No Stitching But.....

that hasn't stopped me acquiring stash, although those acquisitions have been over a couple of months - I've just been really slack at blogging enough to share them before now.

First up is an eBay bargain 99p chart:


I love the version with the wording. The logo of the Alternative Therapy Clinic I go to is a sunflower and I plan on stitching the version with the wording for Jan, my Herbalist, as a thank you for all the help she has given me.... and all the help she will continue to give once I've had my op. She has helped me in more ways than she knows and helped to open up a whole new world for me (I write about that on my other blog), so it is such an appropriate piece. :0)

On the same day I also spotted this gorgeous fabric bargain too:


A large piece of opalescent fabric for under £4.00 and free P&P. Who could resist that? Certainly not me. ROFL I don't have any specific plans for it at the moment but just the right design is bound to turn up at some point.

Another day I was bored and browsing on the same good old auction site, following links to see where they'd take me, when I came across someone selling craft goodies for children...... only when I investigated there weren't just the pipe cleaner type stems but also some sparkly trims that were sold by the metre, ideal for Christmas ornies thought I.


As you can see I succumbed to a few of them. Those yellow stems were a freebie - I couldn't think what I could use them for (so did not fancy making that many Easter Chick legs! LOL) so gave them to my friend Alex, for her children.

Then another nosey around revealed these rather useful pieces of fabric at a bargain price and I was lucky enough to win the bids:


A 32ct fabric in Mocha and a 28ct in French Latte. Another couple of neutral colours that are especially useful as my stash seems to have a large bias towards hand dyes in pretty colours. Much as I like those pretty colours they aren't always suitable for some designs.

When I got fed-up of bargain hunting on eBay I had a wander over to Thread Bear for a nosey as I needed some different coloured backing fabrics. Whilst I was there I couldn't resist the sparkly felts they'd just got in stock...... and the chart was in the Sale section and goes with one from the same range that's already in my stash.


The 28ct is a piece of Lakeside Linens fabric and was bought specifically to stitch the Plum Pudding Salem Sisters piece on. Yes, I had all good intentions of starting this piece for Halloween........... but it just didn't happen. Yup, that mojo packed its bag and disappeared into the wild blue yonder....... again! The current happenings haven't exactly helped either.

Just so you're not left thinking that the Craft Bug had totally disappeared:


Yes, last week my cardmaking goodies came out of their boxes long enough for me to make a card for my DH's birthday. Though they did go straight back in again and haven't been touched since, as I've been busy with other things.

So, what has been happening to keep me busy? Well, I went for my pre-op checks on Tuesday morning and that took way more time than either of us expected. So the questions were asked and the forms were filled in by a very nice Staff Nurse called Gail; blood pressure and blood oxygen levels checked and noted; height and weight checked and noted (and I don't like their scales 'cos they have me 4lbs heavier than Jan's!); then various questions asked and answered - though not too many details wanted or needed about the op itself because I'm a firm believer that ignorance is bliss with that kind of thing as I really don't want nightmares beforehand, thanks; all the consents signed and a parting gift of a cup of pee, for testing. Finally there was a trip down to see the hospital vampires again so they could take four lots of my best red for various tests. Staff Nurse Gail reckoned I looked and sounded fit enough and the checks she did were fine, so - unless the test on the blood or pee turn anything up - it's all systems go, in the best Thunderbirds tradition. LOL

Meantime, I've been keeping up with the laundry and other dreaded H word jobs, trying to keep on top of things before the enforced break happens...... you know men, they aren't going to class things like that as a priority, are they? And I am not going to burst my stitches trying to keep things straight when I come home, so I'm getting it sorted now in the hopes that it won't begin to look like a mess for a while. Yeah, right - not with these two! LOL

