Three Beautiful Things

1. When I pass the house we are going to rent, I can see through the open door that there are cleaners mopping the floors. Later, we get emails to say that we've passed the credit check. 2. I am offered regular work -- just a morning a week, but it's a good bit of security. 3. To mess around with torn paper and white glue.

1. To play around with white glue and scraps of paper. 2. Katie is home alone, so she comes round to have supper and watch Time Team with us (apparently she can't watch it at home without Jules commenting about how they've just thrown coins down the hole for the archaeologists to find). She brings a bunch of lilies of the valley -- they are a bit of a pest in her garden, but it's easy to forgive them for their sweet scent and lacy bells. 3. I'm loving Di Van Niekerk 's ribbon embroidery -- if you make a mistake, stitch over it, because it all adds texture. I need to take some more pictures, as I've progressed a bit since this was taken.

This week I've been astonished to see the hit counter on the 3BT podcast creeping up -- thanks for listening, everyone. I've added Outré and It's a Long Way Home to the Roll of Honour -- thank you James and Cathy. Becoming Human and Whitney at Glimpses of Grace and Louisa Parry have all been enjoying the company of small people -- I just hope Whitney's little'un managed to get herself out of the hatbox. Plutarch has seen daffodils braving the frost . Raymond Pert has put away a burger 'the size of a buffalo's head' . Merope discovers Marks and Sparks and salt 'n' vinegar crisps. And Eyebee is taking pleasure in Shredded Wheat . 1. My aunt says: "Do you want to go to Hobbycraft?" as if she is suggesting a guilty pleasure to us. 2. More birch trees -- their top branches have been smeared by an artist's finger covered in burgundy pastel across a landscape of fawn and khaki. 3. I come home to Nick, and we hug each...

1. I get the news that I've got the funding for an audio typing course, which I'm hoping will open some (paying) work doors for me. 2. I like to see a rainstorm coming in over the Medway valley. Long grey streaks have been combed out of the high clouds. 3. I try ribbon embroidery for the first time. Di Van Niekerk's book is insistant that even imperfect stitches are fine because you can work over them to add texture.

1. I use a craft knife to try some of Cindy's Scherenschnitte templates. Being allowed to use a craft knife unattended is one of the best things about being grown-up. 2. Before I put the leftovers from supper in the fridge, I pick out and eat a cube of tender fried aubergine. 3. I like to watch comedy with Nick (there is a new programme on that adds a voiceover to wildlife footage) and seeing him laugh.

1. I went to hear a writing friend read and speak in a short story discussion . The people in front of me caught her in the viewfinder of their camera again and again. 2. After an uncalculated saunter towards a train leaving at an uncertain time I walk into the station with ten minutes to spare. 3. Knitting with plastic bags is rather satisfying. I used the instructions at Atomic Shrimp to make the yarn, and then knitted it up on needles in the usual fashion. I'm not sure what I'll use the result for -- I'm aware of the irony of using about 100 plastic bags to make one shopping bag. I might go for a bag for carrying my water bottle.

1. I have a nap in the middle of the morning and drift in and out of sleep. The joiner fixing the window next door is whistling and ocassionally singing: ' A girl like you ' 2. The colour of grated carrot -- it's such a bright, juicy orange on a wintery day. 3. I was once the child whose colouring went over the edge; whose samplers were speckled with blood and tears; whose cutting out was jagged and torn and whose handwriting was a constant worry to teachers. I used to feel very ashamed of my art and crafts and still burn to remember the headmaster pronouncing my paper curl chicken 'a mess'. But last night, I was looking at a box I'd decorated with a cut-out, and an embroidery I'm mounting, and I felt quite pleased and proud. It must be partly experience and practice; partly acceptance of my own limitations and partly better tools. I think my motor skills have improved with age -- I'd never have imagined I'd achieve the things I've done in my dra...

1. A box of Christmas shopping sweets arrives for me at work from A Quarter Of . I have a lot more candy necklaces than I want, so the rest of the day is marked by the occassional crunch-crunch-crunch. 2. I go into M&S feeling as if I ought to take advantage of its 20 per cent off day by picking up some needful things. A lady near me looks at the queues and the crowds and the scrums and says: 'Oh how ridiculous.' I quite agree, and walk out again. 3. Rolling ink with a brayer because of the sticky noise it makes.

1. As I work, I can hear Katie down in the garden clipping and pulling up weeds. She has opened the doors to the balcony to let air into my room and so she can call up for advice or another tool. 2. Katie lets me unwrap her new plastic bead box and fill the compartments with the kit she has just bought for making knitting markers . I add some extras from box into which I throw small items like broken jewellery and shells. 3. We turn down a footpath and find ourselves looking over an unexpected view of town -- the green domes of the Opera House, and the shopping centre -- 'A Spanish prison', according to Nick.

1. I feel as if I am flying. Far belwo the rocks on the sea bed fall away into the ultramarine gloom. Flying around me are tiny silver fish, fat black fish and once, a pipefish -- all bones and beak. 2. Sitting on the front deck of the boat and letting the wind and sun dry me. 3. Dish of food keep appearing -- long pancake rolls full of feta and fresh herbs; a salad of fat white raddish slices dressed with lemon flesh and juice; green leaves and tomatoes; chicken thighs spiced and cooked without the bone; crisp-skinned fish with sweet white flesh; and pickled runner beans. Later come dishes of ice piled with water melon, apricots, oranges, bananas and tart green plums. 4. Bobbing at anchor, we spot a forlorn group of walkers wilting on the beach. A tall ship comes in, makes fast and sends a dinghy over to collect them. 5. With sketchbook in hand I am free to observe the colours in the sea without interruption. 6. All holiday, worries about money have been digging cold fingers into my m...

1. As the train pulls into Charing Cross, I finish knitting my scarf and put it on. 2. In the Natural History Museum is a collection of coloured diamonds . The display cycles between normal light and UV light, revealing magical colour changes and strange fluorescence. 3. We finally get to meet Rosey's mysterious boyfriend -- Matt has been mentioned an awful lot and appears frequently in photographs , but so far he has kept his head down. As a dutiful big sister, I have been nearly eaten up with curiosity, so it was a relief to meet him at last.

1. Emily is wearing a Christmassy red jacket and green jumper. 2. We crowd to the window to watch the shoot. A wire-haired dacshund races around nearly expiring with excitement. Earlier this week, it came to greet Oli and me as we went into work. It was wearing a coat, and seemed very pleased to see us, wriggling right down on the ground and wagging its tail. 3. Printing my own wrapping paper with a large rubber stamp.