#StDwynwensDay + #Blind #Crossstitch + A #Knitting Project + #Snow + #Imbolc + #AmWriting + #Febookary

January 25th was St Dwynwen's Day (Dydd Santes Dwynwen) - as it is every year.  St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, so it's basically the Welsh Valentines Day.  We didn't celebrate it though.  I mean, we barely do anything for Valentines Day, let alone the lesser-known Welsh equivalent... Valentines Day isn't really a big deal to us, since we think you should show the person you love that you love them all year, and not just lavish attention on them for one spacific day.  I just thought I'd mention it, in case anyone was interested.  Plus, I thought it would be nice if I at least acknowledged its existance.

~

 

I've learned a lot in the years since I lost the last of my sight, and one of those things is that - more often than not - the thing stopping me from doing something I want to do that I could do when I had some sight is actually often myself, and my refusal to try and find a way.  So, I decided to have a go at crossstitching for the first time since losing the last of my sight - especially since I just inherited a whole load of supplies from my Nan, and it would be a shame not to use them.  Nan was the one who taught me to knit, sew, and crossstitch.  I know she'd have wanted me to try.  So, I did.  For Nan, for those who need to learn what I learned about the limitations of a blind person, and for myself.

So, how did it go?

Well... It went OK.  I mean, I think it's going to take some practice - and a whole lot of patience - but I don't think I did too terribly for my first attempt, and think I can potentially make it work for simple designs anyhow.  Here's a photo of my first attempt.  It's supposed to have been three little Christmas trees... Even if they are red... I think I did best with the middle one.  What do you think?

~

I mentioned to Kelly that I wasn't sure where to startwith craft projects, so he suggested I start by knitting a cosy for my new teapot.  I agreed it was a good idea, so that's what I'm working on now.  Well, when I'm not busy attempting to organize all the crafting supplies, of course.  Hey, at least it's something I can do amidst the chaos that the craft room is currently in from Dad bringing over more of what used to be Nan's crafting supplies recently (which I haven't had a chance to sort through yet).

The cosy's got two colours in it: purple, of course, and a shade of off-white called vanilla.  Also, it's made from 100% cotton yarn.  There is some sheep wool among the things I got from Nan, which I'll use for future projects - since it's here - but this wool is from my own stash, and I've only been buying the 100% cotton yarn. It costs a bit more, but I personally think it's worth the extra cost.

 

Anyway, the tea cosy isn't finished yet, but I'll show you it when it is, which shouldn't be too far in the future, since it is coming along nicely.  Would have been even further along if I hadn't dropped my purple yarn and wasted a LOT of time untangling the mess it got itself in to. *sigh*

~

We got more snow!

 

Yes, more of it! It happened this past Sunday.

OK, so there wasn't much of it to enjoy, despite the fact it was drifting down for a couple of hours, so technically a couple of inches probably fell, because it was melting almost as fast as it hit the ground, and it was completely gone by the evening.  But still.

Here are a couple of photos of Lilie and Logan out in the yard during it:

And here's a short clip we got during the best part of the snowfall:

Sorry about the noise in the clip, but someone decided to come to the nearby shop while we were doing snow videos, and used what's meant to be one of our parking spots for the purpose, waiting there with the car running for a while.  They do that a lot, because of our proximity to the shop.  Any time they see us out there when doing it they ask if we need them to park elsewhere, but since they're only popping to the shop a couple of doors down, so gone pretty quickly anyhow, and we don't have a car of our own so aren't in any real need of our two parking spaces, we let them do it.  I mean, why not? After all, they aren't in our way, and they aren't hurting anyone being there, so... *shrugs*

~

So... Last year I'd planned to make more effort with doing something for the Pagan holidays other than Ostara, Samhain, and Yule - something I've gotten abit lazy about in recent years.  I wanted to at least acknowledge those lesser-known and more commonly ignored holidays that are part of my beliefs.  But 2020 was... Well... We all know what 2020 was.  Anyway, I'm determined not to let the same thing happen in 2021, even if it tries to be another year like last year.  Wish me luck with that.  Ahem.  Well, at least I can say so far, so good.  I even remembered to acknowledge St Dwynwen's Day, which is one I generally always ignore (and counts as one I should acknowledge because of the Celtic influence in my beliefs, even without the consideration of the fact I'm Welsh by birth, and have now moved back to Wales).  And then there's Imbolc...

February 2nd was Imbolc - the first festival of Spring.  Well, technically people celebrate it any time from January 31st to February 2nd, sometimes literally celebrating from sunset on January 31st to sunset on February 2nd.  But since February 2nd is the most commonly recognized date (or, with a lot of Pagans, sunset on February 1st through to sunset on February 2nd, since sunset to sunset celebrations are common) and I don't personally feel like it's one of the holidays that needs to be celebrated for days - though I can totally see why people might have done so in the past - we just acknowledge and celebrate it on February 2nd.  Or try to anyhow.  Really though any date from January 31st through February 2nd is correct.

