I know I am getting old by how tired I am at the moment.
The end of a school year is always manic ... but to be this tired is unusual.
I think I am going to turn sleeping into an olympic sport!
I haven't done new paper scrapping. I have new digi but cannot share it just yet
These pages were made a while ago for the Austria album - which is almost finished.
I rarely do double pages and this one just sort of happened.
This was the lovely hotel we stayed in at Fugen. It was so typically Tyrollean and very pretty. The top picture shows the view from our room with the gorgeous window boxes (and why couldn't I stop dead heading the petunias each time I went out!)
The view across the valley was like looking at a model railway.
It was a very picturesque place to stay.
Today I am thankful for
almost being able to see the end
Nigel's brother arriving safely
Barb being back - missed you and so glad you had a lovely trip.
Thank you for your words of calm and encouragement yesterday - so many of you.
I feel more positive today.
So many people have been so kind and helpful over little things that have meant the world today.
I am in less pain - well from the ankle .... the shoulders and knee are suffering crutch strain LOL
The ankle is turning a fabulous shade of black and green which I think is a good thing as the bruising inside is now coming out so must mean it is healing.
It is less swollen today - though as soon as I walked in 'THE BOSS' aka Nij made me sit down with it elevated.
So a more positive day all round.
I also took more care of myself and accepted I probably didn't need to walk as much as I usually do and some things could be covered by others to save extra steps.
I have another scrap page to share today which was made a while ago.
It is another page for the Austria album and was a magical memorable night. For my 40th birthday we made a special trip - to see the Passion Play in Oberamergau. I had been planning to go see it for my 30th birthday with my Mom but she was taken from us earlier that year so it never happened. Partly in tribute to her Nigel and I went 10 years later as, as you know, it is only staged every 10 years.
This is the restuarant we ate at on my birthday night. It was just gorgeous - so pretty and all lit with fairy lights.
The picture is on a flap which lifts up to explain all about the evening and why it was so special.
Today I am thankful for
feeling more positive
kindness of others
healing
The cats tried to make me feel better last night too.
I rarely have double cat (in truth they are really too big for one knee) but they knew their Mommy needed those extra hugs yesterday.
Me looking wan last night!
This made me laugh today!
And I have something cousin Joyce sent me which is lovely
“A man’s mind may be
likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run
wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will bring forth.If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless
weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their
kind.”
James
Allen
We have the gift of
reason in our mind and we can use it to cultivate our mind and let if grow good
things that will bring joy and happiness to us.
Cultivate your mind
by filling it with knowledge and information that will allow it to grow and give
you all the confidence, strength and ability you need to live the life you
aspire to.It is your choice, there is always a choice, if you
want to live your life through someone else, letting others direct you thinking,
then you can get that from TV, magazines and other media or you can think for
yourself and develop your own mental muscles to create the life you want for
yourself.
You live in a world
that is dominated by the media; remember when you read an article in a newspaper
or magazine it is not an absolute truth but it is the opinion of the person who
wrote it.The facts may be there but they will be coloured by the
values and beliefs of the person who wrote it, just as this thought is coloured
by my beliefs.You do not have to take my opinion of that but you
can reason it out for yourself, and make your own decision as to what you will
believe and not believe.
Your mind is the
window of your life that you are looking out of every day, your reasoning power
can be what you use to clean that window.Not everything that is
thrown at that window has to stay on it; you can use your reasoning muscle to
clean some of it off.Let’s say someone says something to you that
does not lift and inspire you, in fact it makes you feel really bad.You now have a choice to let it stay on your window or obliterate it, you
can think about it and let it play on your mind and continue to make you feel
bad, or you can clean it off your window, let it go and reject it completely as
an untruth or something you can learn from.
Build your own life
upon your own values and beliefs and use your reasoning power to stay strong to
those values and beliefs.
Have the greatest day
cleaning the window of your life by choosing what will stay on your window and
what you will clean off by using the gift of reason.
Today is not a day when that has been very convincing. Well... maybe young at heart but certainly not young in spirit.
I am absolutely shattered.
I have found it such a struggle today to do all I need to do on crutches. Even the simplest things have taken on mammoth proportions.
I ache absolutely everywhere.
My shoulders ache, my arms ache, my hands ache, my hip aches and my ankle - the roots of it all - that aches too. I hate having to ask people to move things/carry things.
