When the North Wind doth blow we shall have...

That fluffy white stuff that manages to bring this country to a grinding halt.   Just hoping we don't get any tomorrow cos I have to go get supplies, food, wine and the like.   I did venture outdoors today and got hit by a very raw wind, the sort that travels right to the bone.    That was after I tackled the ironing, yuck, not my favourite job. 

After lunch it was down to more painting of udu, final coat,  and my cosmic shimmers are on their way!  Yippee.  Sadly Amazon had to cancel part of my Xmas order, rats,  tho it wasn't an important bit, just an extra thing for mum.  Did more Xmas shopping on ebay, saved fortune on singing bowl for friend, saw some priced at over £100, what were they gold?   There were also some very cheap from China, but since China is in the business of oppressing Tibet then it would be wrong to buy from them.  And finally settled on pressie for bro and his wife,  sort of revenge as they gave me and mum a hamper last Christmas, came close to telling them were to stick it,  plus to add insult my brother had slipped in some unwanted wine of his own,  it was obvious as the bottles were sticky and dusty, it was also crap.   So they are getting a hamper, tho not as crappy as they one they gave me.  As for their kids, they'll get zilch,  fed up with the pair of them, never see them, never get so much as a birthday card from them.   Have devised/made a gift for soon to be born baby,  that will do.   Yes rather bah humbug,   but other side of family have got nice gifts, tho my two nephews have been threatened with horrible underpants should I recieve another bubble bath set from Boots.   For one thing I take showers!   Well it ain't difficult, I have told them they just have to get me an Itunes voucher, I mean how hard is that?   Thought on line shopping would be right up the boys street. 
Even got how to get decs down from loft sorted,  niece is coming up next weekend with her boyfriend, I'm sure he'll be happy to go scramble in the loft! 
Might find my Xmas mojo tomorrow, still have a few cards to make, and one to finish off, but also want to get udu finished!   Decisions, decisions....  ho hum,  hum ho

Stay safe and stay warm.

Brrrrrrrr - time to get the thermals out

Definite chill in the air,  car covered in ice this morning.  Did poke nose out of door, briefly and that was enough for me.   So decided to tidy up bedroom,  I don't mind chaos, but only up to a point, and I'd reached it!   So now it is all nice and tidy.

Yesterday popped up to the Range to get some paint for my udu,  tried to look for stuff on line, but what I wanted wasn't available in the UK.   So made do with some artist paint,  wanted a dark purple,  and ended up with violet, which I mixed with some black.   It took two coats, and think I may have to seal it, but it is now the most gorgeous colour.   I did order some cosmic shimmer sprays, so fingers crossed they arrive soon and I can finish it all off this weekend.    Someone suggested that I do some scrap pages on it,  well why not!   I'm all Christmas carded out...  even if I did pick up some toppers and another set of stamps.   I am in the process of making a special card for a friend's mum who is 70 in a couple of weeks.
Also need to sort out stash,  got stuff in too many places.   Definitely need something to store my clear stamps as well.  Was watching a certain craft channel, and they were promoting a CD of cards for men,  I wonder when someone will realise that we also need some humorous cards!

Well tomorrow the plan is get thru a pile of ironing,  make up last batch of Xmas cards,  figure out what to cook for dinner...   oh and blitz bathroom, if my knee will allow me.

Do you Udu?

On left is a udu, a clay drum as used by the igbo tribe in Nigeria.   I was sort of playing something similar today and having a fab time of it.   It has a very gentle sound to it,  and is a female instrument, made by women of the Igbo tribe.   I had such fun and came out thoroughly chilled. 

Such workshops tho bring you in contact with some fantastic and interesting people.   I met one such today, a Tai Chi instructor, she told the tale of being invited by a group of pensioners to hold a Tai Chi class at the local church in their village,  except the vicar was not happy, he saw it as voodoo..   Oh please.   He took some convincing, and a petition and boycott of the church before he came round.   What is with these people?  Such thinking belongs to the dark ages, this is the 21st Century!   Can we not move on?  I always thought and believe that religion is about tolerance,  diversity and understanding.  Instead I just see and come up against bigotry and hatred,  a protectionism from within.  So stupid, what have they to fear?  Change?  Blimey if the human race had feared change we'd still be in caves.    Same with all the idiots who do not want women bishops,  I think you'll find that a woman played a crucial part in the birth of Jesus.. so if she figured large in his life why not in the church?   I'm just so sick of it all,  a book that has been rewritten, skewed to suit whatever age has been used to keep control, or maintain male domination.   Once upon a time the religious lot did not want the bible translated into English, they were fearful the masses may ask questions! 

