2nd January 2016

Well Christmas is over and New Year has gone so that is all done and dusted for another year.  Only 357 days until we get to do it all again!

I was looking at some of my blog statistics today. The last 2 years have been rubbish. I managed just 28 last year and about 38 in 2014. I used to love blogging so much and more or less never missed a day. It seemed to all go downhill when we moved 4 years ago.

It isn't that I don't want to blog.  It is simple lack of time.  I never have enough hours in my day and right now I often have other things that I prefer to do.

However, I do miss the people that I used to interact with.  I am now only in regular touch with 2 of my old bloggy friends which is such a shame.

So, I know I have said it before, but I am going to try and give it another go.  I'm not promising daily blogs or even weekly blogs but I am going to  try to be here more often. If I have time and it suits me.  I'll see.

Right now I am snuggled up in bed with Beanie.  I have my cosy PJ's on and I am waiting for Simon to come up with a drink.   It has been a great start to the New Year for us with all our family together in Peterborough to celebrate Saskia's 30th birthday.

We went to Bella Italia which was ok.   I am not a fan of Italian food but everyone else seemed really pleased with their meals.  We had a wonderful time. I'll post a few photos when I get up.

Ok time for bed now as it is really late. Be back soon hopefully!

Day 2 of the restart.

Well since I have decided to try and get back into blogging, I guess I need to do another one today! That will be 2 in 2 days! Pretty good considering prior to yesterday it is 8 months since I have been here.

Mind you I nearly gave up yesterday. Blogger was bugging me big time. First of all, every time I visit a new page it pops up with a message telling me it uses cookies. Yeah, I know that, you and every other website. There are 2 options to get rid of it. “Learn more” and “got it”. Every single time I click on “got it”. Problem is that it does not seem to realise that I have “got it” and still keeps telling me the same thing. I KNOW YOU USE COOKIES! I am fine with that.

Anyone know how to kill it?

The second issue is with commenting and I have had this before. As yesterdays blog was a challenge type thingy, I wanted to visit some other peoples pages to see what they had got to say. I did that and I read some interesting answers and also found a few people who seem interesting that I might want to connect with. So, I wanted to make some comments. Blogger says NO.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to its refusal. I could get my head around it a little better if it refused point blank to let me comment on anything but it doesn't do that. It picks and chooses where I can comment. E.G. I can comment just fine on my cousin Wendy’s blog. I get the normal box come up and it shows my Google ID and everything is fine. I usually have to do one of those pictorial verification things. Then my comment appears. I did find one other person where it worked just like normal.

On everyone else's page the comment box didn't have any reference to my ID. It lets me do my comment and it appears to be publishing it and then poof it is gone. Does anyone have any idea how to sort this out because if I can't comment there is little point in taking part. I also cannot reply to comments as a pop up window opens and closes before I can do anything.

This has all made me pretty fed up. I think if I am going to make a go of restarting my blogging habit then I need some interaction with others. I no longer have the time to sit here and chat to myself.

Well, this has gone well. Two days in and I am whinging and whining! To make this seem a little more worth while I am going to give you a doggie photo.

This is the wonderful Digby who Simon and I were privileged to take to his new home today. He is a year old Labrador / Husky cross. Isn't he handsome? I will do some more doggie posts soon. Good luck Digby.

JILLY

Blessings - My Dad.

Righty ho, I said I would blog so here I am blogging. Trouble is I am limited for time today as I have a fair few jobs to get done this morning as I want to go to the big city this afternoon for some shopping. I need to buy a present for my little Grandson's birthday.

I have to use public transport to go anywhere as we only have the one car and Simon uses that for work. The buses from my village go once an hour and it takes around an hour to get to the city. I have to change buses in the nearby town of Bourne and then I can get a bus to Peterborough which is the nearest big place with decent shops. It is a bit of a trek so I don’t do it very often! However going today I can come back with Simon in the car so that makes it better.

Anyway, where was I? See I am already waffling on. I can't just write a blog without some waffle. Yesterday I mentioned that despite recent sadness we are also very blessed. So I think I will restart my blogging habit by talking about some of my blessings.

I am going to start with my Dad. He was the most wonderful man and one year on I still miss him terribly. I think of him every single day and talk to him too.

He was born in the East End of London on the 13^th of December 1926. The 2^nd child and 2^nd son of Harry and Edith Sansum. He eventually had 4 more siblings, another brother and 3 sisters. They were a typical East End family of that time. They were very poor and eked out an existence. His Dad liked the drink a bit too much so although he worked, the family didn’t see too much of his earnings. His Mum was a very strong, sensible lady with good morals and I think it was her influence that made my Dad the man he was.

