The Scrappy Parrot

I'll be back...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:10:00 +0000

...when I'm back!
Life is all a bit hectic at the moment, so unfortunately blogging has had to take a back seat for a while, as it is last on my list of priorities ;)

yoohoo!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:45:00 +0000

sorry, bad bad blogger. But I have been incredibly busy, shan't bore you with the details!

Lots of images from Mum's birthday at Dumbleton Hall, as promised (sorry it took so long Drew!) In completely random order...

The (purposely) wonky cake I ordered for Mum

Dessert at the Hall

yet another cake (made by the chef)

Just for Drew lol! ;)

The Hall

I swear it was smiling at me...

then laughing at me!

There were squillions of these

a random squiggly tree I found on our walk round the grounds

lots of these too

our private patio, complete with stripy grass

our private dining hall (which was lovely cos we could come and go between courses all afternoon!)

yummy scrummy

lots of these too, and an outing with me is never complete without a rescue lol, one of the sheep had got over the cattle grid, by the road, so I had to jump out of the car and herd it back in to safety!

I also have a new little lady in my life, Amy gave birth on the 23rd of July, this is Olivia, and she is just gorgeousness!

back...briefly...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:31:00 +0000

Ohhhher manic manic manic!
Mum's 60th birthday, been and gone was a massive success, we had a wonderful time :) (Drew, I haven't forgotten about getting the pics up for you hun, just haven't had time)

Girls are all doing well, Lola is getting stronger and starting to grow new feathers in, Tilly is a feathered beauty now too, when I look back at the pics of when I brought her home, all bald and bedraggled, the change is amazing! Ruby still hasn't grown her feathered knickers, but she is getting there!

ATF went live last night, animal cards this time, here are mine

The next theme is a corker too, can't wait :)

Last week was mental, Amy was moving house, so I have been over there packing, helping move, and unpacking! Bless her, she is 8.5 months pregnant, and has handled it all so amazingly well!

Of course, barely a day goes by without some mention of the death of Michael Jackson, I can't quite believe it to be honest, I just wish they would all let him RIP now.

Off to do some more work in the garden, I am building a run for the girls, and last week was far too hot to do anything, so now it has cooled off a bit I need to get going! This will be a true test of my DIY skills (or lack of)! ;)

Take care x

Lola post! (image heavy)

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Hi all, sorry for the lack of updates, but I have had a very poorly Lola :( Not only did she have a wonky leg but then she suddenly went downhill. She was so miserable and mopey all the time, constantly (pretty much) sleeping, went off her food totally, and I didn't know how to help her. I took her to the vets and we decided to try antibiotics first as she couldn't find anything outwardly wrong with her. Now, I am not one for using antibiotics as a general give-it-a-go remedy but was at a loss, and didn't want to have to give her anaesthetic for xrays, diagnostics, blood work etc if I could help it just yet.
She had a weeks worth to take, and joy of joys they were huge TABLETS! Argh! Getting tablets into a chicken on your own is no fun I can tell you! I couldn't even add it to food as she wouldn't eat anything (other than a few live mealworms I managed to get down her but then she wouldn't take those either).
She finished the course on Thursday, and was still much the same (although in that time her wonkyness is pretty much gone...makes me wonder if it is connected).
Anyway, I let them all out on Saturday morning, cue three girls falling out of the door in desperation to get out (very funny) and I commented that Lola looked a little brighter and more awake.
Well, we totally turned a corner with her on Saturday, I lost five hours in the garden with them as they were all having such a wonderful time! They completely and utterly trashed the garden big time! But, they enjoyed it so much I left them to it ;)
The real turning point was when I saw Lola keeping up with the other girls, not stopping and sleeping, and when she went into the house and ate some food I was over the moon (and shed a tear).
The following pics made me sob, to see her so happy and well was just amazing, these girls have been through absolute hell, and then with Lola being so poorly, to see her acting this way was the most amazing feeling :) She found an empty seed tray and set to work...

Going...

Going...

almost there...

Gone...

totally gone!

*GRINS*

It made me realise just how much these little girls have stolen my heart :) *wub*

Yesterday I set to work on sorting the garden after Saturday's devestation, I am shattered today! The girls 'helped' by digging, and finding woodlice (yum yum). Jess 'helped' by finding a doormouse for me, which I duly rescued (for a cat she is very good and never hurts them) then I found this little mite, just chilling...

as the girls were out, I decided to try and help this one back to the pond (chooks are a bit partial to a snack of frog) which was all well and good until it jumped down my cleavage! LOL!

Final note, ATF went live last Saturday with the theme of 'your pet as a work of art'
I used a photocopy filter in photoshop, then played with the hue and saturation
Sorry for wonky pic!

I haven't yet found the cable to upload the pics from the other weekend, shall keep hunting!

ttfn x

chook update

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Just a lil update as it is late! Chooks are settling in well bless their lil fluffy bums. They are in their new house (more on that in my next post!) and enjoying the life of freedom.

Lola, who has a wonky leg love her...

Tilly learning to take a dust bath...

and a beautiful pic of Ruby enjoying the sunshine...

