Happy Exhaustion.....

I love my grandgirls to bits, we have great fun together, but, boy, when they have gone and I have collasped into my chair at the end of a very busy day do I know what exhaustion is.
We walked round and round the curtain fig tree, talked to foreign tourists - one who complimented me on my beautiful daughters and wouldn't believe I was their granma. We then visited with my niece at her new business, had icy-poles and a play on the park. The girls are now big enough that they don't need lifting onto climbing frames or helped down from the flying fox so granma gets to sit and rest.
A game of bed tennis developed into a very rowdy game of 'lets see who can whack the ball around the room the hardest'.  Bed tennis involves a very tired granny lying on the bed with one or two grandgirls, they at one end and me at the other, we bat a very soft ball to each other, they run around after the ball while granny lies there resting, occassionally batting the ball out of the room, but then it got serious and competitive. When I bought the ball I bought it because it was bigger than a tennis ball and a lot softer, it makes me cringe just thinking of the damage we could have done with a tennis ball.  But we had fun, granma worked up a sweat and the girls got tired.

The highlite of the day was decorating masks. I'd been to the Reject Shop and picked up a load of cheap craft items and a friend had cleared out a lot of her sparkly bits and pieces so we spent the time; when we were not racing around; in decorating the masks, lots of glitter and fairy dust was used - its amazing just how far two little girls can spread that stuff.  We left them drying on the verandah while we went for our walk and visits and when we'd had our rest the girls added more and more glitter and sparklies.  The little one decided to throw her tanty and I could see she was getting tired and it was time to take them home.

We always have to drive past the horse fields to see the horses and count how many there are, how many black ones there are and discuss the merits of horse poo for the roses (their mums dad has horses and they collect the poo for the garden), its one of our little rituals.  I suppose because I only had one set of grandparents that I didn't see very often and my grandmother had  gone by the time i was 8 that I want to create special memories for my g.girls.  I know I remember every single thing we did and the fun we had and I hope they will remember those times as well,  one day all too soon it will be a chore going to grandma's and they will want to be off doing other things so I don't mind the hours of clean up afterwards, the teenage mutant ninja turtles in my bed (Stacey found her uncles old toys in the cupboard) or the aches and pains these aging bones feel for days afterwards.

Its about time I made a start on the day, it looked like it was going to be miserable today, the grey clouds have parted revealing beautiful blue skies, so the garden needs a good watering and I might put some new veggies in the kitchen garden.  I need to finish off some crochet flower garlands and maybe start a new pig.  I got an order for a set of snowdolls, so I need to work out a price for them and the postage and have some me time and coffee with a friend and I'm not going to get all that done by hanging around in blogland. Better dash........

Its hot, and only a few days into spring

Phew, I had my usual walk by the lake, got my daily dose of vitamin D. Its gonna be a hot dry summer I think.  The garden is as dry as a bone, the grass have given up trying to grow and its not been green for a few weeks.  It only seemed minutes ago we were complaining of the constant drizzle and grey skies.  But its cup of tea time now I think, maybe a chai or a Liptons raspberry, cranberry and strawberry herbal infusion. Sounds good, anyone care to join me.........

Aren't the three little pastel coloured cannisters soooo pretty. I picked them up for $5 yesterday at the markets. I love this little corner of the kitchen, unfortunately though the biscuit and cake tins are empty, no cake or biscuits for me till I've parted company with my gall-bladder.

Woohooo......I got on the front cover

Did they get my best side? 

Now behave you two, no throwing snowballs when my back is turned.

I still get excited when I see my designs in print.  A friend phoned me up from town when I was in our local post office, she texted me that my design had made the front cover, I hope the guy who was stood behind didn't get to much of a shock at my happy dance.   I wonder if the snowbear will be in next months edition.  The snowdolls arrived home the day before the magazine came out in the shops, I'd forgotten how cute they were.  They were very excited to see themselves in print as well, luckily the snowbear and the big basket of snowballs didn't come home with them else I'd be in the middle of a snowball fight. .............. and I won the giveaway at Delena's blog.  What a wonderful week I've had, lets hope this new week is just as good.

Thanks Pat

It was you not me that solved the problem, everything is so much easier now.

