in the forest

We went to the woods on Saturday, it was a really nice day. I didn’t want to waste the last sunny, warm day of the year inside!

sunny path in the woods

mighty king!

trapped forever in the elf prison

sunny canopy

pretty thistle thing

oh no! lost in the woods

procrastination queen

haha, who said I would get this done every day?  I am terrible at actually doing stuff on time!

anyway, photos from Friday (I didn’t do any today)

voodoo doll does not approve of horrible greggs sandwich

i was bored

Photos – a bit late

I left my camera in my desk for days, so I didn’t do it, ah well. I took some pics today tho, I remembered to grab my camera on the way out!

my things to do pad, its great. i love stationery

its a long and lonely road

its about to be demolished

painted window in empty block of flats

week in the life of

I saw this on another website, and thought I would give it a go, in the vain hope that this blog won’t look so neglected! I’m going to take a five photos a day for a week and post them here. I didn’t really do it properly today, so I will start tomorrow, but here’s a couple of photos I remembered to take!

 

 

woo, a meme

1. My uncle once: sang me lullabies when I was little, one was about a lamb getting its eyes pecked out by an eagle, which freaked me out a bit but was cool

2. Never in my life: have I smoked (I’m good)

3. When I was five: I did lots of things, I can’t remember. Whinged a lot probably

4. High school was: excruciatingly awkward

5. I will never forget: to eat cake

6. Once I met: the Queen. Trufax

7. There’s this girl I know:

8. Once, at a bar: I got served without being ID’d

9. By noon, I’m usually: hungry

10. Last night: I had a curry, watched Teachers, read a book and went to sleep

11. If only I had: a magical pill that could make me lose a stone

12. Next time I go to church: will be for some sort of function

13. What worries me most: spending most of my life at work doing something boring but not knowing what job to do instead

14. When I turn my head left I see: the wall and a calendar

15. When I turn my head right I see: Paul and Jodie (at work)

16. You know I’m lying when: I blush

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: being a kid

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: I’m not that clever

19. By this time next year: I’ll be a meelyonair

20. A better name for me would be: Bullet

21. I have a hard time understanding: most things

22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: do my homework this time

23. You know I like you if: I make any effort to talk to you. I’m very antisocial usually

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: Me

25. Take my advice, never: eat chicken from a kebab shop

26. My ideal breakfast is: peanut butter and jam on toast

27. A song I love but do not have is: Video killed the radio star by the Buggles

28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: don’t look at the kids at the bus stop

29. Why won’t people: stop being so stupid, god

30. If you spend a night at my house: enjoy the living room floor, I’ve only got one bedroom and you’re not having it, haha (unless you are my granny or abby, cos you’ve got special dispensation)

31. I’d stop my wedding for: pfft, I’m not getting married

32. The world could do without: junk food

33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: lick the bellies of two cockroaches

34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: me! haha, and Abby and Rinky. None of the rest of you are blonde, sorry

35. Paper clips are more useful than: nosehair

36. If I do anything well it’s: waste time and procrastinate

37. I can’t help but: look at the internet when I’m supposed to be working

38. I usually cry: at moments of greatness in movies and sometimes at gigs (but I hold it in so no-one can tell). I don’t know why, it would make more sense to cry at soppy things. I think its the greatness that makes me feel a bit overwhelmed with yay!

39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: don’t eat slugs

40. And by the way: I should be working

Geekery

I have a confession, family and random strangers who come across this cos they searched for amy butler.

My name is Jemma, and I am a geek.

Those of you who know me probably already realise this to some extent, but none of you know how deep the geekery goes. I was considering setting up a private blog where I could revel in my geekiness and be at peace with my fellow oddo’s, but then I thought ‘why should I hide away?’. Being a geek is nothing to be ashamed of.

So, here is a list of things I do:

• I have read and reread the entire series of Harry Potter
• I have all the movies and I am unreasonably excited by the release of the Half Blood Prince movie
• I look up fanart and look at mugglenet.com quite frequently
• I’ve read the Narnia books, own the LWW dvd, and went to see Prince Caspian TWICE at the cinema.
• I’m also unreasonably excited about the Dawntreader movie
• I’ve nearly finished the Twilight series of books (the last in the series is in the post right now, squee! (oh dear lord, I squee’d, how old am I)). For those not in the know, Twilight is an immensely popular young adult series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire (a good one that doesnt eat people) and the drama/angst that ensues.
• I am Team Jacob, all the way! Edward is a nob, a sparkly one at that
• I read Twilight fanfic and look at fanart
• I am ALSO unreasonably excited about the Twilight movie coming out in December
• I sew stuff
• I try to draw
• I read too fast (a book a day)
• I’ve recently started NOT WATCHING TV, which is unheard of. If I’m by myself, I don’t even turn it on
• I have too much stationery, and still MUST.BUY.ANOTHER.PACK.OF.MECHANICAL.PENCILS
• I know what some of the new internets acronyms mean now, and find the word FAIL very funny (somebody described something as an epic failboat the other day and I nearly snorted tea all over the keyboard)
• I go on the Internet too much
• I still like My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park, even though they are oooold
• I am very rubbish at social situations, even with my OWN FAMILY
• I have no idea how to entertain a tiny baby, I’m just lucky if they don’t cry (sorry Chloe, you’re lovely and cute and everything, but I am boring Aunty Jemma and I can’t make myself baby talk)
• I’d rather stay in then go out, unless we are going to the woods or somewhere lovely
• My mum bought me a storage box to keep my sewing stuff in and it was a GREAT present. What normal person would be delighted with a plastic crate? I WAS THO!
• I say ‘om nomnom’ if I’m eating something nice

Phew! I could go on, but I think you see my point.

