halva

I don't really have time for complicated endeavours but I've tried my hand pickles and chutney this year.

There's a blog I particularly like called The Cottage Smallholder. The woman behind the blog is trying to be as self-sufficient as possible. That's never going to be possible for me but she does have some cracking recipes on there. The picked cucumbers in particular are wonderful - Mr Halva keeps telling me not to give any more away.

I also made green tomato chutney, which was gorgeous. It's got chilli and lemon in it and tastes sort of like some of the pickles you get in Indian restaurants with the poppadums.

Last week my mum and I made marmalade. It was fun, if a bit time consuming. It came out a bit overdone but I like old-fashioned dark, concentrated marmalade so I'm happy with it.

We have a whole load of plums in the freezer. There's a plum tree locally that always groans with fruit and no one picks it. I cannot believe that the owners of the house let them go to waste every year. So, last year we went and asked them if we could pick some (I have no shame!). Now I have them, I have no clue what to do with all these plums. I am thinking plum brandy and maybe some jam. I suppose they would go well with apples in crumbles, although I need not to be making too many of those if I'm going to shed that extra stone.

I like playing at making stuff. I wish I had more time to do so though.

Don't have an awful lot to say at the moment.

Life is reasonable. My job is at least worthwhile, if not completely fulfilling. Our landlord is prepared to let us stay for another year. I'm fairly well, although this winter did sort of knock the stuffing out of me.

I can't seem to get particularly motivated about anything though. I have a suspicion that I may be suffering from mild depression. Not really sure. It's quite hard to identify for a number of reasons. Firstly, I can never really remember what exactly being clinically depressed actually feels like, which is highly ironic given that I spent the majority of my 20s in this state. Secondly, the type of symptoms I get these days now I am no longer quite so messed up are so mixed up with general fatigue that it's difficult to figure out what's what.

I suppose this is a note to self post. It could well be that I'm demotivated because like I'm still not in the right job, don't really have any outside interests at the moment and what's left of the CFS always kicks my arse over the winter.

Then again, not having any interest in even online stuff, is a big tick for there being something not quite right.

Bah. If I'm not any better in a month it may well be time to look at going to the docs. I'm not that keen to go back on medication since I've been med-free for a couple of years. Then again it would be silly to ignore that possible solution.

Have been having a pretty rubbish day. It's all stress-induced so I'm not worrying too much. The stress will go away to a certain extent after next Wednesday when the gargantuan work event (tm) I'm part-organising is over. But, but, I have just seen that Robin Hobb will be doing a talk and signing in Waterstones, Deansgate in Manchester on 9th July and I'm now ridiculously excited about it.

If anyone would like to come with, let me know.

You know what's good about moving after only a short while after moving in? You get to find that bag of potatoes (tm). The ones you put in the back of the cupboard so they wouldn't sprout so quickly and have sat there for 6 months. After this period of time, they only resemble little aliens and have not deteriorated to nameless sludge. This can only be a good thing.

We've spent the day packing but we did get the keys to our new place. We went around and it was reassuringly chaotic, not all that clean and the landlord and his family were still moving their stuff out. There were marks on the paintwork, chips on the gloss and oh thank Glod I am so glad that we do not have to worry about causing a few more. We decided to give the landlord some space so we've not moved anything in yet, though the Bongo is filled and ready to go. We've learned our lesson about moving into houses that have been done up to look cosmetically brilliant but are complete rubbish underneath.

We will not have a phone line until 1st June due to complications so I'll have to remember to keep the mobile charged. Feel free to lambast me when I forget. You know I will.

Tomorrow is mad clearing and cleaning day. I don't wanna.

Suddenly there's excitement about Dreamwidth. I, of course, am probably weeks behind everyone else. If large portions of the flist seem to be heading in that direction, then I imagine I will move over. I don't have lots and lots to say but I still enjoy writing posts as and when. So, if anyone's got an invite code, I would appreciate one. I'll stress that I'm not desperate for one so happy for people's codes to go to those that really want one. I have no idea how numerous these things are.