I think an easy day is called for today,, I'm going to sit on the sofa with a couple of the boxes from yesterday and go through them properly, I'm sure I don't need half the stuff that is in them.  I might make up some crafty baggies for the op-shop - the sort you love to find. Fill of bits of lace and beads and hidden goodies.  I usually donate all my stuff to the animal welfare op-shop, its a small private one and I usually always find a good bargain there and its the one I'm going to volunteer in when I'm back on my feet after my op.

I sat and made more crochet flowers for the garlands last night, I played around a bit with different flowers but have gone back to the first one I did.  I can't get the darker colors in the cotton anymore, theres a magenta and a purple and a darker pink that people want in their garlands, I've just got enough to do two more garlands and then its probably time to change colour schemes. Its only a cheapy cotton but its works up really nice for the flowers, I priced the DMC and another brand and they were 3x's the price of this one.  I love the african flowers doiley above, my friend saw mine and she has been dropping hints she wants something for her birthday with them in.  So I might get the ordered garland finished and then save the rest of the darker yarn for her birthday pressie in October.
I need to go get dressed, make the bed, do a quick vacumm and dust and then settle down for a day of crafting.

Side-tracked yet again...........Vicki wanted embroidered doilies for her hexagon quilt she is making, I have some you can have them I said, Judi wanted spray adhesive - don't buy any I said I have some you can have,  I wanted to to find something, can't think what it was that I was meant to be looking for. But while I was looking for the doilies and the adhesive I'd be bound to come across whatever it was I wanted.  Couldn't find the spray adhesive anywhere, obviously I must have got rid of it.  Doilies all washed and hung out on the line and then I remembered I'd hidden some in a white wicker hamper, so out came the hamper, found some felt bits, decided there and then to make a felt flower brooch, didn't have enough felt, it needed more petals, went in the spare wardrobe, dug out a bag of felt bits (but not the colours I wanted), found some 8 ply apricot coloured crochet cotton - great, just what I needed for a project, found the victorian gold buttons that were on an ancestors wedding dress - great I thought I had lost them, while I was in the wardrobe I might as well get a few boxes out and go through them, found the felt I wanted plus some more so I went and made three flower brooches, then I went back to the wardrobe and found some crochet squares that I was making into a blanket, so I had to arrange them and decided I would finish it off this week, I found the adhesive and the doilies. I looked around the room, oh my, did I make that much mess.  Oops.  So now I am in the process of cleaning everything out.  I never did find or remember what it was I was looking for. 

back to winter again

Brrrrrr.......there was I thinking I could start to put the winter clothes away, how wrong was i. The wind howled through yesterday at the markets, one poor stallholder very nearly became airborne as the wind got under her gazebo. It was amazing watching the leaves flying everywhere everytime a gust came.  You could tell the holiday crowd - they were the ones in t-shirts and shorts. 
I took the dog out for her walk by the lake early this arvy, I'm glad I did because now the sun has disappeared its so cold I'm not venturing out.  Okay, so its around 20C, thats cold for up here and I'm getting old and  sooky.                                                                                                                               Pop on over to my friend Delenas blog and say g'day, she's having a giveaway for new followers - http://serenitynow-del.blogspot.com/.  I hope I get invited to her next years camp out, it looked so much fun.  Loved the comment you left Delena, you can tell what people are thinking when they see what you have made - now theres a woman with too much time on her hands (and thats the polite comment they make).
I'm heading off now to close up the house and get into my fleecys before it gets any cooler.

Hugs

J

message for Pat

Hi Pat, I wanted to leave a comment on your blog but it wouldn't let me, kept saying i couldn't with my account and had to change it. I don't have another blogger account so don't know whats going on. Please don't think I am ignoring your comments, I appreciate them very much.  Nice to know someone is interested in what I have to say.

Hugs

Jan

I blinked.......

........and there it was, well into the second week of September.  So I suppose an update is called for.

