Didn't they do well?

Yep like most of the nation I spent yesterday watching the Wedding.   Had a highly amusing moment in supermarket on Thursday,  came across shelf filler moaning about how mad it was, so had to remind him of the Wedding...  guess he was twiddling his thumbs yesterday.   It was rather nice being a slob,  just drinking cups of tea  and glued to box.  Even the sun came out for them!
I spent the afternoon trying to construct my page for the exchange thing in June, hated first attempt, just wasn't what I wanted.  Right idea, but wrong in execution.  So did it all again, used different stamp,  stuck with some ideas, ditched others and added to it, finally I had a page I was pleased with,  just needs a few finishing touches.  Also sourced some lovely stamps for the other side,  popped up to garden centre, to get mum's birthday present, and not my fault if they also have a craft shop!   Just got a couple of toppers, the stamps and a bottle of blender for the alcohol inks,  the one that came with the kit was on the very small side!   I but there was so much to choose from,  wasn't sure what to buy,  decided to go for the one that would flower the longest, which this one will, and one that looked very healthy.   Mum was chuffed,  so now all I have to do is put it in our 'garden',  such as it is!

But I am getting tired of rude people,  on Thursday in supermarket lost count of the number of people who barged past me or into me,   then as I was leaving a woman headed right at me and another lady...   what was the rush?    Same today in the garden centre,  I am still using my crutch outdoors,  but did that make any difference?  No,  one twit marched right at me with his trolley refusing to give ground, I sarcastically said Thank you to him,   then as I was walking back to car park there was a lady behind me with a trolley,  and she was desperate to get past me,  I just stuck to my pace, she huffed and puffed behind me,  I mean what was she rushing for?   She had two large clay pots in the trolley, both clanging together,  I wondered if they'd make it to her car in one piece.    Most people are lovely, but others just seem to be blind, deaf and plain ignorant.    Then on drive home there was a complete bozo trying to overtake cars through a dangerous stretch of road, it really is NOT the place you want to try to overtake as it has blind bends, but oh no, this twit got past the car behind me, then attempted to get past me,  what was ahead - quite a few sets of traffic lights, so you may as well chill out. 

Another lovely weekend,  sun is shining, a bit windy but still warm.

Bank holidays...

I was delighted that the BBC got the weather forecast for our region utterly wrong!   They'd predicted cloud and a cold wind, well we had a nippy wind but sunshine and blue sky.   Took a pic of my new car... NOT!    It is the Wallace and Gromit car, parked up outside the ferry terminal at the Pier Head,  love the Reg plate :-))   I'd taken mum down to see the new canal and all the other new stuff they've done down there, but it was too windy to hang about for too long. 

I managed some crafting yesterday,  got on with designing my exchange page.   I'm fairly happy with one side,  but not the other :(     I impressed myself with my resist stamping technique,   I've tried it before and just ended up with a mess, but this time it worked out.  Pity the rest of it didn't.   Oh well back to the drawing board.   I'm tempted to go get more alcohol inks...  but then there is a craft fair coming up so I'm thinking I should wait and see what bargains I can get there. 

Happy Easter

So having decorated the kitchen it was time to smarten up the garden.   With the glorious weather the garden was the only place to be.  It was very messy,  and a few plants hadn't survived the freezing winter, there were 5 in all,  so they had to be replaced.   I also had to get rid of the moss,  mum was afraid that the window cleaner would slip while on his ladder. 
Both of the fushcia's bit the dust, along with a hebe and an azalea,  plus another bushy plant.  Everything else came back to life, even the Winter Pansies are still going strong,  they looked dead but once it warmed up they just sprang back into life.  The pots all need a good clean, and the wooden planters need a coat of paint. 
Not managed any crafting,  been far too nice this week to stay indoors.  I walked through to the high street,  amazing the effect the sun has on everyone,  everyone was smiling and exchanging pleasantries.   Then I got passed by a couple,  she was wearing a thick jacket, heavy looking skirt, thick tights and ugg boots, he had on a chunky jacket, jeans, boots...   everyone else was in T shirts!   There is of course a downside to sunny weather, men who really shouldn't wear shorts,  men in shorts that should never been worn,  and women in lycra who plainly have never looked in a mirror! 
Had two drumming sessions last week, a full day session then the usual 2 hours on Monday.  It is so liberating,  and very satisfying when you master a tricky pattern,    on Sunday we all had our lunch in the car park,  well what had once been the barn yard, it was just far too nice to stay inside.   We took out tables and chairs,  and had a good natter.   We all wanted to drum outside, but weren't sure if the neighbours would like it!   Only sour note came when we were leaving,  as I pulled out of the car park I noticed that there was a traffic jam,  a cyclist had been knocked off his bike, the car hadn't stopped,  luckily he wasn't badly injured.  Someone did get the registration of the car and gave it to the police. 
I also managed to sort out a holiday for mum,   she admitted to me that she really would like to get away for a week,  so I suggested that she hired a cottage and ask my sister and her husband to take her.  Mum was delighted,  so I spent 2 days looking for suitable accommodation,  and something that wasn't too far away as she isn't up to travelling far.   Finally found a bungalow,  which is spacious, has a lovely garden,  walk in shower,  and isn't far from Shrewsbury.   So booked it,  felt lucky to get the dates she wanted as we'd left it quite late. 
I have been crafting today, putting together some ideas for a page exchange,  just making a test page for now to see if my idea works or not. 
Hope you are all enjoying a lovely Easter, and if you're in the UK, this glorious weather

Almost there...