I shall also update on my weekend in my next post...here is a lil peekypie of the main event, it was wonderful!

back soon, ttfn x

may I introduce...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Tilly (the turkey neck cos she is rather bald love her)

Ruby Roo

and Lola the showgirl

naughty lil tinker in my tomato plants lol

This mornings offering, one was very soft shelled and broken (only to be expected) but this one is perfect bless them

They are a bit unsure of things this morning, so they are still in the shed (permanent home is coming on Tuesday) I ordered a house and attached run but the shop didn't bother to let me know it was out of stock until Thursday when I rang them to see where it was (it should have been here Wednesday) so I have another on order with someone else, they will have a bigger run on the grass, and then free range when I am out with them. So in the midst of all of this I had to sort a house out, so I have converted half the shed for now. They have the door open at the mo, with a piece of board against the doorway to keep them in, let a bit of sunshine in, and some fresh air. Lola is asleep with her bum in the sun bless her!

Many many thanks to Amanda, who went in and rescued this batch of chooks yesterday. She brought them all back to her house and had them set up under a gazebo in her garden. It was so beautiful to see all the girls with grass under their feet as it should be, and making the cutest lil chirruping noises! The journey was obviously too much for my three beauties, who were all snoozing in the boxes when we got home! They soon sprang to life when they were brave enough to come out of the boxes and onto the grass in my garden (and stones, borders, tomato plants, strawberry plants...lol) they all had a good drink, ate some woodlice, carried some stones, headbutted the metal rotary line pole, tapped on concrete...it was all totally alien to them but they loved it!

I may not be able to offer these girls acres of fields to range on all day, but what I can offer them is more love than they have ever known, and hopefully a long and happy stress free retirement.
If anyone thinks they can help, please contact Little Hen Rescue

On a final note, ATF went live again last night. 'Parent's' was the theme. As Simba has never had a baby, mine was about him being a Mummy's boy!

ttfn, off to check on my chooks x

chick chick chick chick chickeeeeen...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:44:00 +0000

May I bring this website and their fabulous work to your attention...
Little Hen Rescue
10000 chickens need to be rescued within the next few weeks to avoid being slaughtered. It absolutely breaks my heart, so we have decided to take some on and give them a new loving home. My girls come home next Saturday, and thought I could add the addy here incase anyone else fancies trying out keeping a few hens. LHR does fantastic work for these poor neglected little critters who have lived a shockingly awful life, and I really hope I can build these poor little, often bald, beauties back to the level of health they deserve.
I have absolutely nothing, no house, run, food, no anything! Beware credit card, you are going to work very hard over the next couple of days!
Thanks for looking x

Oh. My. Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:53:00 +0000

This just arrived in the post ...

From this wonderful lady here BAGLADEE'S ETSY SHOP EMMA'S BLOG

The attention to detail is superb, the little embossed metal dog tag makes it feel like it has come from an exclusive boutique (which of course it has), it is superbly made, is utterly comfy on my shoulder, and came wrapped in tissue paper (always a fab bonus).

It has a wonderful pouch inside, which shall be used to house my most used things, ranked in order of importance, my mac lipgloss, and my mobile phone!

I promise you, if you purchase one of Emma's bags you will not be disappointed!

Thank you SO much Emma, I will treasure this bag forever x

lotsa pics not many words

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:31:00 +0000

cos that is the kinda mood I am in today!

Been doing lots of hand stitching due to my lack of a working sewing 'chine!

Kitchen is nearly there...

and a cute lil bag I bought yesterday for £2 at Sudeley Castle's grand spring sale (along with some other pretties and some mac and toofaced make up!)

ATF is up, and this theme was 'Friends' here is mine; Simba and Jess playing together on the floor. They are a funny pair, sometimes they are lovely together and sometimes Simba will shout at Jess, and Jess will 'smack' Simba (never any claws involved though!)

where to begin?!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:30:00 +0000

...well Easter is as good a place as any I spose! Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend!
My mantelpiece

The girls egg cosy bunnies that I knitted for them (do you know how hard it is to find plain egg cups anywhere?)

and getting into the season I wore my bluebird socks...and decided to try and break in my new pretty shoes...ohhhhh the pain...don't I look attractive? No?

And of course we have had lots of this;

beautiful blue skies and sunshine...this pic went a bit wrong, I was trying to snap a lovely little robin sat in the tree, and as the shutter clicked, so he buggered off lol! He had kept me so entertained while I was in the garden sowing some seeds, the most beautiful singing, then I upset him by trying to get a photo *sigh*

Of course the weather has brought out lots of these...

I HATE it when they buzz right by my ear, and even worse, I hate wasps getting stuck in my hair like one did yesterday *shudder*

Then the babies made their grand entrance into the big wide world of the pond! They had overwintered in there and as it was a hard winter I wasn't sure if any would have made it.

Unfortunately I have had some problems with the pond over the last week or so, some of the babies haven't made it, along with one of my older goldies :(

Spring has a lot to answer for, the fish all start getting active but their immune systems are still trying to build back up from overwintering, along with the general bacteria levels of the pond, of course the babies still don't have much of an immune system yet so they suffered the most :(

My latest layout for ATF I chose to do Simba's first time in the garden ever, all the way back in 2002. Maybe we will get enough warmer weather for him to venture out there this year!