1951. Great Yarmouth

He was kind, patient, honest, hard working, and devoted to my Mum. Many of you will know how hard it was for our family once the Alzheimers took over my Mum. Dad never faltered in his love and care for her right until the end. Once Mum had gone we thought he wouldn't be long after her but in fact he enjoyed 2 more years.

They were good years. He once again became fully engaged with all of the family. He adored his great grandchildren and we had many family occasions where he had the best time. He also started to visit us every school holiday. He had never done that while Mum was still alive because he would never leave her. He really looked forward to coming to stay and in fact he always knew when the next holiday was due.

This was taken on his 87th birthday and is the last photo of him with his Great Grandchildren.

So we were both eagerly looking forward to the February half term break last year. I had various plans of things we were going to do together. Little did either of us know that it wasn't to be.

Dad suffered a stroke at the end of January. In the first few hours the news coming from my sister was that it might not be too bad. After all he had been out doing his shopping and had walked to his doctor himself because he didn't feel so good. However over the next few days we realised that actually it was the very worst kind of stroke. It had occurred at the back, right in the centre so had effected not just his ability to walk but also things such as his swallowing reflex.

He was in the Lister hospital in Stevenage and over the following weeks they tried hard to do some physiotherapy with him but he was very down. He also had an operation to insert a permanent feeding port as it seemed that he would never regain his swallow. After around a month they moved him to a rehabilitation unit in Old Welwyn. They seemed positive that they would get him back on his feet. To be honest, I always had doubts, I just couldn’t ever see him making it home. I did try to have hope though.

Sadly from the very first day there things went wrong. He contracted some kind of infection and was in a lot of pain and discomfort. They could not begin his rehabilitation as he couldn’t move from the bed. This went on for several weeks during which time they had him in isolation as they were not sure what the infection was. It was a miserable existence for him and he told me on several occasions that he didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be with Mum. That is very hard to hear but I did understand.

Finally after several weeks he got pneumonia and they decided that he needed to be transferred back to the hospital at Stevenage. They moved him on he Monday night. I went up to see him on the Tuesday. I was shocked. I knew then he was never going home. He had on an oxygen mask but he kept fighting to take it off. It was hard to hear and understand what he was saying with it on. He did remove it briefly to say he loved me. I will always remember that.

I had a long journey home and didn't get in until around 8.30pm. I rang my children to let them know that he really was very poorly. I knew it wasn’t going to be long. I didn’t however expect it to be a matter of hours. I got a phone call around half an hour after I got home from my sister to say that the hospital had phoned for them to go in as he was asking for them. At around midnight she phoned to say I should return.

Simon and I were straight in the car. Once we were there the doctor came and spoke to us. Dad had made up his own mind that it was time. He refused all further treatment and the doctor told him that without it he would die that day. She asked if that was what he wanted and he told her yes. She asked my sister and I if we agreed. We had to say yes. It wasn’t what I wanted at all. I wanted my Dad back. I didn’t want to lose him. However I did understand that he wasn’t going to get better and that he had simply had enough. It was time to go and be with Mum.

They switched of all the machines and removed everything from him. We were moved into a private room as by this time most of the family were there. He died about 20 minutes later. It was very peaceful and he knew we were all there. He even had his youngest great-grandson Jackson, sitting on the bed holding his hand. Jackson was just 1 year old. We asked Dad if he knew Jackson was holding his hand and he nodded yes! A few minutes later the light went out on my world.

I found it incredibly hard. I was inconsolable. Even now I cannot write this without the tears streaming down my face.

And now a whole year has passed without him. The last one of the “first anniversaries” has passed. It isn’t any easier. So many times there is stuff that I want to tell him. On several occasions I have actually picked up the phone and dialled the number before my brain has reminded me that he won't be answering.

I wonder what he would make of it all? I know what he would tell me. “Life goes on and you must pick yourself up and get on with it”. He once told me that my sister Julie had described me as pragmatic. He said “I don’t know what that actually means but I know you will be OK because you are e a coper. You deal with things”. He is right. I am dealing with it. One of my ways of doing that is to try and live by the mantra of always remember the good times and also to always count my blessing every single day.

My Dad was one of the biggest blessings of my life. I was so blessed to have such a wonderful man as my father. A man who showed me how to be the best that I can. A man who taught me that no matter what, family are the most important thing. He will always be a blessing.

I love you Dad.

PS. I hope I haven’t made anyone feel down with this blog. As I wrote it, I got quite upset. It's OK to be upset. You know, my sister is right, I am pragmatic. I am a coper. As far as I can see there is no other choice. Whatever life throws at us, all we can do is carry on. I have my tears and my sad times, but then in the words of my grandson Evan, I “give myself a talking to” and then I follow my road.

My friend Deb will understand the reference to following the road.

Count your blessings every single day and whatever happens follow your road.

Jilly

Dusting off the cobwebs.