I haven't been able to elevate it much at all today and so it is back to mammoth proportions. Since I have been home I have sat with my leg up but I am just so fed up and tired and achey. It is not like me to feel this down.
I spent months on crutches when I orginally shattered my ankle but I was 12. I had stamina and eneregy and a body that wasn't easily strained. Now I feel shattered at even the thought of another day like today.
I think the crutches have to go and I must suffer the consequences. I really do.
Onbiously no scrapping - unlikely to be for a while to be honest.
But I do have a page I made a while ago.
It is one of the Austrian album pages. I really must upload the others and finish the album. I did really well with it and managed 20 pages in record time, but it has sort of been side-lined and so I must get on and finish it.
Anyway - Lake Achensee (Of the Chalet School fame)
Today I am thankful for
being home with my leg raised
support bandages
not crying with pain and frustration even though I felt like it.
It's very quiet in our house right now. Nigel is still poorly and it is starting to really get to him and I have succumbed.
Hacking cought and temperature and no voice. Well that's not true - there is an odd squeak that comes out at times. Although Nigel is poorly I think he is enjoying the quiet!
We were out at a ball last night and it was lovely. A really super evening despite feeling under par and probably we ought not to have gone it is probably made my voice worse too. But heck - life is about fun.
I have some photos of the day to catch up on.
This is Thursday's which was a very misty morning and I do love the heath when misty. Doesn't look much like the summer solstice though does it.
Yesterday's was us all poshed up before we left home. We did have photos taken at the ball which was a lovely idea and they were really nice. When I feel better I will scan them.
We had to pop out today to pick up something that has been delivered to a store and so we stopped off at Starbucks and had our usual frap (is it bad that we never place an order any more they just make it LOL)
We shared a cheese and marmite panini and a fruit bread. It was very nice.
Other than that I have been in bed most of the day.
I do, however, have another Austrian page to share.
We arrived in Oberammergau on my birthday - my 40th birthday - and we had no choice as to where to eat. The restaurants are all pre-dtermined and they all serve the same meals so no-one can quibble. It is a brilliant system.
However, even if we had chosen we probably couldn't have chosen a more magical restaurant. It was so pretty and the food was superb.
The picture opens and the journalling is inside.
Today I am thankful that
I feel this rough at the weekend rather than a school day
I am so tired. So absolutely exhausted. And yet I have so much to do.
You know when you get to the point where you just don't know where to start as the huge mountain ahead is so high.
I know, deep down, the only way to scale it is to start in the foothills and just plough on through. But it's a bit daunting.
So a quick post today.
Photo of the day was cvery very early. I know I have used him a lot but I am loving little Squiggle the squirrel. I know he is a tree rat. I know they steal. I know. But heck he is cute and he is so agile. I don't mind feeding him as well as the birds. He is way cute.
This was him at 6 am this morning.
Now I feel he deserves every mouthful after that huge stretch .... that is pure determination.
and I never posted Monday's so here it is - chicken sizzling on the George (what ever did we do pre-George!)
The page today is one made for my Austria album a little while ago and never posted.
The Austria album is actually looking much better than I thought it would. The trip was in 2000 so pre digital and pre scrapping and so there was not a lot to work with.
The top picture is our allocated restaurant for lunch in Oberammergau. I love that everyone was allocated a restuarant and they all served the same food so no-one could complain.
The bottom picture was the house we stayed in. You could select to stay in a hotel or a family home. Because the whole village is involved in the play and there is such a tradition, we decided we wanted to stay in a family home and I am so pleased we did. The lady was lovely though we didn't communicate well. We had a superb room, all en suite, and it really added to the event.
Today I am thankful for
sunshine when it counted
slippers (my feet are killing me!)
My calendar page today is
The chest pains started around noon. What’s this? I wondered. Indigestion before I even eat lunch? The discomfort persisted all day and into the night. Next morning, it had settled into a dull, deep ache, a pressure that made it hard to breathe. By midmorning, with no letup in the pain, I did the only sensible thing: I went to the Internet and typed “heart attack symptoms.” Turns out I had several of them.
Which is how—via the emergency room—I came to be lying in a hospital bed. Lots of tests were scheduled for the morning. I had already had an EKG … and three nitro pills. I was on oxygen. My purse and jewelry had been sent home with my husband. I had no makeup, no hair dryer, no cell phone, no briefcase. Everything that was me had been stripped away. I was just the patient in Room 3303. I stared at the blank TV, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn it on.
