Hello everyone

Well it's been a long time since I posted on here! I went back to work last Thursday and today is finally my day off (except its nearly over now). :( I've been quite busy at work, we've been preparing for a new client and we just found out she's not coming til January, so sleeps aren't going to be stopping quite yet. The good news is the last half of Decembers Rota is finally up and I have Christmas eve, Christmas day and new years eve off!! How cool is that? Going to be able to have a proper Christmas this year with mr A. It's extra special cos its our first Christmas since he moved in. We've found our tree, it's 7.5ft tall and is going to cost £100, we've budgeted £50 for the lights and decorations. People think we are crazy spending so much on a tree, my reasoning is we haven't got kids so why not? I ordered all the Christmas drinkables today, we've ordered enough that through January when we are all skint we can still have nights in with DVDs and post Christmas nibbles!

Finally made a start on the shopping, bought stuff for mr A's dad, not finished yet though.
Gonna do mr A's stuff on tues when he's at work and I'm waiting for deliveries, then in the afternoon I'm going to get stuff for his mum and some more stuff for him in town, have seen some shirts that he would look amazing in!

I had my eyes tested while I was on holiday and it turns out I need a new prescription for my specs. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right cos my little margaret sherry piece has fractionals in it, I'm working on 14 ct aida and I've been struggling to see them, even with my daylight bulb on. Also I've been getting a lot more headaches, ones that come on really fast and take my breath away. I've pinpointed it to my specs, so last couple of days I've been wearing my contacts more for when I'm doing stuff on here or my computer. Last night I read my book on my pad with my specs and gave myself a headache, so it's definitely that I think. They are going to have to wait til after Christmas I think, good job I have contact lenses, apparently they are more accurate because they sit directly on the eye.

Haven't done any stitching for ages, haven't had time!! Guess I'll go back to it in January when theres no money to spend and it's too cold to go anywhere! Dear summer, please come back, I love you!!!

The most wonderful (and expensive) time of the year!!

I have two birthdays coming up next week then Mr A and I are going to be gearing up ready for Christmas. We've finally agreed that come the new year we are both going to start putting money aside for a mortgage each month. We only want somewhere modest, just two bedrooms ATM, our budget is looking like 60-70k, we want to save 15k between us to cover 10% deposit to cover deposit legal fees and new furniture. Every day something seems to happen/go wrong with this place, I've got a list and things keep getting added to it!!!
Tonight I found a hole in the spare room wall, I'm sure it wasn't there before. I also need to change all the washers on the taps and fit a new latch on the kitchen door because it's sticking and one of us is going to get stuck (probably me, when Mr A is at work!)
Plus the kitchen sink keeps blocking up.
I don't mind all these little jobs, I guess it's part of having somewhere to live, but my landlord is a bit of a twit!! Found out today that when he had the boiler installed in the flat he didn't register it so it hasn't got a warranty on it!! Surely that's basic stuff. Not a huge issue as timer and front casing needs replacing so he's going to be getting a bill for that!! No way am I paying for it, phoned him earlier today and asked him to arrange appointment with boiler people and he said 'why do you want me to do it?' and I said 'because its your boiler and you're my landlord'. Tis supposed to be his responsibility. He's got to look at this wall tomorrow and I just know nothing will get done about it, he'll proabaly just tell me to fill the gap with poly filler!! I don't think so, the house has got rising damp and the foundations get shook every Wednesday by the brewery doing the beer delivery!!
Am getting so frustrated living here, said to Mr A today wish we could save up deposit to rent somewhere else but it's difficult with our animals, lots of private landlords won't have it and we have no chance of getting on the housing list. I only moved here cos I had to, many a time the last couple of months I've bitterly regretted not hanging in there, I loved that house, it was a proper home, unlike all the other places I've lived in.

I am quite busy at work at the moment, I am doing my nvq and a distance learning course to do with the handling of medication. I've started a new WIP even though country companions isnt finished ( think that's gonna end up a UFO), this new piece is only little it's for a Christmas card. Unfortunately I've come to realise that I don't stitch fast at all lol. Seems like I had a lot more time when I was in my old job!!
My next project after that is a baby sampler for a friend of mine, she's having a little girl, due in February. Showed her the chart for the sampler and she loves it, plus it's fairly smalle and not too detailed so I should have no trouble finishing it. The country companions piece became a problem because of the tweeding, I think I've got really sick of it now!

