thereyougothen | Entries tagged with shopping

wow. to go to ocean terminal today cost us £9.80. the cheapest it could have been was £9, but we didn't have the right money to buy the boys day tickets on the first bus we got on (and I was too truthful when the bus driver asked me if N actually needed a ticket. I said I'd have to buy singles since I didn't have enough. the guy was giving me the opportunity to pretend N was still 4, but I just couldn't do it. I doubt Bill could have either...

it takes us 2 buses each way to get to ocean terminal, I tried to phone the bus company to ask what the deal is, they say on their website and everywhere that it's "£1.10 per journey" that means we should be able to get those two buses for £1.10. they didn't answer the phone today, so I asked the bus driver and he said we had to pay on each bus. daylight bloody robbery. no wonder we usually drive, eh? and the first bus we were on broke down as well, were they trying to tell us something?

the garage phoned this morning, we are now not getting after market brake calipers on the car, we're getting new ones, but somehow they are only going to cost an extra £150 instead of £400. don't ask me. garages are a law unto themselves. oh well it's only money. heh.

anyway, we had a really nice leisurely lunch at ocean terminal (we got there about 3!) the boys played out on the terrace and Bill and I got to talk and drink beer and wine and actually enjoy ourselves. it was nice. we talked about Chile a lot. we think we're really going to go. we talked about what sort of house we want. and getting an extra bedroom so that I can have a workroom. and what i'm going to do with myself. and how nice it will be when he has 6 days off in a row once a month.

then I went bra shopping, with much success! i have one of those fancy tape measures that supposedly tells you what your bra size is, and it was actually right, or at least right for the bras I tried on in debenhams. it told me 40DD, mind! anyway, I have bought three new underwired bras in the sale. I may have to take the wires out, but I'm going to try and keep them in to start with, pseudo boob doesn't hold its shape as well as real boob, and now I remember that the nurse told/warned me that it could be molded into shape, so not to wear the same bra all the time. i've been wearing ill fitting, not very supportive ones for the last how long is it? 8 months! so, today I bought ones that make me a nice shape. i shall try and wear them and see if I can make it a little more permanent... and one of them is green!! hurrah!

my back is killing me sitting here so I'm off to bed. N was a real mummy's boy today, and I think I wrenched something pulling him onto my lap on the bus. my electric blanket awaits.

i've booked my place on the bus. i am going to woolfest. we'll be there for about 4.5 hours. hopefully that will be long enough.

and i'm going to the scottish knitting only show this weekend, and to the Iknit london thingy in september.

do you think that is enough, or should i try and find some more similar things to go to?

I was standing in the kitchen doorway, when simultaneously, I heard the boys' bedroom door open and felt something fluttery on my arm. I shook my arm. It was still there. I shook it again, and a GREAT BIG HUGE SPIDER fell off it onto the floor. Barbara backed away looking terrified. The boys ran halfway up the stairs. And I calmly and collectedly went to the hall cupboard to get the spider catcher,* caught the spider on the third attempt, and took it and shook it outside the front door.

I'm sure I'll find my case of the hysterics somewhere soon. But I'm very glad it wasn't to hand at the time....

*which I bought Bill as a joke xmas present and have since discovered that it's actually bloody useful!

well, i don't know if anyone else I know is going, but in my current spirit of getting the most out of life... I have bought myself a ticket for the I KNit Day & the Yarn Harlot in London on 6 September.

i suppose I could go there and back in one day. or if there are others going maybe stay overnight.

anyway, I have some time to plan, I guess, but I figured I'd buy the ticket now before it sells out.

if you're going, and if you'll be overnighitng in london, let me know?

i made a crochet wire thing earlier this month, and it didn't work, it was supposed to be a beaded necklace, but wasn't heavy enough. so i thought i might make it into something else. so i think i might use it to embellish a bag. so i needed to buy some white fabric. i went to remnant kings and got almost a metre of sparkly organza for 91p, some bog standard curtain lining, which will be excellent for lining bags for £1. and some white fake linen for less than £2. and a big piece of white lycra for £4. it was priced at £7 something, which was half price, but it was a bit dirty, so I asked, and got it for £4. it will make fantastic knickers, or swimsuit lining, not quite sure what to use it for, it will stay in the stash for a while, I guess.

i want the house to myself to do the sewing though, i can't really work unless i'm on my own. don't want an audience.

never mind, i'm going spinning tomorrow.

i've uploaded a few pictures to flickr today, took ages, the wireless connection we have is so much crap. must try and lean how to fixc it.

and over the course of today, i have eaten 8 chocolates from a thorntons box. ooops.

i've done the first leg on my elijah, he needs to be done by about a week on wednesday.

speaking of a week on Wednesday, the parent council thing i was going to has been cancelled, so i will be able to go to knitting, two weeks in a row, hooray!

i have much more to say, but i have had 3 glasses of wine, and as a result, i need my bed more than i need to update LJ!

but i have remembered today that i really do enjoy my children. no more no less, i just enjoy them.

