30 Weeks Pregnant

Friday was a busy day for me (actually the start of a busy weekend, in fact). My cousin flew into Glasgow with her kids, the youngest of whom is 15 months old and I'd never met before, so we arranged to meet up with them to have a catch up and some retail therapy.

I'm still (still!) suffering from insomnia. On a good week I'll sleep through the night maybe once or twice. The rest of the time I'll be awake anywhere between 12/1am and 4/5am. And it'll be wide awake time, usually with a couple of little dips where you feel like you might nod off, but somehow never quite get there.

Thursday night/Friday morning was one of those ones. The alarm was set for 6am and I was awake from 3am! Somewhere around 5am I realised sleeping just wasn't going to happen and gave it up completely.

Luckily I did have a snooze on the train on the way into Glasgow. My loving husband helpfully took a photo of us both to share on Facebook!

It was much needed though and gave me the energy I needed to get through the day.

I was hyper aware of the fact that I'm still getting blood pressure/blood sugar drops. I've had a couple of moments in the last week where I suddenly feel incredibly tired, then my arms and legs get heavy, I get a sort of tunnel vision sensation (not sparkles like high blood pressure but just a general sense of not being able to focus properly), nausea and a feeling like I'm about to pass out. It seems to happen when I'm being very busy or rushing around and haven't eaten for a while.

I had one earlier in the week on Wednesday after feeling pretty uncomfortable all day. It felt like Bo was trying to dislocate my right hip from the inside (we know how much he hates my right leg, clearly he wanted rid of it). I was stretched and achy and generally felt sore.

I was also supposed to be decorating the Christmas tree in our room but I just couldn't summon up the energy to stand up. At one point I gave myself a little pep talk in the loos because I knew if I had a funny turn people would be concerned and make a fuss and I really didn't want that. So I, foolishly, said nothing, even though everyone kept asking me if I was okay (clearly I wasn't looking my best either).

When we got home I had a bunch of things to unpack while Mr Click did the washing up, then we headed up for a shower. In hindsight I should have had something sugary and a sit down because by the time I got to the top of the stairs I felt all swimmy. A couple of minutes later I was having a full on puking session.

Lesson learned. Eat more sugar and tell your colleagues when you're feeling like crap and should probably go home early.

For our trip to Glasgow I took precautions. Regular breaks, agreeing to taxi rides when necessary and I carried a pack of sugary sweets with me for an instant energy burst when needed.

It did the trick and I only had two dips in my blood sugar which were resolved with a hot chocolate and three fizzy laces, respectively. I think because I'm aware of what causes them now, I'm better able to handle them when I feel they're coming on and can nip them in the bud when I start to feel tired or heavy, and before I get to the 'oh crap, I'm about to pass out' phase.

There was a lot of sitting around chatting in Glasgow, which was just what I needed. But we got some shopping in too.

I managed to pick up some prizes for a Christmas thing we're doing at work that I've been organising (also a possible culprit for Wednesday's funny turn, I've been crazy busy getting things organised for two different projects, plus my actual work). And we visited the Christmas Market where I picked up this year's snowflake ornament for our tree:

It was at a stall with lots of sparkly jewellery but it caught my eye and I just knew it was the right one for our tree this year.

Tiring though the day was, it was lovely to have a catch up with family (who I'd not seen for three years!) and compare notes on baby bumps.

My cousin thinks I've got a very compact baby bump and looking at it, I'm inclined to agree. It's all in front and, since he's not dropped yet, still pretty high. Mr Click had said that from behind I don't really look particularly pregnant, though I've not had him take any photos as evidence of that.

In hindsight standing in front of the red wall whilst wearing a red top for this photo was a bad idea. I sort of blend in, but there's definitely no denying that bump now.

My t-shirt says 'Baby Bump's First Christmas' because I wanted people to know that's a baby in there rather than too many mince pies while I'm Christmas shopping. But I truly have to admit that I highly doubt people would have thought anything other than baby when they saw my belly!

17 Weeks Pregnant

I'm still here. Actually here isn't the usual here as we're on holiday right now.

Baby Bo is currently chipmunk size, clocking in at around five inches long. Hopefully he's not looking like a chipmunk, though I hear he's cultivating a full body hair covering right now, so maybe it's not a bad comparison after all.

I'm currently looking like this:

This was taken earlier today at the Skegness Aquarium after a magical moment when I had a big swig of chilled orange juice which set off a wonderful fluttering in my lower abdomen. Apparently it gave Bo a bit of a shock!

Sadly our time away is coming to a rapid end but we've had a lovely time. I've not been able to do as much as I might normally have done and we've had lots of rest days too, but it's been nice to get away for a while. Especially as the week before, well, the day of the holiday, we were still considering cancelling owing to my sickness.

I'm coming home with lots of goodies, photos and a far bigger bump than I left with. I may start taking bump photos soon.

Another Shopping Spree

I feel like half my blog posts at the moment are about shopping trips I've been on!