Next months issue of csc looks good, it's got a Joan Elliot Christmas fairy, seems like she'd be beautiful to stitch, except she uses beads, fractionals and metallics, I'm only just learning fractionals lol, although I quite enjoy them! Really ought to get off this thing and go to bed, time I had an early night, no day off now til next weds and most of my shifts are early starts. Will post a pic of my latest piece when it looks like something lol

WIP disaster and 'almost' giving up

Well, I really thought I was on the home straight with my WIP, until I came to do some of the background on the left hand side. It was then I realised that hedgehogs body was out by what appeared to be 1 stitch. I became very disheartened and was tempted to stash it in a box and go out and buy stuff for a new project. I spoke to my friends on cross stitch crazy, and with lots of encouragement I've managed to pick it up again. Today I unpicked his head and re started on that, it's tweeding which is quite fiddly, to get round this I've pre-threaded my needles and lined them up from left to right in the order they are listed in the key. Later on I've got to take the corresponding bobbins out of the box so they are in easy reach.

It is looking like I probably won't finish until after Christmas at this rate!!

Work has slowed down a bit so I've had more time for stitching, this weekend is quite busy, hopefully I'll get some time to stitch on Sunday evening, I've also got Monday off.
Today I ordered myself a new chest of drawers as my canvas one is starting to look like the leaning tower of Pisa because the cats keep jumping on it! That's due to come next friday, the same day that my new Lino is being fitted in the bathroom!!

Crawling out from under the rock...

Well, stitchy bug appears to have returned from it's vacation! Started again over the weekend, while I was ill with a bad cold. (I want to know, how come I never just get a sniffle?)

I'm enjoying it again, but at the same time I want it finished. Tis all half cross stitch now and that gets boring after a while. Am considering stitching some smaller designs to break up the tedium, say, do a week on wishing well and a week of small designs.

Guinness is settling in very well, he's happier coming in the flat now and will eat his food in the hallway. He's also learned to ignore my two!! I think fudge is a little scared of him because she backed off today.
He's learned a naughty trick though. He usually hangs around the back yard or in the local area. Went out today to get my laundry off the line, wasn't particularly looking for him, he comes home when he's hungry. Got in the flat and all the way upstairs when I heard 'MRAOW!! MRAOW!!'I've worked out it's Guinness-speak for 'I've been out all day and am hungry. Let me in, NOW'. He's definitely got his paws under our table. If he's about and hears my voice he comes running!

Welcome to the family....

Nope, I haven't dropped a sprog!!
Mr A and I have adopted a stray cat. Or rather, I've adopted him and Mr A fell in love with him.
He started coming round the pub and my landlord started feeding him.
The upshot of it was he needed a permanent home and I decided to take him in. He had a serious case of fleas and an allergy, which thank goodness is now sorted! Cost of sorting his skin out and worming him has cost me over £100, but it's been worth it because he's such a happy cat, very placid and chilled out. I am starting to introduce him to my two, who get very hissy and growly, so I think its going to take time. I've got a pic of him on my camera but the batteries have died, am going to sort that out tomorrow I think!!

Still haven't managed to get much Stitching done, it's well and truly gone on holiday!!!

No stitching because....

I have been playing with my new toy!
At the weekend I bought myself an iPad 2 with some of the money I had from my tax credits. It is definitely one of the best things I have ever bought, even though it was GINORMOUSLY expensive. Part of the reason for getting it was because my htc mobile is failing, and vodafone won't replace my handset, even though I've thrown money at them for the last five years. I kind of need to have access to the Internet at work, believe it or not sometimes it helps me with my job!

The other thing that sold me was the iBooks app, I've never been one for kindles etc, you can't beat the feeling of going into a bookshop and smelling that new book smell. IBooks has lots of free books, one book I've always wanted to read is 'The count of monte cristo',so I downloaded a sample and really liked it. It's on my 'classics to read' list. I'm currently 300 or so pages in and really enjoying it, it makes reading on the move so much easier!

I'd recommend it to any bookworm!

Mr A and I went to Birmingham today on the train, it went better than last week because this time we knew where we were going!! Somehow I managed to spend over £100!! Mr A said to me 'I don't know why you're so shocked, you spent almost £500 the other day.'
I simply said that was different, although I couldn't have said how. I think it's because I rarely have money to spend so I don't tend to spend large amounts.
Plus, because I'm not used to having money I've got this horrible fear that one morning I'll wake up and it'll all be gone. I'm 50% better off since Mr A moved in six months ago, but still I can't seem to spend money, Mr A was egging me on today.

I did get some nice things, a lovely teal mac in New Look, plus a screen protector and a case for my iPad. I also managed to spend £5 on pick'n'mix sweets lol. Have said that I can't spend any more money although I do need to get my hair done 2moro!!