Been doing lots of hand sewing, mostly because my beloved vintage singer that I use for everything is broked *sobs*

I am really hankering after an embroidery machine at the moment, they are so expensive, but I really want one! Any experience/advice most welcome :)

surreal day...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:20:00 +0000

that's what yesterday was!
I buried my Grandma (well not me personally!) yesterday afternoon, then yesterday evening was THE big night!
AMAZING
OUTSTANDING
SPECTACULAR...
just a select few of my faves, I took about 150! More here
'nuff said...

ATF

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:34:00 +0000

New post is up at ATF on the theme of Dr Seuss (in honour of his birthday) set by the lovely Shelly, using one of his many fabulous book titles. I chose 'Oh say can you say' for my layout, it would have been silly not to with a talking parrot!

I am struggling a bit with not being able to get into my scraproom properly (still) so having to grab what bits n bobs I can reach and make do!
Oh and there is a prize up for grabs this week too courtesy of the lovely folks at Helmar, all you have to do is create a layout following the same theme used for this challenge and link us up in the comments :)

Workmen have all finished in the kitchen now, it ended up being a tad pricier than first anticipated what with one thing or another, but tis done! Just in the process of sorting out all the kitchen stuff and finding homes for it all (and washing everything before it goes back in) plus finishing the decorating. Will add pics once it is done :)

Off for a very exciting evening out on Tuesday, as a special (very) early birthday treat for my wonderful Mum...cannot wait, and will share info after the event!

hugs x

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Sorry, I am well aware how much I have neglected my blog lately.
Things have been so ridiculously busy (and mostly not in a good way!)

Where to start...
We are having some work done on the house, so have been living without a kitchen for a few weeks- NOT FUN! No running hot water, so lots of kettle boiling even if you just want to wash your hands...we have set up temporarily in the utility room, but my goodness everything takes about 10 times longer, we are having to prepare meals on a space of about 10 inches, and so on...it's ok but hard work! Of course as the kitchen is essentially just a shell of a room, that means its contents are in the garage, the conservatory, and my studio- so I can't even get out there to do my DT work etc, which is a huge 'mare! I can just about get into the room itself, grab whatever I can manage to reach without causing a kitchen appliance avalanche, and set up in the lounge, which is also filled with kitchen stuff and worktops.
I am fed up with the constant noise, mess, dust, clutter and not being able to make a cuppa when I want to.
In fact the kitchen resembled a bombsite until a couple of days ago (plasterer is here now so it will look better by the end of today - I hope)

Had a bit of a nightmare week last week...won't go into that really but again it was manic and not in a good way. Things are resolved there though.

Yesterday my Grandma passed away. I haven't seen her for quite a long time, another long story, but it was a shock to say the least. I am ok with it, but feel incredibly sorry for my Aunt who is also facing losing her husband soon. They all lived together in the same house, my Grandma had her own 'appartment' upstairs, and they were very close.

On a lighter note... I managed to get to the NEC on Saturday, it was so nice to just get away from things for a bit.
Bought loads, I save up for this show through the year and really enjoy having a guilt free spend!
It was a shame to see so few stands this time round, but I still enjoyed it.

ATF went up the other day too, here is mine (created with the few things I could reach in my scraproom)...

And a wedding card I made...

I thought it would be nice to stamp and colour on the inside too...

and whilst I am at it why not jazz up the envelope as well...

and one exciting thing did occur last week...
The proud Mama and her babies,

Now the plan was that in a few weeks the pond was going to be totally cleaned out, I have left the fish to go into their lil hibernation type thing that they do, not fed them, had the pump off etc, and it now needs a spring clean ready for the new season, however I now really don't want to disturb Mama frog and her froglets. I couldn't give it a thorough clean before everything slowed down for the winter last year as we had tiny baby fish in there...typical...now not sure how to tackle it but it needs doing one way or the other.
Really need to look at a bigger pond for this year too, thankfully when we bought the new pump and filter system we got one that was strong enough for a much bigger and higher stocked pond...
you see, this pond was a rescue effort from my brothers new house...one pond, and some goldfish, and that was how it was meant to stay. Since we have had it the fish have turned it into playfish mansion and bred like crazy, and so has the local wildlife, there are loads of damselfly nymphs in there too, along with the lil froglets. Plus of course we have Bertie the little koi in there too who will need more room as he grows. We'll sort it somehow, just not sure how yet...

Hoping to get working on some new stamp designs today :)

Anyhoodle, 'nuff blathering, not sure when I will be back to update...hopefully a lot sooner than this time round!

hmmm...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:38:00 +0000

well I made it...just!

so, my birthday was...interesting!

There was sooooo much snow! Like, heaps of it. (just like the day I was born!)

I had a nice day all in all, I didn't open anything until the evening as I just couldn't face it! More on that in a mo...

Had a gorgeous lunch at hotel du vin, I don't have the photos of that yet as numpty here didn't take her camera, so they are all on Mum's.

Indulged in pimms, the best chips in the world (seriously, if you ever go to hotel du vin you must sample their fat cut chips...yummers) and as I was in full blown wrinkle meltdown I...erm...might have gone a bit mad in espa (downstairs in the hotel)...like....erm...£270 mad! *blushes*

It comes in such a pretty bag though!

On the subject of bags...some of my gorgeous pressies...

