Over the past week or so, the Hutgirl has been rather busy.  Over Easter weekend, she made a start on sorting and organising the Junk room at the back of the house, with (we believe), the aim of turning it into a more functional crafting and working area.  We suspect this is partly in an effort to avoid having crafting supplies and yarn spead all over the house, but mostly so that there is a central hub of operations for her new endeavour- selling some of her creations in an effort to raise a smidge more money!

Getting back from an early lunch today, we noticed that in our absence the Hutgirl had apparently been browsing Ebay, and as we arrived she was putting in a bid on a vintage Singer Sewing Machine, similar to the one she learnt on growing up.  Sneaking a peek into her basket, we saw she’d also bought 100 skeins of embroidery silk for £12 and put in a bid on a tiny tiny basic sewing machine- perfect for seaming small items but not much else! 

Now we’re watching with avid curiosity to see whether this behaviour will continue throughout the day, or whether the wanton spending has come to an end…

It appears that the Hutgirl is not on top form today- certainly, she is not the happy, bubbly individual she usually is, and our team have been tracing back through the notes of the lat few weeks in an effort to come up with possible causes for this.  Currently, the atmosphere in the observation lab is decidedly ugly, as there appears to be a three way schism going on amongst the research assistants (each favouring their own theories, naturally).  Clearly, as head researcher, I cannot take sides in this, but will analyse the primary supected causes completely impartially.

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Apparently fed up with the stacks and stacks of crafting materials as well as the general mess and clutter in the house (particularly the junk room at the back, which seems to elicit groans every time it is entered), the Hutgirl has written out a list. 

On it appear MDF, 2”x1” baton, shelf supports and planed timber.  If we were betting men (which we’re not, both because we’re a) mostly female and b) fond of our money) we’d wager she is going to embark upon some shelf and cubby hole building- possibly converting the large but useless airing cupboard into a more effective storage space, and, we suspect, creating some shelving along the alcove that runs along the side of the room- we’ll watch with interest to see how this develops…

We once again encountered the issue of light sensitivity with the Hutgirl this weekend. For several years now there has been some sort of mysterious neurological problem that affects her eyes- having manifested in the past as a VIth nerve palsy and more recently, abnormal swelling requiring a biopsy, it seems to have settled currently into an aversion to bright light and rapidly moving images in her peripheral vision (which makes being a passenger in the back seat of a car somewhat problematic).

She dug in on Saturday, spending most of the day deconstructing the crochet blanket she’s been making and re-doing the large centre square, before starting to re-crochet seams.  This was abandoned around mid afternoon in favour of going for a celebratory Thai meal for a friend’s birthday, which appeared to be consumed with great joy.

On Sunday, a leisurely morning of reading was succeeded by some gardening, in an effort to get everything in place before the seedlings were big enough to transplant out (or harvest, in our more pessimistic moments!).  The Hutgirl prepared well, putting on dark glasses and a baseball cap to protect her from the vicious sun that was beating down over the North-East of England (a regular occurrence…), and went to work in a veritable flurry of activity, shifting large objects, ripping up deck planks (more with cunning engineering tricks than brute strength, admittedly) and positioning new planters along the fence for some vertical gardening.  Despite only being exposed for forty minutes, it was enough to bring on a crushing headache.

After wilting into bed for a few hours (to concern from the boy) and trying to sleep it of, she finally admitted defeat at about 7pm, texting the ‘Chris’ friend to tell him that she couldn’t come out and play.  A few quiet hours followed, spent mostly watching TV, reading and chatting with the boy (with maybe a little naughtiness thrown in), before she eventually drifted off to sleep at around 2am.

This morning she appears bright and alert, although drinking water at a ferocious rate and already having taken ‘the good painkillers’.  We will observe further once her lunch break ensues, as behaviours are sometimes masked on the front desk in an effort to live up to her ‘Customer Care Champion’ title.

