April last year ...

... 2015 and Cally and I found 'fame' :D  One of the ads in papercrafting magazine promoting the Bolton Great British Craft Festival in May 2015 used a photo of us taken at the Stoneleigh Great British Craft Festival in 2014.  Fortunately it's a photo we liked so didn't mind, even though they didn't ask if they could use us in their promo *wink*  Strangely, it was the only papercrafting mag that carried the photo but we were 'famous' for a month - ROFL!

We're very disappointed that the Stoneleigh GBCF has had a date change for this year *sad*  It's been moved from August to September/October.  30th September for the workshop day and the 1st/2nd October for the show.  It means that a couple of the group that went last year can't go this year and it's made it very awkward all round for the rest of us.  If we did go it just won't be the same with some of us missing.  Normally tickets would have been booked as soon as they went on sale.  This year we're still deciding - not least because the Premier Inn room deals aren't yet available for that time and we're not booking anything until we know we can get cheap rooms!

April 2015 was also our (that's Cally and me) very first workshop with Vickie (The Craft Chick).  A good selection of cards made and set the tone to keep us going back *grin*

I thought I'd blogged about the baby bunnies that joined the family in 2013.  Seems I didn't.  Long story short .... youngest son and his family bought a couple of young rabbits from the local garden centre pet store.  Guaranteed 2 females.  

A few weeks later they weren't acting like 2 females.  A few weeks after that 6 baby bunnies appeared!

They soon grew and were eating their way through tons of carrots and using mega amounts of bedding.  Fortunately, because the parents had been 'guaranteed' females the pet shop took responsibility and provided bedding and dry food.  They also paid for the male to be 'dealt with' - which was done very swiftly.  He was becoming quite aggressive and had to be separated although he was put in a run next to the 'family'.  He could interact to a certain extent but a barrier was there.  The pet store did offer to take the babies when they were old enough to leave Mum but son and family thought they'd like to keep them and have a bunny city in the back garden.  As the bunnies grew they started to reconsider .... I wonder why - ROFL!

Soo cute!

In the end Mum & Dad were kept and 2 of the babies, but they've had to be kept separate from the parents, so now there's a mini bunny city in the back garden.  A hutch and run for the 'children' who live happily together.  A hutch and run for Mum and a hutch and run for Dad ... all next to one another so they can 'communicate' and see each other but, apart from the 'children' there's no physical contact between them.  The parents are not very tame or social but the babies are fine although they prefer to make the approaches.

The remaining 'children' April 2015

Our little great-granddaughter was growing fast, becoming quite a little character and a regular visitor - something which could be changing soon ... or not, depending on what happens over the next few weeks.  I'm hoping not!

April 2015

Pretty much anything worth covering from April 2015 has been done now.  Eldest and DiL were still heavily into their obstacle course racing and I started acting as guinea pig for eldest granddaughter who was in her final year of beauty therapy at college.  I bit the bullet and allowed her - and her fellow students - to use me for electrolysis as long as I got some of the 'nice' stuff as well ... facials and massages *grin*.  I became a regular at the college.

Hubby began his 3 month stint in the hospice - the stint that nobody thought he was coming home from.  His body filled with fluid and nobody had any clue as to why.  His whole body was affected eventually and he put on over 5 stone in weight.  He was very poorly for a long time and then there was a 'eureka' moment and the fluid started to disappear.  He's still being treated for it now - to keep it at bay - but he's lost the weight he put on because of it and went on to lose even more (what I call his 'fat' weight) although during the last couple of months he's been back in there he's put some of that weight back on.  We know we can work on it though so it's not a major concern.

That's all ... for now!

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Half way ...

... through April and where are we at?  Pleased to say that my concern about OH's fluid came to nothing.  Seems that the slight increase in the diuretic did the trick but - and it's a massive, big BUT - some of the other new meds (or possibly all of them) are not suiting him.  As they've built up in his system he's become lethargic to the point he's sleeping his life away and, when awake, he's slurring his speech, is very unco-ordinated and has no idea whether he's coming or going.  His memory is shot.  He's had a couple of falls, which is difficult to achieve when you're a wheelchair user but he can't explain how he managed to end up on the floor.  I thought he'd had a couple of mini-strokes but in checking the side-effects of the 5, new to him, meds that he's been given it seems they all share the same basic ones and some a few extra. 5 all building them up together has lead to a very poorly man, even if his pain is manageable.  He's become a zombiefied (is that a word?) old man in a very short space of time. He reminds me so much of my old Dad at the moment and he suffered dementia, albeit not officially diagnosed.  Medics have been consulted but in the meantime we're 'playing' with his drugs ourselves.  30+ years of handling many and all sorts pretty much tells us what he can handle and what he can't and he pretty much can't seem to handle anything '...epine' or ...zepam'.  They tend to give him the problems they're trying to treat but that he never had in the first place.  Today is the first day of our experiment and there's an improvement, albeit slight, already.

