Still not ...

... feeling 100% but definitely a lot better than I was at the weekend. I felt really ill on Saturday morning. Luckily I had the house to myself Saturday so, once I'd been to Dad's I just became a slob for the morning. By the time I had to make the afternoon visit I was feeling a bit more human and the progress has been steady since then.

Builders are in again this week - repointing the west facing gable end wall. Should have taken a photo of my car yesterday but didn't think. Went to go to Dad's and, before I could drive it, it had to be hosed down. It had changed colour completely to a lovely shade of mortar dust - about ½ inch thick!! It's still pretty dusty, even being hosed, so will have to wash it properly but not worth it until they've finished. At least the really dirty part has been done - they're now mixing mortar to actually do the repointing. Bit of rendering to be done as well but should be finished today. Money's not doing anything sitting in banks at the moment so may as well spend it on a bit of house maintenance. Won't need doing again in our lifetime so probably saving us something for the future now, especially as you can get some pretty good deals 'cos people want the business ....

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Cuttlebug Challenges Blog - Parteeeee!

Take a survey, become a follower, leave a comment and have a sneak peek of one of the new Cuttlebug folders being released in the summer and it has ............... an owl on it!! Take a look at this link and eat your heart out .... Cuttlebug Challenges: We're gonna have a Parteeeee!

Enjoy!!

Feeling ill …

… again today! I picked up some sort of virus just after Christmas and it seems to keep coming back. I go a few days feeling fine (well, as fine as I can do anyway) and then it raises it’s head again for a couple of days. I try to ignore it but I’m so fed up of feeling crap! I have loads to do but don’t have the energy, or the inclination, to do it. I’ve cleared out the study cum single bedroom downstairs – well, sort of. I did a run to the Dogs Trust yesterday with yet more stuff and had so much I had to put the seats down to make car a van! The single bed that was in there has gone and the 2 double wardrobes that were being used for storage have gone to a new home today. I’m replacing them with something a bit more practical for the room and what it’s mainly used for. I now have space to put a desk in there for me to get my PC (as opposed to laptop) back up and working although I’ve got to make it wireless somehow ….

In meantime I’ve been playing, when felt like it, with the lappy and I’ve found Windows Live. I've downloaded Windows Live Picture Gallery and Windows Live Writer which could be a great find for preparing blog posts. The pictures below are an experiment and, if it succeeds there should be 3 of them. 2 of hubby’s grandmother whose stage name was Lalla Selbini and one of his grandfather’s troupe which includes his Dad as a young lad (centre stage). Grandfather is the tall guy stage left as looked at. I found the picture of Lalla touching her hat on a Spanish website (thanks to an imag-e-nation friend) but it was a seller in Buenos Aires. Fortunately he spoke a bit of English and I managed to talk him into accepting payment by Paypal which he wasn’t too keen on but then I wasn’t going to use Western Union either – lol! When I told him who she was to us he let me have it post free. Wasn't that kind?

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What does your birthday say about you

Did this quiz on Facebook and have to say it's pretty scarey at how accurate it is ... warts and all - LOL!

January


Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Money cautious. Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Sensitive and has deep thoughts.

I do take issue with some of it though ....
Hardworking and productive - well, I try!
Smart, neat and organised? Once upon a time perhaps and hopefully will be again at some point.
Knows how to make people happy. Only if they understand me I guess - lol!
Quiet unless excited or tense, rather reserved, highly attentive. Yes to all of those, including the reserved bit (honestly!) but that only lasts until I've got to know somebody - yes, true!!

Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Well, wouldn't have agreed with this until this year but in some ways still don't! I don't generally suffer illnesses or colds to often but seem to have picked up a virus that keeps coming and going. I keep thinking it's a cold developing but it makes me feel rubbish for a couple of days and then I'm OK again ....

Romantic etc, loves children. Yes, definitely to both and with the 2nd - as long as they've got a home to go back to - hehe!

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You couldn't ...

... make it up!

