If Carlsberg did Sundays . . .

In fact, if Carlsberg did Weeks, then they'd probably be something like the one I've just had.

It all started last Saturday, so 9 days ago. My sister was away at a wedding for the day, and I had two major tasks, to make malteaser tray bake and haul ass to the SSRG (unadvertised) bout in the afternoon. I got to the leisure centre after hitching a lift with a friend, and sat upstairs in the cold, not knowing anyone. Skip forwards two hours, a very fast paced first half, and tougher second, the bout was over. I headed over to the team for some post match sugar fixes. The malteser tray bake went down a treat, with some coming back for seconds, thirds and more. Bonus of the day was being told I could come to every bout from now on, as long as I brought tray bake! YESSSSS!

Sunday wasnt much to shout about, except for the fact that I SIGNED UP TO A ROLLER DERBY TEAM! All in the very early stages at the moment, but I'm now a member of the Chesterfield Twisted Roller Vixens. It all came about after talking to the captain of SSRG (Sheffield Steel Roller Girls) and saying about wanting to sign up with them. She said there were no places at the moment, but to get in with CTRV and train with them. So, I got in touch with the lady who was starting it all, and she told me to come along to practice on Wednesday 16th. I already had the standard kit, I just needed a gumshield.

Monday was gumshield shopping day, and after a loooong (watching paint dry slow kinda day) day at work, I got home, coaxed big sis into taking me Decathlon in return for a foreign 'reminds me of skiing holidays' chocolate bar. Well, I have never been to Decathlon before, and I am IN LOVE! Its a supermarket for sports, and it is amazing! I could have quite easily spent a lot of money in there. I will definitely go there when I have a lottery win :-) I got my gumshield, and spotted some Santa requests too. We paid up, and went home.

Tuesday wasnt anything special. I ate mini scotch eggs, and Mojo sweeties, given to me by a lady at work.

Wednesday was the big day. Skate day. First ever team practice! I started work early, and finished even earlier. I have to get my timing absolutely spot on, or else I wouldnt get to training. I made sandwiches in the hope that I'd eat them on the bus, which didnt happen. They turned into the 'apple in the bag to be healthy' type of food. they stayed in there until I got home, and emerged all squashed. Anyway, skate practice was interesting, and much fun! We all gathered outside the school, in the cold, and in our cool rollergirl outfits, cool both in the fashionable sense and the temperature sense, it was freezing! There were ex derby players, hoping to get back into playing, there were skaters that were just new to the sheffield team, coming along for the practice, there were a few hardened derby players, and there was my regular thursday night folks. So a good little group of us really. We all had a stretch, and a skate for warm up. Then we all sat in a group and introduced ourselves. It was like a little therapy group. 'Hi, my name's Becky, I'm here because I have an addiction to roller derby, cool outfits and quirky helmet designs'. We all said our bit, then carried on skating, learning one and two knee slides, and then an all fours slide. Best to learn how to fall before we learn anything too complicated!

Practice was over way too fast, but lucky for me I managed to borrow a new pair of derby skates, so that I could use them on thursday to 'get the feel'. I also managed to get a ride home, which was definitely a massive bonus, saved tons of time on travelling on buses and trains etc. I had some compliments on my helmet design on the way home, which was nice too. I got home earlier than expected, tucked into my squashed sandwich, and chilled out :-)

Thursday I managed to blag myself a later start at work, I was tired! I got to work, and made the day go as fast as possible, so that 4pm would turn up sooner. And it did. I made for a fast walk home, grabbed my kit bag (and new skates), filled up my juice bottle and headed to the bus stop. I caught the bus just after 5oclock, and got to skating at around 530. I bumped into my new friends in the boot room, and we all headed out to the rink together. The new skates were awesome, a little fatter than what I was used to, but they were amazing. I had on my cool rollergirl outfit on again, it definitely helps! There were loads of us, maybe 8 or so. We all skated around in our big padding, avoiding the tiny kids in tutu's! I learned a couple of new moves, which were definitely made easier in the new skates, way more flexible.

I got home from skating, feeling quite hungry, so had a champions dinner of pasta, cheese, skinny meat and bbq sauce :oD

Friday was a sleepy day, but my friend Nina came to visit. On the saturday we went an did a whirlwind tour of Sheffield. We did the museum, the galleries, the peace gardens and the winter gardens, and the fountains at the train station. We didnt fit in everything we wanted to but, at least we'll have a few more things to do when she comes to visit next time.

On Sunday Nina left very early, but I spent the morning swatting up, as on Sunday afternoon I was about to become an 'Outside Whiteboard Operator' for half of the SSRG vs London RollerGirls bout.

VS

Dressed in grey I went to the leisure centre and met up with my new group of friends. We were handed our NSO (non skating officials) tshirts, and what we needed to do. I got to watch the first half of the bout from the seats, with more people than the previous weekend. The second half I was on my feet, trackside, making sure I didnt get run over by ref's and skaters, either falling or making their way to the penalty seats. Needless to say I didnt cock up, and I got to watch pretty much the whole bout.

