Catch Up Notes

Not posted since December 13th! Smacked hands...Boo Hoo, must do better.

Thinking back the week started with a series of mishaps (like it does when you're already stressed) starting with BT; does anyone else have trouble with BT? I got yet another bill for BT Vision which I had returned after only one night's viewing. I thought it was total rubbish and vastly preferred my Sky+. Anyway they have been billing me since September and each month I have to ring and tell them to sort it out which is not easy when they are in India and I'm in the UK. Anyway I lost my rag and told the operator to sort it out himself as I was not being transferred yet again to another department and I was not paying any bills. Whether that has happened we'll see. Then the boiler pressure was showing zero and I didn't know how to alter it so that was another 15 minutes whilst I went through a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 etc. only to find that I had to phone Baxi direct...and another a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 blah, blah...and when someone answered it took him 2 seconds to tell me what to do. I had two waistcoats to make to send out for Wednesday but I don't know if they got there in time. Then the light bulbs started popping and I bought some spares and found they were bayonet and not screw-in and had to be taken back and exchanged...and all before Christmas!

However, Christmas was great, Ed came up on Xmas day and we had Xmas dinner, watched the Queen's speech, then I had a surprise as Ed started up Skype and connected with Stephanie and her family in Munich. We had a very enjoyable half hour with them then jumped into the car with dogs and went to the beach. I have never done that before and it was also Digger's first taste of beaches and sea water. It was lovely seeing them bound round the dunes and beach racing for the twigs Ed threw for them. We spent an hour there then came back and dossed in the living room and watched a DVD then some telly before going to bed.

Boxing Day was taken up with getting Ed up for his breakfast, sorting out my computer, having lunch from Xmas day left-overs and seeing him on his way home before he took off for Slovakia.

After that I could not get going again, so I decided to sit in the living room and watch one of the DVD's I had been given, so totally decadent.

The last few days I have been adding shelves to my lobby and bought a stack of drawers to house all my scrap booking papers and bits so I am now very tidy and have unearthed a set of course notes for a course I couldn't take part in before Christmas. I have worked through 3 lessons and just have the 4th to complete and that will add another skill to my CV...Ha, like I need one now! Anyway here are some pictures of the work so far.

I have also cut out two more waistcoats but don't have any calico to make the interlining so they will have to wait until tomorrow before I can buy some more and start sewing them up before Bert comes on Wednesday...well, back to stress and time management, why should 2009 be any different?

Almost Christmas

Bert arrived as expected and as I had cancelled my Thursday market I was able to concentrate on enjoying his visit. Bert met Digger for the first time and Digger fell in LOVE...but Bert was not impressed, and hated being licked all the time and he soon got his marching orders.

We went shopping and lazed around watched TV. We went to the local Atlantic Village to get a suitcase for him and I found a wonderful outfit for my son's ball - quite by chance! On the Tuesday we took the dogs to the kennels for their mini holiday and drove up to Macclesfield leaving behind the sun and heading into terrible weather - torrential rain, sleet and snow - making it hard to see where the lines were on the roads. I dropped Bert off at his sister's house and drove on to my Mother's house where I delivered my Xmas presents and had a great two days with her. We shopped and ate out and did girly things. Then I drove back to sunny Devon for an overnight stop before travelling to Salisbury and Gareth's home. He met me outside the station and took me home and made me a sandwich to last me until we had our meal at the do. Maureen arrived later on with Michelle and Charmion and we caught up with the news whilst waiting for the minibus to arrive.

The ball was held in the barracks in a huge marquee with about 32 tables and a large dance floor. The meal was traditional Christmas and very tasty but towards the end the lack of heating made it very hard to sit still and everyone began shivering, so the tables were re-organised to warmer places. I left about 10 minutes to 12 with Fiona and dived under the dovet as soon as I could to warm up and sleep. Several hours later I was woken by the others banging on the front door to be let in - they had lost the door key!

The next day everywhere was covered in frost and the cars had to be de-iced before being used, then Gareth, Charmion and I headed into Salisbury for a trip round the shops and a visit to the cathedral. It had been updated with a spectacular water feature that entranced Gareth and he soon set a trend and had everyone taking pictures of reflections in the water.

The afternoon was taken up with a hospital visit for Fiona, who had landed there in the night with bad stomach ache, Gareth also drove me past Stonehenge and got a lovely picture of the evening sun behind the stones and then home for a chinese meal and Strictly Come Dancing on the TV.

I left on Sunday on the train and got home about 13:30, slowly put my things away and made a cup of tea and sat on the settee watching TV until I came round and was able to do a bit more.