I began decorating last Tuesday,  a few years ago, pre broken knee,  I would have been finished by now.  Got the wallpaper up over the weekend,  just had a few bits to finish yesterday.  Today I had a break,  still got the painting to do, but felt like getting outside for a few hours as it was such a nice day.  I straightened up the flat when I got back,  gave it a good dust and vacuumed,  bits seemed to have managed to migrate to almost all parts of the flat.    I put the shelving back up,  but there is some stuff which is NOT going back, the brass for a start, mum has stopped cleaning it and I don' t like it, so it has been stashed away.  If mum wants it back then she'll have to agree to clean it regularly.   But very happy with results so far, the kitchen looks clean and bright,  new paper is much lighter than what we had before, so kitchen also looks bigger.   Only got two rolls of the patterned paper,   but got to last bit, a two inch full length strip... and it was 4 inches too short!   Well I wasn't about to go out and get another roll!   So managed to match it,  was fiddly but did it.
Not managed any crafting for over a week,  even gave up my drumming class last night, was just to sore, plus I looked a mess, paste in hair,  nails with paint...  was so nice to get cleaned up properly this morning and wash my hair.  Felt human at last.
Just got the paintwork to do,  so it will be back to paintbrushes tomorrow,  going to undercoat everything!   Got 3 doors and a radiator, plus pipes and of course skirting board!  The latter is going to be a nightmare as I just can't kneel down.  Really did get frustrated at times cos of my knackered knee, it limited me as to what I could do, so had to find ways around it.
Hope you all enjoyed the lovely weather last weekend!  Wasn't it glorious?   I looked on from the window,  if I'd not been decorating it would have lashed down.

All for now.

Had a daft idea

To decorate the kitchen,  okay it was in desperate need, but how was I to know that we'd have a mini heatwave and that it would take so bloody long?   Started on Tuesday,  so back in normal days I would have been finishing it about now.  Not now,  tho did get bogged down with stripping paint off using paint stripper, then reached for the heat gun (paint heat gun that is) and paint soon came off.  Paint stripper was rubbish,  it was taking forever.   So kitchen is now fully stripped and ready to be repapered/painted.  Did the ceiling,  decided to give that Point and Paint thing a go, and it works!  Was really impressed,  no cutting in, no mess,  and done in half the time,  plus no messy roller to wash out.  What is also time consuming is having to put the kitchen back in some sort of order so we can use it.  Normally mum would have offered to tidy up, but she's no longer up to it,  but she was gamely making me tea, which was appreciated.   Also needed to sit down a lot to give the knee a rest.   Have no doubt I'll sleep like a log tonight.   But want to get cracking in the morning, so won't wait for mum to wash breakfast dishes, I'll do them and get on with the papering, I want that done by tomorrow. 

Weather was gorgeous today,  so sunny and warm,  but I could only look at it,  managed to get 15 mins of fresh air when I went to get the newspaper.   Need to tidy up garden as well,  far too much moss has built up,  need to get rid of that and put in some new bedding plants. All my winter pansies which I really thought had bitten the dust after the freezing cold winter have come back to life,  but they all look a bit straggly.

Now off to watch a spot of golf. 

Mothering Sunday

Well my mum had to make do with just me, the person she sees day in and day out.  My sister, who is currently abroad had managed to send a card using one of those online affairs, I sort of hoped she may stretch to some flowers...  how dumb of me!   As for brother, well he came yesterday, but with no invite for lunch or dinner for mum.  Nice...    So little wonder my mother was so cheesed off,  not even bothered about going on skype to speak to her other daughter late this afternoon.   I have tried explaining how skype works to my sister, that it is not like a telephone, that she needs to warn me when she is able to skype..    so as warped as it sounds I was pleased that mum told sis that she wasn't able to talk!  Good for you mum, do it on your terms.   I came home yesterday from trip to craft shop and drop in at old place of work to catch up on gossip, to find mum very down, that was after my brother's visit.  She'd been fobbed off,  she would have loved nothing more than to have lunch with her son!   Little point in me taking her, she sees me every day.   I do despair...
In spite of that I did manage to put a smile on her face,  a nice card (sorry, bought it cos of the verse!),  but did make her some earrings,  she'd told me not to buy her anything,  but I'd already made the earrings.   We enjoyed a nice lunch, sausage butties!   And I'd got a nice cake,  so we had some of that after our tea. 
Inbetween I put some finishing touches to Christening card,  bookatrix,  can't yet finish it as I have no date for the christening.   Also finished off my swap card, since two swappers read this I can't give too much away,  except to say that is a very blingy card! 
Oh, good news on the tax front,  got letter from HMRC agreeing that they were out of order, so their demand for back tax has been wiped...  phew.  Had no means of paying it anyway.   But it just galled me when so many big firms get away with paying a pittance in corporation tax, yet us minions are clobbered every which way.  But a welcome relief,  feel like I can get on with my life now. 
Hope you had a good weekend, and thanks for stopping by, much appreciated.