A delightful surprise

I had a wonderful surprise this morning,I collected a parcel from the post office and the contents were amazing. A while ago I won a caption competition over at Yogic Knitter. My prize parcel arrived today.

some lovely goodies


and a ball of fabulous sock yarn.

Thank you so much!

PS. If you fancy getting a nice parcel in the post come back on Saturday when I will have my own little giveaway.

In the pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Don't whisper it.
Don't be oblique.
Don't be shy.

Ask every woman you care about "have you checked your breasts?"
And ask them to ask at least two people that they care about.
Ask the men you know to ask their wives and girlfriends.
And make sure the men check themselves, because men get breast cancer too.

So I'm asking YOU... "Have you checked your breasts?"

Shamelessly stolen from Natalie at The Yarn Yard

PS. I'm pleased to announce a new family member, the faithful Xantia has gone to the scrap heap in the sky and Annie Astra is now safely sat outside ready for many adventures!

In the post today

silk/cashmere blend
Originally uploaded by hilltopkatie

Lookie what I got. It's soooo beautiful, and was sent to me for free, there are some beautiful people out there. It's cashmere/silk and sooo soft, it will hopefully become a beautiful shawl. thank you sparkle duck, hopefully I can do it justice when I knit it up.

living for the weekend

Unfortunately this has become my life, I count down days until the weekend (1 down 4 to go), and until half term holidays (4 weeks left...) however it does make sure I get out and enjoy my weekends, those 2 days are now so precious that I can't bear to waste them.



This was what I spent my weekend doing... yes that is a barbeque, and errr yes that is the Peak District, and yes it's that time of year again when half of the university freshers(not quite, though it felt like it) descend upon a small quarry filled with chossy, grassy rubbish climbs to be introduced to the art of climbing, and to the surprise of all us experienced climbers enjoy it. I spent most of the day manning a barbeque cooking 130 burgers, and trying to be nice...



(PS if you want to argue with me about the ethics of this if you are a climber please send me an email and keep it away from here, my blog is my happy place, any nasty comments will just get deleted.)

PPS. Thank Laurie for letting me use your piccies, they're much better than mine would be anyway!

Something to cherish

One of my favourite bloggers (Cecily at Uppercase Woman ) asked a question yesterday where she wanted to know what we cherished.
After a moments thought my answer was solitude, in her post she talked about taking time out to cherish things without feeling guilty about it. For me I need to cherish my solitude because my job is all about interaction I come home from work some days and just want to not speak to anyone! This can make me feel guilty because it can feel like I'm being a rubbish friend for hiding away in my room, but actually when I'm in an "alone" mood I'm rubbish company anyway!

What do you need to cherish and stop feeling guilty about?

Do something amazing

I've posted about this before but it really does bare repeating.

Have you ever saved someone's life? No... are you sure?
Would you like to be able to if you needed to? Well really who wouldn't?

Please, please, please go and give blood, (I know some people can't for medical reasons), but if you have no valid reason why not please give it a go. I started age 18, and have donated 11 units since then, however that pales in to insignificance in comparison to the post Natalie has over at The Yarn Yard, please go over and give her hubbie some love, and check out her links if you don't donate.

The perfect weekend

or as near as you can get anyway. My Mum asked me on the phone earlier why my weekend was so wonderful (it's my facebook status right now), and when I told her it all sounded very non- spectacular, but sometimes life is about enjoying simple pleasures.

Making sure I got out and enjoyed the sunshine certainly helped, as did the best meal out I've had in long time with a good friend. If you're ever in the area where I love and want a recommendation then send me a message, beautifully cooked mussels with proper chips that had never been frozen! Strictly Come Dancing has started again (that Dancing with the stars if you're American), which always makes me happy. The costumes, the glamour, the drama, the laughter it's perfect saturday night tv.
Sunday I went to church (I know gasp from those who know me!) to present a 20 year service award to one of the Guiders in the district and it was great to be ale to recognize her somewhere that means a lot to her even it doesn't to me. Afterwards I escaped into the Peak District to soak up the sunshine to go climbing. Somehow it's my first day out on grit that I've managed all summer, but it was a great day. I scared myself up 2 severes, the second of which you can see here (if you climb, yes that is a lot of gear, I was having one of those moments!)


I seconded this climb which proceeded to cause me great pain and loss of skin (and to add insult to injury I fell off it!)


And finally here's who I climbed with all day, I will leave you to make your own comments!



On the dizziness front, I felt better as magically and rapidly as I felt ill... who knows what happened, but by Friday I was fighting fit again!