Coffee Good, Morning Bad

From the ever-excellent xkcd web comic, I present something that (if I were clever and funny enough) could have written for my husband.

The agony and the ecstasy

I should say right from the start: This is not procrastinating. No, really. I have a craft show to turn up to in a week's time. I have produced naught but a handful of items but this isn't procrastinating. It's blogging. There is a distinct difference. Blogging is not ignoring the elephant in the room. Blogging is writing about ignoring the elephant in the room. Different, see.

So, yes:

You can buy these. Next Sunday, Hove Town Hall at the 'All Things Christmas Show'. Hopefully you'll be able to buy other things but right now I wouldn't necessarily put my life savings on it. Unless you are me, who has already put her life savings *into* it to buy stock. Ooops. My problem is I won't make shonky stuff - it has to be pretty near to perfect if I'm going to offer it up to anyone else. So everything takes an age.

Paul has been a rock of support and very very handy with a trimmer. Even now he is in his parents' front room, with a guillotine, making up altered note books for me. I am making more 'word' books and making my 12x12 commission album, that people can have a look through to see if they might want to order individual albums from me. I'm actually scrapbooking someone else's holiday photos which is a challenge, but pretty fun too. It took a long time to get started but I'm getting there. I'm happy with the pages which, as they are also going to be a gift, is a Good Thing.

Now, do I go to bed or scrap into the early hours? I must be getting old. I can hear my bed calling.

Trouble stew

I should be in bed asleep now. I'm going to pay for this tomorrow. But I'm not asleep, I'm awake and stewing over stupid negative things in my head. Isn't that dumb? Hooray for human idiocy.

I think tomorrow Toby and I will make a little video podcast for you all. Betcha can't wait.

Loading Ready Run recap the news

I love Loading Ready Run very much but this latest video tickled me a lot. If you go to the site check out 'Talk Like a Pirate', 'The future of Halo' and 'Rejected Wii games' too.

Random dispatches from the front line of Working Mother Monthly

I took the plunge last month and began my most excellent adventure as a Freelance Copywriter. It's something I've done on and off ever since leaving GWR way back nearly 5 years ago but I now have a name for the business - Poppy Copy and I am officially no longer one of those statistics the Daily Mail loves to quote. You know, unemployed mother. Not that I ever claimed benefits - more's the pity - so I guess I might be off the hook. At any rate, I'm a bona fide tax payer now. If you think you know someone who might want copy feel free to pass my details on. My work name (ha ha) is Cheryl Annett-Baker (if you didn't know or hadn't worked it out, my parents didn't christen me Relly: it's just a pet name from school/university) so please pass on my real name and my email, copy@poppycopy.co.uk

Other projects in the pipeline are Ummy Mummy: The smart mummy's personal shopper site, Effective Girl: The stylish chick's effective productivity tools and tips, and my scrapbooking blog, Stash Size Zero is going to get a bit of an overhaul and update too.

Also, in that mysterious space known as Real Life, I'm going to have a stall selling my scrapbooking and altered book handicrafts at The All Things Christmas Show in Hove Town Hall on the December 2nd. Also there will be my friend Steph selling her really rather gorgeous Softies and hand crocheted scarves. (I'm still battling making my own right now).

With that all in mind I should really wrap up this post and go and make some stock. If you live in or around Brighton and you want to be my very best friend, download this pdf, print it out and place it somewhere prominent to encourage people to come and buy our stuff.

Download a5_xmas_flyer.pdf

December 2nd - put it in your diaries!

The Lost Continent

I re-read this book by Bill Bryson a week or two ago. Bryson's books are ones that I regularly revisit and I wasn't disappointed re-reading this examination (from the early 80s) or the backwater towns and big cities of the US. Bryson's fresh perspective - of a an American returning to his native country after many years self-imposed exile - is truly engaging. He recalls with warmth the memories of holidays as a kid and comes to realise that you can never go back to what was. Many passages are laugh-out-loud funny and many more still say a lot about the state of American home life.