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Engagement Just to let you all know that my partner and me decided a while back to get married and have now got engaged... Also, that we'll be away for a few days as of tomorrow so don't expect any updates to the blog until at least next Monday. In the meantime, here's a quick peek at that all important ring:  Not a great photo, I admit, but the best we could do... and at least it gives all you curious folks an idea of what it's like ;) Posted 4.40pm BST
Tuesday 29th March Update My partner went back to the doctor this morning and was pleased that his blood pressure is slowly getting lower. Still far too high though, so the doctor gave him yet more medication and signed him off work for another 2 weeks. At least he's feeling brighter in himself, and hopes that at the end of this fortnight he'll be able to return to work. Last night we had an excellent meal at a local restaurant, Rossi's. For some reason we've never been there before, probably because it has a reputation of being expensive. It was a bit, but hey, it was our anniversary and a very special evening - watch this space :> Posted 11am BST Monday 28th March Our Anniversary Today is the 13th anniversary of when we became a couple. We got together over a weekend union seminar just outside of Newcastle and by the Saturday evening we were spending a lot of time with each other, and had an hour or so on the dance floor after dinner. Ah, romantic memories :> So far we've celebrated by exchanging small gifts and cards, and intend to go out for a meal tonight - provided that we can find a restaurant that's open. As experienced last Monday, some of our favourite eating places are, unfortunately, closed on Mondays, even though the web sites of at least 2 of them proclaim that they should be open. This time we'll phone up to make sure before we go out... My partner gave me a box of Celtic rubber stamps - a delightful gift that I'm longing to try out! I still haven't made any ATC's since his collapse on the 11th, not because of my normal routine being completely disrupted (although that is part of the reason) but mainly because creativity appears to have deserted me since the event. Worry, I suspect, being the underlying cause of my inability to write or to indulge in artistic endeavours. Although much better than he was, he's still having sessions when he is obviously not well - headaches, tiredness, and of 'not feeling right' or 'feeling a bit crappy' (his words) - so I think there's a way to go yet before his health returns to a more stable and normal level. Over the last few days we haven't done much. Watched "King Arthur" on our Pay-per-view movies yesterday; had a few walks in the local park and surrounding areas; plus a couple of visits into town for food and otther essentials. But it has been nice to be together. Over the last few months our shared time had grown less infrequent as demands of his work had badly interfered with our social life. So we're making the most of the time we have now. And both of us are hoping that, in the future, we'll be able to spend much, much more time together... Posted 11.55am BST
Thursday 24th March Winter Gardens Photos
Thursday 24th March Parcel I have new additions to my teddy family! Yesterday I finally received the parcel sent to me by my son and his family - posted first class on Saturday, it should have arrived for my birthday on Monday. But it was late yesterday morning before the big box reached me. Inside there were some lovely smellies, a shawl, a mug and tiny teddy from my son and his fiancée plus a very big cuddly teddy with a red heart nose and red top from my grandchildren. She's been named Cuddles and has taken up residence in the living room where she fulfilled her duties last night by sitting on my lap whilst we watched tv. And yes, I probably am mad, but that's what makes life worth living ;) With all the other goodies that I got from my daughter & her husband, my sister & brother-in-law, mother and partner, I did very well this year. I have vouchers to spend, a book on collage to read and new games to play as well as the art software that I mentioned yesterday. So plenty to keep me busy. As for my partner, he went for another blood pressure check yesterday. Unfortunately it's still high, although lower than it was last week, so it looks as if the medication is beginning to kick in. He returns to the doctor on Tuesday for his next test and to find out if he'll be allowed to return to work or not. Posted 8.10am GMT
Thursday 24th March New version of Moon Phase calendar The Moon Phase calendar has been updated - not many visible changes although it now has a red and yellow border instead of the boring white one. For those of you interested in the moon and various other calculations (like getting your age in dog years!) see CalculatorCat. Posted 7.50am GMT
Wednesday 23rd March Pictures As promised a couple of images created with my new art package...
