Thanks, a Re-Homing Plea and a Catch Up

Many thanks for all the kind words of support after my rant - am glad to say that I'm feeling better about this now. The guy obviously has some serious personality issues but as he doesn't seem able to recognise that, and will probably never change, it's his problem - not mine. He obviously thrives on stirring up negative reactions so I don't intend wasting any more of my time or energy in giving him the response he craves....... I will totally blank him whenever I visit my DSis again and he can like it or lump it. I'm sure that the Universe will take care of him in the fullness of time. :0)

In the interests of my decluttering and general sort out I'm looking to re-home this book:

Most of the charts look as if they'd easily convert to cross stitch but as it's already been sat on my bookshelf for yonks without ever being touched I don't think I'm ever going to get round to stitching them now....... so the book has to go. (Anyway I need the room - I've been visiting the Hospice Bookshop and didn't come away empty handed.... again. Oops! LOL).

Leave a comment if you're interested in giving this a new home and if more than one person wants it I shall do another draw, seeing as the last one was so much fun. It's not too heavy so it's open to everyone. :0)

So what have I been up to so far? Well I heard from Elisa that the Giveaway chart safely arrived so I can now show you the card I made for her:


This was a simple card to make and was another of those where I knew exactly what I wanted to use and it all just fell into place. Love it when that happens. It also goes to show that there isn't a total lack of crafting going on here. :0)

I've been stitching the JA/S&S Challenge piece for June but it's slow going as the mojo is a bit hit and miss - too much nice weather and a garden that hasn't just called but has positively shouted for us to be out there. But even if the piece was finished (which it definitely isn't) there'd be no pic to show until after Reveal Day - sorry.

Saturday saw construction of the back fence being started first thing:

By the end of the day it was totally completed and now looks like this:

They did a fantastic job. It's a bit overpowering in it's raw state but we have the creosote and brushes ready to go - probably this coming weekend, weather permitting. The next big job out there is to flatten the area in front of the workshop (where the fence ends) to make a base for a greenhouse - when we have that in place we can then put the composting bins in place, then we can run some guide wires across the fence, make a proper flower bed and start digging some manure into it. So it won't be too long before we'll be deciding which fruit trees and flowers we want to plant, and finding out the best time to put them in, and also choosing a spot for my silver birch tree. :0)

The sort out has continued and a couple of small kitchen items have gone to new homes, courtesy of Freecycle, and I took another bagful of bits down to the Hospice Charity Shop today, when I went to the Clinic for my Herbalist appointment (will do a write up on my other blog about that). The shelving in the little bedroom (previously DS's room) is now virtually empty and has had a dusting and they'll get a wash down tomorrow before I dismantle them. DH found the clamp bit to my old wooden cross stitch stand this evening so, as I just didn't get on with the darned thing, an ad for that will be going on Freecycle shortly. Alex took the last of the children's books on Monday (I unearthed them when I was sorting my piles of books into storage crates) so her schools' library will be looking even fuller now. Am still finding this whole decluttering thing extremely liberating. :0)

I finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife (more in side bar) and have now started another book (another Hospice Bookshop find): An Angel Saved My Life by Jacky Newcomb - true life accounts of ordinary people's encounters with Angels, which is very uplifting. It's lovely to know that miracles do happen for ordinary folks all around the world, courtesy of the Angelic Realms. :0)

I had a surprise gift from Julie in the post this morning but have had to promise not to show pics until after Reveal Day - hope that's soon because it is so lovely I so want to show it off. Thank you again Julie, your timing was perfect and you have definitely made my week. :0)

Thank you again for all your lovely, supportive comments - hope you are all having the happiest of weeks. :0)