A Weather Report + #Crafting + #AmWriting + #Music + Day To Day Life

No sign of any more snow here.  Some rain, some sun, some chilly temperatures, but no snow.

 

Never mind, there's plenty of time for more yet, and it's not unusual for us to get our best snow in March, so I'm not giving up hope.

 

~

 

Anyway, it's been a busy week, so let's take a look at what's been going on in my world during the past week, shall we?

*~*

Friday was mostly taken up with Zoom calls.  I try to make it to the ACB Presents call every day at 9:00am Eastern, and like to pop in to the ACB Crafters call for a while before the Free To Be Me call I co-facilitate on Fridays.  But I also decided to go to another call, which I don't always attend, but is fun when I do.  Between that and the usual day to day chores, petkid care, etc - which you can just assume I did every day, and I won't bother mentioning every time - there wasn't much of Friday left.

*~*

Saturday was a day mostly filled with crafting.  I attended a Zoom call on ways to add crochet to other forms of crafts (cards, fabric, etc) which was fun and interesting.  I also finished up the crochet mug hug I'd been making, which I mentioned in last week's post, and which Kelly has claimed for his mug.  LOL!

Here's a photo of the green crochet mug hug (essentially a mug cosy) on Kelly's mug:

Oh, and here's a photo of the blue needle knitted round dishcloth/doily thing I made too:

~

 

I also wrote the first draft of an article on audio book production I've been meaning to get to.  I've been promising someone I'd work on it since about November, so it was long since over-due in my opinion, even if I didn't officially have a deadline for when I was meant to submit it by.

~

The other thing I did Saturday - well, I'm calling it Saturday, but it was technically Sunday, since it was actually early hours of Sunday morning for me - was to go to ACB's Saturday night kareoke, which I've started doing on a regular basis now.  And, yes, I sing each time I'm there.

I attend the ACB's open mic night when they do that too, but that doesn't happen every week like kareoke does, because the person who facilitates that can't do it every week.  But I read some of my poems for that instead of singing.  I mention it though because it's another one that happens late (when it's on it's a Wednesday night/Thursday morning thing) and I wanted to tell you about what happened after the last one ended, since you won't have seen about it if you're not on Facebook, and might find it as amusing as I do.

So, when open mic night ended it was about 3:00am for me.  And - seeing me remove my headset - Lilie and Logan got up and ran off in to the bedroom, knowing I go in there afterwards, even if I end up reading rather than sleeping.  I didn't pay much attention, but the next thing I know there's a whole lot of noise going on in there, so I went in to see what they were up to.

They were jumping on the bed.  Literally just bouncing up and down on the bed.

I asked them if they realized it was 3:00am, and they stopped bouncing for a moment, looked at me as if to ask if I had a point, and - deciding I clearly didn't - promptly started bouncing on the bed again.

I guess they didn't care if it was 3:00am, or see why that meant they shouldn't bounce on the bed.  LOL!

*~*

Sunday I finally got a chance to play with my potters' wheel.  I made two pots of slightly different sizes and shapes (one a sort of vase shape, and the other a little round pot) which you can see in the photos below.

 

 

 

 

I also made the pen part of a pig sty I'm making as part of the scenery I'm making for my Dad for gaming.  I told my Dad with how much crafting I'm doing he'd likely end up with handmade items for his birthday and Christmas the way I'm going, and he said the thing he needs most is more scenery for his figure gaming, and mentioned an interest in things you'd find in farms or rural settings, like a pig sty, a pond, etc, so I'm taking him at his word and making him a pig sty, and will later make him a pond or two as well.  He gets what he wants/needs for gaming without having to pay ridiculously high prices for scenery, or find time to make it himself,and I get to play with my clay.  Everybody wins.  But, anyhow, I only got as far as making the pen part of the pig sty on Sunday, since I wanted that to dry before I started working on doing the shelter for the pigs to go in it.  Plus ran out of time to do more than that anyhow.

~

I also went to a cooking themed ACB Zoom call on Sunday, where they sometimes do cooking demonstrations, and other times discuss things on the general theme of cooking.  This week they were talking about meal planning and prepping, which is something I'm trying to get back in the habit of doing.  It was an interesting call, which I'm glad I went to.

*~*

Monday afternoon I had a papercrafting Zoom meeting scheduled with someone I won it from in the ACB Crafters holiday party I attended a week before Christmas, which for various reasons has taken us this long to be able to arrange.  So I tried to make sure to have everything ready for it before the ACB Presents call, since with my time difference I was scheduled to literally come out of one meeting and in to the other.  I forgot a few things though, so had to go run and get them during the call.  Despite not being quite as prepared as I thought I was, I still managed to make two cards during it though, trying out a couple of new techniques for me; I'd never done cards with extra folds like these before.

