Babies and Bacon

As it's snowing outside, and M is having a kip, I thought I'd settle down with a cup of coffee and a biscuit to write my blog. All I need now is a roaring fire and the picture would be complete.

What have we been up to? Well, I became an auntie on Saturday. My sister gave birth to a little girl, Rosie Suzanne, weighing in at 7lb 7oz, at 6.45am. They were both home in the afternoon (she didn't get the homebirth she'd planned for) and I got to see them on the webcam that evening! She has lots of dark hair, and was sleeping when I saw her, so long may that continue!

Apart from that, Saturday was fairly uneventful, just shopping and stuff. I bought some more wool, as I was being far too optimistic in thinking that 4 balls of wool was going to make a cushion cover, so I now have 12 in total. I have absolutely no idea how many balls its going to take. Oh well, its nice wool, so if I have any left over, I'll just have to knit some clothes for M's baby doll.

Sunday was actually really lovely. I bought an English newspaper from the station, went to a café, and sat there for a lovely 2½ hours, reading and sipping coffee. Then A & M joined me for a late lunch. This café is the only place in Lausanne that we have found that does anything resembling a cooked breakfast, so A & I both ordered the John Steed (croissants, bread, jam, bacon, scrambled egg & sautéed potatoes). Admittedly the bacon is almost unrecognisable from what we are used to in the UK, but it's the thought that counts.
We ate that rather leisurely and then walked home. It was bitterly cold, but it was nice to come into the warm appartment and snuggle up in front of the tv.

Unfortunately, by late afternoon, both A & I were feeling under the weather, so we were probably paying less attention to M than he desired, so we had a few rounds on the naughty step. I feel bad when that happens, as partly it was our fault, but then I guess M has to learn at some point that he can't have what he wants all the time. I just don't know if it's too soon for him to learn it.

I made some bread rolls for dinner to go with some tuna & sweetcorn mayo and also dried out some old veggies to then freeze and grind up to make sort of vegetable bouillon powder. I have no idea how its going to turn out, but it was worth a try.

A & I then had a lazy evening in front of the tv (nothing really worth watching, except this Derren Brown thing where he tries to convince 4 middle managers to rob a bank - amazing viewing). I went to bed pretty early to read The Secret History by Donna Tartt. After the first couple of pages I thought that it was going to be rubbish, but then I have really got into it, so much so that I didn't want to put it down, and I have a feeling that I haven't even got to the best bit yet!

Oogle googling

This one seems to be doing the rounds (nicked it from Al) so I thought I'd join in. Go to Google Images and post the first picture that comes up when you type in:

Name of town where you were born:

Name of town where you live now:

Your Name:

Your Grandma's Name:

Your favourite Food:

Your favourite drink:

Your favourite smell:

Some of them are fairly obvious, maybe next time, I'll use say the third image, cos some of them were weird!

Getting the Needle

Well, even though it will completely shock and surprise some of you, I have bought some knitting needles, and some wool and I have started to knit a cushion cover!

As a kid, however hard my mother tried, I just couldn't seem to get the hang of knitting (thought it might be to do with bring left-handed and being taught right-handed). It was far from a relaxing pastime for me, more like a laborious chore!

But today, with the help of the faithful Internet, I managed to cast on and do a few rows before M wanted to play, so as long as I keep it up, new cushions here we come! I have no idea if the number of stitches I cast on will be the right size for the cushion inner (which I haven't bought yet), but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I've probably bought the wring type of wool for my first project. Its all bobbly, and the bobbles (which are really quite big) keep getting in the way. Still, if I had bought some wool that I wasn't that fussed about, it would've been pointless to even start.

My tension seems to be pretty tight too, but I guess that'll come with practice. I'm am just literally knitting at the moment, no purl or anything else. Still, to complete something will be a huge achievement for me, so best to keep it simple.

Last night we had friends round for Mexican and poker. It was good fun. P managed to clean up, even though he was adamant at the start that he had no clue how to play. Think he was using his French-ness (well, ykwim) as a convincing bluff.
We didn't play for money, which was just as well, as the boys particularly were going a bit crazy with their bets.

Today M is getting his haircut. I've cut it twice before with the clippers, but since its got long, there is no way its going back to the crewcut that I gave him, so I'll be forking out 20CHF to get it done at a childrens hairdresser (who also bizarrely sells shoes). Just hope he sits still for long enough.

M's favourite game at the moment is wandering around with a small tub of pasta, filling any receptacle that he can find. At least its dried pasta! I'm sure I'm going to be finding pasta in all sorts of weird places. I need to think what other things we can do with filling and emptying (hopefully stuff that doesn't make too much mess!)

Number One

Well, I guess it had to be done..........

I imagine that posting will be thin on the ground, seeing as I am very flaky with things like this, and my commitment to projects like this is not outstanding.

My motivation behind this (because to be honest, I've never written a diary) is to provide friends and family who we've moved away from, which is most of them (it's nothing personal, honest!), with an update (I won't say regular, as it's unlikely to be) of whats going on in our lives.

This also means that I can use it as an excuse for being so crap at using the phone, so it's for selfish reasons too.

I might even be able to post a few pictures at some point too!

So, what about my day?

Well, M slept until 7.30am which, given the last few nights we've had since he's been ill, is fantastic. I slept really well, and felt pretty refreshed this morning.
I then spent the morning doing the usual houseworky things, and of course, creating this blog.

Realised at 10.45 that there was only one bread roll in the freezer, so quickly stuck some stuff in the breadmaker in the hope that it would be done for lunchtime.

Then M went for his nap, and I settled into the bath, which is a rare event for me. Don't know why I don't do it more often, especially when M is kipping.

I must apologise if this blog starts out rather boring and samey. I expect that in time I will find a style that I feel comfortable writing in, but until then, you'll just have to make do with a rundown of my day!