Author: Humbug

Happy new year and all that crap.

Have you ever wondered if when you message someone and they see their phone if they go “oh god, not him again” or something along those lines. I know it’s not good to worry about what other people think but hey, it’s me, if I could be like that do you really think I would be airing my thoughts to the world?

It’s one of those paradox things, I think that’s what they’re called but not sure. You know where you start worrying about what people think. Then worry that the people reading this think you’re worrying about what they think when it’s not them but someone else. Then it just goes round and round and round.

I’m not making New Years resolutions because I don’t want to get hyped up then get pissed off with myself in 3 days when they’ve been broken. I’m not setting myself up to fail.

So there has been Christmas and New Years since I posted last. Well Christmas dinner was slightly better this time than the one before. At least no one ended up in hospital. The main problem was that this time dad was ill and had to go to bed. It wasn’t covid thank god. It was stomach problems. Mason wasn’t too well either. He had a bad cold so part way through cooking dinner dad had to stop and go to bed. That left me trying to finish cooking the meal he started. It was only the mains bit but it wasn’t a simple roast. Dad decided because last year it didn’t happen that this year was going to be a bit special.

So the menu was a roast Turkey crown, Beef Wellington, Christmas carrots, Roast potatoes and boulangère potatoes. There was supposed to be sprouts but I didn’t do them because I couldn’t find them. I managed to pull it all together, god knows how and then I started worrying like I used to hoping people thought it was ok and didn’t make them ill.

I’ve never made anyone ill or had any complaints about my cooking but it doesn’t stop me stressing about it. Only difference is that now my brain works differently the stresses that were always there are just a lot louder and more pronounced now.

But mum ate some of the food and it was the most she’s eaten in a while and it was the most normal food (not sweets) she’s had for a meal in a long time.

On Christmas Day I got some presents. The main thing I got was Haribo. Mum and dad got me a massive box filled with Haribo. I’m slowly working my way through the box but there was so much in it, it isn’t just a one sitting thing. I also thought that I was given a box of biscuits but when I picked it up a day or so later the box fell apart in my hand. It opened and out fell more packets of Haribo. Not what I was expecting but it gave me a chuckle and added to my Haribo stash?

The other thing I got was a pack of pencil crayons. But these aren’t just any pencil crayons, no they aren’t from Marks and Spencer’s the crayons are Caran d’Ache Luminance Colored Pencils. They are amazing. My polychromos are amazing but these are even better. I’ve only used them a couple of times but wow, they’re brilliant.

Last time I talked about the Sanntangle advent calendar. I got it all finished

I wanted to add a frame but didn’t want to take anything away from the work I’m the centre. So, I went for a basic simple frame. I think it look good and it does

There have been 2 tangle session since the last post so here they are:

It was Katie’s birthday on Christmas Eve so I made her a card from me and one dmfein mum and day

Last time also

Here is the card from me

Then inside;

I thought it was funny.

I also introduced you to Dorris last time too. For the past couple of days I’ve been sewing. I’ve done a stitch library of the first 100 stitches

.I’ve also done a bit more sewing. I’ve made 2 lined drawstring pouches

I’ve also made some pin cushions.

I think I’ve got the bug so just keep looking for things to sew. I know I need to do a new mask but because I don’t have the printed pattern parts I’m a bit reluctant. The printer is still out of action on top of the cupboards and I can’t be bothered sorting it out so the mask will have to wait. The pouches and pincushions didn’t really need a pattern that was just cut out a certain amount of fabric. So now I have to set up some fabric ready to do the next 150 stitches.

Tomorrow I’m going to a full day Sanntangle workshop in Scunthorpe. As per mum is taking me and she will be joining in too. It’s going to be a long day. As we aren’t staying over or anything we are going to set off tomorrow morning do the workshop and come home afterwards. I’m excited, it’s going to be a good day.

Hopefully tonight I’ll sleep well unlink last night. I was up most of the night. No idea why. I was tired when I went to bed. Read for a little bit to the point where my eyes were shutting then slept for a little while. Woke up at 1 ishthinking it was later. Managed to fall asleep again then woke up at half 3. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep so just sat reading until about 7. Then fell asleep again until 9 then it was time to get up.

