Dolly's Dreamings

Farewell 2022

Every year brings with it its highs and its lows. And at the end of the year you balance it all out. There were some lows this year - especially towards the end  - but looking back on the year it has been far more good than bad. We have had so many blessings along the way and it's time for my annual review. Some of our year as seen in scrapbook pages (of which there have been hundreds this year .... you will be relieved to know this is a small selection!!!)

 

We started the year with great optimism

 

It was a year of wildlife

 

Kingfisher watching on the Stour

Robins in the water meadows

 

Foxes in our garden in February

 

 

and they bred and we had baby foxes everywhere  - we loved watching them

 

 

Horses in the forest

 

Hares in Hampshire (OK so they were not real)

 

a robin I hand fed

 

 

 

 

 

We had our own 'wildlife' too of course who brought us endless joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed visiting so many gardens this year

Kingston Lacy

 

 

Compton Acres

Exbury

Compton Acres

Abbotsbury

 

Exbury

 

Arundel

 

 

Mintern

Kingston Lacy

 

 

Kew

 

 

 

Arundel

We went to the beach - of course - no matter what the weather

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent time with family and friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited so many places and enjoyed a staycation -

Salisbury flower festival

 

Gosport Treasure trail

The Sculpture Park

Winchester

Lyme Regis

Castle Combe

Winchester

The Purbecks

 

Wareham

 

Salisbury

 

Kew

Lyme Regis

Swanage

 

Weald and Down Open Air Museum

 

Bournemouth

Poundbury

 

Durdle Door

Corfe

 

Lyndhurst

 

 

Arundel

 

Cranborne Chase

 

West Bay

 

Lulworth

 

Burley

and we enjoyed just being at home and with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is much to look back at with happiness and joy and so much to be grateful for. I continued to paint and even taught a few sessions at Art club. Nigel continues to enjoy being the man in the middle at Speedway and is really very good at it. We had visits with family and friends, we walked somewhere lovely almost every day, we made improvements to the house with the back garden, the hall and the kitchen and we enjoyed having happy, healthy, loving little boy cats. Yes there was a painful double iridotomy and yes there was the utterly shocking news, delivered stage by stage, that I had breast cancer, but you have to weigh up the good and the bad and balance it out. I am not planning on shuffling off just yet - God willing - but I ALWAYS say to Nigel that should I suddenly pass away he needs to remember I have had a blessed and happy life. Really happy.

I await the news on 4th January about what the next steps are breast wise, but whatever that news is, we will face it and deal with it and still enjoy so many many things whilst dealing with it.

I leave you with a poem I wrote for a page which will go live on 2nd January (it's a DT page so I can't share it yet)

 

 

Hope and faith – without them all is lost.

Hope can be found in the moment when the sun breaks open the day,
and when the rainbow shines in the storm.

Hope is the first snowdrop, the new moon, a tiny baby’s sleeping breath.

Hope is the smile of a stranger, the contented purring of a kitten,

and the endless rolling of the waves on a beach.

Hope is the thread that ties us to life and the reason we go on,

the clean slate at the start of the year, the promise of things to come.

Hope, alongside faith, is what sustains us in times of trouble,

and what is left when life is hard.

 

I hope for all of you, my family, my friends and the many faithful followers who have stuck with this brain dump for years, that your 2023 is filled with health and happiness, love and laughter.

 

 

And I end the year with a verse .... Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer."Romans 12:12

 

Post Christmas

Well it has been a while - my last post was Christmas Eve and I'd like to say I have been too busy to post - in fact we have been generally pretty chilled.

Christmas Day was a lovely quiet day. After church we donned PJ's opened presents, relaxed, ate, relaxed some more, ate some more and had a lovely day. I got to talk to my family and I had some amazing gifts.

Boxing Day was more of the same during the day. Nigel and I spoilt each other - why not - and I had so many amazing new painting supplies. I better find the time to paint really! One of my favourite gifts was a Pandora Breast Cancer Bead which Nigel said was my 'medal' and to be worn with pride. I was thrilled because it fits on my troll bead cross I wear every day and so is with me all the time - as if I needed a reminder - but if and when I beat this it really will be a medal.

