Dolly's Dreamings

What beautiful weather

The last two days have been gorgeous - very cold but beautifully sunny and totally wonderful. My favourite sort of weather ever. I like the cold. I like wrapping up, and I love the cold crisp sunshine.

 

Yesterday we walked along Sandbanks beach and along the harbour

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we went to Hamworthy Park - I absolutely love it there and on many many occasions we have had unusual light. Today was no exception. When we arrived, about 10.30, it was very very misty and there were very unsual clouds that looked like a veil. It was odd as the sun was there but hidden and it made the light look like sunrise (though it certainly wasn't) And as we were there the sun burnt off the clouds but there were some terrific colours, some spectacular skies and still mist over the hills. These photos are NOT with filters or anything - just taken with my phone (and I love the new camera BTW!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have a couple of other January photos I never downloaded and shared. Nigel doing his thing at his quiz night for Dorset Cancer Trust (and we have been re-booked)

 

 

a swan - because

 

 

I hope wherever you are the weather has been kind to you too.

 

Now on to scrapping and some more pages with A Little Bit Lovely for ATDML

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had fun making layered flowers and using watercolours to colour the flowers that were black and white.

 

Today I am thankful for

• living by the beach - can't imagine not
• nature in all of her splendour
• the kindness of strangers
• the surprise meeting, whilst out walking, of old friends

 

 

and finally - my three new FTLOPP pencils that I won recently and arrived yesterday

 

 

 

and my prize winning pencil stash (and as you can see I DO use them)

 

 

Definitely Lighter

The days are definitely getting longer and as I type this at 4.30 it is still light - though there is a gorgeous pinky sunset developing. It has also turned much colder which I am happy about. Winter is meant to be cold and it has been impossibly mild. How am I supposed to get the use out of my coats and hats if it isn't cold!

Yesterday we seemed to be very busy. We popped out and ended up being out most of the day. We went to buy a new vacuum cleaner as we blew ours up this week. We intended to buy another Shark but in the store were advised against it as apparently they are known for being unreliable and they said they have more returns on Sharks than anything. So we ended up buying a cordless Dyson that I think might also make the tea! We have just tried it and bearing in mind we hoovered on Wednesday the amount of dust and dirt and cat hair that has come up is unbelievable. Clearly our Shark failed a long time before we thought it did!

We also went to the cinema yesterday to see Bombshell which had all the makings of a really good film but somehow just missed the mark for us.

 

I have new scrapping to share- make with the wonderful new PinkFresh Studio A Little Bit Lovely for A Trip Down Memory Lane.

 

I fussy cut the centre and outside of the wreath.

 

 

 

 

 

And then I used the inside I had cut out (plus made another 'splat' from white card and inked it for the bottom, ) and used it on this page

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a new vacuum cleaner (and the fact Nigel does floors!)
• cold weather - I love it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still sharing catch up scrapping

Before I catch up on scrapping stuff can I just share something that has reduced me to tears several times over the last couple of days.

 

I think everyone has been shocked by the wildfires in Australia. The terrible destruction, people killed, people who have lost everything and the loss of habitats and literally hundreds of thousands of animals. I feel for all of them, but I have to say I find it unbearable that animals don't understand. They don't know where to go for help, they don't know how to ask for help and they are suffereing and struggling.

I think the world has wanted to help and, like so many, we donated money for aid int he recovery BUT I was even more encouraged by the call to do something practical. And to see the internet used for such good. There was a facebook group started in Australia asking for crafters to knit, crochet and sew pouches and blankets to help the animals orphaned, burnt, terrified and needing aid. This sparked a UK group which I joined and there are people not only making the things to send but coordinating, travelling on holiday and psoting they are willing to take things out, companies donating wool and fabric, local coordinators stepping up. Crafting of all kinds had been so important in my life, bringing me back from some dark times, and to see the crafting community working so hard int his way to help is so utterly moving. I urge you if you can sew (I can't really) or knit or crochet (that I can do and I am busy making) and think you could help then check out UK Crafters for Australia Animal Rescue Effort on Facebook ... see the pictures at the end of how these pouches and nests can help

 

Please do check it out.

 

Back to more mundane things and more pages to share from the cyber crop last week.

This is my boy ... love him to bits

 

 

and this is my girl - also loved to bits. And I confess they have been snuggled a little bit closer recently.

 

 

and this is a digital page made for the Monthly Mojo Use it all challenge at Pickleberrypop. This is the challenge forum  and you can get this kit FRESH START mini by Bellisae  for FREE to make your challenge page.

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• people in the crafting community pulling together to use their skills to help

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost back in the land of the living

First of all, dear readers, apologies for no wishing you a merry Christmas. It's been a while since I blogged - in fairness, it's been a while since I have been up and dressed.