So happy new year, good luck with your resolution if you have some and may your days be filled with love and light.

See you soon and stay safe.

Love and light.

On Thursday night I got a new name. The name came from spirit and was given to Minister Janet Cookson. For a while now I have been a spiritualist and since becoming a member of the SNU I have have wanted to have a naming ceremony. And on Thursday day night it finally happened.

The name I was given was David and it is very fitting for everything that has happened over the past couple of years. When Janet gave me the name she also explained why she was guided to give me this name.

She said:

“I am inspired to give you the spirit name of David.

It’ said that David had many challenges in his life and one of his greatest was when he fought Goliath and won.

As you consider the consciousness of the name David you are reminded of the strength and tenacity which David had. He was a natural leader, his life had been difficult but he never lost his faith in himself and in God.

Connecting with the energy of David helps yow to be independent, resourceful, practical and patient.

You can be stubborn and fussy at times but always learning from your experiences.

As you are developing your spiritual awareness you will find that you will attract those who need your help, be it with a practical issue or a spiritual need.

Trust in yourself and allow the spiritual energies to guide and sustain you as you journey on in this life”.

Minister Janette Cookson
16th December 2021

She present me with that on a little scroll and with some flowers and went on to explain why she was guided to give me the flowers she did.

I can’t remember what she said about the flowers but when I got home I put them in some fresh water in an old jam jar. That seemed better to me than to put them in a vase. Here is a picture of the little scroll

Before the service I kept wondering what my spirit name would be. Would it be an angelic name or maybe the name of a crystal or something completely different. When I was given the name David it was not something that even crossed my mind but the moment she said it, it just felt right.

I trust in spirit anyway, so I knew that what ever name they gave me, would be the right one.

A couple of other things have happened this past week and there are a few new friends I have to introduce you to.

This is Chompsky, Gnome Chompsky. He snook into a parcel that Sandra sent me. He was a bit of a streaker when he arrived as he lost all his clothes during the journey. So my fist job was to get him dressed. You can sort of tell from the picture that he likes a touch of glitter. I say a touch but its more like a bucket full.

This week Chompsky has been keeping an eye on me while I’ve been doing my tangling.

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I’ve also be joining in with the Sanntangle advent calendar. Following along with a mini tile a day.

That’s it so far. Only 3 days to go then all the tiles are drawn then I need to stick them all down properly and get on with the shading. When that’s done, as long as I remember, I’ll add a picture.

The other person I need to introduce is called Dorris. Dorris is my brand spanking new sewing machine.

Isn’t she pretty. I’ve no idea where the name Dorris came from but it just jumped out at me when I was thinking about a name for her. I’ve been having a play with some of her different stitches and some of her different feet. There are all sorts of things she can do. now I just need to figure out what they are, how to do them and what the are used for. With that, only time will tell. But I am determined to learn different things about sewing.

Dorris is a bit of a Christmas present to myself. I have been saying I want a sewing machine now for a while. That’s after using Katie’s old one to make some masks but with Dorris they will be a million times better and a million times easier to to make. I just have to get on with making some now. Dorris has only been here for a couple of days so I haven’t had much time to use her and the only thing I’ve made so far is a drawstring bag to keep her cables and books and stuff in.

For the past few days I’ve spotted another visitor scurrying along the fence in the back garden.

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Anyway as the days will start getting longer again now and it’s nearly Christmas I’ll leave you to it. I wish you and your loved ones all the very best for the festive season and an amazing new year filled with love, light and laughter.

All the best,

Love and light

Humbug (David)

I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s when someone uses the same word of or phrase when in conversation. do you know what I mean? Does that make sense?

I have absolutely no idea what it’s called but it’s something that has been rolling round in my head for a few days. When you listen to people talk there always seems to be a word of phrase that someone says all the time mostly without thinking, most people aren’t even aware they are doing it unless it’s pointed out to them.most people have one/ do it.

One of mine is does that make sense? I started using this phrase a long time ago in the mists of time when I used to work for a well known mobile company. It was when I used to work closely with teams out in India. When I was trying to explain something to them like a complex process, I normally had to ask if the people I was speaking to understood what I was talking about. So it came out as, does that make sense?