Creeping in very quietly, brushing away the cobwebs and wondering if anyone will even notice me.... Wonder if anyone will even remember me?

In the last 2 years I have been here around a dozen times.  Not a good track record when you remember that I used to do a daily blog.  The habit seemed to go by the wayside around the time we moved house back in December 2011.  I guess I was busy.

Last year I had such good intentions and started out well in January with some daily photos.  It all came to a standstill mid January when life threw me one of those curve balls.  So, this year, once again, I started out in January and managed a few short blogs until........ Wham....18th January and along comes another one.  I don't like January.

So over the last few years a lot has happened and much has changed and I don't even know where to begin.  I would need to write a book.  Actually that reminds me of a favourite book, "Bridget Jones Diary".  So in the fashion of Bridget Jones here are the last 2 years of my life summed up:

Dads died - 1.  Uncles died - 1.  Dogs died - 1.  Grandsons born - 1.  Daughters having major surgery - 1.  Fire at kennels - 1.  Dogs lost in fire - 3.  Dogs come to live with us -1.  Husbands retiring soon - 1.

Cigarettes consumed -  don't tempt me.  Glasses of wine - Loads.  Weight loss - 1stone 6.5lbs.

So it has been a rough couple of years for us with much sadness,  However, I am well aware that it is nothing compared to what some people go through.  There has also been much happiness and I do realise just how lucky I am.

I make an effort every day before I go to sleep to count my blessings and they are many.  Here are just a few in the style once again of Bridget Jones.

Husbands - 1. Sons - 2.  Daughters - 3. Son in Laws - 3. Daughters in law - 1.  Daughters in law soon to be - 1.  Grandsons - 4. Granddaughters - 2.  Dogs come to live with us - 1.  Home to live in - 1.  2nd Home (soon) -  1.  Motorhome -1.  Food in the cupboards - lots. Money to live on - enough.  Health - yes!  Special cousins - 1.

A big thank you to Wendy who has motivated me to (hopefully) get back into the bloging habit.  I will begin tomorrow (hopefully) when I shall move on to some  of those blessings.

Jilly

Prompt-A-Day

Well I have managed to get through January with a photo a day but to be honest I am still struggling to get back to daily blogging.  A friend of mine has just started to join in with something called “Prompt-a-day”.  It is very similar to my old daily photo themes.  The idea is that a prompt is given for each day and you then run with that and write something on that theme.  Obviously everyone will interpret it differently. 

Should you wish to join in you can find a list of Februarys prompts here: http://writealm.com/february-prompt-a-day/

You will also be able to see in the comments the links to other participants blogs.

The prompt for today is: 1. First things first.

I pride myself on being a very organised person.  I like to plan ahead.  So for me no matter what I am doing, or thinking, or planning, my “first things first” is a list.  Yes, I am a list maker.  I think you either are or you aren’t but for me I need a list.

I have lots.  I have a list of household chores, daily, weekly and monthly.  I have lists of menu ideas and of course a shopping list.  Is there anyone who can shop without a list? I have lists of birthdays and present ideas.  Lists of things I want to do, lists of things to make, places I want to visit……..The lists go on and on!

The reason a list is my “first things first” is I very much doubt that I would ever get started on anything without one.   I like order and structure in life.  I don’t like the unexpected.

So with that in mind, I am copying and pasting the list of February’s daily prompts.   I very much hope to be able to join in with some of these.

My friend Jane who has bought this to my attention wrote her post on Tea.  It is interesting especially as she has a link to information about the social history of tea drinking.  You can see it here.  Writing and stuff.

Alfie

I know that I have been missing here for absolutely ages. Life has just been happening around me. However I just wanted to do a quick blog today as lots of my friends here knew that our Alfie hasn't been doing too well.

It is with much sadness that I have to tell you that we lost our beloved Alfie on Thursday the 19th of December. It was very peaceful and he died at home in our arms in his favourite place on the sofa in the living room.  We are beyond distraught and will miss him always. He is with his Mummy Rosie and also Buick and Sandy.

Little Evan told Coralie that he knows Alfie will be OK because he is with Rosie and she will show him around and tell him where everything is. Children see things in such a lovely way.

Run free my baby.  We will love you always.

I have missed my blog and all my friends here. I know that I have said it several times over the last year but I really do intend to try and get back into a regular blogging habit.  We shall see what 2014 brings.

In the mean time, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and blessings for 2014.

Where is my bloggin mojo?

Just had a look at my poor neglected blog. Last time I was here was back in August and prior to that May! There once was a time when I never missed a day. I seem to have lost my blogging mojo.  I started a blog for my Fabrilushus shop a while back and that has ground to a halt too. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day.  I have even got very lax in reading blogs so I am totally out of the loop.  I miss my friends.  I see FB posts but that simply isn't the same.