I hope that you did all have a wonderful Christmas. I hope you were filled with HIS presence, had the presence of friends and family and also had some of the other sorts of presents too.

 

It's been quite a noisy Christmas here but rather than the joyful sound of carols, the laughter of family and friends, the riotous noise f Christmas TV, it's been the sound of coughing and sneezing and a fair bit of groaning that has filled our house with noise. I have to say this cold/flu type bug is one of the worst we have ever had. The bug has affected us differently. My cough has not been as bad as poor Nigel's - well at least not yet. I had a few days of sounding like a sealion but at one point I couldn't even keep my eyes open they were streaming so much. The headache was unremitting and now I have badly blocked sinuses and even my teeth ache. One eye is swollen it is so bad! But today we are up, we are dressed and Nigel is going out. OK so he is only going out to get more medicine and some fresh food, but heck - it is progress.

 

However, we still had a nice time. We grazed on Christmas food, we couldn't taste and we exchanged gifts as we both love spoiling each other for Christmas. He loved his two photobooks of our holiday and he bought me the three kings for my Willow Tree Nativity and a gorgeous new charm for my bracelet to celebrate our road trip.

 

 

 

 

 

However, we are still very happy to count our blessings. It is just a cold. It isn't anything terrible. People are battling with far worse things. We had a warm safe home to suffer in and we had food in to eat. And alcohol always helps! We don't really drink the rest of the year much so it was a treat to have a drink over the season and could tell ourselves it was medicinal too.

 

No new scrapping but these are pages I made before Christmas and I may scrap today too! Now THAT is progress.

 

This is Front Street in Dodge City that was just so lovely - and such a great museum too.

 

 

 

 

 

And I almost never do doubles but this captures the Long Branch Saloon - the most famous of them all in Dodge.

 

 

 

 and these three were pages made for Mojo Challenges ar Pickleberrypop

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• being up!
• medicines
• being together over Christmas
• a lovely time in spite of everything

 

 

Bring out your sick!

Well it's been an interesting week here.

I was suddenly very sick Monday night - I am sure it wasn't noro or anything as it was short-lived, but it left my ribs in agony and my diaphragm so sore. However, I am the well one of the family. Nigel has had a terrible cough and throat for more than two weeks. Last week he lost his voice completely and now he is so congested he is in a bit of a pickle. He has tried so hard to blow his nose he has damaged his ear (a few years ago he perforated his eardrum with overzealous blowing). He has been struggling for the last 6 days really quite bad and has slept upright int he lounge partway through several nights. We were so reluctant to bother an overstretched GP service so yesterday went to the pharmacist for advice and we tried their recommendations but he was really bad overnight and could feel rattling in his chest so we got an emergency doctor appointment today and she said he did the right thing coming in. His oxygen levels were lower than they should have been and he is now on antibiotics. we don't have a spare bedroom as such (we have lots of bedrooms but none of them are bedrooms if you see what I mean)  but today have made up the bed settee in the spare room so he will try and sleep in there. I have to say it is a very nice bed setee and looks pretty all made up - but doesn't look very comfortable compared to our wonderful memory foam kind sized bed. I did offer to be the one to have the torture bed but he feels his cough is less likely to suffer than my ribs would. Oh dear, what a pair we are. We are both conscious we don't want to share this virus!

I hope he feels better for Christmas but it does mean he hasn't been able to visit his Mom whilst he is poorly as that simply wouldn't be fair. And my hands are the driest sorest they have ever been as we are constantly washing our hands in very hot soap and water to try and stop stiff spreading. To finish our week off nicely I went and had my boobs squished this afternoon for a routine mammogram which is always such a lovely experience! I have to say the lady doing the mammogram was lovely and it was done very quickly with lots of smiles and jokes. And I have to share their amazing Christmas tree. The staff made her - they do a different tree each year and I thought she was fabulous.

 

 

New scrapping this week - I have been working on Design Team things for A Trip Down Memory Lane and was working with Simple Stories Vintage Christmas and Country Christmas (I love love love Country Christmas so much)

I wanted to use some of the papers for non-Christmas things so this is a page for the holiday album about our trip to Big Bear Lake in the San Bernadino Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

This one was from our trip to Bournemouth to see the Christmas lights

 

 

And I was quite proud of my painting of the snow scene so made a page about that too

 

 

 

 

 

This is the painting on its own

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the care of all of the staff in our NHS. I never fail to be impressed with them all
• gorgeous things to work with from A Trip Down memory Lane
• Little things in any day that make you smile
• our neighbours - 8 of us went out for our annual Christmas dinner last night - we are so blessed with them
• supermarket shopping done - mostly just our usual but it was mad and crazy at Tesco - you'd think the world was shutting down for at least a month or so!