 

Either way, we don't go in for big celebrations anyhow, and our Imbolc celebrations especially have never been elaborate or fancy in any way - on the years we've remembered to celebrate it, I mean.  Sometimes we'll go on a walk to search for signs of Spring, and call it an Imbolc walk (even though we regularly go out with the dogs anyhow).  But beyond that we usually just have a special meal where at least some part of it is conciously being linked to Imbolc, and then do our own thing to celebrate.  In my case that generally seems to involve lighting a scented candle to enjoy while I write - and nine times out of ten also read - some poetry, often followed by a bit of quiet meditation, which has led to more poetry writing in the past.  The main difference between that and most writing days being the addition of the candle, which I wouldn't usually bother with for a writing session, and the concious thought of the fact it's Imbolc when sitting down to do it... It's all about the intentions behind the actions.

Anyway, traditional herbs, food, and drink for Imbolc include:bay leaves, cinnamon, basil, vanilla, blackberry, all dairy products, breads, cakes, scones, muffins, raisins, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, greens, bell peppers, onions, garlic, herbal teas, ale, mead and spiced wines. Of course, with my being vegan the dairy products were out for me, Kelly doesn't do raisins, and neither of us drink alcahol so those were out for both of us.  But that still left us with plenty of options for connecting our meals to Imbolc, especially since - while we might have similar meals sometimes - we almost never actually eat the same thing these days (our different diets makes it too complicated, so we just plan our own menus).

 

This year I decided to theme my Imbolc Eve dinner and Imbolc breakfast for Imbolc too.  So, Imbolc Eve dinner for me was a vegan omlet (consisting of tofu, vegan cheese, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, garlic, and turmeric) with chips and baked beans, Imbolc breakfast was homemade orange marmalade on toast with a handful of raisins, and Imbolc dinner was vegan cheesy mash with green beans and carrots served with onion gravy and a bit of bread (it would have been a bread roll, but I didn't have any, couldn't be bothered to make some, and decided to just have a regular slice of bread instead of sending Kelly to go look for some).  Simple food, quick to make, but still themed for the sabbat.  Kelly went for simple too, and only bothered making sure his Imbolc dinner was linked.  He had chicken and cheese wraps, plus a bit of chocolate cake, in case you're wondering.  I'd planned to do some baking so I'd have some cake for myself too, but a few bad nights in a row had me exhausted and needing a nap, and my planned hour to recharge turned in to a four hour nap.  Oops! Well, I obviously needed it.

Anyway, I finished up the day by spending about an hour writing some poetry while enjoying the scented candle I'd had for my birthday from my Mam, followed by reading "Pass the Turkey: The Small Dog's Christmas" by Sue Vincent, and a few minutes of meditation.  It had to be a few minutes only, since apparently that was a relaxing enough evening that I was ready to go to sleep at a decent time despite my longer than planned nap... Slept for a solid five hours afterwards too, which would have been a good night for me even without the four hour nap.

 

 ~

 

Other than the poetry I wrote on Imbolc, I also wrote a couple more poems so far this year.  I still haven't done any work on a story, but at least I've been writing again.  Hopefully I'll get back to working on one of my stories soon.  That's definitely the plan anyhow.

First though, if I plan to be a part of it, I need to write something for the Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic that's going on over at The Carrot Ranch right now (click here to see the official contest post at The Carrot Ranch).  Plus, I definitely need to either pick a couple of my new poems to submit to an anthology I'm contributing to, or write some new ones spacifically for it very soon, since I've got to have those sent over to the person arranging it before the end of this month.

~

I'm joining in with the Febookary reading challenge this month too.

 

Febookary is a challenge created by my friend Cat over at The Strawberry Post, which is designed to encourage you to try reading something outside your reading comfort zone, like a different genre, for example.

At Kelly's recommendation, I'm reading "Mech Warrior: Born of Steel" by James David Victor as my Febookary challenge book.  He picked well for me last year, so let's hope he did this year too.  The book's blurb makes it sound good anyhow, so I'm hopeful he's picked me another great read.

#Snow + A Happy #Westie Wiggle Dance + #Grogu+ A #Teapot + #Selfcare + Inheriting #Crafting Supplies

Look what we woke up to Sunday morning:

 

 

The dogs and I had to go out and play in it, of course...

Apparently my dogs love the snow as much as I do.  This is their first time seeing this much snow at once, and they were thrilled.  They were also as reluctant as me to stay indoors, and as eager as me to keep going out to play in it, which - since they were enthusiastic about the idea, and it gave me an excuse to do so - we did on and off most of the day.

To my delight - since yes, I was delighted, even after a day playing in it - it snowed more in the afternoon, after a bit of the earlier stuff had melted, and we'd trampled a lot of it.  So, since we caught it snowing this time (we'd been asleep when the earlier snow fell, so it was a nice surprise for me to wake up to) we got a bit of a video of the snow falling:

 

 

 Later that same day it snowed some more...

