A Wombling We Go.....

Oops - it's been a while since I've blogged again. Can't really blame one particular thing - more a combination of things that meant I had less time to spend on the computer than usual. Still.... I'm back now. :0)

Whilst DH was helping with the Panto Get In two weekends ago I spent some time with my cardmaking stash, having fun. So what has Wombling got to do with that? Well, being the frugal Yorkshire-born woman I am, as well as a keen recycler, I used various wombled items from other Christmas cards to make new ones. Yes, I finally got in the mood for the festive season! LMAO

These are the first three I made:


All the main elements are wombled bits and everything else (cards, paper, vellum, ribbons, backing card, peel-offs etc) is from my stash.

These were the next three:

All those metal tree trims were on one card - I cut them out and made three individual ones out of them. That's how you make a little go a long way! LOL

Next I took the cut out wording and a parcel from another card and made another two cards from those:

I love productive days like that. :0) The cardmaking stash got put away after that and I finally got back to stitching again. Yay!

So what have I been stitching? Well, I finally chose my fabric and threads and made a start on the JA/S&S Monthly Challenge piece - there's still some to stitch on that, as it seems to be slow going/hard work on my eyes for some reason, then there's the finishing to do too...... once I've made my mind up what to turn it in to. Better extract my digit though, as it's Reveal Day this Friday! Also got an ornie stitched for the JA/S&S Monthly Christmas Ornie SAL too.... but again, it's waiting for finishing inspiration to kick in. Pics to come later.

I've also had a two day stint on Night Watchman: Tuesday UFO Night (yes, I actually remembered last week! LOL) and again on Wednesday night (to make up for not stitching the week before). Then Sea Stars finally made it back out of the bag again last week. I didn't stitch on Thursday SAL night as we went out to see the LTC Pantomime Little Red Riding Hood that night but made up for it by stitching on it Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. You never know: if I can keep this up I might just stand a chance of finishing this not too long after Barb and Rosanne finish theirs, rather then lagging waaaaay behind. LOL I'll post pics of both next time round.

Reading wise: I've now finished two books and started a third this year. There's more information in the side bar and on The Reading Corner blog on the finishes. My new book (which I'm just over half way through) is The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, as recommended by Julie. Thanks Julie: it's a great read and I'm thoroughly enjoying it..... have yet to discover the secrets, though I can guess at one (Grace's Daddy). I'll be looking out for more of KM's books in future. BTW, Rachael Midnight is still available if you want it - please let me know your snail mail details and I'll send it off to you.

As for other things: DS had all of last week off as a holiday so he could concentrate on the Pantomime. It was weird having him home during the day but it was nice to spend some time with him. As I said, DH and I went to see it Thursday night and what a brilliant time we had! This was the best Panto yet, with a good story line, top acting, some nice songs and very funny one liners throughout (as in the Three Little Pigs: Laurence, Llewellyn and Bowen LOL)..... with lots of "Behind You's", Boo'ing at the Big, Bad Wolf and cheering for the goodies, which no Panto would be complete without. Word spread quickly about how good the Panto was because they were fully booked for every performance from Thursday night onwards: when a quick poll was taken from some of the adults about where they'd heard about the Panto nearly every one of them said they'd had it recommended to them by someone who'd already been to see it. Not bad going at all for an amateur group performance. :0)

The blog reading catch up was going really well..... until last week. As lousy weather is forecast I won't be tempted out of doors until I have to go out on Friday (monthly consultation with the Herbalist), so I shall spend a fair few hours of those indoor days re-catching up again. I need to see what you've all been busy with. :0)

As for the new eating regime: it's going fairly well so far. There was one slight hiccup on Thursday when DH took us to Uncle Henry's for dinner and shopping after: I got quite despondent when I realised there was absolutely nothing on the menu that I was allowed to eat! Everything had got at least one banned item as an ingredient, many had more, so off I trotted to see the lady behind the counter to explain my problem. I shouldn't have worried: after asking me what foods I could eat she popped into the kitchen to talk to Chef and they made up a lovely ham salad with a small jacket potato and a little rice salad for me. How good is that? Today I'm a happy bunny as I can now reintroduce some fruits into my diet: I love berries on my morning porridge and really missed them during the two weeks "NO sugar at all" ban. Welcome back berries! LOL I can also have apple, kiwi fruit, mango and papaya so we need to go shopping for those this week. My current food favourite is a rice flake milky pudding - no added anything, just as it is. Yum! I think I've lost more weight, as a few clothing items that were previously tight on me aren't any more and I'm going to need the reassuring security of a belt for my jeans and trousers soon. The problem is, after the first reappearance of facial bone structure and a waist, I can't actually see where the weight is going from now - the flabby bits are still flabby and don't look any different to me! I shall ask Jan, the Herbalist, to weigh me on Friday and see what the scales have to say about it. So wish I'd thought to take a tape measure to my body before starting all this - any change in those measurements would make it obvious where the flab is going from! LOL

In the interests of a little exercise, and a much needed tidy up, DH and I managed to spend a few hours out in the garden on Sunday, pruning back various things that needed it and shredding the trimmings. All that bending, there's no wonder my back and legs are aching today! We still need to attack the triffids at the bottom of the garden but we ran out of time and daylight - though we did manage to fill the brown bin and four bags before we gave up and went in. Not sure when we'll next be able to get out there as the weather has turned really foul now.

Today is my regular jobs day, ready for Alex visiting. I can tell something is definitely working with this new regime: I whisked round everything that needed doing in less time than it usually takes me, then added a couple of extra jobs to the "done" list too. That's despite the back and leg twinges. How cool is that? LOL That's it: a very shortened version of what's been happening since my last post.

Many thanks for taking the time to visit. Hope you all had a great weekend and a good start to the week. :0)