go me!

The doctor was very pleased with my progress today. There are still a couple of "hot spots" - the middle finger of my left hand and the big toe on my left foot - but all the others from 4 months ago are showing a vast improvement. Go me!

She was also really pleased with me for going swimming 3 times a week. I told her I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't lost more weight but she wasn't bothered about that at all. She told me I wasn't to be discouraged about that and certainly wasn't to let it bother me. So I won't! Better to think of the 3" already lost in my bum! Go me again!

She doesn't want to see me for another 6 months. So, yet again, go me! :o)

my next appointment

I go back to the Rheumatology department of the hospital tomorrow for my first check-up to see how things are going since I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in May.

The list of things I can do now that I couldn't do in May is endless. Or rather, I could do them but not without pain.

I can reach up into the wall cupboards in the kitchen for the mugs, coffee and biscuits without climbing on a stool.

I can fasten my bra!

I can put my socks on.

I can knit.

I can drive my car. (I could always do this but, if I sat for too long, getting out of said car was a problem.)

I can sit and stand and sit and stand all night long at Singers' rehearsals without groaning!

I can get in and out of the bath when I have a shower. (I decided not to risk having baths as last time I had one, I nearly got permanently stuck in there! :oO)

There are more but that'll do for now.

Add into all that the fact that I go swimming 3 times a week and that I've lost 3" on my trouser size, I'm sure the doctor will be pleased with me. Go me! :o)

well, I'm here …

Douglas cleaned out my computer whilst I was out at Singers last night. Just as an aside - I'd much rather be Swing-Low-Sweet-Chariot-ing and Da-Do-Ron-Ron-ing than cleaning computers any day! :oD

Anyway, the computer is up and running but I still have lots of things to sort out. Backgrounds need changed, the icons in the dock really need to stop bouncing when I open the programs and I need to find all the stuff I saved for my Photoshop. We saved it "somewhere safe" but haven't found it yet. I doubt it's in the cutlery drawer which is my "somewhere safe" place offline! :oD

We finally located my Firefox bookmarks and I re-installed those this morning. The idea that I would have to find and bookmark them all again was giving me the heebie jeebies! I have so many bookmarks saved it's almost ridiculous! Oh, I know some of them could get the heave - maybe one day.

My FontExplorer hasn't been re-loaded in - yet. Douglas thinks the version I had was part of the cause of my computer's misbehaving - aka he thinks FontExplorer didn't work with Snow Leopard. If it worked with the old set-up, why is it FontExplorer that doesn't work with Snow Leopard and not the other way around? Just saying. :oP

Anyway, I've been reading the FontExplorer website and it cost money to get the new updated all bells and whistles version (£59 + VAT) so I don't know if I'll get it or not. But, hey, if the old - free - version doesn't work and I NEED FontExplorer - I do, I really, really do - then it looks like we'll be eating pasta for a few weeks so I can get the new one. :oD

I just tried to open my iTunes to play some music but there's nothing in it! It's empty. Same with my iPhoto. I feel some heebie-jeebieness coming on! I know the music and photos are "somewhere safe". Can I just say - aaaaaaaargh?!!!

stop it! stop it now!!

My computer has been acting stupid recently. Activating fonts I don't want activated and de-activating ones I do want. Stop it! Stop it now!!

It also, all of a sudden, will make the fonts on a browser page go italic. Okay, I can read italic text but stop it! Stop it now!

Then Safari - which I only use now and again - was showing ads on the pages even though an Adblocker is installed. Same Adblocker Douglas has installed on his laptop and it's blocking his ads. Why not mine? Who knows? Not me! I'm just not using Safari until that's been sorted. Ads drive me potty!! Stop it! Stop it now!!

Douglas thinks the whole computer needs flattened - I've thought that often! :oD - so this week he's been busy saving all my stuff on to hard drives and discs and heaven knows what else.

Tonight, whilst I'm out at Singers, he's going to do whatever he's going to do to try and get it all running properly again. Emptying things, deleting things, flattening things and so on and so on.

Crumbs, I hope it works! If not, I might have to resort to doing housework!!

Okay, hands up who thinks that's going to happen any time soon? My hand isn't up! :oD

shoulder bag

Here's what I made over the weekend. It was from a kit I bought in a craft shop. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and no doubt will make some more with some fabric from my stash!

I started with some fabric and wadding.



Sewed it together.



Got this weird shape.



Then I did the same with the lining, made and attached the handles and sewed on the button. Here's what I ended up with.



And this is how it looks on my shoulder.



BTW - I really don't think the mirror is as dirty as the photo makes out! At least I hope it isn't! :oD

back door photo 15 Sept + others

I had taken the back door photo on Tuesday but then forgot to post it due to the 30 year thing. Here it is now along with a few others I've taken outside this week.



Sunflower on Tuesday …



… and the same sunflower on Wednesday - what a difference a day makes!



And, as usual, Rosie came outside with me to see what I was doing. She wouldn't smile for the camera but you can see by the fuzzyness that she's wagging her tail!

making do and mending

First of all, let me say thanks for all the congratulatory comments on our 30th wedding anniversary. Douglas was quite touched by my blog post - silly old bear! :oD So thanks again. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

This afternoon I did some making do and mending.

First of all I'd bought what I thought was a long scarf in Asda's only to find when I got it home it wasn't a scarf but a big square. I decided to cut the square in half and then sew the 2 short edges together to make a scarf. I made the join a French seam so there'd be no exposed edges to annoy the back of my neck. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out!