On the 7th of May, Mr Click and I went to the mainland with a couple of friends. We left the menfolk to attend a Ham Radio convention and we went off for a little retail therapy. There was only one place I wanted to go, Hobbycraft.

Like Paperchase, they've got a rewards card which includes a £5 voucher on your birthday. I heard about this about a week before my birthday so deliberately signed up for the card a couple of days beforehand so that the voucher would still be valid when we took our shopping trip. Just because I'm treating myself, doesn't mean I don't want to save a little money!

One of the things I was planning to buy was a white tree for my window. Technically these are wedding decorations but I love the idea of having something in the window which I can decorate each month. Ultimately it'll be where I hang our snowflake decorations at Christmas, but the rest of the time we'll decorate it with things that relate to what we're doing at that time.

When it came down to it, I decided against getting one because getting it home would be tricky. These trees are white and are unboxed so I'll go slightly better prepared to bring it home next time. It's actually not all bad because this way I'll have time to actually knit some decorations for it. I'm aiming to have that sorted in time for autumn, so lots of brown leaves to get knitting now.

I recently completed my collection of Jean Greenhowe knitting patterns:

That's all 27 of them right there. It's my aim to have knit something from each book and eventually to pick a pattern book and knit everything in it too.

But of course, that meant that I was looking for another designer whose books I could start collecting. Well, I've alighted upon Sarah Keen, not least because I've already got three of her books. And in Hobbycraft I picked up my fourth:

Image from Amazon.co.uk

I followed that up with some googly eyes (since the Jean Greenhowe Jiffyknits patterns, among others, use them), a set of pom pom makers and some yarn. The yarn was something that I had intended to pick up, I was looking for something that was flesh coloured for knitting dolls with. I've considered ordering it online but I needed to see it in person to gauge what colours I was getting.

That was really the only other thing that I actually intended to buy and bought. So I didn't really get what I went for, but I'm pretty pleased with what I came home with.

Do you ever have shopping trips like that?

Birthday Shopping

Last year on my birthday we headed to Dunoon as I was right in the middle of down regulation for our frozen embryo transfer and didn't feel like travelling too far afield. This year the down regulation for our current frozen transfer has started but we're not as far through it yet so we decided to follow our usual plan of heading to Oban for my birthday shopping trip.

Oban has a special place in our hearts as the first place Mr Click and I lived together (for a whole six weeks while I was on a teaching placement) was Appin and on a Friday or Saturday we would head into Oban for shopping and Chinese. I love the collection of charity shops there and we have our routine down to a fine art.

It meant a fairly early start for a Saturday (6am! Yikes!) and we headed off the top end by about 7:45am. We had planned to listen to music from Spotify I'd put onto my phone but we couldn't get the phone to connect to the car we were in, but we'd brought CDs so it was all good.

I love a good long car drive. We chatted, sang along to the music, admired the houses we were passing, kept an eye out for wildlife and tiny lambs. The journey was as much a part of the trip as the actual shopping expedition.

As usual we stopped off at a cafe when we arrived for a spot of breakfast (and after a one hour, forty-five minute drive, the loo) and then got down to the serious business of shopping. Often when I go charity shopping I'm heading out with a particular purchase in mind; new work tops, a particular book, board games, whatever. This time I didn't really have anything in particular other than a vague idea that I wanted to buy more knitting books.

Sadly, old knitting books were rather thin on the ground. There were a couple of old 1980s jumper books, which aren't my thing, and lots of odd patterns pulled out of magazines which were rather jumbled and none of them were especially 'vintage' or for toy patterns so I gave them all a miss.

I'd mentioned to Mr Click that I'd like to get some funny DVDs to watch after our frozen embryo transfer and we hit the big time in the first shop we went into with Pirates An Adventure With Scientists, The Tale of Despereaux, Miss Congeniality and Practical Magic. The latter two are old favourites that I've been wanting to pick up for ages.

I gathered a fairly impressive collection of books over the course of the day as well. I spotted The Life of Pi in one shop for about £2 and decided against if as I knew I'd be able to get the Kindle version cheaply, then found it in the last shop we went in to for 50p. I took that as a sign and grabbed a copy of it right away (along with two other cheapie books).

We also did a nice big shop to fill up our cupboards with goodies. Then headed back to Inveraray for sweets and takeaway to fortify us for the last leg of the homeward journey.

So now I've got to squeeze another seven books onto my bookcase (which I only rearranged a few weeks ago). But I had a brilliant day out and it was the perfect way to finish off my birthday.

Shopping Spree!

Last Thursday was Bluebell's service and MOT so after a really early start (5:30am *sob*) we dropped Tara off at my in-laws' and headed off for a day of retail therapy (and finger crossing that the car sailed through her MOT).

A trip to Ayr with the car also means a trip round the shops in Ayr. One of my favourite things to do.