I've had a great day. a long day, and I've been out for most of it, but really, a great day. i am the bouncy girl today. i think that i will crash and burn tomorrow as a result, but it doesn't matter.

i started out meeting A, a very good friend and housemate from years ago, we have never lost touch, but I don't think we have seen each other in 15 years, and we both had other lives then. i think we both have good lives now, and it was fantastic to see her. she called me the other day and if i was well enough we were going to meet at Jenners for a coffee this morning, I was certainly well enough. we lost track of time, so i was very late for meeting

hfnuala and A for lunch.

we went to the elephant house (city knitty's new evening venue). A seemed to have a good time, and luckily didn't get bored until we'd finished eating. from the elephant house we went to the new k1yarns shop - going on the opening day wasn't really a plan, it just happened, honest!

not sure how long we spent in the shop, but it was great to meet Katharine, who is good fun and is obviously really happy to have finally got her shop open. I don't think we were the first first City Knitty people in the door, either! i just bought a copy of vogue knitting (to be able to leaf through it before buying rather than just having to buy it it blind over the internet is great) and a couple of balls of Debbie Bliss Soho for a hat. a crocheted hat, i need a fast hat. really, I do, the everyday hat has *no* elasticity left, and today, i kept thinking it was going to blow off. there are two hats in the pipeline, but i think they are both more than the weekend away from being finished - a crochet one can be done by Saturday, if i put some effort into it. the fact that i have finished 5 other hats recently is neither here nor there. one of them itches and the rest just don't float my boat. ok? oh and, there was no way i was wearing the pretend hair today, in the wind! i really don't trust it that much!

i was in no hurry becasue TT was being taken round from school to singing club, so i had time to go to sainsbury's and buy orange juice and milk. then drive round the block 3 times hoping to get a space close to the church hall. i did't. it was so damn windy that i sat in the car for a good ten minutes trying to brace myself for the 150 metre walk round the corner.

i managed to knit a couple rounds of sock while waiting for TT to finish up, then we went to get Bill, went home, ate pizza, and I went out *again*!

to HK Handknit - since Jeanette had asked us very nicely to come and take the last of the stock off her hands. i did my best. some Louisa Harding Castello spoke to me, it really just said "buy me, put me in your stash and take me out and look at me, and stroke me from time to time", but still, it *was* telling me to buy it. Some Lana Grossa Gala asked me to take it home too - it's a red/green colourway, and i needed the 11 balls of it that were there. it's the same yarn i bought to make my very beautiful shawl for David & Alina's wedding. just in a rather more insistent colour.

oh and a couple balls of sock yarn. and some happy face buttons. there might have been about 30 of them. i think that the nursery school will be getting most of them...

i got home in time for bedtime though,. which was nice, becasue i seem to have seen very little of my boys since they went back to school on tuesday.

i've started my new hat. had a couple of glasses of wine, and now i think it's time for bed.

dentist tomorrow. i don't want to talk about it though. i'm happy to talk about my day today though.

i'm going to take it easy tomorrow. honest.

it's time to wean myself off the support knickers. my tummy is not going to fall apart or otherwise collapse. it's been well put back together. it's still nice and flat.

i can go back to wearing my old knickers. or even buy some new ones. but they don't have to have enough lycra to support the forth bridge. in fact they don't need any lycra at all (except to stop them going baggy in the wash) becasue well, the tummy it is flat and doesn't need supporting.

if i think it needs some supporting, perhaps i should try and see it there is any muscle left functioning in it.

Bras with the underwires removed can be really quite comfortable. the channel that the underwire is put through is quite supportive on its own.

and it's not lingerie, but it feels like it fits in this post - i have yet to wear my new boots. what the hell is the matter with me?

i just tagged a bunch of my entries. one day all this evil cancer stuff might no longer be at the forefront of my mind, but i might want to remind myself. or maybe, it might be a help (i hope, as opposed to a hindrance) to someone else who might one day go through it.

hence the tags. and i've put in my chemo blood counts, just in case i can ever find a scale that actually tells me whether or not my white cell count is scarily low. but it's probably not, because the chemo nurse is always so pleased and surprised at how well i am.

but i'm still allowed my full quota of sympathy, we've agreed that. just because the chemo isn't as bad as it could be or as bad as i expected it to be, it's still awful and horrible and something that i never thought i would have to go through. so i'm still allowed sympathy. and the odd wallow in some self-pity?