One of the cards I made was a star-themed one.  The bulk of the card is white.  The inside has green stars stamped across the top of what would be the back of the card front, and blue presents stamped across the bottom of that same side, with a strip of blue running down the other side.  When the card is closed you can see that strip of blue, and the rest of the front has a strip of green on it, more stamped green stars and blue presents, and three slightly overlapping stars (two blue stars, and a bigger silver glittery star with a small red star in the center of it).  Here are photos of both the inside and outside of that card:

 

The other card is a more feminine card.  The inside has purple butterflies stamped on a white background on what would be the back of the front of the card, and the other side is a yellow background with a pink balloon up near the top of one corner, and a pink heart almost centered at the bottom.  When you close the card the balloon and that area of the yellow background is visible.  The other side of the top of the front has an orange background with a silvery glittery heart on it, and the bottom of the front is left white with purple butterflies stamped on it, and a pink ribbon in the shape of a bow. Here are photos of the inside and outside of that card:

 

 

~

 

I have roleplaying some Mondays, but this wasn't one of them.  Just as well, since we ended up having Mam's dog, Izabel, over for a sleepover Monday night, because Mam was unwell.

 

Lilie loved it; Izi and Lilie had a great time playing together.  Logan wasn't so pleased about the idea; Logan thinks Izabel and Lilie are much too energetic, and spends most of the time when Izi is here just trying to stay out of the way of the girls' games, while also trying to keep them in sight so he doesn't miss anything he might decide he'd like to be involved in after all.

 

*~*

 

To Logan's relief and Lilie's disappointment, Izabel went home Tuesday early evening, during the time when we often have had Dad over for roleplaying and dinner, but as it happened this week I only saw Dad for him to act as mine and Izi's transport, since he and Wayne had their Covid boosters Tuesday afternoon, so we had planned on us not seeing him until it turned out I needed transport to first pick Izabel up on Monday, and then take her home Tuesday.

~

Shortly before Izabel went home on Tuesday I went to a different ACB cooking Zoom call where they were making ginger brownies, and offered some substitution tips for those who might want to reduce the amount of sugar they use (or use a different kind of sugar) or avoid using eggs for whatever reason.

~

I also went to an online clay workshop on Tuesday, which was for the visually impaired, but not run by the ACB.  It was run by Future In Sight.  Officially it was a beginner workshop, but to me it was just an excuse to play with my clay again.  LOL!

Anyway, I made a sort of oval shaped shallow pinch pot.  And here it is:

I also made the walls for the shelter part of the pig pen.  Since some games are better with no roof put on buildings you make for scenery to use with them, while for others a roof is a good idea, and I'm not sure which kind Dad wants this for, I decided to let Dad do the roof if he wants his pig pen to have one, so here's a photo of the finished pig pen, which is essentially a round pen with the walls for a square-ish structure inside it, and a gate like you'd find on a farm in one area of the pen's wall.

*~*

Wednesday was one of those days when I needed a lot of resting time.  But I also had my keyboard lesson, and there's a fun chatty call I like to go to about an hour after the music lesson ends, so I did make sure to be up for those, as well as for the ACB Presents call.

~

The only other thing - besides essential petkid and personal care tasks - I stayed up to do on Wednesday was to take the time to use the bit of clay I hadn't used up from the open packet Tuesday to make the foundation and walls for another building I'll be giving to Dad.  Again, he can either add a roof or not, depending on what he wants to do with it.  But here it is:

*~*

Thursday I finished working on that article, and finally sent it to the person.

I also got caught up on laundry - in case you're interested in hearing about that.

~

The only other thing of note about Thursdays is that I have a knitting Zoom call I go to late evening my time on Thursdays.  This week's was needle knitting.  It's needle knitting on the first and third Thursdays of the month, and loom knitting on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.

*~*

Since I'm putting this together Thursday ready for it to publish Friday morning while I'm on the way to the hospital for my Haematologist appointment, that's you all caught up with everything that's happened between now and my last post.  I hope you enjoyed having a day by day glimpse in to my week.  Not all my weeks are as full as this one was... I had a lot going on this week, that's for sure!

Mam's Birthday + The #WinterSolstice & #Christmas 2021 + Wishing You A Happy #NewYear

It was my Mam's birthday on December 19th.  She wanted a birthday cake I could have some of, so I made her a vegan one. It's a two layer ginger cake with vanilla buttercream icing between the layers, and pink icing in various shades on the top and sides, some of which spells out the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAM" with a couple of little hearts below the writing.  Here's a photo:

*~*

I forgot to have Kelly take a photo of the fake mistletoe hanging above our living room doorway when he did our holiday decoration photos, so here's a photo of that:

Also, we got a pine reef for the door, so here's a photo of that too:

*~*

As you may or may not know, Kelly and I celebrate the Winter Solstice, so for us the holidays kick off a couple of days early.  But the rest of the family celebrates Christmas, so most years we end up doing both.  This year was one of those years.  We had our own celebration on the 21st of December, exchanged gifts with my Mam Christmas Eve, and exchanged gifts with my Dad and Wayne (one of my brothers) on Boxing Day.  In between those things I was involved in various festive calls with the ACB, including a virtual tree lighting on Christmas Eve, which was great fun.

~

Lilie was really excited when she realized Santa Paws had been, and eager to get hold of whatever treats he'd left for her.  Logan was rather confused by the whole thing, but eager to accept any treats and toys on offer.  Logan's always happy to be involved if there's something in it for him, even if he's not sure what's going on - especially if that something involves treats.

Anyway, here are our stockings and gift bags all set out on the chair and sofa ready for us to open.  There's a gift bag and stocking each for me and Kelly, and a gift bag and two stockings between the petkids (one stocking is for Lilie and Logan, one is for Mollie and Artemis, and the bag is for all of them).