WIP update 28/8/11

I have made a resolution. (we'll see how long it sticks though...) When I start my next WIP, I am going to try to post weekly updates.
Not that I need motivation to stitch, I just struggle to find the time some days, between working and living life in general. Today I've managed a grand total of forty minutes tops, and that's with finishing at 3pm this afternoon!!

Grr...

Plus I want to get my butt in gear, my fingers are itching to finish it, just so I can put a big post on CSC going 'DOOONE IIIT!!' LOL. Even if it doesn't get framed straight away.
I've been having a little think about what I want to do next, I got some lovely evenweave from Jenni on cross stitching.com , so I was thinking of stitching the little butterfly that came with an issue of CSC to get the feel for it. My next large project is going to be an AOY chart or a Joan Elliot piece, I want to do the fairy that was featured in CSC a few months back but it has fractionals eek!!

Anyhow, here's my latest pic.

Thanks for looking!

WIP update 19/8/11

here's my most recent progress pic!!

I'm already looking into what I can stitch next lol...

Hedgehogs are full of prickles...

Hello all!!

well, I got fed up with my tweeding and have decided to practise some artistic license with my cross stitching. OH half says it's cheating but I don't care.
Still having a problem with light levels in the evening, I found someone on my cross stitch forum that was willing to send me some daylight bulbs, but she came up against a jobsworth in the post office that wouldn't let her send the parcel!! >.<

In the meantime I dragged in my standing lamp from the garage, it was full of cobwebs (eww!), and set it up.
put a bulb in it (not daylight, but still a bright one), turned it on and sat down to commence stitching.
Next thing I heard a small 'pop'and realised the bulb had gone out!!
OH is sitting in his chair chuckling away at me, I just give him one of my death stares and take the bulb out. I realise the bulb hasn't gone, so figure it must be the fuse.
I rummage out fuses and screwdrivers, take the back off the plug and....IT'S A 3AMP FUSE!!! I'VE ONLY GOT 13AMP!!! ARRRGGH!!

So, I gave up on my stitching and went to play sims 3 instead. We've had a wedding, the birth of a grandchild and two sims leaving home to start their own lives. It was a very emotional evening in that household last night!

I have done some more on my WIP, I am going to have to take pics. I'm almost finished with it I think, just have to finish hedgehog and then it's half cross stitching and backstitching to do, of which there isn't masses.
Now I just have to decide what I'm going to stitch next. I really like the idea of the Joan Elliot fairy but I think that's a bit beyond my capability atm.
I also love the HAED, but I need to walk before I can run!!

progress report, with pics!

Well, haven't had much time for blogging, or stitching, or anything lately, I seem to have been busy, busy!!

However, over the last couple of days I've managed to get a little bit done, and I've got a couple of pics.
I've given up on the tweeding for now, think that's going to have to wait until I can get myself a daylight lamp.
Here's what I've done so far!!

This rioting is freaking me out. Apparently it's in the midlands now, I'm meant to be going out of Telford on thursday for a training course for work, am going to see if I can get on the next one, no way am I messing about in a strange place while this is going on!!

I had good news from the taxman last week. Apparently I was owed back pay for when I claimed working tax credits as a single woman, I got a sizeable chunk paid back into my bank, so I'm currently looking at setting up a tropical fish tank somewhere in the flat. I've seen the one I want, comes with stand, tank, filter and overhead light, now I've just got to work out the logistics of where it's going to go and how.

Grrr....

I have tonsillitis. Great. I had what, eighteen years of childhood to get this stupid bug? I never had it, bronchitis every winter without fail. Now I'm in my late twenties and I've had two doses in the last year, the first one I didn't know what it was, just thought I had a bad cold without the sneezy bit, until a friend told me she'd had it too and it was tonsillitis.

So Saturday night I was at work and I was feeling a bit 'meh' but didn't really pay much attention. I had a bit of a sore throat but blamed Mr A cos he said he'd had one, so I said he must've give it me.
At four am on Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I'd been lamped a good one across the back of the head, migraine came at me out of nowhere. Luckily I had three good hours before I had to get up and sort the residents out so I popped a couple of pills and went back to sleep.

I spent most of Sunday day time feeling a bit spaced out, but just assumed it was because of the migraine I'd had. By tea time I was going hot and cold, I ached all over and my glands under my chin were up.
Went into work yesterday and struggled through an eight hour shift, then had to go to the walk in medical centre in town because trying to see my own GP is like pulling teeth. (then again, he is very good!)
Definitely a case of tonsillitis she said, she said it's caused by being stressed or run down <-------------- thats me. So now I have antibiotics for ten days, and I've called in sick to work for today, so I get two days off to recover.

Only draw back is, tomorrow I've got the electricians in re wiring my flat, I hope they aren't going to be too disruptive. I haven't done any proper stitching for ages, I'm still enjoying it, but my brain isn't working, plus the tweeding is doing my head in!!!

