crystalcazzie | Entries tagged with family

So, a few things have happened since I last updated:

1. I got my second Covid jab a week ago, which means that a week from today I will be fully vaccinated and able to go to all the nightclubs I want. Which is zero.

2. Last weekend saw Rob's and Mum's birthdays so he came up to visit. I once again made Mum work for her presents:

There were eight bookmarks, each with a different type of cipher on, which she had to decode. Then she had to sort the results into four pairs. Every bookmark had a different colour tassel and the Happy Birthday card had various flowers with different coloured petals. She had to find the petal colours that corresponded to the tassel pairs and take the numbers at the centre of those flowers. One of the colours of each pair also corresponded to one of the colours on the padlock, which is how she could tell which number went where. And, simple as that, she had access to her presents.

But, to be honest, most of Mum's birthday was focused on something else. Because that was the day that we went to Battersea. Which brings me to the most exciting event that has happened recently:

3. WE GOT A DOG!

His name is Tormund and apparently he's a Collie crossed with a Portuguese Podengo. As I said, he's from Battersea and the whole process went really quickly. We noticed him on the website on Wednesday. I emailed them on Thursday. They phoned Friday while I was at work and had a long conversation with Mum. They then video called us later that day so we could both see Tormund and how he behaved and wanted to know if we were still interested, which of course we said we were. The vet nurse called me on Saturday and gave me various details about his health and what they've done since he's been there. Then on Sunday Rob drove us up and we brought him home.

I thought it would take longer and they might ask us to visit a few times, but they said that it would be better to get him settled in a home and he'd warm up to us there. So that's what we've done. He's free to take himself off and hide in an empty room if he wants, which he does sometimes, but other times he chooses to stick near us and seems perfectly happy. Often he'll lay down near where I'm sitting and he sleeps in my room so I think he likes me.

He also seems to like the cuddly dog that I have by the side of my bed:

SO CUTE!

Current Mood: excited

Italy won the Euros and that means...

...

...

...

( Drum roll... )

Current Mood: jubilant

I got these lovely flowers from work as a thank you for pretty much running the place for most of this week, which was very nice. It always feels good to know that what you do is appreciated. But I'm also very glad that it's Friday and my work week is over. Very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

And to keep everyone updated on the family football sweepstakes - It all comes down to me vs my brother. Meg has been knocked out. I will not be playing myself. The stakes are higher than ever. One of us will emerge victorious and claim the Coveted Chocolate Football. The other will fall at the last hurdle and wail in despair. Who will it be? Only time and some men kicking a ball around will tell.

Current Mood: tired

The round of 16 and the quarter finals are over and our family sweepstakes currently looks like this:

Mum has been knocked out of the tournament. She can no longer win the Coveted Chocolate Football.
Meg has gone from being in the strongest position, having three teams in the quarter-finals, to only having one left. Rob also has one team left.
That leaves me with the other two remaining teams. I am now the only person who could end up playing themselves in the final. It also means I am now the frontrunner for taking home that sweet, sweet chocolate. ~~It's already in my home, of course, but you know what I mean.~~

Current Mood: hopeful

As you must be aware by now, I have very little interest in football, but I do have interests in both chocolate and winning things. So for that reason I am at least partially interested in the Euros because we're doing a family sweepstake and the winner gets this amazing prize:

Behold! The Coveted Chocolate Football!

We each got one team per group so we were all facing each other to start with, but now the group matches are over and we're into the round of 16, which makes things a little more dicey. I have four teams left, all playing other people, so I could be knocked out at this point. Same with Mum. Rob and Meg are both guaranteed to go through to the quarter finals cos they have matches where they're playing themselves. Of course the other way of looking at that is that Rob and Meg will definitely be losing a team each, whereas it is theoretically possible all four of mine will go through. If that did happen they'd be playing each other in the quarter finals though, so I'd definitely be down to two teams after that. Of course, those two could be the ones to make it all the way to the end and I could end up playing myself in the final, which would be fun. Looking at the match fixtures, that's also a possible outcome for Rob or Meg, but not for Mum. It's not possible for any one person to take up all the slots in the semi finals, but either Rob or Meg could have three teams out of four.

Statistically, Meg's in the strongest position as she has five teams still in it. (Also a lot of her teams are apparently good at football and more likely to win their matches, but who cares about silly little things like that...)

Current Mood: relaxed

Last weekend was fun. Thanks to the restrictions being eased, my brother was able to visit and actually come into the house this time so we were able to finally have Christmas. Just five months late! The little potted Christmas tree I bought back in December was still alive and did its part to bring a festive feel as we opened presents. I've now put it outside cos it has been turning a bit brown. Hopefully it'll perk up and survive until next Christmas as well.

