Thank you :)

Hello, just a very quick post to say "Thank you!" for all of your kind wishes and words on my last post.

I've not been on the computer that much over the last week or so as my shoulder is not good, but I hope to be back here soon with a much more cheeful and crafty post in the near future :)

I'm planning to do all my Christmas crafting in the next four weeks before I go into hospital so hopefully there will be some very early Christmas themed posts here soon!!!! Poor Mr P will proabably be roped in to help me but he doesn't know that yet... ;)

Hope you are all well, take care xxx

Back from the hospital

Well, I'm back from seeing the consultant at the hospital and he has confirmed that I will definitely need another operation on my shoulder and I'm booked in for surgery on the 19th of November.

I'm feeling very upset and sorry for myself at the moment and unfortunately Mr P is not here to cheer me up :( I know I', being a bit silly and that I need to have this operation done, but last time it was very painful, I had an allergic reaction to the morphine and I wasn't able to drive for two months, which when you live somewhere as rural as we do is going to be very tough! It looks like I'm going to have to do much of the Christmas shopping online this year!

I've just realised as well that the date of the operation means I'm going to miss meeting up with some friends at the end of November, which I was really looking forward too :(

Anyway, enough with feeling sorry for myself, I need to look on the bright side - hopefully this operation will cure the problems I've been having with my shoulder and neck and I will be able to get back to normal :)

I've had to drive to the hospital this afternoon as Mr P is away and my shoulder is really painful now so I'm going to run a hot bath, take some painkillers and snuggle up on the sofa with a ginormous bar of chocolate (sod the diet!), two gorgeous kittie cats and my "True Blood" novel which arrived this morning :) I'm loving this programme already and when I found out it was based on a series of books I knew I wanted to read them! I also got a copy of Cath Kidston's "Sew!" in the same package but I'm under strict instructions not to look at it as it's a birthday pressie for next week! Gonna be tough not peeking though...

Wish me luck....

..... I'm off to see the consultant at the hospital about my shoulder this afternoon. Hopefully I'll find out today what the next course of action is going to be in dealing with this. I can't wait for it all to be sorted and then I can get back to normal :)

Magus of Stonewylde :)

Over the last couple of weeks I have been off work with a shoulder injury. I had an operation on it about a year and a half ago and the problem has recently recurred leaving me having difficulty driving. The painkillers I have been prescribed also make me very drowsy so I am currently stuck at home as we live approximately 3 miles from the nearest bus route and my OH is at work. With all this free time on my hands I have recently been doing a lot of reading and I am now in the process of re-reading the Stonewylde books :)



I think I might have blogged about these books when I first read them but at the time I was so caught up in the story that I devoured the books one after the other. Upon re-reading these books I have been pleasantly surprised to realise that they are even better than I remember and there are allsorts of details and plot twists that I had forgotten about :) I read Magus of Stonewylde and Moondance at Stonewylde this week and have just started re-reading Solstice at Stonewylde today :) If you haven't already heard of these books and love a cracking story that you can get completely caught up in, then there is a treat in store for you :)

The books are about a young girl who is ill with an undiagnosed illness and unable to cope with living in inner-city London. After making friends with a doctor who is treating her, she moves with her mother to a secret community hidden away in Dorset and once there the adventures begin. Arriving at Stonewylde is like stepping back into another place in time for Sylvie and she soon starts to recover. She meets the Magus of Stonewylde, who is the charismatic leader of the community and she also meets Yul, one of the Villagers, who has never left the community and challenges Magus's authority. The community follow the "old ways" and celebrate all the different festivals, such as the Equinoxes and Beltane, the mythology of which is woven into the story.

Personally, I loved the evocative descriptions of the countryside around Stonewylde and the village itself. Kit Berry described it all so perfectly that I could "see" it all in my head as I was reading the story. I also can't think of many books that have made me care so much about the characters, you really want everything to work out for Sylvie and Yul and the inhabitants of Stonewylde (well, most of them!) At one point I was so angry at one of the characters that Mr P was laughing at me getting so wound up! Seemlessly blended as part of the story, there are descriptions of the various festivals that the community celebrates and the significance behind each one.

I think I've probably babbled on enough now, but I would definitely recommend these books to you (pagan or non-pagan) as these are such fantastic stories. If you'd like to know more about these books, there is a Stonewylde website, which can be found here: http://www.stonewylde.com

I'm off now to get back to Solstice at Stonewylde, I'm at one of my favourite parts of the story :)

The Road Not Taken

Yesterday was National Poetry Day so I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you a couple of my favourite poems (they're pretty short!)