Sadly there's a lot more closed and boarded up shops than there used to be when I first started going there over ten years ago. Even some of the charity shops have vacated their premises, which is a huge shame because I've picked up some lovely clothes there in the past.

When I make a trip to the mainland on a shopping expedition, I go with a particular target in mind. And this time was no exception.

I wanted a printer.

I'd done my research. I had an envelope with £31 worth of hard won vouchers, valid in Argos, and I was out to buy something which would be useful and practical for my house.

As a side note, I'd like to point out how mature and sensible I'm being here, since these vouchers are also valid in Waterstones and who wouldn't want to go and spend £31 on books?!

I'd settled on the Epson XP342 printer as being the one for me. I wanted something with four individual ink cartridges which would print on a variety of different types of paper (I intend to make my own stickers for pen pal letters and my bullet journal as well as printing photos and other general stuff too). I knew I needed a scanner and wireless (which, let's face it, is pretty standard now anyway). And I wanted something I could trust and which wouldn't cost me a small fortune in replacement cartridges.

I'd been checking for a few days before we went that they had it in stock. So after finishing our wandering and getting ready to head back to the garage, we stopped in and picked it up. My biggest bargain of the day.

It cost me £3.99. I actually spent more in Wilkinson on paper for it!

I got it set up on Saturday and it works like a dream (once I was able to correctly enter the wifi password into it, anyway).

That wasn't the only bargain of the day though. I'd gone with the intention of getting some new long-sleeved tops to replace some old and tatty ones. After picking up a couple for £3-4 I spotted a clearance rack, stuck those back and got some in slightly different colours and styles for £1-2 instead.

I'd hoped to find some new knitting pattern books there, since last year I picked up the pattern book for Jean Greenhowe's Red Nose Gang (where I got the pattern for Bertie Bloomer). No such luck this time around, but I did find a small selection of books and DVDs which I wanted (one of the DVDs was still in the plastic wrapping).

And then there was the crafty stuff.

I was very restrained this time around and resisted all the stickers and washi in Poundland. The latter was mostly because I've already bought it all before, but I kept telling myself I didn't need any more. I did get a nice pack of five with some gorgeous watermelon seed tape in Primark. I'm seeing some summer spreads coming up in my bullet journal.

Wilkinson yielded a pack of 24 Crayola Supertip pens for either £2.50 or £3.50 (I forget which), considering that not an hour earlier I'd talked myself out of getting a pack of 12 for £6.99 in WH Smith, I thought that was a sign and snapped them up. But other than that I was very restrained in Ayr.

And then we went to Lidl on the way home.

We grabbed some (edible) goodies there and of course I had to have a nose at the stuff in the centre of the shop. Mr Click saw me flicking through the stickers and told me to 'go on then' when he caught that glint in my eye. I imagine at times that taking me shopping must feel like taking a hyperactive nine year old out for him, I'm so easily excited by anything shiny or vaguely crafty.

A few seconds later I found a pack of chalk pastels and added those to the trolley as well. I should add here that a few months ago I saw a tutorial on Johanna Basford's Facebook page where she demonstrated an effect which used chalk pastels to colour and blend large areas of a picture. I added some rather expensive chalk pastels to my Amazon wishlist so jumped at the change to get something similar for £2.49!

All in all, it was a very successful day, even if we did come home to the Return of the Wobbly Rat (who's been slightly less wonky since his trip to the vet).

And Bluebell? Well, she needed a couple of things dealt with, but she passed her MOT, so definitely a successful day on all fronts!

The Egg Collection Saga: Day 2, Sunday 12th February

I'd been full of plans to complete this series of blog posts over the weekend (as well as finally writing Pocket's introduction post) but then I caught some sort of mutant cold virus and spent most of the weekend semi-conscious in bed.

I'm feeling mostly better now (except for a horrible cough and some pulled chest/stomach muscles), so on with the Saga!

A week ago I posted about Day 1 of our progress towards Egg Collection, in case you missed that one.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday. It sounded kind of windy outside and I immediately started worrying about disruption to the ferries. It was also really weird not having a labrador to coordinate since she was already at the kennels.

Heading down town to the ferry it became very clear that it was windy and that it would be a rocky crossing. There was also a sad moment when a small bird flew in front of the car and we hit it. Me being me took this as a bad omen and immediately burst into tears. This was obviously showing that we weren't going to get any eggs, or the collection would be cancelled, or none would fertilise, or one of a hundred other awful things that I hadn't even considered.

It's probably worth mentioning here the fact that the day before, on the way home, I'd had a funny feeling that we should drive the long way to Glasgow. The long way involves taking the seven minute ferry crossing at the top of the island, then driving about 100 miles into Glasgow. It's not really the quickest or cheapest option usually, but something was telling me that this was the right way to go. I decided against mentioning this to Mr Click though, figuring it would be a lot more comfortable with my big swollen ovaries to get to Glasgow quicker rather than via the scenic route.