Other than that pretty much everything else is as was.  Time is passing and it seems I've been very busy but not sure there's much to show for it.  Fridge died and new one arrived yesterday - along with freezer as they have to match ... don't they???  Both the old ones are 20 years old this year so they've a right to go to fridge and freezer heaven I guess.  Freezer still has life in it, fridge?  Dead as a dodo!  Both will be dumped.  

The 'family' has a new member.  We've yet to meet her but eldest and DiL have had a baby *grin*  Meet Bella!

For years we've been meaning to do what we should have done when we first got married .... make a will.  30+ years later and we've finally made an appointment to deal with it.  Better late than never, eh?  We're making use of The Martlets will writing fortnight.  That way the hospice can benefit by a small sum as we get our wills in place.   At least not all the fees will go to the solicitor - ROFL!

Last week saw the 8th anniversary of Mum's passing.  That means this blog is just over 8 years old.  It was started as a way of charting my 'crafty' life but very quickly changed to help me deal with the emotions that come from losing your first parent.  Since then it became just a personal 'diary' type blog with a separate crafty one.  Then I realised that I was starting to  repeat 'stuff' relating to craftiness in both blogs so closed the crafty one and merged it back to the original ... this one.  Earlier posts look a bit weird.  As they come up randomly I'm editing them to bring them more in line with the blog of now - it's a work in progress and will probably never be complete - LOL!

Craftiness since last posting?  Pug dog mkII ....  a commission taken when somebody saw Pug dog mkI.  

Vickie's (The Craft Chick) April workshop .... all Stampin Up stamp sets, inks, dies, punches and masks - embellies from my stash.

From the Great British Craft Festival in August last year ... a chalkboard!  I've only recently finished it and gave it to youngest grandkids to play with.  Forgot to photograph it before it was used but at least it's being used.

Clair's workshop this week ... we'll have to wait.  Definitely a work in progress for me but this link will show what was in mind and the sample card.  Mine will be different but all the element cutting and matting/layering has been done.  Just need to put it all together.  Watch this space *wink*

May just do a 'catch up' from last year on next post ... we'll see.

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Now where ...

... did I get to???

I'm still not doing well on returning to blogging but something is better than nothing, I guess.  Nearly a month of 2016 gone already.  Scary how quickly time passes.  Even scarier that I'll be 65 by the end of this month,  will have been 'retired' (shall we say finished with paid employment) for 10 years and have been a non-smoker for 11.

Nothing of any real consequence has happened this month, so far.  Not that I care to post publicly anyway, other than eldest grandson's marriage has failed (which I alluded to last post) and he's back living with his mum.  Great granddaughter turned 4 (she's so cute but very opinionated - lol!) and the youngest granddaughters will be 10 (another with strong opinions and a very enquiring mind ..... on absolutely everything!) and 14 before the month is over.  Cardmaking workshops have restarted following the Christmas break and I'm back to regular exercise class.

OK, time for some pictures.  I've done a mini trawl of photos taken last year.  Back in July a few of my now long time crafty friends joined me & Cally on a weekend to the Great British Craft Festival at Stoneleigh Park (The Midlands on the website).  Cally & I have been before, on our own, with Kim joining us for a short while in 2014.  Last year we made it a proper girlie weekend and we had a great time.  It's being repeated this year although unsure quite how many will be going as yet.

Waiting for the next workshop

Chalkboard .... (still not finished to this day)

Bring on the Powertex!

A few of the projects from workshops and make & takes ....

Powertex workshop

Hunkydory workshop (& following 2 pics)

Francoise Read make & take

Brusho make & take

Pinflair workshop

Hunkydory make & take

 Think that's all for now .... got an exercise class to get to *groan*

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I'm excited ...

