Sometimes times are tough...........

You know how there are things we never ever talk about here on the Big Bad Internet? Like 99% of our lives at times? Yes. I never talk about some stuff. And I am not starting today either. Just so you know, my heart is hurting, my body is weary, and I wish I could make things better, fix things for people, and I can't.

And I have a hard time with that inability to fix things.

So today, I have kept moving, doing, making, painting, sewing, starching, pinning, writing, anything, in fact to keep my mind off other stuff. Waiting. Praying. Sunday has not been a day of rest. The bonus is that I got a lot done. The minus side is that I also forgot to take my pills and am 7 hours out of sync, but today that has been a minor.

The tags for the girls now need to have the backs written on - "Christmas 2012", then they will be varnished, and only then will I drill the holes for the string, and then thread that through and pop them in cellophane bags, ready to go. Nearly done.

I have 50 stars ready, including Missy's garland. I also have another 46 stars drying at the moment. WHAT POSSESSED ME? I made 96 stars? Hello? I am losing my mind. I think I will make hanging loops and they can either go on the tree or to the church bazaar here in the village. They cannot stay in this house forever. 96 stars. Good grief. I wasn't joking when I talked of the Milky Way.

The only thing I didn't do today was bake. Maybe tomorrow.

Life can be so cruel, you know. So can people. Harsh. But, as my daughter would remind me, we live in a fallen world, and no-one said things would be just peachy. I know. But I would settle for a month of peachiness just so I can rest and draw breath. Right now I feel every one of my not inconsiderable years.

But there is always tomorrow. There is stuff to get done, after all.

Starching.........

I missed yesterday. Oh well. Maybe I will manage two posts today!

The stars have been finished off, ends sewn in, and the first lot are out on the floor, pinned and starched. Waiting for the starch to dry is taking forever. Maybe a hairdryer (autocorrect and I differ here) would do the trick. Hmmm. Yes, I think I will get it out and see what I can do. 

Jean says I should just use PVA glue watered down - 50/50. I would if I had that amount of glue on hand, but I don't at the moment, so the starching continues. And I wait. But I am busy doing other finishing off things too.

I have painted the little wooden shapes I found at that craft warehouse, and the white tags will have the red shapes on them and the red tags, the white shapes. So as soon as they are dry, the wood glue will emerge from my cupboard and they can be assembled. 

When Peter and Glynis came back from South Africa, they brought me  a bunch of African beaded flowers. They are so beautifully made and the work involved is amazing. They are red and white, so are perfect for the nook area. and that is where they are right now. Christmas with an African touch!

Beautiful work. And it must take ages to get such a perfect flower. What you can't really see is the green under each one, at the top of the stem. Stunning. 

My hands are way too old, too big and too creaky to manage something like intricate beading, much though I would love to give it a try. In African cultures, bead work is a big part of tradition, and some tribes wear the most amazing beading in their clothes and for ornamentation. 

I popped down to the Traidcraft coffee morning earlier, and met up with some old friends there for coffee and walnut cake. Breakfast. That was good. It is a grey day, and damp, so I think I will be spending today making more hearts for that shop, in case they sell the ones they already have there, and they will be extra gifts if I need them for Christmas. 

Now where is my hairdryer..........

Thursday. I can't think of a snappy title.........

What starts with the letter "M", ends with the letter "M" and squishes you in the middle?

Yes. You are correct. It is That Day. It rolled round again. Groan. But it is done, thank heavens and I can forget about it because it is not my most favourite way to spend 10 minutes, I can tell you. Usually, there are 4 full changing rooms in the mobile unit, but this time, I barrelled through the door and I was greeted by 3 nurses/technicians. I had their undivided attention, and so I was barrelling out of the door in minutes. Such a delight to see the sky without have exploded all over the machine.

The hilarious part was this tiny scrap of a child technician, reaching or trying to reach right around me and I was more vividly aware of a total abundance of flesh which I do not want to see. So she said, after I muttered some dark words re my expanse, "Don't worry, my dear. I tell all my patients that if I can reach around them, they have nothing to worry about, and I can reach around you." How kind. It still doesn't remove the fact that I was AWARE of the excesses.

Sigh

Life is hard when you get older.

And things sag.

And bag.

I was at aquazumba at an early hour, and it was strange - I feel listless. Listless and Aqua-anything do not go well together, but we soldiered on.