 

 

 

And here's a clip we took when Lilie realized Santa Paws had been:

The dogs also got some tennis balls, and some squeaky snowballs...

As well as a toy goose each that's a cross between a cuddly toy with a squeaker in it and a rope tuggy toy, which I'm giving to them in this next photo:

Plus a honking pig toy each, which I didn't get photos of them with, and a load of treats, including the rawhide candy canes I'm giving them in the first of these next photos, which they're each enjoying in the two following it (at least, that's how it will be if these post in the order I'm uploading them).

Mollie and Artemis got some raisins and some dried rosepetals to share.  Mollie also got a willow reef to gnaw on.  I didn't end up getting photos of Mollie and Artemis though.

~

As for me...

I got a potter's wheel and some clay to use with it, bath/shower stuff, plenty of vegan friendly treats, a whole load of Burrows & Badgers figures to add to my collection, a snuggly blanket, a bird sounds CD, two pairs of Disney socks (Dumbo and Eeyore) and some money.

I also got this Discworld themed bookmark and cuddly toy of "The Luggage" (a character from the series that's basically a magical trunk with loads of legs on its underside that gets in to mischief)...

A black "Witches Brew" teapot...

A wooden ornamental Hogwarts Express...

An oil/wax melts burner with oils and wax melts to use with it.  Plus the dragon shaped incense holder in this next photo, with some incense cones and sticks to use with it.

And some cards from a few of my family and friends...

Speaking of cards: if you didn't get one from me, that's because I only ended up doing them for immediate family, because I left it too late and didn't have the time or energy to even get them made before the holidays in the end.  I'll try to do better next year.

*~*

Whatever you did to celebrate them, how were your holidays? Did you get anything nice?

 

Also, since it's New Year's Eve, I'd like to wish you a happy New Year! Stay safe while doing whatever you might be doing to ring in the new year - if you are doing anything, I mean.  See you in 2022!

My Birthday, #Covid Passes, & ACB Zoom Calls

As many of you know, my birthday was last weekend.

 

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday messages, cards, presents, or money. Each and every one was very much appreciated, and helped to make my birthday special - even those that came in late.

~

Presentwise I mostly got money and books, of course.  But my Dad and my brother, Wayne, got me some figures for a game called "Burrows & Badgers" (which I'd gotten myself a few figures for recently) where all the figures are animals.  If you're familiar with the "Redwall" books, think along those lines.  I have yet to read the rules or actually play the game, but the figures are really cool, so I'd want to collect them anyhow - even if (as might be the case regardless) they get used as ornaments more than gaming pieces.  And, speaking of animal themed gifts: my friend, Karl, sent me a cuddly giraffe and redcoated lemur (one as a birthday present, the other as an early Christmas present).  I'm getting quite the zoo with my teddy collection.  Which, by the way, is most definitely not a complaint, because I love cuddly animals.  Anyway, here are photos of those:

 

And here are the birthday cards I got from my Mam, Dad, Grandma, and friend, Rita:

~

Mam made me a vegan birthday cake from scratch.  It was a vanilla sponge with lemon butter icing.  It also has pinkish butter icing writing on it that says, "Victoria, 37 today," and a "Happy birthday" cake decoration.  Plus she put a pink ribbon around it.  Here's a photo:

Yes, it really is 100% vegan.

 

~

Between take-away and Mam making me a roast dinner, I didn't have to cook for all of my birthday weekend.  It's nice to have a break from cooking sometimes, even when it's something you like to do.

 

*~*

 

I try not to do posts complaining about things, but I have something I want to rant about a little, so I'm going to.  If you don't want to read my rant, I understand.  But it's my blog, so I'm going to say it.  Feel free to scroll down to the other topic of this post if you don't want to read my rant.

 

~

 

They've introduced Covid passes here.

 

You need a Covid pass to enter pubs, clubs, cinemas, events, etc.  To get one you need proof you've had both your vaccinations, plus valid photo ID (such as a passport or driver's lisence).

 

Needless to say, I can't get one.  Even if there's a way to get some kind of exemption for the fact I can't have that second shot for medical reasons (which, if there is, I've so far seen no way of getting it) I'd have a problem, since I don't have a valid passport, and obviously don't have a drivers lisence.  In fact, Kelly can't get one either, even though he's had both jabs, because he doesn't have any form of valid photo ID either.  Though at least in his case we could go to the hastle and expense of sorting out a new passport for him, and then he'd be good to go.

I don't like it.  Not because I want to go to these places as such - I don't go anywhere much, and would definitely be reluctant to go to potentially crowded places these days, Covid pass or no, with my rubbish immune system.  But the reason I don't like it is for the same reason a friend on Twitter was complaining about it: because they've taken away the choice.

Memorial services for those who died fighting for us to have freedom take place on the Sunday closest to November 11th here.  This year it was November 14th they took place.  These new Covid passes were required from November 15th.  So, they honour those who died to give us freedom one day, and snatch it away the following day.  As though the sacrifices made by those who fought - and those who stayed at home to keep things running as best they could while those men and boys fought - meant nothing.  As though those countless men and boys who lost their lives died for nothing.

 

A bit dramatic? Maybe.  But that's how it looks to me.

