WOYWW 130 - the OMG it's nearly December! one...

Yooohallloooo!  WOW!  November 30th!  Advent starts tomorrow and I've not found my candle for it yet.  That sucks...

Well, I'm pleased that you've decided to swing by my place on your wander through WOYWW-land.  If you've landed here by accimedent (new word, LOL) then try popping off to HERE where our Tour Guide, Julia, will hand you a pamphlet and a packet of polos for the journey.  Enjoy!

Meantime, I really wish I had something more interesting, more...er...finished... to show you.  Sadly, the stocking has got no further and currently is still lurking on the laptray in the lounge.  Life gets in the way, y'know?

What I CAN show you is my current state of play desk-wise.

Suffice it to say that work, as usual, has had a brain-fart, and this month they're running a design-a-Christmas-card competition.  Oh ROFL.  Like I'm not going to have a go at that!  However, it's pretty open as to what medium we use etc etc, so I'm going for a star card in white and I'm using a printout of PCB tracking (for we is a PCB manufacturer, no less) to create a stencil for embossing and stencilling through...  Hehehehe.  It's going to take a while though - all those lines and dots will need cutting out!

Also on my desk you can see two tealight holders and some mulberry paper that I really MUST get sorted this week for a commission.  I also have the delightful prize sent to me all the way from Australia by Sandra de for correctly guessing the object on her desk a fortnight ago (how's THAT for a postal service, eh?) and what a delightful prize too.  A card, an ATC, ribbon, India ink, microbeads in festive colours, pink bling, page pebbles AND a print of the stamp I guessed.  I'm definitely using that in something!  Thanks Sandra!

Well, the witching hour approaches, and I can get this out onto t'internet tonight (as my desk will be no different in the morn) ready for linking up at ohmygodo'clock tomorrow.

Catch you all on the 'op!

ETA - Here's a funny thing.  Shoshi, in her comment, has mentioned that I would be better converting the pic to a cutting file, and cutting out that circuit diagram on a cutting machine.  How stoopid do I feel right now?  I have a Craft Robo/Silhouette... doh!.....  so, today (2nd Dec) I have been to work and got them to convert the image to a jpeg so I can convert it to a gsd file and get the machine to do the hard work!  I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do that in the first place.  Guess I've not used the machine enough.  In my defence, I will also add that the circuit diagram was also a pdf originally....not compatible with a CR.  Thanks for the prod though, Shoshi!

Blog Candy.....x 2

Elaine has this on offer:

You have until the 3rd December to join in!  Gorgeous papers, eh?  There's a little something else there too, so go have a look!

and Louise has this on offer!  Also until the 3rd December....

You've got to be in it to win it!

WOYWW 129 - the slightly different one....

Ok, it's late on Tuesday night (technically, now early Wednesday morning) so I'll keep this brief.  Makes a change, says the reader....

Welcome once more to WOYWW, the wonder of desk hopping and blog surfing as created by the magnificent Mrs D.

This week I kind of have two desks for you.  One is my upstairs desk....... ta dah!

As you can see, not a lot on it.  We have a broken pair of earrings courtesy of Lil Miss B.  A stack of cutting mats, at the bottom of which is a nice, shiny (literally - I haven't taken the cellophane off it yet!) A2 cutting mat.  And we have exhibit A - one set of the new limited edition Tim Holtz inks which plopped through my letterbox today.  Huzzah!  There's not a lot else on my desk because I've not been here to do any crafting.  On Monday, Mr B's school got the call all schools dread these days - Ofsted are showing up today (Weds) to do their Inspection, so it's been a frantic couple of days of catching up  on the marking and targets and paperwork and.....and....  He's been putting in 20 hours days, and I feel like I have too...

The other "desk" is my downstairs desk, aka a lap tray.  On it is the remains of the Mill Hill Charmed Stocking I'm working on.  The main part of the stocking is now done; I'm working on the cuff and stocking "stuffers" to finish it.  I WILL have it done soon, then I can go back to the Hardanger I was working on earlier in the year....sigh.....

Other entertainng news - Lil Miss B and I went to the Wave 105 Live gig on Sunday (I won a pair of tickets back in September), and saw: The Reason 4, The Feeling, Erasure, Matt Cardle, Darren Hayes, The Pierces and The Overtones.  We had a fab time, though Lil Miss flagged a lot sooner than I did - we had standing tickets!  I do have a couple of pics but they're on my phone and it requires more energy than I have right now to get them off it.  I have managed to pull this photo they took of us off the Wave 105 website, though!  How cool is that?!

Less than entertaining news, but far more important (and I know I should be happy but it's hard to) is that I finally have a date for my investigative laparascopy.  And guess what?  It's the 15th December.  Nothing says Happy Christmas quite like having your abdomen pumped full of air and a camera shoved through your belly button.  My workplace aren't too impressed as by then my boss will be in Australia with his family, and they're worrying in case the hospital decide to keep me in as there's only the two of us in the department.  Tough!  My health comes first.... I'm sure someone there will keep on top of the cash!

However, for now we are plodding along quite happily, so see you around on the blop!

Ha!  Just realised...... I was going to keep this brief....  Oh well!

WOYWW 128 - Oooops......

Welcome to the worldwide wonder that is WOYWW - for deets go to Dunnit Dimensions! 

Well, mine is short but not exactly sweet this week.

You ever have one of those moments that is soundtracked by a sharp intake of breath?  You know the one I mean, where you can actually HEAR the horror that you've just experienced?  Yeah, that one.

