In a Nutshell

It’s been a turbulent and interesting year, 2009. It fairly kicked the ass of 2008, 2007, 2006 and indeed 2005 but deviated from the finishing line at the end of it … but to recap, here’s my 2009 in all its homemaking glory:

January

I took a big step and moved away from the area I had grown up in and what had once been my family home and moved several hundred miles away to a place I had no friends and no job on no more than a whim that it was the right place for me. I took a trip to the USA and went roadtripping through California with my friend Dragonboy, where we had fun and played with pirates and had earth shattering revelations about Life, The Universe and Everything. 42 may or may not be part of it. I’m not telling.

February

The Great Renovation project got started, thanks to Martin and Sue at GECCO and I spent several weeks in a state of slight panic as I watched things get sawed up, chopped up, people falling through floors and walls coming down until a miracle occurred and all of a sudden I had a house that resembled a house. Clearly, I didn’t have enough on my plate at the time so I adopted my second dog, Sascha from the Dogs Trust. She caused all manner of chaos but it made life interesting.

March

I got myself a kitchen finally, after a couple of months of not having a cooker and my relief at finally being able to turn on the hob was palpable, and after a wealth of swearing, frustration and cursing of the Misrosoft team who created IE6, my freelancing web design website went live

April

I got myself a part time job, doing something I could have guaranteed would magnify my freak beacon to a point beyond any kind of help. I was right. On a more decorative and creative front, I started trying to decide on what colours to paint the cottage, and entered a mad panic about whether painting the insides of cottages interesting colours was considered in poor taste. Meanwhile maniac demon bought the house next door, moved in and attempted to make my life a misery.

May

Having decided that since it wasn’t a listed building, I didn’t care what other people thought, I started to paint the kitchen and add flourishes and finishing touches around the house. There seemed to be a lot of painting and getting whimsical with flower fairies and not feeling any need to restrain myself or be grown up about things. Being a grown up doesn’t mean killing of the child inside you.

June

I finally started to be able to take some time to take it easy and kick back and relax, until I realised that my lazy assed bum of a surveyor cocked up my survey and it was going to cost me a small fortune to repair the roof. Several heated letters later … no response. You really have to love England sometimes, but this was not one of those times!

July

My patience came to a head over a lack of personal responsibility (what could be worse?) in my soon to be ex-flatmate and inspired by Lauren at A Typical Atypical, I mused over attitudes to drinking.

August

Went falconing for my sister’s birthday. Discovered halfway through said birthday that due to a burst pipe, the house was flooding and it was raining through the kitchen ceiling. Crisis ensued.

September

Spent a lot of time without a kitchen ceiling and a permeating smell of damp as the house dried out from the flooding incident, and it finally got through to me that no matter the cost, you have to follow your dreams. Invariably caused uproar at work by leaving a cup in the sink and my blog went wibbly wobbly and disappeared for a fair while due to an incident with my hosting provider.

October

I got rather domestic and had some time to spend indulging some of my hobbies, and went and caught a lot of shows at the local theatres, before reacquainting myself with a paintbrush and attacking the front room.

November

Had a whirlwind of friends visiting and house makeover-itis before my 30th un-birthday weekend, a month before my real birthday weekend, which seemed to result in a lot of general fun and hilarity and mortifying embarassment when people kept singing to me in my favourite local restaurant.

December

A lot of things happened very suddenly around the following a dream issue, which ultimately collapsed a couple of days before Christmas leaving me very disappointed. Christmas itself perked me up a little and here I am ready to bounce my way into 2010.

So, Happy New Year to You All. Here’s hoping all your dreams come true ….