~

On top of that, people are losing their jobs if they don't have the vaccinations.  It doesn't matter if they have a reason to refuse it.  It's just, "Have the jab, or lose your job," and that's that.

I get that we need to try and get this pandemic under control, and the more people who have the jab, the better, since it will potentially lower the numbers of those who die from this over all (at least, that's the hope).  But I don't like where this is heading.  I don't like the fact the choice is being taken away.  Where's the freedom we fought so hard for?? Where's the freedom families were torn apart for?

~

Sure, as Kelly pointed out, "We have Netflix," and both of us prefer watching that, or a DVD or something, to going to the cinema anyhow.  But that's not the point, even if it's true.

It's like when we were in lockdown, only with only certain people being locked down.  Just like during the lockdowns, it's all about having that choice taken away.  I mean, staying home because you want to is one thing, and if you decided to stay in and watch something on a streaming service instead of going to the cinema, there's nothing wrong in that (regardless of what your reasons might be).  But doing it because you have no other choice is a different matter.  And I'm not saying I want to go, because I do prefer watching movies at home to going to a cinema.  Going to shops from time to time is more than enough for me, and nine times out of ten I order online or send someone else for even that anyhow (even though you don't need a Covid pass for shopping).  I'm saying I want to be able to decide for myself, and be able to go if I choose to, like we all should be able to do.

~

OK.  Rant over.

*~*

 

On a much more positive note: I've started being more active with the ACB (American Council of the Blind) Zoom calls.  Hey, at least it's something I can do sitting down, and without a Covid pass (sorry, I couldn't resist that comment).  Plus, it turns out it's a great distraction from pain, which isn't why I enjoy it, but is definitely a benifit I'm happy to accept and embrace.

 

I got involved with them through Patty inviting me to join her Free To Be Me call on Fridays back in April, and then becoming her co-facilitator for that call.  I'm not usually good at sticking with things involving me being part of a social group, because I don't like being around a lot of people as a rule.  But apparently that doesn't hold true when the people are inside my computer, since I'm loving joining in with the ACB community.  And a few days ago I was part of a podcast to talk about that, where I - along with several others - shared how involvement in the ACB calls started.  It was nice sharing, but even nicer hearing others talk about their own stories, and how much it means to them to be part of the ACB community.  It made me very glad I'd offered to facilitate for Patty when she went to train with her new guide dog, and then continued to fill in for her when she was moving right afterwards.

~

 

If anyone wants to know more about the Zoom calls, or wants to join me and Patty on Fridays to talk about books (or anything else we feel like chatting about) - whether visually impaired or not - let me know, and I'll make sure you get the information you need.

Recent Important Dates, Medical Mutterings, And Random Happenings

I missed mentioning both my bookerversary and bloggerversary this year.

 

April 22nd was the 11th anniversary of when I published my first book.  It was "Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems" - in case you don't know, but are interested.  I've published more than 50 titles since then.

 

And May 3rd was the 15th anniversary of when I published my first blog post, which was on this very blog.

~

 

Also, Ostara (the Spring Equinox) and Beltane have both come and gone, with only minimal celebration, and no acknowledgement on here.  For those who don't know, and are interested, Ostara is generally celebrated on March 20th (though the astrological event that marks the equinox may not actually fall on that exact date) and Beltane is celebrated on May 1st (or, in some cases, April 30th through May 1st).

 

I'd just damaged my hand when Ostara rolled around, and still wasn't feeling too great from the issues with the jab come Beltane, so I didn't do much for either.  However, they weren't completely ignored.

 

On the afternoon of March 20th I attended the monthly crafting Zoom I've started going to.  I couldn't do any crafting, but figured I'd go along for the company and a chat anyhow, and still managed to enjoy myself.  That evening I attended a live Facebook concert by a Pagan musician named Damh The Bard.  If you'd like to check him out, his YouTube channel can be found by clicking here.

For Beltane I attended a Zoom Beltane gathering an online friend was hosting.  Patty - the host - was a little surprised I did manage to make it, since it started at midnight here in the UK, but with my sleep pattern I'd actually woken up from a nap not too long before.  I'd said I'd go if I was up, and I was up, so I went.  And we had a great time.  OK, so it technically wasn't Beltane any more with me by the time it was happening, but never mind.  It was something I did to celebrate, I enjoyed it, and that's what matters.

I'd also attended a Zoom book club on the evening of April 30th, which is a weekly thing also hosted by Patty.  I had a great time with that too.  I've never been in an actual book club before.

 

~

 

There's also been one more important date: Kelly's 50th birthday.

His birthday was on May 2nd.

We'd hoped all restrictions would be lifted before his birthday, so he could avoid having another lockdown birthday.  Especially with it being a big one.  But with some restrictions still in place, and my poor health and dietary issues causing even more restrictions, it ended up being a quiet birthday at home again, with take-away: Chinese for me, and pizza for him.

 

My Mam arranged some chocolate cake for him for me though, and he had a few cards, as well as plenty of money, which he spent on some figure gaming stuff he wanted, including the newest codex for the army he plays for Warhammer 40,000, and a set of files to help with putting the figures together (since we can't find his existing set... We assume it's among the things not yet unpacked).