Until next time!

Getting to the bottom of it...

So, for the last three weeks Mr A and I have been trying to work out why our energy bills are so high, especially the electricity!
So, we went all mental on turning stuff off and making sure nothing was left on. Meter readings still high, bills still high :/
So after many helpful phone calls to british gas we decided the best thing to do was to take matters into our own hands. As a result we are having two prepayment meters fitted so that we can top it up ourselves and hopefully manage our energy much better as a result.
Mr A has also bought an energy monitor. I'm in two minds about it. One, it helps us track exactly what we are using and where, on the other hand, we're now obsessed!!

So, we ran it last night and we discovered that somehow overnight with everything turned off we've managed to use ten pence an hour. The mind boggles.
So I've spent most of this morning messing about turning things on and off and reading the monitor. We did get a little surprise though. We've discovered the television downstairs in the pub is wired into our supply!! >.< Have spoken to my landlord about it, he said that when the electrics were done for that he expressly said that it shouldn't go into the supply for the flat above. He's going to get someone out to re route it for us. That's not quite all of it though, something somewhere is still using money over night so Mr A is going to do some more tests tonight while I'm at work. Currently trying to get on top of the washing and battling indigestion at the same time. It's weird, I never get indigestion, I had it for most of yesterday, had breakfast this morning and now I've got it again!

On friday night I actually managed to go out!! *go me, go me*. This might sound surprising, but most friday nights I get stuck on a sleep in shift, but last friday I managed to finish at 9pm!! Destination pub it was, had a lovely couple of hours with Mr A and his dad, made me realise I must make more time for the people I care about, I don't see much of him anymore, mostly because I'm working and before Mr A moved in I was a regular at his house anyhow.

I'm a little annoyed this morning, because I have somehow managed to lose a packet of sewing needles for my cross stitch. I've looked all round my stitchy corner and they can't be found anywhere. They have just disappeared on me. I still maintain that this house has a poltergeist. An Avenged sevenfold/cross stitch loving poltergeist. He/she or it is probably moshing away whilst stitching a HAED!

right, thats all for now, time to go get indigestion remedy!!

WIP update 20/7011

Hi again, another week has gone by without me posting!! I'm finally making headway on my hedgehog. I'm sorely tempted to go and buy my variations thread that I need for another part of the design, but I've told myself I can't have them until I've finished the hedgehog!

This has been a learning curve for me, and I have to pick my stitchy time, usually I can stitch anywhere in any kind of light, but with two different colours in the needle I find it easier to do in daylight.

I've been quite busy this week working, and also trying to sort out my bills with british gas, because they are silly high. I've found out we have to buy a new microwave this weekend.

anyway, here's an updated pic!!

thanks for looking, see you soon!!

good morning!!

Well, it's been a week since I updated on here. Unfortunately, I don't have much news on the cross stitch front, I'm lucky if I'm managing ten stitches at a time at the moment with this tweeding. I am determined to finish that section though because I just know that if I go onto a different bit I'm going to forget where I was on that bit and it will all go wrong. The episode with the well is a case in point, I've learned my lesson!

All in all, I'm doing pretty good, I've slowed right down at work thanks to having a good chat with my boss. I've picked up six hours extra on top of what I've already got and that's all fine with me, I'm being very mindful of what hours I take on, finally after nine years in this game I've learned my limits, just a shame I had to get into such a tizz to realise it!!
I had a text yesterday asking if I could cover a late shift tomorrow, I politely declined due to the fact that I'm doing an afternoon and a sleep today and it would mean coming back in later on tomorrow, which for my body clock is a no no!!
They were fine with it, how can they not be? I'm finally asserting my right to say no and not feel guilty about it.

So I'm working today and then I have tomorrow and friday off, I think tomorrow I'm going to go out and get the threads missing for my project and treat myself to some proper embroidery scissors, might also have a look round the shops.

I had some good news yesterday. Ages ago I had an account with sky when I lived in my other house. Long story short, I moved house and they couldn't fit sky, so I cancelled telephone and sky TV and kept the broadband and paid it off til the end of the contract. When I'd finished paying at the beginning of this year I duly cancelled it and then thought nothing of it.
I got home yesterday morning to find a letter from them saying that due to a systems error I was due a refund and I had to ring them to arrange it. So I rang them to find out what was going on and realised it was my old account!! Which should have been closed six months ago 0-o. So, I'm due a refund of £153.33 which should arrive in my bank next week!! Just as well really, because after this month my wages are going to dip cos I'm not pulling in as many hours!!

