A Very Happy Christmas and Good Wishes for 2011!

Well the big day is here and Santa has been, and somehow or other everything that needed doing got done lol! (Never did find that box of deccies though..?!?)

It is a beautiful day - blue sky and sunshine, but with snow laying all around it is wonderfully festive!

Below you will find my little slide-show showing my special cards and dotees - a very limited edition this year, but my Christmas wishes go out to all of my friends, and even the odd rellie who view my little blog!

Have a wonderful day, eat drink and be merry...and a happy sparkly New Year!

Sue xxx

Okay...who's nicked my Christmas decorations???

Its taken me a week or so to summon up the inclination to actually make my way to the walk-in cupboard in the corner of my bedroom to dig out my box of little decorations which will (maybe....eventually) look very nice on my little PINK Christmas tree. Unfortunately, this wasnt as simple as trotting over and opening the door......there was a years worth of random stash/carrier bags/boxes that would come in handy one day....and more, in the way...sigh! Indeed there were only a few inches between a ridiculous amount of stuff and my bed, and I was getting very fed up with stubbing my toes so it was time to tackle it, seeing as I had the very good reason - to reach those deccies.

However, two days & a bin bag full of 'stuff' (which is a mega achievement on my part...throw things away....oooo palpitations!) later, I finally reach the corner.....kick a few more bits and bobs out of the way and squeeze myself into the cupboard.....and what do I find? Just more random stash/carrier bags & boxes that will come in handy one day and (the clue is in the title of this post) NO decorations....aaagggghhh!

Unfortunately a room has more than one side plus three more corners....so the search goes on, I may or may not find the blooming things by Christmas Day! Oh well........

The good, no....miraculous news is, that I think I have done all my Christmas shopping...woohoo! About a week ago I had done nought, but thanks to Amazon, BHS online and ebay - I now await the delivery of my Christmas! Parcels have started to trickle through and Dad has been enlisted as my goods inwards manager - he is now on first names terms with postie and the various couriers and it is a system that is working well. I did manage a visit to Weston Favell with Carol last weekend and picked up lots of bits - she made a very good sherpa carrying all my bags...everyone could do with a 'Carol' lol!

At this point I would like to send oodles of sparkles Carol's way as she is suffering with a cold/flu.....a blooming sore throat anyway, is on antibiotics and for once in her life is having to take it easy. And you better keep resting missus and let the men in your house do all the work for a change....they might realise what a star you are!!! Get better soon Carol, Im missing your visits!

The other good news that I have to report...in the hope that I dont jinx things, is that I have made great progress with my pain control. I had a review at the hossie last week and surprise surprise, I saw the actual consultant who is dealing with me (rather than one of his hoppos). The bad thing however, was that Carol and I must have waited getting on for two hours before we got to see him, and by that time I just wanted to come home. I didnt ask many questions or say anything much as I was SO fed up, but I did describe the pain and expressed concern that it was lingering when I thought I would be much more improved by now. He reassured me that it could take longer, but more importantly, he advised me to take another tablet....one that I was taking when I thought all I had was a slipped disc and stopped when I was given the morphine. It deals with inflammation and wow...its made heck of a difference! I still take the long lasting morphine tabs morning and night, but for a few days I havent needed any liquid morphine top-up which is a treat as it tastes a bit yuk, and the new tabs along with paracetamol have got me through the days. Im still needing the stick, as without it my leg just doesnt want to take the weight (not surprising, the lump that I am!), but mostly I am pain free. Some discomfort when I just get up, and when I approach tablet time, but hugely better than I was which is not a moment too soon!

I have to watch that I dont jar or twist myself....I did the other day not realising the paths were icy, and I do pay for that a bit....clearly there is still a lot of weakness, but as I say, a massive improvement which has allowed me to get out there and do the bit of Christmas shopping, and have a tidy up around here.....which is much needed believe me! Fingers crossed it will be onwards and upwards from now on!

So...where are those deccies? I know all my big deccies and the big tree is over the garage, and Im not planning on tackling that.....good grief, the very idea! But I have a festive box which holds all my hand made felt goodies - I keep it in the house as the garage is damp and they would spoil over there....I do hope some 'helpful' person didnt put the box over there while I wasnt looking! Well, tomorrow is another day....a few brews first thing and I will tackle another corner....sigh!

I hope all of your festive plans are coming together nicely. Get a wriggle on as we are promised more snow next week so you want it all done by this weekend I reckon....lets just hope the posties can get through with all our parcels eh!

Hugs & sparkles all round!
Sue x

The wanderer returns.....

....although when I say wanderer, my wandering is still somewhat limited to shuffling between the pc and the kettle lol! But hey ho, here I am - I thought it was about time I showed my face!


Since my last post I have been rather up and down pain wise, but my endless chilling around the house has been puncuated with some fun activities...other than stash shopping that is!


