Rocking My World Friday

I'm still at my Dad's and he's still not improving. The last 10 days have been a

strain and I have done no crafting to speak of but I do have some gratefuls.

First and foremost is my OH who has now joined me at Dad's. Not only did he bring himself but he also brought Max and all my mail. Super hugs from Max and various delights in the mail - my August ATC from Maria - it's beautiful and really cheered me up - thanks Maria; my October copy of Creating Keepsakes - full of inspiration; my prize from Tiare on ScrapnFIT - a beautifully put together kit from Classy Coordinates - thanks Tiare. I'll ignore the electricity bill that was also in the pile!!

Next is the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Leeds for letting us stay there with Max even though they normally only allow small dogs (Max was a big hit and everyone knew him by name before we left! He now has friends in North Carolina). As David was working in Leeds I travelled down by train to meet him and look after Max. The visitor information centre found us the hotel (thanks to them too) which was in the city centre and 5 mins walk from the car park (OH works for NCP).Max and I watched the cricket in the bar during the afternoon and the very helpful barman then switched to Sky Sports 2 so that I could see Man Utd's Carling cup game in the evening. David and I had a lovely meal too. Bliss.

My nephew Anthony has been a source of help and support - shopping for us and filling in for me. Thanks Anth - you really are one in a million.:) Thanks too for finding me the box of photos no-one knew about - a veritable treasure trove of old family pictures. Heritage pages coming up!

David has now gone off to Newcastle for the day (work), the district nurse has been and my bro and SIL are coming over this evening for "discussions" - we're leaving on Tuesday...

I'm hoping for fine weather tomorrow so that I can finally get to visit Graphicus in Barnard Castle on the way up to Middleton-in-Teesdale. My Mum was brought up in River Terrace and I have many happy memories of playing in the river  - want to take Max there for a walk (down memory lane for me, to a place of new smells etc. for Max).

Sue xx

MIA

Sorry I haven't blogged for over a week but I haven't really felt up to it.
Dad is not improving at all and it's a constant struggle to get him to eat or drink anything. I'm phoning and asking for his GP to visit tomorrow. Just hope he can help.

I'm far away from my stash and am missing scrapping. I managed to make a card for a b'day I'd forgotten about (have a small stash here but mainly for cards) but no camera- so no photo!
The picture above is of my altered clock - minus hands (a long story but it will be finished eventually.) I had a great day sitting with Diane at A Maze of Memories - it was lovely to just craft without interruptions.

The LOs and card were made on Sunday for a crop on WeScrap - these were three of eight challenges (only managed three as the crop started Saturday but I didn't join in until Sunday).

The first LO had to be about our favourite holiday and include  three photos,a tag,either stitching,buttons or ribbon (I managed all three!).

The second was a challenge to do a LO in French - right up my street! The photo is of me with Serge (the boy whose family I stayed with) in 1969. I uploaded the photo for the "I dare you..." challenge which was to show a photo from your High School years. Thought I may as well use it for a LO too. The title isn't clear but it's "Moment de detente a Paris". Papers are Lavender and Lace (from AMOM).

The final challenge was to do a card or LO with pennants. I made the card for Vicky's 21st - it's changed a bit since the photo was taken - I took the black shrink plastic off and replaced it with white - stamped with butterflies and the no 21 and silver ribbon through  a hole in the top.

I'm off now to sort through more old photos.

Sue xx

Rocking My World Friday

Oh boy - it's Friday again - why is this year going by so fast?


My first grateful of the week has to be my optician - for getting my glasses back so fast!  I've been able to read (four books) and craft again without getting a headache.


My OH deserves an honourable mention for watching "New Moon" with me and for not laughing even if he did find some of the storyline weird - I keep telling him the books are better but to no avail. I've bought him the new Terry Pratchett so he's happy with that.


Amazon deserves thanks too - for keeping their promise and emailing me as soon as the DVD release date was set for "Eclipse" - my copy has now been pre-ordered.


Tiare at ScrapnFIT for her wonderful sketches and for the inspiration to stick to a healthy eating plan - 1lb down on the first week - another 19 to go.


Christina at A Maze of Memories - firstly for the kit I used on my "Dessert" LO and secondly for holding tomorrow's all day class where we will be altering a clock. I'm looking forward to getting inky and messy and generally having fun. Diane has promised to save a seat next to her - so we'll have a good laugh too.