Not much has changed here apart from the season!  How can we be in autumn already? As seems to be the norm in the UK, we had a pretty measly summer.  It wasn't as wet as last year but we didn't have that many sunny weeks and it wasn't ever what I call hot.  Feeling pretty miserable right now at the thought of the long winter months ahead.

We are all doing ok.  I have been a bit worried about Simon, he is tired and gets headaches and yesterday had a pain in his eyeball all day.  A sharp pain.  This is his good eye too and he wouldn't do anything about it!  Don't suppose I had mentioned here that he lost most of the sight in one of his eyes back in the summer?  He has a central retinal occlusion. It was pretty worrying for a while as they though he had a stroke.  That eye is getting better slowly.

The rest of the family are all ok. Our big news is we have our 6th grandchild on the way. Saskia is expecting her first baby in March.  It is very exciting.

Alfie and Loulou are both still with us, although Alfie has bladder cancer and Loulou's tumor is growing. I worry about them all the time but they are pain free and happy so we are enjoying whatever time we have left.

I am busy doing all the usual stuff.  I also look after Jessie 2 days a week.  Once the housework is taken care of I spend quite a lot of time making things to sell at Fabrilushus.  Sales are very slow but they are coming.  The rest of my time is spent doing stuff for the dog rescue.  Both Simon and I are more and more involved there which is great as it is something we do together. It has also had the added benefit that we have made some very good friends.  We love each and every one of the dogs and spend many hours playing and grooming and just generally teaching them about love.

I would like to get back into my blog.  I always used it as a sort of online journal of my life and I am so annoyed that this year there are great chunks missing.  SO, I am going to try and do a daily photo to get back in the swing of things.  I figure a photo won't take too much time to do.  We shall see how it goes.

Wishing you all a happy Autumn.

Catching up......yet again.

Oh dear all my good intentions of daily blogging have gone out the window once again.  It is a week since I have been here.  Well a week since my last blog.  I have been here, late at night, reading and occasionally, when I have been able to engage my brain, I have even left a comment.  How on earth did I find time to work years ago?  There is just not enough hours in my day. I need double length days. 

In my last blog I said I would tell you about my weekend.  That is not this weekend just gone but the one before!   We had a busy, busy time.  Saturday was our wedding anniversary.  33 years and counting.  I am proud of that.  I still love him just as much as I did on that day 33 years ago....most of the time!  Some days I could quite cheerfully strangle him! I guess that is a marriage.

Anyway, Saturday was a busy day.  The Christmas lights were being turned on in our nearest town of Bourne and it is quite a big event for a small market town.  They have a fair (albeit a small one!) and lots of stalls and the like.  The Three Counties dog rescue had a charity stall selling bric a brac  and the new calender for 2013 plus the Christmas cards.  They also had a tombola.  As well as the stall they had tin collectors out all day too.

Simon took me to the kennels first thing as normal.  It was a bitterly cold day.  He then went off to help the ladies set up the stall.  There was a need for man power!  Once that was done he came back to the kennels to collect Molly the Beagle who was doing 2 hours of tin collecting with him.  He returned at lunch time looking very, very cold.  I changed my coat and boots in the car as there wasn't time to go home.  Simon and I were manning the stall from 2pm to 4pm.  The stall was on the corner of the arcade and the wind whistles down there.  We were absolutely frozen.  We ended up staying until nearly half four as the people taking over from us were late.  

Our plan had been to go home and get washed and changed to go out for an anniversary meal.  We didn't.  We were both so cold we just couldn't face going out again.  We ended up having sausages and mash in front of the fire!  I seem to remember a few glasses of the red stuff too.  We agreed to go out the next day........Sunday.

Sunday was a nice lazy kind of day with Simon in his garage and me sewing.  I had a nice bath, put on my make up and glad rags and we set off at 6pm heading to our favourite local pub, the Bull at Rippingale a nearby village.  I had already planned what I was going to have.  A dish called drunken chicken.  I LOVE it.  Guess what?  They were closed!!!  WTH?  Never seen them closed before.  We decided to come back to Morton and go to our own local pub called the Five Bells.  We haven't been there yet despite trying out the pubs in other villages.  Not sure why we haven't yet tried out own as it has a good reputation.  Guess what?  they were open but they do not serve food on a Sunday night, only lunch time!  WTH?

OK now what to do?  We sat in the car park pondering and finally settled on the Three Bells at Edenham which is a village about 7 miles away.   We have been there twice in the summer and it was really good.  We were getting hungry by now so we made haste through the lanes.  Guess what?  We couldn't freakin believe it.......It was closed.  What is it out here in the Fens?  Does no one go out to eat on a Sunday night? 