Also last weekend was one of the greatest nights of the year. I am talking, of course, about the Eurovision Song Contest. As usual the UK entry was terribly boring and came last. It also scored the dreaded nul points, only the second time we've done that in the whole history of the contest, which I'm not sure was deserved. He definitely wasn't as bad as Jemini! But then is getting nul points better or worse than just getting three points like Germany did? At least nul points is memorable and will go down in Eurovision history. Three points doesn't even come with that consolation prize. And I'm actually surprised that Germany did that badly to be honest. I mean, yes, the song was completely ridiculous and the dancing middle finger was an insane staging choice, but I did think the whole thing was so bizarre that it might just appeal in that specifically Eurovision-type way. It's also annoyingly catchy and has kept popping into my head at random times over the past week, which makes it far more memorable than a lot of the songs!

Current Mood: sleepy

Happy Year of the Ox everyone! It's my mum's year! We were talking about the Chinese zodiac at work on Friday and I discovered that my colleague is a pig like me so I looked up what characteristic we're supposed to have. Apparently I seek out social situations whenever possible and will stay up all night cleaning a messy room cos I'm so organised. You know, I'm getting the feeling that it's almost like astrology might not be entirely accurate...

Speaking of organisation (or lack thereof), I am continuing on with my decluttering mission. At the moment I'm trying to empty out cupboards and drawers of stuff that's been sitting in them untouched for literally decades. Then I'll have space to put away the things I actually use that have been cluttering up other areas of the house. I am slightly worried that by putting the new things away I'm condemning them to the same fate of being forgotten for years though. I have a real problem with object permanence and once something is put away I often forget it exists. So my plan is to try and put absolutely everything away so I have to go and get things when I need them. My hope is that, by doing this, I'll keep the items and their locations alive in my mind and will be much more efficient with my use of space and storage. Of course once this is done I'm going to have to keep on top of it and be careful not to leave things out cos I know myself, I'll just end up using those things again and again and forget everything else.

Having said all this, I'm almost doing the opposite with some items. Often when I get given something as a present or bring it back from holiday I'll think it's too nice to use and should be saved for a special occasion, so I'll put it away to keep it safe. But that's stupid cos then I end up forgetting about them and never using them and they goes to waste. I don't want to re-clutter the place with these things, but I do want to put them in locations where they I know where they are so they can be seen and used, rather than shoved in a box at the back of a cupboard doing nothing.

I have far too many cupboards full of stuff that's doing nothing.

One area I'm really struggling with is my clothes. The logical part of my brain says I should just clear out my wardrobe of all those goth-y clothes I haven't worn in ten years and probably never will again, but they're just so pretty. I also have other things that I haven't worn in so long but every time I go to get rid of them I start thinking that I might want them in the future. I have finally made myself throw away things from my childhood that would obviously never fit me again but I kept cos of pointless sentimentality, so that's progress at least.

Other examples of progress include getting rid of boxes that I've held onto for years for no good reason and throwing away my soap collection. When I was a kid I collected different shaped soaps and I kept feeling like I couldn't get rid of them cos they'd been so important to me in the past. But they were just old soaps covered in dust taking up space that I could use for other things, so in the bin they went. (I did consider using them as actual soaps so they'd at least be useful, but they were really old.)

Current Mood: hopeful

Greetings from Plague Island where the government has well and truly scuppered everyone's Christmas plans. To be honest I'm not hugely surprised, it was always going to be a bad idea to allow three households to meet up for five days, but I am disappointed. Mum and I weren't ever planning on having a big gathering, we just wanted my brother (and his partner if she didn't have other plans) to come round, but they're in Tier 4 now so aren't allowed to go anywhere.

We're still in Tier 2 at the moment, but will be leapfrogging Tier 3 to join them in Tier 4 on Boxing Day. The main consequence of that being I'm going to get shouted at again by loads of customers who don't watch the news and think the shop being collection only is some sort of personal attack on them. So that's something to look forward to.

I'm still trying to embrace festive spirit though. I've watched Christmas episodes of The Nanny and Lois & Clark, along with The Princess Switch: Switched Again, A Knight for Christmas, and The Man Who Invented Christmas. I'm working until 4 tomorrow but am still hopeful that I'll be able to fit in the traditional viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol afterwards.

The presents are wrapped and under the tree, even the ones that won't be opened for who-knows-how-long, there are mini reindeer lights around my laptop, and I'm drinking a spiced orange IPA. In many ways, it feels wonderfully Christmassy and I'm doing my best to hold on to that feeling.