Back to my drum,  yes I have one,  well I couldn't not come away without having my own drum!   It was safely strapped into the passenger seat.  It is such a tactile thing, it makes you want to touch it, stroke it, play it.  I do intend to decorate mine,  need to get the required materials first, well some ink... got the rest in my stash.   I know what I want to put on it, and when it is all done I'll take a photo.

All for now folks,  thanks for stopping by

POETS day has arrived...

Alls I can say is that this week scooted past me!    Also had an odd experience,  was driving along,  blue sky, sunshine and then.. where'd the fog come from?   It was as if someone had drawn a line in the sky,  really weird.    Was on my way to supermarket, felt like a change so headed for the one I used to shop in.   On way back called in at the barn to confirm my place on tomorrow's sound workshop,  going to be playing an Udu!   Can't think of a better way to relieve the stress. 

A good thing as well, as mum was in foul mood today.  Until the nurse came, then she was all sweetness and light,  after nurse departed it was back to bad mood.   She was going on about not being able to go for a walk along the sea front,  not sure why she does this,  go on about stuff she can't do.   The nurses aren't helping matters,  all deciding on what is causing the infection... and they are all wrong!   They just have to access her hospital notes and they will know what the cause is, then maybe they can start doing something about it.   In mean time I have to try to act as sponge for mum's bad moods and I am not sure I can do it for much longer. 

No crafting, just boring housework,  changing beds, dusting - all before cleaner comes!  Well she is only here for an hour and just does the basics in the kitchen/living room, rest is up to me.   I'm happy to pay her to do two hours.   She is only here till end of this month,  so back to muggins!    Knee is a bit stronger, but is just well a pain, literally.  Was mildly relieved to hear that another knee patient has also gone thru what I am going thru,  not so happy to find out he's still having problems 18 months on! 

Off to answer e-mails, write a few and think about my drumming tomorrow.  LOL.

Oh flip, now Thursday has come and gone....

Yesterday was too foul weather wise to do anything but stay indoors.  Got more Xmas stuff made, think I need just another ten.   Then suddenly it is Thursday,  and it is breakfast and mum is moaning about missing tablets... only they aren't missing, she's just forgotten to pick up her repeat prescription!   We have the same thing every month,   and guess who ends up heading to chemist!  Yep and so I did again,  out in the rain,  but tucked up in new jacket.   The usual chaos on the road,  road works - do they ever stop digging up the bloody roads?     Then limped round to chemist,  would like to know what my new artificial knee has against walking!   Cos it certainly doesn't like it.  For once there was no queue at chemist, so straight in and out,  over to papershop to see if they have any craft mags that may just take my fancy.  Oddly it was the crafts beautiful magazine, mostly cos I liked the stamp set.  Yep, Xmas stamps,  but with a lovely reindeer, see pic.  By time I'd waited in queue to pay the knee had had enough, so it was off home.


So after lunch it was back to the card making, can't believe I went about two months without hardly any crafting.   Made use of the new stamp set,  nice crisp images,  and used up the spare bits from some cards, even got a bit crafty, using a versa mark stamp round the edge and some embossing powder.   Also turned a near disaster into a triumph.  Yesterday I was using some thin mirri, which is great for matting and layering, but I used for embossing... mistake!   The heat gun started to make a pattern on the mirri,   thought all was lost, but it actually made it look unusual.   Haven't yet taken a picture of it,  will try to remember tomorrow.

Hoping the weather will be better, got a few things to do tomorrow.  

Excuse me but how did we get to Tuesday?

I'd not quite finished with Monday.   Oh how the days creep up and then sneak past us.    Weather was nice,  blue sky, sun and yep, cold, but the sun made all the difference.  Had to laugh at the various weather forecasts, all of which were telling me that there was fog outside my door... oh no there wasn't.   

