NaBloPoMo '09.

It's the first of November, which means to bloggers everywhere it's time for (Inter)National Blog Posting Month!  As it happens, I started posting daily on the first of November 2008, and I didn't drop the ball for a whole year.

So what's happened in the past twelve months?  For those of you joining us now, lets have a quick recap:

• November '08: America got a new president, and I got my beloved iPod Touch.
• December '08 : Bettie Page died, and I discovered Constant Comment tea.
• January '09: John Mortimer and Patrick McGoohan both died, and I gave up trying to train the cats to use the toilet like humans.
• February '09: Edith killed our romantic Valentine cupcakes, and I ran the first Alien Spouse Mystery Crochet Contest.  I must do another one of those sometime...
• March '09: We began to go to the gym before work, and I discovered the internet wonder that is Hulu.
• April '09:  Doc C learnt to make crumpets, and we went to Philadelphia.
• May '09: I went whale watching in Province Town and got a tattoo of a key on my right wrist.
• June '09: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died.  The media went insane, I'm just surprised no-one's yet claimed it wasn't all an elaborate hoax to jump start Jackson's come back.
• July '09: Doc got his iPod Touch and a new bike.
• August '09: I passed my learners permit test (first go and no wrong answers) and signed up for my MA course in English Literature.
• September '09: Keisha left the Sugababes and I went for my two year anniversary of coming to America to be Biometrically Tested
• October '09:  I got Mono and slept through October.  No really, I did, and I still blogged every day, that is commitment.

I suppose the biggest change was that I started calorie counting, using a free app on the iPod called "Lose It!", and since November last year I have lost around 45 pounds (That's over three stone) and two dress sizes.  That makes a huge difference to my body shape, and I really wish I'd bought that iPod sooner, so I could have done this ages ago!  Seriously, I LOVE my iPod for this; not only does it count all my calories for me but it keeps me motivated on the eliptical in the gym as well.  The iPod Touch seemed like an indulgence before I got it, but really it's been very useful.

That was 2009, at the beginning of the NaBloPoMo cycle I taught myself to crochet and for 2010 I'm teaching myself to knit.  Well, I actually could already knit never ending scarves, but this time I intend to knit actual things.  To your left you will see the first few rows of a red cotton circular thingy, which is going to be a cowl, assuming that I've actually made it big enough to go over my head.