 

Anyway, here are the cards he got from my Dad and Grandma:

And here's the one I made for him:

 

 

~

 

Making Kelly's card is the only crafting I've so far done since damaging my hand, but I hope to get to do more soon, since I have an ever-growing pile of craft kits, a couple of projects of my own on the go, and a few projects of Nan's I'd like to try and finish up for her.  And that's if you only focus on kits and partial projects, without thinking about all the potential options all those craft supplies present.

 

Soon.  Very soon!

 

~

 

For now though, Kelly wanted to show you all some of the figures he's been putting together.

 

They're some of his figures for his Space Marines army for Warhammer 40,000, and here they are:

*~*~*

For anyone wondering: I'm still struggling with recovering from the effects of the Covid jab.  In fact, last Friday morning (April 30th) the doctor sent me to the hospital for tests, since it had been five weeks since I had my Covid Vaccination, and I was - and still am - still suffering badly.

 

Amazingly, though I ended up with a nasty bruise, and my arm still hurts like mad in that spot (despite it being done a week ago) the nurse taking blood from me managed to get blood first time, which was a relief, and a welcome change from the usual fight to get my veins to co-operate.

 

Anyway, according to the results (which I got yesterday) my kidney function is  on the low end of the normal scale, but not a cause for concern right now,  which is fantastic for me, since I've had kidney problems literally since my conception.  And pretty much everything else is clear/normal for me too.  So, that's excellent news.

 

The only cause for concern is a slightly low platelet count, which could be just that we caught it at the point in its cycle where it's naturally low, could be a sign of a compramized immune system, or could be something worse.  With it only being a bit low, the doctor is thinking one of the first two options, but I'm to have it checked again in five weeks (six weeks from when it was done before) so he can see what it is then to get an idea of if it's staying the same, or see if it increases or decreases, and if so which direction it goes in, and by how much.  He's not overly concerned, but does think it worth checking to be sure, and I'm inclined to agree with him.

What this essentially means is that my body has finally - despite me still feeling otherwise - decided to step up and finish fighting the effects of the shot like it's meant to, but was slow enough doing so that I'm not recovered yet, but I should, in theory, go back to my normal in a few more weeks (apart from the now worse asthma).  I sure hope so.  It's so far been six weeks since I got the jab, and I have yet to do so, but that's hardly surprising with how bad of a reaction I had.  Fingers crossed it won't be much longer, because these headaches especially are really getting to me.

Of April #Snow, Medical Mutterings, #PetKid Antics, And Home Organization Progress

We had some April snow this year.  Not a lot of it, but still.

They'd predicted some to go with the dip in temperatures during the first full week of April, but I didn't expect us to actually get any.  I mean, it's April in the UK.  But we did, on April 6th.  Like I said: not a lot of it.  It was just a light dusting, and only just qualifies as snow.  But Kelly got a video when it was snowing anyhow, and here it is for anyone who wants to see.

 

*~* 

My right hand (the hand with the finger I broke by shutting it in a car door) has healed well, and I can use it again.  I've still been trying - admittedly not always successfully - to avoid using it to carry anything with any real weight to it, or to do anything fiddly, but other than that I've been using my right hand normally for a couple of weeks now.  And, since it's now been over the six weeks, intend to start attempting to do crafts again soon - maybe even this weekend.

~

Unfortunately, I'm still dealing with some issues from my bad reaction to the Covid vaccination - even though it's now a little over five weeks on from when I had it

 

My asthma nurse had to switch me to a stronger inhaler, since it seems the jab has triggered something that's made my asthma worse.  Hence the elephant on the chest feeling I had.  The asthma nurse is calling to check it's helping in a couple of weeks time, but I personally think the new inhaler is definitely helping, since the elephant has wandered off to go sit on someone else, and I can breathe again.  Well, other than at times that are known triggers for me, which are apparently more likely to trigger a full on asthma attack these days, as I learned the hard way a few days ago.  But the inhalers are doing their job well enough that we got it under control without a hospital trip, so that's the main thing.

I'm also still getting headaches, but it's not one constant headache any more (like it was for the first couple of weeks after I had the jab) and I’m mostly able to cope with it. At least it’s some improvement. I’ve always had headaches from time to time (because of having Glaucoma, which causes pressure build-up around the optic nerve) but I haven’t suffered with them this badly since I was losing the last of my sight.

I'm still easily exhausted and still ache everywhere too, so working on much fewer spoons than I was before I had the jab. But at least there’s some improvement from a couple of weeks ago, and I can function these days, even if a lot of naps are required to make it happen.

And, before anyone asks: no.  I'm still not going to have the second jab.

~

Kelly's parents have had their first shot too.  They also had the Pfizer vaccine (which is what Kelly and I had) and went through it with as little issue as Kelly: sore arm and tiredness for the first day or so, and that's it.

 

I hope, when everyone goes for their second jabs, they all go through it that smoothly again.

 

*~* 

Mollie's missing me having the bandage on my hand.  She looks for it every time, and seems disappointed it's gone.  Silly chinchilla! The good thing is though, her wanting to check out my hand means she often climbs in my arms for a cuddle, especially when I'm checking on her in the evening and she knows the babygate is closed (which means the dogs can't get in the living room, where her cage is).

