Monday 1 August 2011

Hurrah, for I shall paint no more

So, I know I usually do my crochet update at the end of the month, but this month I thought I'd really rock the boat and NOT do one.  I know, hold onto your hats...
Most of my energies over the past week or so have been focused on this:
Aaaah, happy sigh - look: it's my new-look fireplace (as opposed to New Look fireplace).  Decorating this room has been a beast.  It's taken me the best part of a week and we've been living with the television on the dining room table, books all over the place (thanks to the relocation skills of baby n, who's obsessed with them) and paint spread liberally and randomly throughout the house; but.....it's do-one!  yippeeeeee.  I had a major wobble re the colour the second day of painting, but now I absolutely love it.  Deeply, deeply love it.  I know I'll find it very hard to even let the children in the door at first for fear that they might smear, scratch or otherwise sully its pristine beauty, but for a couple of days at least I can sit and feel proud of my lovely new sitting room.  But here's a teeny, tiny confession: while I'm not the most enthusiastic cleaner at the best of times, I'm certainly not a slob by any means - I'm somewhere in the middle of the spectrum with Kim and Aggie at one end and squatters at the other - but when I moved the sofas, I was somewhat startled to see a big, flashing neon sign saying 'welcome to spider-land, we hope you enjoy your visit'.
And who knew that spiders pooed so prolifically?  Ew.  Ew.  Ew
Oh goodness, if you look very closely at that picture, you can see that Dr Who seems to have magically appeared in my sitting room.  Perhaps he's heard how fabulous and spider-free it is now...
And on a completely other note, I have finally got round to thinking of my seven 'interesting' facts for the award that Fluff Pot and Dinki Dots kindly bestowed on me recently.  You ready? 
1) I've got a piece of pencil lead embedded in my finger.  I've had it since I was about seven and I still can't for the life of me think why my mum didn't dig it out with a needle in the style of a splinter-removal.  Oooh, I've just remembered that I've got a bit of glass embedded in my heel too - this is as a result of getting into the car barefoot just after Mr N had broken the windscreen by rear-ending someone when we lived in NZ.
2) I secretly long to be able to make myself invisible in the manner of a super hero.  How brilliant would that be? 
3) I am absolutely, properly terrified of drowning.  No idea why, I've never had any bad experiences in the water - but if I can't either see or touch the bottom, I have a full-on panic attack, which really isn't my usual style at all.  I had an incident in South Africa involving me in a bikini, a waterfall, a panic attack and several bystanders.  Humiliation means nothing to me when it comes to my fear of water.
4) I let people intimidate me too easily.  It drives me bananas.  I can feel myself coming over all intimidated and then I get annoyed with myself for letting them do it to me, and that just makes it worse.  Grrrrr
5) The most precious non-human things to me are my silver bracelets.  I have seven of them and I never take them off.  Each one has been given to me by one of my best people and I love them beyond all reason.
6) Certain words are guaranteed to make me smile.  Egg, for example.  Just brilliant. Other words make me squirm - like 'pamphlet'.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
7) I have had recurring toilet-related dreams all my adult life, especially when I'm not very happy.  Sometimes I find myself sitting on the loo and realise that there are no walls and I'm in full view of the whole world with my knickers round my knees; other times I am in a huge building and just can't find a toilet; and other times there are hundreds of loos but they're all so bad that I can't bear to use them.  (I really, really hope none of you are psychologists...)
On a confessional note again: I've really been feeling like I've lost my blogging mojo lately.  I don't know why, there's no particular reason, but I just can't seem to get into the whole 'writing my usual drivel' mode at all.  I've got so much to talk about, especially on the crochet-front, but I just can't seem to get my head around actually writing about it all.  Blah. 
Having said that, something rather exciting and blog-related did happen to me today: I won a giveaway!  I know, I can hardly believe it.  Thank you so much Catherine, this couldn't have happened at a better moment, you've really put a smile on my face.  I am soooo looking forward to receiving a rather exciting parcel and I promise I will do a proper post about it when it arrives.  (Pfftt - I just typed 'abou tit' then - snort, snort).
And with that, I will love you and leave you.  Fingers crossed for the speedy return of the elusive mojo x

12 comments:

  1. Just come across your blog through Kids and Capers and become a follower! I don't know about your recurring toilet dreams but I have recurring ones about loosing all my teeth and when I wake in the morning I have to rush to the mirror to double check that my fingers haven't deceived me!
    June

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  2. Oooo love your make-over- that fireplace is so lovely.
    I've just been making over some furniture too!
    Btw- I have very similar toilet dreams to you!!!

