Sobering for Octobering... SAY WHAT?!

Yes. I have decided to be one of those annoying people that sign up to do something for charity for a month which goes hand in hand with a similarly annoying phrase that just about rhymes with the month... this month in fact.

I have begun to tell you this story in a rather cynical way, as despite my joie de vivre at the beginning of the month for the task in hand, I have generally (with a minority of exceptions) received nothing but laughs and tuts and declarations of utter abomination.

So...I decided to post the following last night on one of those silly social networks that I get addicted to every now and again...

"Well...this is probably pointless as the majority of people I'm mentioning it to scoff and ask why I'm bothering... well... Charity? Detox? Health? Clarity? Peace of mind? It's a lot harder than it seems when you are one of those people who does very much enjoy a tipple or two or three or more. I'm now feeling bored, uninspired and pretty fed up as it's not very motivational when there's not many pats on the back along the way. Bah humbug.

And most people say they'll sponsor me to drink as it seems silly to sponsor me not to... SO!!! You lot...go to my page and click to DONATE A GOLDEN TICKET on the right hand side of the page and I will happily drink for you all.

https://www.gosober.org.uk/profile/katerobertson

Going to down my sorrows in a mug of rooibosch.

I will say no more on the matter. I'm bored now."

So then... depending where you stand on this one and if you decide to brush it off with the rest of them (HUGE thanks to the three people that have donated so far and a couple of good friends that have said nice things) I would very very very much appreciate any donations. All donations go straight to Macmillan Cancer Support for basically giving up booze for the whole month, which isn't as easy as it sounds. When the three donations I have received came in, it did inspire me to stay on target and keep going to raise money for Cancer Support.

I know it is only the fourth day into October but we do tend to share a bottle of wine midweek with each other or have a midweek drinky-poos around the dinner table with friends and really enjoy it. Then when the weekend comes and the kids are tucked up I want nothing more than to put my feet up and have a nice glass of wine...or four. It also makes going out to social gatherings, or having friends over for a drink at the weekend extremely challenging but won't stop me being social and still attending.

So, to me this is quite a personal challenge indeed. It hit me even harder last night when researching all the other fellow go sober do-gooders when looking at their totals that they've been sponsored, already in their hundreds and some reaching, and already into the thousands. I feel like I've been abandoned to sit in the corner with my dunce's hat while people point and laugh at the boring sober person.

So there you have it...if you'd like to raise your glass to me and donate whatever you like... 50p? A squid? Two, three, four? Fifty? One hundred? I would be eternally grateful. Click HERE.

OR...if you're feeling like I could do with a break and let my hair down you can also DONATE A GOLDEN TICKET to allow me to have one night off. At first I thought this was a terrible cop out, but then I thought again and I very much welcome the idea as it is still raising money for charity and maybe I will stop feeling quite as frustrated as I do right now and stop wanting to eat everything in sight?!!

Wish me luck!

It's all jolly good...

Hello out there.

I've not been around for a while again, so here I am.

It's all good around these parts. The weather's been amazing. I'm rather brown. We've been enjoying many barbecues and too many spritzers.

Hugely excited for the kid's summer holidays and the long days of fun, picnics, making and generally relaxing without having to be anywhere.

I have mainly be doing this recently...

Drinking too much of this.

Finding this on Bridport market for a fiver.

Dressing like a humbug with a skirt I found in a charity shop.

Finding these for a measly fiver in the sale today to show off my cankles.

Finishing off the teal and tangerine corner with a lamp donated by crazy friends.

Finding this Romanian plate for 50p

And bobbing out of long.

And also, we performed the UOEIA Operina in Bridport (the one we did in Rotterdam) at another IF event at the end of June which went really well...

Enjoy!!!

More preparations to do for a workshop I am leading at Bridport Arts Centre for Small Things right now...

Hope you're all enjoying the weather.

If you look through my window...

...you will find many things going on.

Here are some of those things...

Our happy cat with a pants hat...

Glittery girl

Fairies

Boomeroo

Boomeroo

Tally-Lu-Who

Stop taking photos of me mum...

Chilli Oil I made for my lovely friends for Christmas

Forgot to make some for us though!

We had Christmas... Don't we look jolly?! Love how we're both frowning...

I bought some coloured lampshades. We now live in an orange room.

Mary came for Christmas and rang relatives to let them know Jesus had arrived...

Our happy Cat enjoying the Christmas celebrations

I had a birthday and ate lemon meringue & discovered no one else in my house liked it

Roo was a blue Dragon for NYE

And Talulah a Pussy Cat

Made a spinning sheep mobile for the video projection for Gargantua

The Wolf Mask Template I made for Gargantua that ended up breaking!

There's loads of other things going on as usual. Lots of making for Gargantua. Lots of exercise. Lots of snotty noses and lots of being ill. Nice.

Do check out the Gargantua blog here for an up to date progress of the project and team.

Hope you're all jolly and well. Can't wait for gloomy rainy January to be over.

How's your January been?

Moop. x

"Gargantua" -: It's the end...and dumplings...

Hello to you all.

I'm over again at the Garg blog -> Ergo Phizmiz: "Gargantua" -: It's the end...: ...of the Wolf mask template! Over the course of the last few days the part I repaired crumbled leaving the mask in three quarters as seen...