The problem is that now, I use it all the time when I’m explaining anything to anyone. Over the past few days I’ve been listening to all sorts of conversations and notice a couple of them.

You know what I’m saying? So next time when you having a conversation with someone just think about what you’re saying and the words you’re using.

The other week I had an appointment with a physio therapist to start working on the dizziness and wobbliness. The appointment was interesting. I didn’t know what to expect sand wasn’t sure how physio could help. So at the appointment we went through the usual stuff like medication and she watched me walk /hobble around she suggested a few things and said that I wasn’t walking properly. I was walking on the inside edge of my feet rather than the outside and the that when I was sat down I was leaning to one side so I wasn’t spreading my weight evenly. Because I’d f that it can affect my balance and cause back pain.it was a useful session and as expected I was given some exercises to do at home. They are mainly to strengthen my core muscles. So of course as you’d expect I’m doing the exercises regularly and properly. 😂

This last two weeks I’ve been working on a Christmas card for mum and dad. I eventually finished it and gave it to them yesterday.

I coloured the dragon and sleigh my self using some of the things I learnt from Sandra doing the other dragon a few weeks ago. I think it looks cool but I added a few extra bits, so I added a bit of glitter glaze to the snow on the ground and the falling snow I used a glitter pen on the sliver snowflake on the sleigh. I decided to add a bit of glittery sparkly stuff because it was a Christmas.

I’ve made a couple of other cards too:

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The card with the flowery balloon came from the fist issue of my tattered lace subscription. I saw the unusual card shape and thought I had to give it a go so I did and above you can see my results. Over the past two weeks I’ve also made a few Christmas cards. Well it wasn’t really a few it was closer to 40. Most of them have since gone out to the people they are for and as per usual I didn’t take any pictures.

On to the tangles I’ve done:

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I also got the last tile swap

It’s a lovely tile and card from Catherine Gordon. Again I didn’t get a picture of mine so I’m not entirely sure where it’s gone but where ever it is I’m sure the person that received it was happy with it.

Anyway I’m stupidly tired I’m going to go and get ready for bed.

Good night and love and light

Happy 5th birthday Dexter. I know me, your mum and dad and the rest of the family miss you loads. Today is your 5th birthday. You should be running round like a headless chicken hyper on sugar and E numbers.

You might not be here physically but I know you’re always with us. I know you’re celebrating in your own way. I also know that you’re winding your great grandparents up something chronic and playing tricks on them and running rings round them. With that I’d say be careful because you don’t want to get told of on your birthday.

We love you and miss you……..have fun at your party.

Just as a bit of background Dexter is my nephew that didn’t wake up.

I made him a birthday card

I added an insert with some lovely words that mum found:

You might have noticed that there is a new picture on the home page,

This is something I did using some of the new Sanntangle stencils. It took me a few days but I hope you like it.

I’ve spent some time over the past couple of weeks thinking about different things. One thing that has popped into my head more often is “why does a damp cloth soak up water and spills better than a dry one”?

I know there will be some scientific explanation behind it and I’ve even considered googling it, but I couldn’t be bothered and decided I didn’t want to spoil the mystery.

So while you’re pondering that take a look at the tiles I’ve done over the past few weeks:

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I’m not a fan of the stripy one. I don’t think I did a very good job but I’m impressed with myself for the one with the gem.

I already showed you the card I made for Dexter but I’ve made a few others. Still birthday card but this time they’re for Harvey. One card from me, one from mum and another from auntie Jean. I haven’t claimed one yet, but jit’s said to that she can fight it out with Jean for which card she wants and I’ll just have what’s left,

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The one with the chest is a shaker card but I can’t really show that in a picture so you’ll have to take my word for it,

Anyway I think I have to go and make some more Christmas cards now. Pounder other things and read more about Charlie Wade.

Love and light.

So the last 2 weeks have been interesting. The main thing that has been happening is that my medication is changing. I’ve gone from Gabapentin to pregabalin.

I’m in the early stages of pregabalin at the moment at the moment. The dosage is gradually being increased. Since I started taking it I started getting a strange feeling.

