The One Where I Learn About Myself

Further to my 'Turning Twenty-Seven and Hating It' list of resolutions here, I thought I'd add a wee bit on 'What I've Learned About Myself Recently'. Sorry for being so self-absorbed. Maybe soon I'll do a post on a worthy cause and you'll all be like 'oh, what a caring person she is! She's taken time away from fretting about her frankly APPALLING eyebrows to care about this caring cause that needs caring about. She is so caring. Caring is the word I would use to describe her.' and I'll be all humble and all 'Thanks lads, but really, we should all care more about (enter cause here)' and we'll all agree and shake on it.

But until then, here's my new list:

1. MY HAIR - I honestly think that people with curly hair should get some kind of government-sponsored help. Curly hair costs an absolute fortune to keep in reasonable condition, and I'm not even talking about the obscene cost of getting a decent hairdresser to cut it. No, I'm talking about the general, day-to-day stylin' costs. A few years ago, Sunsilk did this serum-y time styling gel that cost about a Scottish Buck and lasted for a million years and then they stopped making it. But I was young and naive, and I thought 'Oh, I'll try some other junk'. That was about five years ago and I still haven't got over it. Nothing is as good, NOTHING. But I was just about keeping it in check with Pantene's Perfect Curl shampoop (tee hee) and conditioner. And guess what fellas? They've stopped making that too. I've been resorted to buying it on ebay for a hugely inflated sum. Anyway, here's what I've learned about my hair this week: ANYTHING OTHER THAN PERFECT CURL MAKES MY HAIR GO RUBBISH. I've tried eighty-two different shampeeps and conditioniis (which I THINK is the plural for both of those words) and nothing is as good.

2. PATIENCE - Lads, I've always thought of myself as a really impatient person and this week I have realised that I am not just really impatient, I am VERY REALLY IMPATIENT.  Especially with computers. I feel like I spend my whole life waiting for pages to load, and I'm aging horribly because of it.

3. TIDYING - I hate tidying because I like stuff, as I've admitted before. But today I realised I not only hate tidying, I am also rubbish at it. Here's a BEFORE picture of the bookcase in the kitchen:

and here's a picture of it after I spent AN HOUR AND A HALF tidying it:

I know you're thinking 'it does look a bit tidier though' and to that I reply: this took me AN HOUR AND A HALF. How? Dunno.

4. SONGS - So, I was driving along it my automobile (Blue Polo, don't have a name for it because I hate nothing more than people saying 'yous' and also people who name their cars), happy as Larry G. Laughtinton, singing along to the radio - Dirrty by Christina Aguilera - and I realised I knew all the words to it, which made me happy. Then it finished, and Yesterday by the Beatles kicked in and I was all 'Yey, I know this one too!' singing away, then IT finished and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep rocked out. And I was singing along to that, when I suddenly became aware of a creeping sense of dread. I knew all the words to that too. And I thought, I know all the words to A LOT of songs, even fast ones like La Bamba and rubbish ones like Mr. Boombastic and surely that's not normal. And then I tried to remember my home telephone number, and I COULDN'T! And then I thought, what if I get kidnapped?! How will I contact Husband?! I don't even know my own phone number! But then I realised, if I do get kidnapped, I'll just bellow Mr. Boombastic to them and they'll release me pretty sharpish. But still, what else has been pushed out of my brain to make way for the lyrical stylin' of Ricky Martin et al?!

These are not favourable qualities old beans, not favourable at all. Is it too late to change my entire self?

The One Where I Turn Twenty-Seven gaaaaaaahhh

It's been a long time Chinas, a long old time. I've been too busy to blog, what with turning 27 and all. The English graduate in me is desperate to turn that 27 into a twenty-seven but time is pressing on us, Old Beans, and I'm not writing twenty-seven every time, so I'll just leave it as 27.

So I woke up on the eve of my 27th birthday and was all 'oh man, this sucks. My last day as a 26 year old OR, as I pronounce it, 'nineteen'. Woe is me, for it is rubbish to be nearly 27, probably as bad as actually BEING 27.' And then to celebrate my last day as a 26 year old, I did some lovely things like not running and eating Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Port Salut on oatcakes with chutney and WINE and it was good.