At some point on my days off I want to go and see a friend and also do some more on my NVQ, I'm getting lazy!!

quick update on my cross stitch....

Well, at the moment, my cross stitch is slower than a snail drinking red bull... :/

Even so, here's a pic of what I've done so far. Ed hedgehog is starting to come to life slowly, the only problem is, that tweeding is a bit of a pain because it's little tiny blocks of colour, and rather than change my thread all the time and get in a muddle, I've started with darks. I find I can't do a lot of it, two threads in the needle of a similar colour makes my eyes go funny.

I have to go back into work in a bit, which is slightly annoying!!
Then I won't have any time to stitch tomorrow because I have a training course and then work again, still it should be fairly peaceful, just the regulars in!!

Anyhow, here's my pic, and thanks for looking.

Doctor, doctor.

So, off I trotted to the doctors this morning. Told him that basically I've had no energy since February, and even though I was regularly doing 48 hour weeks through May I had two weeks off and still no luck.

He sent me off to the hospital to get bloods done, have had the full works so now I've got to wait until I hear back from them, if at all. These days they don't call you if they don't find anything, which I think is rather annoying. So if I've heard nothing this time next week am going to give them a bell.
Then he sent me off to Holland and Barrett for some vitamin D. Apparently that's the only vitamin that your body doesn't make, and with England being so crap on the sunshine scale, it's quite a common deficiency to have. So, I have to take one of those every day for the rest of my life, unless I decide to emigrate to Florida!!
Told him about my cycle being all out of whack and generally a bit strange, he's had me tested for a thyroid deficiency, that was one of the first things I came across when I was trying to find out why my cycle was a bit weird, especially as I'm knackered all the time and my once lovely nails absolutely refuse to grow any more! Hopefully the vitamin D will sort that out!

I'm in two minds, one part of me wants it to come back all clear, but that then doesn't explain why I feel like an old lady, when the doc said that the peak of physical health is reached at 28!

At least if it came back with something I'd know what I was dealing with, could kinda go 'ahh, so that's why then.' Atm, I just feel like people think I'm a wuss!!

Have done no stitching today, between Dr's, hospital, and getting on the bus that went the long way home, I havent' had time. I also managed to fall asleep when I got back >.< Then I went to the opticians for my contact lens check (all fine, so at least SOMETHING is working properly atm) and then I nipped into the supermarket to get some bits and bobs. Am off now, need to turn oven on for dinner!! We are having chicken that you cook in the bag with spices, and what Mr A calls 'sexy rice' :)

some good, some bad...

Went to the dentist today and got a bit of a shock. She did lots of poking about, took lots of x-rays and praised me on my good oral hygiene routine (go me). Then she said that three of my wisdom teeth have got to come out and I have to have two fillings in the tooth next to the left one, because that's going so rotten it's affecting the one next to it.

I have to go back and have the fillings done next week, fortunately I'm not in any pain with it so that's good. Not looking forward to going under to get these teeth pulled, and not looking forward to feeling like my face has been stepped on by a draught horse!! Unfortunately it has to be done, the other way (leave it alone) involves a lot of pain, and as someone who's had monster toothache before, never again.

It's fairly simple, but typical me, there is a slight complication. My teeth and my jaw are really, really small.
(no jokes about my big mouth please, and the amount of talking I do)
Apparently there's a nerve that goes down the side of your face which gives you sensation around your lips and mouth.
according to the dentist, most people have a 1% chance of losing sensation after the procedure, which can be temporary, say, a few weeks to a few months, however some people can lose it for up to 1 to 3 years and may never get it back.

In my case this is knocked up slightly by the fact that according to the full x ray I had (massive machine that looked like something out of a sci fi movie), said nerve is wrapped around my bottom left wisdom tooth.
Dentist said I have a 10-15% chance of that nerve being damaged during the op, she couldn't say how bad the numbness would be, but she did say that if the nerve is damaged the loss of sensation will be permanent.
She did say that the surgeon might well break that tooth into little bits and take it out slowly to try and avoid damage but there's no guarantee.
I tell you what, if it does happen, kissing will never be the same again!! :(

So, I've been referred to the hospital, I'm just waiting for a letter to come through now for the appointment, and I'll be honest, for once in my life I'm petrified!! I don't mind doctors/dentists as a rule, but this is a bit different.

I'm going to make sure I book 2 days off work to get this sorted, Mr A is coming with me to the hospital, and he will be there when I wake up so I should be alright.


Wednesday I have docs, time for me to find out why I'm so wiped all the time!! Not doing very well atm am i?

On the flip side, I have managed to pick up my cross stitch again today, am off to do a bit more now while I watch the soaps, if I can stay awake long enough!!

Lets hope this week is better!!