I still feel a little drained and uninspired. Strange how these days pop up now and then. Unexpectedly. But I can't stop moving, so I have been sewing some bunting for my sister and then made another 12 hearts. Just because the fabric is there and I can use it. I have house group here tonight, so I have turned the heating on for a while to make this house warm and welcoming. Nothing puts people off more than a freezing house. I can announce that crockpots do not warm the house. The smell of my chili concoction may be warm and enticing, but the room stays cold. I need to use the oven more and bake. I always leave the oven door open until it cools down, so the room gets a boost of heat. But that is for December time, the baking time. The Christmas cake is now wrapped in foil and sitting on the counter. It looks great. I must remember to move it out of the room should the wood-working muse strike. I can just see it covered accidentally in sawdust.

Good grief. I just had a bowl of that chili stuff. I may have overdone the chili. I feel flames about to emit from my mouth a la dragons. It was great at the time I ate it, but the aftershock is making my eyes water. Ah well. It warmed the stomach.

Maybe I can do a little painting before the people arrive..........

Christmas cakes and procrastination.............

Oh what a difference a little sun makes. Even if it is just a temporary appearance. And even if it does light up the copious piles of stars STILL waiting for the ends to be sewn in. Sigh. I like putting off things as long as I can. 

This morning started with some important phone discussions, moved on to a visit to a nearby gift shop, whose owner is a wedding planner and wanted to know re bunting, moved to the next door coffee shop for liquid refreshment, and continued on home. 

Avoidance techniques perfected. 

It gets even better. 

I decided to make that Christmas cake I spoke about. The kind I haven't baked since Geoff died. He loved fruit cake. In fact, I think he may have been the only family member to like it. But I like the smell of it baking, and the added smell of the newspaper heating up. Newspaper, you ask? Yes. You grease and line the cake tin, and then tie folded sheets of newspaper around the tin with string, to slow down the cooking process and prevent the fruit from charring. Or something like that. You use newspaper. You just DO. Like my grandmothers always did. And my mother. And my friends. . 

Anyway, I decided today was the day to bake the fruit cake. So I hauled out all the dried fruit. Mixed raisins, sultanas, candied peel, glace cherries, glace pineapple (I couldn't find any glace figs I was prepared to buy)(One could buy a whole fig tree for the price of a tiny box) and popped them in the pot with water and butter and sugar to cook for 5 minutes. 

Then I got out all the other ingredients - flour, bicarb etc, and spices like cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger, nutmeg, cloves.....wait a minute, where are the nutmeg and cloves??????

And then I remembered tossing out the contents of my spice cupboard when I purged the kitchen a few months ago. I completely forgot to buy nutmeg and cloves, because HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU USE NUTMEG AND CLOVES?? Never. Unless I am making a Christmas cake, which will tell you how old the last lot was when I tossed them out - Geoff died  more than 6 years ago. 

So back in the car I leapt, and off to the wonderful spice and Other Wonderful Food place I went. In town. More time used up. AND home again, for coffee as I finally got the cake in the oven, completely forgetting to take a photo of the raw mixture in the tin with the paper tied neatly around it. 

This one will have to do. You can see some of the paper. Because my oven is broken, I cooked it in the little microwave/convection oven. I had to trim the paper to the height of the tin, because it is a small little oven and a large deep tin, and we did not want a fire, believe me.  

One of the drawbacks of the little oven is that its cooking timer programme only goes 90 minutes. This cake cooks for half an hour on 180C and then 2 and a half hours at 160C, so, as you can clearly see, I had to watch it and could not possibly go and sew in ends, now could I? 

And then Margaret popped in for tea, and we sat and chatted in the kitchen, because the cake cooking smelled wonderful, and it also warmed the place up a bit. Margaret did not remover her coat. Maybe I need to cook things on a high temperature to warm my friends. I have plans for the crockpot tomorrow. That will warm the kitchen. Do crockpots warm rooms? I forget. 

Anyway, here is a better photo of the cake. It smells wonderful, even if you don't like rich fruit cake. I may or may not put marzipan and icing on it. I loathe marzipan. Maybe I will just tie a bow around it and plonk artistically arrange a Father Christmas on the top. Or something. It is cooling in the tin as I speak. 

So this evening, I spoke to friends on the phone, spoke to my son on the phone, skyped with my sister on the computer and here I am, and it is after 10pm and I have not sewn in on star's ends. 

Sigh. 

Tomorrow. After aquazumba. 