Well we got to the ferry, the main one, and bought our tickets. And waited. And waited. I mentioned to Mr Click that they were cutting it a little fine to get us all loaded up on the boat. About 7:50am a woman from the ticket office came over to speak to the people who were selling the car tickets. I joked to Mr Click that the boat was cancelled. We thought this was funny, because surely they'd call them over the radio, rather than sending a random woman over, without a jacket, to talk to them in person.

Turns out my joke was more accurate than I thought. The ferry had broken down and the situation was to be reviewed at 9am.

We had nowhere else to go, so we decided to wait. And we waited. And we waited.

9am came and went. I'd pulled up the CalMac website on my phone at this point and was refreshing the Service Status page every couple of minutes.

Note the time on my phone screen. Yeah. No one knew what was going on.

Eventually, about five minutes after this the website finally updated to say that the 9:30am ferry was also cancelled so Mr Click went to get a refund on our tickets from the ticket guys since we'd decided we'd have to go the long way, only to find out that they hadn't actually been told that the ferry was cancelled yet and were still telling the people pulling up it would be going out at 9:30!

We nipped over to use the loo at the ferry office and when we came out I spotted a penny on the ground. It felt like a sign that we'd made the right decision in terms of going off the top end of the island. And honestly, from here on in the day went completely right.

We weren't expecting to get to the top ferry in time, but we made it with seconds to spare. The ferry was so busy that if we'd been in a slightly larger car then there wouldn't have been room.

And the rest of the drive went totally smoothly. We drove through lots of lovely Scottish scenery and even stopped for a brief (and chilly) loo break in Luss.

In Glasgow we found our way to the hotel quickly and easily (no mean feat in the one way streets of Glasgow) and then caught a taxi to Dim Sum for some very nice lunch (and coconut ice cream served in half a coconut - amazing!) before heading back to the hotel to get checked in.

A funny thing happened on the way back to the hotel.

We strolled along towards George Square/Queen Street Station to pick up a taxi. As we passed Nelson Mandela Place we spotted a shop front that we've not only walked past multiple times, every time we've been to the hospital we've driven past it on the bus. It used to be a Pizza Hut but it's all closed up for renovation at that the moment so it's had its sign taken down, revealing a 'ghost sign' underneath.

And the ghost sign has our surname on it.

Our surname isn't a common one and is vaguely Germanic in origin so it's not really the sort of name you expect to see on a shop front in Glasgow for a Typewriter Company. The sign is probably about a hundred years old and has only just been uncovered this year. But it seemed like another nice little sign that things were going our way at last.

And when we got to the taxis? There weren't any! We had to turn around and head back to Glasgow Central to catch a taxi, but if we'd gone straight there we probably never would've noticed the sign because we'd not have crossed over the road where we did.

We were staying in the same hotel as we stayed in when we came back from Wales. The Premier Inn at Charing Cross. It's cheap and you know what to expect, but the beds are amazing, and it's a nice central location no matter where you need to be in the city. It's especially good if you're stopping the night to see a show at the Glasgow King's Theatre which is right next door.

We'd considered getting tickets to a show or visiting the cinema but there wasn't really anything on we fancied. I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable when sitting or lying or standing for any long period of time so figured I'd be happier just hanging out in the hotel room. This was definitely the right decision as I found it tricky to get on and off the bed in the room, so I can only imagine how bad sitting in a cinema seat would be for two or more hours.

Remember the fantastic room we stopped in after Christmas?

Well we got another one. When we were checking in we mentioned how much we liked the corner room we'd had before, so the girl at the desk checked us into one on the opposite side of the building. There was no view of the Mitchell Library (which looks so pretty all lit up at night) but out the very corner of one of our windows we could see the general area that the hospital was in.

So we chilled, and ate, and watched TV, and read, and I wrote a pen pal letter, and filled in my bullet journal.

It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon and evening, just relaxing. And while I felt wound up at the thought of the op the next day, and all the awful things that I'd convinced myself were going to happen during it, I felt a lot less stressed and anxious than I did before my previous egg collection.

I got my bag organised for the following morning (dressing gown, slippers, lucky unicorn) and then had an early night, expecting not to sleep much but I surprised myself.

Silent Sunday: Unicorns

Currently...

Exhausted...
... from another trip to the hospital.

But it went really well. I'll tell you all about it when I'm not falling asleep at my laptop.

Celebrating...
... doing my first injection in public today. On a ferry no less!

I feel like there should be some sort of achievement badge for doing this.

Off...
... to bed!

Night, night!

Christmas in Wales: Part 7, Back to Scotland

And so the time came for us to get to Bristol airport, hop out of the car (cleverly leaving my gloves behind on the back seat), and head into the terminal.

We waved goodbye to my Mum (and shed a few tears) then went through security which felt like a much more relaxed affair than when we went through it in Glasgow. The guy was pretty helpful so even though you had to strip off your jacket, belt, shoes, pull your Kindle out your case, put all your medication on display to the other passengers and all the other little things we do to stay safe, it wasn't anywhere near as awkward as on the way down.