Thursday brought a few more waistcoat orders and a heavy cold which I am now in the throes of shrugging off. I have reached the coughing stage but lemsip is doing it's upmost to combat the bug and I feel fine in myself. Tomorrow I'll start the waistcoats...promise!

How to slow down, that is the question!

This week, Bert threw me a curve. He has to have chemotherapy and decided against tablets because they cause a lot of nasty side effects, and he opted for the drip - a one day course - but the date was bang in the middle of the week he was supposed to be in Devon. I was a bit (very) upset so he compromised and said he would come down this Friday and travel back with me when I visited my mother next Tuesday. That was OK with me until I realised what a lot of work I had to squeeze into 4 days less than I had before. I threw a wobbly, like you do, and ended up talking to my wonderful daughter who soon put me right. So I cancelled my Thursday at the market (I didn't want any orders anyway) and finished my project for her without the lessons I had booked (but I can now join in the class with no pressure to finish). I finished the project for Phil too, so today I am cleaning and clearing in readiness for Bert's arrival tomorrow. I can also relax and enjoy the weekend with him.

I was also going to make an outfit for a gala ball at my eldest sons' army camp next week, but I decided to see what was available in the shops - not an easy task when you are my size - and found something that fits and is almost to my ankles, but not to the floor as requested...hey..ho...I just hope they don't throw me out for the sake of 4 inches. I'll have to find some ballet shoes so it doesn't look so obvious.

I finished Fiona's ball gown for her birthday and made a stole to match, but she is not sure about the feathers, I only used a few so I'm hoping she'll relent and leave them attached. The silk is shot pink with yellow and looks lovely made up.

Well, I'm off to shop for the big man (or "slim jim" as he calls himself) and get ready to feed him up.

Harrassed!

Such a lot to do, so little time, so many things dropping off the edge!

Last week I went to my first scrap booking evening at the local craft warehouse. I took all my stuff I collected from my holiday at the Isle of Wight and was given several sheets of paper to set out my first page. The paper reminded me of the trip to see Queen Victoria's house and the rich wallpapers in the rooms, so I used the pictures and brochure and a map of the island to make my display. Not bad for a first time, but I have the feeling that I will do better as I progress through my holiday and make other pages.

On the Saturday, I was back there for the full day, but only managed to make it to 1pm. My back was in two by then and I had to bring my last project back and do it at home. We were given 3 packs at the start and instructions on how to make up the projects; No.1 was a sketch book which had to be painted round the edge, papered and embellished. Then we punched holes into the pages for adding between the covers and added the ring closures and ribbon ties.

The second project was little folded card holders, such as we can buy for vouchers or gift tokens - dead easy and I made two, but having no velcro sticky dots I had to scour Barnstaple to find some to finish them off.

The third project was a photo frame, which I really wanted to do, but had to bring home with me. It was two pieces of board that were covered with good quality paper, one having an appature cut out of the middle and some acetate glued to the back of it. The cut out was used to make the stand for the back and we added two magnets between the covers so that when you put your photo between them, the magnets held everything together.

That just about finished me off strengthwise, so I spent the rest of the weekend recovering. During the week I made up my waistcoats for the market on Thursday and spent a very cold day sitting huddled over my crossword puzzles. I picked up 3 more orders so all was not lost, one being for a woman (why don't they listen?) who wanted the front to match one style but be like the other!!! Well, my designer head came up with the idea of a curved edge that should do what she wants (hopefully).

This weekend my dungeon, where I work, really did my head in, so I got going on stripping everything out, throwing away stuff I'm sure no-one wants, and hitting myself on the head with some metal bars. I now have a lovely bruise that makes it awkward to sleep at night. I rearranged everything and now have a clear cutting table to set out my fabrics on. I hoovered up all the spiders webs and spiders who got in the way and the rubbish from the floor, so it feels a lot better to work in. However, during this mega clean, the phone went - twice - but by the time I got there it went off - always the way, isn't it. Eventually I answered it and a lady asked me if I was alright - "yes, fine" I said, "well" she said "you should be here at Step2Step, you booked a book cover course today". My anguish was forcibly yelled. I had completely forgotton this course and apart from the embarrasment of not turning up, I really needed it to complete some projects. Woe is me!

Yesterday, I went to flush the loo and found there was no water, so I got onto the Waterboard, who said I should have received a letter to say they were cutting off the water between 1 and 5pm. I hadn't received any such letter, and when I asked my neighbours, neither had they, so someone's telling fibs, and my loo is decidedly unwell and making some very funny noises.

Today, Wednesday, I bought some print cartridges at the local Tesco's and the assistant took them away to have the tags taken off but when I got home they were nowhere to be found. So back I went with my receipt and complained to the Customer Services desk and after much trolling around they found an assistant who had retagged them and put them back on the shelf! Marvellous. AND tomorrow is back at the market, being frozen and wondering if I'll sell any waistcoats. I'm not a happy teddy this week.