I had one of these; from one of my most favourite shops in the whole wide world (bless you Amy for driving all the way to Chipping in the piles of snow to get me this *mwah*)

Also had one of these...LOVE this!

and one of these (thanks Chris)

and one of these (thanks Chris again!)

and the msot special....one of these...

containing one of these (and yes, it is very real!)

as well as loads of other gorgeous gifts, cards, texts, messages, emails, phonecalls and visits. Thank you all for making my day of horror far more bearable, and actually something I could enjoy :)

back again...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:19:00 +0000

I know my posting is somewhat erratic (or non-existent for the most part) just now...well I am in a bit of a meltdown. This Thursday sees me turn 29 years and 12 months old. I am NOT going to say that number beginning with 'T'...nuh-uh.
Once it is done with I will be fine (I hope) and I pray it is an anti-climax and I shall not awake on Thursday with grey hair, wrinkles that you could make trenches from and breasts swinging round my knees.
I don't know why, but for years I have been terrified about hitting this milestone. If the snow stays as it is, then I am off for lunch to my favourite hotel du vin, in fact, even if it reaches three feet I am STILL off to hotel du vin (in my bimbo boots, I can stab the stiletto heels into the ground so I don't slip), and I shall be stocking up on my favest espa products (divine, love their stuff) and a new range of Jessica nail polishes.
And for someone who rarely drinks, I shall be sampling rather a lot of pimms, maybe if I get trollied I shall forget the milestone-that-shall-remain-unsaid is actually upon me.
Don't get me wrong, I am ever grateful that I am still here, and relatively healthy (not that I have felt healthy for a while) and that for the most part my family and friends are still with me.

Anyhoodle, woke up today to a nice little (compared to other parts of the country) sprinkling of snow, and it has been coming down thick and fast ever since, with big fluffy flakes, rather than the icing sugar that was falling last night and earlier on today.

I hope you are all grabbing the opportunity to get out with the kids and making snowmen, snow angels and having big snowball fights and getting a bit of sledding time in.
Of course, as usual the UK has pretty much come to a standstill lol, we are useless when the white stuff falls!
Stay safe everyone, and enjoy it x

I'm back- mammoth post for Angel lol- parental advisory there are sweary words!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:42:00 +0000

Gosh- where to begin! Well since my last post, I am healing very well, had to go and have my stitches removed as my body was trying to reject one of them so I thought I had an infection, she couldn't remove one of the stitches, but she trimmed it right back and a week later it came out on its own. So I was thinking I have no stitches when a week ago I found another one! I got the bugger out though lol, so I don't think I have any left now!

Since then I got struck down with this awful flu going round. I was in bed for days (which I just don't do), and it was just horrid- anyone else who had it, has my sympathy. I had such random symptoms with it, earache, which I never get (even when I had an ear infection!), sickness, diarrhoea (TMI lol), aches, shakes, fever, cold, cough, VILE!
So then, before I know it Christmas is right there and I am not organised in the slightest!

Random rant- our sky hd box is bust, so we didn't have many channels, and they can't come out til the 31st even though we rang them a week and a half /two weeks before Christmas. The tv has been shocking anyway- just how many carry on films do they think I want to watch?! The Royle family was FAB though-I laughed all the way through it.

I made this to go on my Grandad's grave for the Christmas visit to the cemetary, I miss him SO much.

I managed to get Simba a cute stocking this year, and as usual his toys wouldn't fit, so they overflowed onto the fireplace! He wasn't too fussed with opening things this year, too much going on bless him. He had some yummy treats too which he has started to demolish!

This is Jessica's stocking, she couldn't wait to get into it, she sat very patiently next to it though and waited for a human helper! She scoffed loads of treats on Christmas morning, forgot to chew them in her excitement and got one stuck in her throat! *rolls eyes*

She went mental over these mice, a set of three leather rodents. We had leaping and twisting in the air with them, she was hiding them under her tummy and all sorts- I didn't realise they had catnip in them which explains it...I thought she was just a bit kinky with a leather fetish! LOL!

I bought this pad of notelets for my Mum, they are a huge hit!
When we go to take my Nan's shopping, we have to park in a small layby, as she lives in a Close with no road. If you park properly there is enough room for five cars, but some eejits keep parking the wrong way round so you can only get two cars in (they don't even live there), which means we often get blocked in, or have to park far away and lug the heavy shopping a long way. Even worse is when we have my Nan with us, and have to make her trek, which, when you are registered disabled is NOT fun.

As usual a mahoosive Christmas dinner, most of the pics are on Mum's camera, which I have here but can't find a lead to upload so will add those another time. So I am not in this pic, mwahaha! We had extra guests this year, which I was a bit apprehensive about- but all was fine, and we all had a lovely time :)

This is Simba tucking into his dinner. He had already demolished his sprouts (he adores them) and yorkshire pud (we have them with everything lol) and had moved onto a turkey bone. It was bliddy huge and he was doing some fab weightlifting with it! Too funny! He managed to balance it on his perch as it was just too heavy for him, the little love! I know it is somewhat cannabalistic, but it is good for him, and packed with calcium (and quite simply he just loves it!) Blurry pic, due to massive excitement levels!