I got a letter today from Hewlett Packard - yep, that's HP, my ex-laptop manufacturers! Nothing strange about that I thought, especially following my complaint. Oh, was I wrong! It was from the repair centre in Warrington saying they'd tried to contact me (when???) about collecting my laptop for repair and that I should ring them to arrange a convenient collection date. If they don't hear from me within 5 working days the repair would be cancelled. I had to read the letter a couple of times more to take it in. Well, I couldn't resist. I rang them.

First question I was asked was if I was ringing from Comet! No, says I, I was the owner of the laptop. When did I need it collecting and from where? I didn't - anymore, was my reply. We've tried to collect it from Comet but they refused to hand it over, says they. Really?, says I and, just where were you trying to collect it from? Unit 4 Goldstone Retail Park, Unit F Leeds Road Retail Park, Huddersfield. (See clue in address - 2 retail parks?) Guess that's why Comet, Huddersfield refused the collection then, 'cos my laptop was left with the branch at Goldstone Retail Park, Hove and they were trying to collect from a store some 250 miles away!

Now this would be funny if it wasn't so tragic 'cos I knew that they were probably going to try to collect it from Huddersfield less than an hour after I'd left it with the store in Hove. Why? 'Cos I'd gone home and phoned HP to cancel a pick-up I'd got booked for a couple of days later and they told me that it had already been changed by the Hove store and that it would be picked up from..... Huddersfield! I told them they'd be lucky 'cos it was at Hove and not even I had managed 250 miles in ½ hour. Indian call centre's don't have a clue as to the UK geography and I got the distinct impression that the rep hadn't understood what I was telling her. Decided to phone Comet to warn them, spoke to the Hove store and explained what I'd been told. Was thanked and told it would be sorted out. Now let me guess why I was given a brand new laptop instead of the other one repaired??? At least Comet, although not admitting what had happened, did sort me out which is more than HP managed in the 2½ months (at that point) since I originally started the process with them on New Years Eve!

First mistake HP made (or the repair/spares centre at Warrington) was to send me a replacement hard drive but ... for a desktop, not the laptop. That was collected and then I waited and waited for the laptop one, only to be told it was out of stock but on Express Delivery when it came in. Phone call after phone call I was told it was out of stock. I was then told that the claim had been closed as finalised! Right - so why was I still without a working lappy which was still waiting for a hard drive? That's when I arranged for collection from me (all info taken off of hard drive by techie at this point) to go to repair centre as I was told that they should have the part (although out of stock to me from the spares place - right?). In meantime thought I'd see what retailer could do and, although they wouldn't - at this point - give me a replacement lappy they could get the repair done in a couple of days ................................ which is why, 2 weeks after leaving the lappy with them I ended up with a brand new one and let's now guess what happened to the one I left with them! Oh yes, that would be the one that's still sitting in the Hove branch because Huddersfield branch refused to let the repair centre pick it up from them! Strange thing is though - I've had new lappy since 16th March having left the HP one with the store on 24th February. Repair centre man tells me his 'ticket' was dated 18th March but I've still got the original worksheet that Comet gave me a copy of and 24th February was the date and that was when I found out they were going to 'collect' from Huddersfield!

Don't yer just love this HP customer service?????? Anyway, I very politely told the very nice chap I spoke to at the repair centre that, as I now had a brand new, non-HP laptop, courtesy of Comet, he could do what he liked with the booked repair, that I had no idea where the HP laptop was (although I could now have a damned good guess) and that I couldn't care less! He laughed and said he didn't blame me - LOL!

Guess it now explains why Comet offered me a new, replacement laptop but thumbs up to Comet and a great big thumbs down to HP!

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It's finished ...

... the driveway, that is. It was finished yesterday and they were right - I do like it! They've married the different levels (where I thought there was going to be a step) perfectly and now they've added a part course to the little wall it looks good. Now we just need it to weather down a bit to blend better with the existing frontage. Reckon that'll be a while - the existing paving has been down nearly 20 years ..... LOL!

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Had this ...

... email round robin sent to me recently. Normally I just delete anything I get like this, rather than pass them on and this one will go the same way but - it really appealed to my sense of humour!! Take a look at #27 for a start! If there's one thing I would do, if I could be bothered, is to reorder them into what I would consider my priority and #27 would probably be right at the top .......LOLOL!

