This is the song

This, from ZeFrank.

On my Mind

The laundry. There is a veritable Mount Washmore awaiting my attention, since the Young Philosopher came home from university. As the Spring weather gets (slightly!) warmer here, I am also thinking I should get my linen trousers and blouses washed, and unfortunately ironed too. They are about the only things I have that I iron.

The wedding, which according to the countdown on our wedding website (or wedsite haha) is 25 days away. Better get some stuff done. Funnily enough while I was typing this the chap from the reception venue phoned to check on progress. I've made an appointment to see him Saturday week. We need to chase up those last few errant guests and make decisions about food, drink, timings, table layout etc. I never knew weddings were so involved and complicated.

Lunch Just realised I haven't had any.

A lovely bath, already run and full of bubbles.

A convivial evening in the pub Meeting friends this evening, including one who is doing a reading in Old English at our wedding. Looking forward to seeing his translation of the poem we chose.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I am reading this at the moment. Strange, haunting story.

Jen who will be home, or on her way home soon from her few precious days away. I hope she had a wonderful time! I am sure she did.

The sun, which has just come out. Nice to see it, however briefly! Roll on Spring.

Weddingy Stuffs

The to do list isn't looking too bad. This is what we have left:

Decide music. We have a classical piece we like that we are having played during the ceremony, but are still changing our minds for the processional and recessional. Anyone got any fantastic ideas? No Elvis or Beatles, the Prof is allergic.

Make/buy CDs of said music.

Sort out/borrow some CDs of background music for reception.

Chase up errant guests who haven't RSVP'd.

Meet with venue to discuss menu, table layout etc.

Also visit with photographer

Pay the ceremony venue.

Book hotel for wedding night.

Have last fitting/s of dress

Get shoes. I ordered some from the US. They looked very pretty in the photograph, but in real life they are quite unremarkable. I will wear them, but probably not for the wedding.

Get outfit for the Young Philosopher. He is out today with my Mum shopping for his outfit. I was supposed to be going, but heard yesterday that our wedding rings (ours are like the picture, but yellow gold) are coming by special delivery today. I decided to wait in as our postmen have a habit of leaving parcels on the doorstep, in the garden waste bin or throwing them over the fence into the back garden. So Mum and the YP have gone off by themselves, they have been sending me pictures on my phone. So far he is favouring a black suit with a red tie, and possibly a waistcoat. And Converse. I have been looking with no success for red socks, anyone know stockists of red thin (not sports) socks for men in a size 12 (UK)?

Have my hair cut and decide whether to make a hair appointment for the wedding day or to do my own hair.

Get gifts for attendants.

Decide on jewellery. I have a nice set my parents bought me for Christmas, I need to try it on with the outfit. My Mum has also more or less given me the run of her jewellery and various family heirlooms, so I am sure I will find something!

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue....I need to think about these. Blue shoes would be good, maybe.

Write notes for (short) speechifying.

Finalise list of photographs we would like. Discuss with photographer.

DIT still to do

Most of this falls to the Prof, he is the creative one. I do have input though!

Finish making wedding charter for signing during ceremony

Make programmes (if time)

Finish making centerpieces

Paint shield (if time)

Finish flower crown and bouquet off with ribbons (me and Mum)

Make menu cards, place cards, seating plan - can't do these until we have the details

Make cake topper

I think that is more or less it.

It's just about 1pm now, and in exactly 31 days' time I will be sitting round at my parents' house, with the Prof and various other family members and friends, sipping champagne and relaxing in anticipation of our wedding at 4pm....

That's the plan. I will let you know after the event how close it came to the reality.

That was the week

This week:

We finally got some sunshine and a lovely blue sky. I took this photo of the tree outside our house. I don't know what type it is. One day I will look it up.

We made progress with the wedding. We wrote our vows and sent them to the celebrant, and she sent us the first draft of our ceremony. We now have three centerpieces, nine to go. I am having my first dress fitting tomorrow for alterations to be done. The Prof's outfit is almost finished and we're shopping for the Young Philosopher's outfit later this week.

The Prof and I fell asleep during the evening, most nights. Wedding preparations make us tired.

I was invited to take part in Kind Over Matter's Seven Souls, One Musing series, and wrote a few words in answer to this week's question. I think it will appear on Tuesday.

I finally got around to taking this self-portrait for Picture Inspiration

It's a very honest picture, I think - no contacts, no make up and messy hair. I like it.

Making it Simple: 2

I am still working on my simplifying project.

We have sold quite a number of our books on Amazon. So far we have made £105, less the postage charges, which were probably about £30. As we don't really notice the postage costs, coming as they do in small amounts here and there, we decided to put the full £105 away in our 'weekend away fund'. After the wedding, I plan to sell some stuff on ebay and do a boot sale or two, and then my lovely Prof and I will be well on our way to a few days away together later in the year.

About forty of my books, mainly novels, were already being sold on Amazon for £0.01. I didn't think it was worth selling them at that price, so I listed them as a job lot on our local Freegle and a very grateful lady came and picked them up. She said they would keep her and her partner busy for months! Although I didn't earn any money from this, I was very pleased to be able to pass the books on to someone else who would enjoy them, and make some room on my bookshelves at the same time.