The pancreatitis settled down, my op is scheduled for the end of November.  Up until yesterday I had had no problems, just a dull ache occassionally when I ate a little too much and nausea every morning. I've missed cheese so much, i searched and searched around the shops for a low fat one and ended up buying a packet of kraft low fat cheese slices to stick on my toast.  One of my comfort foods is cheese on toast - thin slices of tomato, topped with a slice of cheese and a liberal dash of HP sauce after its melted.  Yum. Occassionally I'll use mashed avocado instead of spread, mixed with vegemite and then the cheese.  I've cut down on bread, one loaf lasts me longer than a week, I use Shape No Fat milk and a litre lasts me over a week, I haven't had red meat since the first attack, chicken maybe twice and it didn't agree with me despite being careful and fish I now have twice a week, I'm consuming my 5 and 2 with ease.   I've been mainly eating no fat cottage cheese on rice cakes for lunch and snacks and I've discovered SunRice apple and cinnamon rice cakes with less than 1g of fat and low sugar and low calorie so I can get my 'sweet' fix every now and again. I make a weeks supply of pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot soup with added pasta and Borlotti beans - no fat and low cal and delicious. I weigh everything out and I have been surprised just how much food is in a 'serve'. I reckon I put back a third of what the packet says is an average serve and still have enough.   I've lost a total of 5kgs so far and with this latest attack  and continued no/low fat diet I should lose a bit more, I thinks the docs will be happy with another 7kgs at least and I would be over the moon if I could do it by the end of November.

I have noticed with eating less bread and dairy and meat and more veggies and fruit I have had extra energy, I've even been jogging out by the lake and have started jogging on my treadmill.  Though I think I am going to have to invest in a sports bra before I do anymore.  I take the dog for a long walk by the lake in the mornings or the early evenings and can walk further and further each time, I have been sleeping better and deeper despite having to get up three or four times a night to go to the loo.  I can mow the lawns in one hit rather than three or four, when I get restless i go out and rake leaves or weed.  I'm taking advantage of all this extra energy very opportunity I can.

Craft wise I discovered an  artist (Margaret Oomen) who covers river rocks with crochet and as I was so bored I decided to do a few, I'm happy how they turned out, all made up as I went along.  They don't really do anything for me and yes they are pretty but now I've done them I think that will be it. 

 I was so bored with the tele on tuesday night that I decided to recover my footstool (hassock, pouffe, whatever!). I set to crocheting and it was gone midnight when I looked up from my work, I finished it the next day, bunged a flower on top and there you have it. I also made half a dozen ducks/chooks/mutant birds in bright colours, I sold four of them in purples, yellows and blue. I won't make anymore unless asked.  I want to get back to my embroidery, I have half a dozen designs sitting in the craft room just waiting to be stitched up, they were for submission to the mags but I just couldn't be arsed.  So many crafts to do and the time is running away from me.  I won't be working again or looking for work this side of christmas and I have all this time to fill in but before you know it it will be next year and the stitcherys and dolls will still need making up.  I've decided to just go with the flow, to stand still and just BE, I'm not going to fight it, if I want to just spend a day doing nothing but staring into space then that is what I shall do, I have no one to answer to except myself, no one to please except myself.  I have let go of the need to be doing something or going somewhere. I enjoy my own company, my solitude but I also realise that sometimes friends need to be with me, they need an outlet for their thoughts, or just someone to listen to them, so I make time for them and hope that they in return respect my need for solitude every now and again.

Isn't my footstool bright and cheerful, it was so good to actually make something for myself. Just a circle made bigger by increasing 8 sts each row till it fitted the top and then just stripes of closed shells with no further increasing.  Once it was the right length I just decreased for a few rows, slipped it over the footstool and then made a large flower in the stripe colours and stitched it in place.  Two evenings work. The footstool did need filling a bit more and since I didn't have anymore of the filling beads I just used the fill from an old clean pillow. It should have a cord around the middle but I might just leave it as it is.  It would only take me a few minutes to whip one up if I decided to put one on.

Okay, I think thats everything brought up to date now, oh yes, I had a email from my late fathers oldest brothers daughters.  I'm now back on track in my search for my dads ancestors, they remembered me as a little girl but I don't remember them as they were a lot older than me.  It was so good to get in touch with them and we have shared photos and memories of our family.  So I am back time-travelling when I am not day dreaming or hooking.  If you need me I'll be in Yorkshire around the mid 1800's.

Uhru

Jan

Oh dear, there was me full of energy at last and nothing to do. I decided to take the car in early this morning and get new tyres. Okay so maybe the universe had other plans for me today.  I had a flat battery. Where was the battery charger.  The inside of the shed looks like a cyclone has gone through it (well one did a few months ago but I'm sure it was tidier after that). They (the sons) will put things above my eye level and they know if they put things on the high shelves I just ain't gonna see them. Phone call to a friend to tell her I wasn't going to meet her in town, phone call to son to ask where the charger was.