... but need to calm down otherwise I'll be a gibbering wreck.  The reason for the excitement?  I booked a holiday yesterday but it's not going to be until October 2015 (hence, if I don't calm down I'll be a gibbering wreck).  It's to celebrate mine and OH's Pearl (30th) wedding anniversary.  We'd thought seriously about a cruise from Southampton, across the pond and up the Eastern Seaboard of the good ol' US of A.  He's always wanted to go to New York.  Personally the States have never appealed to me with the exception of seeing the fall colours in New England and I think the cruise is timed to coincide with that.  It calls at NY, Boston, Halifax and so on then back to Southampton.   I'd accept that, as most of the time you'd be on the ship - it's a 3 week cruise - but, on reflection, although it appeals to both of us in one way or another I wondered just how much OH would get out of it.  He'd be fine on board but I don't think he'd get much out of the shore visits.  He can't get on coaches (being a wheelie is a real pain sometimes) so organised trips from the ship wouldn't work for him although I guess we could get a car/cab and have local drivers take us round ... at a cost.  There wouldn't be much, if any, change out of £10k.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we had a mailing from the hotel group we stayed with for eldest's wedding in Cyprus back in 2011.  They're opening a brand new hotel, on the same lines as the Agia Napa hotel but this one's in Paphos.  I visited Paphos briefly and liked it.  It's a different part of the island so opens up more trips out so, on the spur of the moment yesterday, we decided to book 11 nights there and the deed was done.  We're, or rather I, am going to hire a car as driving is easy there and it works out cheaper to hire a car for the duration than to pay for return transfers from airport and I can get OH out to see some of what he missed because of not going out while there before.  We can sort excursions, maps and guides out before we go *big grin*  EXCITED!

Bit of catch up on the personal front. Our beautiful eldest granddaughter qualified as a Beauty Therapist in July. I'd helped out by being a guinea pig for her end of year assessments for facials, manicures and pedicures. I left the waxing for her Mum's enjoyment - ROFL! She's got herself a part time job in a salon and is earning a bit extra by doing treatments privately. She's back at college in September - she's going for her NVQ level 3 which encompasses, amongst other things epilation, facial and body electrotherapy treatments and massage. I'm waiting *big grin*  When she's let loose on the public I'll be a willing guinea pig.  She's also passed her theory driving test and now has her practical to look forward to.  Life seems good for her at the moment.

Graduation

Diploma proper

The past week has seen me at exercise class - yep, I go to a weekly exercise class and have been for over a year now. I'm hoping that with that and the weight loss my lung capacity may improve.  If not improve, delay the problem getting any worse. At least I'll have tried. Shopping delivery was had, along with other boring, mundane, run of the mill daily 'stuff' and a very enjoyable Saturday with eldest and our daughter-in-law and her parents - barbecuing!  Bang went any weight loss this week, or so I thought but .... another 1½lb off so I'm very happy - LOL!

There's been a mini change on the blog - an updated photo - lol!  Thought the other was getting a tad out of date.  The new one was taken the weekend of the Great British Craft Festival 2014 so it's just a week old *grin*  Cally, Kim and myself all visited.  Cally and myself for the whole weekend, including the Friday workshops and Kim for the workshops and a brief visit to the show on Saturday morning.  That was when this photo was taken ... at Kim's encouragement, only for us to realise, too late, that she'd stepped back so wasn't in it! Thanks Kim but it would have been a lot better had you been in it as well *grin*

Workshops were interesting - 

3 cards in a HunkyDory one, hosted by Rebecca Seddon.  2 I made but one is still to be put together ...

Still to be embellished ...

2nd workshop was with Mel Heaton.  A frame decorated with flowers and every flower started out as a circle.  This was our favourite workshop of the day.  I think I may just take the back off and use on a card, with a greeting in the middle.

3rd workshop was with Ali Reeve from Clevercut/Stamps Away.  We guessed this one could be messy, just by who was running it as Cally and I had been on her very first workshop so, I took some gloves with me.  We were right, but it was fun *grin*  

Wooden frame, painted, mica'd and the small canvas design done in string, covered in foil and then painted etc. (There's a granddaughter's 18th birthday next month)

The final workshop of the day, hosted by The Dreamees - Carol and Hayley Bignall - and our least favourite although the finished product is quite cute.  Template, already printed and cut for us so we just had to put together and make oval spiral flowers.  Not sure what I'm going to be doing with it.

Looking forward to next year now and thinking we might have some more friends for company next time - LOL!

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