Dolly's Dreamings

It's simply not fair

OK - so I have established Kira reads my blog - she must do! She saw I had posted a positive review yesterday and so decided it was time to deteriorate quickly. She is now in a poor state again and I am at a loss what to do, what to think etc.

I took some pictures last night as I wanted to show what I mean. One is of her poor head so don't click on that one if you are squeamish. I took one of her scratching as I plan to scrap that one. I am big into scrapping all aspects of my life; good, bad, happy, sad etc. This problem with Kira has dominated our lives for the past 2 months and looks set to continue for months yet and so yes, I must record it.

No, it won't be a happy memory, but it will be a memory and record soemthing that matters. Of course I am not going to scrap the pictures of her poor head, but the scratching cat picture will serve as the focus for the lengthy, and yes I mean lengthy!!!!! - journalling I want to record about it all.

You can, I hope, see what I mean about the poor fur. bengals have pelt like smooth pile velvey and it lies very flat and is silky and very very glossy. Apart from hers being spiky and dull, it separates as shown in the picture, showing the skin beneath. It was doing it all over but it now from her wait up, all over her back, shoulders, neck and head.

You can see some of the scabs from the last bout of spots which she is still scratching and opening up. Her head is now covered in new blisters which are just starting to scab all above her eyes and across her forehead.

WHY??????

She has had nothing to eat other than allergy food for almost 2 weeks. The dust mite allergy is supposed to be minimal (and thanks for your advice for the allergy proof bedding etc - we are planning some heavy online shopping of new bedding sets). I know the vet said she might still scab etc but how can it be so deep in her system that it is making such a violent reaction and why are the scabs just on her face. She is itchy all over but only the face seems to be scabbing. we can't see or feel any anywhere else.

It is horrible, utterly horrible, to see her suffering, to keep her and her brother apart and to spend evey waking moment worrying. I just want it all to stop. Now! and I know it is not going to.

OK - I am sorry to be a moaner - I just needed to pour all that out.

Now someone asked about the fabulous paper bag class that Sally R did at Scrapmanic as they had forgotten what they were doing with it. I said I didn't have the instructions but I would take pictures of mine as I never had.

I have to say it was one of the favourite classes I have ever ever done. Sally is a brilliant teacher - well after all, she was a teacher LOL - and the class was lush. The papers were all Urban Coture which I love anyway. The reds and browns and greens just worked so well together.

I had never made a paper bag book that had pages of different sizes and I loved the topic. I filled mine with all the things that make me happy.

There are pages about colours and flowers and music, there are pages about the cats and scrapping and home and there are pages about Nigel.

Each of the bag openings has cards with lots of journalling and I made a pocket for one of them too and burnt a CD with my scrapping pages and put that in as well.

I loved all the little pockets and openings and tags and I can't believe that I never took pictures of it once I had finished it. So I have remedied that and I hope that it helps the person who has the class kit and never got to make the kit up. Do it! It's great fun.

Finally - the bloods are in

Nij and I went to the vets last night - without Kira - to get the long awaited results. It felt like going to parents evening to see how the kid had done on some special tests!

Tom was wonderful and took ages explaining the results to us very patiently. Often they don't show food allergies at all on these tests but she came out with quite strong allergies (all 3's on a 5 point scale where most should be 0) to beef, lamb, rabbit, corn and dairy products. Now apparently - we have been reading up on this for the last few weeks as you might expect - lots of cat foods that may be fish also have meat traces in and most have corn based products in as a bulking agent as well. Kira can have fish and poultry though, which is good news, and also rice as a bulking agent.

She also showed an allergy - but only a 1 on the scale - to dust mites (blooming typical!)

So the verdict is .....

Her coat will take several weeks to improve. She basically has to shed most of it and grow her new one in.

She will be itchy for several more weeks yet and may well develop still more new scabs from pustule blisters on her head.

She has to stay on the food trial for at least another 6 weeks - it can take that long to get everything out of her system

Fiki is licking her face all the time as she is indeed secreting a sebum from the allergy which he finds attractive (Let's face it - he finds pooh attractive so sebum must be just plain heavenly!) However, unless she has actual scabs, which his licking will stop from healing, he can't do any harm. So once this batch of scabs have gone they can be ruinited.

Once the food trial is complete we try introducing another food. we are going to try the James Wellbeloved foods as they do a turkey and rice and a fish and rise which they guarentee are hypoallergenic and totally meat free. It is also a reasonable price - not the extortionate amount we are paying for the prescription food.