“I wish I had a Bible,” I said aloud to the white walls. On impulse, I pulled out the top drawer of my nightstand and found one waiting. I opened to Psalms and began reading. Then I turned to John 14. And by the time they brought my lunch tray, I knew that the essential part of me was still intact. My faith. My optimism. My belief in God’s abiding presence.
P.S. My heart turned out to be perfect. A viral infection in my lungs had been the cause of my pain.
Thank You, Father, for Your Word and Your abiding presence—whether I’m in a church, a boardroom, or a hospital room. You are what matters most!
It's been all action here today. We started off with a walk as it was lovely and sunny.
We decided to walk through Poole and then go across the old Poole lifting bridge to Hamworthy and then come back along the new Twin Sails Bridge. It turned out to be a good walk of about an hour and we times it just right as the Twin Sails opens at 11.30 so we watched that too.
This is the old bridge.
and some lovely old boats. Poole is such a perfect mix of the old traditional fishing and shipping port and the new sleek home of Sunseeker with all the huge expensive cruisers.
The area is still very much under development
This is the view from on the bridge by one of the barriers
and in this one you can see the split where it separates when it opens.
I love the twisted spiraled metal that looks like waves
and this is it open
and, if this works it will be amazing.
For the first time I used the video on my i phone and it is the bridge opening and a boat going through.
Let's see - not the greatest video in the world but kind of neat to see it opening.
Well for a first effort I don't think it is too bad. It was a bit windy as you can hear.
This second clip is a boat that had been waiting taking its turn and going through
Photo of the day
When we came home I wanted to scrap but we have spent a lot of time watching the birds and saw our first greenfinches today.
But we also had a problem. we have a gorgeous cat (who has a death wish on our road) down the road. he is a grey Burmese I think but he is very naughty. I glanced out of the window and screamed as he was on our lawn with the blackbird in his mouth. We both ran out - me barefoot - and he dropped the bird which, thankfully, flew off. We then chased the cat out of the bushes and drenched him with the hose. I would never ever hurt any animals, especially a cat, but i have no worry about soaking them. Our aim was to try and scare him so he felt our garden was not a nice place to be and didn't come back. We have now done that three times so far this afternoon. He is a tenacious little cat! Our cats have never hunted - they don't go out often and never had cats that go out at night. I know it is only nature for them but i feel so guilty as we have lured these birds into our garden and I would hate to be responsible for them being killed. Consequently I haven't done much other than watch out of the window to protect the birds.
The little robin family are very tame though and even came to say thank you whilst we were out there on cat duty.
We also found an empty half egg shell. I think it may be a pigeon as it is was white and the others all seem to lay pale blue or speckled eggs. It looked like one that had hatched rather than been raided.
These are my last two challenges for Shimelle's crop
This was the one to use a sketch and I used this one
and this is my page - another for the Austria album
The couple in the photo were two people we made friends with on the tour and ended up sharing quite a few meals and trips together. It was funny as they had a daughter my age called Karen and she was married to someone called Nigel. How bizarre was that!
Finally my last challenge is the one to scrap in 4 separate quadrants. I couldn't make it work with 4 even sections so here is my effort, about our obsession.
I used Linday Jane's In the Forest collection from Pickleberrypop
Today I am thankful for
the lovely birds in our garden
enjoyable walks
saving the blackbird - I so hop we don't loose any others.
It was glorious here this morning - a little chilly out of the sun but very bright. So we went for a walk at Sandbanks which was lovely. It looked like it was going to rain but keeps perking up again.
How glorious does the beach look and how lucky we feel to have this on our doorstep to enjoy whenever we want.
We have had a great time today watching the birds in the garden. We have a lot of permanent visitors now who take it in turns. There are a pair of robins who are almost always visible somewhere in the garden, a pair of blackbirds, a pair of great tits (possibly two pairs but we saw one feeding the other today) a blue tit, a small brown bird that we can't identify and an extremely overweight pigeon who appears to eat most of the day!
I have been catching up on challenges for Shimelle's crop today and have one more left to make so am quite proud of myself for - hopefully - doing all 16.
This is another which was to use up scraps from the other projects. It is another for our Austria album.
and this was another challenge to use a printable by Little Mussings which was lovely and pastel and inspired this page. The photo is my other god-daughter (I am blessed with two and love them both to bits)
I also have my photo of the day which is probably one of the most bizarre I will have this year.