First up is "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Next up is "Aede Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by W.B. Yeats. I had to study this poem at university and really love the final lines:

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I didn't really like poetry much when I was younger but have found over the last few years that I have a new appreciation for it :)

Do you have a favourite poem you'd like to share with me?

I know it's early but...

...I've been on the MSE website and there is a very useful thread on there called "Preparing for Winter". I know, I know, it's August. It's meant to be the hottest time of the year, but already we have felt a bit chilly in this house so I am starting to get sorted so come the cold weather we won't be landed with a ginormous heating bill!

We don't have gas heating here; our main heat source is a multi fuel stove and we also have an immersion heater but I don't want to use that too much as it is expensive to run!

Currently we have the immersion heater on for one hour a day in the morning. This gives us hot water for the day (our shower is electric so doesn't need water from the immersion heater) and as there is only the two of use and the fur babies, this is enough for us to do our washing up etc :)

We pay £35 a month DD for our electricity and we have got our quarterly bill this morning and are a little bit in credit. I know it will increase in the winter but I hope it will be no more than an additional £15 a month (fingers crossed!)

The stove in the living room can use either coal or wood so over the next few months we are going to find a good supplier and get a stock of logs and coal.

Other things that we plan to do are:

• Fleecy blankets - we already have a few to snuggle up under when watching the telly. I'm going to get a few more of these as they can go on the beds to keeps us warm at night
• Draft excluders - as this is an old house, I think it might get a bit drafty. I'm going to make some draft excluders so go in front of the doors etc to keep us toasty and warm
• Thermal linings for the curtains - I've seen these on Ebay for about £30 per pair but I'ce also seen the thermal material a LOT cheaper in Dunelm Mill so I think I'll have a bash at at making my own
• Hot water bottles - we have three of these so I will check to make sure they are still ok and maybe get a couple more so Mr P actually gets a look in with these ;)
• Fleecy pjs - not sexy I know, but warm
• Bed socks - see above!
• A "proper" waterproof winter coat for me - I have a very nice winter coat but it's not particularly practical living in the country so I'm on the look out for a berghaus type jacket to keep me dry on our walks
• Flannelette sheets - we bought some of these last year and they were so cosy. The ones we got were just cheapy ones and have gone a bit bobbly so I'll be looking out for some more good quality ones
• Candles - we have had a few pwer cuts since living here. Most have only been for a few minutes but some of the neighbours have said that they are more frequent in the winter
• Scarves / hats / gloves - dig out all our winter gear and put it in the utlity room so it is easy to get to when we need it
• Foil behind the radiators - to reflect the heat back in

Mr P thinks I'm a bit mad (and you probably do too!) but I'm feeling a bit more organised now and have a plan of action!

An update on the garden

As I mentioned in my last post, this year, Mr P and myself have been determined to have a go at growing our own veggies :) Last year in the old house we grew herbs on the kitchen windowsill but as we didn't have a garden we weren't really able to do more.

Here are the veggies I told you we were growing and how they are doing so far:

• spring onions - these have been great, really easy to grow and look after. We sowed them in quite deep pots and have just been pulling them up to use in salads etc. Really tasty :) I have some Winter Lisbon seeds so I am planning to sow some more of them this weekend
• courgettes - we bought a courgette plant from Wilkos for about £2 and it has been really productive. So far we've had about 5 or 6 good sized courgettes that we've been eating in stir-fries. I just had a look on the plant and there are 3 courgettes well on their way to being ready to pick :)
• tomatoes - we've had 8 plants but 3 of them were bashed to bits during the windy weather we had recently. The ones we have left seem to be doing ok. They all have tomatoes on, but they are still quite small and green yet. We're looking forward to seeing how these taste :)
• peppers - we have 4 plants which all have lots of green peppers on. The biggest are about 3 inches so hopefully these aren't too far off being ready :)
• coriander - this grew really well and we used it in curries etc. I have planted some more and am waiting for it to grow
• mint - this grew well for a while but seems to have died off. I think I might have to bite the bullet and sow some more!
• beetroot - these have grown really well and we've been eating this grated raw in salads. Yummy!
• brussel sprouts - the caterpillars got these :(
• kale - another veg lost to the caterpillars :( :(
• purple sprouting brocolli - and another :( :( :( Mental note to self - NETS
• strawberries - our little strawberry plant is in a large pot and looks like it has thrown out a runner. I'm going to keep my eye on this :)
• rocket - this grew fantastically well and we have some more on the go
• radish - again grew well and we have some more growing now
• runner beans - not sure how, but I managed to kill this off :( I've sown some more seeds but think it might be a bit late now :(