My other mending job was to sort a pair of trousers which were too big for me. Since I've been swimming, I've lost size on my bum - unfortunately not a lot of weight has gone but I'll take loss of size, thanks! So I took the back seam of these trousers in by 3"!! Yep, THREE inches!! Go me!!

it was 30 years ago today …

… that 2 young people stood in front of a congregation of family and friends and promised to love each other forever.



30 years on and we're still going strong.

I love you, Douglas. Here's to the next 30 years! I wonder if I'll blog about that one! :oD

Museum of Scottish Rural Life

Today we went to the Museum of Scottish Rural Life in East Kilbride. We were shown around the farm by a very knowledgeable guide who took us right up to the animals and told us stories about how they got there and stuff like that. Fascinating.

We then wandered around the farmhouse and after a while, walked down the farm paths to the exhibition part. I took some photos whilst we were there. I think they say it all. :o)

First off, here are some photos of the vegetable garden:



A gorgeous fuchsia bush:



The hedges are full of rosehips this year:



And, best of all, the animals:

Black-faced sheep:





Tamworth pigs - sunbathing!



A Clydesdale horse:



A Highland cow - way under that tree!



The dairy cows:



And my absolute favourite - Nora Louise. Isn't she gorgeous?



We had a good day.

AND - it didn't rain! Wooohoooooooo!! :o)

what happened to Anastasia?

In case you were wondering what had happened to the little Russian dolly called Anastasia, here's what I did with her.



Here's a slightly closer view to show off her face. I did just use coloured pencils. Not perfect, by any means, but she'll do.



Jo loved the bag and has already taken it home with her!

And whilst I'm showing off photos, here's what the sunflower looks like today:



The others are still to flower but, if they all come out, we're going to get quite a show. If you look at the flower at the bottom right, that's our very first gladioli/gladiolus if we're being pernickety! It's very pale yellow and quite hard to see but we're very proud of it!

I met a man today …

It's nearly 10 years since we moved back here from Inverness. For the last 5 years that we lived there, I worked in a fabric shop. There were several reps who came in regularly to try to sell their wares.

One of them - Ken - was always a bundle of laughs when he came in. He would always have a funny tale to tell or a joke to crack. No matter the weather or how bad the day felt, it was always better when Ken came in.

Well today, Jo and I were in our local fabric shop and who should be in the dress fabric department? Yep - Ken! It was amazing to see him after so many years. And he was the same as he'd always been. Daft! :oD

He told me I didn't look any different than I did when I worked in Inverness. I said he looked the same as well to which he replied "It's the drink!". Yep, as daft as ever.

I don't know why I remember this joke but I know it was Ken who told it to me.

Did you hear about the cannibal who came back from his holiday with half a leg missing? He'd gone self-catering.

It still makes me giggle! :oD

meet Anastasia

Jo took some photos as I was sewing today so here's the story line of what I made today.

I started with these pieces of fabric:

Sewed the pink circle on first:

Then the brown followed by the yellow:

Then I pinned on the red:

and sewed it on:

Next the white:

Next I cut the blue ribbon:

and attached it:

Then I decided to fancy up the white bit:

And here's what we ended up with - meet Anastasia!

I know she doesn't have a face yet. I'm still trying to figure out how I'll do it. I'm tempted just to use coloured pencils to draw on some eyes and a mouth. Ooooh, or I could use some more of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. Food for thought!

To finish, when I look at photos on the web of other people's sewing rooms I always think things like "I'm so jealous - I would love a sewing room like that". Well, Jo took this photo of my sewing room - I want one like that!! :oD

keep calm and carry on

As you saw from yesterday's post, I bought a wee book called "Keep Calm and Carry On". Its subtitle is "Good Advice for Hard Times". It's just full of little ditties and sayings meant to help us keep calm in the world we're living in today.

I haven't read through them all yet but one of my favourites so far is assigned to Jean Kerr. (I have no idea who Jean Kerr is. I wonder if she's famous somewhere and if it's only me who is unaware of her famousness? Probably!) Anyway, here's her ditty -

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation."

And this one reminds me of when we were about to venture into the new century. Do you remember all the warnings that computers would stop working at the stroke of midnight Dec 31, 1999 - Jan 1, 2000? Don't fly or try to move your money online just in case life as we know it comes to an end? All seems a bit daft now - mind you, it seemed daft to me at the time as well. This ditty sort of says it all.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."

It's assigned to Charles M Schulz - Snoopy's dad! :oD

lovely reading

Jo and I went to Dundee today - about 30 miles away. We always park in the car park at Borders and then have some morning snack there (yum) before tackling the book stacks.

This is what I bought today.



I've looked through all the books again and don't regret buying any of them. You know - a book looks fab in the shop but when you get it home you wonder what you were thinking. Not this time.

The patchwork book is especially exciting. There are patterns in it for all kinds of patchworky things which would - if I ever get round to making any of them - make a big hole in the pile of patchwork fabrics I have.

Or I could just look at the pictures and dream.

By the way, the wee creamy coloured things on the left are a salt and pepper set. I didn't get those in Borders! :oD

back door photo 1 September

I don't know if you can see it very clearly but our neighbours on the right as you look at this photo, cut their hedge down last weekend to half the height it used to be. I'm sure it was done to let more light into their garden but it's had the same effect on ours. Well, maybe not letting light in but it does feel less hemmed in out there, if that makes any sense!

I also took the opportunity of the brief dry spell to take this photo of one of the sunflowers Douglas grew from seed. (I first typed "sewed" and then realised that was the wrong type of sewing so I changed it to "sowed". That didn't look right either - think "pigs" - so I changed it to "grew from seed"! :oD)

Hopefully, it will be in flower soon.

By the way, I did say it was a brief dry spell, didn't I? It's now all of 5 minutes since I took those photos and it's pouring rain again! *sigh*