Scraps of my life

In the years since I finished work (5) I have pursued a few different crafts one of them being scrapbooking  Yes it’s been around for ever, but it was one that I had never embarked on, mainly due to lack of interest. Whilst previously I was all about learning and studying for academic qualifications, when I had to stop work due to being both physically and mentally exhausted, I was left with a whole lot of time to fill. I was firstly attracted to the pretty awesome patterned papers and coloured and textured card that were on offer and started out slowly obtaining a few things and then I gradually built up my supplies and now I own a Spellbinders die cut machine and several other tools of the trade.

However, I do tire easy and so can go quite a while without doing much.  About a month ago I decided to embark on a small 8x8 album to document the first twelve months of my grandsons life. It has been a challenge mainly because I have so many beautiful photos that I want to use, but there it not much room on a small page like that. To get around that I have decided to make pockets on the back of the layout page and I will slip the extra photos in there.

Sometimes I do ask myself is there any point to doing this scrapbooking and journalling.  Will anyone be interested in the future? I hope so, but at least I have my memories down on paper and it might provide some delightful reflection in the future when my twilight years are upon me.

The process of scrapping has allowed me to be creative and inventive. I like to make my own little embellishments and if I can do that from things just lying around the house all the better. I work on the principle of keeping it simple, and make the photo the focal point. I cannot feel comfortable with the over embellished pages I come across, where I find it hard to see the photo.

 Most of my photographs have been taken on my Canon camera or my Samsung Galaxy 4, or prior to that my iPhone. They have produced some very good photos. I send them to be printed at Harvey Norman, when they have one of their great offers.

 I just wish my handwriting was neater. I would print all my journalling up but I was told that writing it in hand is much more personal. So I will stick with it, with the occasional printed word.

Thanks for reading folks,

Ciao

It's Been a While friends

Today is when we traditionally celebrate mothers day. the day means different things to people. My family are not big on celebrating the some what commercialised day, but my girls do love to put on a morning tea. Sadly one of my girls, Nicole lives far away and can't be part of the day, I feel the gap when one or more can't be here.
Today's feast consisted of sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, little cupcakes, apple and cream sponge cake. Coffee and tea. Lovely thanks girls.

Life has been bubbling away, days turn into weeks and before I know it another month has ticked over. Seriously, is it a sign of ageing? I don't seem to get much done but the time passes fast.
I have been scrap-booking, sewing and more often than not face-booking, chatting to my friends and family.
I undertake things when I have the energy to carry them out. Additionally, because I am not mobile enough to carry and fetch required items for my craft projects I rely heavily on my family to do this. It can cause problems. I feel quite bad that I ask them to do so much. They get tired of my requests. They also work and so I have to get them to bring things before they leave and sometimes there just isn't the time. On those days I sit here on my nest (couch) and stare into space. Zone out as some people say. Almost like suspended animation. Waiting for someone to appear or something to happen.
No pity parties though, this is my life right now. I don't always like it, but there it is.

I do have a special friend who visits me frequently, she is a blessing. Love that woman. My girl who lives away calls me nearly every day-she misses me. I like to chatting to her but the thing is my life is rather bland and I don't have much news.
 The photo below was taken last month when our fourth daughter came or a holiday for two weeks. She loved cuddling her nephew who she had last seen when he was two months old. This girl is an enrolled nurse who works in a nursing home, and who has applied to university to continue her career so she can become a registered nurse. We are very proud of her and her determination. She has battled some great challenges and moved through them all. She also recently became engaged to her partner of three years.

The photo above shows one of my recent forays into making zippered purses. I have never put a zip into anything before so had a personal challenge to do so. I searched the web for an easy to follow tutorial so i could learn at my own pace. By my third attempt I had made something pretty decent-good enough for my needs anyway. I gifted that large wallet to my nurse daughter, so she could keep her stethoscope in her handbag. However with me if I don't practice a new skill enough I tend to not retain the knowledge.

I just had too add this photo of my grandson who is now nearly 9 months old. He is quite a cheeky little fella and is determined. He is also very loving and loves cuddles from me. It truly makes my heart sing, as he loves me just as I am, without any pre-conceived ideas. A real little character that's for sure.

So that is my little lot for a moment. I will be back soon...