A new addition to the family

Well, welcome to tiny Nancy who arrived like a rocket on the evening of bonfire night, November 5th, an easy date to remember.

Isn't she a little sparkler?

Also on Wednesday I went to the card making group at our local card factory and learned how to wet emboss a mandala and made a Christmas dangle. I'm there again tonight and most of tomorrow to try out the Scrap booking workshops.

Also this week, I attended the local market and got orders for 4 more waistcoats which will keep me busy for the next week. My altered journal course was delayed for two weeks, so I'll have to steam ahead with that one to get my projects finished in time to post abroad. Something I could have done without as I have to learn techniques before I can make a good impression on my project. Still, as my mother said, "you don't like things easy", I just wish they were sometimes, when I'm pushed for time. How did I ever have time to go to work?

Digger has picked up an infection or caught a cold. He has a smelly running nose and needed a course of antibiotics to finish him off, I mean make him better.

I have started my project for Phil and Wendy which I hope works out or else it's down to Mothercare and a safe present for them.

Well onwards and upwards, as they say in the best circles.

A good day today

I have been making crow dolls today for my youngest (at the moment) granddaughter, Edith. I started out on Sunday with no idea of how to put them together but following instructions (always hard for me) soon made it easy to get to grips with.

They are a bit punk rocker but cheeky with it.

Here are some pictures of Gareth getting to know Digger for the first time, in spite of posessiveness from Peggy, bless her.

Update on Bert

Last Tuesday I got a call from Bert to say

that the surgeon was letting him go home that afternoon. I felt sucker-punched, in a

nice way and it took all day to recover - silly me! In the evening Gareth phoned in reply to my message update and let

me know that he was not going to Iraq - second great info of the day, but I never did get the third...I wonder why?

It took a lot out of Bert to get to his sister's house and he was glad to get back to bed, I know the feeling well. During the past week he has been taking short walks, going a bit farther each time and visiting his other relatives. He seems to be improving slowly (what can you expect at his age?) but he had the last drain

out before he left and it is taking time to heal and causing a lot of pain. I'm hoping this means he is healing and not storing up infection but we just have to wait and see.

I just got a call this afternoon from a course in South Moulton (about 5 miles away) to say they had a cancellation on a book binding course and would I like to join them? Would I ever!!!! So that's 15th Nov taken up, and it seems all the good courses are starting this month. I've bought Maggie Grey's latest book which had free lessons with it and joined her group called "catalogue killers"! Basically we were asked to put a catalogue out into the weather for 3 months after scoring it with a craft knife, we are all wondering what we will be doing with it, but so far there are no hints from Maggie. She is teaching us other wonderful stuff which will go a long way to making lovely Christmas presents. Several ideas I had have gelled into one big one and I just hope I have the ability to pull it off and will post some piccies if it does. However, if it doesn't a piccy of the dustbin will be substituted.

Hind sight..

With hindsight, last week was good. I didn't think so as the days went by, but looking back I think we are over the bad times again.

Bert's colostomy bag began to work on the Monday, and one of his drains came out on the Tuesday. He was given some soup on the Wednesday for the first time and said it was awful! I think his taste buds need educating again - maybe? His catheta is out now and all he has left is one drain which we are hoping will come out this next week. He is able to move about without pushing a trolley load of tubes and bags etc. and is complaining that the ward is cold and giving the nurses a hard time. He had one day when he was really down - maybe Wednesday - and wondered if he was going to make it when he saw others coming and going and he was still left there. He seems to be over that now.

I went to the market on Thursday and got 3 orders, two from women, who would not believe me when I said "I don't do women". Still, if they want to take the chance who am I to refuse? The third waistcoat was for a farmer from Gloucester who wanted several waistcoats and would order against the first if it went OK - the type of order I like to get. I spent today, Sunday, cutting out for him and one of the other ladies. Funnily enough I had already cut a small size in the fabric she chose so it was just a matter of adding the bits and pieces that no-one sees.

Last week, I also finished my daughter's present, not sure if she should have it for her birthday on 15th December or for Christmas; I'll have to ask her. I had to sign up for another course to finish it off because I wanted to do something special but, don't you know, didn't have the expertise to get it right! I now have my kitchen table back ready for the next present; for my middle son, Philip and family.

My eldest son, Gareth, called and I showed him all the jobs that I need doing, so I don't think I'll see him again any time soon! He is back from a tour in Canada and has transferred to a base about 2 miles from where he now lives. He says the work is horrendous, 18 hour shifts and little time to sleep, mainly because there are very few workmen left in England to support the troups here as most of them are posted abroad. I do wonder who makes these decisions because they take no account of personnel, just numbers on boards I imagine.