Current Mood: content

Happy End of the Old Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

My Christmas was good. It was just me, Mum and Rob as usual. I did stockings for us all this year cos I thought that Father Christmas had been neglecting us too long and it's always fun to open stockings in the morning. I also made some crackers (from a kit, but still pretty impressive!) and once again made Mum work for her presents. I'd made her an Advent Calendar at the beginning of December and each day contained a hint or riddle to which the answer was a letter. And then I locked up her main present with a combination lock and a tag that indicated how to use the letters to work out the code needed to open it.

( Photos Under the Cut )

I did hit a low point a couple of days after Christmas Day though. I felt so thoroughly miserable, which I think was probably due to a combination of Christmas Day being over (there's all this excitement in the build up to Christmas and I love it so much that when it's over there's a huge emotional crash) and having to go back to work (especially when I keep seeing all these people on Twitter talking about how the days between Christmas and New Year are this no-man's land where no work gets done and you just watch films on the TV while eating chocolate and leftovers all day, and meanwhile I'm back at work at 7:30am the day after Boxing Day.)

I was also at work at 7:30 this morning, and I have to be there at 8 tomorrow (half an hour lie in! Woo!), so I hope I'm not going to be too tired to see in the New Year tonight. I'm hoping to make it to midnight, watch the fireworks, and then crash. I saw the Sydney ones earlier on the TV in the break room at work and they looked pretty spectacular.

Current Mood: hopeful

It was my Mum's birthday a couple of weeks ago and knowing how much she likes puzzles I decided to give her a bit of a challenge in order to get to her presents:

She had to put together four jigsaws, solve the picture riddles that were on those jigsaws, and use the resulting code to open the lock on the bag containing her presents. I think she enjoyed it.

~*~

Last weekend I went to Emma's house for the next stage of our Marvel Movie Marathon. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron while gorging on obscene amounts of chocolate and pizza. And one of the best things about going to Emma's house is that I get to see her cats. Gizzy is a bit shy and didn't come to see us much, but Moose curled up in her chair and joined us for most of the evening, which was adorable. And so, naturally, I had to take loads of pictures:

( Kitty )

So cute!

~*~

Earlier today Mum and I went for a walk around Frensham Pond for our first trip there without Tilly. It felt strange not having her with us but I think it's good to still go for walks, and I wanted to take my new camera on an outing. The LCD screen is really bad in bright sunshine so I had to rely on the viewfinder, and I do miss the long zoom my compact camera had, but overall I'm still really pleased with the A6000:

( Great Pond )

Normally that heather would be a beautiful purple colour, but the recent heatwave has clearly taken its toll.

Current Mood: okay

I am still working on my Twentieth Century Ships list and I'm hoping it will be up soon. I haven't made any more progress on it over the weekend though cos yesterday Mum and I dismantled our old dining room table and made up the new one we'd bought from the internet. It's a rather huge farmhouse style thing that takes over most of the room! I'm really liking the size though, cos it's lovely to have so much space. The old table was rather slim and I often felt cramped using it. This one is a good size for jigsaw building!

My brother came up to visit us this weekend too. I think it was because today is the one year anniversary of Dad's death. It was nice to have all three of us together. We didn't do anything special to mark the date, but we were all aware of what it was.

Current Mood: contemplative

Dad's internal calendar is apparently a day out and he thought today was Shrove Tuesday, so we had pancakes. Because why not? And I feel like having pancakes on Ash Wednesday is perfectly in keeping with our family.

Current Mood: okay

Thanks to the Doctor Who Festival, I have fallen quite a bit behind in the November meme so I'll try to answer a few of the topics today:

8. Favourite childhood memory

Perhaps it's an odd one, but I have this memory of sitting in my grandparents' front room in Rye. My brother and I had pushed two chairs together to make a sort of boat that we were sitting in. Beside us we had a box of various sweets that we'd bought from Jempsons earlier, using the tiny little children's trollies they had there, and we were eating sweets while watching TV while sitting in our chair boat and I just remember feeling so happy and content.

9. Favourite childhood cartoon

So many to choose from, but I adored Postman Pat. Our first cat was black and white, so naturally we called her Jess.

10. Favourite video game

If we're talking PC then the Monkey Island games. They were just so good. And actually my memory of playing Monkey Island on the computer in the conservatory could be a contender for topic 8. We had a tin of sweets out there that I ate so many of while playing the game that they became known in my mind as 'Monkey Island sweets'.

If we're talking consoles, then I'd probably go with Lego Harry Potter. More recent, but still so much fun.

Current Mood: nostalgic

Mum and I went blood doning today. I wasn't able to donate cos my haemoglobin levels were too low, so Mum made up for it by donating too much. We both got handy leaflets to take home with us. It was funny cos before we went we were joking that Tilly wanted me to stay home and Mum could just donate for both of us!