It was also quicker as well and soon we were in the departures area where we had about an hour and a half to kill before our flight's gate was announced. Mr Click and I played a round of Carcasonne, I wandered round WH Smith, we both took advantage of our hour's free internet.

I think it was a lot more relaxed because we knew there was no rush to get home. We'd got our hotel booked for Glasgow so all we needed to do was get there. It wasn't as though we had to race on for a ferry.

And the weather was nicer. Which made the return flight a positive breeze.

Once on board we had a brief plane selfie, as you do, then settled in to watch the safety demonstration.

The plane was completely packed on this flight so we were actually able to take off a little earlier than scheduled. It was such a clear day that we had a perfect view of the ground the whole way back as well. I wonder if the view would have been so interesting if we'd not been flying back in the dark, as it happened, there were large splotches where there was just darkness and then lights where you could trace roads, towns, small settlements. In some places you could even make out flashing Christmas decorations!

Doesn't that photo look like something out of a sci-fi movie?

I think that it might be Liverpool. I remember speculating with Mr Click about where we were and then just a few minutes later the pilot announced that we were almost there.

Scotland was a little cloudier but we could see along towards where the island was. It felt so weird seeing it but knowing we weren't heading that way until the following day.

And then the next thing we knew we were back on terra firma, waiting for everyone else to get off the plane since we weren't in a rush. We sauntered straight out of arrivals and onto the airport link bus, decided against going out for meal and picked up a picnic from Sainsbury's outside Buchanan Bus Station.

I think the wait for the taxi was almost as long as the time to get from Glasgow Airport into the centre, if not slightly longer, but eventually one showed up and we went to the Premier Inn at Charing Cross.

We've stayed there several times. It's right next door to the King's Theatre so we always picked it when we were stopping over for a show. Normally the rooms are your average pokey little Premier Inn rooms, but it appears that they have some super special rooms in there too which are unlike the regular ones.

The building is a square shape with about 25 rooms to a floor. The corners of the building have two rooms in them, with a sort of diagonal slant to one of the walls. And they are MASSIVE!

We had these two vast windows which looked across towards the Mitchell Library, a huge bed, and a bath (which I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get to take advantage of because it was 9pm and we'd not yet had our tea).

I did make a video because I thought it was so cool:

I don't know if it just felt so much bigger because we'd stayed in the EasyHotel the week before (which felt like it was about the size of the bed in this room), or if this was a huge room by Premier Inn standards. Either way, I wish we'd been there a little longer to fully enjoy the luxury of the place.

But we'd had a long day and so it was soon time for bed and all too soon after that it was time to get up again.

And just a few hours later, we were back home, collecting our labrador and unpacking our cases.

But we had a fantastic time away and an excellent Christmas. Lots of happy memories and fun. And now we have several other trips to plan as well!

Christmas in Wales: Part 6, The Last Day (and a bit)

All too soon, it was time to start getting ready to return home.

The day after Boxing Day we spent some time organising our cases for the journey home. I wish I'd taken a photo of my handiwork because that was some serious artwork I made there. It was a thing of beauty.

The one thing we'd not really considered when we flew down to Wales with all our presents, was the fact that while we were getting rid of all those gifts when we arrived, we would also be bringing stuff home with us. I'd not really thought about the gifts I would be bringing home. I wasn't honestly expecting to get too much.

In the end we had to get two gifts posted back to Scotland, some pretend candles and some real ones (along with my gloves which I forgot in the car), because we didn't want to have any hassle with them in airport security. My family were very good about getting us mostly flat gifts which made for some easy packing.

After playing Tetris in our suitcases we had a family get together with a really big buffet. I ate far too much food.

This was quite literally the icing on the cake. Well, and some marzipan as well.

My Mum made a Christmas cake and I'm not a fan of fruit cake so I said I would pinch the icing and marzipan off of Mr Click's. Well, Mum decided to save him from having to share so I got a little cake all of my own. Sadly, John never got around to trying the actual Christmas cake but it looked really good.

We spent the evening chatting and playing Carcasonne (a game which I've played with on my Kindle before but have never played with other people before). It was a lovely end to the holiday but kind of bittersweet because it meant saying goodbye to most of my family members until we next get down south, or they're able to come up to visit us in Scotland.

The following morning we finished our packing early but didn't need to leave until about 2pm so I spent some time working on another jigsaw puzzle. Mr Click, meanwhile, had a brief lesson on how to use a pasta maker.

My Mum and Stepdad got him one for his birthday but he'd held off playing with it until he'd been able to see my Mum at work with hers. Between the three of us we made enough tagliatelle and spaghetti for Mr Click and I to have it for lunch.

That's an action shot of it being dished up. It was amazing! We're planning on playing with Mr Click's one this weekend now we've got the ingredients for it.

And then suddenly it was time to pack up the car, load ourselves in and travel across the country to Bristol airport for another three country journey.