My dogs are doing well, and Digger has acquired a waist, bless him, he is so active he burns off the calaries trying to keep up with Peggy. He is doing well at social club but still nervous of larger dogs and tends to let them know he's not to be messed with. We are told this is normal behaviour and not to worry, he'll integrate when he's ready. Peggy just goes off and does her own thing; she comes when called and is quite a responsible adult now. Digger sometimes finds it difficult to come through the dog flap in the kitchen door and she is always there to show him the way, he just has to winge a bit and she picks it up wherever she is and shows him what to do. They are playing tug of war at the moment and are evenly weighted so it's anyone's guess who will win. Usually they agree to a draw, which is nice.

Tomorrow is work day and back to making waistcoats. I did sign up for a small course on making silk fusion, but I've been so agitated that I've had to ask for a pass. I have the course notes and will get to work when I find some me-time. My book binding course starts on Nov 8th and I'm signed up for card making next Wednesday and scrap booking on Friday evening and all day Saturday. It will be the first time with the scrap booking and I'm looking forward to seeing what we make and how to incorporate it into what I like to do. I also have a course starting on 1st November that came free with Maggie Grey's new book and my first task is to find a catalogue and score cuts into it and put it outside to weather for 3 months! This should be very interesting as I have no idea what we'll be making from the result.

This is getting a long blog and no pictures so I'd better sign off.

Catch up and holiday

Isn't the weather great at the moment? Well, it is in Devon, so there!

A little update re Bert, he had his first operation a week ago and came through it nicely, however, the surgeon was not happy with him as something wasn't working (not sure what) so he was rushed into theatre for another op. Wednesday night and we are waiting to hear if that one has put things right. He'll be in hospital for another two weeks at least, then recooperating at his sister's house.

In the meantime, I got the dogs off to kennels for their stay and myself packed and ready for my holiday on the Isle of Wight. Disaster one was me trying to be efficient. I wanted to check if a spare camera disc had any photos on it that needed uploading and erasing but I put the disc into the camera sideways (not thinking straight) and damaged the connecting pins. I rushed down to Jessops and was told it would cost £150 to repair and take a week but as I was leaving in two days that was not acceptable. So I bit the bullet and bought a new camera, discs, and charger for my holiday.

As is predictable disaster 2 happened on the Sunday, the taxi was late because the driver was new and went to the wrong address. We then did a wheely down the roads to the coach and got there just in time - quite a start to a relaxing(!) holiday. We drove up to Taunton to pick up other passengers via several villages, twice round Wellington's column and then down to Worcester for a break and shopping in the outlet. The afternoon saw us arrive in Portsmouth for the ferry ride over the water - picture of the Spinaker Tower left.

I was so disappointed in the shortness of the trip across, barely half an hour and only time for one glass of wine before we headed back to the coach and I could still see the Spinaker Tower when we landed.

The Isle of Wight impressed me with its cleanliness and upkeep. There were no hovels or homeless dotted around, and money spoke everywhere. Surprisingly when we checked out the cost of housing, they were similar to Devon with just a few millions-costed houses available.

I won't bore you by taking you through all the tourist spots we went to over the next few days but there were a few that stood out for me. The best was Osbourne House, once owned by Queen Victoria and designed by Prince Albert. King Edward VII didn't want it so he gave it to the National Trust and as we were not allowed to use any technology whilst touring the house I could not take any photos, but outside was different and I managed to get some pictures to show the extent of the building and the photos show just one wing. The one room that stood out for me was the last we went through; a large room designed and built by an Indian Raja as a present for Queen Victoria. It was covered in ivory fretwork - the ceiling, walls and screens. All were carved beautifully and set against ruby red furnishings and mahogany stays. One can wonder how many elephants lost their tusks to furnish this room and that saddened me. Another thing I found out is that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are both decended from Queen Victoria and are cousins a couple of times removed.

Tomorrow I'll put some more photos up.

Happy Birthday to Me...

Events have a way of dictating your week, have you noticed? Last Thursday I learned that my partner Bert had colon cancer and that sent me a bit doo-laly and I could not think straight for a few days. It wasn't until Sunday I could actually talk about it to anyone else and decided the family should know and be warned of the consequences. I usually phone my mother on Sundays so she was the first to know and then Ed arrived in the afternoon for my birthday on the Monday - he had taken the day off, bless him and he took me out for a meal. During Monday a lot happened and I got calls from Stephanie, Phil and Fiona so they all know now.