Posted 8pm GMT Wednesday 23rd March Birthdays et al Time seems to have passed very quickly, just one reason why I haven't been updating my blog so often. The other is that, with my partner at home, my normal routine (I had one?) has been completely interrupted! It's great, though, to be able to spend time with each other, something that has been missing over the last few months as his work has encroached more and more upon our lives. We both had good birthdays and were well enough to go out for meals both days (Sunday and Monday). After the meal on Sunday we went to the Boardwalk, a music venue in the city, where my partner's long-standing friend was launching his book, "Beats working for a living: Sheffield Popular Music 1973 - 1984". My partner was in one of the Sheffield groups at the time. First called Graph and then the Musical Janeens, they got as far as having a record album released and doing a short tour in Holland. There are some great photos of my partner in the book: very young, cute and much slimmer than he is now! Eventually the band broke up and one of them joined the Human League. We enjoyed seeing some of his friends from the time - some of whom he doesn't see very often these days, others we still see fairly regularly. So a good evening and I was pleased that he managed to go. And remain teetotal, despite offers of (free) beer. For my birthday on Monday we went into town for lunch at the Millennium Galleries cafe (a favourite of mine) then to a local art exhibition in the Winter Gardens before coming home, having a rest and then going out for another meal. So all in all, a very pleasant two days. Yesterday I eventually managed to play with my new 'toy' - Paint Shop Pro 9. It's far more complex than the very old version that I've been using for years and will take me months to get to grips with all of it, but I can see that I'll have fun in the process. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures in the next day or two. For now though, my hands are playing up so I'll finish for this morning... Posted 9.15am GMT
Friday 18th March Ooh!!!! Received some great goodies in the post today. ATC's for the Celtic swap; a postcard; and a lovely letter plus cards from someone who comes from Sheffield but moved away a few years back. The latter two people contacted me after seeing my details on Postcardx so they were both a lovely and unexpected surprise. My thanks to you both, and I've added a blogging link for one of them - Woolgathering. As for my partner, he's been back to the doc this morning and had another clear test result which is good news. He seems a bit brighter but is still obviously not right and is having to take it easy as he keeps feeling run down and tired. His blood pressure is also still high and so the doctor gave him another lot of tablets this morning - he'll be rattling soon with all the medication! Hopefully this lot will work. I managed to get into town by myself this afternoon, and bought the rest of his presents and a card. Now I'll have to find a suitable time tomorrow to write and wrap things, probably means I'll have to shoo him out of a room for half-hour or so :) This evening we plan to again relax and watch tv. Not that there's much of interest to watch... but perhaps I'll get my crayons out and do an ATC to stop the boredom from setting in... Posted 6.40pm GMT
Thursday 17th March Relaxing... Over the last two or three days we haven't done much. We had a scare on Tuesday when my partner had another 'turn'. Nowhere near as bad as that on Friday but enough to send us back to the doctor. It appears now that they believe something other than the hypertension could be contributing to the problems that my partner is experiencing so he has to go back to the doctor tomorrow. At least he hasn't had a recurrence since. His mate called around the other evening and stayed for dinner, good to see him as it's been a while since he's visited us (he has a new girlfriend who is keeping him busy!). We've watched Star Wars 5 and 6 on dvd, have chatted a lot, played Majhong and other games and generally just enjoyed each other's company. Today we plan to go into town as we need some food plus some cards and presents - Sunday is my partner's birthday, whilst mine is on Monday :> I haven't done any art or writing since 'the event'. The creative streak seems to have deserted me completely at the moment, but I'm hoping that it will re-appear soon. Hardly surprising, I suppose. I'm fairly pleased, though, that my FM hasn't been too bad, considering. Just some extra pains in my back and legs as well as feeling more tired than normal. Could be worse. So all in all, we're doing ok. Posted 10.40am GMT