Boxing Day evening we went to my best friend's and her hubby's for a lovely meal with their brothers and daughter and son in law - people we know and love being with. It was an evening of superb food, silly games and great fun and was a real highlight

The other days have passed very quietly with beach walks and chill out time. Today we went to Mottisfont but Oh My. We got there not long after 10 and there was massive queue to get in, the car parks were full and we wouldn't have been able to go into the house to see the Narnia exhibit until the afternoon. I have seen shorter queues at Disney! We bailed and had a lovely walk round Romsey instead and a nice lunch at Reeve.

Christmas morning

 

 

new art supplies

Romsey and the Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

 

My completed advent calendar

 

 

I painted a squirrel yesterday in a style so not suited to me - I really don't do loose but I wanted to give it a go. I'd rather do it more detailed, less bright and less 'free'

 

 

And I am nearly up to date on my journal - just today not done ... I have found scrapping this December really hard. I know I will be glad when I look back on it but it has been hard to do

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• family friends and food
• peaceful days
• good healing
• my truly wonderful husband
• my little fur boyz

 

 

 

 

A Kingston Lacy Christmas

We have struggled to feel Christmassy this year so going to Kingston lacy to see the different trees was just perfect.

The house is always beautiful and to see it all decorated was fabulous

 

The little selfie shepherd's hut on arrival

 

awful photo but I need to remember I looked poorly

The laundry tree

 

 

Beautiful wreaths on the door

Trees of peace in the entrance with paper doves made by local school children

 

 

 

 

The silent night tree

 

 

 

The spider tree

 

 

 

Gorgeous 3 kings centerpiece

 

The three kings tree

 

 

 

Beautiful faux candle trees

 

 

 

 

This was stunning and there were two identical trees in this gorgeous room

 

Home for sherry and treats

 

and it is even already scrapped for the journal

 

 

 

 

I am signing off for Christmas now - I hope that whatever you do, whoever you share the season with, you receive the blessings of our Lord and that he is at the heart of your Christmas.

Playing catch up

I seem to have spent much of my time tryng to play catch up with DT commitments. I hate letting people down and have had to request time off from some of my teams as I am just not scrapping well. I get easily tired and my mojo seems to have vanished. It is OK doing things for me that are 'half hearted' but not for other people.

We have had an interesting few days - some good some not so much. Let's just focus on the good.

We had a special day yesterday as it was the boyz Gotcha Day ... two years since we made that fraught drive up to Telford to collect our new family we had never met. And in two years they have brought us so much love and joy.

We bought them a new Christmas house which they fought over so we had to get the old one back out so they had one each. They had fun!

 

 

 

 

 

And look at those teeth - I don't think with Koda in charge the new house will last long.

 

Also yesterday - after yet another hospital visit - we had a wonderful time with my godson, his wife and their mom (one of my oldest and dearest friends) I cannot believe the little baby I helped deliver all those years ago is now 35! How is that possible! It was wonderful to see them and they brought a beautiful hamper with them. A very happy afternoon and just what we needed

 

Today I had my best friend over for coffee and chat and that was lovely. Without her and Nigel I would not have gotten through the last month.

 

I have caught up on my Christmas journal but I have to say it is NOT my best work by a long way. However, even though I didn't feel like scrapping it was worrying me that it wasn't done so it feels better now.

Day 21 - the photo is our new grand-nephew with the blanket I made for him (I blocked his face out - not mine to share)

 

Day 22 - Our godson and wife with Nigel and Gotcha Day

 

 

A visit to Wimborne Minster this afternoon for Day 23

Today I am thankful for

• the kindness and love of so many people who mean so much to me
• being ready for Christmas - we plan on really trying to enjoy it

 

More positive times

After a quite frankly dreadful december so far, I woke today feeling more positive. I've been positive before though and it has all come crashing down, so I am hoping that isn't the case today. I am in less pain, from all sorts of things, today, and we even went for a proper walk at the beach (though I was pooped afterwards)

We took my dressing off yesterday which was utterly terrifying I have to say. The surgeon does things differently apparently. She likes to use no external stitches at all, it is all external. So on the incision itself you have a steristrip and waterproof dressing.  We were told to remove it after 10 days. We were worried and it didn't come off easily but off it is and the scar, though much longer than I expected, is healing well. So, next stage is complete. 