Then there's making sure that the clothes I want to take in with me are clean, ironed and packed and the other bits I need are to hand (things have a nasty habit of disappearing into that Safe Place just when you want them). Shopping for enough soya milk and cornflakes to take in with me because the hospital don't have anything I am allowed to eat at breakfast time - plus enough for after I get out, as DH won't have the time to go into town for more. And that the cupboards, fridge and freezer are well stocked beforehand too........... because there isn't a snowball's chance in h*ll of me being able to help do that after the op. Plus I've been making sure my other blog is fully up-to-date (got more posts saved to draft) and doing my best to catch up with all the blogs on my blogger list because who knows how long it'll be before I'll be able to sit up to the computer - I've already been warned that I'll be left wondering if I'll ever be able to walk up straight ever again, due to it being an ordinary incision op with stitches. Thanks for that! LOL

I guess it's probably a good thing the mojo has gone on holiday again because, at this point, I'd probably end up having to frog it all anyways. LOL :0)

Thank you taking the time to stop by and for all the lovely comments you leave. Hope you all have a good weekend...... and all those in the UK stay safe and flood-free. :0)

A Gorgeous Giveaway Received

While I was busy burrowing into my shell I did manage to keep up with some blog reading and was delighted to find that I was one of the lucky winners for Andrea's Christmas Ornie's Giveaway. Andrea's work is always beautiful and the basketful of ornies looked amazing, so I was going to be a very happy person whichever ornie I received. But I did have a favourite that I loved on sight because it was such fun....... so imagine how doubly thrilled I was when I opened up the package and discovered the ornie she sent me was my favourite. :0)

So which one was it? This little beauty:



Isn't it a cutie? Those gold beads around the edges really sparkle IRL. Sorry but my pic really doesn't do it justice and the digicam just will not do a decent close up of anything - there's a much better pic over at Andrea's blog. :0)

The back of the ornie has a pretty border and Andrea's initials and the year stitched on it.


Thank you again for the most wonderful pick-me-up Andrea. Your stitching and finishing is awesome. I am delighted with my ornie and it will be going on my rotating metal Christmas tree that I have bought just to display hand stitched ornies.

Thank you for all the kind and supportive comments on my last post, they are greatly appreciated. I hope that all those in the UK stay safe during the current bad weather. Have a good weekend. :0)

An Update

Thought I'd just let you all know that I haven't gone and emigrated and not told anybody. Nope, I've just been behaving like a typical Cancerian and hiding in my shell for a bit while I waited for my hospital appointments to come... and go. Don't ask me what I've done with the time because I couldn't really tell you - it just sort of slipped past....... and I don't seem to have a great lot to show for it either. Well, apart from a few more posts on my other blog.

I had the second ultra-sound scan done last week: the cyst was still there, though looking like it was on the right side rather than the left, as it had appeared in the hospital. Bugger, and there was I hoping it would evaporate into thin air, never to appear again.

Today (11th) I saw Mr Roberts, the Gynae Consultant, to hear the verdict. The blood tests were OK and the cyst is definitely benign (thank you to all the powers that be!) but it's definitely not going to go away by itself. The confusion over which ovary it is is normal, as ovaries have a tendency to move around of their own accord. Apparently mine are real lively little beggars (at least part of me is still a bit of a party animal! LOL) and due to the large cyst making one ovary heavier than the other they have a tendency towards twisting..... and it was probably down to them twisting that I had the pain last month. He said they often don't know for certain which ovary the cyst is in until they go in there.

As I am 48 years old and not wanting any more kids (sheesh, make a baby at 48 and have a teenager when I'm into my 60's?!!! Hell, No!!!!) and they're having to go in for one ovary it's as well they take the other one out too, to save any further problems further down the line. It means a greatly reduced risk of ovarian cancer (it is still possible to develop one form of it but it's extremely rare) and also............ wait for it.............. no more monthlies.... Yay! Bring it on, said I.

Have you any idea how much cash I'm about to save, not having to buy the neccessaries every month? How much that adds up to in a whole year? No, neither do I - but I do know it's a small fortune. And it doesn't take a genius to guess what plans I have for said cash, too.

