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.