My Month in Numbers 2014: February

Hello then.

This post almost didn't happen. Mainly because not much else did this month. February has been so unremarkable for me that I struggled to think of anything much to summarise here.

I'm currently kidding myself that this woeful lack of excitement is all down to February being a particularly short month; all the interesting stuff that could have happened probably would have done so in those 2-3 days we've been deprived of ...

But, never let it be said I can't make a mountain out of a mole-hill; I've given it some thought and have managed to come up with a number or two to share after all ... here goes:

3 heads are better than 1 = James added to my head collection this month with a Valentine's gift of a little phrenology bust [I've always wanted one!]:

In fact, all of the chaps in Head Corner - the phrenology bust, wig form and doll's head, were gifts from James; it's almost as if he knows what I like isn't it?

As he was studying the latest addition he laughed as he came across the region of 'Domestic Propensities' ... and tried [unsurprisingly in vain] to locate any evidence of them on my head:

[Notice how I avoided saying that I'd "spent Valentine's night with James feeling my bumps"? I knew you'd get the wrong idea. I know what you're like ... ]

2 = the number of household things that began to break down  Our shower is on a work-to-rule strike at them moment, cutting-out after only a short while and refusing to come back on. Which may well be OK if you've only got very short hair to wash in a hurry [James] ... but it's not so OK when your hair's the longest it's been in years [me]. I'm actually getting my haircut today ... but I'd rather have a new shower fitted that resort to any drastic lock-chopping!

Oh and the 2nd thing is: the washing machine which, like me in a large shopping centre, has very poor bearings. Ball bearings which, apparently can't be replaced. So while we're on the subject of things that are broken ... you can add to that my spirits when we had to go and look for a new machine.

I had little to no interest whatsoever in spending my Saturday in the white goods aisle of a electrics shop let alone mustering up an enthusiasm over the fact - told to us by the very capable sales assistant - that the latest model somehow forces detergent into the fibres of my clothes. To give him his due he did his best to chat to us about the pros and cons of the various models we were skulking around but, seriously ...

... he was never really going to be able to get me to care, he only needed to feel the bumps on my head to know that ...

6 = the number of books read: the 5 here plus Dark Matter by Juli Zeh: 

Just like last year I'm keeping track of all the books I read on a dedicated Pinterest board - if you want to read more about any of the titles just click through for  links + reviews.

I've often been super-impressed by some of you who mention finishing lots of books each month ... then it dawned on me that, in order to do the same I just needed to read shorter ones! I even scanned the shelves of the library for slimmer volumes this time round I'm not sure how long I'll keep it up ... because I'm actually rather drawn to door-stoppers!

I might just start recording the number of pages I read instead ...

• This month I read 1824 pages over 6 books = an average of 304 pages per book.
• Meanwhile, in December I read 784 pages ... but that was just in 1 single arm-muscle-building epic of a book - Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch!

2 x '10 Ways'I regularly design for the '10 Ways with ...' feature in Papercraft Inspirations magazine where I create 10 items using a similar product or technique [eg. cork, corrugated card, alphabets, fabric, buttons, envelopes and many more!] and this month I've completed 2 sets for upcoming issues.

See if you can guess what the theme was for this sneak peek: 

For Papercraft Inspirations magazine Issue 127 [April 2014]

... and this one:


For Papercraft Inspirations magazine Issue 127 [May 2014] 

1732 words = the word count of the first ever non-crafty article I've submitted to a magazine for consideration. While I hope it will be ... I'm not sure it'll make it as I haven't heard anything back yet.

Should  I have just admitted that? I don't know. But I have! You know me ... I like to put things out there ...

Needless to say you'll be one of the first to know if it does make it into print ... by which time you'll be tired of hearing me mentioning it! ;-)

4th = a day to remember  the 4th would have been my late Grandma's birthday and we marked it by talking about, then doing, a few of the things she would have done.  Here's me drinking tea from a BIG mug like she always did:

Actually ... I'll share more about the things I did very soon when I photograph a layout I've made all about it.

And finally ...

22 = terrifyingly the number of weeks left until August! You may well ask how of why this is important. Well, it's not really ... it's just that I've been playing along with the 52 Weeks of Photos project  where, each week since last August I've been taking a photo to match one of the categories, then scrapbooking them. But, each week, as I cross off yet another photo taken I'm becoming more aware of just how few categories [and therefore weeks] there are remaining!

Quick ... time's gaining on us and we'd better look like we've done something by the time it catches up!

And now we're back to wishing February had those 3 extra days aren't we?

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If my memory-keeping-by-numbers has inspired you to give it a go yourself [especially as you now know that you can still create a post even when nothing exciting whatsoever has occurred!] ... then all the instructions for how to join in the Month in Numbers community can be found on the dedicated page of my blog.

 

The main 'rule' is really just to link back to me somewhere ... and to try to visit at least 1 or 2 fellow MinN bloggers during the days ahead ... but go and have a good skim through the details here.

 

If you leave me your link to your post today I'll make sure to drop in on you soon to catch up with your February counting.

 

And if you just dropped by to read mine - thanks for that! I hope you enjoyed exchanging a few of your own minutes to read through a collection of mine.

 

Happy March to you!

 

Julie x