So, of course, I took the dogs out to play in it yet again...

(OK, so I took them so I could go out there again myself, but whatever... They still got to go outside again, which they were happy about).

I know this isn't much to some of you, and it will likely all be gone before this goes live, but... We got around five inches in total in our area that day, with a lot of it (what hadn’t melted or frozen overnight) still on the ground the next day, which is a big snowfall here in Wales.  It's rare to get more than an inch or so in one snowfall.  It's been a great Winter for snow this year, and Winter's not even over yet!

~

I’ve been mentioning Lilie’s happy wiggle dance since she was a tiny puppy, and trying to get a video of it for almost as long.  But, no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t get it on video, even though it’s her regular form of greeting.  Now though, with her almost four years old, I can finally show you it, since my Mam got a video for me when I took the dogs outside to greet her when she came to drop off a couple of things she’d picked up for me from Tescos that we didn’t get in our food box, and couldn’t get at the corner shop.  So, though I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with an excited Logan getting in the way from time to time (he was pleased to see Nana too) here, at long last, is a clip of Lilie doing her happy wiggle dance:

 

 

As you can see, my dogs love visitors – especially Lilie.  Even Logan is learning to be enthusiastic about people other than me and Kelly.  Just wait until we stop being in lockdown so Mam and Dad’s visits don’t have to be restricted to them only seeing us briefly for essential errands*.  Lilie’s going to be over-the-moon.  LOL!

 

*We could technically have one of them visit more.  However, to do that we’d have to prevent the other coming, and since both of them are doing different things to help us, we all agreed it made more sense for us to just restrict visits from both to short ones just while essential errands/tasks are dealt with, and keep other contact to phone calls.

 

~

 

Though we still have plenty of things we actually need to get to sort things in the new house, when we learned that Build-A-Bear did a Grogu (Baby Yoda) plushy, I really wanted one, so Kelly told me to get myself one, and count it as paying myself back some of the money I should have been having presents from anyhow (in other words, the money I’d gotten for my birthday and Christmas, which I’d been prioritizing paying for moving and household costs out of, and not spending on myself like I was meant to).  So, I got a Grogu plushy, and here he is:

 

 

He has a sound chip in each of his little paws.  One plays the “Mandelorian” theme tune, and the other plays the various cute little baby sounds you hear him making throughout the show.  I could have had him with just one or the other, or with neither, but I decided to splurge for the whole package.  I mean, if I was paying out for the plushy – which was the bigger part of the cost – I might as well just pay an extra few £s for the sounds too, right?

 

~

 

 I also brought myself a teapot.  It’s a little ceramic one that’s perfect for just a couple of cups of tea, so ideal for when it’s only me having some tea, which is the case more often than not even without lockdown making visitors few and far between.  Anyway, here’s my new teapot:

 

 

Though I’m told it’s not easy to tell from the photo, it’s actually purple.  Well, when I saw they had them in purple, I had to, didn’t I? I mean, purple has always been my favourite colour.

 

I had a teapot before – that one was purple too – which was bigger.  But it was a bit big for me to be using on my own, and I gave it to someone a few years back.  I’ve wanted to get a new one ever since, but wanted just a little one this time.  Well, now I have one, and even managed to make it a purple one again.

 

~

 

In the interests of practicing better self care, adding proper “me time” to my routine is something I’m working on making a priority this year.  I even have a plan.  In fact, I’ve got a list of some things I want to do every day, and a list for stuff I’d like to do at least once a week, which I’m setting days for. My plan is to do the daily things for at least a few minutes every day, and each of the weekly things for at least an hour each per week.

 

Every day I want to:

•         Enjoy a quiet cup of tea while listening to some music

•         Meditate

•         Read

•         Write

 

My weekly self care activities list though is:

•         Have a bubble bath (scented candles optional)

•         Have a movie/TV show night where I just curl up somewhere and watch a DVD or something on a streaming service

•         Work on crafts (I even re-activated a craft box subscription service I used to get to encourage this... You may remember me mentioning the Makerly Crafts subscription box in the past?)

 

My tentative plan for the weekly thing is a bubble bath on Friday night, a Saturday movie night, and a Sunday afternoon crafting session.  That way I get the whole weekend to recharge.

 

~

 

I won’t be doing a review of this every month, but I figured I’d do a check-in this time, since I’m only now getting around to telling you about my plan.  So, how did the first month – well, about four weeks - of doing this go?

 

I’ve been managing to sit and relax while listening to music for at least a few minutes each day, even if sometimes it’s with a cold drink rather than a cup of tea.  The point is the quiet time just relaxing while listening to the music though, so I’m not complaining.  I've listened to a variety of music, including panpipes, country, 80s, 90s, and classical.  I tend to do this in the morning, when the dogs aren't quite ready to start racing around and cause chaos, Artemis hasn't yet crawled out of her bed, and Mollie is sleepily waiting to see what I'll be offering her for breakfast before she goes for her daytime sleep.  It's a nice relaxing way to start my day.