We have bought a household flea spray - we don't have fleas - but it will help with any dustmites. The worst offenders are beds apparently; especially duvets and pillows even though we wash them, vac the matress etc. So we will spray their room and ours, have new pillows and duvet for us etc.

Now we just have to watch and wait and hope that the food trial works and reintroducing some other food has the desired effect. We have to accept there may be more scabs and poor coat for a while, but at least we are getting soemwhere. Thank you again for all the messages of concern for her.

The page here today is another from ATDML using the Basic Grey papers. When I saw the surfer papers I was terrified of them. But then I remembered I had taken some pictures of surfers at Huntington Beach on holiday.

(Actually I guess I should pretend the surfers are Nij and I LOL) It worked well and for two pretty poor pictures I was actually quite pleased with the finished effect.

Cats in paper bags

mmmm - well not literally maybe.

At Scrapcamp I did a fab class by Kirsty Wiseman to make a paperbag book. It was a fast paced class with lots of measuring and sticking but we ended up with a cute little book - a mixture of card and paper bags - to decorate later.  Mine got put to one side until yesterday when I finally got round to decorating it.

 

I just had to make it a quirky cat book - and it gave me the chance to use some of the doodle ideas from the BPS class I have been taking. So it is all hand written and doodled and so on and it is a very tongue in cheek book about the three little fur babies that seem to rule my life.

I loved the colours of the book and apart from the papers we were given I only added some plain blue cardstock, some journalling stamps, chipboard letters and bling for the cover and nowt else.

I love making mini books as working to a theme and a colour scheme means that you have everything out and ready to use. there are no decisions to be made as to what papers/colours etc to use. And that is the bit that takes me forever. I just cannot make decisions at all.

Whilst on the subject of cats I am off to the vets shortly - thankfully without Kira. The blood tests results are in and I know they have some food positives as well, but the vet is just going to talk to us about them.

At this stage we don't have to take Kira, which is a blessing as it is so traumatic for her - and for us - taking her in the car. If it were one of the others it would not be a problem, but Kira gets very stressed, her heart races, and it is so not good for her.

I hope he is able to tell us what the main culprits are and how to deal with them. Her coat is still very poor and Fiki is still at her face all the time so I don't think the food change alone is going to prove to be the answer. we will see.

Kirsty, thanks for a fab class. I love the little book  - I now need to tie ribbons on the book rings and I am done.

Grotty weather but a lovely day

Its been blowing a hoolie and that sort of sideways slanting rain today. Just the sort of day to snuggle up inside and scrap away. The clocks went back last night so it was dark by 5 pm. I love that. I LIKE the long dark evenings.

Poor Nigel. The lawn that looked so nice yesterday is once again buried beneath its covering of pine needles. All that work and it is gone in an instant.  I read a quote once that so applied to Nigel and I. Gardening is a battle of will over nature. In our case it's not much of a battle ..... nature wind hands down.

We had a few chores to do today - as always on a Sunday - but we have also been able to spend plenty of time scrapping (me) designing train layouts (Nigel) and playing with the fur family. Kira looks a little better today - though these days it seems to change by the hour. We are off to the vets again tomorrow and if there are no blood results we are going to be seriously cross.

The pages dotted around this entry are a mini book I made for A Trip Down memory Lane last month. It was a special sort of book really, as although it is all about Canada, it is made from coasters 'borrowed' from the outback steakhouse in California. We had 4 visits to Outback Steakhouses and so that was more enough for several of these coaster books! I love using the coaster. They are easy to cover and sand, lightweight and very effective.

I wanted Nigel to have a little minibook he could stand on his desk in his office - when he had an office of course! He was really pleased with it and it made nice use of the journalling blocks which were part of the kit.

I have been working on the paper book book from Kirsty's class at Scrapcamp and will hopefully finish that an upload it tomorrow.

Doodling those arrows and letters

I was planning a  relaxing day - but Nij looked out of the window, saw the state of the garden (Our lawn was totally brown with dropped pine needles ... no grass visible) and so went out to work on trimming bushes and mowing the lawn (which was really hoovering the lawn)

Bless him it looked fab, but as he was working it was like a groom on his wedding day with dead pine needle confetti raining all over him - and the lawn. I suspect it will be covered again any minute.

Anyhow, as he was busy I couldn't justify sitting and doing nothing - well scrapping actually, but you get my drift. So I am proud to say that, apart fromt he ironing, my chores are done. And do you know what, it is a fab feeling.

