Sunday, 28th September 2014

Another year older, and I am officially a grown up because I passed my driving test on Friday! Third time was lucky for me!

I passed in an automatic, with 7 minors, which I think is pretty good - considering I had three majors on my first test, it is certainly an improvement! Thankfully they did not ask me to parallel park or it may have been a different story...

It is really weird to think I can drive now. I woke up at 5am the next day and then couldn't get back to sleep because I was so excited.

I have been organised - I went straight away and bought a car, with the highly-appreciated supervision of mum and dad! I have to wait a week to pick it up but I am very pleased with my purchase, and even managed a test drive without doing anything embarrassing. So, meet Nelly:

She is not silver!! Dan bought me a range of new driver accessories including P plates and fluffy dice - has to be done, I am told.

Prior to this, my birthday was the day before, and we went to the Donkey Sanctuary for a day out. It was a lovely day and surprisingly accessible on the bus. It was quiet as it was mid-week so we more or less had the donkeys all to ourselves! Dan was in his element - he hasn't been before.

We also have love in the air in our house (apart from Dan and I, of course) - we had previously bought two angel fish -  however Scully met a sticky end quite quickly leaving Mulder all alone. He has been fine but they are meant to be kept in pairs, and I finally put my foot down on the issue yesterday. Cue new angel fish Pumpkin - and it was a successful match! Mulder adores her and follows her everywhere. I am sure he was happy before, but he seems even happier now. And Pumpkin gets to live in our giant tank, which must be nice!

So, the week off is nearly at a close. I am back at work tomorrow and I am actually quite looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back into my usual routine (holiday routine seems to involve a rather erratic sleeping pattern).

I am sure this week will drag by though, waiting for the car to be ready to collect on Saturday. Then watch out - I will be let loose on the roads!!

xx

Sunday, 31st August 2014

Ooooh its been over a month... sorry about that!

Today has been an exciting day though, I need to share. Today I opened my Etsy shop!

I have just put a few of the frames I made on to start with, and I need to work on the search terms so that the items come up through the Etsy search engine, but it is so exciting! Feels really weird to see my stuff for sale on a website. Even though I put it there!

The link to my Etsy shop is:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheWonkyCog

I have been making loads of frames recently to get prepared for the Honiton Craft Fair, which I am doing with mum and dad :D. It has given me a chance to play around with different colour threads and fabrics, and there is LITERALLY nothing more fun than hunting in charity shops for frames. Even if they don't sell, I have had so much fun it will have all been worth it!

Another exciting event today - it was Cheese Hamwich time! I did an order on the Iceland website because I got a PayPal voucher for £10 off, so I wanted to fill up the freezer. I came across these things while I was ordering and they looked so weird I just had to try them:

Well, now I have eaten them, and the results are in. They are kind of what you expect them to be - the centre is basically Spam and remains neon pink throughout the cooking process. The cheese has some supernatural quality which prevents it from melting in a 200 degree oven. The breadcrumbs are definitely not golden and the entire thing leaks grease. However, sometimes you just need to eat some filth. I can honestly say this is one of the filthiest things I have ever eaten and I simply cannot bring myself to look at the nutritional information... 

I have to admit it, it was ok in a sort of 'kebab at 2am/eating cake mixture even though it has raw egg in it/I really know I shouldn't be eating this' kind of way.

Dan is yet to experience this but he is very excited about it so I hope he is in the mood for cheese flavour gristle when he gets home from work...

Anyway, now my curiosity has been sated I can move on. I have set myself a new challenge to improve my cooking - I want to go from 'fairly good' to 'really good'. Over the weekend I made shortcrust pastry and then a quiche, which I was very pleased with. I learnt to make gnocchi from scratch last week so tomorrow I will be improving on that and also making my own pesto. 

Ugh the neighbour has got his guitar out. Why is it just me that finds music cringey and annoying? Especially the 'I am opening my window just as I start playing so that all of the neighbours can think how amazing I am until at least midnight' sort of music!!!!

I think I had better get back to my knitting...

K xxx

Saturday, 19th July 2014

What a week! Work has been challenging... the less said about that the better! But it has been a good week overall. 