The tree (after most of the pressies were demolished), and some of my fave decs (can you spot the theme LOL it is soooo me)

And saving the best decoration til last *awwwwwwww*

On Boxing day we went over to my brothers, my nephew got two BB guns for Christmas. Now, I think I rocked the boat a bit, as they were coming to mine on Christmas evening, and I asked him not to bring them. I don't like guns at all, in any form, and won't allow them in the house for many reasons, apart from anything, as I discovered on Christmas morning at my Nan's when I was shot with one of them (i wasn't the only one either) as they thought the magazine was empty, it is just too dangerous around my animals and I won't risk it. As it was he spent most of the time in another room on the wii anyway.
So back to Boxing day, we went round and my Mum thought she would get in on the action and shoot some toy soldiers! Hillarious!

As a final note- (I'm tired now and think I have given myself RSI with all this typing) our local pier shop are selling off their fixtures and displays. I snagged this little lot for a fiver plus I have another of the trays too- they are really thick perspex. They have massive shelf units at around £200 depending on the size, spinners, wire bins for a tenner, loads of stuff.

Anyhoodle, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas xxxx

thank you...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:58:00 +0000

...for the get well wishes. Progress is of course a little slower than I hoped for *pfft* but I am doing well. I have to keep reminding myself that although it is fairly minor on the outside, the inside has indeed had major surgery! This is mostly for me to refer to- feel free to skip it!

So, I can bend a very little bit, but things like feeding the cat are impossible (don't worry, Mum is feeding her for me I'm not starving her!), can't lift much yet either, it feels like someone is trying to pull my insides apart when I try.

I am increasing things bit by bit, yesterdays task was to wipe the bars of the parrot cage, which was fine, can't do the trays at the bottom as I can't lift them, but that is todays task, with some help of course.

I can finally lie on my left side, which is the non-cut side, after sleeping on my back for a week (which I never do- always sleep on my right side typically) it is bliss. I have to wedge myself in a little nest of cushions to stop myself twisting and turning too much, that was mainly because when I got onto my side it felt like my organs were falling to the side (and I have to remember I have clips and stitches internally)! It's so bloody fun! *rolls eyes*

Cabin fever got the better of me by Wednesday, so I got Mum to take me over to asda, we had tea there (bonus- no cooking) and hoped to get some pressies...well £70 later and not much Christmas-ness to show for it, I felt so much better for the change of scenery!

My concentration is now much better...anaesthetic has a lot to answer for! So I am doing a bit of hand sewing, and can pootle about online now, I couldn't settle to do anything for quite a while-not even read!
I have just discovered that I now cannot tolerate cheese :( Not happy about that, maybe it will improve with time, I dunno.

Swelling is still ridiculous, my tummy is huge, although it has gone down a bit, my trousers that were huge on me before surgery, I still cannot do them up, so am living in pj bottoms in the house.

Split one of my wounds the other night too, it was a part of my bellybutton wound (typically, as I hate bellybuttons, freaks me out big time!) I think what happened was that I wasn't too careful at keeping it dry in the shower, and this part was glued together and the glue has disolved. Need to be really careful with that now, although it looks fine.

Simba has been a total angel- it must all be very strange for him, for the first time ever, someone else had been making his breakfast, his cage was cleaned differently, various people looking after his Mummy, and he has been wonderful love him. I am sure he knows something is wrong with me, as he has been so very very gentle with me, and listening to my commands first time every single time. *wubs*

Anyhoodle, enough boring waffling!

As I haven't been able to sit at my desk to scrap, I made a digi layout for this weeks ATF theme. It's a touch tongue in cheek, but at least I managed to join in, I haven't missed a single upload yet, and glad I didn't have to miss out on this one. The theme was 'stories'. I haven't done a digi layout for aaaaages, and really enjoyed it :)

This is from the upload before, and was altered art. So I made a photo necklace of my gorgeous wee man

Toodles!

I'm home :)

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:28:00 +0000

For those who don't already know (Jen, thanks so much for updating everyone) I am home.
Surgery went well. For a horrid moment I didn't think they were gonna operate when they were admitting me and discovered I had a high temp.
They gave me some paracetamol to help bring it down and the anaesthetist decided to go ahead. Just as well really as my gallbladder was rank apparently! My surgeon came to see me as soon as I came round from the anaesthetic in recovery (I came round really quickly apparently) and basically he said that because my stones were so huge the bile couldn't get in or out and was trapped there and the whole lot was rank and turned to pus (niiiiice!). So that could explain the temp, and meant if I hadn't had the sugery I would have had another very nasty and painful infection soon.
They let me come home the same evening, which was fantastic. Slept lots and lots, and had a wonderful night's sleep at home. Was incredibly sore yesterday, very painful but nowhere near as bad as the infection I had back in May.
Last night was rough, didn't sleep well, couldn't get comfy at all, but I am in much less pain today, much more comfy than yesterday. Can't bend at all, need help to sit up to get out of bed, but other than that it's all good, apart from looking about three years pregnant!
Mum is looking after me and my need for lots of tea, as well as looking after Simba which is a massively huge help, and Amy came to look after me yesterday morning as Mum's boss is a total and utter bitch, and wouldn't let her take the time off even though she knew about this as soon as it was booked, and I had to have someone with me for at least 24 hours.
I had four stones in the end, three whoppers and one slightly smaller one which was hiding when I had my scan. And Mum packed them in my suitcase to bring home- she thinks I should make a nice necklace *barf*
Got four holes in my tummy, and my bellybutton is the painful one (it is the biggest one apparently, I still have all my dressings on, and can't see that far as it is right inside and my tummy is still very swollen). One has been bleeding which I have to watch closely, but no sign of fresh blood today which is good.
Still tired, but getting there :)
Love n hugs xxxx

off I go...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:12:00 +0000

Surgery in the morning, got to be up in a few hours, so will be MIA (though not so much 'in action' lol) for a while. Will blog when I am able :)

things that make me happy...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:14:00 +0000

to avoid stressing too much about my op (although the nerves haven't really kicked in YET!), a couple of things that make me happy...