I just have an iridotomy check and an ultra sound to deal with this week!!

Anyway, presents are wrapped, shopping is largely done, house will be blitzed tomorrow and then I can say we are Christmas ready - or as ready as we can be.

Plus I am up to date on my journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

I confess they are not the most exciting pages I have ever made - it has not been the most exciting month I have ever had. But it is a record of what has been happening.

 

Today I am thankful for

• positivity today
• less pain
• healing scares
• catch up
• the beach
• my wonderful husband and my incredible best friend.

 

Let's stick to scrapping

OK - this post is going to be pretty much about scrapping because life hasn't been fab to be honest. Every random illness that could have hit me has hit me, I feel lousy and so let's move on!

 

In happy news we became a great Aunt and Great Uncle yesterday. That sounds awfully grand and awfully old. Our neice delivered a little baby boy very quickly and very safely and we are thrilled for them.

I have been scrapping - slowly - and some bits were made pre-op too. So here we go

Journal day 14

 

 

Journal day 15

 

 

 

It was my DT slot at The Flair Hut Today and this was made for that and also used yesterday's sketch by Lisa at Scrap a Sketch (made before I was ill)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally - because I can  - some gorgeous pictures of our wonderful boys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

friends to listen to me

Nigel - I couldn't do any of this hell without him

a new baby in the family and another on the way

 

 

Running before walking again

Oh dear. It seems I never learn and have been guilty of doing too much again!

Yesterday we decided to do something Christmassy. We went into Bournemouth to see the Christmas tree trail in the gardens and also to grab a bite to eat at Wagamama. It was blisteringly cold - too cold to be it - and I overdid the walking and felt ill when I got home, but it was lovely to have dinner out, which was delicious, and the lights were pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't been very well the last few days - tired, an infection, and general unwellness and do today was very quiet - a really gentle walk along Mudeford and a browse round Stewarts before back to the doctors yet again. It's wearing a bit thin to be honest. I look dreadful - totally exhausted. Even Nigel agreed.

 

 

 

I have two new Christmas journal pages to share

Day 12

 

 

Day 13

 

Plus these two are design team pages for A Trip Down memory Lane using Cocoa Vanilla Merry and Bright

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel's unwavering support and patience
• Our GP surgery which truly is marvellous
• Faith - it is all that is keeping us going at the moment

 

 

Don't walk before you can run

So I am learning to respect recovery and rest - not an easy task for me to be honest.

Clearly this is going to take a little getting over and can't be achieved in a day - or three.

Yesterday was a bad day. I hadn't slept (I am really struggling with sleeping propped up on my back - everywhere aches) and I was in a lot of pain and so I just had to accept not doing anything much at all. Today I felt much better and so we ventured out, but i confess I was scared. Not known for my nimbleness, and able to trip on a shadow as my mother always said, the icy weather freaked me out. Nigel fell all the way down out front steps yesterday as they were icy and we were both terrified of what that would mean if I slept. pretty much a disaster as I am not nearly healed. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, though it was spectacular and captured on our new doorbell camera. Consequently, we were aware that as it is still below zero I couldn't risk anywhere icy so we did an indoor walk around the Range and Dunelm Mill. I know I must be poorly as Nigel agreed very readily to a new duvet set we didn't need but I just fancied. It wasn't a strenuous walk but I was pooped afterwards.

I did sit and scrap this morning though, catching up on some of my Christmas journal pages.

So here are some of those to share - for most of them I used Scrap Squad lifts

 

Day 7

 

 

Day 8 - never going to be a good one

 

 

 

Day 9

 

 

Day 10

 

The postbox picture is a little watercolour I did on Saturday

 

 

Day 11

Today I am thankful for

• slowly learning to take things easy
• Nigel - he really is an exceptional nurse

and these painted hands are incredible

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back the other side

Firstly can I say a huge huge thank you to so many people. People who have sent comments, messages, and support. People who have been through this awfulness themselves, people who have been praying for me, thinking of me, supporting me. I cannot begin to tell you how much that all means.