We decided to cut our losses and just go home.  We came home through Bourne and as we were coming down to the main roundabout we both remembered that the new pub on the corner was due to open on the 2nd of December........  TODAY!  YES, lets go there.  NO.  It actually was opening on the third, the following day!   We went home.  I can't remember now what we ate but I think there were a few more glasses of the red stuff!

We finally went out on Tuesday evening as it is Simon's day off. We went to the new pub which is called the Sugar Mill.  It was very nice and I think we will go there again.  Just remind us not to try going out to eat on a Sunday.   Village life is very different!

On Wednesday I went up to Stevenage to pick up my Dad who was coming to stay for a few days.  I ended up going much later than I had planned as they had snow and Dad was concerned as he had heard on the radio that there was a 2 hour delay on the A1.  After speaking to my brother in law who said that it was fine I finally set off at midday.  You wouldn't believe that I actually did the journey the quickest ever.  Dad and I were back home here by 5pm.  

Dad stayed with us until Saturday.  We had a lovely, lazy time.  Lots of talking and reminiscing.  I gave him Mum's scrap book and he was very pleased with it.  On Friday Coralie and Denise came over for sewing.  My Dad and Denise had never met before so there was a lot of chatting and no sewing got done.  It was nice though and Dad did ask Denise about a few things he is having trouble with.  He has got himself a sewing machine and is getting into quilting.

On Saturday we had a  family dinner for him at a pub in Peterborough.  His 86th birthday is this Thursday so we wanted a family celebration.  My sister and her husband came too.  Unfortunately her children were not able to be there and neither was Saskia as she is currently performing every weekend.  The rest of us had a great time and I think he enjoyed it.   My sister  took him home.  We are a bit concerned that he is insisting on spending Christmas at home on his own.  He says that he will not be alone he will be with Mum....she is buried in the garden.  Well, her ashes are buried in the garden.  I wish he would change his mind but I have to respect his right to do as he wants.  I just keep thinking that this could be his last Christmas and we will have to look back knowing he was alone. 

Yesterday and Sunday were fairly normal weekend days with Simon at home.  He was working in the garage. He is slowly moving stuff over from the barn now. He had to take Alfie to the vet on Sunday as we had noticed that he didn't seem well and was having trouble peeing.  The vet has diagnosed a urine infection and he is on antibiotics and pain  killers.  If he is no better by Saturday he has to go back for a scan of his bladder.  He is not any better so far.   I did some sewing.  I also did all my Christmas cards yesterday  and wrapped a few presents.  Did I mention that I am taking part in a secret Santa thing with my blog friend Kathy?  She is in the Orzaks in Merika.  Basically we each make something and swap with each other.  The idea is to use what you have.  I can't tell you yet what I made as it will spoil it for Kathy but I can confirm that it is right now winging its way over the pond.  I hope she is pleased.

Today is a housework day.  I didn't do much while my Dad was here and of course over the weekend with Simon at home for 3 days I still didn't do much.  I have a massive amount of washing and ironing to catch up on including towels and bed linen.  There is also dog bedding waiting to be done. I have lost count of how many times I have mopped the kitchen floor so far today.  Alfie is "dribbling"!  The mop is out constantly and I am having to disinfect it.   I did make a banana  loaf cake this morning  though so at least that is one good thing done.  Right now I am taking a bit of a break.  It is 2.20pm  and I still have to hoover upstairs. After that I will be nearly done, just ironing as each load of washing comes out of the tumbler.

Simon has a parents evening tonight and won't be in until 7.30pm so I have a bit of extra time before I need to start on dinner.  Think I shall do some sewing when I have finished all my jobs.  I am half way through another bum bag. Must do the binding on Verity's baby quilt too.  

Speaking of Verity...she is still off work.  I can't see her going back to be honest.  She is really suffering.  The flu that she had they have now said is whooping cough and will still be some weeks before it goes away.  It is not that which is keeping her from working though.  She has SPD  (symphysis pubis dysfunction) This is a condition of pregnancy where the pubic bones pull apart.  It is incredibly painful  Coralie had this too.  Verity is currently on crutches and really suffering.  They are saying she could need a wheel chair for the final months. 

OK, time to get back to the grind stone.  Hopefully will try to get back and blog tomorrow.  I am going to Ellie's school carol concert in the morning and I am looking forward to that.

Friday rolls round again

Hey, get me, this is the third day on the trot that I have managed a blog.  I'm actually still in bed, haven't got up yet! I thought this could be a good way of  doing things.  While I drink my morning coffee instead of reading blogs why not at least begin on writing my own?   I can always post it later.

The weather looks like it might be a bit better today.  It has finally stopped raining, wonder how long that will last?  It poured all day yesterday and most of the night. The wind was terrible yesterday too. Quite scary.  I know some of you have experienced hurricane storms so our wind would be small fry to you.  The wind is much worse out here in the Fens than it was in Peterborough and I am really noticing it. It sounded like it was going to blow the new roof right off the garage.