Firstly I had my much needed makeover - not that one would know that now. I asked my sister to get a photo of my new hair & specs...but having washed my hair and let it dry without the aid of a hairdryer or straighteners.... its back to resembling rats tails.....here you are, not a face on view, there are limits lol....

Not exactly looking like 68 quids worth of hair-do is it lol! If we pan out a bit, you will see that I have actually been crafting...woohoo!



Having sadly resigned myself to NOT being able to knock up 40 or 50 festive dotees this year, I couldnt bear the thought of there not being a single festive dotee 2010 in the world, so I have embarked on making a very limited edition of 6 - these are for my family, and I am very sorry that they wont be winging their way up and down the country this year girls. I will do my best to make it up to you all as soon as I am able, as I do love my dotees finding new homes here there and everywhere!

Anyway, the photos are a bit rubbish, but if you look very carefully, I do have a little bling on the sides of my new specs...how fab! lol!

On this particular day, I finally, after many many efforts to suck my sister in to the world of crafting and a love of stash, had a breakthrough...just look at her here...

...totally engrossed in playing with pretty paper and shiny gems! She made lots of beautiful cards...



and this was her favourite...totally blinged up, you can tell who her teacher was cant you lol!



Im pleased to say that I think she is hooked, so hopefully there will be lots of play days for us from now on!

A couple of weekends ago I actually had an evening out - it was the office chicks Christmas do and we went out for a lovely meal. Lucky me, I was chauffeured to and fro' by our Lesley which was a real treat - it was a really fun evening and wonderful to see my buddies again. But what happened...noone picked up the camera, we dont have any evidence of our lovely evening which is a shame, Im quite annoyed with myself about that. The problem is, once Im sat down and got myself cosy, I dont want to move...sigh! It was lovely seeing you all girls and I long to be back with you again!!!

What else has occurred......? Oh, rather more frequent visits from my sons and their girls which is very nice. It has now been decided that they are all coming here for Christmas dinner - yikes - along with the two pooches (poor kitties!) so that should be fun!?! I am very much looking forward to it, but at the same time a little panicky as I tire so easily. I will deffo put a reserved sign on MY bit of the sofa, and will nap my way through the afternoon if thats how the mood takes me...while they are washing up! Thank goodness I will not be doing the cooking - thats Dads job, and its his roast spuds that are the big attraction...they are yummy! He will be glad to have an appreciative audience for his cooking after the moo I have been lately....I have to nibble on bits and pieces whenever I feel able, so have declined his dinners lately bringing about much sulking...but it cant be helped, Im done with forcing myself to eat things I dont want!

It will be my job to create a festive grotto.....seeing as we will have visitors, I suppose I really will have to make the effort! So far, this is my idea of putting the deccies on the tree...

LOL!

But look, it is a PINK Christmas tree...yay! A fiver in Tescos....bargain! You know you NEED one Lesley lol!

With the help of Amazon, I do have about half the presents I need to buy...luckily I do not have a dirty great long list...not like my sister who buys for the whole town I think...and their pets! The big day is coming upon us so fast though isnt it...I cant believe it, how fast this year has gone is unbelievable!

Now then, for those who are interested, how am I doing with my general condition? Well, now that we are some weeks into treatments, I am noticing patterns - what makes me feel better and what makes me feel worse.....and the good thing about that is, that there are 'better' times. I had that nasty infusion thing on Monday, and although it does give me some dodgy side-effects, at the same time it does ease the hip pain. I realised this mostly as last week, I was in so much pain it felt like I was back to square one.....but then this treatment was due, and when I noticed the easing of the pain yesterday I remembered that I had had less pain last time after the treatment, only I was so nauseous that I couldnt 'enjoy' it. Well, I have anti-nausea meds now which work a treat, and I guess thats how, over time, we will sort out the side-effects of the various things that I am swallowing or having injected into me, and be left with the good effects. I was very fed up last week, it really did feel like I was making no progress, but I have to be a more patient patient. It feels like ages since my radiation treatment ended but its only about 3 weeks, and the nurse said it could be six weeks or so before I felt the real benefit. Tomorrow, or rather later today, I have a review with the consultant. Carol will be with me, and we will be discussing the pain issues and if there is any more that they can do for me, or do I simply have to wait. I can wait....as long as improvement eventually comes. Im still lumbered with the stick and that is a real nuisance - I wont be able to get back to my zapping with that thing will I!!! However, on the whole I think I am making progress, slowly but surely - Im certainly happier in my head, and thats the most important thing!

So are you all ready for Christmas? I hope everything is going well for all my biddies, ooops, I mean buddies (I think lol!), and you have lots of fun things planned for the festive period! I hope Santa will be bring us oodles of stash eh girls!

Now that I have broken the ice blog-wise, I hope to be back on more regularly again...I will certainly be along again before Christmas. But for those who might not pop by again in the next couple of weeks, I hope you and your families have a wonderful time - no stress, no punch-ups...we can only hope eh! lol!

Hugs & sparkles, Sue x