And then I woke up on my 27th birthday and I thought 'HOW CAN I BE TWENTY-FECKING-SEVEN?! I'm still deciding what to do when I leave school! I'm still always thinking 'I'll wear shoes like THAT when I'm a grown up'! I'm still going to the shop regularly to buy pick n mixes! I hate mortgages! But the truth of it is Chinas, I'm a 27 year-old married Librarian with a mortgage and a job and everything. And I'm no longer nineteen, and I can no longer dream of being an astronaut, and I can no longer drink with wild abandon because hangovers now last about a fortnight.

But then I had a flash of inspiration. 'Why not, WHY NOT', I thought to myself  'see this as a chance to do everything you've ever wanted to do and BE everything you've ever wanted TO BE? Why not make your 28th year (gaaaaaahh) the YEAR OF OPPERCHANCITY?

So I'm going to! I've made a list of resolutions that I'm going to share with you, but FIRST! A picture of me with my present from my brother (Calpol):

OH YES LADS THAT'S ME WITH BETTY! Is that the best present anyone has ever given anyone?! Answer: yes. I love her with my whole soul and Husband HATES her, although she freaks out the cats which Husband finds very funny. I said we should bow every time we walk past her and Husband refused, and that's very disrespectful to her Maj and she'll be WELL annoyed if he ever does that in real life. He'll be in the Tower before he knows WHERE he is, and I won't visit him because I'll be having crumpets at Buck Pal.

Anyway, RESOLUTIONS:

1. START SELLING 'CRAP WHAT I'VE MADE', because I've been talking about doing it for ages but then what if nobody buys it?

2. GET GOOD AT RUNNING - I can now run my full circuit without stopping, here's a picture of me after I did it for the first time ever:

(I promise this is really me and not Usain Bolt, however similar we may look)

3. STOP READING HEAT MAGAZINE AND TRY TO STOP CARING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN TOWIE - pretty self-explanatory, this one.

4. HAVE A KEBAB - never had one before and I think I would like it.

5. TRY A DEEP-FRIED MARS BAR - never had one before because I know I would love it, and eat them FOREVAH and then turn into one of those people who gets so fat that they grow into their couch.

6. WEAR ALL THE SHOES - or sell all the shoes if not worn.

7. PICK UP A MASSIVE SPIDER - maybe.

8. BE A BIT MORE SENSIBLE - I'm not really a sensible sort of person. I'm more of a 'LET'S MAKE A LOL-CANO!' than a 'Yars, well, interest rates being what they are...' and I think I should maybe try to get somewhere in the middle.

9. TAKE MY MAKE-UP OFF BEFORE BED - I know this is really jakey (JAKE - Scottish word meaning unclean, dirty person who is usually drunk and/or stoned) but I hate washing my face in the sink, and I'm not having two showers a day, and my make-up removing pads live downstairs and I can never be bothered to go down and get them and I just generally am rubbish at taking my make-up off and that's that.

10. DYE MY HAIR BLONDE - DONE! Did it last week! Not sure if I like it though.

11. TRY TO LOVE MY EYEBROWS - very unlikely, this one, but I will try.


And that's THAT!

About Me

I've had a really busy week this week and have done none of the making, so I have nothing to say about anything. Recently I was having a conversation with a friendly work-mate and she asked me 'what do you even write about on your blog?' and I took a deep breath, opened my mouth and...my mind went blank. Then my subconscious kicked in and to fill the now-awkward silence I suddenly yelled 'STUFF!!!!' right into her face. She looked a little startled, as was I.

But, all respect to her, she carried on: 'So do you have personal details on there?' and again, my mind left me and I bellowed 'NOPE!!' It was at that point that she shuffled off, probably to find someone normal to talk to.

So I thought I'd tell you more about myself. Be a bit more personal, if you like. You probably won't like it, but try to be brave. Strap yourselves in chaps, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Name: Baroness Eilidhbelle Sittingonher-Bumbaleerie IV

Age: Mental or physical? Mental: thirteen. Physical: around eighty-five. But in birth years, twenty-six gaaaah!

