Dolly's Dreamings

So today's the day

I am sat waiting for Nigel to come home - coming home for the last time from the job he has been doing for 27 years.

I am sat waiting to make him feel special and important and value.

I am sat waiting to ensure he doesn't feel de-valued anymore, doesn't feel redundant but semi-retured. To ensure he is excited about some quality relaxation time and to ensure he knows he is loved and that this is just one step on life's path.

I know it is slushy, but boy I love that guy! I so often say it, but it is true. He is the kindest, most honourable and most truly good person I have ever known. He will never knowingly upset anyone, no matter how badly they treat him. He will always put others and their needs before himself. He would help anyone, and frequently does. He has no sense of revenge or payback, no matter what people do to him. He rises above it all and is a bigger and better person. If I could have one tenth of his self control, his patience, his integrity, his calm, his ability to switch off I would be a much better person. Instead - I am the luckiest girl alive because I get to live with him. I get to be his best friend in the whole world. And I get to spend so much more time with him now.

I hope and pray with all my heart that tomorrow is the start of something really good for him, because he deserves it so much.

Finding Freedom

Ok - so the reality of Nij's change in position is starting to hit home a little more now, but we are still celebrating the freedom to come.

Work has been hard for him over the past year or so and not the happiest place for him to be so we are both pleased he is getting out.

I haven't paper scrapped just for me for a while and was motivated to make this page yesterday.

The three photos were all taken saturday evening whilst we were in the pub - or rather outside the pub - enjoying a summer evening dinner outside.

The large picture lifts up and underneath it is absoultely filled with journalling about how he feels, how he has felt and also a copy of the very heartfelt e mail he sent to his brothers about his change in circumstance.

It is a very simple page. It is not artistic, has no great techniques but to me it is what scrapping is and should be all about. It records a very special moment in our lives and is journalling that needed to be written and remembered.

St Margaret's birthday today meant truly yummy chocolate cake to share and enjoy.

I promise it tasted as good as it looked!

Finally i want to share a letter - I received it as an e mail and it was apparently printed in the times.

I have no idea if it is genuine but i hope so.

I admire the author - you go girl!!!

A SENIOR MOMENT:  I HOPE I HAVE THEM LIKE THIS. A 98 year old woman in the UK wrote this to her bank.  The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the Times.   Dear Sir, I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it.  I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement, which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty eight years.  You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.  I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.  From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.  Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.  Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete.  I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.  Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee with PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.  I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.  As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Let me level the playing field even further.  When you call me, press buttons as follows: 1. To make an appointment to see me. 2. To query a missing payment. 3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there. 4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping. 5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature. 6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home. 7. To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required.  A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.) 8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through to 8. 9.  To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.  While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.  Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year. Your Humble Client       (Remember:  This was written by a 98 year old woman; DOESN'T SHE MAKE YOU PROUD!

Maligne Lake - Free class

I was intending a different class page this week but time has got the better of me with everything that has been going on.

This was a class page I taught a while ago but I haven't shared the class on here and I hope it is something you might enjoy.

If you would like to use it I would love to know what you think of it. Just pop a comment at the end of this post.

You can download the class page HERE

I will be back later with my photo of the day

OK so we tidied out the top cupbaords over the bed in our bedroom this afternoon as a first stage of getting ready for bedroom and bathroom renovation.

I have a serious shoe addiction and quite a lot of the shoes that i wear arely - you know .... the sort you can only wear when you are planning zero walking and standing due to high heels that i just can't wear for long now - are in those cupboards. BUT I did get rid of 12 pairs of shoes (some brand new i am ashamed to admit and they have gone int he charity shop pile)

Complete life-change

Well – it has been a really interesting time in our household. A little surprising, taking a little bit of getting used to but, by and large, something we are very pleased with.

Nigel has taken voluntary redundancy and it is effective as of Tuesday, the last day of the month.

It has been on the cards for a long time, and many times we thought it would happen. And now it has and we are both pleased the waiting and agony and stress and worry is over.  Nigel has always been a hard worker and used to live and breathe his job. I actually used to worry that I would never get him to retire even, and envisaged me begging a 65 year old Nij to call it a day. He has always taken such pride in his job, but in recent years the job changed and Nigel wasn’t as fulfilled and as happy as he used to be. The times away from work became more precious and a happier place for him to be and so we are looking on this as a blessing. He has coped well with all that his change in work circumstances threw at him, remaining as upbeat as possible and never ever doing less than his 100% best.

He has always wanted to do something different – and boy do we have lots of ideas – but jumping off that cliff is always a worry and he was never quite secure enough to do it. So to be pushed off the edge is the best possible result. Now he HAS to venture into all the things he has long wanted to try.

Maybe they will be successful. Maybe they won’t. But he will be happy and relaxed and stress free. We are both believers in the idea that as one door closes another opens, you just have to find that opening and step through with confidence and self-assurance.

Nigel is truly the most honest, hard-working, loyal person I know with great personal integrity and can leave with his head held high that he did everything right even though, at times, it was awfully difficult.

And the best news ….. we get to spend 9 weeks together, just enjoying the summer, being together, relaxing, going out, chilling and doing what we love most …. Being together.

