Now it's the Thames, but my home-home river was the Wye.

I've just learnt that the US version of The Smartest Giant in Town (Julia Donaldson) is renamed to The Spiffiest Giant in Town and I hate this a lot.

I have submitted my festivid four-and-a-half hours before the deadline, probably a record for me 😂 I suspect I'm going to come back to it in a few days and do some poking, but I'm pretty happy with it! Also @alot.bsky.social made me a custom clipping program in about 10 mins, big shout out to him!

I don't understand why people keep saying Piranesi is hard to understand. It's beautiful but the plot entirely straightforward!

I have been meaning to post for ages about my late-entry favourite book series from last year, which was The Black Iron Legacy (first book The Gutter Prayer) by Gareth Hanrahan. He went straight onto my list of "authors for whom I will buy every book they write" on the strength of it.

"Chop off your Christmas tree's branches in situ before you carry it out of the house" continues to be my most useful Christmas hack.

🔥🔥🔥

The other day 5yo watched The Wizard of Oz with Ellie, and now keeps telling me facts about it. Like how there's a pink witch called Belinda who loves bubbles. And little people called Munchkins who live in bushes and make nests there. She accepts no concrit on these facts.

... Can anyone see a reply to my last post? It's showing one reply on the icon (popped up almost immediately) but I can't see it. (I only have two real people muted, pretty sure mutually, so I don't think it's that)

I was just summoned by a very sleepy 5yo to her bedroom. "Mummy, I have lost my duvet!" Then she added, crossly, "I am NOT lying on it!" Readers, you may have three guesses as to where it was.

Today I took 5yo to a bounce park and did a load of bouncing with her! 🥰 The first time I've been able to enjoy this activity since about the age of 12!

I've had the great revelation of how to turn any pin badge into a needle minder! (Snip off the pin, file down, add magnets.)

I'm going to do a thread of books read in 2026! And each entry will be very brief because I've always found actually stringing together words about what I've read to be remarkably difficult.

Lol OK!

5yo just led Ellie through an elaborate treasure hunt through the living room - the "clues" were random objects, and on finding one, 5yo would say where to look next. The final clue lead to the TV remote behind a cushion, and its finding was greeted with, "And now can I have some screen time?"

Happy New Year, everyone! I had a wonderful start to it, a party and then a completely solitary bike ride down the river and across town. Moon among the clouds and frost settling.

I'm now in the period of Experiencing Ellie's Family where I'm afraid I'm noticeably wincing whenever her mum does a chuckling hum under her breath, which is every 20 seconds. Otoh, no one's called me a fucking cunt so it beats the last three times I gave my own family another chance.

Hey, Drop of Corruption is 99p on Kobo!

It's normal to have made two different outfits for Christmas Day, right?? #sewing #sewsky

My Christmas Eve dress. Unfortunately it may be leading to a divorce because Ellie asked me if I'm starting my tradwife era. #sewing #sewsky

Tiny Dragon has been given a £20 note by a relative and is thrilled to have some REAL PAPER MONEY to add to her collection of coins she plays shops with.

Today I got a card-shaped envelope through the door with no stamp but my name and the first line of my address handwritten. Ellie: "lol, maybe it's a Christmas card from the Lib Dems." . It was a Christmas card from the Lib Dems.

Went to the Christmas event at Didcot Railway Centre! It was expensive but actually really good. Tiny Dragon loved getting to walk along tracks for ages. She was ambivalent about seeing Father Christmas but we did actually get a photo!

Excited for the only safe bike route to Oxford to soon be blocked for a couple of months by flooding, as happens every single year without fail! #bikesky

Bought these lovely hand sculptured earrings from cart_gallery (on Insta) when I ran into her in Oxford earlier today!

If this was silver I'd buy it instantly so it's probably a good thing I don't really wear gold... (in Oliver Bonas)

Update: surgeon did indeed laugh, and also very much sanctioned its support 😁

I am in a waiting room for my surgery check-up, and just witnessed a man bang his head on a wall-mounted display of feedback forms.

Breaking news: Tiny Dragon now confirmed Officially Autistic. That was a horrible process but at least it all happened young enough that she's been basically unaware. And we have our bit of magic paper in case future schools are less helpful than her current brilliant one. *relieved sigh*

Got our #TreeByBike! At Tiny Dragon's request we went to the place in Oxford with the Christmas dinosaurs. And stopped by the house with the enormous light display on the way home. #bikesky

I need a little gremlin to live in my phone à la Terry Pratchett to shout at me WHAT DID YOU ACTUALLY OPEN YOUR PHONE FOR after a few minutes of checking socials and having completely forgetting I'd wanted to check a sewing pattern for construction order

"At school today we played an Elsa game. I was Sven, he is the reindeer, and my imaginary antlers just KEPT getting caught on things." "Aww, did Elsa help you?" "I don't know, she was busy doing some snow magic. Sven got stuck in the door AND the window of the home corner!"

Wearable monarch butterfly wings in child size - a commission. Pattern from @twigandtale.bsky.social #sewing #sewsky

Ok I'm waaay ahead of myself here but does anyone have any binder recs?

"Mummy have you made my Christmas jumper yet? Have you? Have you Mummy? Have you made it, Kafrine?" Child, you're not even paying me.

I went to an eco wreath-making workshop this morning run by Abingdon Carbon Cutters! Greenary all surplus from Oxford college grounds and with moss in the foundation ring instead of oasis. It was really fun and I love my wreath!

Just got a notification that the driver had to attend (and pay for) a remedial driving course for this!

Got my first ever refusal onto the train with my bike. Apparently GWR "is really cracking down on bikes". This country is so fucking awful to not be a driver in.

I'm sending a new fabric order to print tomorrow, for delivery in January. Anyone got clothing orders? 😁 95% cotton jersey (tshirts, dresses, leggings, underwear, skirts), 100% cotton poplin (shirts, skirts), 100% cotton twill (dungarees, pinafores) Album here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/tmp5d...

I'm still spending time with my teeny niece! (A lot of this time has been in the middle of the night so her parents can get actual blocks of sleep.) I have also assembled a baby-change cabinet and a cot, and disassembled a bed. And scoffed at Alot's skeptism about a full trolley shop by bike.

I want this for Abingdon/Oxford so much! (Yes I want to be a reindeer 😂)

I have JUST REALISED that the term bodycon, as in dresses, stands for body conforming, not body confidence 😅

I am delighted to introduce @alot.bsky.social's very tiny baby! I am here for a few days having fun doing a mixture of babywearing and putting together a lot of flat pack furniture. (Not at the same time.)

First experience with Passenger Assistance and @gwr.com "NO, you can't have the ramp you booked! That is only for people with wheelchairs!" The PA man lifted my bike on for me because the guard was so aggro that he wouldn't let him put down the ramp...

Bunny is not eating, we are at the vets 😥

Made a new sports bra! I think I'll wear it to my next surgery check-up and see if it makes my surgeon laugh. #sewing #sewsky

I have rebelled against my hospital compression bra and made a new one which is definitely at least as compressive and in 95% cotton. I am weighing up how much I want to show it off vs the reality of showing bluesky my tits.

Every time someone asks me to use sherpa fleece in a sewing make I'm like, okaaaaaay but you are the VERY LAST PERSON I will say yes to. Every time.

Ack I missed out on a free sewing pattern for advent by one minute 🙈

The worst *for them* is "why would anyone spend more than they have to on clothes?" because that is an autoplay for an infodump which has no pause button 😆 The worst for me is probably asking me to hem their jeans.