Appearance: Ginormous face. Mad minging-brown curly hair. More eyebrows than the average person. Slow in gait. A tad cross-eyed. Here's a photo:

NOTE: Husband looks really grumpy in this photo because we'd just come out of Steptoe's Yard and he was still mulling over parting with his hard-earned Scottish Drachma just to keep me, HIS WIFE, happy. Rude. Also, I look blind but I am not.

Profession: Librarian. Yep, I'm a fully qualified hairy library-y. And I work in a school. There is nothing else I can say to make this more exciting. No, wait, I've thought of something: Catwoman was a Librarian. So, in conclusion, I am DEFINITELY Catwoman (FACT).

Pets: Two cats, a stupid one and an unfriendly one. Here's a photo of the unfriendly one being forced to sit on my knee:

He looks like he's being tortured even though I brushed his fur for ages and lured him on with treats. He only likes Husband, and only then it's because he knows Husband doesn't like him. Awkward and annoying. Although he does look exactly like a snow leopard, and he walks like one, which is cool. Also, he's not scared of foxes. But he is scared of pumpkins. Cats are rubbish.

Family: Len, Roy, Sister and Brother. Gran, Grandad, Aunt, Aunt, Aunt, Aunt, Aunt, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin x25.

I can't think of anything else that you might like to know so I'm going to end this post with an anecdote about my life.

Bumbaleerie Mansions is situated on a lovely quiet street that just so happens to be a short cut to the local school. Recently I was doing some gardening (drinking in the garden) when some hooded youths walked by and flicked an empty Haribo wrapper into my hedge. I work in a school, so I know how to speak to the young.

'Yoo hoo! Homie!' I called 'You've WELL dropped your empty sweets bag into my crib. I'm totes 'down' with you dudes 'chilling' whilst 'roamin' past my gaff, but pleaz put your rubbish into de binz, word?' They looked at me in total amazement, probably not used to post-teens such as myself having such a confident grip on street vernacular. One of the youths began to approach me, so I held out my hand in case he wanted to 'fist-bump' to secure our alliance. He did not.

'I'm terribly sorry, Miss, I didn't realise I'd dropped it. I'll put it in the bin immediately. Lovely garden!' he smiled at me kindly and I beamed back. We're proper mates now.

I told Husband about this later and he said mildly 'That's nice dear.' but he's WELL 'jel' that he doesn't have someone watching his back in the hood.

A day of doing

Today has been a really lovely day in the Bumbaleerie crib. I've done lots of good things today. First the boring ones:
1. Brushed, hoovered and washed the kitchen floor
2. Washed the back step
3. Washed a lot of clothes
4. Hung up a lot of clothes (I don't iron. I actually can't do it. When I have to iron fabric for quilting I could weep)
5. Made dinner (chilli), and shared a beer with Mr. Bumbaleerie. Here's a picture of after-dinner:

Yum yum. Now some less boring things:

1. I have almost finished secret quilt. The stitching is well dodgy but I'm a firm believer that home-made things should look a bit dodgy, otherwise you may as well buy them. I sent a picture of the dodgy quilting to my sister and she says just to leave it. And she'd know, she's a scientist and likes everything PERFECT. So her word is good enough for me.
2. I organised my fabric pile, which had been sitting on the table pictured above for the thick-end of a fortnight. I wish that was an exaggeration, but it's not.

3. I finished a tea cosy, which was supposed to be going on ebay, but I don't think it's up to scratch. It needs to be bigger, maybe.

4. I drank a bottle of diet coke. Now! I know that doesn't sound like much but I've been trying to collect the empties to make something.

Any ideas? I'm thinking I might just fill them with water and a bit of food colouring, then put flowers in them. If I ever get round to doing that, I'll post a picture.

And now! I have to start the weekly fight with my eyebrows, to train them into something half-decent for work tomorrow. I might paint my nails too...oct. I can't be bothered. You have to sit for ages and AGES and when you normally spend your evenings divving about with wool as I do, it's a challenge to sit for AGES without doing anything.

Happy Sunday all, and I hope your Monday isn't too grim.