Yup....... a girl can never have too much stash. ;0)

Obviously, when I wave bye bye to the girls it will mean I go into full on menopause. I can't say that bothers me over much at this stage - I've been quite looking forward to embracing my Crone/Wise Woman Years - but I don't think DH (the poor, unsuspecting innocent) has yet gathered, let alone fully appreciates, what that means......................... that his reasonably laid back wife of 25 years is quite likely going to turn into an unbalanced, fire-breathing, ball-busting dragon lady............. at least, until Jan the Herbalist gets the right meds mix sorted for me. ROFL

Mr Roberts reckoned the waiting list was currently around 18 weeks. I tried to do the calculation as to what month that would be in my head but didn't quite make it. OK, far enough away not to get into a sweat about. I opted for normal surgery rather than keyhole: if I wanted keyhole surgery there would have been a delay while I was referred to the chap that does that, then another because he would have to see me before putting me on his list; having keyhole surgery means I'd be under the general anaesthetic for longer, compared to the 30 minutes for the ordinary surgery - far better for me, as my blood pressure tends to drop dramatically after a general; I'll only have one short incision scar, below my belly where it won't be seen, compared to four or so scars across it where they would be.
The main positive for keyhole is that you get to go home much quicker - doing it this way I won't, as I will have to spend around 3 days in hospital but I reckon I will find that a bit more reassuring initially...... because if there are any problems that crop up there are trained folks immediately on hand to deal with it. Oh, and not forgetting those marvellous morphine jabs they have for pain! :0)

So Mr Roberts filled in the relevant forms, handed them to us and told us to take them to the Booking Office and the lady there would sort out the details. With that we thanked him and left. When we found the Booking Office (clearly signed when coming in - not obvious when going out, as we found) the lady there had us in and added the operation details to my online notes. While she was doing that I said to DH that I wondered how much it would cost to have it done privately, not only to hurry things along but to get a time that suited us best and would guarantee Mr Roberts would do the op. The lady then told us that the private suite was closing shortly because there was a lack of patients for it, as the hospital was really quick on the waiting lists there was no real need to go private now - then told us that she had an available slot for me on 4th December. Sheesh, that certainly wasn't the 18 weeks Mr Roberts quoted!

After catching my breath I asked DH how that went with his work commitments, as the steelworks have a big Outage coming up - that means some 12 hour day shifts and some weekend working. The 4th wasn't looking too good, so the lady said: actually I have a cancellation slot available on the 27th of this month, with an appointment for the pre-op checks on the 17th, if that's any better. Gulp! Oh, boy - did that suddenly make it all so much more real! So, thinking that going for the earlier date will mean a whole lot less time for me to work myself up into a right old panic about it (yeah, right!), we booked it. I'll be on Ward 28 again........ hope I didn't make too lasting an impression the first time around. LOL After being given the necessary printouts and adding the dates to our diaries we thanked the lady and left...... feeling a little stunned by just how quick it's all going to be.

On the really bright side: though I shall have to seriously extract my digit to try and get all the present shopping done now, the earlier date does mean that I should have recovered enough to be able to enjoy the festivities. Oddly enough, just the night before, I'd been chatting to my DSis on the phone and said to her it would be great to get everything all done and dusted before Christmas.

I think someone up there was listening.

Eeeeerrrmmm................. is it too late to say I was only joking? LMAO

Thank you for all the lovely comments you left on my last post... and also for stopping by, despite the recent long gaps between posts. :0)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to one and all......... Samhain Blessings to all fellow Pagans. :0)

On this special celebration in the Pagan calendar I thought I would share a pic of the Sampler Girl ornie that I finally finished off a few days after getting out of hospital. It had a long wait for those buttons and taught me a valuable lesson about not putting things off until tomorrow because you just don't know what unexpected things tomorrow will bring! LOL

So here it is, complete with the fab little Halloween buttons I found on eBay:


The pumpkin tealight holder has now been joined by a Trick or Treat bucket of goodies - unfortunately I forgot to take a pic before the kids started calling, so it's looking sadly depleted at the moment:


The sweeties have spooky images on them and yes, that's a pair of eyeballs there too........ though they are made of chocolate with a fondant filling rather than squishy eyes. LOL There were also some gold coin choccies in there but most of those went into the candy buckets of the cutest pair of toddlers ever - it made my night when they came knocking with their Daddy. :0)

So now I am off to place my offering outside for the wandering Spirits, then light a candle in memory of my Ancestors and departed loved ones. As DH and DS are out at the LTC's Quiz Night I shall be rounding off the evening by watching tonights Most Haunted Live Halloween special: The Eight Faces of Evil (all that screaming seems appropriate somehow LMAO) whilst listening to someone's celebration fireworks. :0)

Thank you for visiting and may you all have a happy, fruitful and Blessed new year. :0)

Get Well Wishes

A big thank you to everyone for the lovely Get Well messages you've left, I can't tell you how much they've been appreciated....... especially as I seem to have gone into a minor low at the moment, mostly brought on by the frustration of not being able to do everything I want to. You know, those ordinary things you take for granted, like being able to stand long enough to prepare a meal or whatever (card making is a definite no-no at the minute) or walking down the street to the Clinic and back without feeling like I've just run a flippin' marathon! As for meditating...... it just turns into an instant snooze fest, with my head falling towards my knees every time. LOL To try and counteract some of this I've been eating baby spinach leaves with my dinner every day (instead of salad leaves), on top of my usual healthy eating regime, to try and boost my blood iron levels after all those blood thinning jabs and am now off all the drugs and back on all my herbal meds, so feeling a bit better for that too....... am also desperately trying to cultivate some of that much needed patience. I bet you can guess how that bit is going. ;0)

Especial thanks go to several online friends who have very kindly sent some lovely cards and gifts - I just had to share, as they really did give me a boost. Julie sent me this fun Get Well card and a fab little Healing Angel card that I love:

In case the pic isn't clear enough, it reads: Your guardian angel walks with you ~ they've been sent from above ~ their loving wings are open ~ to enfold you with love. And if you see a snow white feather ~ resting on the ground ~ it's from your angel's wing to show ~ health lost, will soon be found. Thank you again for your kind thoughts Julie: I certainly called on the Angels whilst I was in hospital and actually felt them around me on one particular night - and have had a white feather appear since coming home. The card is propped against one of my Angel ornaments in the living room, where I can see it every day. :0)

Before going into hospital Karen had agreed to make a couple of crystal bracelets for me. Imagine my surprise when, just a few days after getting home, a box was delivered to my house. First thoughts: flippin' heck - that's a big box for three small bracelets! Here's what I saw when I opened it:


Inside the green tissue paper were the lovely bracelets:



The one on the left is howlite, top right is lapis lazuli and clear quartz and bottom right is malachite and clear quartz. They all have a wonderful feel to them and I shall enjoy wearing them. But the voyage of discovery wasn't over........ there were all the other wonderful goodies to look at too:


The two magazines helped to pass an hour or so. That wasn't all though, as there was all of this:


Plus all of these goodies as well:



Boy, did I feel spoilt rotten! Thank you again Karen for your kindness and generosity - everything will come in very useful and I shall have lots of fun using them........ once I've got my standing stamina back. :0)

I was already thinking that I was extremely lucky to be the recipient of so much kindness when another package arrived. This one was from Clare and had these lovelies inside:


There were originally two Lush bath fizzers but one got used before I took the pic. LOL That was my first ever Lush bath and it was wonderful..... am looking forward to another such treat shortly. :0) Thank you again Clare for your kindness.

There were also Get Well cards from Barb (no blog) and family. When I put them all out in the living room they certainly brightened the place up:


I am very grateful for all the kindness and generosity that has been shown to me - all by wonderful people I have never met in person (yet!). I feel honoured and truly blessed to have their friendship. Thank you. :0)

A Fun Weekend - Not

Well things took a decidedly painful turn on Friday morning when I woke up to what started out as minor abdominal pain........ which got gradually worse and had me phoning DH at work and asking him to come home a.s.a.p. Thankfully he did.