If you've been following my progress on the Gargantua blog you will see that my progress has been a tad slow. However, things are finally coming together and I'm feeling a lot more confident about my part in the whole thing.

The end of last year was very exhausting with a list as long as my arm that needed completing as well as taking on a temporary Christmas job in a clothes shop to help towards Christmas as well as my usual part time job in a gift shop. I barely felt that I had a minute to myself, let alone a minute to concentrate on making new things that I wasn't wholly feeling so confident about. In fact the whole episode ended with an awful flare up of a horrendous chronic stomach condition I have that shows it's ugly head every few years (especially at stressy times). So now I'm even more geared up and raring to go after my body's got over attacking itself. So to take the bull by it's horns as you may say. Get better and make, make, make.

I've got plans to do more arts/crafts/vintage stalls, so I've got lots of making to do. I've got promises of films for different people that I didn't have the time to do last year. I've got lots of ideas for new films and experiments with films I'd like to try out. Photography ideas. Ideas and plans for ceramics and my poor Potter's wheel that I've not had time to use. And finally get the mug transfers I made, done for Isle of Tea and also sort out the shop and get it re-opened again. Also though, I think it's time to reign in offering all my talents to people for free or very little. It seemed like the whole of last year I pretty much dedicated all my spare time to helping other people out with their projects/ideas/work, etc.

Mug designs for Isle of Tea

It may seem selfish to say that, but it is meant with the best intentions and to myself too. I've spent far too long, diverting my attention with other things and not feeling good enough about what I can achieve. I often refrain from spilling the beans on here, but I'm as human as everyone else and generally in everyday conversation, it is the people I can completely be myself with that I get along with the most and they've seen an awful lot of my beans.

And just for fun, I think I'll share with you an image from when I must've been around 30 months...and upside down, in my pants.

This evening we're planning to watch an Orson Welles film and tuck into the Veggie Goulash with Horseradish dumplings. I should really get these kiddies to bed too, get my comfies on and get my new hot water bottle at the ready.

Nighty night.

Kinder

I took some photos of my kids today. Autumn was desperately calling me upstairs to see her sparkly outfit she'd chosen to wear for the day and I couldn't resist taking some snaps.

Other than that we had a lovely walk over the cliffs to Eype with some friends, bought our Christmas tree and enjoyed the glorious Winter sun.

How are you enjoying December?

Seventies Tin Coasters

To go very nicely with the bluey/teal, orange & brown theme in the front room, I found these delicious tin 70s coasters from a vintage fair I had a stall at a couple of weeks ago.

The very last of the raspberries from our garden

Six for three squid!

Blue & Brown

I really like them. But keep forgetting to use them. They do look good on the orange shelf though...

You know when colours just really turn you on? Mmmm...yum!

TtFn

Persepolis & Blackcurrant Liquorice Sweeties

We'd just come back from a jaunt around town, been to see the Dvd guy on the market, round a few charity shops and ended up in the old sweet shop. We went a little bit wild, but have thoroughly enjoyed the selection we got.

You can usually buy three Dvds for 10 quid, but as we have been regular customers since we moved to Bridport, he always gives us a pound in change. We all love going to see the Dvd stall. He's got a great selection.

I found Persepolis, which I haven't seen yet, but I got the book for my birthday last December and really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure I'd like the comic strip type of format, but I quite quickly forgot about how it was laid out and it quickly felt like I'd been reading a really in-depth book.

I'm currently sat sucking on a blackcurrant liquorice sweet (well, I was last night when I wrote this post!) that I remember my Grandfather used to constantly have a stash of in his pockets when I was three or four. Nice memories.

I remember he used to sneak me strips of chewing gum and my Yia Yia (Greek for Grandmother) used to tell him off. I also remember really liking the smell the of his box of cigarettes as he willingly let me sniff away. I still remember it now, the sweet tobacco-y kind of smell. He used to get told off for that too.

He didn't used to sneak me these, but I remember many a day sat in class, in Secondary School, with sweet bags full of these things and trying to sneak them into my mouth before the teacher saw. The atomic aniseed balls were the best though as they were really spicy.

Well, I've just been handed a plate of mushrooms on toast. That's my cue then.

TtFn

Teal & Tangerine

I decided a while back that the front room was in need of a bit of love.

Before

And had got it into my head that all our dark brown furniture would look really great with a combination of teal tones and tangerines.

After

And so I began by painting our shelf orange. It would be even better if we one day managed to get the shelf upon the wall.

Do you like?

I'm off to do some video editing...

TTFN

Halloweeny Fun

I was wanting to make some halloween inspired crafty things with the kids and came across a pack of A4 pack of sugar paper in autumnal colours, which I couldn't resist.

So one day after School we got started...

Autumn's Wolf

Autumn's Pumpkin

Mummy's coffee with a sprinkle of cinnamon

Autumn's finished picture

Talulah's finished picture

Daddy's finished picture that mummy couldn't be bothered rotating...

So there you go. Autumnal coloured Halloween inspired pictures!

We've still got to sort out their costumes for Halloween. What are your kids/or you dressing up as for Halloween? Autumn wanted to be a Pumpkin at first, but I'm quite glad she's decided to be a Witch! I think Talulah's going to be a bat.

TtFn