I'll tell you about that on Thursday.

Christmas in Wales: Part 5, Boxing Day

After all the excitement of Christmas Day, we took things very easy on Boxing Day. We had a lovely long lie-in, played with our Christmas presents and worked on the jigsaw puzzle which we'd started on Christmas Eve.

We did make time to go for a little walk up the hill at the back of my Mum's house. It was bitterly cold, but the scenery and views were beautiful.

There are some wonderfully shaped trees up there which just look interesting and old, kind of like the ones which surround our home.

And just like home not all the trees were standing upright:

Our walk covered a little over 1.75 miles, much of it uphill, which was definitely needed after all the food we'd eaten the day before (and would continue to eat over the rest of the holiday)!

Next time I'm in Wales I'm hoping we'll be able to do this walk again and perhaps go a little further. We ended up having to turn back because the ground got a little boggy and my trainers had sprung a leak. When I fly down in the future I'll not be transporting dozens of Christmas presents so I'll be able to pack a spare pair of shoes and wear my walking boots.

When we got back (and warmed up, it was pretty bitter out) I spent most of the evening kneeling on the floor behind the sofa working on the jigsaw puzzle.

And look! We finished it:

Christmas in Wales: Part 3, Christmas Eve

When I left off we'd touched down in Bristol. We met my Mum and she and my stepdad drove us to their house in Wales and Christmas could finally begin, even though it wasn't for another day and a bit. There was much chatting and catching up and meeting of my stepbrothers for the first time. All very good fun.

But first there was Christmas Eve, and that means our anniversary.

We exchanged our traditional anniversary gifts. I gave Mr Click a little Weasley-style jumper decoration:

This is actually the before photo. Mr Click's asked me several times if I would knit him a jumper and I've always declined because that's way too long term a project for me. But as our anniversary this year was wool I figured it was the perfect time to make him a mini one.

After this photo was taken I embroidered a number 7 onto it, the idea was to make something a little like a Weasley jumper and it turned out better than I was expecting.

Mr Click's gift to me was a wool felted squirrel on skis. He's a very well-travelled squirrel having been purchased from someone in Bristol, travelling all the way to the Isle of Bute, then leaving there and flying all the way back to Bristol, then heading to Wales before doing the whole thing in reverse when we came back!

And from my Mum we got a copper coloured heart as copper is also the traditional seventh anniversary gift. As you can see, I was really good about photographing our anniversary gifts this year! I'll make an extra effort this year when we get the tree up and get some photos of our collection then.

Christmas Eve was a day of preparation. Together we made mince pies (plus three jam tarts for the fussy person, that would be me) and we also started work on a jigsaw puzzle. My Mum has a fantastic collection of puzzles and we all took turns working on it as we watched TV that evening.

And of course there were other preparations to make as well:

This was almost all of the gifts we'd taken with us or sent on ahead.

I was very curious to find out what was in all the packages appearing under the tree. But like me, you'll have to wait a little longer to find out what we all got.

I'll tell you all about it on Thursday!

Silent Sunday: View

Christmas in Wales: Part 2, The Flight

When I left off yesterday we were checking out of the EasyHotel and braving the wind and rain for our journey across Glasgow to the airport.

It was not night weather outside. Standing in the hotel lobby calling a taxi, it didn't look too bad. Out in it, the wind was bitter and the rain was bad. We headed for the bus station, had a quick hot chocolate and then hopped on the first available airport shuttle.

Sure, that meant that we were going to be at the airport roughly four hours before our flight, but we'd stopped over in Glasgow so we could be there early and nothing was going to stop us from making that flight. Nothing!

It was just as well that we did because there was a bad accident on the motorway near the airport which caused a bit of disruption as the day wore on. I'll admit, I was a little worried that the flight was going to be cancelled because of the weather. It was so bad that all the ferries were cancelled and numerous flights were being delayed as well.

We found out, after hanging out downstairs for a while, that since we'd already checked in online, we were free to head through to Departures.

That meant going through the security gauntlet. Last time I flew I had a case to check, so I packed my awkward stuff and wore easy to take off shoes. This time we were hand luggage only and I found it incredibly stressful stripping off my coat, shoes, emptying my pockets, pulling out toothpaste from the pocket where we'd packed it. I'd been prepared for it, but it didn't make it any more enjoyable.

Especially as there was kind of a bottleneck once you got through security with everyone frantically trying to re-dress and re-pack their stuff. Our bottle of vitamins dropped on the floor and spilled everywhere which was almost the final straw, but we were through, we could go get seats and chill.

Which is what we did for the next three hours or so.

There was a male voice choir performing in the Departures area, which provided some much needed entertainment. I took advantage of the hour's free wi-fi on offer and caught a few Pokemon. Mr Click got a bite to eat and was really thrilled about getting a pager so they could let him know when his food was ready:

He was so thrilled, he had me take his photo!