It's The Little Things That Count

Hello folks. It's been a little quiet around these parts and today seemed like a good time to sit and chat about the goings on in my little world. I started sewing again after a long break and have been making a new, to me, quilt block which is a variation on the windmill block that I have made previously. This one was so easy  to do and I wondered why I had never come across it before. Maybe it's a case of  things coming to us when we are ready to see them?
I am not sure how I will use these blocks yet but they could be used in a baby quilt.I love the fact that I can use my smallest scraps of fabrics, and the results are always spectacular. 

In other quilt news, I have been commissioned to make a lap quilt for my best friends cousin. Of course this means that I go into an anxious state, feeling my self imposed pressure to make the 'perfect' item. I do it to myself all the time. Throughout my life this has occurred and despite me trying to work on it, I still face it when I am tackling a new thing.

 The photo below is one that I have shown here before and it is still to be finished. The issue is that I don't have the confidence to quilt it. I am a very novice free motion quilter, and this quilt design calls for that type of quilting. I don't want to pay someone else to do it for me, so until I become bold and brave enough to do it, it will languish in my basket of unfinished projects. 



In other news this small person is now 7 months old. He is crawling all over the place and discovering his world. He has the most infectious giggle and has a smile on his face every time he comes through the door or wakes from a sleep. He has been having a terrible time with teething, and now has two weeny bottom teeth. He loves to visit with his nana and pop and his aunties. His favourite play things are an old T.V remote (with batteries removed), an old calculator, a plastic drink bottle filled with rice, and a small cloth that I sewed colourful fabric bits too. He also has lots of lovely shop bought toys, but like most children it is the odds and ends around the house that take his interest. We love seeing him grow and pass his milestones and we could be called biased, but we do reckon he advanced for his age. He is pulling himself where he can and really wants to get going. That boy will be running by Christmas I think. Look out then.

I have been unwell for a while, but today feel much better in myself and hope this is a sign of more productive times ahead.
I will sign off now and do the next thing on my list which is write a shopping list. Daughter 3 is making home made pizza for tea tonight. Can't wait.
So what are you doing this weekend?

Ciao

Jan

Coffee, Bills and a holiday

It's early Sunday morning but I am already onto my second cup of coffee, paid and filed our bills, checked my Facebook for updates and have also gone through copious amounts of emails. Yep, great start to my day. The weather is predictably very hot and although I remain indoors in air conditioned comfort, by mid afternoon it is getting uncomfortable inside.

                                                     Rossiter Bay, Esperance W.A

In recent news the bloke and I had a small trip to the coast. We left on a Friday after lunch and arrived early evening in time for a takeaway dinner from the local Chinese restaurant. Now, we have eaten from this place numerous times over the years we have been visiting Esperance, but the food this time was terrible. It really put a dampener on our first evening. Then to bed thank goodness I thought, well no. For some reason the bed was really high and I was unable to sit back far enough on the bed to lift my legs onto it. So picture this if you wish-Me perched precariously on the very edge of said bed. The bloke half crouching over me, ready to lift my legs as I swing up and onto it. He also has  two of the beds wheels chocked up with his thongs to prevent it taking off through the wall. He then expertly hooks my legs up and onto the bed and I'm in for the night. Unfortuantley in the early hours of the morning I needed to use the toilet so after that there was no way I was going through all that again, so I sat on his single bed and he climbed into my bed. 

The following day we drove around to the shops and out to the beaches which were stunning, and the weather was very nice for us. Deciding that we would do chicken and salad for dinner that night we had bought the ingredients for the salad and the bloke would go to the local chicken franchise to buy some chook. Of he went and about twenty minutes later he calls to tell me that the chicken shop has run out of chicken so it was fish and chips and salad. Seriously how does a chicken shop run out of chicken? 

On the Sunday we drove out to the beautiful Cape Le Grand National Park, about a 1/2 hour to forty minute drive out of Esperance. Spectacular coastline and the water was such a gorgeous shade of deep blue. However there were people everywhere and I didn't feel comfortable getting out in front of them and sitting in my wheelchair so we drove further along a mostly dirt, bone rattling track to Rossiter Bay, a more quieter location to eat our picnic lunch. We had the place to ourselves and even though it was very windy we didn't mind as it was such a change from where we live in the dry, dusty Goldfields.
Funnily enough mid way through lunch along came another car, and would you believe given that the whole area was vacant except us they parked just one car width away from us! Now I am no snob, but heck why do people do this? It also happens in car parks. You can be the only car parked but come out and someone has parked so close to your car that you need a can opener to get in.

