse for the summer concert. We thought we’d found someone (albeit someone whose sight-reading ability was on a par with the England team’s ability to win the World Cup) only for her to pull out a month before the show. It seems we have another replacement lined up – fingers crossed this time!

Cards and crafts

Trying to focus on writing whilst having a rug-making project on the go is not a good idea, particularly given my skills at putting off assignments and coursework! Giving up craft projects was not appealing - it seems I always have to have something to work on. So, the solution seems to be small scale craft projects – anything that I can get done within a couple of hours. I’ve started getting back into making my own cards again – it seems silly to spend so much money buying them when I have everything I need at home to make them myself.

Too darn hot

It’s a very British thing to grumble about the weather. When it’s raining, we wish it was sunny; when it snows, everything grinds to a halt and on warm summer days, we moan that it’s too hot. Today has been one of those days – beautiful sunshine, lovely blue sky and 30 degree heat. I love the sunshine, love the blue sky but if it could just be a few degrees cooler then the weather would be perfect. Our flat feels like an oven despite all the windows being open in an attempt to catch the slightest hint of a breeze.

Ramblings on rugs

It’s amazing what an incentive the prospect of a new home is when it comes to being creative! My third latch-hook rug has been finished in record time (6 weeks compared to 6 years for the first one) and I have also been trying my hand at making a rag rug. My first attempt was intended to be a doormat (but unfortunately turned out to be slightly too small). It took me a while to get the tension right so the shape is slightly odd but hopefully I’ve now mastered the basic technique so the next one should be better!

Engaging the church of tomorrow

I’ve been attending a church elders’ study day. This morning’s workshop focused on prayer – mostly vestry prayer and intercessory prayer (very useful as I’m on vestry duty tomorrow morning!) This afternoon’s workshop focused on youth and mission and was very challenging and thought-provoking. One of the phrase that really struck a chord was “We’re not disciples in waiting; we’re disciples in training.” It left me wondering if Junior Church is perhaps a little too passive – we sit around and discuss the Bible reading but do we encourage the young people in the church to be actively involved? Food for thought.

Picnicking in the park

A day off work, a lovely sunny afternoon with a picnic in the park planned. What could possibly go wrong? Well, hubby and I realising that neither of us had actually picked up our keys on leaving the house meant the planned day out was a little delayed whilst we waited for someone to come over with the spare key so we could get back in. Then it was off to Greenwich Park to enjoy the sunshine, wander round the Royal Observatory and take lots of photographs of some very friendly squirrels who seemed intent on partaking of our picnic.

So good we saw it twice

With a reasonable variety of different musicals in the West End (many of which Michael and I have yet to see) plus the added fact of ever-increasing ticket prices, Michael and I had never felt the need to see the same show twice. Until now. We were given tickets to see Jersey Boys as a wedding present last August. It was fabulous. Somehow or other we’ve not managed a theatre trip since but we finally treated ourselves to a night at the theatre this evening and saw it again. It was still fabulous. A different cast, but still great performances.

Fly frustrations

Ah summer time. Lovely hot weather, the windows wide open at home to let in any stray breezes that might just be passing by... and the flies. Not so nice. Big fat flies buzzing around the lounge so off I go to get the fly spray from the kitchen. When I get back – no flies in sight, not a single buzz. I wait, fly spray poised. Nothing. Back to the kitchen, put the fly spray away; lo and behold the flies are partying in the lounge again. Retrieve fly spray – they disappear. Do they have an inbuilt imminent-death alert system?

A lapse in time management

I normally like to book my first visit of the day sometime after 10am so that I can avoid rush hour traffic but lately I seem to have fallen into the habit of booking some very early morning visits. Today, for instance, my first visit of the day was at 8am. The trouble is, having arranged a early morning visit once with a client, it becomes harder to say no to booking future visits at that time of day. And so I end up crawling in the traffic wondering what possessed me to book a visit at 9am or earlier.

Hubby back home

Michael is back! It is so nice to have my hubby back home again! As usual, there was a bit of a 'Love Actually' moment at the airport – I always like to be there to meet him, to run up and give him a big hug as soon as he appears through the arrival gates. Unfortunately, my work and his jet-lag have combined to prevent us spending much time together this evening. I’m very glad that that’s the long trip away done and dusted for another year (it might only have been two weeks but it felt like much longer!)