~

Lilie has decided she loves a particular carseat Mam has in her car.  It's not exactly a dog carseat, but can work as one, while allowing the dog sitting in it to be able to see out of the window.  We tried Lilie in the actual dog carseat, but she hated it, and Logan ended up in there instead.  We tried her just clipped to the seatbelt with a car clip, but she hated that too.  She kept trying to jump in this carseat though, so we decided to try her in it.  As you may be able to tell from this photo Mam got of her, she loves it:

~

Logan's become more vocal since he turned two.  On the one hand, this is good because he's more likely to actually make a noise to tell me when he wants to go out, rather than just staring at me sadly like he was doing.  On the other hand, this is bad because it means he's more likely to bark at random noises and such.  I'm using the same method we used for Lilie to attempt to stop it becoming too bad, which involves putting him in puppy jail for a couple of minutes to calm down when he gets carried away.  Hopefully he'll be as quick as she was to grasp the concept that we mean it when we say enough.

~

Artemis has grown enough that we're thinking about getting her a bigger vivarium.  She technically still fits in her little three foot one, but we're sure she'd like the extra space.  Here's a recent photo of her in her vivarium so you can get an idea of what I'm saying:

The purple ball in with her is a solid cat ball.  Yes, she plays with it.  I got it for her after hearing about someone whose tortoise played with one, and she seems to really like it.  I managed to get my Mam on a video call watching her play with it, but we've had no luck getting a video or photos I can share with you.  What she does is shoot her neck out as if grabbing for food (but with her beak closed) so she hits the ball and makes it roll, and then she chases after it, only to repeat the process.  We'll keep trying to get you a video, but she doesn't play for long at a time, and keeps stopping just as we get the camera ready.  The one time she didn't, I'd aimed the camera completely wrong, so she's not in the shot at all

*~* 

Our tumble dryer died just as we moved, so we had my Dad drying our laundry until we could get a new one, which we finally did a couple of weeks ago.  It's black and a Beko, like our washing machine.

~

My brother, Wayne, offered us a table and chairs he didn't want, which is the same style as ours, but slightly bigger and more solid.  Both tables are ones that can be extended if required, and came with four chairs, but one is easily big enough for four and gets big enough to seat eight, while the other only seats three comfortably and gets big enough to seat six.  We decided to take it, since it meant we could then take our little one - which now only has three chairs, since the back broke on one of them, so Dad turned it in to a stool for me to use with my bureau - to put upstairs for crafting and such.

 

Unfortunately, there's not really space for it in the craft room though, and we didn't want to go through the hastle of swapping the craft room and computer room over (and need the bigger room for the computers and books anyhow) so it's in the computer room.  That's only the next room anyhow.  Plus, it will then be available for Kelly to potentially use it for gaming in the future too.  He's already been making use of it to put together some of his figures, and repair a couple that got damaged during the move.

 

 

~

Speaking of the computer room and craft room: there has been a little progress with sorting stuff in those, but with how my health has been we haven't done much more in either room during this past month, let alone actually finished completely.  I expect that doesn't surprise you though.

 

There are two small-ish boxes to sort out in the craft room, and maybe about three or four medium sized ones in the computer room.  That's it., unless Dad discovers more craft stuff when sorting the rest of Nan's stuff out.  But at least if that happens everything else in the craft room will be organized enough that I'll have some idea where to put anything else as it arrives.  In theory anyhow.  Either way, I'll get you photos when we've sorted the last few boxes.  I'm scared to say when that might be though, since the last time I mentioned a potential timescale I ended up with an injury and medical issues getting in the way.  Plus, I seem to be functioning on less spoons these days, so there's that to consider too.

Anyway, once we've sorted those few boxes, we'll just need to finish sorting the bedroom and living room.  Not that there's much to do for either of those rooms... The computer room and craft room were definitely the bigger projects. Not helped by the need to change some things around after we learned I was inheriting all Nan's craft supplies.  Which I'm totally not complaining about, by the way.

#HarryPotter Boxes, Birthdays, Bloggerversaries, And #Crafting

My April Harry Potter box arrived just before the end of the month, but too late for me to include it in last week's post. So I'll tell you about it today instead. So... This month's box contained...

Some fudge...

(Which was very tasty, by the way).

Some "liquid luck" tea...

An ornamental bottle of liquid luck...

A wand, plus a card to go with it that tells us about it...

(Shame I can't remember what it says).

This picture, which is pretty much just a fancy wands list...

A necklace with pendants for Hogwarts and a lightning bolt on it...

And a Death Eaters themed t-shirt...

I gave the t-shirt to Kelly. I thought it was kind of cool, and would have worn it, because it's linked to the Harry Potter world. Also, as I said, I did think it seemed like a cool t-shirt. But I could tell he really loved it, and wanted it, so I let him. I do have five other Harry Potter themed t-shirts, after all, and he didn't have any. Plus, like I said, I could see he loved it, and really wanted it badly.

There was also one of those scratch cards in the box. We didn't win anything. We didn't last month either, as it turned out (can't remember if I mentioned that... I know I told you I was waiting to find out, but don't think I told you they told us how to figure it out). Oh well, maybe next time. If not... Well, at least I have my box contents to enjoy.

***~~~***

Last Thursday (May 2nd) was Kelly's birthday. He's sensative about his age, so I won't tell you how old he turned. I will tell you though that he's older than me by a few years, but not as old as he insists he feels.

