As I sat in the sun on Saturday high up in the Waitakeres, I had NO desire to work on Jug. This may be why she is taking so long – sometimes I hate the way she is looking. I also wonder where she will fit in my (far too) masculine home – in a way I don’t care about when it comes to the Corbett Sleigh and reindeer (they are going up regardless). So I listened to the birdsong (at least until the chainsaws started) and took out a new start. I’ve been carrying around the beads, along with the fabric, working copy and DMC 310 for ages. And ages. Fred needs a friend, right?

much interupted, but progress (about four stitching opportunities)

Feel free to submit name suggestions. He is going to be the Yellow Figbird (NC187, in case you give a crap). Eventually he’ll end up like this, only I have changed out the background blue as per Lynne’s suggestion to be DMC 827. The charted 3846 just looks wrong when up next to Fred, so I’ll carry 827 into the next two birds as well. And does anyone know the flower? Sort of reminds me of a magnolia. Is that what it is?

Twitter peeps will know that on Sunday I spent the afternoon at a Bunnings in South Auckland working on a BBQ for charity. A good friend, Mel, is running the half marathon this Sunday for the Auckland City Mission & all the proceeds of the BBQ went to the participants’ charity pool. There were 6 of us in total – over $460 raised which I don’t think was too bad for a wet Sunday. I’ll never run any distance for charity (let’s be honest, I don’t even run for me) so this is one way I can help out. The Mission does amazing work in a field I am so uncomfortable with and sometimes I think those less glamorous charities get lost in the noise. Hardly a week goes by without someone calling for a donation for something and “traditional” charities are getting drowned out, like the SPCA. I tend to support what I see as tangible and practical, which will clearly be different from your priorities. And that’s fine.

When it comes to NaBloPoMo plans (which starts tomorrow for me, eep!) I have gone OK. There are some reoccurring themes (WIP Wednesday for one) as I think I will be more likely to finish the challenge if I have some “gimme” days. So far I have five days unplanned and I have some posts part-written already. This is because I should really be working as Sunday was the End of Month (and Quarter) here at work, and people want their reports. How unreasonable! I did escape the grind for a bit yesterday and went to Living & Giving, our gift chain, which has a store in St Lukes. Massive 40% off Ecoya (actually all candles and fragrances, with 30% off everything else but I only wanted Ecoya, along with everyone else I know) and got a pillar candle in beautiful Vanilla Bean, and two of the limited edition Pine jars to get the house smelling like Christmas. That is the one thing with an asthmatic kid – no real tree. But at least my house will smell “right” – and this will overpower the Screaming Teen’s boy room smell. Or at least that is the plan!

Reading – I finished The Lady in Red and had one of those book hangover periods where nothing was good enough. I’m not quite ready to move onto something else “serious” so I am re-reading K.S. Nikakis’ Kira Chronicles again. Nikakis’ first book of the trilogy was her debut; Mel gave it to me years ago as an ARC and I loved it so much I sulked when I had to pass it onto someone else. I have all three on my reader. Very original high fantasy with the main character, Kiraon, being a young girl. Traditional fantasy elements and it’s blood thirsty enough to appeal to two of my brats. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/k-s-nikakis/ unfortunately her next works are still in progress. Hurry up!