In my previous entry I promised a more in-depth post about the wedding, so here we go:

I'm still not sure why I was an anxious about going to this thing. I mean, yeah, I know I'm still not great with being sociable but I've made so much progress in the past 15 years. I wasn't expecting this to affect me so much, but I was shaking on the way down and on the verge of tears quite a few times. I texted Paul and made him meet up with me before we checked in so I didn't have to go in by myself. And then I felt guilty for being so clingy.

The hotel was nice, although I had an issue with my door not locking. Paul and I went to reception and they said they'd send someone up to check it. After the ceremony I decided to pop up and see if it was fixed, but it still opened without the keycard. So I went back down and they said they'd sent someone and he said it was fine. Clearly didn't do a very good job with that! The lady then moved me to another room, so I went and moved my stuff down while pictures were being taken. It wasn't a big deal, but I really didn't need another thing to worry about when I was already so anxious.

The ceremony was nice, although out of date. The officiant said that "The law of this country defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman" and I was sitting there thinking "Not any more!" The meal was good too. Because the wedding was superhero themed we all got characters on our placecards. I was Storm, although I was sat on the Spiderman table rather than the X-Men one. But that's ok. Beast and Gambit were also there with me.

The reception followed, which was where I struggled a lot. The music was so loud and overwhelming I again felt close to tears and just wanted to escape. But I stuck it out. What helped a lot was moving to a nearby room where we could still hear the music, but it was at a far more manageable level. I wish we'd thought to do that earlier, but people seemed to be having fun dancing. The groom's father made me get up and dance at one point, which I really wish I was able to enjoy but I just felt too uncomfortable and self conscious. I told myself that I'd dance again when they played my song request, but they never did.

The hotel was only a couple of miles from my house but I chose to stay over so I didn't have to worry about getting a taxi home, and I'm glad I did. It was one less thing to panic about, and it meant that I got to have breakfast with friends (including the bride and groom) the next day, which was nice.

So yeah, I'm trying to focus on the positives of the weekend (namely the fact that I went and stuck it out till the end and it was a lovely wedding) and not so much the negatives (how much I leaned on Paul for support the whole time and the fact that I was panicking about quite simple things in the first place.)

And despite the fact that it went mostly well, I still spent a lot of Sunday plagued with the idea that everyone I talked to or interacted with now thinks I'm a horrible person because of something I said or did or didn't say or didn't do. That was fun.

Current Mood: okay

It's my birthday and I'm old! And possibly the slightest bit tipsy. We had champagne out on the patio earlier, and I'm currently drinking red wine cos we've just had dinner and yeah... slightly tipsy.

We went to Alresford today, which wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped it would be. But more interesting is the fact that this was the first year in a long time that I wasn't aware of the exact moment I turned a year older. Usually I'm watching the clock and am ready to mark the minute it happens, but today I just suddenly looked at the time and realised it had passed and I was officially 32. I wonder if that means anything.

I got a lot of lovely presents, including Doctor Who Cluedo and University of Kent Monopoly (I didn't even realise that latter one was a thing that existed until I opened it!) Mum has so far beaten me twice at DW Cluedo, which I find rather unacceptable on my birthday, but I am currently winning our game of University of Kent Monopoly. I am rather put out that she owns Keynes College though. That was MY college. I'm a Keynes alumna. I should own it, dammit!

I'm feeling quite sleepy and drunk and should probably go to bed soon. I might watch a River/Doctor episode of Doctor Who first though, to end the day on a high note.

Current Mood: drunk

I just looked down and there was a wasp chilling in the handle of my scissors. Definite Do Not Want! I took him outside and eventually was able to shake him off but it took a while. The little dude did not want to leave. I wonder if he was hoping to do some arts and crafts and I have cruelly deprived him of his vocation.

It was drizzling outside, which was actually quite pleasant after the heat this morning. Although, having said that, it was really the humidity that did me in. The cash office felt like an actual sauna. And I couldn't even have the small relief of the little tabletop fan because certain people have stolen it for their own use! I should just steal it back. It was mine to begin with after all. (Well, the cash office's, but that's pretty much the same thing.)

Still, could be worse. On Friday I was helping to push three 800kg pallets up a hill. At least the weather wasn't too bad then. I think I would have actually died!

In other news, I had a good weekend. It was Rob's birthday on Thursday and Mum's on Saturday so Rob came round on Sat for a joint celebration. I gave Mum the Corkers board game, which we have now played twice and she won both times. I suppose it's only fair since it was her day. And it turns out that I don't know as much about wine as I thought I did.