Like me, he prefers quieter birthday celebrations, so we just stayed in and had a strawberry cheescake for his birthday cake (because there has to be cake). His favourite is actually chocolate cake, but we got him cheesecake so I'd eat some too. No. I didn't make the cheesecake. I could have, but decided to just buy one instead. Maybe next year I'll make his cake for him. We'll see.

The furkids and I got him some supplies he wanted/needed for his figure gaming, and everyone else gave him money, which was fine by him. He'll likely spend it on more supplies for the figure gaming, since he's focussing a lot of his attention on that at the moment, and considering going to a local gaming group he recently discovered exists near to us.

Anyway, on May 3rd 2019 (so, last Friday) I celebrated my 13th bloggerversary.

I posted my first blog post on May 3rd 2006. If you're interested, it was a late birthday post for Kelly. It was then followed by a lot of pet themed posts, in particular ones about my Oriental cat, Myskanco Silva Flame (more commonly known as Chance). We were actually in the process of getting ready to bring Chance home when I started my blog. My furkids remained my main topic for quite some time, with other aspects of my life creeping in more and more as time went on.

It's interesting that my pets were my main topic early on, considering the fact my pet posts are usually the most popular to this day. Makes me wonder if I should change the blog's tagline to, "Home of the Zigler furkids, and their humans," or something like that, and just let them run things around here.

***~~~***

I finished the second owl kit. So, here's Ollie the owl:

He's a bit thinner than I meant him to be, and doesn't stand up as well as he should, but never mind. He doesn't seem bothered by that fact, and his imperfections will help him fit in with the other owl and his miss-matched eyes.

Anyway, I also made this holiday reef...

The kit was supposed to be for a flowery broach, but I turned it in to more of a holiday reef broach (only partially accidentally) so I'm considering it an addition to my Christmas ornaments.

If you're wondering: no. The unicorn isn't finished. Not quite. It's mostly done, but Kelly's going to help me touch up the paintwork so it looks a bit neater, and we haven't had a chance to do that yet. Once we've done that, we just need to put the glittery paint on where I want her to sparkle a little, and she'll be finished. I'm just not sure when we'll get a chance to sort that out, since we both need to be available - Preferably with Lilie napping, so she doesn't try to "help" - for that to get done, and one or the other of us keeps being busy doing something else, or we're both available, but we have something else we want or need to be doing that we've been considering more of a priority. Hopefully we'll get the unicorn finished soon though. I'll make sure to get you some photos when we do.

#Crafting And #Baking Again, More Medical Mutterings, And Weather Reports

Kelly still does Warhammer - though he hasn't played in a while... He'll have quite the army when he does play again though - which means he still gets figures for it. He recently decided to catch up some on putting them together, and painting them, which he's gotten rather behind on. I was busy with other things while he was putting them together, but joined him while he was doing some of the painting, bringing some craft kits of my own to work on.

I didn't join him every time, but the times I did, we played with and walked Lilie first, and then settled her with one of her treat balls (she has a variety of different types, to keep things interesting for her). Then we put a DVD on (we watched some NCIS, since I still need to finish catching up with that, and it's something we both like) and settled ourselves at the table to watch it while we worked on our various projects. Mollie was sleeping at the time, while Joshua was happily playing on his wheel, and with NCIS on both of them would have been happy anyhow. So all three of the furkids were perfectly content to leave us to it. It was very pleasant and cosy.

I had a unicorn I wanted to paint. Well, actually, I kind of think it's an allacorn (I think I spelled that right) since it's got wings as well as the horn. But the kit calls it a unicorn, so I will too. Either way, I thought I'd work on that one, since Kelly was painting, and since I needed him around to help with colours and things, so it was an ideal time. So, I'm painting it as best I can, and then Kelly will go over it to tidy it up a bit for me afterwards. It's not quite finished, but I'll get Kelly to sort a photo for you when it is.

In the meantime, I've been working on a couple of other little projects while the various colours of the unicorn are drying. So I figured I'd share photos of those with you, since they're finished.

I finally finished the little owl sewing kit...

Yes, his eyes are a different colour. It's because I didn't realize the buttons for his eyes mattered which way around they were stitched, and had atatched both eyes before Kelly saw and said something... I decided to just leave it. Oh, and the purple bit is because he has a little pocket on his tummy. It's not big enough to hold much, but then he's not a very big owl, so I wouldn't expect it to be a very big pocket.

I also made this little wind chime...

I've been meaning to put together that particular kit for a very long time... I've had the wind chime kit for several years, and don't even remember where or when I got it. Actually, I forgot I had it for a while. I found it when I was sorting my craft stuff out a couple of months ago, so put it with the kits I haven't yet done from my subscription boxes (which I'd just started to get when I found the wind chime kit). While the unicorn's paint was drying seemed a good time to work on it. Plus, now I feel good for finally getting around to doing it.

Anyway, I also made this heart shaped dream catcher...

I know it's not done in the traditional way... I kind of just put it together how I felt it should be done, not caring if it wasn't quite how they're normally done, since I figured something like that should be a bit more personalized.