Ed linked up my new BT hub to my PC and got it working - a doddle for him! Then we tackled the BTVision; we had to dismantle the Sky+ box and set up an ethernet link to the BT box, then it had to search for the channels etc. All quite technical.

So it was about 2pm before we got to go out and find Appledore which is supposed to be a craft community and shopping centre. We had a basic map (boy, was it basic) that sent us round in a loop, adding miles to the journey. We had to reverse our road a couple of times as the signposts were in funny places but we did get there! We had lunch at a little pub close by and visited the craft shop. I asked at the shop whether they did workshops or courses but there was nothing in that line, they were just a shop, so I bought a lovely ceramic pull for the bathroom light and a tudor rose tile that I could use as a stamp; I rummaged through a book fair in a garage for 3 very old books I could use for collaging and then we came home. I saw Ed off at about 4pm and settled down to watch the new BTVision.

What a con that was! All the channels I usually watch were gone, the menus were ponderous, not having a back button, so once you got to the end of the limited menu tree you had to go out and come back in again. There were none of the films, HD channnels, or extended viewing that you get with Sky and I could have got the same viewing if I had bought a Freeview box from Tesco for £30 and no £20 per month subscription. The remote volume buttons did not work and when I rang the technical support they said I had to call another number and get some codes to get it working. The only thing I could see that was an advantage over Freeview was the ability to record the programmes and link the series. After an hour I gave up and watched one of my own DVDs.

The next day I dismantled the BTVision, re-installed my Sky+ box and rang BT to cancel. I was so glad to get back to Sky+ and will never complain about the cost again.

So my birthday was successful on the whole and I really enjoyed the day. Today, Wednesday, I have my craft club at lunchtime when I'm supposed to be making a decoupage card (see next blog) and I have cancelled my Thursday market day - I just can't concentrate on that at the moment but funnily enough, I got a call from a previous customer and another order. I explained I will be away for a week and will get to it when I come back, so that will keep me going. Fiona's ball gown is nearly finished, just some tarting up and hems to do, and I must get to do some ironing or I'll have nothing to wear next week.

Proud Mum

Digger made me proud on Monday. I took both Digger and Peggy to the social club in the morning with my dog walker. Digger was a little nervous at first but as he was on a very long lead we were able to control where he went. He made friends with a couple of other Jack Russells and was soon having fun. After half an hour we let him off the lead and he continued to play and keep close - not like Peggy who legged it over to the estuary with a friend - and he ventured farther afield as his confidence grew. The club lady was impressed and only had to comment once about me petting him whilst he was barking at a dog who was too close; she said I had to walk away from him and give him room and I found he accepted that.

Wednesday the two dogs had a sleep-over at the kennels in preparation for my holiday and again they were as good as gold, so no worries about going away. Thursday I went to Exeter with Maureen to visit the Craft show. Maureen had organised seats on a local coach run by the Ilfracome WI which was quite handy and the only rub was that it was a long day, getting back about 17:00 and boy, was I tired! Although I didn't get what I went for, I managed to find some very interesting bits and pieces and several books (I can hear my offspring start to twitter in the background about my every growing library) that will prove useful.

Today has been quiet so I managed to get a haircut in and do the usual trip with the dogs.

Not much to talk about today because I can't show what I'm doing on the net, people who will benefit are watching!

Not long now...

...Not long to my holiday, that is. I bought a pair of walking shoes today so I could keep up with Maureen (captive playmate) when she hikes round the Isle of Wight. Last Thursday saw me at the market again where I sold my long waistcoat - would you believe it, he wanted pockets too but my crystal ball was at the cleaners! The drawing he had given me did not have pockets but as I pointed out I can put them on the next one (ploy to get more business) then I can have the black one back and add them then - Whew!!!

Today I went to a craft demo at Atlantic Village where I expected too much. I had thought it would be more organised but there was this poor lady on a little piece of the counter trying to demonstrate different ways of making cards. Well, as you now know, I don't do cards, I scrap so I soon lost interest; plus there was mention of a goody bag, but not sign of that either! However, the trip there and back was delightful, the sun shone and the birds sang and the traffic was minimal - wonderful. I finished off with a MacDonalds chicken deli in the garden and a cup of tea.

I have so many ideas buzzing round my brain at the moment that I shall be glad to get started and have printed off pictures of the ideas and articles in case I forget anything.

Next week is going to be busy with taking both dogs to social club on Monday plus the arrival of my BT vision box and the home hub has already arrived (Ed to the rescue here). Wednesday the dogs to the kennels for a night-over and I have to rush there for them on the Thursday morning to get back in time for a trip by coach to West Point Craft fair with Maureen. On Friday I get my hair cut at last, Jodie has been on holiday for two weeks just when I wanted her expertise so I had to hack my fringe myself and she'll be most annoyed with me. Then it will be the weekend of my birthday and Ed is coming on Sunday evening and to spend most of Monday with me - bless him.