We had an email today from the charity shop we donated lots of our unwanted stuff to in January - our donations raised £139.43 for the Richard House Children's Hospice. I am so pleased that we were able to help the hospice and raise so much!

I have had to seriously declutter my emails twice this year, and am now trying to keep both my accounts up to day and clutter free. It's working so far...

I have spent hours this week devising a financial plan for the Prof and I. We have always muddled along okay, but this is more organised and involves much piggybanking. It should make things much easier to keep track of.

Considering all the wedding stuffs going on around here, I am really pleased with what I have managed to achieve.

During March I am planning to declutter my clothes and shoes, and persuade the Prof and the Young Philosopher to do the same. The YP's room also needs major reorganisation, and I have promised to help. After that I don't expect I will get much done until May, when we are back from our honeymoon (yay! honeymoon!).

Thinking ahead

Just after getting engaged, almost a year ago

It's all about the wedding. I am feeling disconnected from my man. We are both permanently exhausted, and seem to spend all our time talking about the wedding, doing wedding related things, or sleeping. I miss us.

I want him to take a day off work (a sunny day, obviously, could someone please arrange that?) and to get in the car with a tin of travel sweeties (writing that down in black and white makes me feel like an OAP) and a cuppa in our travel mugs, and then head off to the countryside.

I am looking forward to the wedding, or course I am. It promises to be just the kind of slightly-bonkers but ultimately meaningful surrounded-by-loved-ones celebration that we want. But I long for the honeymoon, a whole week just us in a little country cottage in Somerset. It doesn't even have wifi. It will be lovely. I can't wait.

43 things update

In January, I wrote a list of 43 things to do while I am 43. Today I saw that Katrina has written a update of her 40@40 list, which prompted me to take a look at my list as frankly I had forgotten all about it. I am pleased to see that I can cross a few off....and I also notice that in as short a period as three months since I wrote the list, I don't even want to do some of the things on it anymore. Am I really that fickle? Yep.

Here's the update then:

Learn to crochet and make something. Hmm. Well I TRIED to learn, and failed miserably. I was the only person in the class that didn't seem to able to do it. Must do better. Or give up.

Pass ECDL Level Two. Unlikely, as I've just given up going to the classes, for various reasons.

Take part in an online photography course or challenge. Signed up for Picture Inspiration.

Renew my passport. I was planning to do this so we could

Go abroad for a holiday. We had a change of plan and are honeymooning in a beautiful little cottage near Bath instead.

Visit five places in London I have not been to before. A few weeks ago I went to the Womens Library for an exhibition of domestic crafts. One down, four to go!

Take part in 30 days of yoga. More difficult than I anticipated, with my health issues. I took part, though not for 30 days.

Get a dining table, and have people over for dinner. My parents have offered to buy the table for our wedding present :-)

Try 10 new recipes. One so far, North African Lemon chicken. My laptop is in for repair, and the recipe is on it. If my data survives the repair, I'll post it at a later date.

Keep a record of the books I read. I am doing that here on the blog, in the sidebar.


Write real letters. I've written a couple this year, and received some myself, as well as some lovely unexpected parcels from two friends. I love real mail!

Work my way through my French course. This was in preparation for our honeymoon in France, so no urgency now. I would still like to do it someday.

Sell some books on Amazon/ebay and

Have a weekend away with the proceeds. I have been doing this, and so far there is about £100 in the weekend away fund.

Not too bad an effort then, for three months in.

Who Am I?

I am a mother and a fiancee. My mother and father would call me a daughter who is lovely, but sometimes difficult. I am an older sister to my brother. I am a granddaughter, a cousin, a niece. I think life is too complicated. I am very serious about simplifying it.

My friends would tell me that I am a good mother, a good host and I worry too much. My mother wouldn't tell me I worry too much, as she worries more. My man would say I am his sweetheart. My Dad would tell the people at work all about me.

Here are some things that I like. I love driving in the country on a sunny day. I like good bread with camembert, chutney and grapes. I like hot chocolate with marshmallows in the winter, and chocolate milk with ice in the summer. I like old churches, and old churchyards. I love to read and I am starting to write. My favourite smell in the world is the scent of sweet peas. I love cherry brandy. My hair is long, straight and well-behaved: I can mostly wash it and leave it. I like skirts but wear mostly jeans. My favourite colour is red but I rarely wear it. I had a little card with a picture of a woolly mammoth when I was small, and have liked them ever since. I want a tortoise.


Inspired by Emily and Jennifer at UndertheBIGbluesky

Books, books and more books

The TBR Bookcase

I will share with you my not-so-secret addiction. It is, of course, books. I like gardening books, history books, poetry books, fiction, children's books, books, books and books. At the last count we had approximately a squillion books in this house. The Prof has the same problem. Maybe we should form a support group.

After Christmas, taking into account books I received as presents and ones I already owned, there were 26 books on my To Be Read shelf. I vowed not to buy any more books until I had read them all.

Guess how many To Be Reads I have now? A quick scan of the bookcase makes it 30. Not bad going considering I have read eleven books so far this year. so 26 minus eleven equals....uh, think I may just possibly have accidentally bought a few more books. Actually, I think my initial count at Christmas excluded some books that I had read a little of, so if I am totally honest we are not looking at a TBR pile, rather a TBR bookcase.