What are people's thoughts on Dreamwidth? Are you going and leaving LJ, staying and crossposting, or sior is it just too early to tell?

Currently having fun reading http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com. Hilarious! My favourite is the note written in ketchup and mustard.

Gosh it's been a very busy few weeks. Two weekends ago I took Friday off, picked friend A up from the station and got on the road to Exeter to go to IVFDF. I'd advertised the journey on the IVFDF liftshare page so we picked up two students in Keele; Ian (Welsh and very gregarious) and Barbara (German and very quiet). They turned out to be good company as we ate up the miles in scarfell's old Nissan. scarfell stayed at home, due to having no annual leave left, a dodgy knee and I think perhaps a smidgen of dancing-fear. After a little detour around Birmingham, taken because I missed the turning off on to the M5 (how?!) we got back on track with enough time to make it to the first event of the weekend.

( Dancing and Music, Chair Surfing and White Russians )

Last weekend was the St Andrews Highland Ball, which I've not been to in a very long time and dredged up a lot of old memories, some really good, others not so. Also, all of this sudden activity and exercise has made my body go WTF?! Still I don't hurt quite as much as I expected. I don't think I have to go anywhere for a couple of weeks, which is fabulous. I was a little too insular last year due to wedding prep and general apathy but it will be good to stay still for a little while.

Today scarfell and I decided to take an afternoon walk in the grounds of Dunham Massey. I was already in the area, having met my grandparents for lunch and we really felt that despite the greyness we ought to shift our lazy, slothlike backsides and do some token exercise.

It was actually a good walk once we got away from the 10,000 children on scooters, bikes etc. We saw some deer very close to and a lot of very old trees, some of which are now looking as if they are coming to the end of their lives. The majority of the beeches at Dunham are all a few hundred years old and it shows - big scars where branches have torn off and lots of fallen trees. All of the fallen trees have been left to rot down naturally and it looks quite eerie. Like tree skeletons. I wish I'd taken the camera.

Seeing the trees triggered a memory of a book I picked up second hand when I was around 10 or 11. All I remembered about it was that it followed the life of an oak tree from Norman times until the Second World War. It was one of those memories that persisted so I Googled "Lord of the Forest" when I got in, found a copy on Abebooks and ordered it. Just like that. I shouldn't be surprised that you can go from thought to purchase in a matter of a few minutes - but I am! I hope it lives up to memory.

It's too bloody dark, damp and cold to go out so my evenings of late have mostly been spent with some quality TV. I like to watch boxsets rather than TV to avoid adverts and waiting a whole week for another episode.

Here are my current watches. ( Cut for ramblings that are not particularly clever or insightful! )

I have an immense head cold. When everyone was dropping like flies before Christmas, I becan to feel quite smug as the weeks went by and I was one of the only robustly healthy people left in my organisation.

Joke's on me now. I cant be at any less than a 90 degree sitting position or my sinuses actually burn and my head feels like it's going to explode. I can't lie down. Standing up is best for being able to breathe but that gets old very quickly, particularly when you're feeling rough! Decongestants unfortunately make my heart race like I'm on speed so I am having to tough this out the hard way. Good job I am not remotely whiny or annoying.

My mother the angel came by late afternoon and brought ultrabalm tissues for my poor cracked nose, some Lockets, a smoothie and some Co-op Fairtrade dark chocolate. The Lockets actually help although there are some warnings on the packet about what too much menthol does to your digestive system so I'm taking it easy!

So much for my killer immune system and for claptrapping on to my colleagues about vitamin C, zinc and Echinacea making me invincible!

I have discovered Royal Mail's online postage payment service. It rocks. It means that when I ran out of stamps today and the post office was shut I was able to do it all online so everything is ready for me to bung in the post box tomorrow morning.

Of course, the fact that tomorrow is 23rd December does render this herculean effort a little pointless but, still, A+ for effort I say!