I doubt I'll see Bert as he is still quite poorly and having lots of tests at the local hospital although we think he might have Crohn's disease and once diagnosed this can be treated with drugs and diet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another week just in case.

My daughter, Stephanie, has just started blogging here http://shellabear.blogspot.com/ and we can keep up to date with her doings on a more regular basis.

Amazing!

I had to put this picture up because I needed to record what a lovely day it was on Wednesday! Also when I look back during the winter and wonder where the summer went, I'll be able to pinpoint a week of it at least. The weather has held for 4 days now and the dogs have been able to go outside to play.

I have been busy this week, with waiting for a man to come and fix my back door because it had listed a bit and was catching at the top. I dashed out to the library and waited all day, but no man; then the next day he phoned about 10:45 and asked if he could come as the people he was supposed to see were not in. Of course I had an appointment that day, but we managed to fit the job in and he also sorted out the front door too, where that had slipped and put a beading round the edge to seal it off.

Wednesday I had an appointment with the vet to get Peggy's last postop checkup and her booster and kennel cough vaccines. Digger had to have his kennel cough too which meant he had to have a muzzle on. I'm not too sure what he might do to the poor vet if he had his teeth free. Kennel cough vaccine is squirted up their noses and not at all pleasant so they get really difficult to keep still whilst it is being done - I almost had to scrape Peggy off the wall when she saw it coming, and I was warned it would only get worse.

Here's a picture of Peggy and Digger using an old cardigan of mine as a tug-of-war rope after demolishing Peggy's sleeping basket. They can get quite rough whilst playing and Digger will insist on diving under my skirt when he's had enough and this makes it very difficult to keep my balance. He is quite proud of his new name tag which arrived this week, as finally he and we have become a family.



Thursday I went to the market and collected a jacket for alteration (I hate these) and an order for a long waistcoat. I had made a mockup for trying on before cutting into the fashion fabric and it fitted OK, so we'll go ahead this week and make it up properly.



Friday was a day of rest (after I had hoovered throughout the house) when I reclined on the settee with a dog at either end and read a book and watched Die Hart 4 and the Bank Heist with Jason Statham. I've not done that for a long time and really enjoyed myself.

Today I am preparing for another Christmas present, collecting paints and papers and sealing pages ready for working on. Again, I have lofty ideas but whether I can transfer these into a visual form is anyone's guess, but I'll have fun trying. I had a try at making Christmas cards and found it is not as easy as it looks. Anyone can stick bits and pieces onto card, but to get the colour and placement right is not easy and sometimes they can look quite dull and cheap. Well, back to the drawing board, and I'll leave cards to those who can and stick to my scrapping.

All sorts happening

It has been a while since I was able to blog and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. Over the past two weeks I have been able to finish Mum's journal for Christmas and start another one. Digger (Digby) has settled in and been registered with the vet etc. so he is here to stay. Peggy had her operation on Monday and I had to sit with her for 3 days because she has to have a very large cone around her head, bless her. Apparently she has a very long nose for such a small dog - and I though it was her ears that attracted all the attention! This makes it impossible for her to see steps so she cannot get up the garden without help and forget about the dog flap - she is going nowhere through that.

Digger has been marvellous with her except when she arrived home with the cone, he objected quite strongly to it and to the smell of the hospital but that wore off after a day or two and now they are best of friends (!) at the moment. Also something is going through her like a dose of salts and she gets quite distressed during the night and my rugs in the kitchen have had quite a washing cycle. Peggy goes for a checkup this afternoon, and I'll get something to settle her stomach then.


Bert was rushed into hospital last Thursday with a blood problem, but came out during the weekend. He is still having exploratory and blood tests to find out what the problem is, so I don't think I'll see him any time soon, although he is phoning twice a day to let me know how he is progressing. He sounds a little better but also depressed because he is having to sit and be quiet, not a happy teddy.

Yesterday I attended a small workshop at a card factory nearby, with 11 other ladies, and we had a great time making an exploding box. This is my first workshop which takes place on the first Wednesday of each month and we make different things each time. Next month it will be a decoupage card (I think). However, I brought some papers home to make another with a more streamlined box. I did ask how to send these boxes through the post and was told "expensively!" - definitely a giving present rather than a sending one.

Cheeky Monkey

We have all settled down now and I was able to go to the market on Thursday where I picked up 3 orders for waistcoats and 1 for a customised ring pillow. I had asked Kim next door to listen out for any fights or problems, but she said everything was quiet all day, so they must have slept until I came back.