Went to Zizzi on Monday for the first time and was very pleased to see they have loads of stuff on their menu marked as 'under 600 calories'. Perfect for my diet! I definitely ruined it with all the wine I drank before, during and after though. 

I didn't have a late night, but there was an interesting development. Apparently, at 27, I have started sleepwalking. A few weeks ago I woke up to find myself sitting on the loo - I am clearly quite practical in my sleep, and I am glad of that fact - any mistakes could have been a bit messy. This time, however, I nearly ended up half naked and locked out of my house. It was a very hot night and I was more than a little tipsy. When in such a state I tend to be quite... minimalistic about what I wear to bed. In other words, I was just in my pants. I woke up standing in a corner with two walls in front of me. Assuming my childhood fear of being kidnapped had been realised (I guess I never quite let go of that one) I panicked, before I discovered one of the walls was the FRONT DOOR! If I had managed to open that... it doesn't bear thinking about. Dan wasn't even home! 

I also had my automatic driving lesson this week. Following this, I think anyone who drives a manual car is just a glutton for punishment. I am kicking myself because when I started my lessons I had wanted to do so in an automatic but was told no,no,no... well I love it. Its like a go-kart. I think I can actually pass my test in this thing. Why oh Why anyone would faff about with a douchebag gearstick if you can get a car that does it for you, enabling you to concentrate on everything else, I will never understand! I don't care how much more expensive it is to get a nice car and insure it, I am completely converted.

The Wonky Cog - The Business looks like it is about to be more than just an idea as well. A colleague and I are going to set up an Etsy business together and work out of her garage - if her idiot housemate gets rid of his punchbag, that is. Either way, it is really exciting. Watch this space :)

xxx

Sunday, 13th July 2014

Uuuugh I am so embarrassed! Sitting here this morning watching Big Brother (the only way to start a Sunday) and we hear a lot of swearing in the garden. It is the neighbour, attempting to take his dog for a walk and being ambushed by the cat. Muddles lies in wait in a shrub for the dog to walk past and then pounces, this is a frequent event. Sounds of growling, scuffling and the cat's bell float through the window. The neighbour seems to be just as annoyed with the dog as he is with the cat and drags the dog out of the fight. Dan and I freeze on the sofa, open mouthed at each other, not sure what to do. We then crack up laughing as the neighbour moves out of earshot.

Part of me is mortified - the exact quote from the neighbour is 'For f$%£#s sake, you two, don't START!', so clearly this is a routine that he is becoming sick and tired of. Part of me is secretly pleased, because this is the same neighbour whose social life frequently wakes us up in the middle of the night and whose friends stand right next to our bedroom window to have lengthy conversations at 2 in the morning about how best to 'bag' a female member of their group. I feel as though Muddles, perhaps also disgusted with these conversations, is getting revenge on behalf of the family. However, I suspect his motivations may not be so selfless - once the dog has left he re-focuses his attention on the blackbirds that he has been winding up all morning, and their incessant warning calls fill the air.

However, I do have good news. I passed my uni exam! That's four years down, two to go. Definitely on the downward slope now. Time for some pink fizz! 

Also, Slim-Fast is AWESOME! Sorry Kayla, you were wrong on this one! I lost 5 pounds in one week. I know that it will probably settle out to a couple of pounds a week now, you often get a bumper weight loss in the first week with this sort of diet. But its a great start and has meant I am down to the lightest I have been in about a year. 

The allotment awaits - the recent weather has been good for the plants, but unfortunately that includes the weeds, and we have more bindweed than anything else at the moment. Not for long - we are launching an offensive today!

xxx

Monday, 7th July 2014

Sooo..., I know, I have been rubbish! No posts for a month! But fear not - I am back :)

I have been busy being a little miss fancy-pants becoming a regular at the Royal Clarence. Three times in a week! We went to the cafe for lunch for my sister's birthday (best chips EVER but the salad was weird and hard to eat!), cocktails with my dad on a whim after a curry (expensive but damn good!) and for afternoon tea, which was my present to my mum and sister for their birthdays.

