ATF

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

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...

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...

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!

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...

...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 :)

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...

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...

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!

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