The feeling was really hard to describe. It was like my head started to get a little less foggy and it didn’t take as long to understand things.

It took a bit of time but I eventually realised that the weird thing I was feeling was me feeling normal. It’s been that long since I felt normal I forgot what it felt like. The problem with feeling normal though was that the pain, dizziness and wobbliness was there too. And they are here big time. The wobbliness has been pants recently. When walking round I feel like I’ve spent the day drinking and I’m stumbling round like an alchy. Walking into door frames and falling against walls, it’s annoying and I end up getting so frustrated with myself.

If for a reason I close my eyes when I’m stood up I can’t stand still. I’m swaying and wobbling all over the place. If I have to move my head quickly (like you might do while having a conversation, nodding and stuff like that) I go dizzy and lose my balance.

The other day I actually went arse over tit while I was in the craft shop. I was trying to look at something on a low shelf and someone wanted to get past so I straightened up to get out the way and I kept going until I ended up sat of the floor. Luckily through the person I fell over in front of was one of my friends from knitting. She checked if I was ok (I was just embarrassed) we both had a laugh and carried on with what ever we were doing.

I said I was ok and I was, well nothing I couldn’t get over with the help of some ibuprofen. I was a bit achey later on but I wasn’t sure if that was down to the fall or just the normal aches and pains. Either way I’ll just keep plodding along.

So here are the tangles and tiles I’ve done:

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The other day I decided that I wanted to bring all my tiles together in one place. That way it would make it easier to see what tiles I have and to choose one to use. So I made a box to put them in.

Do you think I need some more?

I’ve made a couple of cards as well:

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It’s was the monthly MS Social last week and a month or two back they decide they wanted to do a craft night and make a Christmas card.

So I spent the last couple of weeks getting things prepared so it would be easy to do a card that looked good. So Tuesday night was a craft night where everyone made a pyramage card.

That’s where the card is layered one bit on top of the next, and each layer smaller than the last. id done all the cutting of the layers so all people had to do was to build the card. Started off with a layer of gold mirri card and then built up the layers of the picture on top.

Everyone that was there joined in and they seemed to have a good time and the cards they made all looked great.

I also made a note book for mum that she could use to keep track of her knitting and where she was up to in the pattern and stuff like that.

I left the pages loose in this one then they could be taken out easily if need be.

I also received the last tile swap. It was a lovely tile from Rose Ball

The other thing I suppose I should mention is about a story I’m reading at the moment.

The story is called The Amazing Son-in-law. It started off with one of this free click bate stories that you see on Facebook. I don’t normally pay that much attention to them but for some reason I started reading it. There were a few chapters on that site and it ended with a bit of a cliff hanger and me being me wanted to know what happens next. So I went digging and found more of the story on another site so I’m just working my way through that at the moment.

It is a story set somewhere in china about a guy that was poor and married to a woman for a successful family. The guy is bullied by his wife family. It turns out that he is an heir of a very successful upperclass family. He has billions in a private bank account and owns one of the biggest companies in the area he lives. He still plays the poor guy and starts get screw over anybody that was or is mean to him.

Also in the story he ends up getting some sort of anxiety superpowers where he becomes a feng shui master and healer and has awesome knowledge and things like that.

It’s one of those rubbish stories thats also really good at the same time. From reading it you can tell that it has been translated from Chinese because of the language in some parts of it isn’t that great but it’s one of those stories that you want to know what happens next. So at the moment I’m up to chapter 260. And I can guarantee that I will probably read more before I go to sleep so on that note I’m back off to china to read more about Master Marvin Ye.

Love and light

Last week I did something amazing. I did a service all on my own. so I did the prayers, the philosophy and the demonstration.

I was so nervous before hand you wouldn’t believe. I trusted spirit and knew they wouldn’t let me look stupid but it was the problems caused by MS that made the anxiety run rampant. But I got through it, I survived and I got some nice feedback from some people too.

Last Thursday was a busy day. We had knitting in the morning, while me and mum were there Katie and Dad finished sorting out the back garden ready for the new fence. When we got home I got Katie to take me to do a bit of shopping. That trip was interesting. Because it was half term we had a bit of company from Harvey and Mason. As the anxiety’s was already running high my brain was trying keep track of what I was doing, what katie was doing and what Harvey and Mason were up to. That is on top of what was happening around me at the time. Just a touch of sensory overload.