 

I’ve also generally managed to get at least a small amount of reading time in each day, even if some days it’s only been maybe 20 minutes or so.  And I managed to read five books in January, even with two of them being long-ish books, and mostly doing shorter reading sessions.

 

I’ve had less success with the meditation and writing.  I’ve done some writing since the start of the year, but not as much as I’d hoped, and definitely not every day.  We won’t talk about the meditation part.  Yes, I did that badly with it.  With the writing it was a conscious choice, since I chose to use my writing time to work on unpacking boxes, but the meditation thing just didn’t end up happening... I'll make it a habit again eventually.

 

Also, despite having resubscribed to the Makerly Crafts box again, and gotten my first kit since doing so (January’s kit was a Valentine's themed cardmaking kit, if you're wondering) I’ve not done anything worth mentioning in the way of crafting yet either, since that’s another time slot I gave up to unpacking boxes.  In this case it was essential I did so though, since I needed to unpack and organize the craft supplies I owned, as well as ones I inherited from my Nan (the one who died last August) – which my Dad has slowly been dropping off here for me whenever he’s been here to do an essential errand – as well as make a space to work, before any crafting could actually happen.

 

Plus, my relaxing bath nights have been a bit hit and miss, and the couple of baths I have had didn’t include scented candles, even if they were still relaxing.  Baths are on my self care list because I mostly just have a shower, but a nice relaxing bath is something I enjoy having sometimes.  However, it’s a bit more special if I don’t have one all the time anyhow, so I don’t mind if this one doesn’t happen every week.  I mean, I kind of would like it to happen every week, since it would be a nice way to kick off my weekend.  But I’d still call this one a success even if I only did it once a month.

 

I’ve had better luck with TV show/movie nights.  I watched more episodes of “The Simpsons” as well as a couple of movies.  The movies were the live action version of “Mulan” as well as “Soul” – both movies were on Disney+.  “Mulan” was really good – very different to the animated version I’m familiar with, but still good, even if I did enjoy the animated one more.  “Soul” was fantastic though... An absolutely wonderful movie with a lovely message.  I’d give “Mulan” four out of five stars, and “Soul” five out of five stars.

 

All in all, I don’t think the first month went too badly, especially since I was making unpacking and organizing stuff the main priority intentionally, and we actually have most of that done now, with mainly just stuff we need to buy extra shelves or other storage solutions for still in boxes at this point.  Although, more organization will need to happen with the craft supplies, especially with Dad still slowly dropping off more.  But at least I can now make use of the craft room and supplies when I want to, as well as claim back my writing time.

 

~

 

And there are so many supplies!

 

Nan was a big crafter, who dabbled in a lot of different crafts, and kept anything potentially useful for future craft projects, and I'm inheriting the lot, some of the tools for which she's had longer than I've been alive.  Dad’s dropped off a load, and there’s still loads at his place yet to come over here (since he has to do it in bits, since he can only drop stuff off when he’s coming this way for other reasons, because of needing to restrict his visits due to lockdown, plus there really is a LOT of stuff).

 

There are supplies for crafts I do a lot already, like sewing.  Supplies for crafts I’ve tried in the past and want to do more of, like quilling.  Supplies for crafts I haven’t done since I lost my sight, but would kind of like to try again to see if I can do them – despite my initial reaction on thinking about it being that it would be impossible – like cross stitching.  Supplies for things I’d like to get back in to that I haven’t done much of for a while, like cardmaking.  Supplies for things I’ve never learned to do, but wouldn’t mind learning, like crochet.  And supplies for things Nan was going to teach me, but we never got around to more than a first lesson I don’t remember very well, like tatting.  Let's just say my craft room will be very well stocked by the time it all makes it over here. Oh, I’m going to have so much crafty fun!

I just have to decide what to play with first...

Random Ramblings - July 30th 2019 Edition

I haven't actually done a proper Tuesday post in a couple of weeks, because I wanted to do that tag I found, and put up the A-Z challenge post too. So this is going to be a post to catch you up on the random goings on from the past few weeks, not necessarily in order.

This post is a relatively long one, so you might want to grab a drink, and maybe a snack too... If you don't already have those things on hand, that is. I'll wait. Just come back and continue reading from this point when you're ready. *wink*

***~~~***

Happiness is a warm puppy.
~Charles M. Schulz

I saw that quote on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I had a puppy curled up against each foot, and the first thing I thought when I read that was, "Yeah... And I've got two of them, so that's twice as much happiness."

We won't talk about the times I can see why people say having dogs is like having toddlers, and I understand why some parents - especially those with two or more children - are always so glad when bed time comes. *wink*

We also won't talk about the nights when they really don't want to settle, and I find myself still awake at 2:00am trying everything in an attempt to get them to sleep, which naturally happens most on days when I need to be up early for some reason.

