It feels like a very good time to be recognising the nicer things in life as there is a lot that is causing a lot of stress and difficulty at the moment, for many people.  The happier things, not matter how small or apparently trivial, can add a little bubble of delight:

my new purple corduroy coat!  Purple, cord, cosy and even better a bargain!

the circles scarf coming along nicely.  2 rows joined with a slip stitch in the middle or the circle to the same point on the previous row:

looking at the frost on cars outside while still snuggly warm indoors in my pj’s (oh, you’re not getting a pic of me in my pj’s, by the way!):

my new Nintendo Wii – why didn’t I get one years ago?

4 days til our holiday in Yorkshire!  And counting…

I’m feeling rather perky today so it is jolly nice to share some happy stats.  Here goes:

Safe rescue of 33 Chilean miners.  Who can fail to be touched by this story.  All arguments about the reasons it happened in the first place and the media circus that ensued aside, its an incredible story.  Caveman said to me ‘This will make a brilliant film’  I actually think that a film of it will not be as remarkable as the reality and all I would want to see in a film would be the actual footage of the families reunited.  My favourite image from the whole thing was the last of the rescuers leave them empty mine and the rescue capsule disappear up through the ceiling.  I’ll never tire of seeing that.

A weekend to myself to just do ‘me’ things as Caveman has been at a film festival all weekened.  I love time with just my own company.

Blogtoberfest… still!  Daily blogging is a lot less challenging than I’d thought, but I don’t know that I can maintain it long term.  I’m sure I’ll see the month out though!

Our holiday getting very close!  Oh, I can ALMOST touch it!

My first purchases from my new LYS!

Only me again!  Well, who were you expecting???

A few of the things making me smile at the mo are:

Spending a few days with my family in Scotland.  Ok I know I keep mentioning it, but spending time with my nephews and nieces is one my very favourite things!

Getting back to my own bed!  Don’t we all love our own beds more than any other anywhere?

Blogtoberfest!  It’s great!  I am really enjoying daily blogging and I feel very proud of myself for managing to keep it up. I am determined to complete the whole month.

Lovely comments from lovely new blog friends!

This cat being soooooo cute and funny:

Picture from: icanhascheezburger

The things that are making my heart sing a happy song this week are:

Achieving 100 blog posts and taking part in Blogtoberfest!

My imminent trip to Scotland to see my folks.  I’m just about counting the hours now!

Autumn!  The colours and the smells: crisp, damp and smokey!

Redundancy!  No not the best thing in itself, but I now know where things are at which has got to be better than the uncertainty that took over the past month.

Ikea Cats: Happy Inside A work of absolute simplicity and genius!

This is my 100th blog post and I have uhmed and ahed over what to do for it.  A retrospective, a party, a special make….  Hmmmm none of them seemed quite right.

Then I read on on Anka’s blog about Blogtoberfest!  Perfect, more blogging!  And lots of it.  I’ve got a lot of project going on and plans for many more in the run up to Christmas so it’s perfect timing.  I want to blog more, share more makes and ideas and refer to other people’s wonderful work.  So as the nights get darker and the crochet gets cosier it seems just right for me right now.

What’s Blogtoberfest?  Look here…

This little intro isn’t the most creative post I’m afraid, but it’s kicking off big things so pop back daily and give me a kick if necessary.

See you tomorrow xx

So it’s been a tough few weeks.  I’m not even going to pretend that I’ve had a happy skippy smiley time and been away having fun.  But a few corners have been turned and myself and others are starting to get back to ‘normal’.

Family wise there are things going on which won’t be over soon.  But it’s these times that remind me why family comes first.  First, last and everything in between actually!  And they always will.

As for work and pending redundancy, well… time will tell.

I wanted to record a few happy things as from the past few days so welcome back to Happy Stats:

• Having my say!  As part of my redundancy (or any redundancy) there is a consultation period before any final notice is given.  It’s a chance to give feedback on the situation, its impact etc.  Well, I had a lot to say.  Sometime there are advantages of being very pedantic.  I’m a stickler for policy and procedure, but also for fairness.  After several days of crying, I spent the last few weeks researching, thinking and getting my head round things and this past week its all come together into really quite a harsh report that I submitted at work last Friday.  Now that it’s out of my hands I feel a combination of relief and apprehension.  But as I said, time will tell!

• Finally getting back into the granny stripe blanket.  It’s growing!

• My new Cath Kidston pillow cases.  They make me smile to myself when I lie my weary head upon them. (Look, you can see them in the pic above!)

• Preparing a guest post for someone else’s blog!  Ooooooooh, fancy that!

• Starting to plan my Christmas makes, and receiving orders to make other people’s presents too!

• Oh Comely magazine!  Fantastic, witty, stylish and quirky. GO BUY IT!  I can’t put it any plainer than that!  (If you read Issue 2 come back and tell me how much you laughed at the article about posting things in the mail!  I cried laughing!)