When we got back I got dad to run me down to church so I could chill out and spend some time on my own ready for the service. The week before I got that the philosophy needed to be on The Brotherhood of Man. I also tried to write out some prayers that I could use in the service. As I was writing them down they kept changing. Every time I tried to do a final version it changed. I went through quite a few pages in the green journal and in the end I just had to give it up as a bad job and let spirit take the lead and tell me what to do when the time came.

As people were arriving for the service I decide I was going to go out for a smoke. As I opened the door to go out some people came through. 2 of them were ladies that went to some of the dance classes I taught. It was completely unexpected. People just kept coming in. The service was one of the busiest ones we’ve had for a while.

I did it. At the end I got that feeling of amazing achievement. Then the anxiety came back in. I started to worry if people thought that it was rubbish. But Tracy was about and so was Pam and they both said it went well. Tracy and Pam are both great mediums and I respect them for that and as friends. Their comments made me feel loads better.

Being on the platform is great. When you’re up their and working they can help make you feel a bit better. The problem is though that they give it all back at the end and it comes back with a huge whack. So while people were cleaning up I needed to talk to some people about someone that came through that I didn’t feel comfortable dealing with in the service. So a few people wanted to claim him and I spoke to them all. Spirit are very clever. They’ll give one message that a few people can take and need to hear. I feel it helped the people that I talked to though so that’s always good.

That was the biggest thing last week. Another thing that happened was I had a telephone consultation with the pain team. As a result of that my medication is changing. I am changing from Gabapentin to Pregabalin. And it going to be a straight swap and that’s going to happen tomorrow. I have to say I am a bit nervous about how it will be and how it will affect me. There might be no problem at all, who knows?

So here are a few pictures of the bits I’ve done. Here are the tiles:

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I’ve made a card:

No idea if that’s right. It’s football related and as if you didn’t know I loath the very existence of football.

The octopus has been put on hold and I’m now crocheting a baby blanked for a friend. No pictures yet but it’s quite easy and it’s looking good.

I’ve also been playing with a new die set. It’s the paper village collection by Tim Holtz.

I’ve made a church and 2 houses. But I’ve painted one of them and it looks awesome. Here is a picture of the church:

Here is the house:

I finished colouring the dragon and that looks awesome too:

Thank you for the help and advice Sandra. You truly are awesomer than awesome.

And pay but not least doesn’t the the mark on this foster look like a slug or the ghost dog from nightmare before Christmas?

With that love and light.

I had my Covid booster and Flu jab last Saturday. No issue straight away so though I had got away with it. How wrong was I? We went to a family party Saturday night. That was not crystal to see everyone again. Near the end f the evening my arm started aching and the headache started.

Didn’t think much of it and because I had a drink I just though it was dehydration. I didn’t drink that much, only a vodka and coke and 2 glasses of Prosecco. That is practically nothing compare to what I used to put away on a dance weekend. I changed round my meds so I could have a drink. There was no issues doing that. I knew I wanted a drink so I was going to have one.

About 9 ish the headache started and so did the arm ache and 9:30 ish I’d had enough and needed to go home. It took about 30 minutes then to try and round everyone up. It started off with 2 of us, one of us then went off to find the others. Then there were 2 of us again but these 2 weren’t the original 2. It carried on like that for a bit but eventually everyone came together. We then had the fun of trying to go round everyone and say goodbye. That didn’t take as long as it could have done and about 10 ish we were on our way home.

I chilled out for a while and then went to bed.

Sunday morning I got up and found it very hard to get around. I was dizzier than usual. The pounding yea he was there 2. But it wasn’t pounding in the way you’d expect. Every pound was a wave of dizziness. It’s always fun when that happens. But with the extreme dizziness came mega wobbliness. I thought maybe a shower might make me feel better. It didn’t.

I told mum that I wasn’t that great and said I wouldn’t be able to go to knitting. It is t very safe going out when wobbly and dizzy. I tried to go back to bed for a bit. I didn’t end up going back to sleep just ended up sitting there eating sweets.