No. Those times don't happen a lot. But, as I said on Facebook recently, if you ever doubt the saying that having dogs is like having toddlers, you should try having mine for a while, especially during the last half an hour or so before bed time. Tired puppies and tired toddlers are both handfuls. I know it's true of toddlers from my times babysitting, and I'm sure you can guess how I know it's true of puppies. I don't mind though. Not really. I love my pups just the way they are. Even if there are times when I'm glad for the arrival of nap time, or when the only clear thought in my exhausted head is, "Please go to sleep, because then I can."

***~~~***

We took Logan to Oscars for his first ever outing. We wanted to show him to them, and thought combining his outing with lunch out would give him a positive association for his first walk, since he's extremely food motivated. I'm glad we did, because he definitely needed a positive association... Poor thing was so scared that he just sat down and cried every time I put him on the ground at first, and it took most of the time we were out to get him to even consider actually walking. We've taken him there since, as well as for other walks, and he's improving. He's still a bit unsure of how this walkies thing works, but he's getting there. At least he'll now walk some when he's put down on the ground, rather than just sitting on the spot I put him on and crying, and only whines a little from time to time (and that's mostly when he starts getting tired). He's even climbed a few of our stairs, though he's only tried going up so far, and hasn't attempted to get himself down them yet (he just waits at the top crying until I come rescue him). He sure tires quickly though... Quicker than Lilie and Kero did at his age... But I think it's the difference in the breed, since Westie's are a hardier breed. It's fine though. When I know he's getting tired, I just keep him in my arms, and he happily watches the world go by, and enjoys the feel of the ocean breeze in his fur.

Anyway, they loved getting to meet Logan at Oscars, as I knew they would. They adore Lilie too. We always have people wanting to come say hi to Lilie whenever we're out and about - which is just fine by her - and now we have two dogs everyone wants to greet. At one point I had someone come over and start petting them, and the person suddenly thought about the fact she hadn't asked if I minded her doing so, and said, "I'm sorry madam, but they're just so cute!" We get a lot of that.

***~~~***

We missed checking out Hastings Pirate Day this year. It was by choice though, and wasn't because of the weather.

We've had a lot of hot weather. This time last week, for example, it was in the high 20s... It got up to 28 degrees C last Tuesday late afternoon, and didn't cool down much that night. It was even hotter on Thursday, and actually reached temperatures above 30 degrees C (I'm told it got up to 34 degrees C here, though thankfully was sleeping during that part of the day). Bearing in mind, those temperatures are the temperatures outside, and our place usually runs a couple of degrees hotter. But, anyway, though we've had some hot days - too many of them, if you ask me - we've also had cooler days, and days somewhere in the middle. We've had some Summer rain showers, and storms of various strengths too.

The Sunday of Hastings Pirate Day was one of the days where it was warm and dry, but not hot. So it would have been a perfect day to be out there enjoying the pirate day events, both from our point of view, and the dogs'. I'm sure those who did go were glad the weather was so perfect.

But Hastings Pirate Day happened two days after Logan's first walk, and we thought it would be too much for him, given how quickly he gets tired, and how confusing the lead concept seems to be to him. Not to mention, the fact just a few people along the seafront on a Friday afternoon was enough to have him frightened, so the huge crowds we get for the pirate day events would be too much so soon. I mean, Hastings currently holds the world record for the most people dressed as pirates in one place, and the numbers listed for the record only include registered pirates, and not the people who come to the area for the events but don't dress up and register themselves. We stay on the edge of the crowds when possible, but even that can be a bit overwhealming at times. Logan is definitely not ready for that. So we skipped it for his sake this year. He should be able to face the crowds better by next year, so hopefully we can all go to at least some of the pirate events next year. It would be too much for even Lilie to do all of it, so we wouldn't even try. Actually, we never tried to go to more than part of the events, even when we were without dogs... There's too much going on to do it all without exhausting yourself. I do hope we can go to part of it next year though, like we've done most years since we moved down here.

We did all go out for a while that day, of course. But not to the pirate events. We just went to enjoy the part of the beach near home for a little while, and then headed back home. We waited until early evening though, so there weren't so many people out and about. We aren't right by where this year's pirate themed events were happening, but we're close enough that there were a lot of people out there during the afternoon. So we waited for the crowds to thin a little before taking the dogs out there.

***~~~***

I worry about the furkids when it get's really hot. Especially Mollie and the dogs, since Joshua handles heat better than the others. Mollie in particular suffers badly on hot days. I did what I could though, and everyone made it through.

One of the things we did was to try setting up some wet towels for the dogs to nap on. It was an idea Kelly had seen on social media, and we thought it was a good one,, so figured we'd try it out. Lilie agreed it was a great idea, and did nap with part of herself on her towel. Logan, however, was having none of it. He's not a fan of getting wet, and didn't think the cooling benifits were a good enough reason to get wet. So he found himself a different napping spot out of the sun... At least he was in a shady spot.