 

 

 

 

 

Reason for missing - a bit of a shock

I missed posting yesterday but I wasn't in a very blogging sort of mood to be honest. I had a bit of a worry.

I have been battling with rib pain for weeks and weeks. Last July I broke my ribs and they eventually healed and I was pain-free. In about June I started getting tenderness where I had hurt my ribs for no reason at all. I mentioned it to the doctor in August and she felt it was OK and nothing to worry about. Some days it would be worse than others. Then it began to spread and rather than just being in a small spot on my right side at the bottom of my rib cage it started to spread round the side and to the back and it started to be more and more persistent. It didn't feel muscular and it was very very tender if pressed. Then at the weekend the pain and tenderness spread to my breast bone as well. So I got a doctor's appointment yesterday expecting him to say yes it was rib pain and it would go and take more paracetamol. 

It was a doctor I hadn't seen before and he was very nice. He listened to my concerns and then examined me carefully. One of the first things he said was' what is the scar on your back from?' I told him it was a malignant melanoma removed 5 years ago. He checked my lungs etc which he said sounded fine and then he checked my ribs and abdomen all over and it hurt. He then sat me down and said that it didn't seem muscular but either bone pain or nerve pain and the next step was an urgent referral for a chest x-ray. I questioned urgent and he said in light of my medical history he wanted that checked as soon as possible. I asked Nigel, who was in the waiting room, to come in, and we discussed his concerns. He agreed the melanoma was a red flag and that whilst everything was probably Ok it needed to be checked as a priority. So I left in a very different frame of mind than I entered and in a bit of shock really as I wasn't expecting that scenario. Nigel keeps telling me - and I know he is right - that they have to cover themselves and that it is unlikely to be anything wrong but they have to check etc etc. I keep alternating between worst-case scenario and thinking it is all a waste of people's time. I had my urgent chest x-ray this morning and will hear results in a couple of days. If you can, keep me in your thoughts and the odd prayer wouldn't go amiss either, please.

Consequently I haven't really been able to settle to anything today.

 

I did make this yesterday though - a lovely picture of Nigel and his Mom who is increasingly 'absent' as the dementia steals more and more of her away.

 

 

 I used more Indigo and ivy and it was made for ATDML.

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• the speed of our NHS which is terrific when it needs to be
• the care of NHS staff - they were lovely as always today and I watched nurses and ancillary staff be so kind to so many people and so patient with them
• faith - it's so key!

 

In news this week

So a bit of a catch up from this week.

We have been to the cinema three times - it was a bit of a catch-up time as lots of new films we wanted to see were out.

Last week we had seen IT 2 which I thought was quite good and Downton Abbey which we both enjoyed a lot. Not so lucky this week.

First up was The Informer which was just about OK but no more than that really. Next up was Hustlers which neither of us enjoyed and we almost left. The trailer had made it look quite good. It wasn't. I actively disliked Jennifer Lopez and it was just too sleazy and you had no empathy for any of the characters. And then we saw Ad Astra. Nigel is a space buff so it had promise... me I just went for the eye candy of Brad Pitt and yes he is older, so am I! It still works for me! The film was grim. Far too many long close-ups and pregnant pauses plus an unbelievable story. Nigel hated it. I was happy there was eye candy because the story did nothing. Hey ho! You win some you lose some.

The weather has been utterly gorgeous - truly gorgeous. Warm and brilliant sunshine, though today when we went to the beach there was a heck of breeze and quite choppy waters.

It was beautiful though. Whilst there we sipped our first - and last - Pumpkin Spice frappe. We were keen to try it but whilst it wasn't horrible, it wasn't for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 and this - my friends - is what an award-winning beach looks like and I am sorry to my friends in Bournemouth, but Poole beaches are so much better - the sand is gorgeous and quite different ... yes, I am biased - I love my home town.

 

 

In other news still, I have been making a mini-book. I was following a brilliant step by step tutorial by Cal Summers from Scraplab and it was an absolutely brilliant tutorial.

 I have made similar mini books before but the tips and guidance for this one were superb and it is a really strong, sturdy book, a good size taking full 6 x 4 pictures if you want and with space for literally dozens of photos. I can't wait to fill it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• living by the ocean
• cinema club even when they are not fab
• felting - a bit of a new craze

 

 