For the first time, my Mum's bird of paradise plant I bought her has flowered :D It is so darn pretty. I bought it as a thank you present when Simba had to stay at birdie hospital, and she drove me all the way to Swindon every single day to go and visit him :)

My new favest shop in the world. Frankie Doodle's. Man alive this is a total treasure trove. It's only just opened and I found it purely by accident (Amy and I were on the way to a kitchen shop lol) It is full of the prettiest, shabby chic-est, lovely, wonderfulness! As I went in and gasped, the owner told me I would find nothing useful in her shop, everything is for adornment, amusement and self-indulgence- ahhhh my kind of shop! And just how gorgeous is it when you come away with a pretty ribbon tied bag and everything wrapped in pink tissue paper :) I might have added a few more birds to my collection too (shhhhhh!)

stop I wanna gerroff!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:50:00 +0000

A slightly late halloween update!
Life has been so hectic!
Halloween was fab as usual, more trick or treaters than last year- didn't think that was possible! We even had a dog dressed as a pumpkin which was lovely- they were collecting for the dog's trust which was nice :)
Pics-
First our annual trip to the pumpkin farm, major roadworks along their road and in true 'Over Farm humour' we arrived in all the traffic to this...

LMFAO! There was another pumpkin man at the entrance with his pumpkin like arse hanging out of his jeans too- couldn't grab a pic in time though!

Beautiful frosty pumpkins

This years theme was dinosaurs

Choosing our wares- or not, lots of manky trodden pumpkins!

My beautiful Rafiki, who was as gentle and loving as ever, and got kisses galore from me much to Jasmine's amusement, then both the girls joined in :D

And Valerie- as cheeky and hungry as ever!

Onto the big day...bear in mind this is the one and only time of year I 'do' tacky, and after what I have bought in the post-halloween sales, next year will be great ;)

My witches kitchen jars, these look so fab in the dark with a few candles behind, the colours they glow are amazing, and they were such fun to make (mostly left from year, with a couple of new additions like the hands and feet)

Now- I thought I was being a bit excessive making in the region of 50 biscuits (icing them with my naff piping set was a total mare) but they all got scoffed

My pumpkin shaped jellies, these were really cool, and the ones that didn't come out of the moulds properly were mushed up with red food colouring

My nails (heehee)

Uncle Vlad- this years pumpkin (I had some tiny ones from the farm which I put on the stairs too, didn't have time to carve them though)

Jas and Amelia- who were both ace as always :) Amelia kept everyone entertained with the hokey cokey, dingle dangle scarecrow, and five diggadiggares (aka chocolate eclairs, new song to me but so bloody funny to listen to her version)

Molly Cait and Willow

These two were so funny together. Willow was posting smarties into Amelia's mouth, and they kept cuddling- too too cute *wubs*

Other stuff- had my pre-op assessment, all ok for surgery to go ahead (this wednesday eeeeek). Off to the hosp tomorrow to have my blood transfusion levels taken and then it's a case of waiting. There has been so many annoying little things to get sorted. Amy is coming over to sit with Simba to give him a bit of company so that is a huge weight off my mind :)
see ya soon x

back again

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:14:00 +0000

hokey cokey and all that!

As briefly as I can...
Victoria was discharged from hospital, I don't think she should have been but who am I to a consultant other than a concerned Auntie!?
Sure enough not long after she was admitted to Gloucester again. Now, this was all quite amusing in a sadistic kinda way!
SIL rang my Mum to say V was having probs, pains in her chest and trouble breathing properly, and whilst on the phone to her my Mum fell down the stairs. Carried on chatting, decided V needed to go to A&E but SIL would call one of the consultants ahead, who arranged the paed consultant to come in to meet us there.
Now, a week before this I started having back pains. More about that in a mo...
So, Mum's foot/ankle was black immediately, and very swollen, so I took charge and decided that she needed to be seen too.
So, SIL picks us up en route, we all bundle into the car and arrive at the hospital. Picture the scene, there is Mum hopping towards a&e, V who can't walk properly at all, but rather than wait for me to go ahead and get a wheelchair SIL decides a piggyback would be quicker. I can't lift her cos my back is hurting, she is 11 and nearly as tall as me (I am 5'10") so SIL has to do it, but can't lift her. We got there in the end!
So, into A&E, booked in, get V into one bay, and get Mum triaged.
V, although in great spirits overall was very teary, and all she could do was reach her arms out to me for a cuddle through the tears- it broke my heart :(
So with wheelchaired Mum, I trot of to xray to get her sorted, apparently no break (I am still not convinced though)
Back to V's bay, and she was so upset love her. The consultant thinks it is Guillan Barre syndrome (hmmm that sounds familiar lol) that makes 5 consultants out of 6 who think it is GBS so why won't they diagnose it as that?
Mum and SIL go off to check an appt that V was meant to have the next day, and the ward sister arrives with pain relief for her. And as usual I am left holding the baby so to speak. Morphine, UP THE NOSE! She was so so good bless her, having to snort half a syringe of liquid is not an easy task!
Shortly after she was on cloud cuckoo land and kept telling me how much she loved me BLESS! SO funny, and so nice to see her out of pain :) She is home again, has her own wheelchair as she just can't manage without one, and is doing two hours at school.