A quick phone call to my Herbalist to tell her about the symptoms had her recommending that we get in touch with my GP immediately. I'd had fish and chips Thursday night, a quick meal before going to the theatre to see The Shellseekers (our DS was Stage Manager for it), which Jan suspected may have caused a gall bladder flare up.

Phone call to GP: it might be an emergency but a GP wouldn't be able to come out until the afternoon - could he take me into the surgery...... I couldn't wait so, clutching a bucket because I felt really nauseous by this time too, off we went to the surgery. Of course it was full....... of course everyone was curious about the woman who was bent double over a bucket whilst gasping with pain. Thankfully it wasn't too long a wait.......... though it seemed like ages at the time.

One painful abdomen examination later and the GP had phoned the hospital to tell them to expect me and written a letter for us to take with us. One drive to the hospital later and what seemed like the longest walk ever from the car park and up to the ward and I was quickly put into a side room and had people coming in and out to take all my details and check my abdomen again. By this time it was agony and I couldn't get any ease no matter what I did. Thankfully my bucket had been exchanged for the proper receptacle by then....... it duly got used. And so did another one. I'd been given some painkiller by now but it didn't seem to be working.

Next was a trip in a wheelchair to have an ultrasound scan done. I filled another receptacle for them whilst there but I was aware enough to know they'd found more than they'd expected to on the scan. Back to the ward, another receptacle used and a chat with a doctor and some real painkiller was given - a morphine jab. Finally, some relief!

So I spent several more days in various stages of pain that were occasionally relieved by a blessed blissed out session after a morphine jab. A BIG thank you and much Kudos to the genius who discovered this was a really good pain relieving drug. The scan had revealed that I had some gallstones - the surprise being that I also had a 5cm ovarian cyst. The surgical people were confused because my symptoms didn't quite fit a typical gall bladder/stones attack - the pain wasn't in the right place - so it took them a bit to catch on that, actually, whilst the gall bladder had had some part to play, it was probably more down to the cyst...... so they'd better get the Gynae people involved. Don't you just love how quick they catch on? LOL

By Monday the pain was finally easing right back and I actually managed to eat something at tea time - once everyone had caught on that being dairy intolerant and having other foodstuffs I had to avoid meant phoning the kitchen and getting the Special Diet Chef to send up some plain cooked food. NHS menus cover: Gluten free, diabetic, kosher, halal, another ethnic diet I can't remember, high fibre, low sodium and reducing diets - it seems they don't cover other food intolerances yet. They were very obliging though, I have to say that, but it involved some hassle - not just for me but for the already busy ward staff - so added stress that I could have done without. On the bright side: I have a feeling the scales will be very kind this month! LOL

Monday afternoon a very feisty female Consultant led the rounds and told her staff that my problems were obviously more to do with the ovarian cyst, therefore she wanted one of her team to contact the Gynae people and tell them (note: tell, not ask) that she expected someone to come to see me that evening and if not, she wanted to know why not. Much Kudos to her too: a chap came that evening to chat to me and take a few details.

Then Tuesday morning the hospital vampire came to take yet more blood for the Gynae lot to test (the third lot I'd had taken) and the Gynae Consultant, Mr Roberts, arrived a little later. The upshot of that: an explanation of what a cyst is/how it develops; that everything seems to have settled down now, so it may well be that the cyst will resolve itself and I may not have any further trouble; then again I may, so he wants me to go back as an outpatient in four weeks time to have another scan, so he can see what's going on; by then he'll also have the blood results, which will also give him a better idea of what's happening; that without the blood results he couldn't say 100% that it was benign but, from all the details he had, including the scan, and his experience he was fairly certain it was.

