It's Delurking Day again, so if there is anyone left reading who has never left a comment, please do so!
More importantly, Jon and I have now been engaged for a year. We've been working on the invites this afternoon. Well, Jon's done most of the work, I've floated around finding stamp pads and quotes.
When I started this blog 5 years ago today I was single, working as a public librarian, living in a crap flat in a slightly crap area in Leeds and apparently I had a sore neck. Well now I live in Edinburgh, am an information officer, live in a lovely flat in a lovely area and, most importantly, am getting married to a fellow blogger in May. But I have another stiff neck.
And we're helping the celebrations.
'Our story' is currently at the top but probably won't stay there for long so you might need to scroll down. Assuming you can be bothered to read it of course. Happy birthday Typepad!
I nearly forgot! It's my sister Ellen's birthday today which means it's also this blog's birthday - 4 years old now. Look at all those months!
This seems a good day for me to take part in the Pay It Forward meme (no one knows where it started but this is one I took part in before). Basically, the first three people to comment (and don't mind me knowing their addresses) will get a handmade gift from me in the next 365 days (probably not that long though but don't expect anything too soon because I'm not the sort of crafter that has things just sitting around). All you have to do in return is run the meme on your blog.
I think I have at least 3 readers not including Jon...
I was talking to someone today about the high expectations people have of Christmas and how you Have To Have A Good Time And A Great Christmas. The reality is of course that accidents, disasters and illness aren't able to tell that it's the 25th December and shit still happens. Or maybe shit doesn't happen but the pressure of trying to make sure it doesn't happen sends people over the edge.
Like most of the blogosphere, I've been reading dooce for a while. The other week she wrote an absolutely fantastic post on getting treatment for mental health problems. I can't begin to know what chronic depression and postnatal depression are like, but I do know what it feels like to have your life ruled by feeling permanently anxious. I also know how wonderful it is when you find a medication that takes this away and you can get back to living. I won't babble on more about this, because dooce writes it much better than I could. Her hubbie Jon has also written a companion piece about being married to someone with chronic depression.
Last day of NaBloPoMo today, not as easy as it looks is it? Mind you, I'm going to posting daily for the next few weeks anyway with the advent calendar, but I can draft a whole load of those up beforehand, and it's dead easy to find festive links (remind me of that when I whinge later won't you?).
So, anyone else doing an advent calendar? So far I know Caireen at the patchwork dress is doing a scrap one. Rachel at Do Good Design (fellow knitter and she lives in one of my home towns, Stromness, in Orkney) is searching for a magical Christmas and is going to have a secular calendar of finds. Let me know if you are doing one too.
If you have any kind of interest in children's picture books check out my latest del.icio.us link, Lookybook (via swissmiss). You get more out of it if you register and it's basically online versions of some gorgeous books. You'll be there for a while though.
Right, back to the knitting. I might do tomorrow's calendar post as well.
WTF? National Blog Posting Month (well, international really) and, inspired by Manda and Madeline, I've decided to sign up. November seems to be the month for this kind of thing, I've just decided not to take part in NaKniSweaMo, where you knit a jumper in a month. I may well do this anyway, but I've got other things to knit as gifts and don't want the pressure.
Anyway, I have to post every day in November, and post properly, link feeds don't count. I can't see any reason why I can't and it may help inspire me, or just make me cross. Plus November is Big Birthday Month so there should be plenty of lovely things to blog. Hm, how much crafty stuff though? Some things I make will be presents and I won't be able to blog them until December 25th. Let's see how it goes.
Speaking of birthdays, if you are a relative or close friend (or plain nosy) there's some prezzie ideas under the cut.
I feel like I've been slacking on green blogging recently, I certainly haven't done anything at Green Girls Global for ages, which is not good at all. Today is Blog Action Day when bloggers all over the world post about the environment.
My thoughts/message are very simple. Normalise being green. It's not a novelty concept for hippies, it's what everyone should be doing. We're much better at it now, you can get energy saving lightbulbs at Tesco and Ecover at the crap Somerfield down the road. John Lewis sells Method, Organic Surge, Korres and Dr Hauschka. Waitrose sell paraffin-free wax candles. Glasgow hosted a highly successful Organic Food Fair this weekend. Marks & Spencer do fairtrade clothes. More people are concerned about food miles, organic produce is more popular. It's not always about easy decisions, do you get the organic apples flown in, or the locally produced ones that aren't organic, or the fairtrade? Big supermarket or local shop? But at least we have the opportunity to make those choices. I can pick up organic mushrooms on my way home instead of treck across town to find a wholefood shop. I don't have to search high and low on the net for soya or plant wax candles.
We've still got a long way to go with green and ethical consumerism, but it is becoming more 'normal' and not just something that reeks of patchouli oil in a tiny shop that's hard to find.
At the reviews on the Amazon page for Richard Littlejohn's book, Littlejohn's Britain
So, I was the Featured Blog yesterday. A 'Typepad Loves Me' t-shirt arrived at work this lunchtime, I shall of course model it for you all, if we ever see sunshine again (I hope we do, there's a massive book sale tomorrow and last year they had stalls outside, and yes, this is one of the few ways to get me in a church). At the beginning I was getting a hit a minute but it calmed down to be every couple of minutes, pretty impressive! I've had some lovely comments and hopefully I have some new readers (I don't why I say hopefully, it's not like my life depends on it). And thanks to my friend Rachel for leaving a nice comment on the Featured Blog page, you must go and visit Rachel's blog, especially if you're into your food, it's very good.
From 6pm BST (yes, ignore mentions of GMT in previous posts) on Thursday 10th May to 6pm BST on Thursday 11th May Chatiryworld is the Typepad Featured Blog. I'd like to welcome anyone that has come here because of this. Hope you like what you see, and if not, don't waste time, find something you do like. (Of course I never waste time reading blogs that annoy me, oh no...)
The above mosaic is a kind of visual representation of me. Things I forgot: bunnies and Sheffield. Jon (my boyfriend who I met on Typepad) and I have a strange fascination with rabbits since watching a Bill Oddie wildlife programme about a year ago. And Sheffield was where I went to university and had fun. Great city, when I lived in Leeds I sometimes regretted the move, but who knows where I'd be now if I hadn't left. I'm of the opinion that you should only regret forgetting an umbrella, because supposedly bad decisions can sometimes lead on to even greater things. Anyway, enjoy, and clicking on the photo will take you to the Flickr page with links to individual photos.
EDIT: Comments now working.
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