Thank you, Dad

Father’s Day – a day to celebrate and say thank you to all those lovely Dads out there. So thank you, Dad, for always being there for me; for all the driving you did picking me up from uni when I wanted to come home for the weekend and driving me back again; for all the times when you believed in me and were so proud of everything I achieved; for always telling me how much you loved me every time I saw you and spoke to you < stretches out arms > I love you this much! Miss and love you forever.

Return of the machine

After being without my washing machine for 10 weeks, it was such a relief when it was finally returned in working order (having been taken away for repairs 6 weeks ago!) I had been spectacularly unimpressed by Capital Repairs but when the engineer called to say it was ready, he apologised profusely and reduced my bill. The spontaneous apology has improved my opinion slightly – I feel less annoyed with them and whilst I’ll still write a negative review (along the lines of “don’t use if you want a speedy service!”) – it’ll be less scathing than what I intended to write.

From Eden to Eternity

From Eden to Eternity – the story of the Bible performed in about an hour and it was fabulous. Four actors, one simple set with a tree in the centre and one amazing story. From Adam & Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden through to the book of Revelation – it was a moving journey through the Bible. The actors were terrific and held the audience spellbound throughout the whole show. I laughed, I cried and I left feeling once again that God is truly an awesome God and wondering why my Bible seems to gather dust more often than not.

Assignment result

I spent days agonising over it, convinced that everybody else on my course could write a million times better than I could, I was rubbish at writing, had no imagination and was probably wasting my time. Still, the dreaded assignment had to be written and finally I managed to produce something. I submitted it, praying that it would scrape a pass if nothing else. The email arrived today confirming it had been marked – I opened it with trepidation. The result completely shocked and thrilled me – 79% on my first creative writing assignment – maybe I’m not such a disaster after all!

Missing Michael

OK, I’ve now had quite enough of hubby being away and would like him to come back home now please. I’ve had enough of the frustrations of trying to deal with different time zones and trying to snatch quick phone conversations at times when we’re both awake and neither of us is at work (which ends up being a very narrow window of opportunity). The only problem is that I’ve still got another few days to get through until he actually can come home. How on earth do other people cope with husbands who have to go away a lot?

Computer still says no

I’m not a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination but somehow seem to have become IT Support at work. I seem to be the first point of call for help with opening email attachments, installing software and updates and generally solving minor computer problems. Today I spent half the afternoon trying (and failing, it has to be said!) to get the office scanner and computers to communicate with each other. I’m determined to make it work somehow – thank goodness for internet forums and a husband who understands computers better than I do and is usually able to help!

Computer says no

When I got married, I decided to keep my maiden name at work but use my married name elsewhere and so I have had two names for almost a year. Other than the occasional moment of having to think twice about which name I’m signing with, having two names doesn’t generally cause a problem but I’ve now discovered that certain computerised forms can’t cope with it and keep getting sent back to be filled in “properly”. I’m sure I can’t be alone in using both maiden and married names so why does finding a solution seem to be so difficult?

A surprisingly good day

Today has been one of those days where I started off feeling apprehensive due to various things planned for the day, all of which then turned out to be generally much better than anticipated. A new client who insisted on a Sunday morning visit turned out to be much easier to get along with than her inflexibility with appointment times had led me to expect; rehearsal eventually turned out to be a pleasant experience; and going out for dinner with my in-laws afterwards was much more enjoyable than anticipated. I’m feeling a lot happier with the world as a result.

Wind quintet concert

Tonight’s concert at church had a significantly smaller audience than we usually get at concerts – something to do with a football match that happened to be on at the same time, apparently. We had a wind quintet (plus pianist) playing this evening – a mixture of music which included pieces by Mozart and Elgar plus selections from “The Mikado” and “Carmen”. It was a really good concert and in some ways having a smaller audience was good as we were also low on numbers with helpers and so those of us who were helping were kept very busy as a result!

Castor oil in the water?

It has been rather a busy week on the work front – one of those weeks when I start wondering whether someone has put castor oil in the water (one of my friends suggested that BP was to blame but I think he’s getting Castrol and castor oil mixed up which is never a good idea!). We seem to have a few May babies arriving later than anticipated and a few June babies arriving early and so they all start arriving together. Lots of births + lots of visits = very tired midwives – hopefully it will all settle down again soon!

Procrastination - or research?