Monday 14th March Partner My partner collapsed on Friday evening whilst watching tv. To cut a long story short, he was taken to hospital where he spent most of the weekend undergoing tests of various kinds, eventually coming home yesterday afternoon. We've known for a while that he has high blood pressure and whilst one theory is, is that he had a mini-stroke, this hasn't been confirmed. But stress at work coupled with the hypertension is definitely considered to be the cause. He's been signed off work for 2 weeks at least, has been put on medication and is under orders from his doctor to take things easy, get his high blood pressure down and sort out his life - including having a serious discussion with his boss to change the work situation. The latter won't be easy. But it's obvious that he's going to have to do a major life change. He's had his warning, and luckily he's taken it seriously. One of the other things he has to do is to cut down on alcohol. Although definitely not an alcoholic, he has been drinking too much and he'd already started to cut down. He used to have a couple of cans of lager, occasionally 3, every night to help relieve the stress. No more. His doctor has ordered him not to have any alcohol for the rest of this week, which will possibly upset the guy in the corner shop as he'd grown used to my partner going in there each evening:> But of course the soft drinks that he'll probably buy instead should help offset the lowering of sales!!! Having said that, we get on very well with the family who run the shop and I have no doubt that they'll be extremely understanding - they're a great family, and have been very supportive and friendly to both of us during the 12 years or so that I've lived here. So things are going to be a bit different around here. After the shock of the events at the weekend and a few bad FM moments, I'm feeling much brighter this morning, and looking forward to relaxing with my partner over the next 2 or 3 weeks at least. It may well mean that my posts to my blog are fewer, but my priority is obviously to help and support my partner. My sister and her husband also have problems, as my brother-in-law's father ws rushed to hospital in the early hours of Sunday. He should be in a home but has so far refused to budge from his flat. But now he's virtually unable to walk and can't look after himself so something has to be done, whether he likes it or not. A very difficult situation. With our mother still finding her feet after our dad's death in January, this year has, so far, been one of the worst I've ever known. But hey, it can only get better :) And at least I can spend some valuable time with my partner and hope that life in general improves... Posted 12.15pm GMT
Friday 11th March Digital fun! This morning I had an idea to use Terragen (a scenery generator) to help me make a few ATC's. After playing around for a while I've managed to produce 8 new ATC's - all in one day!!! With the help of Paint Shop Pro, some pens and a bit of collage, I've been really pleased with the results. If you want to check them out, see my new Digital ATC's page. Apart from that, I haven't done much today. My partner returned yesterday evening from his course, and it was great to have him home. This morning, sadly, he had to return to work as normal with one slight delay - a blood pressure check. He changed doctor's a couple of weeks ago and when he went for the normal new patients medical it transpired that his blood pressure levels are high. In a way, it's not a surprise as both his parents have high blood pressure. Anyway, he has to return for a test for the next 4 weeks to establish if the result was a blip. Unfortunately this morning's result was the same as the one last week, so it looks as if he may have to be given medication. But at least they've discovered that he has a problem and it is treatable... just another sign, as I told him, of getting older!!! Posted 6.10pm GMT
Thursday 10th March Updated pages Realising that my ATC collection has grown since I made my Art page, I have now updated it so that there are separate pages for different groups of ATC's - partly because they look better that way, but mostly because I realise that images can take ages to download. So if you'd like to take a look, pop over to my Arty Stuff. My latest ATC's are there, as well as the ones that I made for the Celtic swap. Posted 9am GMT
Wednesday 9th MarchRAOK'd I was RAOK'd this morning! For those of you who don't know what that means, it stands for Random Act Of Kindness and, for my purposes, it is when someone sends you ATC's and/or other items totally out of the blue. On a very grey day like today, it's brought a big smile to my face and is very much appreciated... Also in the post was a letter from my MP and a reply that she received from a Minister about the proposed legislation for the change in benefit payments (see my post on 1st February). It was an interesting letter, as was the reply. Both of them have helped ease my concerns although I am still not happy about the whole issue. But at least I feel that someone has taken note of the issues that I raised and made an effort to help. Posted 12.15pm GMT
Tuesday 8th March Good news... My son just phoned to say that he's finally got a new permanent job as a pub manager down in Portsmouth. After a couple of weeks initial training, he and his family will be moving down there at the beginning of April. I'm delighted for him - it's been a hard struggle for him since he was made redundant about 3 years back, and he's been doing various jobs whilst hoping and waiting for this opportunity to move back into the pub business - a job he loves. So guess we'll be going to Portsmouth later this year... :> Posted 4.15pm GMT
Some photos Ah well, it was not to be. The visit to the art gallery, that is. Didn't get to have a coffee either as my back and legs made it very clear to me by the time I got to the bus stop that they had no intention of going far! So, I did what I needed to in town and then came home. However, I did manage to take a few photos of new buildings going up in the city centre - plus a plan that shows what they're doing!!!
