Snowmen and Doctors

I carried on stitching the Heartwarmers Bellpull last night. When it came to it I just didn't want the hassle of digging out fabric and threads for another Halloween ornie, mostly due to the leg giving me quite a bit of discomfort whenever I walked. There's now one complete snowman (barring the charms and beads), another wording section and the top of the head of the second one:

I must say this is amongst the cutest pieces I've stitched but it is the nastiest chart I've come across in a while. Each section (snowmen and wording blocks) is charted seperately, so there's a lot of counting and working out to be done before starting each section to make sure the positioning is OK - there's so little or no room for manoeuvre it has to be right. It still means plenty of chances for mistakes, especially as the chart and the pic of the stitched piece show differences in layout, so it really is making it harder work than it needed to be. I so hope the other LB pieces I've got in my stash have better charts than this or I won't be a happy bunny!

As it's the JA/S&S UFO Night tonight I shall be having a break from this and grabbing something out of the UFO bag to do. No idea what yet........ will have to see what mood takes me when I sit down to stitch. :0)

In the meantime I had to break the habit of a lifetime - avoiding going to see a Doctor at any/every opportunity - today. Those bites on my leg were giving me real bother last night, as the red area had spread further round my ankle, my foot and lower leg were decidedly swollen and I began to feel generally unwell. I abandoned the TCP for good, old-fashioned Germolene cream on a plaster overnight but there was no sign of it having drawn any of the infection or of it subsiding when checked this morning. I then stepped out of bed, got a serious shooting pain up my leg and just saved myself from falling in a heap on the floor. Hobbling to the bathroom and back was no fun - it brought back less than fond memories of the bursitis I had on holiday and I knew then that professional help was needed with this.

One trip to the GP later: the bites are infected (yes, I already knew that!) and cellulitis was mentioned, so I have a course of anti-biotics to take. I also came away with some cream for a dermatitis patch behind my right ear and an appointment to see the nurse in a fortnight's time to have my blood pressure checked again - it was on the high side. Well it would be: I don't like going there and the screaming brat in the waiting room hadn't helped any...... plus the dentist had already warned me it should be checked out. He wants some other readings for comparison before deciding what to do about it. Yes, when I finally go to the Doctor's I go with a job lot and make sure I get my money's worth! LOL Bet you anything you'd like to wager that among the first sentence the nurse utters will be the word weight. I gave up adding salt to my food years ago (except a light sprinkle on chips) but I won't be giving up my McVitie's Chocolate biscuits without a fight!

So, after not going anywhere near for years at a time that will make three visits to a Doctor's surgery this year - that's definitely three too many for my liking! LOL

Googling ailments is also a bad idea: I stopped reading when the words "flesh-eating bacteria" cropped up. It's already given me enough of a scare...... I really don't need the thoughts of that hanging around, thank you very much.

Dawn Bibby should be on QVC around now so I am off for some distraction and possible retail therapy........ and a little early stitching won't do any harm either......... all with my leg elevated, of course. LOL

Thank you for visiting and for the kind comments - all greatly appreciated. Take care. :0)