And now for something completely different - I mentioned that Facebook wanted me to vote in the American elections. I was so honoured to see this message repeatedly on my Facebook page,. I deleted it and back up it came again and again. I nearly told it to find my polling place. The hilarious part is that one of my son's friends works for Facebook, and he left a comment saying that I should not be seeing it outside of the USA, and that led him to examine the coding and at that point, I told him  that I was rather enjoying being American for the day. Unfortunately I couldn't reach any polling place before they closed. 

It did make me grin though!

I can't wait for the normal every day Internet to return.......

My crochet hook and I have returned home. I was about to enthusiastically spray starch all my stars when I realised that I have failed to sew all the ends in. Bah. My favourite part of the making process. So the starchy part has to wait. I am at this very moment dithering about whether or not to go to aquazumba. I am creaking a little so maybe I should make the effort. On the other hand......... I am feeling like a slug. I was up at dark 0' clock to get the bed made and all things washed and neatly in place. I managed to do 99%. My pot was still in the dishwasher and I had to retrieve it as I departed.

The travellers are home, and have had a wonderful time in South Africa. I haven't found out just how much sun they have enjoyed, but they arrived home to the first real hard ground frost of the winter, so I was outside warning Glynis not to fall. A few years back, she did just that and broke her wrist a couple of days before Christmas. Not good.

Ah well. Water, here I come. I have a packet of Royal Cream biscuits from SA in my cupboard and I suspect I need to be energetic before I open the box. Prevention, you know.

I will be back in an hour or two.

I am back. And I am glad I went. Exercise is funny like that - you don't want to do it, but the high you feel after an hour is wonderful. I feel saintly.

I have unpacked, cooked, cleaned and now I am ready to flop into the rocking chair and do some of that sewing in of ends. If they get to the starched phase, at least they will be ready to string of hang on the tree or something. You will have more photos to see when I actually do something.

I am rabbiting on here about absolutely nothing. Let me just say that I will OH SO GLAD when today is over, the voting is done and the internet can return to normal function. I opened Facebook this morning and right at the top of the page was a "HAVE YOU VOTED" post, telling me to click on it when I have indeed done so. Huh? Me? In the middle of England?

I think not.

Let some sanity return to the cyber world and talk of Thanksgiving, Black Friday sales, Christmas, crochet, the weather and such like rise again. I like normal. Ordinary.

Tomorrow I may make a Christmas cake.

Stars in the making..................

Yes, I know they look like flowers at the moment, but they will be STARS once I have pinned them out onto the floor and starched them into pointy things.

Hello. 

My head is about to explode because I forgot to take some medicine last night and now have to wait till tonight and you can't miss out doses. This is one of the kind where you come down or go up in small increments, and so help me, going to zero is a nightmare, if only for today. Aiyaiyai. 

I got carried away making stars last night. Correction,. The Milky Way. Or a galaxy or two. 

I started off in pastels - pink ,green and yellow, and every variation of them, and then I added a deeper pink, lilac and white, and while i was crocheting away, Vee announced that she thought she would make a Christmas garland...................

So off I went again. Red, white and yet to be decided green. 

It is a disease, you know - the crocheting thing. Once you start, you can't stop. 

My friends arrive home tomorrow early, so today I have been sorting out my stuff, doing the washing and trying to make their home theirs again. Dogs are not tidy and neat things. I remember now. The mud. It is a while since my border collie, Bailey, died. And from tomorrow, I will be home again. With all the full counters. It is cold, so I think the tomatoes can last till then. I have run out of steam. 

I need a nap. 

Or something. Maybe a head transplant.

Rain, some creativity, and more rain...........

It is raining. It is 2C. It feels like mid winter.

The dogs survived the fireworks, although there was a time when Dougal, the little one, was treating the house as a race track and hurtling around bouncing off furniture and the walls. This was with the TV up loud, all the curtains closed and the CD playing in the kitchen at the same time. Humph just sat calmly next to me and behaved. I do believe the thunder jacket idea which several friends have mentioned would be a good route to follow for future years.

Anyway, about an hour after the big display down at the bottom of the village, over the road and far away, the heavens opened and no-one bothered to go outside and let off any more fireworks. Usually they go off for hours afterwards. So peace reigned, and I could untangle myself from the 8 doggy legs and crochet some stars.

