horrible asthma

yesterday i had to get an emergency appoinbtment at the doctors as i was on the verge of having an asthma attack all night. in the end, i had a nebuliser thingy and it seemed to be the trick, but it was a bit scary.

news of the bean (bump, this is what i call it) has spread like wild fire at work, and now people are either being unsually nice to me, sort of edging away like it might be infectious, or ignoring it! haha. quite an interesting study in human behaviour. i have to say, on the whole everyhone has been really nice, and I am feeling all warm and fuzzy. this is a definate change from gray and sicky, so i think it must be good.

i am only teaching an hr today, and then back home to sit in the warm and mark essays...... i think there is a chance i have trained myself to so this in my sleep- if only this was the sort of transerable skill that might get me a full time job!

thank you sp6! (again!)

I am so spoilt again! For the final reveal package, my SP6 (alison, whose website I am hoping she will send me a link too) posted me: an advent callander. (chocolcate is exempt from morngin sickness) a photo album, (added incentive to fix my camera!) a yummt lipgloss the kitten has been chasing about the house, and a cute CUTE little pattern for a baby shrug, which even david went ahhh at. so thank you very much alison, you have been a fab knitting friend, I was lucky to have you!

i am now going out to work with a smile on my face and on the whole feeling all loved an happy. this will last, more or less, until I get to Southampton, and I am forced to deal witht he reality of late essays, hysterical students and a canteen that only seems to make one lunchtime veggie selcetion. BUT I am sure i will live!

Thanks again alison, knitting and friend superstar!

dinner last night

I was invited to dinner in a beautiful house in hambledon, a cutsey little village, and i managed the soup before having to rush out and sit in the reception room while everyone else ate the main.. i thought morning sickness finished at 12 weeks!!

today i am marking th elast of the depressing assignment, and then next week i am moing on to the more interesting ones...... planning to wrap up and blankets and relax, so should be nice.

the hospital visit yesterday went very well, i have decided that chi looks like the nicest place to "pop one out" and so that is where i will ask to be refered too....

it is davids bday soon, any ideas? i have a few things, but you will have to email me as he reads this!

knitting and babies

today i am determined to finish two of my knitting scarfs with are destined to become xmas pressies, they are a k5, p5, k5 pattern that makes little squares. I am using the chunky denim yarn, so they are nice and snofty soft. so that the knittting taken care off.

i am also marking, coming to the end of one batch and starting the next. the good thing is i quite enjoying making the second ones as the titles give the student more chance to express their own interests and i normally get some pretty funky essays.

my friedn janet is down (in the bath at eh mo) to come to see the maternity hospital with me. Although I live in Portsmouth, i HATE the hospital here it is horrible and just reminds me of when I have my lung embolism when I was 17. |The nice doctor said i could instead go to chichester, and so I am off to there to have a look today.

I am a lucky girl as I have the choice, but dave is away earning xmas pressie so jaet (super hero) has stepped into the panic and is coming with me.... we will also be going to my friend's kids bday party. freya may is 4 today! HAppy birthday freya!

you may want to sit down....

because I have some big news! I am pregnant! In fact, i am three months pregnant! ARGH!!! David and I are so excited, and happy that so far everything seems to be going well. I has taken lots of blogger strenght not to write about this earlier, but I didnt want to be too preemptive. This will mean slowing off a bit on the PhD, but I am just so happy that we are going to have a child that it doesnt seem to matter.

The midwife came yesterday and soarted off all the tests and I have found I out that I have terrible peeing aim! Oh well. I am a biut disapponted that becuase of my lung embolism when I was 17 I will have to have a hospital birth, but it still doesnt take the shine of the fact the in 6 months, there will be someone who looks like me, which is important to an adopted person such as myself.

The spare room will become a nursery, and now I am accepting that this christmas and birthday willbe th elast time I get so spoilt! I have been feeling ICK, a fair amont of the time, but the nurse told me that is "good" as it shows the baby is growing, not so good for me as I have now perfected my exorcist impression. (nice)

Out local area wont tell us if its a boy or a girl, but we have a girls name, Mia, but are not so sure for a boy. Any ideas? This is so exciting!

new shoes

i got new shoes, they are flat and bright purple and have sparkely bits on them, but they make my feet bleed. i am hoping this will stop soonish as they are too nice not to wear.

still knitting xmas stuff, and now i am in the land of marking hell. urgh

nice weekend

can you believe after all the panic the "professional" lecturer forgot to turn up to my observation. it doesnt just mean that i was put out, but that i have to do all the prep again for her to come next week. grrrr

anyway, david and i had a great weekend. On saturday his parent came down from london to see our new house, and his dad helped him dig up some of the dreaded concrete in the garden.... his mama and i went shopping and had a nice day, where his sisters wedding (their sole topic of conversation) was only mentioned about 100 times, which is about 100000000000 times less than i thought it might be, it was really nice.