Digger has become quite cheeky in that he will pick up one of Peggy's toys and wave it in front of her nose, then race under my skirt where he thinks he will be safe...not the brightest spark in the pack. Other times he will headbut her then race into the garden with her at his heels where they mock fight and charge round at the rate of knots before coming back to their baskets for a snooze. I tried to get him to sleep with Peggy in the kitchen at night but it is too early yet and I had to relent and let him back into the living room. I was also advised not to send him to social club but to let him have space for a couple of months. He is quite docile when out on walks round the estate, but I have no idea what he would be like in company with a lot of other dogs, so we'll take that slowly. Apart from that, the dog therapist says I am doing everything right and he should be OK. They are outside at the moment, playing with some poor bug that attracted Peggy's attention.

A night's sleep...

The plan went well last night, and I got the first good night's sleep since I left home for Cheshire. There is nothing like your own bed as many people know, and my back makes it difficult to sleep elsewhere. Digby slept in the living room on the settee after I had put a child gate across the bedroom door. He could see me but his bed was on the other side and once he realised I was not going to let him in, he went downstairs and onto the settee. He barked for a while so I went down to him and shouted at him and from then on, he was as quiet as a baby.

Today he has been a really happy dog, playing with Peggy and having little sleeps, and seems to be settling in comfortably. I was able to take my car in for its MOT which, unfortunately, it failed and now I have to sort it out. Mother rang to tell me her cat Silvester had a tumour and had to be put to sleep. I was worried about her being alone and encouraged her to think of giving a home to a rescue cat. She was concerned that if she got a young cat it would have to be rehomed if she died, but as I pointed out, she doesn't have to get a kitten and there must be other cats that need rehoming because their owner has died. She'll think about it.

My third worry is Bert who has had several mini strokes and is well under the weather. He gets his scan results tomorrow and I'm hoping there is something the doctor can do for him. Again, unfortunately he has a low tolerance for the drugs they give him and stops taking them before they have chance to have any effect.

I paid for my holiday today, a week on the Isle of Wight in October with Gareth's mother-in-law, Maureen, so it isn't all bad news and hopefully will get better.

A little darling, a little horror

Digby is a little darling - most of the time. During the day he will play with Peggy, have sleeps in his basket and sit beside me on the settee. However, night-time is a different matter...he is very nervous of noises, especially next door, and barks consistantly for hours. This is not acceptable to my neighbours who have to get up at 05:30 to go to work and I have to find a way to stop him. I called the rehoming centre for help and now have a plan. We'll see if tonight proves to be different because on the whole he is fitting into the family very well.

Peggy went to her social club this morning and Digby missed her quite badly. He searched all round the house then sat in his basket until she came home an hour later. I've arranged for him to join the social club and take turns at going every fortnight with Peggy going the alternate weeks. I think this will help him adjust to playing with other dogs, because it certainly did Peggy good - she is a different dog since she started going there.

At the moment he is trying to drag his large basket into the middle of the kitchen and has scattered all the contents in his wake - not sure why he is doing this, but no doubt he knows what he is doing. He goes on his own into the garden frequently and has learned to get in and out of the dogflap so he is all set for the winter.

I was able to do some more journalling for my mother today and achieved a surprise for her. A doorway that opens and shows her wedding photo (one of those I pinched during my visit). I also finished that set of pages and only have one signature left to complete. I just hope she likes it and takes it lightheartedly as is meant. The words conveyed are Caring and Nurturing. The middle page is Impatient, but I showed that picture earlier on - I think?

An additon to the family

What a week I have had! I made some more pages for my mother's journal before leaving for Cheshire, about 300 miles north of Devon. I started out at 06:15 and arrived at 11:00 after a reasonable run up the M5 and onto the M6 - that was a bit hairy and needed a lot of concentration. That afternoon I chatted to my mother, got settled in and sifted through all her old photos. It seems every time I go through them I see different things about my past life and jogs to my memory. I managed to sort out a pile of wonderful photos for my mother's journal and gathered lots of ideas for presenting them. Wednesday was doing the list of jobs she had accumulated, with shopping for large items and two copies of the Argos catalogue which weighed me down plus shopping from M&S etc. Then the afternoon was taken up with my daughter Stephanie and her daughter as they had flown over from Munich to Stephanie's father for a short visit. The evening was taken up with a trip to the local pub with Bert where I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and a meal. It's the only time I get to be chauffered by him so I enjoy every minute of being looked after.