So, last week, after two weeks of back pain and no sleep I went to see the man who is now often referred to as 'THE GOD'.
Mark Lester, my oh so wonderful chiropracter.
Love this man.
I had loss of grip in my right hand too- mobile phone into a mug of tea, mug of tea slipped straight through my hands, and my fingers do this weird juddering thing and I can't close my fingers.
Sure enough I have trapped nerve/s in my back. He got all my muscles relaxed, cracked my spine back to the place it was meant to be, and a good session of accupuncture (so relaxing- odd but true, it was lovely).
By Sunday I wanted to marry the man!
I am so much better, still a bit sore, but getting there. Off again today for another session with the God!

Hence my absence! *takes a breath* Ohhhhhhhhh and also I have my pre op on Tuesday, and surgery at the beginning of November.

So onto a few crafty chic makes...
Made this for Halloween with a 60p broom from asda. The rest was totally made by me, I cut the wood, painted did the glittery lettering etc

I also made the following, which are for sale, gimme a holler if you wanna bag one (or more!) before they get chucked on ebay.

Christmas countdown blackboard. £5 plus p&p, comes with chalk attached already and I can move the chalk for a leftie or righty to make writing easier. (don't panic by the way, it isn't 34 days till crimbo, just a random number lol)

Pearl and crystal hanger, £6 plus p&p

Rosehip and eucalyptus (grown by moi) heart hanger, with a walnut stained gingham tie. (I can change the tie to green or blue if requested) there are two sizes of these small £3 plus p&p or large £4 plus p&p. The leaves are fresh at the moment, but will dry out lovely, plus the rosehips are already dried, so this will last and last :)

If anyone wants more pics, or sizes etc just shout, and I will sort that for you :) Most items are on rusty wire, and may have sharp edges of wire (although I try to cover them as best I can) so please hang them out of the reach of kiddos and pets :)

urgh!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:51:00 +0000

So, as brief as I can make it I shall try to explain my absence!

Apart from being generally manic...
My beautiful niece is very poorly, she has been transfered to Bristol Children's Hospital (over an hour away from home) and although she is making very good progress we still don't know what it is.
Up until Sunday, she was wheelchair bound...just couldn't walk or put any weight on her legs at all. They were totally 'numb' with no reflexes at all. She can walk a very small amount now, but still needs her chair. She has lots of other weird things going on as well (wont go into all that just now). She has had biopsies, needles galore, mri scans, lumbar puncture, and the list goes on, poor lamb.
She has had one diagnosis so far, vasculitis.
She has had consultants, toxicologists, opthamologists, neurologists, physiotherapists, again the list goes on.
Apart from all the horrid painful things they are doing to her, she is in really good spirits. The biggest request has been for Auntie Rena's homemade meringues in assorted colours!
So travelling back and forth to the hospital has been the main part of my life for the last few weeks. Poor kid had only started secondary school a couple of days before being admitted too (she has been in three hospitals over the last couple of weeks!)

I have seen my consultant, and shall be having surgery within the next six weeks too. Have to go to Cirencester to have it done (not sure how long it will take to get there, about 45 mins I guess- but I have my pre op assessment two weeks before so will time it all then) but there are bonuses to me having surgery there rather than Cheltenham. If I have it booked in for chelt, my bed will get bumped for someone else as they do a lot of surgery on cancer patients, so they will take precidence with my bed (and so it should be)- so going to Ciren will avoid that. I will be in for less time if I go to Ciren too- that was the clincher! Mart has been just gorgeous about it all, so reassuring and loving and wonderful. Love that man x

Managed to drop my mobile in my mug of tea yesterday and it is not happy- so if you try to get hold of me and I ignore you that is why!

Lost the second koi :(
Managed to save the remaining koi- fish are all doing well now after two rounds of treatment, took koi over to see my nice chap for a scrape and scope, and he is doing good :) On the way back some pillock smashed into the back of the car. Thankfully no real damage, but a mammoth headache, neck and back ache for me! Koi was fine though thank God!
Spent ages watching the fish this morning and counted NINE babies! Seriously gonna have to extend the pond if they carry on breeding like that!
Bought lots of new stuff for the fish, a pond vac, new pump, new filter, uv light...skint much?!

So our new mantra- one on my mirror that I look in every morning to brush my hair...

One in a frame on the windowsill,

and Mart has one in his van (where he spends the majority of his time!)

ATF went live last week, I can't be arsed to find mine just now so you can see it there lol!
So other than minor stuff, such is my life just now! *See* you all when I can x

for the 'shabby' girls! Image overload!