I am sure, when the halcyon days are over there will be worry days and we will have to cut our cloth accordingly, but happiness and a stress free life are far more important than that oft dramatically diminishing regular income he was getting.

 

He doesn't look bad on it does he?

 

Photos were taken this afternoon as we enjoyed an early pub supper.

 

We needed to celebrate the new phase in our lives.

Friday - at last - and a couple of tributes

How can one week seem so long? Do they sneak in the extra hours? Do they extend it bit by bit?

It seems like an awfully long week.

I do have one page to share and it is a page for my Wild west album. I didn'tt like my original Wild west album. I had not been scrapping long and it doesn't please me so i am planning to re-scrap the photos in a different format that will bring me more pleasure.

The photo is of two moose in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was just one of those lucky finds. we were alerted by the fact there were several parked cars - always a good sign of some interesting wildlife. We were not expecting to see these gorgeous creatures and I was so thrilled.

I wanted to pay tribute to two people on my blog today. Today - well yesterday actually but the news hit today - sees the passing of two stars .... two very different stars.

Micahel Jackson's sudden death has been all over the  news today. He was a larger than life character and a bit of a marmite - you eother loved him or hated him.

I was quite stunned by the news - not necessarily because I am a huge Michael Jackson fan ... I wasn't. I liked some of his music but his oddness and behaviour coloured my impression of him. I would have loved to have seen him perform int he early 80's but I think life and media and fame had taken its toll on him. I was stunned because it is the first time a famous contemporary of mine has really hit home. He was just a little older than me. I grew up listening to the Jackson 5. I thought of him as 'my age'. Although I remember the deaths of Elvis and John lennon I was younger and they had little impact really. Somehow this one hit home.

I feel he spent most of his life unhappy and searching for something he was never able to find. I hope that he has finally found peace - a peace I don't feel he ever had in his life.

The other loss is Farrah Fawcett majors who died this morning having lost her battle with cancer. She was another star I 'grew up' with. She was the definitve action girl who combined skill and beauty for me in Charlie's Angels. The role made her world famous but I will never forget her part in one of my favourite films, The Burning Bed' which was superb and where she played the part so brilliantly. She never got to marry Ryan O'Neil in the end. Perhaps a warning to us all not to put things off.

I hope they both rest in peace and that their families are comforted by the outpourings of so many about their loss.

The other is one of Fiki's favourite toys. It is a - or was a - solid ball of nylon twine that dangles between the stair rails. It has a bell on and is obviously the most exciting thing in the world to pull and bite and tear, judging by the state of it. Its been there for the last 5 years and he loves it. He plays with it most days. Others have come and gone, but this is the one!

Normal service will be resumed

Normal service will be resumed - hopefully - soon.

I seem to have been struck with labyrinthitis again and can't sit and read the screen - or sit up much to be honest.

I can't remember if i shared this page either - but I don't think so.

It was made for ATDML last month and is of our trip to the gorgeous Exbury Gardens.

Off back to lie down now I am afraid .... the spinning is getting to me!

Cottage Creativity

OK - so a tough day meant I didn't think of my photo of the day until just now.

It was a case of look round the house and find something to photograph and I found something.

It is something I have never shared before and am actually quite proud of.

I made it about 10 years ago when I used to do a lot of folk art painting and I think is probably one of the nicest things I have ever made.

It was a class taught by a wonderful lady called Sandra who was incredibly talented and had had books published. I think this project took us about 8 weeks.

We started of with a plain wooden box and turned it into a gorgeous cottage.

There were quite a lot of technical strokes to master and she was a stickler for doing things in the right way.

I personalised it by adding three cats to my cottage. At the time I had Pebble - a tortie and white - who is sat by the front door eyeing up the bird's nest.

I also had Cinders her sister who was a Tortie and is sat by the back door and I also has Simba, our little black and white three legged bundle of naughtiness (almost as naughty as Fiki) who is peeping out of one of the side windows complete with her red collar. 

As I hadn't any new scrapping that is allowed to be shared yet I thought this would make a change. 

You can click on the pictures and see them bigger so you can see the detail a bit more. 

Quiet contemplation.

It's funny isn't it, how the quietest moments can come when you least expect them and most need them.

Boy did I need a quiet moment today. I had been busy busy busy and the day didn't look like getting any better.

But a meeting I was due at was pushed back by a short while and, with no-where else to go, I found myself sat in a beautiful quad with a gorgeous lily pond enjoying the silence and the sun.

I entered the meeting feeling totally recharged and refreshed.

So my photo of the day was one of the waterlilies

I made a very quick page last night for the latest weekly challenge on UKS.

I organise allt he teams for the challenges and have done so for almost 3 years and this was the first time I stuffed up so  whilst i am mad at muyself for messing it up I am also quite pleased it is the first time.

Anyhow I felt I owed it to the fab team who stepped in to do their challenge and so here it is.

My father's day picture of Nigel and Fiki.

The Shack

I finished a book yesterday that I have been reading for a couple of days. It was given to me as a gift by a friend - and it is the sort of book that should always be a gift.