Kira continues to look grim and developed a new twist yesterday -a  limp! OMG I am having soooooo much fun with her at the moment. It seems intermitent, worse when she has been sitting - almost a stiffness like arthritis. She is only 4 for goodness sake. Let's not add that to the litany of ailments this poor cat has to bear with allergies, inflamatory bowel disease, a heart murmur and now a limp.

We have made a decision though -we cannot bear the separation any longer so she and her brother are back together. If he makes her face worse, so be it. It's not healing anyway. And they miss each other so much so - watch this space.

The pages dotted around so far are more from the calendar (poorly photographed) I have also been trying to work on my doodling by incorporating it into projects. the projects are not for release yet but I can offer a couple of sneak peeks to prove I have been doodling and lettering and stuff.

  Looks like I am a bit addicted to arrows at the moment, but they were relevant tot he two pages in question.
I did make a doodlers handbook but to be frank I have been too busy to do that and pages so I have done my doodling on the pages.  I know, it's cheating.

I also wanted to share these pictures that were sent to me in an e mail.

I don't really 'do' halloween, never have and guess I never will, but I did think these pumpkins were kinds of cool.

There were loads of them so am just sharing a few of them here and may post more tomorrow.

Shopping - YUK

I absolutely hate shopping! I'm not keen on the clothes shopping and as for Tesco etc - loathe loathe loathe it. I am so glad Nij does it most of the time. I have just returned from Tesco all irritable and having unpacked I am horrified that I have bought so much junk. I don't eat breakfast when I am not working. Big mistake to go to Tesco on a completely empty stomach. So many cakes and naughty goodies. Bad bad bad girl.

I finished this page, finally, after having started it at a class at Scrapmagic almost a year ago and I was pleased to finish it as it fitted in well with my doodling course, which I have sadly neglected very very badly.

The picture is Nigel's grandmother and the swirls and doodles are all done in really thick glitter. It looks lush in real life, but pants on the screen of course.

Kira is no different - very lively, which is a plus I guess, and the latest scabs are healing, but she is still all manky. Her coat is so poor and the food trial doesn't seem to be havinga  lot of effect. I know it is early days but hey .... I would like to see SOME improvement. Just been and bought another bag of the ultra expensive food trial food and still no sign of blood test results. They had also forgotten to order my food (it has to be ordered in specially) and so I eneded up buying a bag someone else had ordered, which is unfair on that person. I should have said no, but I needed the food badly - I dare not run out as I will void the whole trial.

I made my kitchen calendar yesterday and was pleased to complete it in one afternnon. It was a Papermill calendar (I opted for the cheats version this year - I usually print my own and I couldn't be bothered this year) and for £2.99 was good value. I am posting just a couple of pages here as the photos were dreadful. I couldn't scan it and the pictures were redful with the flash and worse without it. It does look nice in real life - promise.

The new Design Collective classes went out today and, as ever, they were lush. In the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas we are all doing special Christmassy things in addition to the normal classes and so it is even better value for money than ever before. It is also time for people to sign up for November if they want to and I can honestly say there has never been a better time to go for it. It has always been great value for money but this last few months are better than ever.

Slide shows and time wasting

So have I been making the most of my time off.

Well, it depends how you look at it really.

I have done a lot of scrapping, though I am a bit scrapped out at the moment to be honest. My aim today is to make a start on the calendar I want to make for the kitchen. I also have two CY dares to complete and another page for ATDML to finish. Oh and I ought to do some housework and the shopping and ........

So what have I done so far.

Well I have spent a very pleasant hour playing with Smilebox and making a slideshow on our Canadian Trip.

It is such a fun program to use, so quick and easy and it amused me so I hope you don't mind me sharing it here.  You just click on the play in the middle of the picture - it takes a moment or two to load - and then click next for each new picture.

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Now, on to more productive things .... I need to get scrapping .... or maybe I'll just have another look at Smilebox ........

FREE Journalling blocks

I wanted a journalling block in a circle to use on a digi page and I didn't have one. So I made on (and a couple of others besides)

I used the one I wanted but feel free to snag the set if they are any use to you.

You can get them here

A most unusual subject

It is a glorious morning here. The sky is bright blue, there is frost on the roof, the light is magical and I am sat watching a beech tree shedding its leaves like confetti in the gentle breeze. I love Autumn so much.

I have a leisrely day of scrapping planned. I have finished all of my DC class commitments for the next two months and have made my next class pages for the local crop and for UKS. I have made a start on my pages for A Trip Down Memory Lane and want to try and finish those today and then work on the next few Collectively Yours dares. THEN I am going to scrap more Canada pictures LOL.