If anyone else out there is like me (i.e. a 17 year old trapped in a 25 year olds body) let me know! (but if you have read Breaking Dawn already and you spoil me, then help me god, you will feel my wrath! – tho I’m pretty sure it’s not going to go how I want)

And if you know me…you still like me…don’t you?

Updates

I have been very lazy and not posted here for ages, so I’ll start again now.

In the last few weeks a lot of stuff has happened:

• Leanne and Kevin liked the nappy bag and use it, hooray. All that hard work wasn’t for nothing.
• The baby is ultra cute, and smiled at me (tho it might have been wind)
• My sister came to stay for four days, we had a nice time making cakes and sewing a cushion cover for her to take back to mum.
• I started exercising again, I’ve been to the gym a few times and went jogging in the park yesterday morning with Phill. I actually enjoyed the jogging a lot more than the gym. It was really nice to go out to the park really early. It was pretty much empty, and really tranquil. Even the geese didn’t try and attack me! I did better than I thought I would, seeing as I haven’t been since last summer.

Some other stuff has probably happened, but I have a shocking memory and can’t be expected to remember everything!

I’ve been a proper geek and have reread the Harry Potter series. I like the Harry Potter books, and watch the films, but I think I’m done with it now. I’ll watch the last couple of films tho. I’ve been trying to find new books to read. I’m on the last of the His Dark Materials trilogy and have found it really interesting, even tho lot of it is about religion and I expect some points are going straight over my head because I don’t know a lot about it.

If anyone has any suggestions for what to read next, let me know! I like reading fantasy, but always seem to end up with the kids/young adults books. As much as I like them, I want to read some more grownup ones next.

I think I’ve read all the Terry Pratchett books. I thought the last few weren’t quite as good as the old ones, I think the Discworld is losing some of its spark. Especially with the last two, Going Postal and Making Money. They both seem to be the same story, and the next one is going to be ‘Moist inexplicably fixes taxes in Ankh Morpork whilst not having a clue what he is doing’. I don’t know if I can be bothered to read it, and it feels a bit like I’m betraying poor old Terry.

Radish love

One of the radishes I planted was ready on Thursday, I ate it in my salad that night and IT WAS NICE. I don’t even like radishes normally, but it would be rude not to eat it, I planted it myself. For some reason the other ones aren’t ready yet, odd. It was pretty and bright, nothing like the little shrivelled one in the shops. I’m going to grow loads more veggies now.

Innit beautiful?

Also, Phill came home yesterday and met his niece. It was really sweet and he got to hold her, she was sleeping the whole time and has just learnt how to stretch her arms out properly. She was lying back, chillin on Uncle Phill with her arms stretched above her head! Ultra cute

New baby!

Baby Chloe was born yesterday, yay! She is verrrry pretty and tiny and cute. She’s Phill’s brother’s and SIL’s baby. Even tho Phill and I aren’t married, I’m still kind of her aunty, so woo! Aunty Jemma

I am burping her in this pic, not just holding her by her face for no reason. She was 7 hours old then

Phill is away in Edinburgh for work until Friday, he missed Chloe being born, but he’s looking forward to getting back and starting his uncling duties.

p.s. for those not in the know, Phill is my luvverly boyfriend, we have been together for seven (count em) years! We’re practically married, even tho not technically.

In other news, I had an egg salad sandwich for lunch, the sliced up egg kind. This is, so far, quite boring, but JUST WAIT! I was halfway through the second half, and noticed that one of the egg slices HAD BLOOD IN IT. Also, some weird little bits, I don’t know what they are. Aunty Abby was right, eggs are not good food, maybe I should become a vegan just to avoid that kind of nastiness. The only reason I can think of that egg would have a red streak with bits in is that it was becoming a tiny fluffy baby chicklet. Nooooooooooo! I ate chick foetus

 

Amy Butler nappy bag – it’s alive!

The cold has almost gone! woopwoop

I have fiiinally finished the nappy bag I was making for my sister in law (Leanne), her baby was due last Tuesday but still hasn’t made an appearance. The bag has been finished for a little while, but I just got the changing mat done, yay.

It’s the Amy Butler nappy bag pattern. I found it really easy to follow, although I did leave out a couple of things. The pattern calls for canvas lining, as well as normal lining and interfacing. Because I used curtain fabric, I didn’t think the canvas was necessary, plus thats a lot of layers for my poor little machine!

The pattern also has two bottle pockets, but these would have been sewn over four other pockets, which seemed really stupid, so I didn’t bother with them either.

The bag came out really well (if I do say so myself). It’s got enough space for loads of stuff, and loads of pockets. It’s even got a mobile phone pocket on the handle. That part of the pattern was quite funny, the flap for that pocket is smaller than the pocket itself, apparently so the phone antenna can poke through. When did you last see a mobile with an antenna? Haha

Anyway, enough waffling, here it is:

Stuffed with goodies and the changing mat

 

I broke a needle quilting the changing mat, I didn’t have the right foot and the whole thing only just about fit under the foot. Don’t feed it through too fast kids! It makes the needle hit the metal bit and shatter into tiny pieces.

I just hope she likes it! She did choose an Amy Butler fabric, but I couldn’t get it anywhere in the UK and it was too expensive to import it from the US, so hopefully it’s ok. It better be! I worked really hard on it

I’m now enjoying a celebratory wine spritzer and I might even have an ice lolly, yum.