It's been a busy week

It's that time of year again. December is always a hugely busy month for me. I have three birthdays as well as Christmas to deal with and I have to try to be super organised with my money and time to be able to get everything done. So far this year has been no exception- it's been a case of hitting the ground running.

Last Friday we worked the open evening event at the museum. There where three of us doing the bug handling and it wasn't enough- we got totally swamped and things like breaks, drinks and patience where either skipped or ran out.

We then had to get get up early Saturday morning as my husband and I went to London to meet up with my parents. We had lunch in Chinatown in Soho (I ate so much Dim sum I thought I was going to explode) and then went to Vinopolis to do some wine tasting. My mum had bought some tickets for my dads birthday and via a long convoluted route that involved much complaining, got some free tickets as well so we got to go too. It was quite an experience. I'm not much of a drinker- I don't know why but it just isn't something that appeals to me all that much, but then it's not something I dislike either. It's kind of a take it or leave it situation and I'm just as likely to take as leave. So wine tasting wasn't ever something I really considered insofar as going out and learning the correct way to assess a wine. The 'tour' consisted of a learning to taste session, tastes of three different kinds of Champagne (none of which where any good according to our popular vote), eight tastes of 'standard' wine some of which where okay. It was amusing to see how between 4 of us we all liked different things. There was one wine from South Africa that I quite liked but everyone else hated. My mum said it tasted like burnt tires whereas I felt it was pleasantly smooth and quite drinkable. We found one really nice red Argentinian wine that we felt might be worth a revisit. We then had 2 tastes of Premium wines. I picked out a sticky German dessert wine for my first one and then had it again as it was so nice. By this point we where getting bored of queuing though. The 'tour' of the wines is more like a scrummage. You have to go to the tables that have the wine on (of which there are 3). Each table has a selection of about 6 different wines from say, 5 countries. You then have to wait to be served a taster of wine which you exchange for one of your prepaid vouchers. Easy enough but the queues where huge and you spent more time waiting for wine than enjoying it. Okay, so going on a Saturday afternoon would always mean that it was going to be busy but I think that they where packing just a few too many people in for it to be a really comfortable and enjoyable experience. Rather than it feeling classy, fun and effortless it ended up being a bit stressy and boring. At least we got a gin cocktail to finish the tour off.

Sunday was a horrid wet and rainy day. The husband had lots of work to be getting on with so I shut him in the back bedroom and went out to do some shopping. I had to do the weekly food shop by myself which is a real mission at our local Tescos on a Sunday. I had much dodging and weaving to do to get through the shop but thankfully found a cash only till which was a real break as it meant that I could walk right up instead of joining the usual mile long queue. I really hate the weekly shop- its such a boring chore so on this occasion I treated myself to some girly shopping at TK Maxx afterwards. I didn't find half the things that I had been looking out for but I did some therapeutic trying on of shoes (all very pretty but none fitted), rummaging through handbags, laughing at the awful tacky tack that seems to end up in the household goods section and browsing the books in hope of a knitting book bargain (they have come up before- it's one of the weirdest places to find knitting books and you only get one for every 10 times you look but its so pleasing when you do find one its worth it). I did come up trumps on 3 Christmas presents though. I got gifts for both grannies and something for my mother-in-law. Awesome. The final part of the day was spent trying to get some knitting done. I say trying as I ended up ripping out nearly everything I did do but I was working on a travelling scarf and couldn't quite figure out what kind of stitch I wanted to use.

The work week has mostly involved moving furniture (we are getting new carpets next week). I worked late on Monday, went to my knitting group Tuesday (I created fugly things with a crochet hook and sparkly yarn) and then made an emergency trip to see my grandmother on Wednesday. That's been the worst part. Wednesday was meant to be my catch up day when I could write my blog, sort my knitting out and get an early night but my Nana has caught a cold which has developed into a chest infection which has developed in pneumonia. The husband and I went over to make sure she got some food and took her tablets. I love my nan and it was nice to spend time with her but she's so ill at the moment that all I can do is worry. I couldn't stop myself from fussing around the house the entire time I was there though it didn't help that I had a constant stream of relatives phoning up to find out how she was. We were exhausted by the time we got home but happy that we had visited. Thursday finally arrived and my husband had to work late and I spent the evening baking a cake for him to take into work. Now that should have been all nice and restful but the kitchen was a bomb site as we hadn't been able to do anything in the house all week so actually it meant a lot of work. He does at least have a pimp cake to take into work today (no competition there of course).

So that's my week for you. Not terribly exciting really though busy busy busy. And it's just going to continue like this for the next few weeks until either I die or Christmas arrives. It's kind of nice though. My swap group for TSG on Ravelry are sending nice messages thanking me for my work and it's real good to catch up with family and friends. Today is going to be especially nice as its the husbands birthday so we have an evening in for the two of us planned with nice food, nice wine and a new wii game to play. Yay!

The arrival of Saturday will herald yet more chaos as we have stupidly busy weekend planned but for now I'm just going to sit and relax for a few minutes. I might even try and find something fun to do at work for the day as a treat for working so hard for the last 7 days. Actually, speaking of treats- I did do one really naughty thing this week (ssssh, don't tell anyone!). I have done nearly all my Christmas shopping this week (that's about £400 on to the credit card then) and just happened to be on Etsy. Complete accident you understand, and I might have accidentally ~hushed voice~ bought a couple of skeins of Angora bunny yarn. I don't know how it happened. I was looking at it and now I own it. I can't wait for it to arrive. It's coming from America so it'll take a little while. I so totally shouldn't have bought it as I no money to spend on myself this month- I don't have enough for presents for everyone else let alone me! but I keep thinking about how lovely and soft its going to be and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Ah, it can help line my happy little place :)