Things to Live by
1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.
3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.
4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
6. An excellent approach to housework is to sweep the room with a glance..
7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
8. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.
9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of cheques.
12. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
16. A balanced diet is a muffin in each hand.
17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
24. Someone who thinks logically provides nice contrast to the real world.
25. It ain't the jeans that make your arse look fat.
26. If you had to identify in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
27. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and mental illness.
28. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
29. You should not confuse your career with your life.
30. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
31. Never lick a steak knife.
32. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
33. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
34. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
35. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that deep down inside we ALL believe we are good drivers.
36. Your friends love you anyway.

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It was ...

... Mother's Day yesterday. I'd forgotten all about it until Friday when I was reminded. I guess, not having Mum this year, I hadn't given it any thought. Odd day for me as I would rather have ignored it but I have 2 sons so that was never gonna happen! Thought I was doing OK then somebody posted on the forum - a lovely thought - thinking of all those of us that have lost our Mum's over the past year, of which there have been far too many, I have to say. That set my mind off and have to admit to a few tears in private .... several times. 6 times I went to post something on the thread but I just couldn't find the right words so 6 times I typed something and 6 times I deleted it. I think what made it worse for me was that it's the first anniversary of Mum's death in a couple of weeks and I'm acutely aware of that coming up. Never did post to even say thank you as I couldn't bring myself to. The thought was in my head though so I hope Cathy, and everyone else, is telepathic - lol!! A big thank you for the thought ....

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Thought I'd ...

... treat my new lappy to it's own carry case. Had to buy a new one 'cos the ones I have already for previous lappy and other uses (craft bag - lol!) weren't big enough and new lappy is a big 17" wide screen. Went on eBay and found coloured ones! Well, had to have a coloured one instead of boring black but didn't want to spend too much. Found a lovely orange one and it was on Best Offer with a Buy it Now of £17.99. OK, so I tried it on and offered £13! Seller came back with a counter offer which met ½ way and it was free p&p. I'm now a proud owner of a luvverly, bright orange lappy case ..... Lappy fills it so cables etc have to go into the side pocket but I just love the colour.

Speaking of lappy's. Since getting this replacement last Monday I've emailed HP complaining about the service, or lack of, regarding the repair of the broken one. Talk about pulling teeth! All I kept getting was offers of pushing things along, apologies for poor service, thanks for bringing the problem to their attention, requests for details of laptop including serial number (how the heck do I know when I've not got it any more????), offers of info on how to resolve my problem (errrrr?). I just couldn't get them to understand that I have a competely new, non-HP laptop (thanks to the retailer) and that my correspondence was to give them information/feedback regarding the tragically poor service I have had from them. I then got an email giving me a list of contact details for 'my region' and guess what - all premium rate numbers and not one email address to be found. Well, me lost it a tad at this point and told them that if they thought I was going to ring one more premium rate number in relation to this then they were sadly mistaken as all my other calls had got me precisely nowhere and the only people to benefit from them was HP themselves - in their profits - and suggested they gave me an email address 'for my region' instead. Seems they've now passed my 'feedback' on to the relevant people. I am expecting to hear nothing more from them and I certainly shan't consider buying an HP laptop any time soon.

I'd love to know what actually happened to mine though - apart from the fact that, in 3 months and many phone calls later, they were unable to supply a new hard-drive and Comet no longer sell the model - which was a new release just a couple of weeks before I bought it .......

Love this new Toshiba though but ........... it's early days and I'm finding that I keep looking for problems. Think it's called paranoia - LOLOL!

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Better news ...

... 'cos we've had the guys here this afternoon to go over our - or rather my - concerns with this driveway. Seems the 'step' was explained to hubby, which he now admits but omitted to tell me when I raised the concern 'cos "it went over my head" (MEN!). They've no intention of leaving a 'step' and it will all be graduated to meet together properly. My concern over the loss of height and the weight on the little wall has been alleviated and they're going to make the courses good by adding to what's there. Although the paviers aren't all down we've tested the clearance for the 'vulnerable' cars up, down, in and out of the drive and checked that the gate will still close without any adjustment being needed, which there could have been with the extra height of the drive. They tell me not to worry any more, that it will be finished on Monday and that I will like it and there will be nothing left to give any concern. They say they've done loads (which I don't doubt) and have never had to return to one of them. I hope they're right 'cos there's always a first time - hehehehe!!!