I started a new kit a couple of days ago too. I'm doing my other owl sewing kit. It's a different kit, so at least my owls will be a bit different. "Ollie the owl" - as the kit itself calls him - doesn't have that pocket on his tummy for a start. Either way, I'm stitching another owl, and he's maybe about a third done. Of course, I'll post his photo when I've finished him. Or, more accurately, as soon as I get to it afterwards, since it does often take us several days to get around to sorting photos, so sometimes they get posted a week or so later than they otherwise might have, as regulars on here may have noticed. Hey, we get to them... Eventually. We just don't tend to rush. Not unless we need to, because it's time sensative, or it's something I'm desperate to post about. Don't take it personally though, because we're the same way with most things.

Anyhow, as well as crafting, I've also been baking.

I made a spice cake, made with the same sort of spice combination you'd use for pumpkin pie, or pumpkin spice cake, just because I've got a lot of "pumpkin spice" mixed up, and it seemed like a good idea. Plus, I made more brownies for Kelly, because he's a big fan of my brownies. I did eat a couple myself, but I'm not a fan... Brownies are as close as I ever get to chocolate cake though. But I made myself a spinach and mushroom quiche, a mini lemon tart (done to use the scraps from the pastry from the quiche) and - since it's something I love that Kelly doesn't - this coconut cake with lime butter icing:

I made most of them over a week ago, so they're long since gone. We enjoyed them though. I made the spice cake last week, but that's gone now too, since we were enjoying that over the weekend. They were a lovely addition to our crafting and DVD watching time. At least, I think so, and Kelly sure seemed to be enjoying his brownies, and his share of the spice cake.

In other news...

My post-op appointment, which I thought was on April 9th, was actually supposed to have been on April 8th. Since I went to the hospital on the 9th, I missed my appointment, and they just discharged me. They did ask when I was at the hospital if I had any concerns that meant I needed to be seen urgently, but since I seem to be recovering just fine, and wasn't about to say otherwise just to be seen (especially since I'd have had to waste my day in A and E to get seen, and had apparently wasted part of it already as it was) the hospital couldn't - or wouldn't - really do anything. If I want to be seen by a gynecologist properly, I have to go talk to my doctor for a referral, or have a big enough issue that I end up going in to A and E. Since they would have just been poking at my scar and asking if I felt OK, and then would have discharged me anyhow, and it will take several months for me to get to see a gynecologist if I ask my doctor to refer me again, I'm not going to bother. No point going through all that fuss just for someone to poke at my scar in six months or so (possibly even close to a year) and then tell me to go home. If something comes up, I can always call the doctor when it does. That or go to A and E, depending on how bad the issue is. It will get resolved quicker that way anyhow. In theory I shouldn't need to do either though. I'm no longer in pain, and the scar has knitted itself together nicely by the look of it. I'm even getting in and out of the bath by myself easily, playing with Lilie properly, and was fine with the stairs. So, while I officially shouldn't have been fully discharged without a physical examination, I'm not going to fight them on it. I don't see the point. Like I said, if something crops up, I'll get myself seen. Otherwise... *shrugs*

Oh, and... Yes. I took the bins of needles with me when I went to the hospital, like I planned to. No. I didn't bring them home. I almost ended up doing so, but the woman from the help desk helped me out. Well, women, plural, actually. They were great! They contacted various departments in the hospital, and eventually managed to get SAU to agree they should take them as part of their duty of care to me, since it was them spacifically who had discharged me with the shots (a fact they couldn't dispute, since one of the bins actually had a label on it identifying it as being property of that particular ward). Apparently, had they had purple lids instead of yellow ones, I wouldn't have had to go through all that fuss. I did offer to paint the lids purple, but it seems that wouldn't help. No pleasing some people! Either way, despite them having yellow lids, the little plastic bins of needles are finally gone! YAY!

Still on the medical front: I do have one issue, but it's not something the hospital would have dealt with usually anyhow. They cracked one of my teeth during surgery. I didn't think it was bad, and didn't notice it at first... Too distracted with the pain in my stomach, and the allergies to the pain meds, I suppose. Either way, when I did realize, I figured I'd get the post-op stuff out of the way - thus giving myself time to heal enough to sit up for as long as needed for it to be dealt with - and then see about calling the dentist. I'm past due a check-up anyhow, since being in and out of hospital so much in the past year has made going in for check-ups difficult to say the least. I guess the tooth was worse than I thought though, because it broke the other day. Needless to say, that was enough to prompt me to hurry up with that call to the dentist. I've got an appointment for April 24th at 12:45pm.

Luckily, my cold never came to much, and seems to have gone already.

Anyway, the weather's been all over the place. One day warm and sunny, so we have the windows open. The next cold and stormy, so the windows end up closed, and we're reaching for extra blankets. We've had temperatures ranging from about 2 degrees C to around 16 degrees C, and an interesting mixture of conditions, including rain, sun, and hail. A couple of days we even had fog and haze. At one point they promised snow too, though I wasn't surprised when that never showed up. It is April, after all, and we almost never get snow this time of year (if we're going to get it, it generally comes between the start of November and the end of March). I'm not saying it would be impossible for us to get snow between April and October. Just unusual enough that I never bothered getting my hopes up. Of course, Lilie and I would have enjoyed it if it had snowed though. Since it didn't, we enjoyed some puddles from the rain instead. Lilie loves puddles. She's quite the water dog at times. As for me... Well, I'm just a big kid, so of course I love splashing in puddles! *wink*