Well it was off to do the supermarket shop,  armed with list.  Very important that list,   and at last I found where they'd been hiding the kidney beans!   Had a man creep up on me, but it was only one of my neighbours,  he and his wife are angels,  they offer to do all sorts for me.  And every week they put out the recycling and bin for me.   For once  I managed to get everything on the list!  Hooray.   Now just had to get stuff home and into flat.. which is a bit of a Heath-Robinson affair,  I use mum's walker to bring bags from car to flat, and from there I use her stair lift to get them upstairs.   All a bit of a faff.   But it works.  Mum was in moan mode cos District Nurse hadn't come,  so she said she'd be going out anyway... yeah right.  This was only 11.30,  and she had no where important to be...  she just meets up with friends, who would fully understand if she was a little bit late for lunch.   Then I realised that if nurse didn't turn up I wouldn't have my afternoon off...  asked Angels to intervene and drum up nurse toot sweet,  two minutes later... nurse arrives.  Phew.

Carried on with knee rehab exercises...  felt a clunking feeling/sound in knee, it certainly didn't feel right.   Then got on with card making, and incurred an injury!  A paper cut!  Ouch, boy do they hurt!    But was more concerned about getting blood on new creation.   Was using some die cut freebies from some magazine,  see pic,  worked well with some Xmas papers and peel off borders.   Not bought much in the way of  Xmas stuff this year, aside from the ornaments,  been using up old stash, and looking out for freebies on magazines. 

Forecast for tomorrow is rain... oh joy.   So lots of card making.  Also planning a roast for dinner.   Well this caring lark has certainly expanded my cooking skills, tho I did know how to cook a roast dinner.  Last week made a lovely cauliflower cheese,  but did forget the leeks,  they make all the difference.  Now just have to persuade mum to like mash with gravy...  ! 

Monday, Monday

Started with a mini crisis,  chemist couldn't get my painkillers!  Manufacturer are making excuses, for that read they're being sold abroad for more money.  Luckily pharmacist rang round and got hold of a different brand... phew.   Only downside was I had to go back after 4pm to collect them.  Rats.   So off home, back to a glum mum,   met nurse on way in to flat,  but nurse had to take call, mum then got annoyed with nurse for not attending to her immediately!  So I got annoyed with mum,  I've had it with her permanently grumpy mood and told her so.  She did try to have last word, but I refused to let her telling her to snap out of it.

So thought a spot of card making would do the trick, but my sister skypes... and of course my computer is in my room so I lose it for the next two hours!  Great,  tho it could have been worse as sis wanted to skype last night, I had said that I spoke to my friends in the evening and could she make the call during the day.... but hey,  one must dance to the tune of others!   Sadly for sis she couldn't get a good connection - karma methinks. 


So no card making, instead I found myself tidying up the airing cupboard,  ours is big, walk in size,  and it had got a bit out of hand.    Was watching CnC,   not sure I want that many stamps tho,  but picked up a few tips,  which is always nice.   Still getting use to my rockablocks,,  I find you have to be careful when applying ink to stamp as the rockablocks have a raised edge and you can catch it with the ink pad.   Was on a roll yesterday with my cardmaking, got loads done.   And just completed a card for a friend,  photo card, took me ages to put together,  was nearly cross eyed by end of it.  

At least the weather was nice,  cold but sunny.   Hope you all had a good weekend. 

Oh pic:  my M&S xmas card,  used one of the M&S decs,  used an enamel powder on it to give it a shine, some mirri card,  couple of border peel offs (coloured with marker pens) and voila, a card.  Simples.

Sunday... 14th November

Remembrance Day,   it started out sunny, but by 10/30 the clouds had rolled in and the rain came down.  I do feel so sorry for those who go on Remembrance Day parades, I remember my own, and there is nothing worse than a steady drizzle.   I watched proceedings on TV,  just as moving as it always is,  possibly more poignancy today because of so many deaths.  God rest their souls, and bring comfort to those they left behind.

Yesterday was a terrible day,  popped to high street,  knee felt okay, so thought it would be okay to get to chemist,  and cake shop, with possibly a visit to el cheapo shop that stocks wonderful tat for Xmas.   How wrong could I have been!   Got no more than a few yards from car and knee began complaining, by time I got to chemist, 300 yards, knee was screaming at me.   I must have looked like i was in pain as assistant in chemist asked if I was okay, then said they didn't have my painkilller!   Arrrgggggghhhhh....  luckily she found enough to see me thru the weekend.   Went to cake shop,  but they hadn't had their full order, so back to chemist, stopping off at el cheapo shop on way,  knee continued to complain very loudly,  only got some storage boxes,  then headed back to chemist for prescription.  Back to car, to move car closer to cake shop, couldn't get as close as I wanted tho...   hobbled up to cake shop, knee kept threatening to give way on me.  Must have looked a sorry sight as cake shop assistant took pity on me...  then off home,  in agony.  I had promised a friend to look in on a craft fair and offer support, well I headed round to the church where it was being held, but no parking anywhere,  I just couldn't face a walk back,  so I abandoned the idea and headed home.  Ate painkiller when I got in...   took the entire afternoon for knee to stop complaining.   Not sure it should be like this.    Did make a few cards, abandoned the idea of exploding boxes,  tho now I do have to make one for a birthday!  