Missy wants stars for her bedroom. "PINK, Moreglanny!!" I had to go and check how I made the last ones. The Grandma Twinkle tutorial is a delight, and so easy to follow. So out came the crochet hook and the balls of wool and off I went. I made quite a lot. About 40 actually. Then I decided that maybe other colours apart from the PINK, yellow and green would be better, so I have unearthed a white, lilac and blue collection to add depth to the string. I will string them on a long line, and then they can go above her bed. Or somewhere. I will need to see how many she needs, but it won't be anywhere near 40+. More like 10 perhaps. There will be an abundance of stars here - a Milky Way.

So this afternoon, as the rain buckets down, the dogs and I will crochet. Well, they will watch me.

My camera is there and I am here, or you would have some photos to go with this post. I will add some tomorrow. Once they are all done and ends woven in, I will pin them to a towel on the floor and starch them with spray starch. And then they will be ready.

I found my old camera so here we are with some photos at least!

A work in progress - I am playing with the little wooden shapes i found yesterday

I just walked through my workshop kitchen, and saw my tomatoes. I need to cook them today or they will have to be thrown out. So I will have to revert to the "kitchen" mode, not the carpentry one. Every surface is covered with stuff to create - anything but food, that is.

See? The counters are covered with non-kitchen stuff. And sawdust. And tools. And more works in progress.

Red and White..... I think they will all be red and white. I love the simplicity.

And even my chair is otherwise occupied. Nothing, may I add, is remotely near the finish stage. Paint the shapes, drill the holes, do the writing, spray varnish them all.....There is a lot still to do. And it takes time, because for some bits, I have to stand, and we don't do a great deal of standing here now, do we. 

Right. I have been to church, we have finished Job, and the word is "humble". So I am wet. And humble. And off to play with the dogs. Have a warm and happy Sunday!

Time for fireworks...................

It is fireworks time, even though it is not the 5th November and Guy Fawkes yet. Tonight is the village bonfire and firework display. So I am on my friend's computer with 2 dogs on my lap. I did say I would post every day!

The firework CD is still playing and it is on loud, and they are quite used to it now, but that makes zero difference when they see lights in the sky and hear bangs outside. And they needed to go out into the garden to relieve themselves, so were a trifle traumatised by that little expedition.

It is going to be a loooooooooooooooooooooooong night.

I was up and out early this morning to go to the Women's breakfast at the village church hall. Today the speaker was a delightful lady from Birmingham, who has a jewellery business, and her work has led to a ministry around the world, empowering women otherwise in bondage to start lives of their own. Amazing stuff. And she has started a charity which seems to grow every day as well. It is amazing where life in faith can take you.

So the hall was packed and it was a great way to start the day. Jean and I then headed over to the craft warehouse I told you about. I could not believe that she had never been there before. She has now and was so excited to find all the amazing things for card making etc. I got the pen I needed and some wooden shapes too. Bliss. And some ribbon.

Saturdays can be wonderful days.

It has been so cold, and there has been a biting wind today, but we are warm and toasty here in the dogs' house, and another friend popped round  for coffee this afternoon, and to collect coats for the travellers as they return from 30C temps to our mid winter ones. Annette and her husband are collecting them early on Tuesday morning and then it will be back to normal for me.

This is a really lovely laptop I am working on. I seem to remember encouraging Glynis to buy this model. I was particularly clever, it seems. It is a delight.

Where was I...........

I popped over to Jean's for an early supper. She happened to have a huge pot of chili and I was more than happy to help her dispose of it, but I had to race back to go and drop some things at home and then settle the boys before the bangs and wooshes and crackles started. The TV is up loud. The CD is on. This house is very noisy. |And still Doug is running around the place.

Time for curling up on the couch with them.

If you are in the UK, enjoy the fireworks!

Clothing a doll without a pattern is a challenging lark ............

Well, hello there......

Autumn continues to barrel along at pace here. The winds have almost stripped the trees of their leaves and, as I have said before, it is dark by 5pm, if we are lucky. Mostly earlier. Jean and I declared today was an "Out to coffee somewhere different" day, so we went across the valley to a little tea shop where we had wonderful coffee and free refills for £1, can you believe, and a breakfast baguette. Bacon and egg on a baguette. Paradise is across the valley.

There is a little interesting gift shop next door, so we wandered in to look at everything, and I got chatting with the delightful lady who owns it. We discussed bunting. It transpired that she is also a wedding planner and already has 6 weddings booked for next year. This could be interesting. And then I asked her if she was on Pinterest. What is that, she said.