We've also sown some swiss chard and it looks like it's coming along well. This has all been a bit of an expreiment for us this year and as you can see, we have made mistakes but it certainly hasn't diminished our enthusiasm for growing our own. I've sent off for some seed catalogues and am already planning next year's planting plans.If anyone has any suggestions for varieties / veggies to try, please let me know! :)

This and that...

Since we have moved to the new house we have noticed that there are three families of birds that have also made their homes in and around our garden. We have two families of housemartins who have nested under the eaves of the house (one lot at the front and one lot at the back) and a family of sparrows who are nesting just under the gutter on the outhouse.

These visitors have not gone unnoticed by Missy and Mollie who have been watching their comings and goings with enormous interest! I'm glad to say that they haven't caught any of the birds as yet (although Mollie got stuck up a tree yesterday chasing a bird!) but I'm afraid I can't say the same for the wild rabbits as my neighbour spotted one of the kitties, she's not sure which one, trotting across her garden with a rabbit in their mouth!!!

I snapped this photo last week as one of the sparrows was bringing back more materials for the nest. Mollie was watching the proceedings (and probably watching me to see if I was watching her!) but didn't attempt to climb up :) We've also started growing veggies since living here. At the moment we have quite a few varieties on the go:

• spring onions
• courgettes
• tomatoes
• peppers
• coriander
• mint
• beetroot
• brussel sprouts
• kale
• purple sprouting brocolli
• strawberries
• rocket
• radish
• runner beans

We're learning a lot and are probably making loads of mistakes but we're really enjoying ourselves! We harvested some of the courgettes this week and had some very tasty fajitas with them. Here is a rather rude looking picture of one of the courgettes!

This afternoon I have been in my craft room having a bit of a play around and have made a card and a scrapbook layout. The papers on the card are from K and Co and I used my cuttlebug to emboss the green panel and my crop-a-dile to set the eyelets which I then threaded the velvet ribbon through. The message is from a little pack of stamps I found whilst unpacking.

I've never really got on very well with stamping but this weekend I went to a great craft shop (Horseshoe Crafts in Ellesmere for anyone who's nearby!) and after chatting with the owner realised I was using the wrong type of inkpad so it was no wonder my images came out all smudgy! I bought a varsafine inkpad and have been playing aroung this afternoon with it and am finding it much easier to work with :) I've also ordered a Magnolia Tilda stamp online and some promarkers as everyone on UKScrappers seems to rave about them and I've seen some beautiful effects on cards using them. I can't wait for them to arrive! :)

I also completed a layout using some of the papers I got from QVC in Shrewsbury. The pictures are of Missy and Mollie from when they first came to live with us. I can't believe how tiny they are! I used the crop-a-dile on this layout to set the eyelets for my ribbon (are you seeing a trend here?!?) and used another stamp I found whilst unpacking to write my journalling onto. I love the look of handwritten journalling but I'm not keen on my own handwriting, lol. I'm not sure if you can read the journalling but it says "Missy and Mollie Sept '08. When you first came to live with us, you always used to curl up together. You were the best of friends xxx"

I can't wait for my new goodies to arrive so I can have a play with them. I think I have the stamping bug!

No Take That tickets :( but a successful shopping trip :)

Ah well, it wasn't to be :( We didn't manage to get tickets after all. However, we have had a lovely weekend so that has more than made up for any disappointment :)

Yesterday we went to Shrewsbury, which is about 16 miles or so from here. Before we moved to Shropshire I'd never been to Shrewsbury but we've been twice in the last month and I love it. It's full of lovely old buildings and fantastic shops. The last time we went, we went to a shop called Cornucopia which stocks lovely Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater goodies. We didn't have chance to get to Cornucopia this weekend but we found the most gorgeous little shop called Wysteria Lane and oh my goodness I could spend a lot of money in there! Actually, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of money as everything seemed fairly reasonably priced, but you get the idea... I saw so many things that will look lovely in the new house but eventually I settled on a really cute photo frame by Gisela Graham. I also found some little Gisela Graham buckets in TK Maxx but am not really sure what to do with them. I had bought them to put plants in but they have stickers on them saying they are not waterproof?!? They are pretty though so I am sure I will find a use for them :)