There was a man - very nice as we stopped to talk to him - who was walking his pets on the beach. Nothing odd about that - we are still in the season when dogs are allowed on the beach. They were well behaved and stopped to be fed treats, even sitting down when told. They were are harnesses rather than leads and were ....
....
...
...
well
...
....
....
PIGS.
They were loevely but I have never seen anyone walk pigs on a harness along the beach before.
I asked if I could take a picture and they both sat for a treat. How cute was that.
A friend also flagged up this new place about to open (with lots of freebies on offer at the moment too)
Free to join and an incentive programme - so worth a check out
and my one minute devotional calendar page today is
MYSTERIOUS WAYS One night, I tucked my 21-month-old daughter, Julie, into her crib, kissed her on the forehead, and went to the living room to begin my usual routine: picking up the toys from the day’s play. I always put Julie’s favorite toys in her bedroom closet, keeping one of the sliding doors open so she could see her beloved dolly, “Mrs. Beasley,” when she woke up.
But as I turned to creep back out, something stopped me. Close the closet doors, a voice seemed to say. Close the closet doors. I’d never felt or heard anything like that before. It was too strong an urge to ignore. I made sure that the doors were tightly closed.
That night, I had a restless sleep. I dreamed Julie was calling out … Mommy! Daddy! I snapped awake. The alarm clock read 2:30 A.M. “Mommy,” I heard. I wasn’t dreaming anymore: Julie was calling out. I got out of bed and sluggishly headed down the hall. Why is it so hot in here?
Smoke! Coming from my baby’s bedroom. I ran down the hall, reached into the crib, and grabbed Julie. Gray smoke filled the room, but I didn’t see any flames. Carrying out our daughter, my husband and I fled out into the frigid Minnesota night and called 911 from my grandparents’ house down the street.
The next morning, I stared in horror at the burnt remains of our home. The fire chief expressed his condolences and handed me a copy of the fire report. I didn’t want to read it. What did it matter how the fire started? We’d lost everything, hadn’t we?
Not everything, I reminded myself. We had all survived. I read the report, finally stopping at the fire chief’s conclusion. “The fire began in either the electrical panel or the hot water heater,” he wrote. I gasped.
The location of both? The closet of Julie’s bedroom. The closet a voice had urged me to shut so tightly that night, holding back the fire just long enough to save my daughter’s life.
Father, thank You for protecting the treasures in my life that matter most.
You know how somethings are called what they are. Like a refrigerator is called that because it refrigerates.
OK so that wasn't a very good example but it was the best I could come up with.
Well I have a new kit to share with you today that is called breathless and left me feeling that way as it is totally gorgeous. I am a bit of an addict for clusters but WOW, these are clusters like ... well just like WOW really.
Isn't is awesome and you can get it on special offer here
I had such fun creating with it and here is one page I made - my little girl.
I also have another page to share - another made for the weekend crop over at Shimelle's - Oh yes - I plan on all 16. I still have 4 to go LOL
This was the challenge to use a pocket and hide something in it.
It is another page for my Austria album and inside the little tag pocket are 4 things - a tag with lots of journalling on both sides, the ticket from the cable car and also the two typed sheets of information that were in my old photo album which I kind of fancied including.
I haven't a photo of the day yet (I am really not doing well this year)
Today I am thankful for
my dinner prepared ready for me
laughter - it really does help
And my one minute devotional calendar page today is
I’m a case study on how to be an overnight success in 20 years or less. It took me years of frantically pounding against opportunity’s door before I sold my first novel; five long, frustrating and discouraging years.
One of the first lessons I learned in dealing with the constant barrage of rejection was the need to celebrate the small successes. My first sale was a five-dollar anecdote.
Our five-year-old son, Dale, was part of the Christmas program at church. His entire role consisted of reciting a Bible verse. Sure enough, when the time came, Dale flawlessly recited the verse, but hesitated when he forgot the reference. In a moment of panic he looked to me. Wanting to help, I cupped my hands over my mouth and whispered, “It’s Luke. It’s Luke.”
Instantly relieved, Dale shouted out in a loud booming voice, “Luke Skywalker!”
This tale has long been repeated in our family, along with other Dale stories. One day I decided to write it up and submit it to a church magazine. A few weeks later, I received a check for five dollars!