then yesterday david best man barnaby came down from london and helped lug some of the concrete to the tip. bliss! i have been trying to relax, but i am living in fear that now it is *gasp* ESSAY MARKING SEASON! and that will be taking up a load of my spare time. mind,i have reasoned that at least this is somthing i can do indoors with the heating on. woohoo

panic

observation is today, and even though i have confidence in my ability, i am still feeling panicy. yuck.

pnoing noinoing

i thought i would continue the trend on naming posts after silly noises- this is the noise off the eminem song. not that im a big fan, i just like the noise. (as in its make his pee pee go...)

today i have no headache, it is still a bit of a ghost that could come back to haunt me- but I am pushing on with work today when yesterday i had to ring ni sick, which i NEVER do, which goes to show how trully crappy i was feeling.

so yesterday i played with the kitties, and work on my friends alison xmas perssie, which everyone who has seen it said has great is was! ( i am a big present tease) but now i really want to keep it for myself and my expereince some festive seperation anxiety when i come to wrapping this baby up!

today the builder is also coming to fix the leak in our toilet, which is good news all round. and some more good news id my xmas cactus, which had this strage mould on it, has burst into sexy loevly pink flower and work! the lady i share an office with (which is really nice) gave it some water and not the mould is going away! i am a bad cactus owner, and i feel guilty now for not watering it more.

urgh

i have the worst headache ever, had it since yesterday and it survived the night. i am going to lie down and wait for the brain to fall out.

ggrrAAARRRGGGGGHHH

it just took me over 1.30 to drive from portsmouth to uni in southampton, it is MORALLY WRONG how much trasffirc there was and 2 accidents! I can moan as no one was killed and it just casued a massive huge delay. grrrrrrrrrrrrr. i may not have to grump about for a bit until the anteen opens and i can buy some processed potatoe products.

yesterday janet brought me and dave some lovely pretty handmade and painted mugs frmo devon as a housewarming girft, which was so ncie of her, esoecaily considering how busy she is... thank you janet!

problems with feeling

one of my students just emailed me to say that their dad died on Monday, and they may not be able to make the class on tuesday! I told them not to come in anyway (unless they want to) but I have realised how young she is to be losing her parents, and how much this will effect her. No dad to walk down the ailse with, she wont have him there when she graduates. this is really sad, and I suppose that at the moment all this wont have sunk in for her. as her lecturer, i guess i can only be there is she needs to chat, and try to be supportive. poor thing, it puts my minor issues in perspective and is a bit of a reality check all round.

lovely day

i think everyone i know is on a making rachel relaxed bender. my mama arrived this mornign and wisked me away to have our hair done. she went short (ROCK ON!) and i went normal with wee curly bits. nice.

then i came honw to see david has been diggin gup the lamo 70s concrete in the garden, whcih is a job i had been dreading, so he is happy doing that, and i am happy to let him. then we went with my firend vonne to a ncie country pub, then pottered around a garden centre lusting after the things to put in the garden once it is green and lovely. nice.

i then took dave home for more digging, (!) and we went for a smoothie and health food shopping getting home before daek to find david collapsed in front of the tv watching football and making noises like this "urghh- mmmphhh" "bollockas!" you get the idea

tgi friday

actually, i am for once, quite glad it is the end fo the week. I have to go back to the docs todaqy, which is making me nervous. i dont want them to tell me anything else bad, and i think instead of going, i would prefere going "la la la" instead.

however, i have to go, and i will not be fobbed off! then i am off to teach, and then my very lovely and VERY pregnant friend debbie is comming over to see the new house and go for lunch, which will be lovely. i have been cleaning the floors and sink so it at least looks superficially clean for her arrival.

the kitties are both ok- they have taken to using the bed like a trampline in the early hours of the mornign, which is just great. it you try and shove them off the bed, they think you are playing and pounce on your hand! little buggers.

knitting is now totally in aid of xmas pressies..... i am mostly making chunky scarfs, but for my friend alison i am doing somthing extra special and nice from the book given to me my Sp6! anyway, yoga tonight as well, so surly between all this knitting and forward bending i should be able to relax!

teaching observation

next friday i am being observed by a senior member of staff doing teaching. i dont mind this, in fact, they have alwyas been pretty posative, but they are coming to the worst class! it starts at 9am, which seems to be too much for the majority of the students. they are also not as engaged, and i am worried that this will reflect on me. i have a powerpoint, a dvd and they should be bringing pictures of their fav buildings (if they remember) as well as questions to do that relate to the reading. i have been thinking about it, and i dont see any other way of getting them to talk.

i am starting the relaxing offensive today. i am going to listen to my hippy tape, and go for a swim. my friend kev is then taking me to look at fish in the pet shop, as apparently this is relaxing. (i do have my own fish at home, but apparently they arnt relaxing enough!) hahaha.

doctors

i have to go to the doctors today for you -know-what and i have "sky high" blood pressure. They said, "any unusual stress of late" and I said, "moving house, new job" they told me off! any ideas on how to lower blood pressure?

You Are Not Scary

Everyone loves you. Isn't that sweet?

