Treasures of the loft

Spent a productive couple of hours this morning sorting the loft out. For ages now we've been putting stuff up there which has nowhere else to go and it was practically splitting at the seams so something had to be done. Got rid of an amazing amount of cardboard - mostly hoarded boxes from appliances when they were new - kept in case they broke down.

But also found 2 modems, 3 double duvets (in addition to the 2 already in use in the house!), a B&D paint stripper which we had completely forgotten we had, a huge amount of chopped cardboard (we worked out it belonged to the box the bed arrived in about 4 years ago! and we had taken the time and trouble to cut it up and then kept it in the loft - what for??????) and a box belonging to one of our old irons with an even older iron in it! Not to mention a shoe box full of tester pots (of colours whicn probably no longer exist), broken video and DVD players and the old computer, and a mountain of stuff for Freecycling!

A very dirty and tiring (2 trips to the tip!) time, but it all looks very lovely and empty up there now. Still one end of the space to go...but we'll save that for another weekend. Oh the joy

Cookathon

Okay, I can see why I don't usually do the cooking - although hopefully if I did it more it would get better!! Leigh usually does the cooking in our house (and what a blessing!) but as it is Valentine's today, I offered to give it a go. Chicken and pancetta patties with potato rosti and roast squash, followed by a lime pie (lovers' lime pie that is...). Had a complete nightmare shopping for the ingredients - I took the afternoon off work today to make sure I got everything and was ready but I should have had the whole day!! Main problem being that nowhere seems to sell chicken mince now - what is that about?? Went to Sainbury's - no joy. Went to Morrisons and got turkey mince.. (no time to go anywhere else). Also wanted some nice candles from the candle shop in town, but that's now moved and I couldn't find the new shop!

So got home feeling rather frustrated and began my cookathon - actually everything turned out pretty well considering my cack-handed-ness (if that's a word) although I was getting increasingly concerned about the lime pie. It is a Nigel Slater recipe (and very nice too) but at varying points in it I was warned that if there any any holes AT ALL in the pastry then the filling will leak out! After cooking the pastry blind it was running with fat, and after taking out the beans and cooking a bit longer - the bottom of the pastry just ballooned up! Had absolutely no idea if that was right or not, so i just carried on and fortunately all turned out well in the end. I don't think I can take the stress though - it's almost worse than work!!!

Toothpaste

Oh. My. God. In my car on the way to work this morning I felt some kind of crusty dry stuff in my hair. Then spent the rest of the journey trying to peer at it in the rearview mirror while not crashing the car (I can do multi-tasking!). All I worked out was that it was white - thought it might be bird poo, but it smelt minty! Toothpaste?? If it is, what sort of freaky way do I brush my teeth that means I get toothpaste in my hair - and I'm talking about right at the top of my crown, not just the ends dangling into the sink.

The worst thing was that my bos noticed and said "oh you've got some paint or something in your hair." Did I reply "oh have I? I must check that"? Of course not - "Yes. I noticed. I think it's toothpaste." Brilliant.

Tights and velcro...

never a good combination. Who would be a girl...and more to the point, who has velcro under their chair seats??????!!!!! It's so wrong.

More journeys...

When oh when oh when oh when will they finish the road works at Rougham???? Came home from Thetford today - usually a joy because it's a good 15 minutes shorter that my usual journey - but they'd only gone and blocked off a buggering lane at the Rougham roadworks!!! So home normal time after all... They were supposed to be finished at the end of 2005 but there's still barriers and landscaping being done which no doubt will take the longest time...

They're also apparently revamping the junctions at the Haughley bends (another 'haughley' exciting part of my journey home!) so it's going to be fun on the A14 for some time to come.

But other than that I LOVE MY NEW CAR. I can't quit believe how lovely it is to drive - almost makes me not mind sitting in queues of traffic (but not quite!)

Journeys

Went to Dagenham today with one of my colleagues (Adrian) to see a client - great fun - saw a car on fire near Lakeside and Adrian got a parking ticket!! He was trying to make out that I'd have to pay half because I was the one who actually removed it from the windscreen and I'm not the driver!!! Cheek - having none of that!

First Impressions

Isn't it odd how you sometimes form an impression of a person from one thing they say. I met a client today with his accountant - first time I'd met either of them, only having spoken to them on the phone before, once. Had given my name as Kathryn, but when I introduced myself to the accountant he said "so you're Katie." And my first thought was 'hmmm patronising' and as a kind of automatic response corrected it!! (and I fully expect his immediate thought was 'hmmm defensive about her age'!)

He wasn't that bad really, but one of those real old boys, who (as someone else put it) 'expects things done on the back of a fag packet.'