Well, last week was waay too stressful for my liking. Unfortunately over the weekend we lost two rats, both within 24 hours. Needless to say I wasn't much in the mood for anything.
Thankfully it's over, and we still have four others, we are busy now trying to get my two to get on with the babies, in the hope that eventually they'll all be able to live together!! It didn't go too bad last night, I've seen intro's go a lot worse!

I finally managed to finish the roof on the well of 'Make a wish' I have a picture to upload.
Have to go back to work today, got another day off tomorrow and then I have to nip back in for a meeting, so not too bad.

I'm not even half way done with this project and I'm already thinking about what I can do next. There are lots of small ideas in my cross stitch magazines, there are some baby-themed letters and numbers which I'd like to stitch and maybe just keep in a box, to make into cards or something, or just because they are cute designs, and I think it'd be nice to do something small after this one!!

Here's a pic of my progress so far.

I watched an interesting programme on assisted suicide, it's something I've always been in two minds about...Human beings have reasoning etc, yet a lot of the time when people come to the end of their life there appears to be a lot of suffering involved. However, if it's an animal, as hard as the decision may be, as responsible and loving owners we understand that we eventually have to make that call. Why should we not be able to make that decision for ourselves, when we feel the time is right? Currently it's illegal in this country and carries a prison sentence. But if you knew you had a terminal illness and you were going to be in a lot of pain at the end, wouldn't you want to go quietly and peacefully at a time of your choosing? I like to think I would, but I don't know if I'd have the courage to hasten things and leave everyone behind. I certainly couldn't help someone else do it, I guess that just shows that I'm as selfish as most people. My dad always had an interesting point. He'd say that when people cried at funerals, they weren't crying for the person that's died, they were crying for themselves. At first I didn't quite get what he meant, and he explained it like this. He said 'what's the point, that person has died and is free of any pain or suffering they had on this earth, it should be celebrated that the person had a good life and is now at peace.'

It took me a long time to understand that, but in my previous job caring for the elderly at the end of their life, I eventually began to see what he meant. Obviously, it never got easier when someone you'd cared for passed away, but I did eventually begin to find a small sense of the positive when someone passed away. The fact that often, they were very old, and had the chance to get married, have children and grand-children, to live a long and relatively happy life.
One thing I noticed, a lot of old people don't fear it. I think you get to a certain age and you just realise that of course this life isn't forever.

I find it far more upsetting when a child or someone in the prime of their life dies, because they haven't had a chance to live yet.

Still not good.... :(

Had to take Whitey to vets again today, he'd gone down since last night, when he was walking up to Mr A and taking water from a syringe, to this morning looking like flat lemonade!!

Managed to get an appointment in and whizz him in really fast, he's had a three day antibiotic injection, an anti inflammatory, and 5mls of fluid, I think he feels like a pincushion at the moment!!
He's resting just now, I'm going to try him with some ready brek in a bit with some sugar sprinkled on, see does he like it or not.
I'm also going to try and get some stitching in today, if only to try and ease my frazzled brain, the last two days I've spent worrying about him!!

Leonard went in yesterday, vet thinks he's suffering the tail end of a respiratory infection, he has antibiotics. Yoghurt on spoon trick didn't work, so I've plumped for direct syringing, which does work, cos he bites the syringe and i just squirt it in, and then he gets a treat for being a good boy!!
I actually managed to give sheldon a cuddle this morning, first time he hasn't squeaked at me and tried to leg it! go me...

Got to go work later, quite a busy one ahead, we have a new resident in for a short stay, really hope I get a good night's sleep tonight, probably won't cos they've moved the rooms around >.<
I slept well last night, struggled to get up this morning though, didn't even hear Mr A's alarm go off!! mind you, didn't finish work til 10 last night...

Right, time for some lunch, then check on my patient, and then some stitching, I hope!!

Busy busy

Well, I haven't had much time for stitching since my last blog post, I had a big visit from The Frog, which meant I spent most of my time unpicking and re-doing what I'd already done!!!
Plus last week I went on holiday with the ladies from work, took them to Blackpool, it was good fun but SO exhausting, I'm still tired! Did a double shift yesterday so another day lost for stitching. Today is all about catching up with the ginormous laundry pile and trying to clean the house, along with nursing a poorly rat!!

I noticed he was a bit down the other day, but I put it down to hot weather, even my cats were flaked out a bit. Came home last night to find Mr A perched in front of the cage, he thought at the time that he'd had a stroke. Today we think it might be an ear infection, so he's off to the vets again for some steroids and antibiotics, hopefully that will sort him out. I've been feeding him farley's rusks and trying to syringe water into his mouth, he's going to hate me after today!! I nickname him grandpa because he's white all over, can't see very well (he's albino) and dodders around like an old man. Technically he is old, because rats only live for 2 years, so he's a true OAP at 18 months old!!

