Wearing sugar puff pyjamas and driving my Jaguar XJS. (I wish.)

I went into town on Thursday night to get my friend a present and I ended up buying myself a long hippy style flowery maxi dress and some new jeans from H&M.  I've been looking for a new pair of jeans for ages, but I can never find any that fit me.  I've got quite long legs and a short-ish body (they call me legs eleven) and all the jeans I try on seem a weird shape, so when I found a pair that finally fit me I snapped them up. 

Whilst I was in Topshop I spotted these amazing Sugar Puff Honey Monster pyjamas.  I want them soooo badly, but they're £25.  I love pyjamas.  You know it's time to relax and get comfy when you've got your pyjamas on!  I spotted a pair of Cookie Monster pyjamas in Topshop before Christmas and I regret not buying them.

I cleared out the bottom greenhouse on Saturday morning.

Chris did some clearing too, and he lit a fire which billowed out lots of smoke whilst it got going.  I think Jenny on the next plot went home in a huff.  She's a strange woman, always sulking about something or other.

There's a meeting about the new allotment association next Sunday, we got a leaflet about it today. 

We had lunch out at Annie's cafe on Saturday and the food was gorgeous.  I ordered a cheese and onion toastie, with salad and homemade mayonnaise, it was so, so good.  Chris got a homemade plate meat pie, potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy.  We both had a hot chocolate to wash it down.  It was lovely!   Then we nipped in a local gift shop, and I bought a book called '30 Walks in Lancashire Witch Country'.  We also called in at Aldi and bought 4 bags of organic compost - it sold out last year so we got in there early this time. 

On the flea market on Sunday I got a few books (no surprises there then).  I got 2 more books from Dr Hessayon's Garden Expert series - 'Bedding Plant Expert' and 'House Plant Expert'.

I got a cacti book.

Chris bought a book called 'Mushroom Miscellany', and he got me the 'Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'.

And I got him a 'Handyman Gardener' book.

I also bought a Swarovski crystal tortoise for £3.  It looked a bit manky on the stall but once I got it home and polished it up it looks perfect.  I was going to give it to my niece Venetia as part of her birthday present as she loves crystal animals, but it's so cute I'd quite like to keep it for myself!

On Sunday afternoon, I baked my friend Leah a chocolate whisky cake for her birthday.  It tasted delicious.  It was an old faded recipe I'd kept in my recipe cuttings book, so I'm not sure where it came from.

For her birthday present I bought her a book called Red Moon which is about menstruation (she's into all that kind of stuff), a cream scarf, a corduroy bag, some lip gloss and a couple of fancy spoons!  I went to her house for a party on Sunday night and we had a bonfire.  I overdid it on the red wine (my kryptonite) and paid the price on Monday with a hangover which spoilt my day off work.  I was meant to be clearing the greenhouse at home but only managed a half-hearted effort.  You silly girl, when will you learn your limits Gemma?  It's always been the same with me, once I'm drunk I think I can drink non-stop, whereas once I'm drunk I should just stop and change to water.  I'll know I've grown up once I've finally learnt that lesson.

I've been dreaming of a classier car.  Someone at work has a classic Jaguar XJS circa 1989 and it's well cool.  They only cost about £1500 which surprised me.  A guy at work said it would cost lots to tax and would use loads of fuel, so maybe it's not such a good idea.  It would be ace though driving around in one, with black leather seats and a bassy stereo.  It's definitely feel cooler than my Vauxhall Corsa (sorry Maud).

Remember how I said I'd got a new replacement radio?  Well I bloody well dropped it down the stairs when I was cleaning up on Friday.  My hands must have been a bit damp as I'd just hung some laundry up to dry and it slipped out of my hand and tumbled down the stairs much to my alarm!  I was gutted, but it still seems to work OK.  What a frigging idiot I am.

A friend at work told me about a local farm shop that sells eggs from ex-battery hens and eggs from rare breeds of chickens.  So I'm going to go and visit and check out their set up and see if they can supply the shop with eggs.  The only egg supplier on the market sells eggs from Preston, so this would be a more local option, and we could actually go and visit the chickens to check they're treated well.

I've subscribed to the Permaculture magazine and my first copy came in the post on Monday. 

I ordered some new books off Amazon.  I got 'Getting Started in Permaculture'.

I also got 'In Tune with the Moon 2011', I had this book last year and I've missed not being able to see whether the moon is ascending or descending and whether it's apogee or perigee, the diagrams in the book are really helpful.  Between the autumn equinox and the spring equinox the moon rises in the north east part of the sky which I can't see from our house, but between spring equinox and autumn equinox it rises towards the south east so I can watch the moon rise from our bedroom window, providing there's no cloud cover.  I love to watch a huge full moon rising in the sky, it's quite a sight.

Really though, I should stop buying so many books.  My bookcase is full now, and I never have that much time to read.  I think I have a book collecting addiction.  I was laughing the other day when I realised I've probably got enough books to open a small bookshop.

The weather's been a bit cold, a bit sunny, but nothing too extreme.  We had a mini flurry of snow which didn't stick, but nothing like what we had in December.

I've been getting into Lifehacker via a feed through Google Reader.  I've lots of feeds set up in Google Reader, but Lifehacker is the feed I always look at first.  I've picked up some useful tips and interesting info.

I'm still toying with the idea of going down to 3 days per week at work, I'm waiting for the payroll team to confirm how this would affect my wage.  Everything seems to be going up in price at the moment - rent, water, food, fuel - you name it, prices are soaring, so I don't know if I could afford it or not.  I don't even know if I'll have a job come May, so I'd better wait and see how that pans out first!