***~~~***

At the end of last week we had an awesome storm, which I think would be classed as a tropical storm. It's what I'm calling it anyhow. It showed up around dinner time on Thursday, and was still going on - though not so violently - through most of Friday and Saturday. There was a lot of rain, and a fair amount of thunder and lightning. Unfortunately, it didn't cool things down much. At least, not until Saturday evening, and even then it was only enough to put temperatures in the comfortable to me range (like 18 degrees C). That's why I think it would be considered a tropical storm: the heat and humidity.

Anyway, I was worried about how Logan would react to it, but either the heat had him too tired to care as much as usual, or Lilie and I are doing a great job of convincing him storms aren't scary. I'm not sure which. Either way, he got a bit agitated initially, but didn't require more than being able to stay close to me and Lilie throughout the night, which was easy enough to arrange, especially from my point of view. He wasn't even bothered about it any more by the time we were dealing with the milder storms of Friday and Saturday... Probably figured he was safe enough, since he survived Thursday night. It likely helped that they were more rain than anything, though there was some thunder and lightning thrown in across those two days (most of the thunder and lightning was Thursday night and early hours of Friday morning though).

***~~~***

Here are a couple of photos of Logan at 14 weeks old:

He's growing up so fast!

Sorry, I don't have new photos of Lilie today. We just snapped those of Logan to show how he's growing.

Logan is now almost 15 and a half weeks old. Can you believe it?

He has another vet appointment this Thursday (August 1st 2019). Hopefully the source of his getting upset last time was frustration at Lilie being on the ground and him not, and he won't get so upset this time, especially now he's starting to accept the lead, and not cry so much when he's down on the ground.

***~~~***

I had asthma clinic on July 18th. I was up for my yearly review, so they wouldn't give me new inhalers if I didn't see the asthma nurse. So I went to see her. It's good for me to be checked from time to time anyhow, and I should have been having yearly reviews all along, so I don't mind. In fact, I was glad to see they were doing what they were meant to... Finally.

My appointment went smoothly. I knew it would. My asthma's been behaving itself since last year, when I got my inhalers back, and they gave me the spacer thingy to help me control my breathing properly when taking them. So, as far as I was concerned, this was merely a necessary formality, and a "just in case" checkup. It did feel good having the asthma nurse tell me she was pleased with how I was doing though, and compliment me on how well I pay attention to what's going on with my body. I didn't tell her I sometimes ignore what my body is telling me. I was too busy enjoying her compliments. Hey, it's not often I get approval from doctors and nurses, after all.

Anyway, I had them weigh me while I was there. My Mam said it looked in the photos taken when we took Logan for his first walk like I might have lost some weight. I had my doubts. I mean, I feel fitter and everything, and did wonder if maybe I'd lost a little. But I've never really had much luck in losing weight, so wasn't counting on it. I figured my asthma clinic appointment was a good time to get a weight update though, especially since I hadn't been weighed in more than six months. Plus, I was curious. So I asked them to weigh me. Turns out I've lost 3 kilos (that's about 6.6 lbs).

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For those who like to know: my Makerly box for July contained a cross stitch kit for a bird. I forget which kind of bird it was, though it was something tropical, since that was the theme of the kit.

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I wanted to do some baking last week, but it was WAY too hot. So I decided to try something I could do in the microwave.

I made a flapjack, which consisted of oats, coconut milk, maple syrrup, and raisins, so was not just vegetarian friendly, but also vegan friendly. I just threw them all in a bowl, cooked them up in the microwave, and then put most of the mixture in a cake tin to cool. Several hours later - when it was cool enough to do so - I put it in the fridge. After it had set, I removed it from the tin, and put it on a plate. It won't win prizes for anything, least of all presentation, but here's a photo anyhow:

I cut it in to slices - like you would a cake - after the photo was taken.

It was pretty good. Stickier than it should have been (I think I used too much coconut milk) but pretty good, like I said. Especially considering I was just experimenting, and didn't measure quantities or anything. Not to mention the fact it was a microwaved flapjack, rather than one done in the oven. I'd kept some aside for breakfast though - hence only putting most of the mixture in the cake tin - and ate it still slightly warm, and that way was delicious. So, awesome as a breakfast option, but could use some work to make it a good flapjack.

I had better success with the vegan friendly apple-berry cake and banana-peanut cookies I made on Sunday, after the rain had cooled things down here a little, so I could actually do the baking I wanted to do. I think they turned out pretty well. Here are photos, for anyone who wants to see them:

The cake and cookies were both very tasty, if I do say so myself. Since there was nothing in them they couldn't have, I offered Lilie and Logan a bit of each, and they seemed to approve too. I wasn't surprised with Logan, since he eats just about anything, but I took it as a compliment from Lilie, since she's a picky eater.

Brownies were baked on the weekend too. But those were for Kelly, and I didn't take photos.

No. The pups didn't get any of those, because they're chocolate, and dogs aren't allowed chocolate. Just mentioning that, for anyone who might have been concerned. They were disappointed - especially Logan - but soon got over it when they saw I was willing to share my snacks.