I had a good day yesterday, very productive.  Once the housework was all done I spent the whole day working on the scrap book of my Mums life.  I did 9 more pages in total.  I am pleased with how it is turning out. It takes ages as with each new page I have to go off and search out old photos from albums. Then I have to scan them and then print them. It is a lot of work.  I will show you photos when it is completed.

I was going to work on it today but I have run out of photo paper so I can't print photos today.  I'll go get some tomorrow after I finish at the dog kennels. Also need to get a scrap book album to put it all in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, I'm up now.  It's nearly 11am and I have finished all the housework.  Guess what?  The sun is shining!!!  It is still freakin cold but there is sun so it's bright. I love that word freakin!  Think it is my word of  the day.  Talking of words, I just came across a new one.  Ameliorate.  Simon came out with it the other day.  I had to ask him what it means.  I hate that.  I'm much better with words than him even though he is a teacher.  It means to improve or get better. Must try to throw it into the conversation!

Fridays are kind of a short day for me as Simon gets home at 4pm instead of 6pm so I lose 2 hours.  I like Fridays though as it is the start of the weekend.  A long weekend as he has Monday off next week.  For those of you that do not know, since September he dropped his days to 4 a week and he has Monday off one week and Tuesday the next.  A bit of a pain but they run a 2 week timetable at his school.   How stupid is that.   We have takeaway on Fridays so I don't have to cook.  I like that.  I think it is Chinese tonight.

Ok, I don't really have anything to say so I shall go off to my sewing room now.  I am going to try and make a bum bag. That's a fanny pack to my Merikan friends.  You know fanny is really quite a rude word over here.  Not one that you would normally throw into conversation!

When I help at the dog kennels I have a small bag which goes over my shoulder and body with dog treats in. Everyone else that helps has a bum bag.  My bag is potentially dangerous as it is something a dog could grab hold of or even inadvertently get caught up in as I bend over them. I don't want to buy a bum bag as I want mine to be special.  I have some nice doggie fabric so that is today's project and I hope that I can finish it so that I can use it tomorrow and make the other volunteers envious!

Tuesday 9th October

It is 5 days since my last blogs which is better than I have been managing recently.  I don't know where the time goes. I am still attempting to keep up and read the blogs of my friends who went off to different places.  It is quite a faff  having to log in to different sites.  I have got Google reader set up now and I can  use that to go directly to a blog if I want to comment.  However......... It won't let me do that with Blogster only Ipernity.  What a pain.  Consequently I am not connecting much with the friends that went over to Blogster.  I am really missing Pam and Eileen.

Nothing much is new here. Same old, same old.  The weekend was quite pleasant.  Saturday the sun even came out.  It didn't last though and yesterday and today have been really cold.  We had the fire going in the evening on Sunday.  First time this autumn.  I think it will be a regular thing now.

With the good weather Simon was able to crack on a pace with the garage extension. He worked on it all day Saturday, most of Sunday and Monday until 2pm when we went out.  It now has a roof!  With no holes!  All the ridge pieces are in place.  No rain can get in!!  He has done the cladding on the end pieces, both front and back.  He ran out of time yesterday so there is still one last piece to go on at the front.

 Note that the cladding has not been done in this photo!

So the structure is built.  There is still work to complete on the outside. Just under the roof there is a gap of 6 inches or so which is awaiting boards to which the guttering will be fixed.  There is still some trim to go on some windows too.  Basically the outside work is done.  The next job is the electrical work which will be done by an electrician.  Simon has to dig a trench across the edge of the front garden and drive to accommodate the cables which need to be taken from the front right around to the back.  More mess.  I am still waiting for the drive to be redone.  It was wrecked when we had the skips on it. Once that is done he will add insulation and board out the whole of the inside.  At that point it will be complete and he can move his stuff over from his barn.

Then we can start work on the garden.  We still need to get the fence at the far end of the garden moved.  We are missing 6 feet of garden there as the fence has been put in the wrong place.  Given the width of the garden, that 6 foot is quite a chunk.  That area all needs clearing and rotovating as it will be my veggie patch.  We need to fence it in too so dogs cannot trample it.  Now all the building materials have been moved from the side of the house we need to pave that whole area.  We have the slabs ready and waiting.  Then there is the drive way, not to mention the fence at the front too.  There is loads to do.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a drive to Spalding where there is a factory outlet shopping place. I wanted to go to the craft place where they sell paper crafting stuff.  I needed more pages for the scrap book I am doing of my Mum's life.  I got about 20 pages which I was pleased with.  I also got some doggie themed pages too for my Rosie's scrap book.  While we were there we wandered around the other shops.  Marks and Spencer yielded some good bargains.  Three white shirts for Simon for school and a very nice silk tie, black with purple and pink flowers!  I got a pair of slouchy boots which I love because they are warm and comfy.  They are fashion boots though so no good in wet weather.  I have other boots for that.