It sounds stupid to say but sugar made me feel better. I went as far as eating some more sweets and having a can of full fat coke. After that I was still wobbly and dizzy but started to feel better. Paracetamol is part of my normal meds so decided to add an ibuprofen. Again something else that made me feel better.

I still wasn’t feeling right but I was feeling better than I did in the morning. For most of the afternoon I spent my time colouring. I was a digital stamp I was colouring in using my polychromos. I still haven’t finished it as I’m taking my time. I’m enjoying it and even if I say so myself, it’s awesome. I’m colouring it with the help and instructions from a friend.

It’s still a work in progress but it’s good. If I remember I’ll put up a picture when it’s finished.

Everything I had were known side effects of the vaccine but, rather that that being in a coma on an ICU bed. As my immune system isn’t great I think the problem was from getting a double whammy of the glue and covid jabs at the same time.

Another thing that happened a few days before my jab was when everything just stopped working. Zoe and dad came back from their walk and as per usual Zoe needed drying. So I started drying he off as best as possible with a towel.

When I got her as dry as I could, which is t that dry, I stud up and everything stopped.

I didn’t know how to move, I didn’t know how to talk, I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know anything. I’ve no idea what caused it or what was happening. Mum found me stood there not doing anything. She managed to get me sat down. I don’t know how. And I sat there for a bit trying to move and I just couldn’t do it.

I spent the next hour trying to move and come round again. It was difficult but I eventually figured it out. I was able to move my hands and and arms. I even managed to move my legs and feet. The cognitive side of things started up again too. It was only then I realised how scary and weird it was. Because I didn’t know anything and didn’t understand anything it wasn’t scary because I didn’t know what scary was.

It was only after when things started getting back to normal I knew something wasn’t right.

It took a while but I started to get back to normal. That’s if you can call me or anything I do normal.

So I’ve the past couple of weeks there has been the usual crafty things. Some cards, some tangling m, knitting and you’ve already seen the colouring.

So cards:

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There might be one or two other but I didn’t take any picture of them.

So tangles and tiles:

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I’ve done a bit of other paper crafting this week. I made a little snow covered building

I’ve also used Eileen Hull’s Full Size Journal die to make 2 journals:

I haven’t put the pages in the multi coloured one yet but I hand sewed the pages together for both on them.

On to knitting, the octopus now has 8 legs and I’ve started the body. I may have to divert things slightly because someone has said they might want me to make a pram blanket for them. I’ll see what happens with that.

I’m well past and away from the covid jab now but I think I’ll go in search of some more sweets.

Love and light.

Some people in the craft world really are awesome. That doesn’t feel right to say because it doesn’t feel like it goes far enough. They are awesomer than awesome.

I say this because Pauline Wheeler donated loads of crafty bits to me for the MS group. The next group social night in November is going to be a craft night making Christmas cards. There are all sorts of things in there from little books to ribbons. It will all come in handy next month. Thank you Pauline you awesomer than awesome lady.

There are plenty of other awesome people out there too. Another one has to be Sandra Rushton. She goes out of her way to help people and of course she created Sanntangle and the amazing community that has built around it. The group is so loving and supportive it’s unbelievable. If I’m not feeling that great or a little bit low just looking at the artwork and reading the comments always brightens things up. I’ve talked about it before, no idea where though but Sanntangle and Sandra are awesomer than awesome.

Major thing that has happened over the past couple of weeks was an in growing toe nail. Why is something so small so painful. I know I spend most of my time off my face on painkillers (prescription ones prescribed by a doctor)but that hurt like hell. It’s been niggling me for a couple of weeks but last week I tried to sort it out but it was one that beat me. So after spending a couple of day honking round more than normal with the extra added pain mum finally booked me in at a chiropodist.

If you can put up with feet that is one job where you can make money. For all of 5 minutes work he made £35. He sat me down cut off the offending edge of the nail, pulled it out and filed down the edge that was left. Job done.

Sticking with feet for a moment I did something stupid last week. I was in my craft room, moving a chair I was sat on. I stood up moved the chair and sat down. After sitting I only realised that the chair was on my foot. Stupid I know but it’s me what do you expect. Luckily I got away with a bit of a bruise on the end of one toe.