I read - A LOT - but this one was special.

It was called The Shack and was one of the most beautifully written, thought provoking books I have read in a long time. It is one I know I am going to need to read a couple more times to think about the concepts.

The story was compelling, the language was beautiful, the images and concepts conveyed were startling in places, filled with vision and imagery and wonder and ..... well I could go on. But you get the picture. I loved it and want other people to read it too. (and it is dead cheap on Amazon!)

Written by William P Young and billed as a modern day Pilgrim's Progress, it was all that and more.

There is a web  site HERE but I would actually urge you to read the book first before delving into the site. I am so glad I read it without knowing anything about it and watched the beauty of the story unfold and enfold me without any prior expectations.

Here are a few of the endorsments about it

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!

If God is all powerful and full of love, why doesn’t He do something about the pain and evil in our world?   This book answers that age old question with startling creativity and staggering clarity.  By far one of the best books I have ever read.

Wrapped in creative brilliance, The Shack is spiritually profound, theologically enlightening and life impacting. It has my highest recommendation.  

It's been a long time since I have read a book that has made me think so deeply and will continue to make me think. I genuinely think it is a life changing book. But on whatever level you read it and take it, it is a beautiful and fascinating story.

I would love to hear what you think if any of you read it or have already read it.

I know my friend is not someone who reads my blog, but I am very grateful to her for the gift which was so much more than a book.

On a lighter note  share my photo of the day which was going to be the photo of the day yesterday until  I took the picture of Fiki and Nij which was so much nicer. So I took this one today.

It is our mantlepiece with Nij's father's day cards on (thank goodness for Moonpig eh!) and a rather bright bunch of roses I treated myself to as I just needed a little brightness during a busy time.

FREE Father's Day class page

I thought it would be appropriate to make today's class about fathers as it is Father's  Day.

As always you can chose to use the class exactly as is, use it just as a bit of inspiration to kick start your own creativity or ignore it completely and just look at the page.

There is a downloadable PDF HERE if you would like to use it and, as always, I would love to hear what you think. I love making these simple classes but it is nice to get a little feedback. thank you so much to all of the people who fed back after last week's class. It meantt a great deal.

Father's day is kind of a tough day for me, as is mother's day. I miss my parents so much and no, it is not just the rose tinted glasses of retrospective love when you only remember the good things and totally delete the bad.

I was always a Daddy's girl (though my Mom was my best friend in the world) but Daddy and I fought like cat and dog at times. We were too alike and shared too many of the same traits - and not the good ones. We were both stubborn, hot headed, impulsive and both should have had fiery red hair to match the tempers we had. I never argued with anyone like I argued with Daddy. We didn't argue often, but blimey were they corkers when they happened. But we were utterly devoted. I was adored and cherished and he was so proud of me - and that was mutual too.

Daddy had had a pretty tough and intrepid life. He had grown up in Liverpool, the fifth child of six in a home that knew what poverty meant. His father was a docker, often with no work available in the depression years, and a bare knuckle boxer and ruled with a rod of iron but a lot of love.

At 14 he ran away to sea - quite literally. He boarded a ship, lied about his age and was in the merchant navy. Just in time to catch to last three years of the war and be involved, far too heavily, in the Battle of the Atlantic. He saw things that an adult should never see, and certainly a child should never see. He would recount how he cried and deaperately wanted to come home. That, of course, was not an option.

On leaving the navy at the grand old age of 19 he joined the army - the Royal Corps of Signals to be precise. He loved it and spent many happy years, both in England and for quite a long time in Egypt, riding bikes for a living. He was a member of the motor cycle display team (now the White Helmets) and a speedway rider. The two photos on the class page were from his time in Egypt.

On leaving the army he met Mommy and the rest, as they say, is history. They were true soul mates and I was blessed to have been brought up in a home where love and laughter were the most important things of all. They struggled financially and have a few fairly major set-backs, but they were always happy and whilst I wasn't spoilt materially I was spoilt witht ime and love.

He never got over Mommy dying at the young age of 58 and willed himself to follow her - but it was not to be. Daddy died 11 years later, having suffered so much ill health in those intervening years. But he never lost his sense of humour and one of the very last things I remember, the night he died, was him cracking a joke and those eyes twinkling.

Nigel gave the eulogy at his funeral and I will never forget what he said. He said he was, in every sense, a hero. He was brave and daring and intrepid, could fix anything and everything and was like modern day red arrows pilots.

You see - he really was a hero ...... MY HERO!

Finally - it is father's day and we do still have a Daddy in this house.

Yes I am crazy cat lady enough to refer to Nigel as Daddy to the fur family.

Yes I am crazy cat lady enough to send Nigel cards from his fur babies. Boo always sends a tatty teddy cards - and yes she sends them for birthdays, christmas, mother's day etc. And before you judge me, just remember I have lost both my parents and we never managed real babies. Sort of sets it in contect doesn't it.

Kira - well she is a princess - so always sends princess cards ... elegant, pretty and perfect.

And Fiki - well regular followers know what he is like. His cards are always funny, corny or downright rude.

My picture of the day ..... Daddy and his bad bad boy