Hopefully I will now sleep tonight. I surely hope so as I feel totally wiped out at the moment.

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Oh dear ...

... I couldn't sleep last night and ended up getting up at 4:30 this morning. Reason? Nothing to do with the lovely day I spent with friends met via the imag-e-nation forum (Greta and Jackie) We had a brilliant day playing, eating, chatting and putting the world to rights. Made absolutely nothing but - a lot of punching, stamping and colouring attempts were made. I expect to see a spinner card from Greta, a giant chrysanth from Jackie and a completed coloured image (at least one) from me in the fullness of time but ............ I ain't gonna hold me breath on any of 'em - lol!!

Nope, reason I couldn't sleep was the blooming driveway! Got home and thought it was looking nice and then I noticed - a step left where there wasn't one before and ... it was a trip hazard, as well as making life a little more awkward for hubby in his wheelchair! Then I noticed we'd lost a full course of a little brick wall we'd had put in for decorative and safety purposes a few years ago. They hadn't followed the original line of the old drive but had made a new one - which meant potential problems with access because of the 'angle of the dangle'! OK, it's not totally finished but can't see that there's any way of putting right what I think is wrong without taking it all up and starting again. Can't help but think that it would have been OK had they not taken up the concrete that should have stayed.

Anyway, that's why I couldn't sleep. Couldn't shut brain down with it all going round in head and now I'm even more tired than I've been past couple of days and got a headache to boot. Hopefully it'll all sort itself out in the wash and I'll have been worrying un-necessarily ..........

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Ggggggrrrrrrrr!

Workmen arrived today to start redoing our driveway. It was a concrete surface which had been tarmac-ed years ago, before we moved here and we've been here 21 years. Anyway, there was a clear line as to where the 'new' driveway was to go down to 'cos the tarmac finished and then there was bare concrete from when we had a new parking area put in a few years ago. 2 cars parked on the parking area - out of the way, or so we thought - OH's brand spanking new one & eldest's new Scoobie baby. There was a good 6 foot or more from where tarmac-ed area ended and front of eldest's baby so thought both cars would be safe. Workmen asked if eldest's car could be moved as they would be using a digger etc. but as it couldn't we covered it. Thought it a bit odd but better to err on side of caution. Workmen started digging up old drive. Went to take them a cuppa and ........................ Aaaaaaarrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! They were digging up the newish, bare concrete, which had a drain and reinforcing mesh in. It had also been used to level the bottom of the drive a bit more than it was to stop 'bottoming out'. Ended up just a couple of foot away from eldest's baby. :scream: :scream:

I mentioned to OH what was happening but they'd gone too far to stop. Turns out they hadn't been told by boss what area they had to do (we assumed they would have been given their instructions by him) and hadn't thought to ask us even though to me it was pretty obvious - if nothing else to ask. They've admitted it's their fault but doesn't really help us much as now the job is going to take longer than originally thought and I've builders waiting to come in to repoint that side of the house! There had better not be any problems when it's finished because of what they've done and they're certainly not getting paid any more than the quote I was given, even though they've increased the area they're working on quite substantially.

I have one question - what has happened to the workmen of today???

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%%%%%%%%%%%% ...

... I've got a % sign and the 5 key back - WOOHOOOOO!! Have I got my new broken lappy back 3 months after the hard drive died? Nope - not at all but, I've got a brand new one instead - (loud cheer!). Wonder how long this one will last ............ derr!! Busy setting it up right now having just got online with it so story will follow. Didn't want to risk it before but now it's all sorted - watch this space ...lol!!

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Quiet ...