Other than that not much else really happened other than knitting, tangling and card making.

So here are my tiles:

I’ve figured out the swirly inky thing, used it on 2 of those tiles. Problem is I seem to be using it a lot on different projects.

Tile swap. I got a tile in the tile swap

It’s great isn’t it?

That tile came from a lady called Vera Turner. I love it. Here is the tile I did:

As per usual I sent it with a Letter:

Something went wrong somewhere with another ladies tile. She didn’t get one back. So I did another tile for her and she received it yesterday:

And here is the letter:

I finished a card this morning. It’s not for anyone in particular I just wanted to use one of the dies I have:

If you notice the swirly inky thing has been used again.no harm done and it looks good and I enjoyed doing it so it’s all good.

Knitting wise still on my octopus. So far I’ve done 7 legs so only 1 more to go and I’m thinking of Making a start on that later. It’s either that or go for a kip. Either way it’s fine.

So off now to either sleep or knit.

Love and light

So for a few weeks I’ve been thinking of asking if I could do a service with Tracy and last week I decided it was time.

Well it could have been me or more than likely it was them up there that made the decision for me. So Tuesday night I was going to ask if I could do a service with Tracey. At the end of the service I was going to send her a message asking if I could.

Then I was told she would be on Thursday night. I have to admit I did have second thoughts about asking. But, I took the plunge and sent the message. She said I could join her at the service on Thursday. So after that message the stressing and worrying started.

What if I don’t get anything? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I’m stood there and nothing happens? What if I have a breakdown freak out thing?

That’s just the stuff that goes through my head most of the time anyway from the anxiety. But, it gets worse when something like that is coming up.

Thursday rolled round. It was only the day after next so it didn’t take that long. So a bit of extra stress and worry for the day.

The service started, it was a quiet one, there was only about 8 people there and I knew 7 of them and 1 of the 7 was mum. I did the opening prayer, Tracy did the philosophy and then the demonstration started. I trusted spirit so I knew they wouldn’t let me mess up but it still didn’t help the stress and anxiety.

We took it in turns giving messages. And everyone got something from the messages I gave and at the end of the service Tracy asked when I would be doing services on my own. So I think I can safely say that night I did medium type things.

I’ve made a couple of cards this week but they’re for Christmas and I don’t want to share them in case the people they’re for see them.

I have made a birthday card for my auntie though.

It changed for a few times but I think the finished card looks alright.

On to tangling I’ve done the usual tiles:

During the week I also worked on a larger project using the feathers stencils:

I like it and I enjoyed doing it so that’s all that matters. Also on the picture I like to think the reflection/rainbow coloured flash is aprovel from the spirit realm. I know it’s only a reflection and I know it was the sun reflecting off my pipe but still it looks cool and I’m impressed with me work.

On Tuesday night there is a special on with some international mediums at church. So at weekend I went to help (not that I can do much like) clean up a bit and get things ready for Tuesday. I like to help where I can. So now church is all ready for the special night.

The mediums that are on have all been trained by Mavis Pittilla so it should be a good night.

I started writing this on Monday but it’s Tuesday now so things might not make sense (like that’s not normal).

I’m still knitting my octopus, 5 legs down now 3 to go then the rest of it.

I’ve made some cards and a box to put them in for the healing tree at church.

The cards are all sorts of different shapes. I used some of my nesting dies to cut them out and then I tied the silver elastic into all of them. So they should all look lovely on the healing tree.

I’ve also made a couple of note book/journals for some friends.one in silver and one in grey.

Just noticing though that they both look similar colours in that picture but they are different, promise.

So that’s about it from me.

See you all soon.

Love and light

Humbug

So today it’s my 4th MSversary. 4 years since I was diagnosed with MS. Looking back I’ve had it for a long time I think my first relapse was in 2007 and there have been others but they were all treated separately. It was only after my first MRI (for the dizziness, vertigo at the time) when an ENT specialist saw there was something else that was causing the problem and not my ears.

It was interesting seeing the MRI though.