Prayers answered and all is good

I have been having a pretty rotten time with my health recently - not to share too much information my insides are a little messed up and there have been days when I have been unable to leave the house - well leave the bathroom really - and the terrible cramps have left me in tears. I just assumed it was my IBS acting up, though it had never been that bad, and I battled with it for a couple of months but in the end, Nigel said I had to go and see the doctor and I did. She was wonderful except she scared the living daylights out of me because having googled, very thoroughly, colon cancer and bowel cancer, I had clearly missed ovarian cancer off my Doctor Google checklists and that was the one she wanted me screened for. Oh and full blood count, liver function, kidney function, glucose etc. However, she also gave me new medication for the IBS which, apart from causing a very low-grade tummy ache much of the time, has helped enormously. I was dreading today to get the results and had pretty much convinced myself I would have  a high marker for the ovarian cancer test and diabetes at least, all my tests were clear and so it must just (and I say just though it is still horrid) IBS which is NOT life-threatening, is not serious and I can learn to live with. I have battled it for the last 30 years or so and especially the last 5 years since I had campylobacter which made it so much worse and which never fully returned to normal. So I am a happy happy lady. My prayers were answered and I am so grateful. I am getting used to popping a cocktail of pills and, if that is the answer I can happily live with that to avoid all the other things.

 

Sorry to have bored you with health issues. On to prettier things

 

I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest designer for UK Scrapaddicts and work with their sketch this month.

This is what I created

 

 

 

 

 

This was another page made for two challenges - one at UKS and one at Mind the Scrap

 

 

as was this one

 

Today I have so very very much to be thankful for  I don't know where to begin really

• thankful for my faith which sees me through good times and bad
• thankful for my wonderful husband who cares about me and mops up the tears when needed. He is always by my side through good and bad and whilst he is a bloke and so has 'sharing' issues, I know he cares very deeply
• thankful for our wonderful NHS - in the space of a week two doctor visits, full blood tests and results and new medication
• life - it's pretty wonderful you know! 

Oh my - awesomely good

Yesterday we went to see the new live-action Lion King - well CGI action I guess.

 

I was very apprehensive as The Lion King is one of my favourite ever Disney films. I hoped they hadn't messed with it.

 

I can honestly say it was the best film I have seen this year - and we go at least once a week. It was awesome. It was so real, it was so subtle, it was so true tot he original. The few small tweaks were very good and - no spoilers - but one made me laugh out loud. The only sad thing was the cinema needed to up the volume a bit and although Mufassah was James Earl Jones it didn't sound like him.

Do go and see it

It was amazing

 

Official trailer to whet your appetite

 

 

 

 

I have also managed digital and paper scrapping. I am trying to finish the Fabulous Fall photo book and have a fair bit to do before my credits tun out.

I had nothing on Concord so these were two missing pages

 

 

 

I also made this today which was for a colour challenge and a sketch challenge (Love multi-tasking like that)

 

The photo was taken just a week ago

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely few days just enjoying retirement
• my cats - some days I am just overwhelmed by how lucky we have been with them
• the Lion King - awesome

 

and a little bit of Disney wisdom to end with

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank goodness for a great health service

It was quite a day yesterday.

First thing in the morning Nigel just casually dropped into conversation that he thought he might get his eye checked out! He said he had developed a huge floater like a spider's web in his right eye yesterday and it hadn't gone overnight and so he thought he might like to get it checked.

Um -yes!

We both knew that a change like that, a sudden increase in floaters etc, was a warning sign of something like a torn retina or even worse a risk of a detached retina. We got up straight away and went to Poole.

We figured, rightly, our best shot was the optician where Nigel knows the manager at Specsavers well. He was fab and booked us in for a couple of hours later with one of the specialists there. We went back and Nigel was dilated and examined and yes, he had a possible tear and so they phoned the hospital and checked us in there. A drive across from Poole to the Eye Hospital in Bournemouth (highlighting the fact that when the two hospitals merge and Poole loses its A and E department people are NOT going to survive that journey if they are critically ill - but that is another story)

The hospital was fabulous and we were seen within the hour. They confirmed a small tear which had taken a bit off the disc at the back and so it would need to be lasered which acts as a sort of welded seal to stop any more fluid leaking and stop a detached retina. It sounded horrible but Nigel said it wasn't bad. It was a bit scary but it didn't hurt. His eye is safe now but the big floater is still there and whilst it might lessen a little it is unlikely to go away however his brain should learn to compensate for it.

Once again we are left amazed by the quality of our NHS, the service we received, the care of everyone involved, their kindness and their expertise. We are truly lucky in this country and yet again we cannot speak highly enough of the NHS. 

No scrapping yesterday but I do have new things to share

 

This is a page documenting the amazing PATH station at World Trade Centre - it looked like a dove of peace

It was breathtaking

 

 

This is a page about St Augustine and how pretty the huge number of B and Bs were

 

and this is another page made for A Trip Down Memory Lane using Simple Stories Simply Vintage Botanical and shows Thomas Hardy's cottage in our home county. Love Dorset!

 

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a happy and positive resolution yesterday
• great stuff to play with from such super people at A Trip Down memory Lane
• retirement - we were able to deal with yesterday without any letting people down at work. For that we are both so grateful.