... few days - or not!! Don't know what's happening to me lately but it seems as though there's nothing going on when there's actually plenty going on - lol!! I've been baby-sitting 2 of the littlies this morning while the third had a hospital visit. On-going 'watch' of a potential problem identified on a scan while being carried in Mum's tum! She's 7 now and we're hoping that today was her last scan as she's not suffering and this perceived problem hasn't caused her any over the years. I reckon it could be something genetic and that any one of us could have the same thing but don't know it. Think these scans - although really good - can sometimes cause un-necessary concerns.

Went to the Dogs (yeah - OK!) last night with ex-workmates. Some of them I've known for 40 years this year (wow - scarey!) and the others 20+ Lovely evening, good food, good company and - I had a win! Only one but it's a novelty and it wasn't a bad one either so came home happy!

I've taken bull by horns and bought a couple of large lots of unmounted stamps off of eBay. Off of eBay but the sellers are Hampton Arts and My Sentiments Exactly. OK, so it's pot luck with what you get but reckon, for what they've cost, it can't be all bad. The Hampton Arts one is a Buy it Now and the MSE was a Dutch Auction which I was one of the winners on last night. Definitely worth keeping a look out for in future though. Just need to sit and wait for them to arrive now - LOL!

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Spinner and Inchies.

Spinner card - with a twist! Why go straight when a circle will do - LOL? I just love this card (looks much better than the photo shows) and it's got soooo many possibilities - especially for kiddies cards.

Base card - A5 textured, lilac. All stamping - Versamark, white embossing powder, inks and H20s for water-colouring. Nestabilities - to cut the centre circle and the outer rim from a slightly contrasting/toning card.

Edges inked and centre stamped. Small sticky pads were stuck evenly round the outer edge of the rim and a few in the centre of the circle. In this instance 2mm pads were used so they were doubled up to give a 4mm thickness but I think it's possible that 3mm pads would be deep enough. This was all positioned on the base card allowing space for the main flower to be added. 2 pennies were stuck together with a double layer of sticky pads and the flower stuck to one of the pennies and was then slotted into the 'track'. The rest of the card was finished with a greeting plaque and small flowers. Trimmed to lift using irridescent glitter glue and a small gem. Can't say what stamps were used as I've no idea but there are plenty on the market that would work - and even Jak's 'Build a Blossom' papers given for free over on her blog.

Inchies - stamp sets by Inkadinkado. Stamp sets full of little stamps that can be used in a multitude of ways.

The purple card was made using the Trees and Leaves set. The images were stamped with black Versafine on to white card and then clear embossed. Distress ink was sponged on to the card once all the shapes were cut. A pocket was made to hold the tags, edge stamped with a stamp from the Flourishes set and finished with pearls. Base and background card is Bazill and the background was run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder.

The tags could be used as small bookmarks or put a word on each one to form a greeting or have individual small greetings.



Black, white and red ... all over! A card within a card.

Can't find the Inchie stamp set that the daisy belonged to. Think it might be a discontinued set but there is one called Flower Garden which would work just as well - as would any of the sets available.

The central square - and front tabs - were done by double stamping. Inking the stamp up, stamping the image once onto white card, lining up and stamping again before inking up again to stamp the next 2 images. The first image stamps the full colour and the second, lighter - as here, black and grey. The square was then cut out and a Versamark ink pad was taken over the whole square before it was embossed with clear embossing powder.


The gatefold front of the black, main card was run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. The gatefold front of the internal white card was stamped with a tiny flower stamp from one of the Inchie sets, stamping several times before reinking to stamp again. Finished with red ribbon and silver Anita's peeloffs (not something I use often now but still have their uses, especially for a quick finish - lol!)

Enjoy!!


PS: I'm reliably informed that the inchies set the daisy belongs to is the Special Friends set and doesn't appear to be discontinued - just difficult to find - lol!! Thanks Kim...

Catching up ...

