hazeljoy

thinking cap required

enough (for now) of the photography (but thank you for your lovely comments!)

i need your help. 

a week on saturday i have to wear a tshirt with a slogan on it as part of a sten do (stag/hen combined).  i am praying that it won't be that sort of do (come on, you know the sort) so nothing trashy.  i am going to print the tshirt myself (probably screened) next week. the slogan needs to be funny and clever (like me!), potentially sarcastic or ironic, and preferably personal to me (though i would quote a film like napoleon dynamite, or from a song).  i am stunted for ideas and this is where you come in.

current suggestions are:

"a slogan"

"i do my own stunts"

both i like, but i think you can do better.. 

feel free to send me your suggestions (via comments here, on twitter or by email)

and i can arrange a thank you prize if it helps?

a mini survey

oh my life.

i have a quandary: i have been offered a kitten. a very cute, runt of the litter, kitten. and she's lovely. but i just don't know.

i had a couple of cats when i was little, and several of my friends have them, but i have always considered myself as more of a dog person (and a dachshund person at that). see, i quite fancy a pet, and let's face it, i won't be able to afford a wire-haired miniature dachsie in a long time. cats are good - they entertain themselves in the day, don't need walking and are snuggly enough when you need them.

but the question is do i really want one? the responsibility of any pet is quite a lot to think about. i don't know whether i want the tiedown. having to feed it everyday isn't much, but who'll do that when i'm not here? and what about when i go on holidays? and then if it gets ill i'll have to sort out going to the vet. and then there's fleas. not to mention the cost of the food.

so this is where you come in. help. should i do it?

just a thought / a new challenge

now that i have my own home along with all of the bills, etc to pay, AND i am coming to the end of what has been a rather large challenge (blog365) i'd like to set myself a new challenge. a challenge that will benefit my pocket, and the (small) space i live in, as well as being good for the environment. you might even say that this is a challenge that keeps on giving... i have decided to stop buying fabric for an entire year. that's right folks, i solemnly swear that i will not purchase any fabric for the whole of 2009. i reckon that i will have to set myself some little guidelines for this challenge, so i have boundaries to work within and this is where i need your help. first up, i will open/stock an etsy shop this year in order to use up some of the fabric i have. second, all the things i make will have to be made from fabrics i already own (though i reckon i'm allowed to buy notions specifically for a job). thirdly, i reckon i should be allowed to do exchanges or swaps in which i can receive fabric so long as i make something to give in return. that's all i have (for now) which is where you come in. think these rules are fair? things i've forgotten? changes to make? let me know. all and any suggestions gratefully accepted. i'll publish my rules on the 31st.

plus of course, i reckon if you wanted to join in....

ideas, please

just in case i didn't have enough on my plate, i have agreed to do the wedding invitations for an old friend of mine. don't get me wrong, i really want to do it, i am actually looking forward to doing them, but i am a bit stuck.

black and white is the theme, and we're thinking cut-outs. 

but i don't know what to cut out. 

which is where you all come in. i need some ideas, ideas of motifs/images i can cut out.

butterflies are out of the question, this is not a girly-girly wedding. 

inspiration thus far? mr ryan (i love mr ryan). something of his complexity would be achievable IF i had a lasercutter, but let's assume i don't have access, so i think i need to keep more simplified. afterall, we are talking 150+ to cut by hand....

help, please!

houses

so. today i went to see two houses. 

maybe houses i could live in you ask? well, no actually. 

they were horrid. i actually cried on the way home, i hated them (and the whole goddamn stupid messed up situation that's brought me to even have to view another house) so much. they were horrendous. like hideous. 

house number one was a one bedroom, mid back to back terrace in a noisy scruffy street. i could see past the 'old lady died here having not changed the decor/wiring/kitchen/plumbing/bathroom/carpets' surface and to the 'this would probably be alright when lots of money and hard work was spent on it' possibilities. but when i was outside waiting for the estate agents some really horrible people came down and let themselves in over the road. now, i'm probably being really really judgmental here, but i was frightened by these people.

house number two was a hideous, 'nearly right next to a scratty pub, damp smelling, repossession' with student neighbours. not for me. not at all. not even with 6 bedrooms (it had been carved up by a landlord hoping to catch a few pence).

:(

so, even after the horror that has been my life over the last two weeks, it looks like it's not going to get any better in the near future. i had been feeling a lot more positive and enthused and believing, but now i'm thoroughly bummed out as it looks like i might not get a holiday this year (nor did i get one last year) and boy do i need a holiday. we had been booked into a rather lovely campsite, just outside st ives (cornwall). but now it's looking like i'm going to have to go it alone, if i want to do it at all.

any suggestions for things to do in cornwall on your own?

i would definitely want to revisit the eden project, having been here 2 (or was it 3?) years ago.

and i'd like to go to st michael's mount.

and probably visit heligan.

and of course, there's potentially a couple of mooching-about-days on the beaches and visiting the tate/wondering around the town streets.

but i feel apprehensive that i might get bored or lonely or that i might feel scared or silly. do people really go on holiday on their own?

edited to add: thanks ladies! i am going.

your help, please

i have recently won 5 items on ebay. four of them are being posted via royal mail first class or recorded delivery in the uk. one is from america. i won them last tuesday, wednesday and friday. only i haven't gotten them yet. should i be worried? (i'm not worried about the american one)

how do i (can i?) check if they've been posted yet?

i'm somewhat worried and a little concerned. and i really don't won't to pester people.

it's just that i've gotten a rather snotty message from one of the sellers asking where their feedback is.

?

lost love ?

this orchid has just died on me.

when i say 'died' i don't mean dried up completely, but it has finally run out of flowers. the stalks (it has two) have dried up and feel quite brittle. the leaves are still reasonably plump, but are getting a smidge floppy.

the reason i write about this is that i need to know what you guys would do next. and why do i not read-up or use the internets to find out about this? well, that's what i did with my first four (four!) orchids. and the things i did left me with four totally dead plants. i know they're not terribly expensive, but i can think of better things on which to spend my pennies.

i put it down to following my first bit of 'real' advice (thankyou lyn) to getting this far with number five. so what do i do next? now the stalks are dying off, do i cut them off? or leave them there?will they fall off eventually? will it flower again (please say yes)? how long might it take? do i need to do anything special now there's no flowers? does it need repotting?