keris stainton

Housekeeping

No, not in *my* house (don't be silly). Just, you know, stuff I've been meaning to mention and keep forgetting...

1. Thank you so, so much for helping me get to and then beyond the 80% target for New York. It's less than two months away now and I am so excited (and also worried, because I can't remember the last time I walked one mile, never mind 13...).

2. There are still a couple of knittens to go out. I know I said end of August, but my arthritic fingers haven't dealt very well with the changeable weather and there's only so much knittening they can take. They'll be with you soon, though. Honest. Soon.

3. Over on the right there, under that pic of me, you'll find some new links. In the WRITING one you'll find a couple of JPegs and even some PDFs of article's I've written. I'll be updating them periodically. (Get it? Articles? Periodically? Oh, never mind.)

4. There's also something called TODAY'S DANCE which is the song that me and Harry have danced frenetically around the lounge to that day. With the wonder of technology, you can point to it with your mouse, wait for the Snapshot thingie to open up and then actually play the video ... without leaving my blog! Feel free to frug furiously around your own home.

5. And then there's FRIDAY PHOTO, which was going to be my response to a Friday photo challenge from another site, but they've stopped setting them. However, I like it so I'll keep doing it. In future it'll just be whatever photo I'm liking on whatever day I put it up. And I'll probably change it to PHOTO OF THE WEEK or something, if I remember.

While I'm being self-indulgent (although it is my blog - where can I be self-indulgent if not my blog, eh?), here's a Blossom pic I did this very morning. I'm going to colour it in at some point (Ha, get me. Colouring in. I'm 36!) and then I'll upload the coloured one too, assuming I don't make a pig's ear of it.

So that's me. How are you?

Excuse my French, but ...

Seventeen pound friggin' eighty pence!* And we got wet through.**

* Actually £18.80, but I bought a pair of rollerblades for a pound.

** As did all the books I was selling. Even though I didn't want them, was selling them for 10p each and would be taking them to the charity shop if they didn't sell, it still pained me to see them getting wrecked by the weather.

Oh and those of you who voted on me taking the magazines to sell... I took about 100 (I didn't count them, but I pulled a muscle carrying them, so that sounds about right) and sold four. For 20p.

So not worth getting up at 5.55am for.

But on the brightside: rollerblades!

New York update

Right now I'm standing in a car park flogging tat for pennies ... all for charity! Fingers crossed I make more than the £20 my sister made last time she did one.

Thanks again to everyone who's sponsored me so far, but I still need more! No, I'm not asking you to sponsor me again (or buy more knittens), but there are other ways...

I noticed that I'm well on the way to the £50 from YouGov, but I'll need referrals to get me there before the deadline (not the end of August deadline, the November deadline). The surveys are easy, you get paid for them and some of them are pretty enlightening too (plus they don't hassle you with too many emails). Click here to register with YouGov UK and help my fund!

I've also joined GreasyPalm, which I'd looked at before and wasn't sure about, but then it was recommended in The Guardian, so I decided it must be okay. It's mostly cashback based (although there are also vouchers and freebies), so whenever I want to buy something online, I check GreasyPalm first and, if the retailer's on there, click through from there for cashback. If you're really keen/desperate, there are loads of free trials you can sign up for, get the cashback, and then cancel (as long as you remember to cancel...). Anyhoo, if you sign up via this link, I'll get a referral fee from that too.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Picture me, standing in a car park with a flask, while strangers paw my precious things and offer me 2p for them...

New York update

I've just remembered that the 80% deadline on my sponsorship is at the end of this month, so if anyone hasn't sponsored me - and wants to - can you please do it asap? Merci.

Also, I've been meaning to thank Sue, who I don't know, but who reads this blog and has now sponsored me twice. Thank you! You're fabulous. :)

Also, the knittens will all be posted out before the end of the month. Sorry for the delay. I really hate sewing the little buggers together. (And if anyone else wants a knitten, you know what to do!)

Knitten update

Thought I'd give you a quick knitten update. Thank you so much for all the knitten orders. I am knittening frenziedly in front of the TV every night, but seem to have developed an aversion to actually sewing the little buggers together, so the house is awash with knitten parts...

That black and white knitten on the left is one of yours, Kate! The one on the right was an experiment. Unfortunately it's almost unrecognisable as a cat, looking more like Hairy Maclary (from Donaldson's Dairy). It makes me laugh though.

The pink knitten was the first to find a home and was last seen being cuddled by lovely Caroline's lovely littlie. Ahhhhh.

Much as I love the knittens, I wish I could knit well enough to make one of these (from Mochimochi Land):

New York update (er... updated!)

Since yesterday my fundraising total hit 50% (thanks, Joyce!) I thought I'd do another update.

There are now just three kittens and another (bright pink!) waiting to be stitched and stuffed. I have been and bought black and white wool and proper stuffing so will be cracking on soonest.

So far I've got:

Alexandra - black
Kate - 2 black and white
Suzi - what colour?
Sarah - what colour?
2 for people on FP (I don't know if you're reading this, but if you are, let me know if you really do want one or if you were joking!).

If anyone else wants one, please either leave a comment or email me. They cost £5 including P&P and proceeds will be going to the New York walk fund (and therefore The Children's Society). The best idea is probably to pay the £5 via JustGiving, I think that's easiest. Thanks to everyone who suggested it and "durrr" to my brain for not even thinking of it...

I'm also planning a car boot sale and so, of course, our house is in complete chaos while I decide what to get rid of, organise what I'm keeping, and stack piles of crap fabulous slightly-used items in the corner of the front room. Yes, that's the front room that was supposed to be a child- and TV-free "grown-up" room and which currently features, along with the junk treasure, a coffee table piled high with books and videos, ironing board and iron, kneeling chair brought to turn breech baby (didn't work), high chair to be taken to second hand shop, clothes airer. (Nope, no sofa or chairs. Sigh.)

Oh, I'm also donating my YouGov proceeds, if they ever reach £50. Don't forget you can increase my earnings by completing some surveys of your own if you sign up via this link.

I was hoping to have some sort of fundraising party, but I'm struggling to get my head around it and I'm not sure it'll happen.

That's a lot of pressure on those poor little knittens...