girlyswot

1. What size (twin, full, etc.) is your bed?
It is a 3" single. There aren't many things I would change about my tiny house, but I would love to have a bedroom big enough for a larger bed. It is such a treat whenever I get to sleep in a bigger bed when I go away. Sadly, however, it is a choice between having a wardrobe or having a bigger bed, and the wardrobe is the main storage in the whole house and could not possibly go anywhere else because of the sloping ceiling.

2. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Two, though I never feel like I have got the right pillow set up. I think maybe I want one firm and one squishy one. At the moment I have two squishy ones.

3. Do you have a weighted blanket? If so, does it help you?
No, and I think I would hate it. I like to be able to move a lot while I'm sleeping. I can't manage sheets and blankets tucked in, for example, and generally have at least one leg stuck out of the duvet.

4. Do you sleep with any stuffed animals?
Not since I was about 10, no.

5. Do you have to have the TV on to go to sleep?
I'm not saying I never fall asleep in front of the TV, but there is no TV in the bedroom, no radio, and it is very rare for there to be a phone or computer in there. I have the kindle and an alarm clock and that's it. It is rare for me to go to sleep without reading a bit first, though it is not impossible.

1) Has the weather where you are finally started acting like spring is here?
NO. I mean, we've had a day or two where it hasn't actually been raining/snowing/hailing, but it's generally still cold and miserable. I have got the heating on.

2) Do you have any special spring activities or outings planned?
Ummm, I'm not sure what this means. What would be a special spring activity? I assume the answer is, therefore, no. When it does eventually get warmer, I will have to tackle the garden, I suppose.

3) Have you started wearing different clothing appropriate to spring?
No. Because it is still freezing. It's all woolly socks and scarves here still.fri

4) What signs of spring are manifesting around you?
There are daffodils and anemones. The hellebores are past their best. Some primroses have sprung up from nowhere. There is a bit more birdsong in the morning, and it is lighter earlier.

5) Are there special foods you enjoy preparing and/or eating in the spring?
Asparagus.
Malteaster Bunnies (I haven't had any this year.)
Hot cross buns (Ditto.)

1) Have you ever written a letter to the editor of your local newspaper?
I don't think so, though I have written several to national newspapers. I don't think any of them were published, though.

2) Have you ever called one of your elected officials to tell them your views on an issue important to you?
No, though I regularly write to my local MP, and in the past have written to various Prime Ministers and Chancellors. The first political letter I wrote was to Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and had made some comments about how Oxford and Cambridge were prejudiced against state school applicants. At the time I was teaching in a grammar school in Chatham, and it was already incredibly hard to persuade our bright girls to want to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. All his comments did was make that even less likely to happen. Which made me very cross indeed.

3) Have you ever testified during the citizen speak-out portion of a local government meeting?
I am not quite sure what the UK equivalent of this is, but in any case the answer is no.

4) Have you ever participated in a protest or demonstration?
Not intentionally, though I was once caught up in a student protest by mistake the day before my finals started. Bill Clinton was in Oxford to get an honorary doctorate and the police were corralling the protesters (I have no idea what they were protesting about). I couldn't get back to my room to work and I cried.

5) If so, were you arrested for doing so?
No! After about half an hour, the police let us all go. I still like to blame Bill Clinton for my poor degree result, though I admit that some of the fault may possibly be my own for not really doing any work for about 18 months in the middle of the course.

1. Are you Irish? No.
2. Do you like Guinness? No.
3. Do you know what the symbol of Ireland is? i guess they mean the shamrock? Though it's more of a national flower/plant than a symbol, I'd say.
4. Have you ever watched Father Ted? Yes.
5. Do you believe in leprechauns? No.

Well, that was quick.

I missed last week's!

Would you rather [hobbies version]...

shop // sunbathe? I like both, but I think I would choose sunbathing with a good book. Especially now, when the sun feels like a very distant memory and my toes are cold.

dance // sing? DANCE.

watch college football // watch NFL? Neither, unless by watch you mean 'get on with knitting while chatting to friends in the same room as the TV happens to be showing sportsball'. I don't mind doing that sometimes.

write // read? Read, but it's a tough call. When writing is going well, there's nothing so satisfying.

chat online with friends // hang out with friends? Chat online, duh. Have you even met me?