Afterwards, I dished out the malteser bake, much to the delight of the team. Every piece went, and I am proud to say that I've had lots of compliments since on how amazing it is! YAY!

I hitched a lift with one of the girls to the nearest tram stop, and made my way into town to meet Big Sis and our friend, and we headed to the cinema to see the new Twilight film. I'm not going to give the game away, but its pretty good.

After getting home from the cinema, the goodness kept coming. I had a text from one of my girlies to say she was engaged, and then I had an email to say that I could keep the skates that I had borrowed, no strings attached!

And that was pretty much the end to my truly awesome week.

I went to sleep with a huge smile on my face :o)

Don't like it? Then customise it!

There are many things in life that we dont like, but sometimes we don't do anything about it, because it's probably just a little bit too much hassle. Some things cant be changed, but the smaller things can.

Thats why I quite often deny myself those precious hours of sleepytime.

As with any standard cleptomaniac, I have lots of 'things'. And when I want new 'things' I don't bother to get rid of the old ones. Instead, I give them a new lease of life.

For example . . . A once white hoodie

Tarnished with a beautiful glass of red (yuk) wine. There aint no vanish that could get rid of the stain, so, I dyed it orange! It now looks even better than it did when brand new.

Example number 2 . . . Jeans

If you're feeling brave, and you want jeans in a darker colour, stick 'em in the washing machine and put in some dylon. My sister bought some super skinny blue black jeans from Gap for a stupid price, they looked awesome. I couldnt afford some at the time, but I already had a pair of skinnies, so bought some dye, and now I have my own pair, on the cheapidy cheap.

Example 3 . . . Mac laptop

After having a hefty bashing a few christmasses ago, I never thought it would open its little blinky eyes again. Two years later and I'm still typing away on it. I can't say that its customisation is the reason for its extended life, I think that's just trusty old Apple. But, I can claim that the new paint job I gave it DID cover up the number of dints to the lid. 

My finest, and most recent, example is my old snowboard helmet. 8 years ago when I first learnt to snowboard, camouflage was THE pattern to have. I kept it tame with just a jacket and helmet though. For one reason or another, I slowly stopped using my helmet, so has been left defunct in a dingy corner of my room for quite some time. Realising last week that I might need to start using my helmet again, I unearthed it, to find the camo was peeling off, revealing plain grey underneath. 

So I set to work with my trusty metal ruler, and sat for two or three nights, scraping all the pattern off. I ended up with an achey hand and some blisters but was quite satisfied anyway. There were some extra scrapes and scratches (quite possibly put there by accident) so I bought some wet & dry paper, and smoothed it all over.

Now my helmet made me look normal, and not like a little boy anymore (yays!). But still, it looked pretty boring. For about a week I've pondered over how to make it look better. For totally different reasons, I was googling tattoos at the weekend. One popped up that took my fancy, not for my skin (mum, relax!), but for my helmet.

I love the Cheshire cat, and I love smiling (it's my favourite), so I thought this was very apt, and it fit quite well into the helmet 'dynamics'.

Helmets have 'breathy holes', as I like to call them, and I always think they look like extra eyes. So, armed with my HB pencil, marker pens, my rubber, and Boots No.7 nail varnishes I got cracking. I drew on the design, and fine lined it all with the marker. Then I did my very best at staying inside the lines, and coloured it all in. Once finished, I was pretty god damned chuffed.

Nobody else has one like it, and that's why I like to customise!

I heart Thursdays

They say things come in threes, they also claim 'third time lucky', and I believe in both.

This Thursday was my third time at skating. And it was definitely lucky. I may have had to wait for a non existent bus for half an hour, but I got there earlier than last week, which meant an extra half an hour playtime. And I was glad for those extra 30 minutes.

Whizzing round in the same manner as the two previous weeks, and avoiding any collisions with kids along the way, I pondered on what to force myself to learn. So, I tried a few t-stops. Number one wasnt interested in playing ball, number two had a stutter, number three I tried with my right foot, and that was a big mistake. Somehow my brain said 'move foot' but my foot said 'whatever brain', ending up in an arms forward slam into the side stop. Let's stick with left footed stops for now. I kept trying them, and each one got a little better. I cant claim I'm any good at them yet, but I am getting more comfortable doing them. 

After about 20 minutes, the professionals turned up. Not the ones from that old tv show, they'd surely be on zimmer skates, or maybe even coffin skates by now?! They scooted past, making it all look VERY easy. Then some more folks turned up, and started going BACKWARDS! Time to make conversation - 'you make that look way too easy' I yelled. And that was the beginning of the rest of the evening. The guy I yelled at had come with his two friends, one of which plays derby, and her friend is just learning to skate. It was fun to finally have people to skate around with, and if anything it made it easier. I forgot all about the skating, and I ended up doing crossovers without even having to think. The surprise on their faces when they found out I'd only been roller skating for three weeks. I somehow managed to fool the friend into thinking I played roller derby. 'oh nooooo' i said 'I WANT to play, but I need a lot more practice'. She claims that I looked pretty confident and comfortable, and that my crossovers were very tidy. 