How Scary Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Apprentice.
You've got the basics down pat and you might just
be falling in love with this hobby. Big
needles, funky yarns and simple shapes are the
name of the game, but it doesn't mean you don't
experiment a bit, here and there. As an
apprentice, you probably fall back on other
people to get you through those rough spots,
and if you don't know anyone who knits, you
probably have a few books or online sources to
tap.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
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not being childish

tonight i am going to go to knitting and stop being childish. i think it is silly of me to spolit somthing that i enjoyed becuase i tend to over react. i have a stinking cold, so i may spred the germs and the love at the smae time! hahaha

other than that, i am at work- giving a funking seminar on film and memory, which should be really really fun. i am erally enjoying teachign my own course, the students erspond to having a lot of input and attention, and i love talking over the issues which actually inspired me ni the first place. each week they do little presentations, and i have been really proud of what they have achieved. dontcha just feel all wrm and fuzzy./

world record knitting

in world record time, (contact guiness book of records) i finished the chunky scarf, i have decided it will be a great xmas pressie for my friends sophie. i am also contemplating making one like it every weekend and hading them out as pressies. i wouldnt normally go for doing scars, but the stitch pattern makes them quite interesting and pretty.

i also have a STINKING cold, and i am a pile of yuck, so i am going to spend today ingesting as may vitamins in oj as possible to try and get better. i have to be better as this week is the big push to reorganise the friendly fire chapter. i have some editing on it to do today, before the big cat and paste effort later this week. that is, if i dont die of having a cold first.

knitting plans

in progress: legwarmers. (harder to knit in black than i thought!)

frogged: shawl, i have an idea to make the one in my new rowan knitting book with some of the kidsilk spangely new yarn, with two strands held together.... yum.

new: in the denim chunky i have opted for a scarf with little squares on it made from k 5, p 5, k 5 for 5 rowes, then p 5, k 5, p 5 for fives rowes repeated. well, that is the idea, i think in theory it will make squares. right?

plus, when we got back from buying a tree (called neville! says so on the label) i found the cats have broken into my wool cubboard, and found a ball of moasic wendy brown stuff, taken it to the sofa in the next room, and snuggled up with it. odd

thank you sp6!

Yes, yet again my secret knitting friend has made my day! They sent me: lovely scrummy soft chunky demin wool. (think it may become a wee clutch bag), a marilyn monroe card (one of my all time favourite actresses!) some hot chocolate drinks, (is this woman psychic?!) and a rowan funky pub knitting book, which has more ways i can fritter my wages that you could shake a large stick at! she also has taken to spoiling david, and sent him an earnest hemmingway book in recongition of his heroic marathon running deeds. we are both dead chuffed, and it has certainly taken the edge of doing broing house things that will occupy the rest of the day like:
putting up fire alarms
going to the tip
putting up pictures.
you get the idea, when did i become my mother?
one particualr triumph though has been in my poloyfillering the massive hole made in the wall when miving in the sofa, it looks quite good, perhaps i was a plaster in a previous life? anyway, thank you sp6!

end of the week

thank god it is friday, now i love my job, but another day would kill me dead. i keep waking up at funny times of the night, worrying about abstraqct things like "did i book the dvd player for my film class" and "did i rememebr to email so and so about organising conference catering?" i think my brain is having problems switching off.

to combat this i have started a new knitting project. i am making, wait for it, leg warmers! (FAME!) a la jane fonda. i will wear them only not at work, so no one can moan at me about being embarassing. plus anyway, i actually do think they are quite cute.

yesterday, i spent some tmie when i should have been making thesis corrections, looking a friends reunited. i cant remember some of the people on my juniour school (sorry) but some of the carears of my secondary mob seem very unlikly. for example, i cant believe out of a whole year, at least 95% got a degree. its not that i dont think them cleaver, maybe i just cant imagine them anywhere else but at school.

plan for today II

today i am going to christen the kitchen by making a mess in it. i am going to make pumpkin soup, and choc chip scones. i also have to go and do some teaching, and i was thinking of maybe squashing aswim in as well.

i am also going to have to ring round the gas/electric companies and give them the readings, so i am preparing to be put on hold for hours with the bloody spice girls playing down my ear. how do they pick the music? it used to be green sleaves all round, but maybe that wasnt enough torture...

i am also going to pick a new knitting project. yvonne isnt arounmd to show me how to use my new double pointed needles (thanks sp6!) so i might just start somthing really easy and see how it goes. i also have a load of paper work to file, which i am dreading, but really needs doing as i cant find anything at all in the house!

yesterday i saw my friend sarah, who is very nice, and we went on a reckie to tesco. i think i ought to take out shares in that place the amount of money i spend in there! still, there is lots of nice food in now, which i can use to mess up the kitchen.

today

i am mostly feeling sick and run down. yesterday was manic, i gave 2 seminar classes, a massive lecture and a paper. today i am finished at 1.30 and then i am going homw to recover. and then maybe to the supermarket. what an excitnig life i lead! all i can say is roll on next week.

knitting group is tongiht, but im not going as no one has bothered to invite me. i think they have decided im not wanted ni the group, and so they jst doint text me to invite anymore. i suppose knitting is gone back to being a solo activity.