Today I have been to Coralie's where we had a sewing session with Denise.  I went in with Simon in the car and he dropped me at Denise's house at 8am.  We had breakfast together which was nice but I really do not do being up and out that early!  Denise and I then drove over to Coralie's and Denise dropped me off at the bus stop after lunch.  I caught the bus home and got in just after 2pm.  We had a good sewing session.  We worked on our teddies.  We got the feet sewn on and then got all the joints in place and stuffed them.  The joints were fiddly and I had a struggle to bend the cotter pins.

Once I was home and had done a few quick jobs I worked on getting my teddy all sewn up. It is not that easy as you are trying not to catch in the fur.  Don't want her seams to show!  Then it was on with her ears and ......... I have made a teddy bear!!!  I am dead chuffed with myself.  If you had asked me a year and a half ago if I would ever be able to make a teddy I would have said "no way". I am really pleased, She looks good.  She is called Elsie.  I have got some fur left so I am going to have a go at making another one for Jessica's birthday.  I am keeping Elsie for myself as she is the first one I have made.

A quick "Show and Tell" for you.  Here is my finished purple wall hanging which I forgot to post last week. Simon might get round to hanging it for me soon!

It doesn't really bend in the middle, it is the way I have taken the photo!

This is a cushion, totally made from scraps.  It is for my Aunt Jean, my Dad's sister.  She saw the one that I made for my Uncle Derek and wanted to know why she hadn't got one!

I made another 23 denim squares for my scrappy quilt. That gave me a total of 96.

I laid them all out on the bedroom floor so that I could get a good arrangement of colours and patterns.  Once I was happy, I stacked them up in rows.  I have begun the process of sewing them together now.  So far I have one row done.  It takes a while as you have to clip all along each seam to achieve the frilly frayed look once it is washed.  (Hopefully)!

You will notice that I am still 9 short.... so I had to make more!

I am going to work on this tomorrow.   It is my birthday tomorrow so I intend having a housework free day!  It will be a long day as Simon has a school open evening for 6th form students which he cannot get out of as he is head of upper school.  He will not be in until about 9.45pm so I am not best happy about that.  Not just because it is my birthday but because 16 hour days are not good for him.  He will be so tired and wiped out.  Good for nothing.

Right, I think it is time for me to finish this.  I want to search for some fabric on eBay and it is getting late now.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Copy as posted to Blogster and Ipernity this afternoon.  Enough is enough.

OK, time to call it a day with all these different blog sites. I am very busy. I am doing lots and lots of sewing and other craft stuff. I am doing a lot of cooking and then there is all the normal house work. I am also now helping once a week at the dog rescue place. I do not have enough hours in the day to do all that I want.

I have tried to keep all the various sites updated. Today I have copied and pasted about 6 different blogs to two different places. I haven't got time for this. I wish that I could set things up so they would just post to both places as in Blogger and Multiply. I post to Blogger and it cross posts it to Multiply. Brilliant. I don't even have to go to Multiply. This will not work for Blogster and Ipernity.

I am finding Blogster to be a nightmare. When you copy and paste it leaves huge great gaps right in the middle of the blog and I have to go in and delete lines to try to eliminate this. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. It does mess up the overall look though. It is a friendly place but I am not happy there.

The same goes for Ipernity. I cannot cross post. Again, I am not altogether happy with the set up there. I have only continued with the copy and past game because I have friends I do not wish to lose. I have Pam and Eileen on Blogster and Sue, Mickey and Jenny on Ipernity.

I'm sorry folks but I cannot keep up with this. I have to stop. Blogger is my home. I know some of you do not like it and it certainly is quite a learning curve but once you take the trouble to learn it, well it does everything Multiply did and a lot it does better. It has been around a long time so I doubt that it will be going tits up any time soon.

I really do not want to lose contact but you all have my email address and my postal address and most of you are on Face book too. I shall try to email you every month or so .

In the mean time, I wish you all well. Play nicely in the play ground.

Oh, I forgot to say that I am still reading the blogs of Sue, Mickey and Jenny because the RSS feed works from Ipernity and I can read them in Google reader. Sadly the RSS is yet one more thing that doers not work on Blogster.

If you want to keep up and read mine you could do the same. Go to my Blogger , sign up for the feed and hey presto. Or there is a link on my home page for you to sign up for my blogs to be emailed to you. That might work if anyone is interested.

http://pinkduchessofmorton.blogspot.co.uk/

Another catch up!