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My Mam got me a new smoothie maker.

I kept meaning to get one, but not getting around to it. Anyway, she got me one, so now I don't need to. It arrived on Sunday, because she ordered it on Saturday and has Amazon Prime.

I tried it out yesterday (Monday) morning. I made a smoothie involving coconut water, a banana, some raspberries, some blueberries, and a bit of spinach. That last for extra vitamins. It was really tasty, and since the berries and spinach were frozen, lovely and cool.

As an added bonus, I actually drank a decent amount of liquid yesterday morning, because of having the smoothie, which is something I need to work on, since I generally don't drink enough.

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If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook - or both - you might already know this, but I've made a big lifestyle choice recently.

After more than a decade of being vegetarian, I've decided to take the next step, and have switched to a vegan diet.

Yeah, that's why I was doing the vegan friendly stuff when I was baking. I wanted to make snacks, rather than buying them. It's cheaper, and makes knowing exactly what's in my food easier. I'm not saying I won't buy the ready-made vegan friendly snacks sometimes. I just want to mostly make my own.

There are a few reasons for my decision to become vegan, including the ethical and environmental ones you'll hear from many people making such a switch. After all, animal product free doesn't always mean cruelty free, and a vegan diet reduces your carbon footprint. But I have other reasons too, like the fact I'm lactos intollerent, so really should have switched out my dairy products to either lactos free or plant based alternatives ages ago, and since cheese was the thing making me reluctant to make the switch to veganism, if I'm going to switch my cheese anyhow, there's nothing holding me back any more. I mean, I used to think the upset stomach I got from eating it was worth it. I no longer feel that way. Especially after I finally won the battle for a hysterectomy. I wanted that for a chance at a better future. How can I celebrate that when I'm also letting my body suffer needlessly just for something that will be gone in a few minutes? I don't want anyone to suffer for what I eat, and that includes myself.

No. This is not a spur of the moment decision. It's something I've been thinking about for some time. But I didn't mention to anyone that I was considering it, because I didn't want the comments and opinions of others influencing my decision.

Anyway, I usually post about things on my blog first, but this time I posted on Twitter and Facebook first, because my posting slots were filled until today, and I wanted to ask a few vegan friends I have for tips and recipes at once. I was completely blown away by the response. Everyone I tagged on Facebook, plus some I hadn't, was immediately there with tips, recipes, and resources. As for my Twitter post... Well, I've quite literally never had that many people interact with one of my posts. I had people I didn't know coming from all over the place with tips, websites and YouTube channels I could check out, etc. People were liking and retweeting my tweet like crazy too... I've never had that many likes on a post, ever. It was just amazing, and I'm incredibly grateful to all those people for all the support, tips, etc.

Of course, I know there might be vegans reading this who either didn't see my tweet or Facebook post, or aren't even on those social media platforms. If either of those is the case for you, feel free to share tips, recipes, and resources in the comments. I'm especially looking for ideas for quick and easy meals with minimum cooking, for busy or hot days. Thank you in advance.

Where to start... (LBE & FD)