After hearing that I burst into tears: I hadn't realised until that moment just how worried I was. I apologised and explained that I'd lost my SIL and Dad to cancer in 2007 and that I hadn't been able to avoid having that on my mind.... and that it seemed that I'd just got my life back on track again after all that grief when Wham! this hits. He did the typical Consultant/man-thing - avoided meeting my eyes, looked uncomfortable and muttered a few unintelligible things. The two nurses who were there, on the other hand, nodded and knew exactly where I was coming from...... we are all sisters under the skin. :0) So Mr Roberts said that, as the pain was well and truly under control and I was eating OK, I could go home and the scan appointment would be sent to me shortly. Thank you, lovely man. :0)

Yay! off to pack my bag. Except no, I couldn't go yet....... the staff, as well as myself, had all assumed that the Surgical mob had signed me over to Gynae but they hadn't. I had to wait for them to come back and sign me off before I would be able to go. So I got another free meal and a long wait. DH arrived for afternoon visiting but we still didn't know when I'd be seeing the Surgical folk so we'd decided he'd go back to work then go home and have his tea then come back for evening visiting and hopefully be able to take me home then. Just in case I walked with him to the front desk, to check with the staff if there was any reason for him to stay. No, don't go was the reply - the doctors were on the ward and were currently in the Treatment Room with someone and they'd be with me soon. Not long then thought we. Wrong! They saved me right until last, really making me sweat for it! LOL They said they were happy with how the pain had decreased but that there was one gallstone that had potential to give me further problems and they'd be happy to take it out for me. Nope, that's OK says I - if I get any further problems we'd get the GP to refer me back and take it from there. (Be buggered to that was what I told DH later: I'd heard the story of one of my fellow ward companions, who'd come in for gall bladder removal keyhole day surgery and ended up in Intensive Care and almost died because they'd ruptured something they shouldn't). With that they said I could go home. Yay!

It took a bit longer to get all the paperwork and medications together but by that time I was dressed and fully packed and ready to go and DH had already ferried a couple of bags out to the car and moved the car a bit closer, so there wouldn't be such a long walk. Paperwork, meds and instructions handed over we were off and it was so good to be outside, even for that short time, and breathe some fresh air again...... well, as fresh as it gets round here. LOL

So now it's a case of gradually weaning myself off the last of the meds, getting them out of my system and settling down into a routine whilst I recuperate and regain my strength. It's amazing just how weak I feel at the moment. There are a couple of things I've discovered though: my ass does not enjoy feeling like a pincushion; my belly goes a pretty colour when it has blood thinning jabs zapped into it, and so does my right arm, where the bloods were taken from; the human body can cope with way more than you think it can and has an amazing capacity for healing; you meet some really nice people at unexpected times........... Oh, and eating fish and chips when you've been on a very healthy long-term diet is a really bloody stupid idea! LOL

So you've probably gathered by now that there's no stitching to show. I didn't get chance to add the buttons to the Halloween ornie, as that was planned as Friday's job. Hopefully there'll be something to show you once I feel a bit livelier and up to doing a bit more..... and I'll also start to have a gradual catch up with all your blogs. :0)

Hope you all had a waaaaay better weekend than mine and are all feeling fit and well. :0)

Another Lovely Surprise

I had a lovely surprise in the post at the weekend and, though it isn't craft related, it's such a lovely gift I had to show you all.

I'll admit that, once again, until I saw the address on the back I did wonder if I'd had another one of those brain fart moments and forgotten about something I'd been buying on eBay..... as you do. ;0) But the address immediately revealed that it was from the very kind and generous Barb (no blog). Here's what I found on opening up the bubblewrap bag:


Two books that I will definitely enjoy, as they are just the kind of thing I like to read, a fabulous postcard - just look at that dragonfly brooch on it! - and an intriguing tissue wrapped box. On unwrapping and opening it I found this stunner inside:


A fabulous geode with the loveliest feel to it. That pic just doesn't do it justice - it's waaay nicer in real life, with lots of sparkle. Barb found it in a crystal shop while she was on holiday in Dartmoor and says it said "Send me to Karan" so she did - after first cleansing it in the River Tavy. Such a lovely thing to do. :0)

And the geode looked so totally at home in the spot where I took its pic that it's now living there, alongside my House Angel.

Thank you again Barb for such a fab surprise..... and I love my geode. :0)

Thank you for visiting and for the lovely comments you leave. May you all be Blessed with good friends and kind deeds. :0)