Went thru e-mails, found one from sis,  and of course I was expected to dance to her tune regarding a skype communication!  Unamused, not sure what part of my e-mail she failed to understand,  the bit where I said skypeing during afternoon would be better as I do chat with friends in evening?     Really got my goat, but i had last laugh, as sis did try to skype me tonight but their signal was weak.. and skype cut the call!   So I went and had a natter and a laugh with a friend, we looked thru daft youtube videos, that is the bliss of skype, you can instantly share stuff on line and have a natter.  And all for free! 

Made a few more Xmas cards today, from a magazine,  mostly decoupage, but they had given permission for the templates to be copied.  Might make up a few more tomorrow - at least knee can't object to me sitting down. 

Weather had turned chilly,  warmed myself up with a lovely scouse pie from local cake shop, it was delicious.  Of course mum managed to find fault with it, but she would,  she has to find fault in everything these days.  Let her complaint wash over me.    Her life maybe half empty,  mine is half full and I intend to enjoy every last dreg. 

All for now.

Cor, what a wild and windy night!

I lay in bed wondering if our TV ariel would survive the winds!  I could hear it rattling, luckily it was still attached in this morning.   Car was covered in a thick layer of dust,  couldn't see out of side windows.  Tho it chucked it down tonight so I am hoping that the windows will now be clear. 
Got myself in a right two and eight making an exploding  box,  think  it was cos I didn't really want to make it.  But I'd promised someone I'd made them a couple...   so now got one and a half boxes,  one is lacking a lid,  will make that tomorrow.  Think I'm on a roll with the Xmas cards,  keeping them all simples,  well I've found that the simple cards are what sell,  plain white card with a design and bingo you have a winner.  Like this one, which is also a tree decoration,   stuck him on,  couple of peel offs down sides,  and a sentiment,  voila, one card.   Got a few fancy ones for the family, sort of....   since I hardly see any of them I am wondering whether to bother,  feel like telling them that I won't be buying any pressies, and what money we all save we can go spend on ourselves.  Well at least that way you get stuff you want.   Last year I got a ruddy hamper, very nearly told the giver where to stuff it.  The giver was a family member, and they all know I am a crafter... so what is so hard about giving hobbycraft tokens?   I make the effort to buy stuff that they like,  too much to expect to be reciprocated? 

Not a good week for family stuff,  my mum decided all on her own that I was not fit enough to tackle the cleaning.... we've currently got a cleaner and have shared the cost.   Well I ain't, so cleaner has her job for another few weeks.  Took me all my time to get round supermarket yesterday,   was also there for the 2 minute silence, it still angers me how some people can continue to shop when everyone else is stood still, especially older people!  When I got back home the first thing I did was chuck a painkiller down my throat and then had sit down.  I'm not sure my body likes having this foreign bit of metal inside it.  

Just heard from my sister, who is swanning around in Spain,  nice for some.  A one line e-mail,  nice.  It said they'd had no internet for 10 days, but now they were back on line.  And...   !    So just told them that they can skype on Sunday afternoon, when I am not engaged in nattering to my friends. 

Went up to hobbycraft on Wednesday,  was unamused to find that their lift didn't appear to be working on the ground floor, so had to hike up the stairs.  Not sure why I bothered, the warrington store isn't as good as the one in Chester,  only got a few peel offs.  So little Xmas stuff,  was looking for some nice Xmas sentiments,  stamps that is,  but not a sausage. It felt like January in there cos they appeared to be selling off the Xmas stuff at sale prices.   Must have a drive over to the chester branch,  bigger store and more choice.   I'd like to support my local craft store, but she doesn't have much in the way of papercrafting,  think that is where she has gone wrong really.  No staples, paper, card, mirri card etc,  too much of a mish mash of stuff.  But she is so nice,  I do buy stuff from her,  and she is also so talented. 