It was also on this day that I learned that the lady who lives 2 doors away had died and left a tiny dog stranded for 3 days beside her body. Such a sad tale and I went next door to offer a home if needed. The lady's daughter asked me to phone her and we discussed Digby's needs and I went to see her on the Thursday afternoon. Digby was delightful and full of fun and it was agreed that I take him to Devon with me the next day and see if he would gell with my other Jack Russell, Peggy. I had been looking for a companion for her for some time and this seemed a golden opportunity.

On Thursday Mum and I went to the NEC at Birmingham to see the Festival of Quilts. The displays were breathtaking and my favourite suppliers were tucked at the back so I could browse to my heart's content. However, the journey back was tiring, with several hour-long delays at J14-16 and Arclid crossroads, then when we set off for Hazel Grove there were road works along the way. Stephanie came over again that evening to chat and tell us about her own experiences before I went to my bed well tired.

On Friday I was up early, packed and boarded ready for the arrival of Digby and his 'life in a suitcase'. It was a sad and emotional farewell before I set off down to the M6 motorway and home. Digby was a total pet, he slept in his basket all the way, and we stopped for a little comfort break halfway down the M5 and he never moved much at all. There was a short delay at Birmingham but the M5 was mostly clear so I was able to make a much shorter journey than I had thought. I parked up at home and showed Digby round his new home and left him in the garden whilst I went for Peggy. I brought her through the house and into the garden so they could meet with plenty of room for sorting themselves out. The meeting went better than I had hoped, a lot of squaring off, then nose to tailling, then Peggy showed Digby round (at a gallop). We went for a walk with the double harness but as Peggy's gait is a lot faster than Digby's he was galloped round without chance of a wee or sniff at anything.

The evening was a jockeying for position at my side and I managed to get them both settled, but when I wanted to get to bed, it became a little fraught. I had been advised to put one of them into my cage in case they fought during the night, so first I tried Digby in it, but he was not used to one and kept barking, then I tried Peggy, but he still kept barking. So in the end I shut Peggy in the kitchen and let Digby sleep by my side on the bed - just this once! Even so, he heard next door's occupants going to bed and getting up and kept letting me know with soft waffles, so sleep was a long time coming.

Today was much better, they are still squaring off every now and then, but each dog is equal and not backing down so they would tussle and then have a breather then rush around the garden together. The territory is subtly being divided and each dog establishing their own routine without any acrimony. I have high hopes that they will gell in the next few days.

Amongst all this I managed to pick up my book prize, and what a prize! and do some shopping for food for the dogs and myself. I took the dogs for a walk this afternoon on separate leads and it proved to be much better. Peggy went on the expander lead and at her usual pace, and Digby was on his own lead and trotting beside me. He managed to get in a lot more sniffs and wees as we went round the estate. He was also good at picking up the commands I use with Peggy and followed her lead as to what to do.

He has proved to be very affectionate and friendly and even picked out a toy to play with this afternoon and to take trips into the garden on his own. Next he has to learn how to use the dog flap after I have made a step outside the back door for his little legs.

More course work...and fun

I have almost caught up with my wii fit scores, but not quite. However I did decide to have a go at the step aerobics, a really fun exercise except I got it massively wrong the first time. Well, you would if you were a beginner! It was OK to go up, up, down, down but when they went side to side I lost the plot and my score was a miserable 83. But I persevered and the second time I got a score of 189. This morning I tried again and took that up to 230 and unlocked a Step Plus and I just had to have a go. Again up, down - no problem, side to side = OK but then they went one further - swing your leg but do not step - Huh! then again turn sideways and step onto the board and even further still - go faster!!! I think I'll give that one a miss until I master the Step Basics.

I got good marks for my latest course work. I decided to change HESITANT to LEARN because I thought it married with STRUCTURE. As I explained to Sue, I love to learn something new every day but I tend to jump in at the deep end and forget you need to know the basic structure of any technique before you can meet your aspirations - and I find my skills don't meet my aspirations frequently.

For the LEARN I created a stencil of a tree with lots of leaves and marked each leaf with a source of learning i.e. libraries, mistakes, history etc. and put it on a colourful background that I had made.

For the STRUCTURE I drew a market square with streets leading off, the streets had names like Structure Street, Routine Lane, Guideline Grove with houses in a formation to suggest strength and stability. They lead to Creativity Park where imagination could soar and where I'd like to be all the time but I have to go through the other lanes first.

Our course work was mainly about stamps and stencils that we could make ourselves so I put together some pictures of the stamps I made from carved blocks, children's fun foam and string etc.

The blue painting is showing a carved leaf stamp using gold lumiere paint and seemed to get the most mention from my fellow students. I haven't completed all the work yet and still have to get out my glue gun and heat gun to finish but some of my supplies have not yet arrived and are holding me up. Still plenty of time yet for the postman to arrive.