10th January

A third of the month gone already, just in case you hadn't realised!  It's been a funny kind of a day.  A lethargic day.  I haven't felt the best but then on the other hand I felt better than I did yesterday.  I'm not ill.  Both ears are hurting and sort of itching.  I can hear fine. I am treating them with lavender oil. My left knee is playing up too.  It is a different kind of playing up to what I have had before,  It is like a deep ache more than a pain.  Feels a bit as if there is a massive bruise but there isn't.  It is slightly swollen, sort of above and to the side of the knee cap and it is quite warm to the touch.  Strangely my skin also has a mottled look down my leg.  No doubt one of you Doctors out there will advise me.  Of course I shan't be going to the doctor because I don't like them and anyway I'm not ill, so there.

Now where was I?  Oh yes, a funny day.  A cold day too.  Freezing and horrid fog that didn't really clear the whole day. I hate winter.  Heard on the TV that they are saying that snow will be covering most of the country by the weekend and it will last 3 weeks.  Great, I hope they are wrong.

It's been cold in the house today too.  I realised about 10.30 this morning that the heating didn't seem to be working.  I was cold.  I checked and it was on but all the radiators were stone cold.  It has been like that all day.  At 7pm this evening the boiler made some noises and we thought it was coming back on.  The upstairs bathroom radiator is boiling.  All the other radiators upstairs are luke warm.  All the radiators downstairs are cold.  What the heck is going on now?  We just had the new pump last week. We are wondering if there could be a problem with the programmer thingy as it happened before.  We are going to see if it comes back on tomorrow.  It had better or I shall be moving out. I don't do cold.  We have lit the fire tonight in the living room.

I had a knock at the door this morning while I was having my breakfast.  It was a lady wanting to know if I had lost a Husky.  She had found one wandering along towards the main road that goes through the village.  She had managed to get it back to her house and as it had no collar or identification on it she was trying to find where it lived.  So I put on my coat and ventured out into the cold and fog to help her.

We discovered that it lives in the very end house of my road.  Strange I haven't see it before.  Later the lady who found it told me that when she took it back there was no one home but the next door neighbour came out and said that she would take it and put it back in the garden. She said they leave it in the garden.  Poor thing, I know he is a Husky and has a fur coat but it is still very cold.  Not to mention if he has escaped from the garden once he can do it again.  I phoned up and told Gyll and she said she would call round this afternoon to check on it.

After that I did a bit of housework as usual and then some sewing.  I have made 2 padded cases today both of which turned out too small!  The first was a phone case and I measured my phone very carefully.  The second was for an iPad and yes I measured my iPad very carefully.  Before you ask I did add on for the seam allowance.  I was right cheesed off.

I spent the  afternoon going through the folder for the dog sponsorship scheme.  Remember that I have now got responsibility for this. It seems that it is nearly a year since anyone was sent a newsletter and they are supposed to get 3 a year!  So first job is to write to everyone and apologise and explain.  I composed a letter and I have sent it to all those that I have email addresses for.  Tomorrow I will print out hard copies for sending via snail mail to the rest. Now I need to contact those whose sponsor dog has been re-homed and get them to choose another.  It all took quite a while.

Dinner was a bit odd too.  I am still waiting for the glass to arrive for my oven door so it is still out of action. Not thinking this morning I had got some chicken breasts out of the freezer to do country chicken!  I ended it up frying them and serving them with mash and veggies.  It was quite nice but I don't generally fry.

After dinner I spent an hour in my sewing room and I have started on a wall hanging the same as the one I made for Kathy.  You know the one, depicting English spring time.  Several people have said how much they like that so I am going to put one in my Fabrilushus shop.  Thank you all for checking it out and for your kind comments and suggestions.  I'm not really a business woman though Pammy!  I like making stuff and if I can sell it for enough to buy more fabric so I can keep making stuff then I will be happy.  Hopefully I can make a little bit for the doggies too as I am donating 10% of each sale.    It's worth a try and if it doesn't take off  well I'll just put bits on eBay.  I also want to have plenty of stuff to sell at the dog show in the summer.  All proceeds from that will be for them.  I don't think I am going to be making my first million any time soon!  Still it keeps me out of mischief!

OK, time to go to bed with a hot water bottle, some cocoa and a book.   Night, night.