Pre-packing for Ireland is going well. I have my lists and a vague idea of where everything is that I'm going to need to take with me. Can't quite believe it's only four days away!

Current Mood: excited

After six months in the land down under, my brother has returned to good old Blighty. We just picked him up at the airport and brought him home. We had been wondering how Tilly would react to him (since she's still very wary around strangers, especially men) and while she was a bit cautious and kept her distance she didn't growl or run away like she does when John comes round. I don't think it will take her too long to properly remember him.

He's not a big souvenir buyer (unlike me) but he did come bearing a few gifts. I now have an Australia keyring, an Old Melbourne Gaol thimble, a sonic screwdriver necklace (the Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver, of course. He knows who my Doctor is!) And he has brought me back a kangaroo. It's made of wooden board pieces and I have to build it myself, but still. A kangaroo of my very own!

Current Mood: content

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I carved my pumpkin on Saturday while watching Strictly Come Dancing and drinking wine. Maybe that's why he looks so happy:

Such a happy pumpkin.

He's currently sitting by the front door, ready to welcome any trick-or-treaters who might come by. So far no-one has appeared, possibly put off by the rain, but the night is still young.

I went to Starbucks earlier and tried a pumpkin spice latte. I was a bit wary at first but it was actually really nice. When I got home I made bat cookies and now I'm drinking a jack-o-lantern cocktail. It's quite strong and I still have to make dinner later. Hopefully I'll be able to stay upright.

I'm also dressed up, complete with witch earrings and Elphaba necklace. I mention this because no one else is. I'm really the only person in my family who gets excited about things like Halloween and Christmas. Clearly I need to get some children. Or find some friends who live close enough that I can force them to celebrate with me.

In other news, it's November tomorrow and that means I have to decide if I want to do NaNoWriMo and/or NaBloPoMo this year. I'm pretty certain that I won't be able to write 50,000 words, but I'm thinking it might be good to try and write something. And I hardly ever come on LJ any more, so NaBloPoMo might be difficult to achieve. Or it could be my triumphant return. I see I'm not alone in drifting away from this site though, so if I do end up posting every day I'll probably end up filling your friends pages with nothing but my pointless ramblings.

Current Mood: tipsy

Ok, so no one wants to do things with me. That's fine. I'll just disown you all and find new friends. Or maybe I'll build some. Out of Lego and sticky back plastic. :p

So now I'm wondering if I should do the things I mentioned anyway, just by myself. I keep coming back to the 11th Hour convention and wondering if I should just buy a ticket, go on my own and see if I can make friends there. I am very tempted to do it. The trouble is that if I retreat into my shell as usual and fail to make friends then I'm stuck by myself for three days feeling sad and lonely. It's a risk, but maybe one I should take. Of course that may be the alcohol talking.

Yes, I am fairly tipsy right now. It's my parents' wedding anniversary so we've opened a bottle of fizz to celebrate. Mum and I only realised the significance of the day as I was checking the use-by date of my vegetable lasagne when I was trying to decide what to have for dinner. And then this happened:

Mum: 32 years. Murderers get less.
My mind: It can't be 32 years. They got married three years before I was born and... Oh god I'm old.

So... yeah. I'm getting old. I should take risks. I should go to conventions by myself and not be a total loser.

I find it funny and rather pathetic that 'going to conventions by myself' and 'total loser' are apparently opposites in my mind. Oh well.

Current Mood: tipsy

Most people just give their mother chocolates for Mother's Day. I make mine work for hers.

That's right, I gave her the Trivial Pursuit chocolate edition. She wants those chocolates, she's going to have to answer some questions first, dammit!

We played the game earlier. All four of us (Dad, who normally has to be dragged into any type of board game was more than eager when he found out that chocolate was involved.) I ended up winning the most and was therefore the overall victor, even if we did let Mum have the chocolate medal. Mother's Day and all. Only fair. I'm not bitter. Not at all.

I'm sure I won't wait until everyone is asleep and steal it back from her.

Also, I'm totally not tipsy right now.

Current Mood: giddy

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crystalcazzie

March 2022

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Iesus Non Amat Me

Entries tagged with family

Exciting News!

Family Football Final

Flowers!

Family Football Update

Family Football

Behold! The Coveted Chocolate Football!

Eurovision Christmas

Happy Lunar New Year (of Decluttering)

Tiers and Tiers

Goodbye 2018!

Picture Post

One Year

Belated Pancake Day

Catch-Up Time

Super Wedding

32

Out Damned Wasp!

Family of Four

Halloween

I'll Go By Myself Then. Maybe.

Mothering Sunday