27 November 2011

A Woodlice Invasion! Oh Golly Gosh....

The last few days have involved a number of endings (some more emotional than others) and a lot of taking up carpets. 


The first of these endings was also the most emotional. I *might* have done that face-hand-flap thing in order to prevent myself from crying in front of a room full of people. Face-hand-flap inexplicably failed to stop tears, but I blamed them on the entire glass(!) of prosecco* I'd drunk before saying goodbye to two of my best friends from work (one of whom is Work Mum) who were both leaving. 


I've got just over a week left until I leave too (not that I'm counting...) and my feelings about this are actually more mixed than I expected them to be. I'm excited that I'll be (hopefully) undertaking a new and exciting role somewhere creative, but also very sad to be closing the door on a place where I've been so lucky- working with some truly lovely people who seem to really value my contribution and opinions. And there were always really good biscuits.


Other endings this week have involved finishing several projects I've been working on. I previously mentioned my friend Charlie has commissioned me to make her some cross-stitch samplers, inspired by the excellent designs of weelittlestitches. I've just finished this homage to Charlie's excellent way with words:





And finally, those of you who follow me on Twitter may already have read about this morning's woodlouse incident. On Thursday I spent what felt like hours lugging the lemon tree Tom bought me for my birthday from the back garden into the house, because it needs to be inside for winter or it will die. And, as I need it for my lemonade stand employment back-up plan, I sacrificed precious time that I could have spent eating biscuits and watching re-runs of Relocation, Relocation to move it inside. Even though it was damn heavy (shocking I know- a TREE?! Heavy?! I should tell Stephen Fry to mention it on QI...). 


I thought nothing more about it until yesterday afternoon when Tom arrived home to discover what can only be described as a Woodlouse Carnival happening in our lounge. 



He assures me he scooped them all outside without harming a single one (rather than stomping round squishing them like Godzilla) but his efforts were in vain. This morning there was a whole new party going on- a crustacean invasion! So we spent most of today pulling up carpets and spraying everything with Woodlouse Poison before they could make their way into the walls of our house and I had to spend the rest of my life picking woodlice out of my cereal. Keeping all of my fingers crossed that our ousting has worked. 

On the plus side, as we had the carpets up anyway, we decided to finally start decorating the living room. Which means that the Christmas tree Tom and I painted on the wall last year has finally gone. I'm going to miss that year-round festive feeling. 

RIP Oh Christmas Tree

*For some unknown reason I constantly confuse "prosecco" with "prosciutto". Thankfully I seem to be alone in this- as a vegetarian I wouldn't like to be presented with a celebratory glass of ham. 

4 comments:

  1. Ha ha, loved this post! Sadly I am also leaving where I work in a week & will miss all my friends soooo much.

    And you're not alone with the prosciutto/prosecco thing, I have been asked for a bottle of prosciutto once or twice!

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  2. Thank you :) It's sad to leave those daily contacts with friends behind isn't it? Have you got an exciting new job to go to?

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  3. I think Woodlice are my favourite insects/small creatures. I once heard they date back to dinosaur times. Not sure this is 100% correct but ever since I've seen them as mini dinosaurs roaming the wilderness of my garden.

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  4. Ha! I get that ''I went to the beach'' one too! I don't publish any of them but they don't get the message!
    You were very brave with the woodlouse situation! I would have checked into a hotel or lived upstairs! xx

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