On this trip away we did something we have never done before. Now before you get too alarmed it was ordering room service. Yep, in all of our 31 years together we have never indulged in this 'treat'. Of course it was more expensive than we would normally spend on a meal, but we never go out for a meal and it is one more  thing ticked off our bucket list. Studying the menu was exciting, and the thought of the delicious foods made our mouths water. In the end the bloke chose surf n turf  and beer battered chips and I had a rump steak with Diane sauce, beer battered chips and salad. It was delivered within half an hour of us ordering. Verdict was that is was great and a must do thing again. 

On the Monday we packed up the van and headed for home. I love coming home again. sigh...

Does anyone have any memorable stories of a trip away?

Keep well, 

A sunny Sunday

 

 

 It’s early on a Sunday morning and the house is still quiet, a lovely part of the day.  The bloke has already gone to work at 5am and the girls are still asleep. I often wish I could just stay asleep that extra couple of hours or so, as it makes for a long day otherwise. I rarely go back to bed during the day and so by nightfall I can barely string two words together, such is my tiredness. 

But I do enjoy the early morning solitude, being able to unscramble my befuddled brain and to look out of my windows and see the green lush plants on the patio or through the kitchen window the huge shrub the bloke planted years ago, that now resembles a small tree. We even have little birds that sit in the trees out in the yard who sing out the most beautiful song, it makes me feel that I am live amongst the most beautiful country in the world. Until the heat and humidity starts up again and then I am not so keen.

I had to go to the hospital on Friday to receive another iron infusion, standard procedure usually. This time there were terrible delays whilst I had to wait for staff to attend me, when they finally got to me they discovered that my doctor had not written up the iron infusion. Off they went to find someone to write up the orders. With that done the head nurse came to insert cannula.  It went smoothly, what a relief. Unfortunately the relief was short lived as it seems she had only just got it into the vein and an hour after she thought it was running she checked to see that it wasn’t. So remove that try another spot on my hand. Ouch! Nope that missed the mark and my hand swelled. Try another spot on other hand. Nope that one also failed. Then the nurse asked her colleague to have a try, on the underside of my right wrist. No the nurse said I am not happy about putting it in there. I was warned that it was a more sensitive area, okay I thought. Well what an understatement it hurt like hell. I actually let rip with a few choice swear words and even cried it hurt me that bad. I was shuddering and shaking by this stage, my teeth clattering together. I told her no more, I was going home. The nurse said she would call the physician to come and put it in. Two of them arrived and soon located an area on my upper right forearm. My god this also stung a lot, and worse the first attempt failed so he tried again, with success. Whew, I was so relieved to finally be getting this iron. It meant that I was not leaving the place until 12.30pm. I was so happy when the bloke came to take me home, if I could have run to the car I would have. Once home I did feel a bit odd and nauseous, but put it down to the drama of the day. In a months’ time I will have blood tests to see if the iron infusion has worked.

In other news when my doctor saw me last week she told me that I needed to choose to take an appetite suppressant or go onto optifast in order to start some weight loss. I am not happy about this. I have tried both without success. Of course this is because I am weak and don’t try hard enough [sarcasm intended] and I know the people in my life who are concerned about my health want me to take action and stop the gain and shed the excess and become healthy and…

However I have no faith in my ability to succeed. I have no proof that I can stick to such a strict regime. My whole being is tied up with the consumption of food and drink and to just stop takes more strength than I have. I know that there are people reading who are puzzled at my inability to just stop over eating. It’s more complicated than they will ever know. I am sick of trying to justify my choices, as bad as they may seem. I don’t want sympathy, I am not a victim. I am just one person who is trying to live a life unique to me. I never set out to have this type of life, but circumstances have led me down this path. So I try to be happy and content most of the time. I’m not sure if I am making sense here, but I know what I mean.

In order to get this published promptly I will finish here and leave something for another post.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer holidays, if your having any. School is back soon, not that it affects me, but I am sure there will be a few relieved parents out there.

Till bext time x

Jan