I also picked up a gorgeous little "Home Sweet Home" sign from a fantastic little shop in Whitchurch called "Ruby Tuesdays". This shops has so many lovely goodies :)

Whilst we were in Shrewsbury, I also went to the QVC outlet store. It's a bit like a jumble sale in there but I had a good rummage and managed to get the following scrapbooking goodies:
* A cute little canvas album with baby scrapbooking papers and die cuts inside - just £1.99
* Some girly scrapbook papers, stickers, dies cuts etc - again £1.99
* A ginormous scrapbooking kit with a silk covered album, loads of lovely papers, die cuts, stickers, quotations, embroidered embellishments etc - should have been over £30 but was £16.00 in the store and I got a further 25% off making it £12.00. Bargain!

I'm hoping to be able to get to a scrapbooking crop tomorrow night so I am going to take my new kit and start putting together some layouts. I uploaded over 300(!!!!) photographs onto photobox earlier today so I am waiting for them to be delivered. I was really impressed with the price; I paid £24 for 350 6x4" photographs, delivery included :)




The picture above is one of the ones I have ordered today. It shows me and Mr P last year at the Party in the Park with Manchester Camerata Orchestra. It was an amazing day (and night) with amazing music, picnic and fireworks :)

Please keep your fingers crossed.....

.....Mr P has just rung me and there's a chance he can get Take That tickets for us for tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I do hope he gets them! Will dose myself up with painkillers so my back doesn't give me any gyp :)

Missy Moo

I just had to share this picture of Missy snoozing on the living room floor, it really made me laugh :-) Aren't cats daft? xx

Crochet love

Ok, I admit it, I'm completely obsessed! I've been crocheting like mad these last couple of weeks, when I really should be unpacking boxes. Next time I'll post some pics of the throw I have been working on. It's just a big granny square so it's nice and easy and I can even do it whilst watching the telly :)

Speaking of tv, has anyone else been watching Big Brother (or am I the only one!)? Where do they get those people from?!?!?

Hello again!

Well, that was a long break - I didn't mean to be away so long! Hope everyone is ok and I look forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to whilst I have been away from blogland :)

Things here have been very, very busy since I last blogged. In my last post I showed you all pictures of the snow (!) and talked about crashing my poor little car. The car is now mended, although my purse still bears the scars from the bill! We've also been on holiday to Brussels which was great fun :)

The biggest change has been that we have moved house and (not to do things by halves) we have moved somewhere that is 60 miles from the old house! We moved to Shropshire about 3 weeks ago and we love it. Our new house is in a teeny tiny village (it's not even on the map) with about 12 houses, surrounded by fields and countryside. We've wanted to move somewhere more rural for a while now and when we saw this house it was too good an opportunity to miss so we upped sticks and moved to the country :)

Here is the view from the lane:

I love the archway in the front garden :) The little bit at the front of the garden is a bit of a sun trap and already I'm loving sitting there with my book and a glass of Pimms on sunny afternoons!

This is the view over the side hedge:

And this is the view over the back hedge. It's so peaceful, the only sound you can hear is birds and cows. The first night we lived here I couldn't sleep because it was too quiet! There are no street lights here either so there's very little light pollution. I love standing out in the garden at night time just looking at the moon and stars, I've never lived in a place where you can see the sky at night so clearly :)

Missy and Mollie love it here too :) They've really grown in the last few months and have really developed their own little characters. Just look at them now!

It hasn't taken Mollie long to find herself a new favourite spot - she loves sitting on top of the dresser in the conservatory:

I'm off now to have a bit of a mooch around blogland and see what everyone has been up to - I've really missed reading blogs whilst we've not had the internet!

Take care xxx

The obligatory post about snow...

It would appear that it is "the blogging rules" to have a post about the snow so here is mine!

Living where we live we do tend to get a fair bit of snow if there is any about. The night before last the roads over the tops were closed so we knew it would probably be fairly thick with snow when we woke up and we weren't disappointed!!

I was supposed to be in work yesterday but managed to crash my car into a wall before I'd even got to the end of my road so I abandoned that idea and booked the day off instead! I'm ok, just got a bit of a sore neck but my poor little car has a couple of dints and few scratches. It could have been a lot worse so I'm not complaining!!!