... now. Had a lovely day at the Craft Barn on Wednesday. This was the second meet of the SE forum members ... the one that was postponed from beginning of February because of the snow. 2 classes, same tutors as before but this time much better organised - at least the morning one was. The afternoon one, held by the tutor we had in the morning before, was still pretty chaotic with having to ask for what we needed and waiting for some instruction when stuck. We had one card to make in the morning but the afternoon - well! It was so intense and I think there was only one person actually got both of the cards made. Most of us didn't finish one and had to take all the elements home to put them together and - once again I was the last person there - lol!! Tutor told me that she'd made the main card (that we were all making) with a class a couple of weeks earlier and they'd taken the whole time to make the one card so she (in her words) "knew you'd be up against it". Personally I would rather have spent the time making one card fully without rushing and had the option of a second if there was time. Have to say though, I have found the odd minutes to put them both together since I bought them home so that's a novelty! Take a trip over to Crafty Bits for more detail, both written and pictorial ...

We made a spinner card, with a twist, in the morning and used Inkadinkado Inchies in the afternoon. Didn't buy any but now wish I had as I'm getting loads of ideas coming into my head! So that's another shopping trip then - LOL!

Thanks for dropping by .....

NB: The first photo in this post was snagged from Vilms 'cos it has me in it - thanks Vilms!

Blog posting ...

... drought! Seems to be ages since I last posted anything and seems as though there's not been much going on but it's not - really - and there has been some stuff going on ... lol!

Bit out of order but I managed to get, what I thought were good but turned out not so good as I thought, some photos of the littlies last Sunday. Yep, a week ago so really behind with posting these ones. Trouble was, I had flash on originally but it was far too strong so took it off, which meant that the photo's have come out a bit grainy. Realised today, in trying to make them less so, that I should have used the soft flash option but heyho - will put brain into gear one day (when I find it) and might even take the normal flash off of the strongest setting and put it back to normal ...... doh!

Little Zac is 6 months old tomorrow. Doesn't seem possible. Where does the time go? He's coming on in leaps and bounds and he is such a contented and happy little lad. Mind you, reckon he'll have trouble getting a word in edgeways with the girlies around - particularly with our little Amy who tends to suffer very badly with verbal diarrhoea - lolol! Hmmmmmm .... just like her Dad did at her age - hehe!

Seem to have spent the rest of the week doing Dad's ironing but in reality I've only spent a couple of hours on that chore! 'My' ironing, according to Dad, 'his' according to me - lol! He has so little washing it's easy to leave the bits that doneed ironing to do another time but it's amazing how quickly it builds up.
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The lesson ...

... seems to have jogged a memory - lol!! I'll double-check tomorrow morning before I leave him and then it's up to him but I'll pop head in on way home to make sure he's not gassed himself - lol!

Got a day of crafting tomorrow at the Craft Barn, with some of the SE ladies from the imag-e-nation forum. Most I've met but there are a couple coming that I've not met before so it will be good to meet them and I'm really looking forward to it. Disappointed that my mate Cally can't come though. She was booked in for this one but it was postponed from early February when the snow stopped it happening. She's away on a jolly in Devon this week so her place is vacant! She had wanted to do both of the meets - the January and February one - but she didn't get on the January one so she's missed out completely. Still, we've got a long weekend coming up in a couple of months - well in 99 days by my countdown at top of blog - so that's something to look forward to! That's been a long time coming 'cos it was booked waaaaaaaaaaaay back in February last year.

Had a quick trip to hospital with hubby yesterday. Well, I took him and dropped him off (parking's a nightmare even for disabled). He's been complaining of his hand hurting and last week he told me he was going to doctor. Then he tells me it hurts so much he thinks he's broken a small bone at base of thumb! I suggest he goes to hospital where they can Xray it immediately if needed, rather than go to doc but also suggested he strapped it to keep it as immobile as poss. Does he do any of it? Does he 'eck! Well, he's a man after all - lol! Yesterday he finally relents and decides he will go to hospital. Got him there around 3pm, left him and went back to sort Dad out. Hadn't even got Dad's dinner cooked and got a phone call to say he was finished and to pick him up. Now, Dad (and us) only lives about 15 minutes drive away from hospital so this phone call came less than 45 minutes after I'd dropped him off. Seems he never got past the triáge nurse (I'd warned him he might not). She examined it and it's a bad sprain and guess what - he's to use it as little as possible (of course, but near impossible for a wheelie!) and she gave him a hand splint to wear with instruction to icepack it as well. Now if he'd listened last week as well we might be more than half way there - hehehe! He then admitted that he thinks it may have been coming out of his chair that did it and how along ago was that? Oh yes, here, on the 4th February - doh!!

