Wednesday, December 30, 2015

November / December makes

I didn't make much in November and made mainly Christmas cards in December some of which were very basic recycling of cards. Here are some of the things I remembered to photograph

Stitched with pattern from Stitching cards, backing paper from Yellow Moon

Stitched with pattern from Stitching cards, backing paper from Yellow Moon

Stitched with pattern from Stitching cards, backing paper from Yellow Moon

Iris card from Craftee, papers from Yellow Moon

Cut out recycled from an old card, backing paper Yellow Moon

Picture made out of craft cards that have been sent to me over years

Cat block finally started at November class, needs finishing and framing

Tray covered with scrapbook papers from K&Company to match light switch below that I did some time ago.


Iris card from Dee Craft, paper printed with baking paper maker from Craftville




Made with metal wire snowflake from Bead shop Leeds at  Rivers Meet and assorted beads.

Stitched with pattern from Stitching cards, backing paper from Yellow Moon

Emily has made a few things too, with a bit of help

Stocking made at sewing class at Rivers Meet

Felt star

Made with metal wire snowflake from Bead shop Leeds at  Rivers Meet and assorted beads.



Gingerbread house, kit from Ikea


Saw an idea for little houses at Red Ted art and here is our version!

I got one craft item for Christmas, Tattered Lace Owl tree, can't wait to try it.












Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Merry Christmas everyone

Well only a few days to go before the big day, we seem to have been in the run up for months.  I am not sure how I am keeping going as there seems to be one problem after another on top of Christmas preparations and school holidays and normal routine.  I am not sleeping despite being exhausted as my body is flooded with adrenaline and cannot relax.

So many people seem to be struggling and finding it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit, whilst the kids are hyper and singing Christmas songs dawn till dusk!

The weather is weird, not very festive at all, but some newspapers are still saying we will have a white Christmas!

It is difficult to know what to do at this time of year it is so exhausting and the demands are huge and there is so much conflict about what to do, what you can manage, what you should miss out on and then there are always unexpected things that crop up, in my case; toothache, a very sick cat, things falling down or falling apart, Emily wanting to do cooking, crafting etc.

I never know what I should try to do and what is not worth the effort and probably spend far too much energy on this debate.  I don't want to miss out on seeing people and seeing Emily enjoy Christmas, but I know I will feel awful.  The alternative is to be stuck on my own still feeling awful and wondering what I am missing.  To be honest most people won't really notice if you are there or not as long as you don't miss a major event like Christmas dinner.  I usually end up doing a mixture of being there and not being there and still always do too much.  Other people carry on with whatever they are doing with or without you.

The lists symptoms starts to feel a bit like 12 days of Christmas;

On the first day of Christmas my ME gave to me Chronic Exhaustion,

On the second day of Christmas my ME gave to me, aches and pains and chronic exhaustion

On the third day of Christmas my ME gave to me brainfog, aches and pains and chronic exhaustion

On the fourth day of Christmas my ME gave to me dizziness, brainfog, aches and pains and chronic exhaustion

and so on until you get to the 12th day where you feel like you got trampled by 12 reindeer and never want to see Christmas ever again!

Also at this time of year I start thinking about what I want to achieve next year and how it will be better than this year, more pressure, more things to do and in the end I am disappointed as I never fulfil what I wanted to, I miss out on things, I push myself way beyond my limits, I send all the time feeling awful and another year passes and not much changes except we are all another year older, I'd like to say wiser, but don't think that is the case.

Well I had better finish now and wish everyone a Merry Christmas whatever you choose to do and hope that 2016 is a better year for everyone and remember


Hang in there!

Saturday, December 12, 2015

A Year in Pictures

I don't have the time or energy to write a long year summary, but it is good to review the year and realise I did actually do something and there is often good reason for my fatigue and pain, so here it is 2015 in pictures.

Emily's 8th Birthday




Disney on Ice



Loft Conversion

From this...








To this!





Crazy cat still going strong at 16








2015 makes







Holiday adventures












And we said goodbye to Hammy


ME Awareness Photo Shoot









Getting ready for Christmas



 









And finally, Santa came to visit...