I've got a lot to say - not that that's unusual, lol - and I'm not 100% sure where to start. I think the best thing to do would be to start from when I did my last "proper" post and discuss things in the order they come up. Yep, that makes the most sense! So... Wednesday... Mam and Dad came for dinner, and Mam made a lovely toad in the hole (sausage, onion and tomatoes cooked in a batter) with roast potatoes, peas and carrots. There was some left so we've put it in the freezer for Kelly and I to have some time in the near future. Despite the fact it was a bit drizzly, Mam and I took Kero for a walk before dinner. It wasn't raining all that much, besides all of us - especially Kero and I - needed to get out and do a bit of exercise. It was a nice little walk. Would have been better without the dampness, but we do live in Wales after all. LOL! During our walk - and while Mam made dinner - Mam and I were talking about finding me things to do. The thing is, a lot of what I was doing a year or so ago (and had been doing all or most of my life) needs eyesight... Computer games, drawing, photography, cross stitch... You get the idea. So now that I can't do those things I'm finding that I'm getting VERY bored. Yes, OK, there are still things I can do that I did before. Like reading, listening to music, watching movies... Etc... But between the weather and my as yet not fully regained confidence the walking thing isn't very easy right now, which means that I'm feeling as though I'm spending all my time either in front of the TV screen or in front of the laptop... With the occasional break to read or listen to a book. The result of this boredom is that I've started boredom eating. I'd gotten out of the habit of it when I was so engrossed in playing World Of Warcraft, but in this last year I've gotten back in to the habit of it and as a result have put back on all the weight I'd managed to get off. :( Anyway... Mam and I were trying to come up with ideas. The best one we could think of was to find things to keep my hands busy. After all, if my hands are busy doing something then I can't pick up the snack food. ;) So yesterday (Thursday) my Mam and Dad got me some new "toys" to keep my hands busy. My Dad got me some Meccano and some Magnetix. The Meccano you'll probably all be familiar with... It's that toy where you get different shaped bits of metal with holes in and some screws and stuff so you can build things. The Magnetix is a new-ish thing... It consists of plastic rods with magnets in them and little ball bearings, and the idea is that you use the magnetic rods and those little balls to build stuff. They brought them in early evening yesterday and it was around midnight when I realised what the time was and thought maybe it was time to pack up and go to bed. LOL! My Mam got me some bits too, but she wont let me have them until when she comes tomorrow. :( She did let me have the new cup she'd gotten me though. It's got butterflies on it. It's one of those tactile ones that I've taken to using. They're plastic (so less likely to break when dropped... Though they do crack after a lot of contact with the floor from a great height) and the pictures and/or writing on them is tactile so I then know which cup I've got and that it's definately my cup. I've now got 8 of them. Two of which are replacement for my "Princess" one and the one with my name on it... Those two cups are how I know that getting dropped too many times cracks the cups. *Blushes* Anyway... Back to Wednesday... After dinner my Mam finished reading "Pongwiffy And The Spellovision Song Contest" by "Kaye Umansky" to me. I love the Pongwiffy books! This one and one other I hadn't heard/read before. They were in my "need to read" pile before I gave my Mam my print books. Anyway... The Pongwiffy books are about a filthy, smelly witch called "Pongwiffy" and all the things she gets up to. They're all cute, funny childrens' stories that can amuse children and adults alike with some of the things said and done in them. And this book was no exception! It was while we were reading Pongwiffy that the moth incedent I posted about yesterday happened. I didn't really do much on Thursday... In fact, I don't really remember any of what I did before Mam and Dad came with my pressies. LOL! I think I was just fiddling on the laptop or something. *Shrugs* Oh, yeah... There was the yummy Chinese food we had (though if I'd known my Mam and Dad were popping in I'd have waited and had them grab it from my favourite place). I had sweet and sour chicken, chicken fried rice and a couple of spring rolls. Took me most of the evening to eat it all. LOL! Anyway... Today (Friday) has flown by! I'm hoping I manage to keep myself as occupied - at least most days - as I was today, because with everything I was doing I haven't been snacking. :) First of all, due to the fact I was up until a later time than I have been lately (I mean, I was on here doing my random question post at about 12:45 am ish) I never got up until around 10:00 am (lately I've been up by 7:00 am). And when I got up I had to sort out some washing. By the time I'd done that (and gotten some dishes that didn't get done last night washed) Kelly had gone in to town and been gone for a bit. I knew he was bringing me a baguette home so I didn't see the point in having anything and figured I'd wait for my baguette. While he was in town he'd grabbed a magazine he likes to get, and it has some free Warhammer figures with it this issue. He got a couple of copies because it works out cheaper for the figures that way (and they're ones he wants) and since he doesn't want his orcs he said he was giving them to Dad. But I decided I wanted an orc. Don't ask me why, but I did. So, he gave me one. I put it together this afternoon... Kelly's going to paint it for me, then we'll put it on the shelves with my ornaments. Dad can have the rest of the orcs though... LOL! While I was putting my orc together my mind wandered - as it often does - and for some reason came to rest on hobbits. I don't know if it was the fact I was putting together a fantasy game model, or if it was the mention earlier in the day about my Dad's comment that I remind him of his hobbit on the Lord Of The Rings game they play (short, barefoot and no objections to living in a dark hole in the ground). Or maybe a combination of these things? But whatever the reason, my mind settled on the subject of hobbits. It was then that inspiration hit me! I remembered that there is a Lord Of The Rings game like the Warhammer game and that you can have a hobbit army. So I decided I wanted a hobbit. Just one little hobbit to put together, have painted and call my own. But when we went on the Games Workshop web site I ran in to a problem... There are so many hobbits to choose from... How do I pick just one little hobbit? Especially when they come in packs of two or more... LOL! After some consideration I decided that I most liked the pack with one hobbit on foot and another on a horse. Yep, that sounded like the perfect hobbit pack! And yet... The other hobbits sound so cool too... So I was back to square one! Until, that is, I decided that the only way to deal with my problem was to just get the lot. LOL! So I'm going to have a hobbit army. I doubt I'll ever use them to play the game. But they'll be fun to collect and put together anyway. LOL! And with my little hobbits to put together and all the new things we're buying to keep my hands busy, hopefully we'll keep me away from the snacks long enough to get some weight off me. ;) We're trying to make sure that the things we find me to do are on-going things... Things where there will be new bits to collect, or where you can do so many different things with them that by the time you've done them all you can go back and start again without thinking "I've already done this... This is boring!" And if both of those things are covered - like with Lego, Meccano, etc - then so much the better. We've found some ideas... But if anyone has any others then feel free to make suggestions. If I don't like them I just wont use them... But I will definately appreciate your effort. :) ***~*** I think that covers everything worth mentioning... And even if it doesn't, this post is long enough now, I think. LOL! Enjoy whatever's left of your day. :) Tori