Well, I did one of those on Monday.  Our Group Personnel Manager was stood at my desk distracting me.  On my desk were two piles of paperwork.  One for shredding, the other for filing.  Fairly important filing too, because it was personnel stuff.

Still talking to her, I picked up the shredding, walked to the shredded, selected the first batch of 7 sheets, and put them in the shredder.

The pages get three-quarters of the way through - and cue horrified sharp intake of breath as I realise I had picked up the wrong pile.

So, my WOYWW for this week is this......

To quote Lil Miss B - "It's a good job you like jigsaw puzzles!"....

Catch you on the hop!

Dictionary of Mort strikes again!

Today we have had....

INKIBU.... pronounced in-key-boo

In the dictionary of Mort, this is what it's called when one of your crafting friends pops up with an unexpected random act of kindness.

An alternative definition could be that this is a way to frighten the life out of Tim Holtz....

WOYWW 127 - ARRRRRRRRRRRR...... again.

Wahey!  That was the week that was, that was!  And here we are again, with another round of WOYWW desk-hopping hosted by our beloved MC Mrs Dunnit.  For all the deets go here but don't forget to take a picnic and a compass because you might be a while once you start. 

As you can see, we still have a Charmed Stocking in progress on the desk.  I've discovered that needlework now needs to be done in small bursts because gripping a needle sets my carpal tunnel off.  That and pumpkin carving.  Doh.

On Saturday I attended another of the Big Crops and had a bit of an epic fail.  It didn't help that I didn't get there until 1pm (Lil Miss B had urgent need of a Guide uniform - £32 for t-shirt and hoodie, if you please!!) but the grand turnout on this occasion wasn't even quite a whole layout (compared to the four I did at the previous crop).  I fiddled, I tweaked, I cut, stamped and glued.... and then had to wait till I got home to add the flourish and the lettering.  Not being able to finish it, and the brewing headache I had, meant that I lost the mojo to do more.  I will have to look at that and rectify it this month. Mr B said it was down to the 3 p's - Piss Poor Preparation.  I just said "what preparation?"  To be fair, I hadn't even emptied my scraptotes from the last time, so hadn't really prepped properly.  I had prepped, it was just a month earlier.  LOL

So here is a close up of the finished LO for your delight and delectation.  Once again, Lil Miss B is a tad niggled that it's yet another photo of her (I quote "and why did you have to take a close-up??") but I think that secretly she's pleased.  I like how it turned out, no matter what she thinks!

If you've got this far, well done! 

Other major news in the B household is that we finally got the results of the auditions we took part in on the 30th October for Treasure Island.  Well, we actually got a phone call from the Director rather than just the email that everyone else got because he had a rather special request.  I've been asked if I think I can manage to take a small principal role AND be the society's Stage Manager for the show.  The role in question is the Spirit of the Sea, with appearances at the beginning and end of both acts.  I get to recite some rhyming couplets, not sure if there's a song involved (probably) and do the walk-down at the end, but as that's the role I was hoping for, I naturally said yes!  Being Stage Manager doesn't faze me - I've done Production Management in theatre since I was 14, so I've pretty much grown up with the backstage influence.  It's only since I've been with Mr B that I've had the confidence to step into the limelight again.

The others?  Lil Miss B has got a place in the chorus - kudos to her because 20 kids tried out for chorus and only 10 were chosen - and Mr B is......

wait for it......

Long John Silver!

So he gets to reprise a similar role to last year, just swapping a hook for a wooden leg.... ROFL.

The weird bit is that last year the Dame was played by a fella called Steve.  This year....the Dame is played by a fella called Steve.  Different Panto societies, different Steves - but how funny!

This is going to be fun!

And if you've read this far, well done to you!   Catch you on the blop!

The Dictionary of Mort...

... has come up with another treasure on the word verification thingy today...

FAKERSIC

which in the dictionary of Mort must surely mean pretending to be ill or swinging the lead....


ROFL

WOYWW 126 - WHOOOOOO

Except it's not that scary, really.  Welcome to WOYWW, the global phenomenon started by our marvellous Mrs Dunnit.  The lady who has single-handedly brightened our "over-the-hump" day by giving us a glimpse into the chaos that our fellow crafters live in.  At least this way we don't feel alone, and we have our own little support group, eh?  Hehehehe.

Not that my space is chaos.  No siree.  I'm still basking in the glow of the "just moved in and got it tidy" feeling.  That, and a lack of time this week to do much other than lay out the remains of a Mill Hill Charmed Stocking that I'm trying to finish before Christmas this year (seeing as I started it before Christmas last year.  Whoops!) so it will make it onto the tree in time.  LOL.  We live in hope.  One bright note though is that I emailed Mill Hill when I discovered they'd not provided enough of one type of bead - and they duly supplied me with plenty along with a profuse apology.  Go Mill Hill!

There's also not a lot of point in doing anything else as we have another crop this weekend.  Yay!.

So, here's my desk....

Other highlights this week include being the prompt for a play our new AmDram/Panto society were doing, auditioning for the next panto (that was an experience and a half) and in amongst that attending a children's halloween party at Mr Hat's house as well as sending the brat Lil Miss B (she's not really a brat but I bet it made you smile) out trick-or-treating.  As you can see, she likes to stand out in a crowd.... I don't think I need to point out which one she is, eh?

Well, hopefully I'll get round a few more of you this week than last - this week we have no visitors, no rehearsals, no Halloween..... hang on, how many days did you say it was till Christmas...........................???????