Posted 4.05pm GMT
Tuesday 8th MarchInternational Women's Day First, just to wish all women a happy Woman's Day!!! To find out more, click here. After the last week or so, I feel almost brimming with life!!! I know that I have to be careful, though, as it is very easy to overdo things, so I haven't done that much since last updating. Have done some writing though (not finished yet, a piece inspired by an exercise from Writerspark) and last night I sat and made not just one but two new ATC's. I haven't scaned them in yet, though, so you'll have to wait before you can see them ;) My partner is away on a course in Bracknell - poor lad. He has far too much work to do in the office so could do without the break but his managers think such courses are necessary and over-ride on-going projects. At least this one will be useful to him. Just that he could have done without going at the moment... Me, I miss him, of course, but I'm quite content as it gives me the opportunity to do things I wouldn't normally do (like art in the evenings) and I get to have a lie-in as there is no nasty alarm clock to wake me. Today, I plan to go into town, buy a card for my son (it's his birthday on Saturday) and generally browse. Might even visit one of the local art galleries - it's ages since I went so about time I went to check on the new exhibits. I will probably also treat myself to a coffee or even lunch (well, a sandwich!) whilst there. Posted 10.25am GMT
Saturday 5th MarchMarket I made it into town and enjoyed a stroll around the Continental market. We bought some Dutch cheese and fruit cake, and my partner treated himself to some Belgian beer. I didn't take my camera as the weather was so poor, but just being out again was great - I've hardly been outside during the past week and the one time I did go into town for food I was so dizzy that I didn't stay longer than necessary. But the vertigo has now virtually gone so I was able to browse happily. We stopped for coffee and cake as I needed to rest, and I bought myself a Teddy Bear book from a discount book shop that had just opened. So all in all a good couple of hours outing. I'm hoping to write again soon, now that the fibro fog has cleared somewhat - it's a very strange phenomenon, the way these periods of inability to concentrate or think straight roll over me and prevent me from doing virtually anything for days, or sometimes weeks, before then dissipating almost as suddenly. A bit like being forced into hibernation!!! I sometimes wonder if it's something within us that people like me have inherited from our ancestors - an innate desire or need to go slow during the winter months, to wind down like squirrels who semi-hibernate and only come out on bright sunny days... Posted 6.20pm GMT
Saturday 5th March Brighter Eventually feel brighter after a really bad FM week. It's very difficult to describe how I have felt to others and I don't want to bore any readers; albeit to say that the vertigo, pain and brain fog combined, making it hard for me to think, let alone do anything.  Still,
the 'fog' has now lifted and I hope to go out later as there's a
Continental market in town over the weekend. If I can I'll take a
couple of photos but the weather isn't exactly wonderful - we're
experiencing heavy showers of rain and sleet in between very short
spells of cloud. An even rarer sight is the odd speck of blue sky!One thing I have been able to do on occasion is play around with ATC's (artist trading cards). I've decided that one of the problems I've been having with the collage in particular, is making the pictures 'too busy'. In other words I've included too much. Within the limited format of 2.5" by 3.5" it doesn't work. What I'm learning is that simple, bold designs look much better. With that in mind, I produced "The Cauldron of the Otherworld". I'm quite pleased with the result, and reckon it works well although I've had to brighten the scanned image slightly as it looked too dark on the screen. Apart from that, no news. So here's wishing you all a very good weekend... Posted 2.10pm GMT
Wednesday 2nd March Flare-up I've decided that I'm currently in a flare up of my FM. Happens occasionally. 
Frustrating as I have to manage and pace my activities more than normal
and it's the reason why I'm not updating as often as I usually do.Still, I did go into town yesterday (a necessity) and whilst out saw some metallic crayons. As several other people seem to use crayons for their ATC's (artist trading cards) I decided to treat myself. Yesterday evening I tried them out and am pleased with the results. The advantage of using crayons, for me, is that I can sit in my reclining chair with the artwork resting on bent knees rather than having to sit up at a table as I do when painting. No problem usually, but when I keep getting giddy spells, I try to avoid lowering my head as much as possible (the vertigo is caused by tight neck muscles pressing on the nerves, according to my GP). So I suspect that I'll use crayons more often from now on. Plus I found the process quite relaxing. And the metallic sheen is very effective - although, sadly, not so clear on a scanned image. Anyway, the result is on the right - the Stone of Fal, the second for my Celtic swap... only 4 more to go!!! Posted 11.40am GMT |
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