Eventually it was time to board our plane so we walked what felt like the entire length of the airport to get to the gate. They've changed the layout a little since I was there last so this was both familiar to me, and yet not familiar at all.

I really felt for the people who were on the Stornoway flight which was affected by the weather. Around the time we were queuing at the gate an announcement went out that their flight was cancelled and they were all asked to collect their luggage and head to the desk to be told what would happen next. A little bit of me was half expecting our flight to be next.

But it wasn't and after a LONG way to get onto it, and a longer wait for it to be refuelled, we were finally ready to go.

We posed for obligatory plane selfies (I am so not a selfie taker usually) and admired the view:

It was a bit of a bumpy take off. As we got into the air the plane made this weird noise and we were immediately hit by turbulence. I'm not the most relaxed of fliers so this did not make me feel so good. It seemed to take forever for the seatbelt sign to go off as well and we spent a good twenty minutes just climbing through lots of bumpy cloud.

But once we were through we did get to see the sun for the first time in over a week!

Looking at that photo, you'd never believe that the weather on the ground was so bad!

The descend was a lot less bumpy than the take off, though it appeared to be just as wet on the ground in Bristol, but we had arrived. It was time for Christmas to begin properly.

Christmas in Wales: Part 1, The EasyHotel

We were very well organised for our trip to Wales, in the summer we found and booked our flights. We carefully chose a flight which would give us the maximum amount of time to get from the island to the airport. We decided, since the return flights would put us in a bit of a rush to get the ferry home, that it would be sensible to go for a later flight and sprang for a £29 room in a Premier Inn when we came back.

We were organised and it was all good.

But then on the 19th of December the weather started looking a little bad for the Friday we were due to travel. At work my colleagues helpfully pointed out that it wasn't looking so hot, plus there was the threat of a baggage strike to deal with.

By the next morning they were forecasting 50 mile per hour gusts of wind at Wemyss Bay by 9am on the 23rd. Right about the time we were planning to catch the ferry. Later in the day it had gone up to 70-80 mile per hour gusts. I immediately had a panicked conversation with Mr Click about stopping over on the mainland the night before.

Some frantic Googling later and I'd discovered that most hotel rooms that night were going to be more expensive than our flights were. Luckily I found an EasyHotel for £30 for the night. It looked pretty basic, but I figured it was the best we could do without spending a small fortune just three nights before Christmas.

Well, the of the 22nd dawned grey and windy as expected. Our original plan had been to leave about lunchtime but given the weather we dropped Tara off at the kennels and headed for the ferry as quickly as we could. It was a rocky crossing but we survived.

Following a spot of lunch and a mooch around Glasgow, we checked into our hotel room.

And when they said it was basic, they really weren't kidding! It was like a large cupboard with a bed and en suite!

This is pretty much the room.

I took this photo sitting on the bed, with my back up against the wall. It was as wide as the bed was long and we were lucky enough to have a window in our room which looked onto the space out the back of the EasyHotel and Travel Lodge next door.

The white door was the bathroom. To the right was the loo, to the left was the shower and you could probably have sat on the loo and showered. It was compact.

But what we needed was a room for the night and it more than served its purpose. We decided against paying the £5 fee for a remote and did without TV in our room. We took showers, we sat around and chatted, we played online, we read.

It wasn't the most restful night, mainly because I fell fast asleep at 7pm and woke up at 9pm wide awake and ready to go. I did a lot of reading.

For the price, you don't get much, but it's plenty if all you're needing is a bed for the night. I could see us stopping there if we were planning a trip to the theatre, a concert, the movies, and needed somewhere cheap to stay. I imagine it's the sort of place which we'll consider again if we're ever stranded on the mainland when the boats aren't running.

The following morning we got up usual time and checked out around 8am to begin the real journey to Wales.

Catching Up...

I'm still getting back into the swing of things after being away, then spent an extra two nights away from home for New Year with my in-laws, so I'm a wee bit behind on my blogging (and let's not even mention my plans for vlogging, which so far have gotten as far as practicing setting up the tripod and making sure the camera works).

And it's back to work tomorrow.

That's going to be a bit of a shock to the system after so many days of staying in my jammies until nearly lunchtime!

I'm kind of glad that it's a short week to ease me back into it gently.

So here's a little heads up of what'll be coming in the next few posts:

• Our unexpected early departure for Wales and the very interesting hotel which we stopped in along the way.
• The rest of the journey, which thankfully was a lot less stressful than the actual leaving the island bit.
• Christmas, which was generally awesome, as well as all the other things we got up to in Wales.

• The return from Wales, which was a breeze compared to getting there and the (almost) luxury hotel we stopped in (compared to the previous one we'd been in).
• And my new Bullet Journal and how that's going.

How's your New Year going so far?

I'm Off

Hopefully as you're reading this, I'm snuggled up in a budget hotel room in Glasgow and not lying on the CalMac waiting room floor weeping into my hand luggage.