He directs me through the pile of stuff in the shed to the corner where the snake is always seen and there under two doors and a few picture frames, in the toolbox under a pile of tools is the charger. Now as i am getting the charger out an ocky strap fell down across my arm - it wasn't just the car that needed charging at that moment.  So I have the charger but no extention lead, only the short ones. That was another phone call to son, they are hanging up in the shed, I can't see them anywhere, nother phone call, look up they're hanging from a ceiling hook, get the ladder out. Okay now I am all ready to go. Grab new neighbour ask him how to I do it, he knows less about the inside of cars than me. Phone call to friend, she phones her partner he relays message to tell me which lead to stick on which terminal. Okay got all that, which is the pos and which is the neg, more calls, look for the pos sign, can't see it, look at the wires, find out neg is the black one with the yellow stripe down the wire casing, okay, neighbour escapes while he can. Everything sorted, switch on - nothing, needle doesn't move, more calls. Unplug everything, clean the terminals and leads and reconnect. YAY, we have lift-off.  It is now 12.30, I'm covered in oil and grease and sawdust and other stuff, theres a few spiders webs in my hair and probably a few spiders as well, the shed is even messier but I did learn to do something new, wasn't quite what I was expecting but least I can do it now.

I am going to sit down now and craft, my energy has disappeared. The picture has nothing to do with messy sheds or flat batteries, its just a pretty piccy of my crocheted daffs, it cheers me up. I think I will just chill out in the garden, have a read of the Better Homes and Gardens, catch up with a few blogs and then sit and sew or hook. 

I forgot to mention my birthday, I'd forgotten all about that, quiet day, trip to the garden centre with a friend, coffee with another friend, grandkids came over, lots of hugs, risked a piece of cake, so far so good, no adverse effects, early night cuddled up with the dog, a hot water bottle and a good book.

Perhaps next birthday I will make up for this quiet one.

I see the surgeon on Tuesday, I'm feeling really good so hopefully we can put off surgery for a while.  Okay, theres a seat with a comfy cushion in a patch of sun calling my name. Toodles.

J

washing frenzy

Having what seems like endless days of drizzle and grey skies, yesterday we got blue skies that lasted from sun up to sun down. Since the weather has been so unpredictable of late I worked myself up into a washing frenzy - off came the sheets and doona covers and into the wash, I scoured the house for things to clean. Five loads of washing blowing in the breeze, what a sight.  Now I am sitting staring at a humungous pile of clean washing requiring folding, ironing and putting away.  Funny, I don't seem to be as enthusiatic over washing as I did yesterday.

The washing machine has just finished the stray things from yesterday, I'm off to peg out again - I'll take my camera down with me again. The King Parrots are in the bananas and if I sneak up on them I might be able to get a shot in. Typical, I did all my camera settings before I went out of the house and not one parrot was there, there are a few bananas that they have left but the friar birds are finishing them off and they are not a very photogenic bird.

I seem to be in a bit of a slump with my crocheting - I sat down yesterday and tried to recreate a couple of small amigurumi's I had made off the top of my head a couple of years ago and as usual I hadn't written the pattern down, so using the photo as a guide I had 1 attempt that turned out quite cute but bigger than I wanted and two attempts that got frogged twice each.  Rather than push myself I'm going to put away the hooks for a few days, I think its just overload. I've lost track of how many flowers and hearts I have made recently, plus all the snowdolls and the curly top dolls for a shop in town.  I have enough stock now to be going on with, perhaps I will put all my yarn away and clear my work bench and work on making the little stitchery kits. 

I know her ears aren't right, looking at the photo of the others I think I did them in a circle for a couple of rows and then shaped them with decreases and increases.  But somebody will love her I'm sure and she can go in the basket of pigs.
While searching for the pattern I came across a basket full of body parts, heads, arms, legs but no bodies. They make up two of the long legs and curly top dolls. I might just get them finished cos I'm sure the bodies are somewhere and then they can go in the pig basket. 

Okay less talk and drivel, I'm off to get creative, the washing is out, the sun is shining, the painkillers have kicked in......oh yes, I forgot, doctors appointment - lots of gallstones, moderately acute pancreatitis and a fatty liver. Now waiting for an appointment coming through to see the surgeon. 

Jan