 

Thursday was pretty grim. I won't go into all the details, not least because sitting here typing isn't easy either. The inserting of the wire was problematic and the consultant had to be fetched to help, but despite the pain it was in. The operation took place at 2 pm and despite my fears about the anaesthetic, I didn't die! I have no idea how well it went and have a four week wait for results to find out if they got it or if I need further surgery, but step one is complete. I am bruised and sore. I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be until today and I think I may have tried to do a bit too much. Quite frankly the nice relaxing bath was a hell of an ordeal. Nigel has been wonderful, doing everything for me and with me. The oramorph helps me sleep though as a side sleeper it is really hard sleeping on my back. The post surgery bras are as ugly as hell but are my supportive friends.  My jaw and throat are starting to heal too. I think they had to crack my jaw, possibly even dislocate it, to get the tube in as the TMJ means it doesn't open well. The pain was awful and s still bad even though dulled by painkillers for the breast and I complained of a very sore throat which, when Nigel looked at it with a torch was quite the sight as it is very very badly bruised inside. However, I am grateful to all of the staff; the doctor, the consultant, the radiologists, the breast nurses, everyone. They do this day in day out and that is reassuring. We have now agreed to try and forget about it until after Christmas. Worrying wont change the results. They will be what they will be and whatever the Lord has planned for us we will deal with it.

But thank you all because your support helped.

Obviously I haven't scrapped but I have scrapping I had done ahead of schedule for a design team slot at Scrap a Sketch and design team work at Pickleberrypop

 

This was my take on Lisa's gorgeous sketch at Scrap a Sketch

 

 

 

 

 

Pickleberrypop have their stuff your stocking event and there are two amazing collaboration kits up for grabs if you spend $10 or $20

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here are my pages - the first with kit 1 and the second with kit 2

 

 

 

do check out these amazing freebies.

 

Today I am thankful for

• all of your good wishes and prayers, comments and messages, they meant so much
• our wonderful NHS
• a husband who is just so incredibly utterly marvellous

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty much prepared

 

So tomorrow is D day - or should I say O for operation day. I am very very nervous; nervous about the anaesthetic, nervous about how much they will take, nervous about is they will get all of the cancer and nervous about how I will cope with an 8 hour wait. I have to be in at 7.15 and Nigel cannot come in with me and my op is late afternoon. I gather I will be sitting in a chair in the day surgery unit for all of that time which will drive me absolutely bonkers. I am hoping they will let me go for a walk, although I do have a little diversion at 10.30 when I go to the breast unit to have another mammogram and have the wire inserted pre-surgery. I gather that hurts!

 

My sad little bag with a book, slippers, dressing gown, paperwork, my post surgery bra (now my my that is a sexy old item!) and the only blouse I own as I have to have something that buttons up the front.

Prayers welcome for tomorrow readers. I will see you all the other side, god willing.

So on to happier things - I have a mess of stuff to share.

I have been doing my December daily journal as always - its a bit of a different affair this year, not least because we have been isolating in readiness and so haven't been anywhere much or done much

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both of the days use a scrap squad lift for the day.

I also have a little bit of painting to share - something very quick and simple but great fun

 

and a digital page too

Credits

A Captured snowflake collection by Dutch Dream Designs

 

 

 

Please, if prayer is what you do, pray all goes smoothly tomorrow and if prayer isn't your thing, cyber hugs are very very welcome.

 

Today I am thankful for

• our NHS
• the support of so many many friends - I feel so blessed
• my faith - it is what has kept us going the past few weeks

 

 

A round up of my classes

I can now share the classes I made for A Trip Down Memory Lane last month. Even after all of these years I still find doing these classes stressful, hoping people like them. I never pick what my class papers will be and so there is excitement when the parcel comes and I open the box to see what I am creating classes with.

Anyway, I digress enough. These are the three class pages from November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also done today's journal page. After a rough tearful day yesterday today I am focussing on the fact I cannot do anything about my situation, I have to pass the burden over to God and let the doctors do their things. It's not easy but I am trying hard. And I'd like to thank all the people who read here who have taken time to message me - it means such a lot.

 

and I did a digital page too

 

Credits

Hello December Bundle by et designs

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• positivity - sometimes hard to find but it is there
• my bestie ringing to check on me every day
• Nigel's cold almost gone. I can't wait for a hug!