One of mine has had the sneezes for a couple of weeks so he has to go in tomorrow! Life is one big rollercoaster at the moment, hopefully it'll slow down soon! I've promised myself I'm going to try and do some stitching tonight while the soaps are on, until MR A gets home and I've been to vets I'm not going to be able to concentrate for worrying about poor rattie... :(

The lord moves in mysterious ways...

That's what my friend Jenny would have said if she'd been with me today.  I nipped into work to attend what I thought was a talk on leadership skills, and how to better supervise when I'm on shift.

Turns out I've been signed up to a nationally recognised qualification in leadership and management of people.  In a nutshell, that basically means that after four years of 'acting' like a senior carer I finally get a piece of paper to prove it!

I need to do more research into what I actually gain from the end of the course, but my long term hope is to be able to have the confidence to find a position where I can use my skills that I've gained to full advantage and be paid accordingly!!
Mr A says 'this is telford, wages are always going to be crap'.  He does have a point, but there's nothing to stop me using what I gain to my full advantage.
At the end of the day, as much as I enjoy what I do, my loyalty must be to myself and what I want, and where my life is going.  If that sounds selfish, so be it.  Bottom line, a job is a job, it puts food on our table, a roof over our heads and gives me money to spend (pay credit card bill).

I've had a pretty good day today, managed to get a good two hours stitching in this morning, so go me!  Mr A's dad bought me The Tudors season 4 for my birthday so have been watching that...Katherine Parr is a very silly little girl!!  Although then again, I might consider someone younger and more handsome if I was married to an old man, and I was only seventeen!

I hope that Mr A and I are together until we are both old and grey, although by the way my joints and back have been recently I think I'm on my way there already!!

Here's a progress pic for today!!
I'm really pleased with how the well is turning out, especially as it can be quite tricky in places, and I keep getting a visit from Kermit!!

My present arrived!!

Well, my Dsi arrived in the post yesterday.  I had to wait three hours for it to be fully charged so I could use it, so I decided to busy myself with the housework!!  Since then, I've been on it almost non-stop, apart from earlier today when the battery almost died, and I spent an hour and a half on my stitching, which is more than I got done yesterday.

I really want to get myself a daylight bulb, then I can stitch in the evenings also.
Tomorrow I'm going to have a really good bash at it, in between trying to 're tame' one of my rats, I have two, Leonard and Sheldon, and they were never that tame to begin with (I got them as rescues from a lady who couldn't keep them anymore) but sheldon is acting dead weird, he was never best pleased about being handled, but now he's almost anti-human!  He's not biting, just squeaking and running away.

Cue several hours this evening trying to coax him back into the cage, he's made himself a hideout under the dining table, and I don't think it's cos he likes to sit there, he KNOWS that if he goes there no one can get to him.

So tomorrow I'm going to just open the top of the cage and start again with gentle fussings and treats, rather than let them both have the run of the room and see how things go...I really, really wish I'd got tiny babies to start though, these two are hard work!!

Mr A has got two grown ups and two babies, they are all very sweet, and I just wish mine could be like that.  They just don't seem to have much of a personality at the moment, nor do I think they ever will, being as they are at least a year old already.  I am in two minds as to whether I will ever have any more, they are very time consuming and I work very weird hours.  If I worked a standard week it wouldn't be a problem, but I'm all over the place, three or four nights out of seven I'm not even home!!

Which leads me to my other gripe for this evening.  I'm not sure I'm happy doing what I'm doing atm career wise.  But after a quick scout on the net, it would seem I'm stuck for the moment!!
I never thought it would happen, but since Mr A moved in, my priorities have changed.  I'm almost at the end of two weeks holiday, I've spent most of it stitching, doing housework, laundry and cooking meals, and I've enjoyed every minute of it!
Right now, I'd be quite happy to find a regular 9-5 or school hours job so I can be home every night. 
About eighteen months ago I went to see a careers advisor through my local job centre, and he put me on the right track, and that led me to where I am now.  I've really enjoyed the last twelve months or so, but I can't help thinking that I'd like to try something other than looking after people, something I've done for almost nine years.  Only trouble is, I don't know what I'd like to do!!

There, vent over!! Tomorrow, I am going to try and do some more stitching, and post a progress pic as well.

more progress

I've had a really good day stitching today, I've managed to get absolutely loads done, and that's even accounting for a visit from Mr Froggy!!  I don't know what it is, but he seems to like me a lot lately.  Now and again I wonder if I've taken on an ambitious piece being as I haven't cross stitched for AGES, but my friend was right, I haven't forgotten how, so best to just go for it!