I've scheduled a handful of blog posts for the duration of my trip. I might check in if I get the chance between all the festivities.

If I don't manage it, hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I can't wait to catch up with you all when we get back.

Currently...

Preparing...
... to depart from Wales a little earlier than previously anticipated.

Storm Barbara is playing havoc with the ferries already and Friday is set to be awful. Of course, Friday would be the day we're off so it's prompted a bit of a schedule reshuffle and an emergency booking of a hotel room in Glasgow.

Packing...
... all. of. the. things.

I'd taken the day off work on Thursday ready to do all the last minute bits and pieces, like depositing Tara at the Kennels and putting hair brush, chargers and random other stuff I'm planning on using right before we go.

Since yesterday we had a change of plans we did some emergency packing last night and I've been filling up the edges of my case since then. Luckily I made a list in my trusty bullet journal, Gandalf, but it's just a question of making sure everything fits in there. I'm paranoid it'll be too full or I won't get it all in.

Resisting...
... the temptation to open two early Christmas presents which arrived today.

I've had a pack of 30 Staedtler Triplus Fineliners pretty much since I played with the pack of 20 my friend had and fell in love with the colours, the feel of the pen and the way they wrote. I've had them for getting on for a year now and most of them are in good condition, except for the ones which I use regularly. I've picked up some single black ones since I use them most and the nibs have worn down or become damaged on a couple (though they're still perfectly serviceable, you just have to get them at the right angle).

I've started to notice a couple of the nibs on some of my other regulars wearing a little, there's a blue, a red and a green which are sort of 'go to' pens for various things and I started weighing up the idea of buying some singles, as I'd done with the black ones.

Then I spotted this pack for half price on Amazon and a very good Elf (also known as Mr Click) treated me to it.

I pushed my luck rather by pointing out another little deal on the site:

My good old Anthracite one will probably end the year with just under 20 spare pages, which won't be enough for January. I'll probably use them for test spreads, pen tests and general scrappy notes. But I had already ordered myself a new one a few months ago when I was making up a Christmas present order.

I'd fallen in love with the Azure cover but it just didn't come down in price enough, so I settled for the Navy Blue, knowing I liked the colour and the Azure would be there in the future for me. It was just that after the serious grey colour, I wanted something a little brighter and with a little more pop.

Of course, just last week this one dropped in price to less than what I paid for the Navy one. So I hedged my bets and was totally spoiled too. Since I've changed the way I do my spreads recently (I now have monthly, weekly and daily spreads) I'll probably get through this one in around six months, so good old Navy will be ready for me around summer time next year.

But there's no room for these goodies in my case so I'll leaving them here to wait patiently for my return when I will get to work organising next year!

Silent Sunday: Beached

Walking with Seals

This morning Mr Click had to go out for a while so I decided to use the time I had to myself to take Tara for a walk. Originally we'd planned to walk her to Kerrycroy together, but once we left the house (after a false start when I forgot to put her collar on and only realised when I had nothing to clip her lead to) I decide to let Tara pick our route.

As you can see, she did a pretty good job of choosing the route. We had a little meander around the area where the bird hide is (right around the mile mark). Tara was desperate to get down onto the beach there but it wasn't a great spot; we would've had a bit of a jump and then there wasn't actually much down there except for slippery seaweed covered rocks.

So we kept on going. At each break in the plants along the route to the beach Tara would stop and look at me as if to say 'can we go down now, mum?' and I had to shake my head because I didn't fancy breaking a leg on the walk.

Until she finally found a good spot to get down onto the beach. She practically took off and then couldn't believe her ears when I even allowed her to go into the water. It was pure coincidence that I let her go paddle just as it started spotting with rain; I figured if we were both going to get wet, she might as well have a bit of fun while she was doing it.

But what was a little weird was that she didn't seem overly keen to go too far into the water.

Since she's discovered that she can swim we have a devil of a time trying to actually get her out of the water. She bobbed in a couple of times to retrieve some seaweed but then decided she had had enough and started leading me up the beach.

And that's when I got that feeling like I was being watched.

Except I knew there was no one else around because the beach had been totally deserted when we got down onto it and no one had joined us there.

I looked back at the water and suddenly realised that a couple of the rocks in the water weren't rocks at all. There were about seven seals gliding by on the water, about fifteen feet away from us, and several of them had stopped to have a look at us.

These photos actually make it look as though we were further away from them than we were.

There was one very large one (who is in the centre of the first photo but bobbed under the water slightly), who seemed quite brave and didn't mind us taking a couple of steps back down the beach towards them. That was, until Tara had a little shake and startled them. Then they all popped down under the water.

We just stood there for a while watching them watching us. I think they were more interested in Tara than me, or perhaps they thought we were there to steal their prime beach lounging spot.

After a while Tara started leading me along the beach and to my surprise, the seals were following us. I think some of them fell behind but there were a good three or four who were with us right the way until we left the beach.

I think they were just escorting us away.

It felt truly magical.