A Productive few weeks.

I have had a productive few weeks, I love it when I have a few projects on the go. Sometimes its great to have a few deadlines to stick to. I have also rediscovered my love of sewing. So it was great to spend a few hours making myself a dress, something I have not done for around 25 years!!  I was amazed that the techniques all came flooding back. I am really pleased with the outcome, I carefully measured to make sure that the fit was good, it is good!! The one measurement I didn't pay too much attention to was the length, so I will need to add a few more inches to it the next time I make one!!! 

On the plus side Beth has fallen in love with it and it looks like she will have the first one!!!

I was also asked to make a couple of personalised gift tags for a friend.. I had fun designing them and I was pleased with the results!!

I also made some pretty little glass angels for another friend. I hope that the friends she intends to give them to likes them. 

Finally last week Beth finally had her long hair chopped off to raise money for Cancer Research. She has donated the hair to another charity called The Little Princess Trust who make the donated hair into wigs for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatment. Our hairdresser Micheal at Ashley Charles Salon in WGC, offered to do her hair for free. So we went one afternoon last week for the big 'chop'

First of all they had to plait her hair so that they could chop it off without it getting tangled.

Here she is with her hair around a foot shorter!!

Finally she dyed her hair and packaged up the newly chopped off plaits to send to the charity. So far she has raised in excess of £300. Well done Beth and thank you to all our friends and family who have supported her.Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine over the coming Bank Holiday weekend!!

Not been the best of weeks.......

I finally finished all of washing created by a few days camping I am still amazed at how much is produced!! There seems to have been a load of things happening this week. Carl has gone on his holiday to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He is there at the moment and sending back reports of what he is up to. I am really jealous and I wish I could have done the trips he is doing when I was younger. The closest I got to exotic places like Hong Kong is writing to my old Brown Owl when she left the pack and moved to Hong Kong  40 odd years ago. I am pleased that he can experience all these things. This week he has been in Bangkok and today he has been tending elephants in Chang Mai, what a fantastic experience.

Back to more mundane things - Bottles of coke. Throughout the summer Coca Cola have been issuing bottles with names on them. I found Laura when we were on holiday in Rome, I had a couple of bottles of Thomas and this last week I had a few sightings of Liz. Carl and Beth were proving to be far more difficult. I have my neighbour Karen to thank for this collection!! She sent me this photo after spotting all the names on the same shelf in just about the right order!! Brilliant.

Sometimes when its been a long hard week something happens to lift your spirits. Last Friday my hip took a turn for the worse. It became so painful that I couldn't walk. It really got me down in the dumps. I think its the pain that drags things down, it really took me by surprise because up until now I had been managing with painkillers and taking things easy. In the end I went to the Doctors and he referred me straight away to the hospital for an X-ray. Within the space of a couple of hours I had the X ray and that ruled out a fracture (thank goodness) . He has given me new painkillers and on Friday afternoon I took two of those and spent the rest of the day completely spaced out. The pain was under control but I couldn't stay awake. I decided to take it easy for the weekend and see how I felt on Sunday evening. Things do seem to have settled down so fingers crossed that I will get through tomorrow. 

Anyway on Friday when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself I received a beautiful floral display and a box of chocolates from a chap who I am helping out. It was so nice that he had thought of me.

This year my holiday seems so far away, I don't like having to wait until later in the year, but that's how it goes I suppose.

Have a good week.

Goodbye Weekend....

The weekend has flown by again,we seem to have packed a fair bit into it. Carl came back from Cub camp with a ton of washing....

This was AFTER I had washed two loads and got it out on the line!!

It took forever but it was a case of cracking on or having the house smell like a campfire for the rest of the weekend!

Saturday we invested in some more weed suppressing membrane to replace the stuff which was under the gravel that was under the trampoline. While the trampoline was in place the dog decided it would be a good idea to dig it up! Of course to replace it we had to shift a ton of gravel!! We left it until Sunday morning to attempt that feat, thank goodness there was a bit of a breeze or I think we would have cooked. I am not expecting to be able to walk tomorrow as its a while since I did that much physical labour!! It was lucky that Tom and I attempted it together we took it in turns raking and shifting!! I am happy that its done and we now have a nice space in the garden to sit in.

I am so pleased that we now have a place to sit outside, I have ordered a screen to hide the recycling bins which are a real eyesore. We also dug out some tubs that had been full of weeds and replanted them. We have plans to plant up some troughs and have flowers up against the bare fences. 

The weather has been so hot that it has really had a negative impact on the plants. We have been watering for England but they are struggling. Getting rid of the trampoline meant that I could trim the roses back and I am afraid its a kill or cure, I hope it comes again next year!!!

During the week Beth and I went diving again, this time it was my second week snorkeling. I am really impressed with how easy it is and how far you can go underwater with just one breath.  It has been years since I had to duck dive, but I was still able to do it and that really helped getting along bottom of the pool! I think I am going to have another go during the week and see if I can perfect my skills.

Yesterday I went out with Carl to buy some clothes for his holiday, he was buying I was along for the ride, I finally found a coke bottle with my name on it HURRAH!! simple pleasures!!

It was funny being in his car, He went back into Matalan to get Beth some socks, a couple of different people said 'cute car' what they actually meant was what is a middle aged woman like you doing in a sports car?? Oh well it was a good trip and we got what we went for.

Have a lovely week, don't work too hard.