Friday Five!

4. I am starting my next two courses with Berklee College of Music online program next week - Vocal Technique 101 and Getting Inside Harmony 1. I currently hold a music theory specialist certificate from Berklee Online but I'm working towards a higher certification now. I'm hoping I'll be able to use my certifications in some capacity to find some good fun work in the UK. I'd love to give voice lessons and vocal coaching. We shall see!

This is awesome!!  I'd love to find time to take some Berklee Online courses. I'm way too busy though right now.

Let's see  - Feel better soon KFDancer.  Happy Birthday JFKimberly!  Nan, good luck with your daughter's application!  Margo, hopefully you can work out the student loan stuff. I am so sorry for you that the job stuff has left you in a terrible place       Albatross, good luck with the liquid diet.  ksand24, give those cocky pilots hell.  kissofdeath, ugh, that pipe stuff sounds like a nightmare!!!  (Hope I've not left anyone off, not intentional if I have!)


1.) Spent the last few days in Eastern France/Strasbourg for work.  Amazing wine, amazing croissants, amazing cheese, amazing sausage. Beautiful city for the five minutes I saw of it. 

2.) Took me 12 hours to get home today.  Weather was pants in Amsterdam. Delayed flights, missed connections.    I did get to fly to the UK on a Romanian plane (with a stern Romanian crew) that has not had an upgrade since the 80s. I'm not even kidding.  Hilarious.  KLM obviously needed to find a quick charter plane or something to get us home.

3.)  Now sat at home in my PJs, with a beer in my hand. Husband next to me.  Bliss on a Friday night. 

4.) Came home to a very clean house and vases of gorgeous flowers everywhere. My husband is pretty awesome. 

5.) Better get up and make dinner. Plan is for pad thai.  But it's nice sitting on the couch.  But I'm hungry.  So better motivate myself soon!

That is what God made "delivery food" for, you know. 

That's a lot, but very pretty yarn. Daughter says try woolwarehouse.co.uk  as that's where she gets her "everyday" stuff. Good sales.

[Edit - she loves, just LOVES something called "Wool of the Andes", if that is of any help. From knitpicks.com -   https://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Worsted_Yarn__D5420103.html  ]

Well, I was in a specialist yarn shop in Bakewell.... Wye Knit. haha. Had some cheaper ones, but I loved the blues. I need to get some smaller needles and a pattern now. I'll check out Ravelery. I think I signed up awhile back... haha.

Dang, that is a kick ass price for wool yarn!

Yeah, it's her favorite - and she gets one that is a wool and alpaca blend. VERY warm, very nice feeling. She's made me a sweater that is just lovely with it.

[Edit - I sent you a PM last night, but thought I should add the info here for others. In Oct-Nov there's a big sale called Alpaca Party where the Drops brand goes on a good sale - something like 25 to 30% off. If you're on the woolwarehouse and knitpicks mailing lists you'll be notified about it. Daughter says it's an excellent time to stock up.]

Yeah, it's her favorite - and she gets one that is a wool and alpaca blend. VERY warm, very nice feeling. She's made me a sweater that is just lovely with it.

[Edit - I sent you a PM last night, but thought I should add the info here for others. In Oct-Nov there's a big sale called Alpaca Party where the Drops brand goes on a good sale - something like 25 to 30% off. If you're on the woolwarehouse and knitpicks mailing lists you'll be notified about it. Daughter says it's an excellent time to stock up.]

Ooh thanks for the tip!

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That is what God made "delivery food" for, you know. 

I live in the countryside, wee village.  Not many want to come out here, so I made pad thai and it was yummy, much nicer than delivery anyways 

Ah, well, that's different. And nice you can make exotic stuff like that. (I have to use a pre-made mix!)

There are some great yarns on eBay. Sometimes only a couple of skeins, sometimes a 10lb cone, and everything in between. Prices are all over the map, great bargains if you hunt around. There are people who take a damaged cashmere sweater and unravel it to save the yarn and then sell it at a fraction of the retail price.  I had to stop buying when I realized how many bags of yarn were hiding in the basement. I swear I’ll get around to them all eventually.
Most tv shows don’t use much of your brain and I find there’s usually enough left for knitting, unless it’s a great show, or a very complicated pattern.

  I had to stop buying when I realized how many bags of yarn were hiding in the basement. I swear I’ll get around to them all eventually.
Most tv shows don’t use much of your brain and I find there’s usually enough left for knitting, unless it’s a great show, or a very complicated pattern.

I had that issue in the states! I brought one large bag with me, but I have a hard time picking projects and sticking with them. I usually crochet during TV as well, but my husband likes turning down the lights and that makes it harder.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I had that issue in the states! I brought one large bag with me, but I have a hard time picking projects and sticking with them. I usually crochet during TV as well, but my husband likes turning down the lights and that makes it harder.