Hah.

When we left 20 minutes later, she was signed up and browsing and the shop was running itself. She was SO excited. She may not be doing much else this weekend.

Now. Doll's clothes. I have no patterns but decided, how hard can it be. So I cut a pattern to fit a large doll and zapped it up roughly to see if the sizing was right.

You have no idea how deformed dolls are.

And how huge their hands and feet are.

Or the fact that their feet are at weird angles which require more space.

Or how out of proportion their heads are. The heads over which the pjs have to pass.

Effort #1 may have been a trifle large for Barbie.

So I cut a bigger pattern and made that up roughly. It looked huge.

The legs will not go on. The doll has FAT LEGS and feet which do not move.

So I made it even bigger. Put it on a table next to the doll and you think, oh, that is ridiculous.

No, it is not.

 It fits. The only trouble is that it fits the small doll I have here (with some room to spare in the pants department) and I believe Billy is larger. And obviously will have a larger head too. And I can't find any ribbing small enough to use in the stash, so I just made a large neckline. This pattern will require some modification, which will be including velcro fastenings down the front of the pj top. It will fit better if it does not have to contend with a massive cranium.

The ridiculously large pattern does not, however fit the large doll in residence. Even though the pattern looks huge enough to stuff a toddler into it with room to spare. All of a sudden, the very pricey doll's clothes in the shops are beginning to look like bargains, I tell you. I am better left making blankets. Or sleeping bags. Or things which do not require tiny hands to manipulate the fabric.

However, we are relaxing in the knowledge that Molly (aka the small one with the huge head and short fat legs) is now warm and toasty in the crib here at Moreglanny's house, and that half a newspaper has been used to make 3 sets of patterns which will need to be altered when Billy arrives, no doubt.

Life is all about having fun.

The boys do like snoozing....................

November arrives and NaBloPoMo begins.........

The aqua teacher came to find me in the changing rooms to see if I was OK today. Why? I was too quiet. I have lost my voice and can only croak. She would notice this because I am part of the noisy corner, you see. We have to screech and sing and make a noise as we dance in the water - multi-tasking on a mammoth scale, people.

Anyway, our corner was a little subdued today without me yelling "yeeha" at all available opportunities.

I feel as if a truck has run over me.

But I danced in the water albeit a little slower than usual, and now I want to curl up in a ball and have a nap. But I popped home to slap another coat of paint on the birds, and have a coffee and just be at home. And I have discovered that I have a hair appointment this afternoon. Perfect. Heaven knows I could do with a little pampering today.

I am old.

I am creaking.

Last night, we had an unbelievable rainstorm. I am used to rain. But this was something else. I thought the conservatory roof was going top be smashed to smithereens. You have no idea how much rain fell. You couldn't see anything. And it came and went for a while. The dogs were not thrilled. Neither was I. Jean was out in her car and she said she couldn't see the road ahead, even going at 15miles an hour.

However, it was just rain, and nothing like the weather the north east of the USA had to contend with when Sandy arrived. I have seen the photos and video footage. And that is really unbelievable. As my friend in NZ said, the storm was bigger than New Zealand. It would have wiped them all out. So to all of you who are cleaning up the mess, and trying to start rebuilding, I am sending an extra hug, because you will have heard enough platitudes by now. As long as you are safe, everything else can be taken care of. (A platitude, I know.)

I am waiting for the paint to dry so the final coat can go on. So help me, I have painted and sanded so much now - I need to do the decorating.

Can you believe it is already November? How did that happen? This is the month I usually try to do the NaBloPoMo thing and write every day. Hmmm. My 31 intentions sort of drifted. I may well manage something every day for November. Maybe I will give it a go. Now where is that badge thingy - hang on.....

Here we go. You can go here and get the link if you would like to join in. 

Missy called me a few days ago - "Moreglanny, I need your HELP! Billy needs pyjamas and he is cold and I NEED to make some on your sewing machine"....Ah, it is in the genes, my friends. My granddaughter wants to sew. Right. We can do this. I just need to make a quick patter and try it out before Missy barrels in the door with her cold dolly. It is not as big as Baby Annabelle and not as small as her other dolls. Hmmmm. Oh well. It will have elastic in the essential parts so who cares if the size is a tad big. I need to go and draw and cut. Forget the painting. This is MUCH more fun!

I will be back. Tomorrow. I have to. It is NaBloPoMo, don't forget!