My DS for keeping in touch - have a great weekend at Bestival on the Isle of Wight - and don't do anything I wouldn't do (let's face it that pretty much gives you free rein!).


And , as always, my online friends - for making me laugh and keeping me sane (well, as sane as I'll ever be).


It's been a good week all told - would be even better if my and Gill's parcel from Cafe Press arrived today - all will be revealed next week!
Hugs,

Sue xx

New Challenge LOs.

This LO of my Dad is for a scraplift challenge on WeScrap.
Papers,brads,acetate and title are all from their "Fanciful Frames" kit.
Flowers are Prima
Buttons are Foof-a-La
Ribbon from stash
Orange trimming from scrap paper and a Martha Stewart punch.

This one is for a sketch challenge on ScrapnFIT. It took me longer to sort the papers than it did to do the LO.
Bazzill cardstock and white "edging" (under title).
Papers from stash - the red was in my bag of scraps and I don't even remember buying the blue.
The ribbons,chipboard buttons and flower,brads and title were all free with a magazine - Le Monde du Scrap.





It's been a day for deliveries here - groceries from Sainsbury's ,Tim Holtz stamps from ebay and distress inks from QVC - and, yes, they did all arrive at the same time, much to the delight of Max - he got to bark a lot and have strangers tickle his tummy.

Sight of the day - me scrabbling about in a black wheelie bin. The black bin is for non-recycleable rubbish and is emptied every two weeks - it wasn't yesterday (that was the green bin full of recycleables). I lost the protective cover from my scissors and it was the only place I could think of after I'd searched my craft area - got a bit keen throwing out the plastic from my inks! Sure enough there it was at the bottom - gross. It has now been thoroughly washed and disinfected - so have my hands.
Hugs,
Sue xx

Not Rocking My World Friday but Shaking My Saturday!

Apologies for being 24 hours late with this but by the time I got round to it last night I could hardly see. My reading/computer glasses are having new lenses fitted and boy am I missing them. Just going to have to pace my reading/craft/computer activities over the weekend. :(

This week has been much better than last. Dad is out of hospital (no scan results as yet but a big cut down in the amount of meds he has to take) and has a carer going in three times a day to prepare meals. This will be ongoing over three weeks so I shall visit him after that when I'll be of more use.

So...my gratefuls this week...

A Maze of Memories where I cropped last Saturday. It was wonderful to get out and see friends and just scrap for three hours without interruption - bliss! And then of course there was the stash shopping...
On which theme I thank QVC and Anna Griffin for solving my Christmas card problem... I bought the kit! I know a lot of people don't see this as "proper" card making but for me it's perfect. I shall still make special cards for family and close friends but don't need to panic when I lose days to my arthritis. Also I am very much a scrapbooker now and don't enjoy card making nearly as much as I used to.
I am grateful to Jo for introducing me to Collage Coterie - I have signed up for the classes and am looking forward to learning new techniques...when I get my glasses back!
ScrapnFIT deserves a mention too. I have signed up for the 90 day weight loss challenge and am also enjoying the sketch challenges. My "Room With a View" LO won the August challenge. Thanks Tiare - it was a lovely sketch to work with.

No crafting this week as I was still feeling down for most of it so other media have had to fill the gap!
Thank you to Swedish TV and BBC4 for the Wallander series. I've just watched the last one (for me - it was actually the first one broadcast but I missed it) and feel sad it's finished. Krister Henriksson was superb as Wallander.
Twilight (I know, I can hear you all saying "Not again!") which I watched with OH as he hadn't seen all of it.He enjoyed it and is ready to watch New Moon - I watched it again on Thurs. and I still cried even though I've read the book twice and seen the film three times!
The Headbangers Bible and Housework songs have been cheering me up this week too - well, they saw me through the "i" word.

And finally my online friends who have kept me busy poking them/vying for best celebrity lover on Facebook (Gill - that's you!), given me an ear to moan into (Val and Jan), sent me funnies to brighten nauseous Weds.(Carole) or generally just been there - too many to mention individually but you know who you are.

Lots of little gratefuls and a better week ahead.
Hope it's the same for all you Rockettes and fellow bloggers.
Sue xx