Where on earth does the time go?  Last Monday when I posted a blog, I had every intention of trying to get back to my daily blogging habit.  Here we are more or less a week later and zilch!  Not to mention we have moved form August to September.

I can't believe that we are now at the end of summer and autumn is just around the corner.  The summer here was terrible.  We didn't really have a summer. I heard on the news that it is officially the worst one on record for donkeys years.  Yeah, like I needed to be told that!

The school holidays just flew by. Simon has already been back a week. This coming week will be the first one of his new 4 day week. Because of the way the school timetable works he will be off Monday one week and Tuesday the next.  Next week is a Tuesday week.  

The teachers always moan about the autumn term as they say it is a long one.  It isn't really, just a few days extra maybe.  I have always found that it flies by as it is all down hill till Christmas.  When our children were young, I would begin my Christmas planning in September.  I had to as it  was the only way to afford it by spreading the cost.

This year I have been planning Christmas since January!  Only because I wanted to try to make a lot of my gifts this year and that takes planning and time.  No way can you make loads of presents if you leave it until the last few weeks.  I am quite pleased with how this is going as I have quite a few made. 4 out of my 5 children are already sorted with homemade things.  I need to start on the grandchildren soon.  I am really loving making lots of things but just wish that I had more hours in a day.  

Today I have been working on a quilted sofa throw which is a Christmas gift.  I spent most of Thursday getting it tacked together.  The last one that I made, also a Christmas gift, wasn't as good as the previous 2 that I made. It had some wrinkles and I  ended up unpicking some and redoing it.  So this time I decided to tack it to within and inch of its life.  It took forever and killed my knees, back, wrists, hips, shoulders.....come to think of it...it killed me full stop!

I have found that the best place to do it is on my bedroom floor as there is lots of room but that means crawling around.  It was worth it though as it has turned out super smooth with no wrinkles.  I quilted it today using free hand stippling which took ages.  I am getting better at stippling.  I will take some photos and post a "Make do an Mend" blog soon.  I have loads to show of what I have done over the holidays.

Simon is continuing to work on the garage extension every spare minute that he gets. All the concrete panels are in place now and the roof trusses were delivered on Friday so I guess that is the next job.  

I had more to say but it is nearly 11pm and I am tired.  Simon is just doing some drinking chocolate so I think an early night is in order for once.  I shall endeavour to get back here tomorrow.  Hope you all have a good week.

A bit of a catch up

Good heavens seems like I have been on the computer all morning. Hang on... I have been on the computer all morning!!! I am so glad to be done for now with messing around, transferring and deleting stuff. Anyway, time for a bit of a catch up which I shall do in list form.

The school holidays are over. Simon goes back to school tomorrow. The time has just flown by and although we have done quite a bit there are loads of things left undone. We had planned days out but they  didn't happen. The garage however has progressed.

 

 

 

 

We had my Dad with us for 2 days last week and I think that he really enjoyed himself. He liked seeing his 4 great grandchildren and it was lovely to see as he is really engaging with them now.

We had several family picnics during the holidays and I have a lot of photos that I will post shortly. Posting photos is not an easy thing here. It is OK putting them in the body of a blog but albums are a whole different ball game where you have to faff around with another site. Pain in the you know where.

We did get around to cleaning the old grave stones of Simon's ancestors and again I have a load of photos. To post.

I think I am going to open another Blogger site for my Recipes. What a pain that it is necessary to have all these different sites. I know they link well with tabs to go to them but ...well it isn't Multiply is it!

I am currently waiting for Simon who is putting a window in the garage. We are supposed to be going to Tesco for food shopping. They close at 4pm as it is a bank holiday here in the UK.

I know a secret............. May be able to tell soon.......

Hmm, what else? There were loads of things that I thought of earlier but my mind has gone blank. Really think I should go and chase up Simon. I need to do the shopping today as I will not have access to the car once he is back at school. The chap that he car shared with was made redundant and as there is no one else that lives out this way, I will be car less during the week which could be difficult at times.

Back later or tomorrow and will hopefully get some of those photos up. With Simon back at school normal service will hopefully resume!

Side bar stuff from Multiply

On Multiply we had a side bar which we could fill with "stuff"  I had quite a lot of stuff and as a reminder to myself I am posting some of them here.  It would seem that it is not really possible here to customise to the same extent.

First off I had an eternal flame.  It reminds me of my Mum and Rosie and Sandy.

I also had a memorial for Rosie.

Below that I had a clock, a moon phase widget and a cluster map to show where my visitors were coming from.

Underneath those I had daily clicker buttons.  You know the ones where you click once a day and a donation is made to a charity.  I had The breast cancer site and the animal rescue site.  I wish that I could have them on blogger

I had a blogversary button.......

Then I had these ........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really, really wish that I could have them on a side bar here.  Maybe someone can tell me how to do that?

Jilly