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:27:00 +0000

****edit**** Not sure why but the left edges have been cut off the pics- I didn't do it, it happened when they uploaded...you get the idea though!

I will do a proper blog post soon...let's just say the last couple of weeks have been not only busy but a bit of a 'mare too!

So for the shabby ones!

Here we go- a bajillion pics for you to look at...if you nod off I don't blame you! They are a bit random- I just wandered round snapping some of my faves! A lot of my trinkety bits come from a garden centre called Blooms (part of the wyevale group of garden centres). I like to get bargains so most stuff will have been fairly cheap! You will probably notice that I have a major obsession with birds, birdcages and birdhouses!
ok- just for Maria- the tardis...aka my bath...I had to stand outside the room/on the toilet to get these pics lol!

This hangs in my studio and was from Maria- I totally love it and it inspires me all the time

Also in my studio- Tallulah, who sits on top of my clock which used to be a boring cheapy black plastic horror of a timepiece!

Collection of trinkety bits (birdhouse prettied up by me- it was plain pine before)

This was a mega bargain- in John Lewis/Waitrose, filled with miniature pink rose plants, I took the pots out and am gonna use the basket for something else- cost me about £3

Sewing for those who asked (fabric from the range store, less than £4 a metre)- my doorstop, which is a funny shape at the mo, until tomorrow when I can get some weighty beans or something to stuff it with properly!

One of the draught excluders I whizzed up last night- the other one is the same but over double the length

I don't know what I love about this dove! I really don't! But love it I do, I bought it at a yard sale when I was in the States some 20 years ago! And it has always been out on show ever since!

Onto my bedroom...
Now, this has been a mammoth project. The bedroom before was a horrid mismatched cluttered tiny mess. I wanted to get rid of all the furniture and start again, with the aim of creating something light, airy and a place to be able to relax. I started by choosing the floor (a gorgeous whitewash effect laminate) then everything else kinda followed. It is mainly black and white with the odd bit of colour dotted about. I LOVE IT!
Some of my fave bits...

This was a seriously cheap jewellery box from ikea in plain wood. A lick of paint and a bit of work on the computer to make a bird decal and voila

The matching jug- this was a quid in asda, originally silver, painted with black hammerite, crackled with white emulsion over the top and another bird decal

A few trinkets on my shelf, some were gifts, some from sales (need to get my pics in the frames!)

This was from a fab shop in Worcester called Rhubarb (the earlier pink birdcage came from here too)

Gorgeous birdcages from Blooms (one was a gift)

Doorhandle from B&Q for a couple of quid- it is meant as a cupboard handle but with much swearing I made it work!

The bird collection from blooms- They were a bit too cream coloured for the room so I slapped some paint on them.

This the is actually a soap dish but I use it for reciepts and stuff!

Also from Blooms and again stippled with white paint

Cake stand from homebase about £6, again too cream so painted with white gloss paint

These units were from lidl (about £25-30 each) and were brown wicker with green paint, I redid them with black hammerite and white emulsion

Matalan £15 (I adore this)

The piece de resistance (if you have made it this far!)- my mural. Now the original plan was to buy the same design, which was very expensive, as a decal...I was fully prepared to pay out for it, but they only did it in pink and it was facing the wrong way. So I adapted it and painted it myself on the chimney breast. This makes me happy :D

flying visit...

noreply@blogger.com (greyparrot) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:53:00 +0000

manic-ness here again!

Just got home from the aquatic centre, after thinking something was awfully wrong with the pond. One koi died last week, and another isn't looking too spritely- but nothing obviously wrong. Not eating as well as normal, but he did eat a bit of prawn yesterday which is good :)

So nitrite and ammonia levels are all perfect, pH is in the normal ranges, but at the higher end (alkaline which I found suprising) so I am doing a partial change to correct that, and then the water levels are totally perfect. If the koi doesn't pick up they have very kindly offered to check him out for me- they are superstars at that place!

To top it all off, it looks like I will have to buy a new pump and filter system, so that's a couple of hundred wiped out on that! It's only working intermittently at the mo- not impressed!

The latest ATF layouts are up and I missed some out on my blog as I have been so busy I couldn't blog!

Challenge 32 was my turn to set the theme...

'I wish I'd known...'
I wish I knew then what I know now. Did you never believe how difficult training would be? Did you just not realise how destructive your chosen pet could be? How full of energy they would be? How expensive? How much of a bond you would have?

and here is my layout- must get some new albums, as I keep all my challenge ones together to build a great portfolio of Simba's life!

The latest one is:

Summer time fun.
Does your pet like to play in the paddling pool or splash around in the stream? Is there a cold treat your pet enjoys or do you even take them on holiday with you? Or do they just like to laze about in the shade?
What does your pet like to do at summer time? I think there is a prize for a readers layout too for this one :)

and here is my take on it:

Next one is due to go up next week :)

Almost forgot to add this...

Lousy photos, as they were taken on my phone (one at night, one in tesco)

Jess kindly brought me this wee guy! Not a mark on him, and he was so tiny and so cute, he hopped up onto my hand while I closed the window to prevent Jess following me, let me take a pic, and then off for his release back into the garden!

Then there was this lil guy in tesco (why do these things always happen when I am around? LOL!)

I think he was a bit confused and needed the branchlets department rather than the twiglets...can you spot him?!