After much discussions of joining, and practising, they all advised to get myself kitted out with pads and wrist guards. I've been told that elbow and wrist guards dont need to be the most expensive, so to get cheaper ones, and the money saved on them should be put towards getting decent knee pads. I was then told 'i can guarantee that as soon as you get your knee pads on and start skating around, you'll want to do this . . . ' and she proceeded to get one knee down on the ground, slide along a little then get back up. Yes, I think I will definitely have to give that a try.

My new comrades introduced me to the two folks i'd seen on my first week. We all skated round as a group for a little while, with some folks pushing through and nipping past at times. That was when I realised I definitely want to play. We talked about training sessions, and how the girls practises are full but the blokes only have 12 people at theirs. A passing comment was made about me wearing a moustache and gatecrashing the boys practises. I guess it wont harm to ask. 

Anyway, the evening drew to a close, time DOES fly when you're having fun. We piled back into the boot room, and I had fun poked at my retro-esque skates. I was told I would need a new pair for derby, these ones just wouldnt work. I also managed to get a lift home, that saved waiting in the rain for the imaginary bus again.

I got home, and started the online hunt for pads. A recommendation on wrist guards had already been made, and they were only £9, either that or broken wrists? It took two nights of deliberating but finally all my bits and pieces are on order, and will hopefully arrive before next Thursday. 

 

Looks like I may have to make some hats and mitts, and cats to sell before I can afford to buy some skates, but thats what winter nights are for arent they? Staying in and plonking yourself infront of the sewing machine for a few hours, or infront of the fire/tv with a crochet needle and thick wool. Especially if each thing made gets you £15.

I may just have to put up a little bloggeroo about my handiworks, spread the word and earn some cashlings :-)

The inevitable Halloween Blog

Halloween weekend was a busy one.

With Mummy Buckle coming to visit we were up bright and bouncy on saturday morning, tidying (a little bit) and faffing. I do love a little Twitter.

Mum arrived safely in Sheffield, and after picking her up we drove back to the house for a cuppa tea. From there, Sister Buckle and I went and fixed our hair and made ourselves presentable for the day ahead. Sis stayed in the house to do housey things while Mum and I wandered up to the shops where we did the rounds of the charity shops. I dont recall buying anything apart from GIANT sandwiches (yum!)

Being a beautiful autumn day, I opted for my new DM's, cosy socks, lots of layers of tights, shorts, cosy jumper, two scarves and my 'Barbara' (pretend Barbour) jacket. Mum made a passing comment on my outfit choice, saying how funny to have 'bare' legs on such a cold day. Lucky for me that as long as my feet and torso are cosy, my legs will nearly always be okay.

So, after tucking into our sandwiches, us three, and our housemate ventured down into the city centre for afternoon tea. Very tasty, even the jam! We let the day carry away with itself and by the time we finished, we only had time to do a quick round of TK Maxx. I fell in love with a pair of mittens in there, but at £25, I couldnt justify buying them . . . yet!

From there, we met sis's workmate and headed for a light tea before then going to city hall to see Sarah Millican. Much laughs for the next two or so hours, can't even remember any of the jokes but it was definitely a great night.

The next day was 'halloween' even though it wasnt, it was only the 30th. The city was celebrating a day early, which meant only one thing . . . fancy dress ALL DAY!

I decided I wanted to be a 1940's housewife skeleton, but after the barrel fringe went tits up, I went as a fancy pretty skeleton instead. hah! So I had the uber cool curly to the sidey fringe, pretty starry scarf, the homemade halloween tshirt, skelly hoody, and skelly leggings . . oh, and the ever favourite black baseballs boots and floppy black leg warmers.

I must admit now that I looked pretty darn hot on sunday. My fringe was amazing, my make up was pretty, and my bottom looked fab. I need to wear my skelly leggings more often!

Fright Night was upon us in the city, the streets were strewn with thousands of people, stalls, rides and tat stalls (which we succumbed to and bought light sabers!) We bumped into some friends, ate candy floss, and burnt out our eyes with brandy 'hot chocolate', which was really just a cup of hot brandy and milk! We ate a cheapo cheeseburger from one of the stalls, they're sooooo good! There were lots of amazing costumes, but the 7 year old kids dressed as Chucky were a step too far!

Who ya gonna call?

We broke off the evening in town at around 730, and headed home to carve pumpkins. And they were friggin awesome ones at that! We stuck on 28 weeks later, which isnt actually that scary when you're carving a pumpkin and not paying attention. We each grabbed a laptop and googled some cool designs. Our housemate did an owl, sis did a ghoulie and a cat, and I did Darth Vader and the Death Star. It was a late night, finished carving at about 12.45. Totally worth it though. At one point during the night, we also dressed up the kittens in halloweeny tights.

Actual Halloween was quite tame, but we did go on the City Ghost Walk. We saw no ghosts, but we were told some great grisly tales, and heard of ghostly sightings and happenings.

So, that was halloween in a giant nutshell.