******************
chemo 4. day 5

half way through, and done with the evil heavy chemo, and onto chemo light as Cancer Vixen puts it. i was back up on quite a high on wednesday, i guess it was just knowing that i was halfway through, and done with the epirubicin. and hey, i still have some hair left. but i'm fully expecting a sucker punch soon, and it will all fall out, going nyah nyah, fooled you. well, never mind, it will make the pretend hair fit better and it will all be the same length when it grows back. so nyah nyah right back.

anyway, it was our shortest visit so far, 1 hour 45 minutes. only one needle, and i believe i only gasped, no yelps this time. really, nothing to write home about. we left, i dropped Bill off at work, contemplated going and getting the shopping in, but decided not to bother, came home and hung out with my knitting until N came home. TT had gone home with a friend and then to Beavers.

i think i might even have cooked the tea, but i forget what it was. pasta maybe? i had a headache by that point, and again it stayed with me until bedtime and was gone in the morning.

headache came back a bit on thursday afternoon, but that's been it. heartburn nicely controlled by the magic bullets, i get hiccups, but i just have to live with them and they don't last.

my skin is dry and my face is red, blotchy and sometimes itchy, but no worse than the previous treatments.

i can call it chemo now too, i've noticed, i've stopped referring to my "treatments".

anything else? it was reassuring to be told that absent-mindedness, lack of concentration and all the rest are known side effects. it's really wearing to not be able to think, or remember what the hell i was doing 21 seconds ago, but it's all normal, ok?

thirsty. my sense of taste is recovering. had a coffee today that almost tasted like coffee. shared a beer with Bill, and it was quite nice. Chili for dinner, i could taste that too.

now, some more water and then bed.

and i don't think i have made many mistakes in my knitting today. but i did have to go into a quiet room to work my way through row 22 of the second repeat of woolly wormhead's dryad which i just couldn't find my place in for some reason. but it's fine now, and i have 2 repeats completed, even if it is completely in the wrong yarn, i'm enjoying knitting it. especially after a few days in which i have done nothing but knit knit knit knit knit knit round either N's sock or my pullover!

oh and - Boots - these are what are available currently in or around my size from Duo... Can't decide. But I should obviously go with one of the ones from the sale, as opposed to the full price. I suppose. Lyon, Bologna, Toulouse, or Lisbon

harking back to ths entry I seem to have bought one yesterday, but i don't have a 9volt battery so i can't play with it yet. can i get rechargeable 9v batteries anywhere in Edinburgh or do i have to go online? we seem to have got all our batteries bar the button cell ones as rechargeable now, i think we're doing really well. i know that one of our chargers will do 9v, so i feel very virtuous about out new toy. (I'm sure i can make bill use it at least once and will have trouble wresting it from the boys grasp, so i can call it "ours).

harking back to this entry: Gratuitude I have finally been able to journal it in the notebook that it came with and it on the Wearable Sculptures Website. It has been in my possession far longer than it should have been, but it has taken me a long time to be able to articulate the gratitude that I do actually feel every day about the state of my life at the moment. I still haven't done a very good job, but it's enough. I really truly am grateful for the fact that the last few months have made me appreciate so much much.

I would love for this to make its next stop with one of my friends, so if you have something to make you feel gratitude, or indeed need a boost to help you look for such things - please say so and I will send it on. I know that there are marriages, and new houses and other good things happening, so please volunteer. It has to be back in the US come May, so no one can hang onto it for as long as I did!

there will be a post about chemo number 4 soon - it was ok, and i am halfway through, and completely through the heavy duty epirubucin. lower level of poison to look forward to now...

sheesh. i can't keep a thought in my head for more than a millisecond these days. try having a conversation with me, go on, try it. see? i zone out halfway through.

and i think i'm going to go back to work in a month... aaargh.

there's loads of thing i keep thinking i'm going to post about - oh the angst.

but never mind, by the time i get round to it i've forgotten what it was.

i'm going knitting this afternoon. i hope some others are going too. it'll be lonely otherwise.

i'm also planning on raiding the bank account for a trip to Duo. i want another pair of boots. flats, brown. but not the same as

hfnuala's....

i also need things to do on weekday mornings. any suggestions?

i can't for the life of me think of anyone who doesn't need one of these

why couldn't I be an estate agent or something. then i'd have an excuse.

am I odd that I think it would be fun to wander round my house (or even your house) and ping every room?

That is all.

Oh, no it's not:

These are fantastic. Really. I am ordering some spare tips. The sock needles up there are the same type. These needles are really great, beat all my other wooden ones (i think i have a couple sets of birch). Bamboo will never get a look-in again ever.

someone tell me just what i am looking for - i want to copy my vinyl and cassette collection to my PC. what am i looking for? we have an amazon voucher to spend so i'm hoping we can get somegting from there, but i have no idea what to search for...

help?