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Disappointment ...

... over Dad's living arrangements! Managed to speak to Dad's caseworker today and unfortunately Dad going into permanent residential care is not an option. Seems they don't consider his needs are bad enough to fund him so, unless he can pay the full amount himself, he can't go and he doesn't have that sort of income - or assets! He's still on the referral list for the Extra Care Sheltered Housing place though, so hopefully he'll be accepted on that. It means he will be living on his own but a care package will be in place and he will be able to use the on-site restaurant and communal facilities to socialise. Not as good as the full residential care but it's a compromise, although I'm sure that some of the attraction of residential care wasn't just the company but the fact that he was waited on and didn't have to do anything for himself - not even make a cuppa - LOL!! He will still be able to have the occasional respite break as well. I've been told that we may hear soon whether he's been accepted or not .........

I need him to heat up his own meal on Wednesday (unless he wants a really late dinner) so I'm gonna have fun tomorrow showing him how to use the gas hob - again. He can't remember how to from when he was shown early February when the snow was around. In fact, he can't remember that he even did - or so he says! I'm not always convinced that he really doesn't remember but the look on his face when I said "Do you remember when ....." told me he really doesn't this time - lol!

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That's more ...

... like it - LOL! Caught an episode of Cash in the Attic on the TV today. Rarely watch daytime TV but hubby turned TV on and it was part way through the programme. It caught my attention straight away 'cos the 'expert' was talking about a set of WWI medals and yep, they were Pip, Squeak and Wilfred! Seems there's a few of these sets finding their way onto these antique programmes just lately and, having been disappointed with what I saw the last ones fetch, I decided to watch this programme to see what price these ones made at auction. What I didn't realise, until the actual auction was shown, was that there were 2 other medals with them - the ones my Dad has from WWII! There were differences between those on the TV and what we have with Grandad's and Dad's medals though. One of Grandad's medals has a ribbon missing and they're not mounted and Dad's are brand, spanking new as they were only claimed last year and not at the end of the war as they should have been. Anyway, the medals were put together as one lot for the auction and they raised ................. £300! Much better than the £40 I saw the last set of Pip, Squeak and Wilfred go for. Just goes to show you need to have them in the right place with the right bidders after them ..........

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Happy Birthday ...

... to me! Well, Happy Birthday to my Ramblings blog - LOL!!

A whole year - and what a year it's turned out to be with Mum's death and Zac's birth and everything else inbetween. I had no idea as to the turn of events when I started this. My Ramblings blog, very soon, went in a completely different direction to the one I'd intended it to take. It was supposed to be a good mix of craft and general life chat - or ramblings - lol! Seems Mum had other ideas though 'cos things changed unexpectedly, dramatically and very suddenly and the blog took on a much more personal direction. Have to say though, it's been a great help to me over the months as my life, and those around me, has changed. It's my diary and, although I'm aware it's public now, to me it's still a bit of a private place if not quite as private as it once was - lol! Hopefully my life will continue to evolve - but for the better - and I will be able to get to do more crafting. Crafty Bits came about to compensate for the direction that Ramblings took but I've tried to keep them linked and, if my life goes the way I hope (I'm not holding my breath) then they may, eventually, melt into one another as one blog but only time will tell! So ... Happy Birthday Ramblings blog!

Technically this isn't my first blog. I signed up for one nearly 3 years ago but never actually did anything with it at all - not one post! When I decided to take it up properly I couldn't find my original so had to start from scratch, signing up etc. Since then I have found the original but it's still got nothing on it and it's unpublished. It's what I use to 'play' with when I want to try random things - like the tabs at the top of my blogs, my label dropdown on this one and the label cloud I have on Crafty Bits. If it works on the original then I transfer it over to my 'proper' blogs. Useful to have and I'd recommend everyone has a 'spare' if they want to play and learn - lol!!

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