Maybe try an anglepoise with a daylight bulb?  I need to do that even with lights on!   

We used the Daughter's stash (and it is extensive, although we left a bin full of sweater-quantity fisherman's wool behind) as packing material around the glasses and breakables. If customs had ever opened anything we'd have been arrested as yarn smugglers!

Happy Friday!!!!!

1.) Today is 10 years since my husband and I met up after chatting through match.com. We met for a coffee and were still chatting away six hours later.   Funny that he lived around the corner from me, even though we met online.   We're off to see a silent film tonight with a piano player. This should be fun!

2.) Tomorrow, I will have been on UKY for 11 years.  I certainly asked my fair share of questions and everyone was so helpful.   

3.) This week marks the end of an era as our company has been sold and we start with a new owners next week.  I'm feeling bittersweet about it all.   

4.) I became the musical director of one of the community bands I play in. I'm a bit nervous and being a leader of peers is always interesting. However, I was voted in for the role by the AGM so they must have faith in me and I aim to do a good job. We'll see.  

5.) It is definitely autumn. All the leaves changing colour. Cold air. I sense frost is imminent.   Low light levels and nights closing in quick.  It will be Christmas soon and 2018 will be gone in a flash.  Mental.   

Happy Friday!!!!!

1.) Today is 10 years since my husband and I met up after chatting through match.com. We met for a coffee and were still chatting away six hours later.   Funny that he lived around the corner from me, even though we met online.   We're off to see a silent film tonight with a piano player. This should be fun!

2.) Tomorrow, I will have been on UKY for 11 years.  I certainly asked my fair share of questions and everyone was so helpful.   

3.) This week marks the end of an era as our company has been sold and we start with a new owners next week.  I'm feeling bittersweet about it all.   

4.) I became the musical director of one of the community bands I play in. I'm a bit nervous and being a leader of peers is always interesting. However, I was voted in for the role by the AGM so they must have faith in me and I aim to do a good job. We'll see.  

5.) It is definitely autumn. All the leaves changing colour. Cold air. I sense frost is imminent.   Low light levels and nights closing in quick.  It will be Christmas soon and 2018 will be gone in a flash.  Mental.   

Aww! happy 10 year meet-aversary!

Is there any chance the management will improve with new owners? I know that type of change is always bittersweet.

And enjoy the musical director role! Does that mean you'll be conducting as well, or making the musical choices for the group?

Happy anniversaries PB!

1. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT TOMORROW I FLY OUT TO JAPAN! HOLY sh*t! TIME HAS FLOWN!
2. I cannot believe that tomorrow I fly out to Japan. Holy sh*t! Time has flown...I am not at all ready to handover my whole workload yet. My line manager has done me a great favour and moved my half-year review until after I get back (but it's a secret as we're supposed to have it done by a certain time)
3. Had to work in London last night. ALWAYS a pain.
4. I still haven't packed for my trip...Need to do a quick load of laundry/tumble drying when I get home after work and a clean in case we have people come to view the house while we're off. We leave for the airport at 8 tomorrow morning. I'm already shitting a brick with anxiety but will treat that in the airport lounge
5. I have to drop my pupperino off to my in-laws tonight. I hate leaving her. I just want to take her with me when I go away!

Have a safe trip KoD!!

1. Not having the terrible office hanging over me has done a lot for my health. I didn't realize quite how much the stress was tearing me down. I knew it was bad, but not quite how bad. Now I understand even more why mental healthcare of the chronically ill should be a priority, it's cyclical and can make you house/bedbound even more quickly!

2. I finally ordered one of the games I played during our "boardgame lunch break" at work in the US and I am really looking forward to introducing my husband to it. Carcassonne - essentially building a medieval landscape with castles and farms and roads.

3. I also ordered an electric blanket. Can't wait to be cosy at night again! I feel like this should be part of the new resident survival pack.

4. Elly had her first vet visit here. We need to get a different carrier ... mine in the US opened from the top and front, and we could barely get her out of the front-only carrier my husband's parents gave us. Poor kitty does NOT like the vet. But it seems the fleas were not as severe as they thought, so hopefully it's back under control quickly. Only found 2 on the first comb before treatment, none since, and she has been much less itchy.

5. I have more driving lessons to get through. Need to pass my road test by December 20th. *fingers crossed* they go smoothly, but I may need to switch to an automatic instructor. The parking break stuff, and my leg pain, are leading me to think the manual test is a bad idea but I have 8 more hrs of lessons booked in the manual.