Seeing your brain on a computer screen with lots of little white dots all over the place is something you don’t normally see. Turns out the little white dots, and there were a fair few of them, aren’t supposed to be there. They’re all lesions. Basically little bits of brain damage affecting all sorts of different things. There are some lesions in my spine too. They’re caused by the immune system deciding to attack the coating (myelin sheath) round the nerves. That means that the nerves don’t work properly anymore.

A bit of information for you there.

So I know it’s been two weeks since my last update. This last 2 weeks have been a bit weird for me. Some ups, some downs, some lefts and some rights. Last Tuesday was the first MS Group social back together in person. It was a bit strange seeing everyone again and not having a mute button or volume control but it was a good night and I then everyone else enjoyed it too.

There was a pasty and peas involved so that also helped.

I got myself a new set of pencil crayons.

The box doesn’t look much but they are Polychromo pencils from Faber-Castell they are amazing. Because they’re oil based they are so smooth to work with and so easy to blend. I coloured in one of the Lee Holland Digi stamps as a first project using them.

So tangling now there have been 4 Tangles:

I’ve also added more to my board and I’ve actually varnished it. I’ve added a wolf, a dragon, a dream catcher, some flowers, a feather and the little totem animals. as it’s been a while I also topped up the colours as well. With that I found that some cheap watercolour pencils seemed to add the colour the best. I didn’t use water just the pencils. The old pencil crayons I had didn’t do much.

So the moment you probably haven’t been waiting for. I present to you my board:

I received the tile from the last tile swap. It’s a lovely tile from Sue Bellingall

It’s great. It looks so deep and almost hypnotic. I’ve not heard about the tile I sent but I’m sure it’s on its way to a good home.

Tile swap 9 launched last night and I already have an idea of what I’m going to do. If it turns out that way we’ll have to wait and see.

So the last thing I’ve done tangle related is to ink up some more tiles. I’d used up all the others so needed some more:

And now for an extreme close up,

I took that picture to show someone what adding a sprinkle of salt does after you have dunked the tile.

So another confession I need to make is knitting related. On Sunday I gave up on the blanket for a bit. I was getting bored and working on it became a chore. So I have started a new project. Now I’m working on Robyn the Octopus. I’ve only finished the first tentacle so far but it’s coming along.

I’ve made a couple of cards. This one I finished off. We started working on it with Pauline Wheeler on Sandra’s weekend

And this is one I made from the other bits on the sheet.

I have done another card and I finished that today:

That one is for mum and dad to give to someone.

Went to knitting on a Tuesday for the first time today. It has been about 18 months. It was a strange feeling going back to that one. It was so long ago, nothing seems to have changed at all it’s the same people and I’m sure some of them are still doing the same things. They probably aren’t but it just seems to be exactly the same as it was. I know people said they wanted to get back to normal but that seemed a little too normal if you know what I mean.

Some times I feel like things are changing too fast and then there are sometimes things aren’t changing at all. It’s a bit strange how things work out though.they all change eventually but sometimes the change needs to be done with some kicking and screaming.

I’ve had an interesting conversation tonight “with them up there” about some things I need to work on.

Why is it so easy to tell other people what they need to work on but difficult to tell yourself?

Anyway, the conversation was about how to help others to learn new things. I got some interesting suggestions and all of them make perfect sense (it’s very rare they’re wrong). I noted these things down in my book and they will be used in the future. Well let’s just that that if I don’t they won’t let me forget and I’ll get the told you so thing.

I think I showed a picture of it a few weeks ago. Well o found out with that book that because of the number of pages it was really difficult to write in. The pages would fold back properly because of the way it was put together. Well I separate the pages and only bound a few together. So rather than 20 signatures (groups of pages) being sewn together this time I did them in smaller groups. So now they are in groups of about 5 or 6 and I’ve only put one group in the book.

I went larger this time an used some of the pages I put in the other larger book. So gone from a small book with loads of pages that I can’t write in to a larger book with some small and some large pages. This time I went for tan on the outside and on the inside I finally opened one of the packets of American Crafts Card and used a nice blue on the inside.

So here is a picture of my book:

And on that note it’s time to retire for the evening.

Love and light.