In her continuing efforts to be the best ‘failure’ ever, the Hutgirl is today learning how to set up and develop Microsoft Access databases.  As she has fallen into the administerial/secretarial/receptionist type of role more through natural talent and decent opportunities, she hasn’t had any formal training in such things.  An undergraduate degree from one of the best universities in Britain followed by teacher training can prepare you for a lot, but not the trials of Access…

Our researchers had doubts that the Hutgirl would even make it as far as work this moring- after crocheting, reading and napping the day away yesterday (we believe in an effort to ignore the rain), she finally emerged from the nesting area at about 6.30pm, and proceeded to enjoy a nice hot bath (while still chatting with the boy, naturally!).  Departing the house at around 8.15pm, she drove to a neighbouring town to collect her male humanoid friend- we believe he is called ‘Chris’, and headed cinemawards, where they appeared to enjoy the film (although the male humanoid did drift off a few times- it appears the Hutgirl’s shoulder makes an excellent sleeping spot).  Following the film, the drowsy male was deposited at home and the Hutgirl continued back to her nesting site.

There was some brief excitement when the Hutgirl rounded a corner slightly faster than she should have done to find herself behind a police car- however, a casual slowing and a sedate overtaking, followed by an immediate turn into the rabbit warren of streets that make up a nearby estate rapidly caused them to lose interest, allowing the Hutgirl to get home unstopped and just after midnight.

Although sleep was imminent, it appeared the Hutgirl couldn’t drift off without talking to the boy- two hours later, she finally dropped off, making her 6am start today all the more remarkable.

Driving into work, she parked up and popped into college to say ‘good morning’ (we assume) to the duty porter, then strolled down the long bank to the Main Library (shortly to be renamed the ‘Bill Bryson Library’) and proceeded to learn access*.

*This sentence may not accurately describe the mental anguish experienced by the Hutgirl. 

Imagine the Hutgirl’s excitement when the last few days brought not only her new seeds, but also the new hanging bags and windowboxes for her garden.  Delight was written all over her face at the thought of planting up all of these delightful treasures, particularly when she realised her local Lidl had a gardening sale on, with reduced seeds, compost and self-watering pots!  She stopped off on the way home last night and filled in the remaining gaps on her wishlist.  

Feeding the chickens this morning, she took the opportunity to steal her daddy’s drill and some screws, in order to remodel her decking area to provide increased planting opportunities.  Wandering happily home, she took a leisurely breakfast of fresh eggs and home-made bread, then opened the front door to retrieve her new goodies.  

Rain.  Lots of rain.  Defeated, the Hutgirl returned to her room with her knitting bag and emptied it out.  She looked bewildered at the number of crocheted squares that fell out.  Her practices over recent days have yielded one huge square and ten smaller squares- enough to cover a 2’ x 2’ square once stitched together with a border.  

Our researchers suspect that if the rain continues, the Hutgirl will have half a blanket by the end of the day…

After what seemed like an age of hmming and ha-ing, and some invaluable advice from other crafters, it appeared that the Hutgirl finally decided to bite the bullet and learn to crochet.  After acquiring some crochet hooks and rumming through her stash to find a ball of colourful acrylic that she wouldn’t mind ruining, she sat and intently watched some youtube videos of ‘crocheting for absolute beginners’.  Looking dubious, and battling distractions from the boy, she picked up the hook and made a start.  Around an hour and a half later, after some cursing and bewilderment as to WHY anyone would prefer this to knitting, she’d acheived a lumpy mass of work a few inches long and about one inch wide.  We could see her pondering the effort it had taken to create this misshapen mass, and visibly drawing the conclusion that there must be more to it…

Looking up some beginner patterns, she found one for a ‘granny square’ and started off.  Despite some frustration at the amount of counting involved, it was evident that she was coming round to the craft, as the square rapidly took shape under her increasingly nimble fingers.  Barely thirty minutes later, she had it- a (kindof not quite square but you can see it’s meant to be) granny square, and, according to the boy, the start of his blanket.