The afternoon tea was the best. What an amazing experience! There was enough food for at least 6 people (although I had no problem pulling my weight when it came to clearing the plates) and it was all incredible. The sandwiches were superb and the scones were lovely, but the crowning glory had to be the little fruit tarts on the cake platter. I could have eaten about ten of those! 

When it comes to that place, you really do get what you pay for. I probably wont set foot in there for some time, my purse can't handle it, but it has been great! And lovely to spend some time with the family as well.

Another night out tonight - I FINALLY went to Tyepyedong with some friends. I have been meaning to go there since I moved to Exeter nearly 10 years ago! I was not dissapointed - like a more authentic Wagamamas. All tasted really fresh, I had a large bowl of noodle soup and it was filled with little treats and surprises. I was undignified and slurped the noodles and made a mess. Definitely somewhere to visit again - very good value for money at £9 for a main course.

On the driving front, test number two was another FAIL, possibly worse than the first attempt! My feet were shaking and I made stupid mistakes! I didn't know your feet could shake! I have a theory that the nerves are causing me to lose clutch control and any sense of what gear I am in. Time for a fresh set of eyes on this - I am currently waiting for a call back from an instructor who teaches in an automatic. I was worried it was a cop-out until I had a really good chat with my dad who was very supportive and made me feel a lot better about my gut instinct on this one. Watch this space!

In other news, I started a Slim-Fast diet today. I haven't been hungry all day so it definitely keeps you full! A lady I speak to in our warehouse has said it doesn't work (after I had spent £20 on a week's worth of stuff!!) so I am determined to prove her wrong, and to make sure I am not the fatty at the Christmas party this year. It is already July! I need to pull my socks up.

Also, I received my new book today. Time to better myself! 

xxx

Saturday, 7th June 2014

Yesterday was a very exciting day!! Dan and I went to buy some algae killing stuff in the aquatics shop (£7) and ended up spending £600 on a fish tank!

Richard's Aquatics is an awesome shop, and a trip there to buy fish tank equipment always takes at least half an hour because there is so much cool stuff to look at. We only popped in there on a whim because we had run out of anti-chlorine stuff for the tank - so glad we did! They have just bought a whole load of new tanks for the shop (one of them cost them £4k, so god knows how much they will sell that for, but it looks like something out of the future) so they need to get rid of some of the older ones. 

£600 might sound like a lot of money for a fish tank, but it is worth at least double that, and it came with two external filters which would usually have been about £250 on top of the price of the tank, and all the lights, heaters and sand which are expensive too. And it is HUGE!! 4ft x 2ft with a storage cabinet.

So this will be a new home for the tropical fish (Manaus is going to get to about 40cm long so this will be much better for him) and the goldfish are going to be moved into the existing tropical tank, which will become a cold-water tank. It will be like a goldfish mansion! You think they are massive now, Dad...

We will also be able to get a few new family members, there will be plenty of room for more fish. It is being delivered (for free!) on Wednesday, and then we will think about what we want to add. Watch this space!

The jury is still out regarding the little tank the goldfish are currently in - it is pretty ancient so needs some TLC but I am currently campaigning to turn it into an amphibious tank so I can get a turtle! 

We felt very frivolous, but its not like we do things like this very often. We have gone from a little goldfish tank to two massive tropical tanks in the space of 6 months. Looks like we have a new hobby!

Upon returning home, more exciting news! Not only has Big Brother returned (I refuse to apologise for still loving this show!) but so has CSI! I love you Ted Danson!!!

I even had a choc ice. What more can a girl ask for :)

xx

Thursday, 5th June 2014

That is IT!!! I will from now on live an existence of closed windows. I decided to be brave today and left them open and now on going to bed (alone in the house, naturally) have discovered a spider so big i can see its eyes moving around!! Well, practically. There is also a sizeable moth lurking on the ceiling where I cant reach, having evaded my attempts to put it outside earlier...I was trying to help, moth! I am sure you dont want to be stuck behind a wardrobe all night! The cat, great hunter that he is, has been far too busy attacking the laundry basket to be of any help. Ugh! I am trying so hard not to hate the summer this year but all I am thinking now is roll on freezing temperatures!!!! 

xx