|•••peachyhollow•••|

To recap, here are some of the niggley things that have been making me glum lately:

• The whole long-distance marriage thing.
• I’m missing my friends back in California more and more every day, and missing the lifestyle too.
• The fact that I’m getting frustratingly little writing done as it’s too distracting to work from home with so many other people around, plus the fact that my non-academic IP address restricts my access to resources online.
• I can’t decide whether to knit or crochet.
• I have a horrid feeling that a jacket I’m crocheting is too small.
• My sewing machine is still broken.

However feeling down in the dumps and sorry for myself has lately got a bit too boring and has been doing nothing overall to aid these niggley stresses that are still niggling away at the back of my mind. So out of fear of falling further into a chasm of self pity, I thought I’d better be proactive and do something to haul myself back out- I’m naturally an optimistic soul and don’t really thrive in a pit of negativity. The forward movement of my immigration in the last couple of days has certainly helped, and it’s no coindence that my mood has ameliorated as that’s right up there at the top of  my little stress list right now. That all got FedEx-ed off this morning, so that’s one less thing to be moody about, hurrah.

Obviously there still remains the issue of missing my friends, but there’s not much I can do about the first right now except be patient. It’s natural to feel so near yet so far, especially that I’m just a matter of weeks away from having been home in England for an entire year now. Patience, patience, that’s what I need and in the meantime there’s always email and the phone.

Work however is something that I’ve been rapidly losing patience with lately. BUT the big thing that I’m happy about is that I’m now officially allowed access to the Bodleian Library at Oxford! This is a source of great excitement as I’ve been getting frustratingly little research/writing done at home as it’s too distracting with so many other people around, plus the fact that my non-academic IP address restricts my access to resources online. It’s a bit of a commute to get there, but I think the effort will be worthwhile. I’m hoping to be able to go once or twice a week which should allow me to get something done yet still allow me to maximise family time. EEEPS I’m excited!!

Getting access to the libary was quite an adventure in itself- I had to fill in an application form, write a short personal statement about why I needed to have access, PROVIDE REFERENCES to support my application and then sit down and have a ‘chat‘ with one of the library registrars. It was a bit like having a job interview! They’re basically screening people to make sure that they’re not tourists wanting to look around inside, and as the lady ‘interviewing’ me put it, they want to “stop people who are just after a quiet place to sit with a book or a newspaper.” Anyway, thankfully I passed their screening, and now have a six month pass. I can’t wait to spend time walking past all the tourists and through the magic doors with the big NO VISITORS signs
By the time I’d been granted access, and had located and poked around inside the Science Libary (which was disappointingly unspectacular which is why I’m going to work in the main libary next time which is the famous one) much of the day had gone and I didn’t really have time to take any photos of Oxford- just the one above, and a very quick photoshoot with the special girl who had come with me. This was Ava’s first big outing since she arrived in her super cool car.

So the work stuff, *sorted*. Now for the hobby stuff….

After humming and haahing for about two or three months, I *finally* decided tonight to frog the crocheted jacket that I had started to make earlier this year. Deep down I wasn’t happy with how the sizing was turning out and for that reason had put the project onto a hiatus. There’s nothing worse than pursuing a major crafting project when your heart’s just not in it.

So my crochet is now no more- all unraveled and now just balls of yarn. But this single action has also killed another bird as with this project now temporarily shelved, I’m free to get back on with my knitting and not have the difficult decision to make between the two yarn projects. YAY!

Now there’s just the small matter of getting my sewing machine fixed, but I can do that next week
Fingers crossed other things will continue to improve at the same rate as the past few days… here’s hoping!