We are now quite worried as to what this may have started, as the mini-fox stole (abandoned in it’s bag since just after christmas), the boy’s scarf and the adventuretime hat WIP’s have now been stashed under the edge of the bed, and in the knitting bag she took to work this morning was one solitary ball of blue acrylic and a hook.  Lets just hope that once she’s practiced sufficiently, she can find a balance between the two, as our head researcher REALLLLY wants that fox stole. 

While the Hutgirl generally grazes her way through the day, eating a large breakfast, something small for lunch and generally nothing for dinner unless the boy reminds her (unless of course she’s craving indian or chinese, in which case all bets are off!), occasionally she’ll come home and engage in a bout of cookery.

Usually this is prompted by one of three things. One- she’s running low on lunch money this month, and has turned to the heavily stocked cupboards and freezers to create something she can take to work for the next few days. Two- the food she got during the big shop she did at the supermarket a week ago and then hasn’t looked at since is nearing it’s expiry date and needs cooking so she can extend it’s viable lifespan. Three- she has friends coming over and needs to whip something up quickly (unless she thought ahead and stuck something in the slow cooker that morning).

As she came in from work (and extra work for her dad’s business!) it appeared that one of those phenomena must be in effect, as she threw some dough in the breadmaker, stuck a gammon joint on the hob on a slow boil, and put another joint in the slow cooker with some apples that were sitting on the windowsill looking rather sorry for themselves, a generous blob of honey, the chopped up remnants of a leek left from baking quiches last week, two bay leaves and a sprinkle of mustard powder.

As it’s payday tomorrow, and she’s made no effort to tidy the frankly shameful living room (the suitcases are still sitting there from Vegas!), we surmise that it must be the second option- the gammon needed cooking and she doesn’t want to go to the store for just a loaf of bread. We’ll observe her behaviour closely and see if this theory is bourne out.

Last night saw the weekly bowling session with one of the Hutgirl’s best friends reoccur for the first time properly since her trip to Las Vegas.  During the night, both the Hutgirl and her male-shaped humanoid friend looked lethargic and fed up.  This may have been due to the fact that the bowling alley was absolutely crammed with students of varying degrees of obnoxiousness, or the fact they were sharing lane space with a quartet of loud, drunken post-pubescent males who insisted on kicking the ball down the lane (is it wrong that one of our researchers expressed a fervent wish that they would break their foot?). 

After waiting nearly an hour for a lane to become free, then putting up with such antics, it appeared that the pair were ready to scrap the idea of weekly bowling and look for a different activity. 

Returning to Chris’ house to chat a bit and relax after their ordeal, they put a DVD of Lethal Weapon on- the Hutgirl lasted almost forty minutes before a combination of factors propelled her off the settee and into the car to return home and say goodnight to the boy before attempting to regain the sleep lost the night before due to Inception related weirdness.

This morning the Hutgirl appears simultaneously groggy and fed up- apparently her efforts at a full night’s sleep were thwarted, leaving her sleep deprived once again.  This doesn’t bode well for staying awake later tonight (which wouldn’t be a problem if the boy didn’t live some 5 hours worth of timezone away) and being her normal witty and engaging self…

Upon returning from our trip out, we found the Hutgirl tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. Rewinding the tapes of the evening, we discovered that in our absence, she’d elected to watch Inception and order a pizza, before quarrelling with the boy and stuggling to make up for several hours.

Apparently the combination of overly salty, fatty food, troubled thoughts and the uncertainty of whether her dreams were actually her dreams led to a highly volatile state during which peaceful slepp could not be acheived.

As we monitored her for the rest of the night, it did appear that she hit a slightly deeper patch of sleep at around 6am- just to be woken by the sun coming up shortly afterwards. The team believes it may soon be time to re-install the blackout curtains in the nesting chamber to try and extend the sleeping period, as it is a known fact that the Hutgirl’s eyes are sensitive to light after their numerous malfunctions.

Early Sunday morning appeared to be written off, as the Hutgirl steadfastly refused to get out of bed, instead picking up a book and burrowing deeper into the nest. This paid off, as she was rewarded with another nap of around two hours. She has begun stirring now, however, and from early indications it appears she is about to go and have a leisurely bath before attending to the numerous chores that await her.