My fiance (!) was also off work so we took a walk along the canal, which seems to have become a bit of a tradition for us when it snows...

If you look carefully, you should be able to see a heart in the snow in the picture below:

There's also a stream that runs alongside the canal. The mill to the right of the picture is now used as studios for artists.

This was the view out the back of our house. Missy was mesmerised by the snow and spent almost the whole day sitting on the window sill watching the snow falling...

Every now and again she would see something that particularly interested her...

And then she would start patting at the windows....

The view from the front was pretty too :)

Again Missy spent a lot of time on this window sill watching the cars try to get up the hill (one got completely stuck at one stage!) and trying to catch snowflakes. Cats are funny little creatures, aren't they? Mollie was completely not bothered by the snow and spent most of the afternoon snoozing by the fire (she's not daft, is she?)

We had some more snow last night but earlier on we had some sleet so the roads are icy and treacherous. I looked out of the curtains this morning to see a car sliding backwards down the hill and decided that I wouldn't be driving today either!

Hope you are enjoying the snow where you are :) If you do have to go out, take care :)

xxx

A Thank you, an award and a tag

Thank you all so much for your lovely well wishes :) Yes, it was a marriage proposal and we are both very excited!!! I will tell you all more about it in my next post as I have a little bit of "bloggy business" to post about first!!!

First up, I have been the very lucky recipient of these two awards from the lovely Rachel the Krafty Girl who makes the most yummy looking cakes and has an eye for a thrifty bargain or two!

I have also been tagged by Pixiedust to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder of my pc so here you go - an incredibly flattering (not) picture of me supping Guinness on mine and Mr P's recent trip to Dublin. 6 euro a pint for this stuff!!! I nearly fell over in shock when the barman told us the price!!!

As I've been away from blogland for a little while, I have lost track of who has already received these awards and tags, so if you are reading this and you have not already received them, consider yourself awarded / tagged!!!

xxx

Mr P asked...

...and I said "Yes!" :-) :-) :-) xxx

Hasta luego!

At the airport now waiting for our flight to Barcelona :-) I'll take lots of pictures and show them you all when I get back :-) Hasta luego (see you later!) xxx

Finally..... some pictures :)

*Gem sneaks guiltily back in*

I know I'm a bad blogger but I have finally got my act together and got some piccies of my thrifted goodies on here so please forgive me!!!

I have been taking some time out this week and have a lot to catch up on. The saga of the tooth continues but the end is in sight and I am finally off the antibiotics (hoorah!)

Ok, on with business. Here is the first of my goodies from last week. Apologies for the naff photos but the light here is terrible :(

This little basket was 50p and is lined with fabric inside.
The floral tin below was also 50p and I love it! The colours are really vibrant in real life and it has a sort of crackled galze effect on it which I think looks really sweet.

This little tapestry was languishing in the bottom of a basket and was just 30p. I couldn't leave it there and plan to turn it into a little sented cushion :)

This shopping basket was £3.00. Mr P says I should use it to go to the farmer's market but I think I might feel a bit daft carrying it around...

Instead I have decided to use for storing my bits and bobs of wool in :) I've been bitten by the crocheting bug and have been obsessed with crocheting flowers recently. Here are some of them below:

This one is one of my favourites:
And I also really like this one too :)

So, I can heave a sigh of relief now I have uploaded my piccies ;)

I'm going to leave you with a picture of my little Mollie snoozing on the back of the sofa. She really is a softy :)

My first ever award - Thank you Mel :) x

I'm so excited today because I have been given my first award by the lovely Mel from Country in the Town :)

Marie Antoinette Award a real person, a real award.

Here are the Rules for the Award:

1. Please put the logo on your blog
2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them

Without further ado I would like to nominate these lovely ladies. Their blogs always brighten my day whenever I pop in there :)

1. Faerie Nuff
2. Vintage Tea
3. A Thrifty Mrs
4. Melmel
5. Mary Poppins
6. Linden Grove
7. Sharie's View to the Hill

I will be back later today with some pics of my thrifting from Sunday (yes Sharie, I did take the rather big hint you left me!!!) so I'll see you then :)

xxx

Thrifting

This morning I got up early and went to a flea market in one of the little towns near to where I live. It's the same place I got the Christmas decorations I showed you a few weeks back and I always find lots of goodies whenever I go there. I'm pleased to say that the flea market didn't disappoint and I came home with the following pretty things:

• a double sized candlewick bedspread (I love these!)
• a wicker shopping basket
• a little piece of tapestry that someone had done
• a pretty tin with flowers on
• a small basket that I'm going to use in my craft room

If I get my act together I'll try and get some photos up on here later tonight :)

xxx

Thank you :)

Thank you for all your kind wishes and sympathy about my dental troubles. I know I've been a bit whingy recently so it has meant a lot that you have taken the time to sympathise and wish me better :) I'm feeling a bit better today and am starting to feel a lot more like myself :) The antibiotics have kicked in and the painkillers I have got are keeping me reasonably pain free :) I'll be back at the dentist on Thursday for my stitches out so fingers crossed I shan't have too much trouble after that. The dentist said I can expect to hear from the hospital in about 3 to 4 weeks so I'll just have to see what they say about the bits of roots in my jaw bone.

Whilst I've not been feeling well I have been reading an absolutely fantastic book that I saw mentioned on http://teawithwillow.blogspot.com/. It's called "Magus of Stonewylde" and it's the first book in a series by Kit Berry. Thank you Tea With Willow, I really enjoyed this book :)

It is not the sort of book I would normally read but when I read the glowing 5 star reviews for it on Amazon I thought I would give it a go and I'm really glad I did because it is an excellent book. It's about a young girl called Sylvie who has been ill for most of her life. Her and her mother are invited to go and stay at Stonewylde, which is a secret alternative community in Dorset who follow a pagan way of life, focusing on nature and the seasons of the year. I don't really want to say too much about the plot because I wouldn't give it justice, but here is a link to the book on amazon and if you scroll down you will be able to read more about it as well as lots of reviews from other readers:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magus-Stonewylde-Book-1/dp/095514390X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231596869&sr=8-1

I also finished watching the first disc of the Cranford series and it's now ready to be posted back to lovefilm so I can get the next disc. I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one. I might be a little bit sad but I really liked the fact that Cranford is meant to be 12 miles from Manchester as the little town where I live is also 12 miles from Manchester (although in the opposite direction). Cranford was based on Knutsford, which is a place I've never been to despite it being fairly close to where I live. I've heard there are lots of lovely shops there so maybe a visit there will be in order....

xxx

The whole tooth...

Excuse my corny title - the painkillers must be getting to me!

Thank you for all your lovely messages. I'm sorry I haven't been to visit your blogs this week but I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on!

I was back at the dentist today whilst he attempted to do my root canal again. After 20 minutes of drilling and poking around he told me that he couldn't get to the root because it was calcified (whatever that means!) so he said he would have to take it out, which I was ok about because it's right at the back of my mouth and at least if it's out I'll have no more problems (or so I thought). Anyway to cut a long (and painful story) short, the tooth couldn't be extracted normally so he had to do a surgical extraction. I now have 4 stitches in my gum, another lot of antibiotics and enough painkillers to tranquilise an elephant. My face is all puffed out and swollen and it's starting to bruise too :( Good job I don't have any big plans for this weekend because I look a right sight!

To top it all off, I've had to be referred to the dental hospital because the two roots of my tooth are still embedded in my gum - they are stuck in my jawbone and I'll need an operation to get them out :( :( :( The one good thing is that because I've had the tooth out it's costing me a lot less than I thought it would!

Lovely Mr P is looking after me and because I'm poorly I've got control of the telly all night :) We've watched all my soaps and now we're going to watch more Cranford :)

Hope you're all having a better day than me :)
xxx

Checking in...

Hi, sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I'm still having a few problems with the tooth :( I was at the dentist on Monday when he did x-rays and told me I needed a root canal treatment and possibly an inlay or a crown. This will set me back almost £200 which is not what I need right after Christmas :( Today I was back at the dentist for treatment 1 (of 4) and although it didn't hurt at the time, it's really hurting now :( The dentist wasn't able to get to all the canals on my tooth so I'm back there again tomorrow for him to have another go. He said if he can't do it tomorrow the tooth will have to come out. I'm not sure what I'd prefer him to do - save the tooth (and risk more infections and pain) or just have it taken out. Sorry for such a negative post but I'm feeling very fed up and just want it all to be sorted.