I had thought with Michael being in LA that I might actually concentrate on writing but no, I’m still managing to procrastinate just as well without his help! Even though this week has felt quite busy, I still have had enough free time to have done more on the writing front than I have done. I’m doing a lot more reading and watching films but part of me wonders if this is actually a bad thing – certainly reading a lot is crucial to developing as a writer but I could probably also argue that watching films helps fire my imagination.

Rushing around like a headless chicken

It’s only Wednesday and already I’m feeling like the week has been a bit on the hectic side and wishing for more hours in the day. Looking at my diary though it doesn’t seem to have been as busy as I’ve thought – why is it that the diary can be really full some weeks and yet I feel like I’m on top of everything and life is not as hectic as it seems, whereas other weeks it isn’t as busy but I feel like I’m not getting anything done? Maybe it’s just down to how organised I feel I’ve been.

Elizabeth's leaving do

Spent the evening at church having a leaving party for our lovely minister, Elizabeth. Whilst it was great to spend the evening with everyone from church (was sat with my youth group and we spent most of the evening giggling), it was also very sad to be saying goodbye to Elizabeth. I was put in charge of organising the entertainment for the evening which was a little nerve-racking but fortunately went very well – Wendy did a Joyce Grenfell sketch and then Adam got us all doing team games which seemed to be very popular – all in all a lovely evening.

Singing the praises of Skype

Despite Michael and I both having had Skype accounts for several years, it seems odd that neither of us had really latched on to the idea of using it to communicate whilst he is away on business trips – instead we just run up big phone bills having long conversations. Fortunately, that particular oversight has now been rectified – it was great to have a lovely long video chat earlier today and it made the distance not feel quite so far after all. Plus there’ll be the added benefit of not having the huge phone bill at the end of the month!

Birthday BBQs

It’s been a great weekend: after yesterday’s trip to Butlins, enjoying time spent with my family, today it was time to catch up with friends from university days at my friend Clare’s birthday barbecue. Many of my university friends are now married with children so I had a fun time being clambered over by Hannah & Dave’s little girl Bethany who was being very affectionate plus enjoyed a lovely long cuddle with James & Cait’s 7-week old daughter Elizabeth whom I got to meet for the first time. A fabulous end to the weekend – and it’s back to work tomorrow.

Day out at Butlins

The day started off with me in rather a blue mood after dropping hubby off at the airport for a 2-week business trip to LA. Fortunately, I had a family day planned – going to Butlins with my mum and sister Loraynne to spend the day with my twin sister and her family who are having a week’s holiday there. It turned out to be just what I needed to take my mind off missing Michael – we had a lovely day, going on the rides (although two rides on the Mexican Hat nearly finished me off!) and just generally having fun.

Time to relax

The assignment was finally submitted this morning – time to relax at last! I took myself off for a lovely walk – it was great to finally get out of the flat and enjoy the beautiful weather we’ve been having. I sat by the lake, basking in the sunshine, watching the ducks and geese and just enjoyed a few moments of being able to completely chill out. I’ve not been able to make the most of the sunshine on my week off but I’m glad I’ve been off this week – trying to get that assignment done would have been very stressful otherwise.

The dreaded assignment

Writer’s block is bad enough at the best of times, but having a chronic case of it in the run up to having to submit an assignment is rather stressful to say the least. I have spent far too much time this week sat in front of my computer looking at a blank screen, waiting for inspiration to strike. I’ve sat in cafes, watching people pass by and gone for walks in the park, all in the hope of finding something to write about. Finally I have something to submit. It may not be good, but at least it’s something.

Facing figures and facts

I have been forced to accept the fact that my figure is no longer quite what it was at 17. Or 27, for that matter. Today being a beautiful sunny day, I decided that I would wear my lovely spotty summer dress – a little tight last summer but did still fit – just. 10 minutes later, I had managed to squeeze myself into said dress although the top three buttons looked decidedly under strain. I’ve discovered the lumpy bits don’t go away if you squash them down –they just spread out and reappear where they really shouldn’t. Not a good look.

Ships that pass in the night

It’s that time of year again when Michael is being kept very busy preparing for various gaming events and conferences and I begin to despair of us ever managing to spend a reasonable amount of time together! Of course things will settle down at some point, but as usual, I find myself dreading his forthcoming trip to LA and being on my own for two weeks. On the plus side, not seeing him means I can focus on writing without feeling guilty for not spending time with him (although am doing quite well on the procrastination front at the moment!)