1) Who made you feel good this week, and how?
The lady who came into the art studio this afternoon and asked lots about what I was doing and said she'd hang one of my paintings on her bedroom wall. She asked all about my degree and said that she hoped some of my work would become actual fabric designs. I felt like a proper artist!

Oh, also the lady on the Gudrun Sjoden stall at the Knitting and Stitching Show on Sunday who estimated my size as 16. It isn't, but I like that she thought it might be.

2) What did you do this week that moved you closer to reaching your goals?
Ooh, this has been a good week for that. I had a long phone conversation yesterday with someone and I think there is potential to develop the Priscilla Programme way beyond what I had imagined would be possible. No decisions yet but definitely progress in the right direction. I also wrote a proposal for a different organisation who are potentially interested in making it happen as well. Exciting times!

3) What did you most enjoy doing this week?
I really enjoyed teaching this week's Lent course session. We're doing the Song of Songs and this week I was looking at how it relates to the wisdom books. There was a lot of plain speaking about feminism, sex, pornography and more. I admit, I enjoyed the session where my mother wasn't in the audience more.

4) What did you learn this week?
I learned how to deconstruct a notebook and a diary and reconstruct them into inserts for a traveller's notebook. I am ridiculously excited by this. At the moment, I'm using them in a traveller's notebook I made ages ago but it's the wrong size and I have ordered a new leather one which I am very impatiently waiting for.

5) What’s the funniest thing that happened to you this week?
I... can't think of anything. That's made me a bit sad. But really, it's been a very good week.

There doesn't seem to be a Friday five for this week so I scrolled back to find one I liked and hadn't done.

1. Where did you grow up and do you miss it?
About ten yards from where I currently live. So sort of no, because I still live here, but mostly a big yes, because I love that house so much. It doesn't help that the current owners are letting it fall into massive disrepair and I have to see it happening.

2. Which are your three favorite words in the dictionary and why?
This is SUCH a good question and such a hard one to answer. I'm very fond of refudiate, but of course, that's not in the dictionary. Am also wondering if the Meaning of Liff counts, or Scottish words.

I've come up with these as three of my favourites to say, but this is by no means my final decision:
Halcyon
Hippopotamus
Fudge

3. What is a vegetarian dish that you really like?
Baba ganoush.

4. What do you do when you have a misunderstanding with your friend?
Sort it out. Generally misunderstandings just require a conversation and an apology. It's not that hard.

5 What do you daydream about?
EVERYTHING. I daydream about the lives I might have lived, will never live, would not really want to live, might possibly live. I daydream about books I'll never write, things I'll never make, gardens I'll never grow. I daydream about being swept off my feet, about inheriting Blenheim Palace, about round the world cruises in first class cabins. I LOVE daydreaming.

Because it feels like a while since I've done a meme, even though it probably isn't.

( More than you ever wanted to know about how I feel about books )

From

oursin:

# Reply to this post with 'Icons!', and I will pick five of your icons.

# Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.

# Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.

# This will - allegedly - create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

( Here are the ones she chose for me to talk about: )

In other news: Grundys at Grange Farm again! I will admit to shedding a tear.

Also, today as I was driving up the A14 I was struck by the number of familiar names on the roadsigns. So, a quiz! Drabbles for anyone who can identify the people (real or imaginary) I associate with these road signs:

1. Hemingford Grey
2. Barham
3. Molesworth
4. Titchmarsh
5. Cranford

Your result for The Jane Austen heroine Test...

Elinor Dashwood

54% romance, 33% sauciness, 64% etiquette, 72% intelligence

You're always aware of social obligations and have more than your fair share of sense. You would never say something out of anger or in poor taste. This may lead some (like, perhaps, your saucy little sister) to accuse you of being cold. Nothing could be further from the truth! It's just that you don't believe in making a scene. Respectable gentlemen everywhere swoon for you (though you'd never admit it). But you only have eyes for one. He is lucky to have you.

Ideal matches: Edward Ferrars, Mr. Knightley, Captain Wentworth

Guaranteed heartbreak: John Willoughby, John Thorpe

Not worthy of your affections: Frank Churchill, Captain Benwick

Take The Jane Austen heroine Test at HelloQuizzy

Five on Saturday on sleep

April is the cruellest month

Political Friday Five

Friday five

Friday five catch up

Friday five

Friday five: random

Books

Icons meme; Archers; A14 quiz

Mr Knightley or Captain Wentworth? How can a girl choose?

Elinor Dashwood

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