    Have a good week.
    Xx

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  3. WOW, don't makeovers make you feel wonderful. Loving yours.
    Toilet dreams....hmmmm, I have snake dreams (childhood paranoria from growing up in country Western Australia with very poisonous snakes) and can't seem to get ready to go out dreams. There's always something isn't there. :)
    Your blogging mojo will come back. Mine comes and goes, I roll with it and don't put pressure on myself.
    Have a fab day,
    Anne xx

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  4. Hi Emily, your sitting room looks lovely. Makeovers always get the feel good factor going. You ought to check out what those dreams mean. With me it's cars, brakes don't work or I go flying off cliffs only to land very smoothly!! Hope your blogging enthusiasm is back soon. Can't say mine is around - probably lost somewhere in all those boxes!! Liz xx

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  5. I have those same toilet dreams - that they're all unusable and that the doors don't close/ppl can see in, or they don't have doors or they're overflowing etc etc! Must be some kind of anxiety thing.

    Anyway, enough toilet talk..

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  6. Who would have thought so many people had toilet dreams?! I dream about my teeth crumbling into powder and falling out.

    I'm so with you on the words thing, I hate the word pamphlet too. Hate it. Also can't bear the word 'gusset' but there are many many more.

    Your living room looks sooo nice - what colour is that on the wall? I would love to be able to paint the walls in our house but we have funny Artex on every single wall in the house, must have been there forever, and it's just too much of a big job to have it removed.

    Congrats on winning the giveaway, lucky! And don't worry about losing your blogging mojo, it'll come back. xxx

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  7. Love your makeover. If only it stayed like that for ever. We have been in our house for 11 years & it REALLY needs doing. I lost my blogging mojo but as soon as I put it out there it came back! Watch out.

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  8. More photo's of the living room walls please and thank you.

    You lucky giveaway winner. I've been collecting a few bits for a giveaway. But I keep seeing other peoples giveaways and feel mine needs improving!

    Ok superhero traits. That's a good one, think of the fun you could have. My superhero trait would be time travel. I would just love to sit in my garden and go back in time and watch how my house has changed over the past 200 years. I'd love to see stone henge being built. I'd love to watch London's changes. Actually I think being invisible could be helpful here too.

    Please don't let people intimidate you anymore. Everybody's poo smells bad. There is no one on this earth who is better than you, they are just different.

    Dreams. I lose my teeth regularly, like June does. Apparently it is anxiety manifesting itself in dream form. I also have struggling/fighting dreams where I'm trying to defend myself/loved ones from an attacker or trying to pin down an assailant. More worryingly I keep having a dream where I get trollyed in my home town and my ex boyf is there. I forget I'm not with him and go home with him thinking I am just going 'home' but when I wake up I am not in my home, I'm in my old home and I'm with him not Mr C and there are lots of worried calls on my mob from Mr C and I have to work out what the hell I'm going to do to sort it all out and it is all just awful. I feel tense just thinking about that one.

    As for your mojo.This was a pretty fabulous post considering you feel you have lost your way a bit! I think the answer most people give when this happens is to just keep posting, the longer you leave it the more difficult it'll feel to come back as you'll have a monstrous mental list of things you want to blog about. That happened to me when I was with typepad and I was pregnant.

    xxx

    ps. if you got two awards asking for 7 facts then you are 7 facts short. Flakey bugger!

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  9. Oh your living room colours are gorgeous! Very grown up, chic and calming! My house looks like a couple of homeless hobo's have arrived since the holidays landed! Loving all your candles too. I know what you mean about loosing your blogging mojo....mine disappeared for a while when life was hectic and sad but it suddenly crept back up on me. Best not to over analyse it, enjoy a break and then enjoy it when it returns! Congrats on winning a giveaway too! You have an parcel to look forward to.....hurrah!!!

    Take care,

    Jo x

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  10. Love love love your new walls - more pic please! As you know, I am a fan of grey, positively have to stop myself from buying grey things! I have recurring dreams about loos with no walls/doors and disgustingly dirty loos. I think it means that in real life you don't want to let other people know your feelings or you're having difficulty expressing your feelings, or something like that - you may need to look it up as my memory isn't great! Have a lovely day. x

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  11. Hehe - I have the toilet dreams too! I am searching and searching for a decent toilet to use, but I can't find one - they are all really dirty or they have no doors on etc etc! Funny how many people seem to have this, reading your comments!

    Maria x

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  12. Lovely decorating! Like many people I also have the toilet dreams - lots of them but they're all dirty or in some way unsuitable (overlooked, no door,etc.) but everyone else seems to not have a problem...I also dream about my teeth either falling out or being wobbly or being stuck together at the back. Usually acknowledging the issue is enough to fettle them for a time...thanks for the information on spider poo - I'd never thought about that and don't wish to in the future ;o) I'm sure your mojo will reappear when she's good and ready, in the meantime enjoy the 'extra' time!

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