Need a cuppa,  have a lovely weekend, and thanks for stopping by

The weather is bonkers!

I'm sitting here in a T shirt cos it is so mild.  Typical, I go buy a proper winter coat and the weather warms up.  
All Xmas cards this week,  thanks to a certain supermarket selling some terrific toppers!   Picked up some more today, sadly the Angels and reindeer  had all gone, but got parcels, trees and stars.   Also worked out a design so am speeding up the crafting process.    Tho realised today I've got stuff to make cards for sale, but actually not to much to make my own cards!    But as usual I can't find some stuff I want,  stuff that is here somewhere...  like the ribbons I bought last year and didn't use! 
Bit of a fed up mood,  mum is moaning,  her negativity knows no bounds.   Got the tax thing to sort out...  been researching it all on the internet,  seems best option is the CAB.   But I definitely am not paying for the mistake of the stupid HMRC, 

Of course the shops now have turned their attention to Christmas,   guess I'll have to start thinking about presents at some point.  Think it will be all on line this year, a few family members made zero effort last year,  if I get presented with a hamper it will be shoved up the appropriate orifice of the giver. 

Will be taking cards made so far to small craft shop tomorrow,  all on a sale or return basis.   I don't mind at all,  I at least have the chance of selling some cards.  Rather do that than sell to friends, who all say how lovely the stuff is then baulk at the price.   One year at work I did a deal on the cards,  and still a few folk said they couldn't afford them!

Great weekend and barmy weather

Was away at the weekend,  decided to go spend Halloween in Glastonbury - well where else!    It was as bonkers as I expected it to be, tho sadly we didn't get to experience it all,  we had to move on to a Travelodge  for Saturday night and it was a bit further than we'd anticipated from Glastonbury.   But we had a very enjoyable 3 days,  there are lots of lovely places to eat there, so we chose the George and Pilgrim for the first night,  then a lovely Curry house just outside Glasto,  and then for lunch on the Saturday before we decamped we had veggie burgers at the Blue note Cafe.   Also went on a spending spree, well been so long since I went shopping, I also had two bag carriers!   So got a proper winter jacket from Hawkshead,  and a good pair of stout walking shoes,  adidas.  Would have liked a couple of tops but can't have everything.

The journey down was horrendous.  I left home at just before 10, hoping to be at my friend's for about 11ish - but there had been an accident on the M6, so had to crawl along,  finally got to Debs at 12.30.   Then we set off again, with her driving at 1pm, only to find more jams on the M6,  Debs knew the local roads so we avoided the worst of it.  Even so we didn't get to Glastonbury till nearly 5pm,  far later that we had planned.   Coming back was fine, a few slow bits but the traffic kept moving,  tho when I got near home there was of course the usual congestion!  And at Birmingham it was chock full of road works... do they ever stop working on the motorways?    We also had to call into a service station to get Deb's debit card,  she'd left it behind, not her fault really, she had to sign and the pen wouldn't work so she put the card down and forgot to pick it back up.    There were two bonuses from our stay at the Travelodge was: it had a Little Chef so we got a good breakfast,  and it was near the M5!   There was also a very large Tesco nearby, so we made use of that to get in some supplies for a junk food evening and telly.   Not complaining,  the room was only £56, so we expected cheap and cheerful, but two pillows each would have been nice! 
Came home to find that the taxman says I owe him money - I think not!  They've got my details wrong, have told them over and over but they still keep getting it wrong.  Besides why should I owe them a penny?  I was on the PAYE scheme,  on that you are hardly likely to check you are on the right tax code.  I was fuming,  and it was just another piece of crap to deal with and do I need it?  No I do not. 

Knee update - doing all the rehab but nowt seems to be happening.  At the weekend  met so many people who knew someone who'd had a knee replacement. All said the same thing : that it takes a long time.   Did a bit too much at the weekend,   overdid the walking so on Friday night i was in agony.   Today it nearly gave way on me twice,  second time I only just managed to avoid hitting the deck.  Also had horrendous pain in shin bone area.  

As for the weather - it is nuts!   So mild,  yet last week it was freezing.   But glad I got the jacket, came in useful at the weekend,  kept me dry,  and shoes were sooooo comfy.  They only cost me £26, I do love Outlet stores! 

All for now.