I was ecstatic; I’d made a sale at last. A magazine had found something I’d written worthy of publication—worthy of payment. The confidence boost that five-dollar anecdote gave me was worth five million. I’d made a sale. I’ve never forgotten it.
God, thank You for the small encouragements You send into my life. Help me to celebrate the little steps I take as I trudge toward my goal.
I have had a lovely crafting day making a project I am thrilled with but can't share yet as it is for a post on IACW - but I love it.
I have also had fun making a very different page for me for the Scrapology challenge this month. It was a very busy design for me and used lace which I rarely use, but I figured it was worth a go.
The page I have made is for my Austria album and I used new papers, letters and flowers all bought yesterday. see, I knew I needed to buy them.
I also used a lace doily die cut (but covered most of it up, and lots of paper lace.
and I almost - not quite but almost - managed to avoid butterflies, but gave in at the end LOL
I had fun making it up.
My photo of the day will come later as I know what I want to take but just can't take it yet!
Today I am thankful for
first and foremost all the blessings of Easter
a 'not getting dressed day' We haven't had one of those for ages and ages
a tidy cupboard and drawer - yes I tackled 'the dump drawer and cupboard' in the kitchen. My my I keep some junk!
And finally, as I am still playing catch up posting these, this is another of my 365/6 pages. This time it is week 11 and I used two of Dawn Inskip's templates combined.
Ooh it was so exciting hosting a give away - I think I will have to do that more often.
I wasn't sure how to select the winner and debated bits of paper but figured heck - I am in the technological age now.
So I googled random numbers and went with the first thing that came up.
And so here is the result (a screen shot as well! How techie!)
So the winner fo the $5 Pickleberrypop gift voucher is commenter number 11 and that was Shellyj who needs to watch out for an e mail coming soon.
Thank you so much everyone for playing along and I hope you enjoyed the blog hop. Those girls at IACW really rock.
Today we went for a walk along the beach which was lovely - though a little nippy at first. We decided, as we had never been there, to start from Boscombe Gardens. We walked through to Boscombe Pier and then along to Bournemouth Pier and back. My picture of the day is the unusual totem poles in Boscombe Gardens.
I have some new scrapping to share and it is another Austrian page - this time the Pilatushaus in Oberammergau, one of the very famous painted houses - and it was amazing. To think they are all paintings is incredible.
Today I am thankful for
being almost pain free
my hair cut
finishing an unusual project - can't share it yet
I couldn't resist this as the LOL cat today though
My one minute devotional is beautiful and reminded me of a kindness I experienced from a stranger one day in Tesco. There are some special people in the world.
Panda is a purebred cocker spaniel. She got her name because her black-and-white markings resemble those of the winsome bear. When my son took a job in Colorado, I inherited Panda. She has floppy ears that tend to get infections and a sensitive digestive system that calls for careful regulation of what she eats. She’s loyal and affectionate, but she’s a high-maintenance dog.
The pet store had a wide selection of books on the care of cocker spaniels. As I thumbed through one, then another, a young man came to the shelves and reached for a magazine. He grinned and said, “You have a cocker? I’ve had my Sandy since she was a puppy.” That’s all it took to get us talking. He had some great tips for Panda: Use an antibacterial wash for her ears and, “Too bad, but absolutely no table scraps.” He handed me a dog-care manual. “This is the book I’d recommend. It covers just about everything. Good luck!” He looked at his watch and quickened his step as he walked to the cashier.
Hmm, $16.95, I thought as I looked at the book. Expenses had been heavy that month, with a hefty vet bill for Panda. Oh well, I really do need this, I decided, and added it to the sack of dog food in my cart.
“So you’rethe lady,” the cashier said as she separated the book from my supplies. “The tall blond guy paid for this. He said to tell you it was a gift to help you take good care of your cocker!”
I looked around, but he’d gone. “Wow,” I said, “I didn’t even know him! How kind.”
She nodded, “Yeah, made your day, eh? Made my day, too. Here.” She scooped up several small bags of dog treats. “These are freebies.”
Thank You, Lord, for the joy of sweet surprises from the generous hearts of strangers.
I am Scrapdolly - frequently answering to just Dolly. I live with my soulmate Nigel and two new kittens and I love to scrap. Scrapping is my creative outlet, my daily therapy, my sanity restorer and where I meet my friends. Come share it with me.
Thank You, Father, for Your Word and Your abiding presence—whether I’m in a church, a boardroom, or a hospital room. You are what matters most!