On a brighter note, we signed up for a free trial of lovefilm and our first lot of dvds arrived this morning :) I think I might watch Cranford in bed tonight so night night x

Giddy :)

I've just booked a night in London in June for me and Mr P. Travelodge are having a massive sale at the moment so we got a room for £19 at the London Tower Bridge :) Really looking forward to it as it's ages since I've been to London when I've not had to go for work. I'll have to start making a list of all the places I want to go to...

Happy New Year!

Hope 2009 is everything you want it to be. I have a really good feeling about this year! :)
xxx

The verdict :(

Well, it looks like I'm going to need my tooth taken out. The emergency dentist took a filling out to treat an infection under the tooth and has put a temporary dressing on it, meaning I can't really eat anything as I can't close my mouth properly to bite. I now need to find a dentist to extract the tooth as it is unlikely that it can be refilled. Easier said than done. We moved here two years ago and since then I have been trying to get registered with a dentist but none of them are taking on patients around here :( I've got two different types of painkillers and some anti-biotics to take so I'm not going to partying tomorrow night...

Better go and find myself a good dvd to watch tomorrow. Any suggestions?

xx

Sleepless night

i'm off to the emergency dentist after being up all night with toothache. Wish me luck! X

Messy christmas!

Hope you all had a fantastic time, we certainly did and i'll be back to tell you all about it after i've finished cleaning the midden that is my craft room! x

O Christmas Tree

Hello :) I've not been around here for a few days because I've not been very well but I'm feeling a bit better so I thought I'd pop on here before I go and brave the crowds at the Trafford Centre (wish me luck!)

Saturday was great fun. I really enjoyed the concert and was surprised at how many songs I knew. I think Mr P was a bit scared when I started singing along but never mind! The first half of the concert was songs from Jason's new album (which are covers of 50s and 60s songs) and the second half was a bit of a "cheese-fest" with songs like Sealed With a Kiss and Nothing Can Divide Us. Great fun :) I did take some pictures and a little video so if I remember I'll try and post a couple of them on here - judging from your comments on my last post there are a few Jason fans out there ;)

The Christmas Markets were absolutely packed. We didn't stay there long because I was feeling a bit shivery and I'm not very good with big crowds of people as I get a bit panicky. We're going to try and get there again before they finish next week but might run out of time! To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the stalls we did see as it was a load of tat and very expensive. When they first started doing the markets a lot of the items were handmade and were being sold by the original artists but this year it seemed to be the same sort of mass produed items on a lot of the stalls :(

The craft fair we went to was very good and I got a little felted heart brooch and some fabric badges which were very cute. There were a few bits and bobs I would have loved to have got but it was the wrong side of payday!

I'm still doing JYC but am still behind. The pictures on this post are for the day (can't remember which day it was ) that was about Christmas Trees. I'm off all over Christmas and New Year so there will be some serious scrapbooking going on then :)

So here are some of my favourite decorations on our Christmas tree. We go for the "more is more" look here and there are very few branches on our tree that don't have something dangling from them...

The bell bauble was from Tesco and the snowman came from the church fair a couple of weeks ago:
More Tesco decorations. They had a big half price sale on them a couple of weeks ago and I went a bit nuts!
This one is an iris folded bell that I made a couple of years ago:

This bell came from a flea market at the Civic Centre in Uppermill last year. There were loads of baubles with it which decorate our mini tree on the dresser.
I'm going through a bit of an obsession with owls at the moment and this little guy is very sweet!

And finally, Missy snoozing on "her" chair. I thought cats were supposed to be elegant but neither of mine are when they're sleeping. Mollie's even worse. She lies legs akimbo showing everything. Naughty girl ;)

I took all these pictures on my new phone (I'm still working out all the features on it) and uploaded them directly onto Blogger before coming in on the computer to edit the post and add my writing. It makes it so much easier than having to dig out the lead from the camera and resize pictures etc before posting them. I love technology sometimes!

OK, enough from me, I'm off to finish my Christmas shopping and find a dress for my Christmas do. See you tomorrow

xx

What we're up to today...