Here's the latest pic taken today

I am sooo pleased with how this is turning out.  The dark brick work for the bottom of the well can sometimes be a bit tricky and I have to make sure I pay attention while I'm doing it, but I'm really looking forward to filling the other colours in round it and giving it some depth.  I've decided to leave Ed Hedgehog until almost last (well, his head anyway) because it involves a technique called tweeding, and that's something I've never done before, so I'm a little bit nervous about it.

I am eagerly awaiting the postman!!  Hopefully tomorrow morning he will be delivering my Dsi XL!! Mr A wants to go to Shrewsbury tomorrow to pick up a new phone, I've told him we aren't going anywhere until I've seen the postman with my parcel, I do not want to have to wait a minute longer than I have to!

Who else watched Eurovision last night?  That was the first time I'd actually sat and watched it, I usually try to avoid it as a lot of nonsense, and it always seems to fall on or around my birthday.  Last night I got roped into voting by Mr A and his dad, I voted for Georgia because they were cool and rocky!!

I think it's a shame they didn't win though, because they were something a bit different.  Okay, so the voices weren't fab, but they had lots of energy!!

One year older...

I wanted to make a post on my birthday, but Blogger wasn't working!! >.<
I had an awesome day yesterday, got lots of cards and presents, and was treated by Mr. A to an afternoon shopping in Shrewsbury.

Decided to spoil myself a little bit as well and finally bought myself a Nintendo Dsi XL, I've been after one of those for AGES so I thought 'why not?'  It's in the post and should be here Monday!
Then I went out in the evening for a few drinks, and I know I drank too much cos I felt ill this morning!  I didn't get a very good night's sleep last night anyway!
Off out again tonight, but it's coke and ice only tonight.  One thing I've noticed over the last couple of years, I can't go out drinking one night after another, I have to have a gap in between.  My liver doesn't like it!
Needless to say I was so busy yesterday I didn't get any stitching done, have done a bit more today, not got round to taking a pic yet, I've set myself to finish a section before I do that.

Mr A isn't very happy, Stoke lost the FA cup final, he says that Man City are cheats because they buy all the best players in order to win.
I don't know much about football, but I would've thought that was the whole point?

progress...

Well, here's a little pic of what I've done so far since my last post.

It's not bad considering I was on a training course for most of Monday, and have had a bad back since then, it's made it quite difficult to stitch sometimes.  Thankfully popping a couple of anadin and getting some of those heat packs you stick on your skin seem to have worked wonders, I don't feel quite so much like the Tin Man as I did this morning!!
One thing I didn't realise when I began stitching this piece was how many light colours there were and how close the shades are.  This can make it awkward when it's a soap night and I want to stitch in front of the television but can't tell which colour is which!! I would love to invest in a daylight lamp but they are very expensive!! for now I've pinched a lamp from the bedroom and I'm using that with the shade off, it's better than nothing!!
Had to nip in to work today for a training session, when I got there I realised that I wasn't even put down on it, on account of me being on holiday, but decided to sit in anyway cos it was useful, so that was three hours stitching lost.
I'm intending to have a good stab at it tomorrow, I seem to have spent the last few days here there and everywhere!!  Haven't quite found the brakes yet I don't think.

Making a beginning!!

Well, I finally managed to get my cross stitch package.  Had to traipse up to the sorting office in the rain yesterday but it was worth it.  After spending time sorting threads onto bobbins etc I finally managed to get going!

To follow are pics of the chart I'm working from, and progress so far.

Not bad considering I've only been going two days and only managed about an hour or so yesterday.

My OH and I went to a lovely barbecue at his dad's house, yummy food, plenty to drink and good company!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself although I was pretty tired when I got home, think the long shift I'd done the day before might have had something to do with it!
I feel like I have jet lag today.  I was awake at 5.30 this morning, so I decided to get up and catch up on my television, and do a bit of stitching.  Then I got to half eight and had to go back to bed for an hour lol.

More pics to follow as picture comes to life!

Hello!

Well, I decided to start another blog!  Hopefully I can keep up with this one.
I have just recently decided to take up cross stitching again, I was inspired by my friend Jenny who is working on the biggest birth sampler I have ever seen!

I used to do quite a lot of it, and then life got in the way, to the point that all my old hobbies have been put on the backburner lately, leaving me feeling as if I have no time for myself.
So, with that in mind, I dug out an old cross stitching magazine, found a design, and have ordered threads, fabric and a workbox to get myself started!!
I have two weeks holiday coming up, so I fully intend to relax with my stitching and some good television!