We ordered calendars last week from Photobox and they arrived yesterday and I have to say, for £5 each they are fabulous. It is such a good deal and I am really pleased with them. We have one each for our desks with Canada pictures and I have bought a couple as Christmas presents but can't say what here as the people concerned read this blog!!!

Nigel has uploaded another segment of our holiday video to You Tube and the video should appear here. I like what he has done with this section a great deal.

We also had an e mail from our friend Rob Lean in Canada. He had had a few problems with his network service but is now up and running again and has added some new galleries to his albums. The pictures are wonderful, and the gallery of Moraine Lake with the snow is just magical. Do pop and take a look. I can gaurentee you will loose a very pleasant half and hour browsing through the pictures and enjoying the view.

Rob's Galleries

Now, this page is an unusual one, and people of a sensitive disposition need to click off right now!

If someone had said that I would be allowing Nigel to take a picture of my boobs (even though he tells me it is no different to a bikini .... and heck .... I don't wear a bikini!) and then that I would scrap the picture and then that I would SHARE the picture I would have said they were mad. However, that is exactly what I am doing.

Over at A Creative World the girls are raising money and - just as importantly raising awareness - about breast cancer. It is a terrible disease and on a personal note I know numerous people who have suffered. My tutor at university passed away as a result of breast cancer, we have lost a colleague at work to the disease and I can think of at least 4 of our parents, all young women in their late 30's and early 40's , who have had breast cancer.

We all need to be far more aware and give our breats the TLC treatment. Early diagnosis is so important and hopefully the more aware people are the fewer lives we may loose to this killer.

Although I felt uncomfortable about doing this, I felt I needed to. To me scrapping is about the whole of your life, about things that matter and things that affect you, about every aspect, not just the cutsie pictures and the happy celebrations. So I rose to their challenge and made this page for my book of me. I hope and pray it is never a page I look back on and see something I no longer have and I hope and pray that that with enough people being aware and enough funds being raised, they can manage the disease, find even more successful treatments and stop breast cancer taking as many lives as it does. I offer a prayer for all who read this who have suffered through illness themselves or through the pain of watching loved ones suffer.

Whilst on this note, I also have to say that far greater awareness needs to be developed about prostate cancer. It makes me so cross that a very simple blood test for PSA can check for raised levels and alert to possible worries about prostate cancer. Nigel had problems a couple of years ago, resulting in lots of tests and a biopsy and was, thank goodness, clear of cancer, but he now has the test every 6 months as a matter of course. If more men over the age of 45 had the test on a routine basis, they could diagnose cancer sufferers so much earlier and save so many lives. It's just a blood test for goodness sake. Something so simple could save so many lives.

On that sombre note, and once again apologies for the shocking picture!!!, I am off to scrap.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Happy Birthday Nigel

It is Nigel's birthday today and so we are enjoying a very lazy day (well lazy if you count the six loads of washing and tumble drying I have done - all the stuff from the cats room plus my usual washes of bedding, towels etc)

Nigel is - well officially older I guess is the best way of putting it! But I can still see the 19 year old I lusted after and the 29 year old I married. Greyer, and a bit more of him, but still the same.

I know you read my blog darling - so here is another Happy Birthday xxx

He had some cool gifts including a neat racing car mouse (mmmm - what did I say about the 19 year old is still there!) some DVD's, chocolate (Oh yes he is a chocaholic above everything else) and the album I made for him. He loved the album - I am so pleased.

The page I have put here is the other one I did for the Banana Frog blog and so uses a lot of their lush stamps. I do love them - they work so well. Mind you I am getting quite a serious addiction to clear stamps. I had another three sets delivered last week - or it might have been 4!. They are the new Autumn Leaves stamps and are as fab as all of the others.

Kira is still no different. The scabs that developed the other day have been scrateched off several times and so she is very red and scabby and sore looking again. We have STILL not had the blood tests back (It will be 3 weeks on Thursday) and we are still none the wiser about the allergy. We are still doing the food trial but there doesn't seem to have been any improvement and the fact she is still itchy and scabby even ont he steroids does not bode well.

The page here is a class page I made quite a while ago but I thought I would share the instructions here in case anyone wanted them. You can just download them - they are a word document.  It is a very simple page - all of my pages are very simple .... I can't do complicated - but it might make a nice starting off point for newer scrappers.

Download the_circle_of_love.doc