Not that you're all waiting on the edge of your seat to find out! lol ;)

Well, for once Mr P is off today so we are going to take a trip into Manchester. First of all we are going to go to a craft fair at Whitworth Art Gallery on Oxford Road. It's on today from 10-4 and tomorrow 10-2 (I think, but I'll check when I'm there today) and hopefully I might be able to pick up a few pretties :)

Next we are off to the Christmas Market to drink some gluwein and scoff chocolate pancakes and maybe pick up some Christmas presents :)

Finally we are going to see Jason Donovan at a concert at the Apollo. I won some tickets on Century Radio a couple of weeks ago and tonight is the night of the concert. My sister (yes the same one I've blogged about before) thinks we are "deeply sad" but I really don't care. It should be good fun, it's something we wouldn't have been doing and it's a free night out :) Always a good thing in my opinion :) When I was about 9 I was the biggest Kylie and Jason fan and managed to convince myself I would marry Jason Donovan when I grew up (either him or George Michael, hmmmm, we all know what happened there!) so it will be like going back to my childhood :)

Mr P has been laughing at me because everytime I win tickets for anything in a concert it is always for some strange thing. Last time it was a Queen tribute act!

Hope you all have a good Saturday

xx

Oh just for the nostalgia, here's Too Many Broken Hearts. Come one, sing along, I know you know the words....

Blogging from my phone

Hope this works!

Excited :)

My new mobile has just been delivered and I am rather excited (shallow, I know)! I've been using an ancient Samsung for ages since my last phone broke but now I am in possession of a nice, new, shiny N96 :) I'm off to have a play with it now :)

See you later
x

Simple pleasures :)

A great book and a brew :)

I got this book this week (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson) and started reading it last night. Absolutely fantastic, I can see this becoming one of my favourite books :) I'd heard good things about it but hadn't expected it to be so funny and you can't help really liking the characters. Miss Pettigrew is the sort of friend that every woman should have. She's so unflappable and always knows what to do. I wish I knew a Guinevere Pettigrew! I'd had a bit of a dull and boring day yesterday and this was like reading a sort of fairy tale for grown ups, if that makes sense? It's one of those books that is so sweet and charming, you can't help feeling warm and fuzzy. The perfect antidote to the credit crunch blues :)

We're being a bit naughty here tonight as we are having takeout pizza :) yum yum! We were supposed to be having a relatively healthy homemade pizza but someone (naming no names but for once this culinary disaster wasn't down to your's truly...) forgot to put the kneading paddle in the breadmaker so after 1 1/2 hours there was still no pizza dough! For a one off it's not going to hurt but we are going to be eating a lot more healthier after Christmas :)

Oh and before I forget, thank you all for your lovely comments about my Christmas cards :) It's something I've been doing for a while but it's something I've been a bit self-conscious about because my sister has been less than complimentary about it in the past. She thinks by making my cards I am being "cheap" and "tight", not realising it costs me more in materials and time and effort than it would do to buy a handmade card in the shops. Oh well, you can't win 'em all :)

See you all tomorrow

x

Catching Up

Well, I managed to do 2 days of JYC on time but then my internet was off so I am a little bit behind! I finally got back onto the internet today and have read all my JYC emails and have an idea what I'm going to do for them so hopefully I'll be able to catch up quickly :)

Today I have been Christmas shopping and have almost done all my shopping but I have had a row with my sister about presents. I much prefer to have a surprise to open on Christmas day but my sister says "you either tell me exactly what you want or I'm not getting you anything", which I think misses the point of giving gifts! I'd rather she gave me something she has really thought about, even if it didn't cost very much. On Friday she made me write a list of exactly what I wanted for Christmas (she's getting me books) but said there was "nothing in particular" she wanted. So today I have been shopping and bought her a lovely (expensive) present which I spent a long time choosing. She then rang me up and said she had decided she wanted a very specific perfume and when I told her I'd already bought her present she told me to take it back. I'm so angry with her. She doesn't know what I got her and I spent ages choosing it. Next time I'm not going to bother. She will get money in a (shop-bought) card. I'm tired of being the only person in our family who actually bothers thinking about what people want so I have decided that from now on I will do the same as my sister and my mam and just give people money in a card. Grrrrrrr. She makes me so mad!

Ok, rant over. JYC Day 3 coming up....

Every year I always make my all my own Christmas cards. I think the last time I bought cards from a shop was about 7 years ago and (for me) part of the fun in Christmas preparations is making all my cards, knowing that each one will be individual and the people I send them to won't get another one exactly the same!

I normally start making my cards pretty early (one year I started them in July!) so that it isn't all a mad panic before Christmas. This year I got a Cricut for my birthday and so I have been using this to help me a lot this year :)

Here is a selection of some of this year's cards:

Hope you like them :) See you all tomorrow

x