Yes Im still baby sitting a house, 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 fish. These photos are them! Theyve become my shadows and follow me everywhere.
Well except the fish but if I go near the tank they are at the front and Ive got instructions to talk to them every day.
I do. The cat gets quite annoyed when Im a bit slow at going and sitting on the lounge to watch a TV show I watch, as she loves cuddling up to me for the afternoon.
So while Im here in 35 degs the family is off frolicking in Shiga Kogan with 113cm (44 inches) of fresh lovely powdered snow.
They are due home tomorrow and it will be a bit of a shock to their system when they walk out of the airport into the humidity and heat.
This babysitting caper is like having kids again.
Feed time, play time, poo patrol, keep the water full for them…..Im loving it. This weeks designs are Valentine Day toppers and a lovely swan design.
Snow stopped Play! …. Or to be more accurate - it stopped everything outside! lol. The first real snow (as in not just a sprinkling!) arrived in the East Midlands last weekend.
Im a bit of a coward about driving in such conditions - sooo I Stayed at home and observed it from the warmth and comfort of our house! lol.
To be fair the snow wasnt as bad as in the 1970s when we really got deep snow … one year it was really deep and we built a huge snowman and almost a small igloo in the garden! lol
Here is my latest sewing make: a mini camera bag. I love the mushroom fabric, and I enjoyed picking out colours from it for the rest of the bag. This was a tricky project, as it has binding on the inside. Thats new to me, but thats how we learn.
I started it before Christmas on my trusty domestic machine, then, after a little festive break, I finished it on my new semi-industrial machine, which was a bit intimidating.
But I did it, and now Im looking forward to making my next bag from scratch on my new machine.
Christmas feels like a distant holiday now as we go into the second week of new year. We dont really see anyone over Christmas. Our oldest daughter who lives nearby brought us our Christmas dinner.
Fast forward to the 30th and our youngest guest daughter who lives in Oxfordshire ventured up for the day with her hubby and Alfie and Harry.
We had t physically seen them for a year although she does phone three times a week, sends lots of photos so we pretty much know what goes on.
It was wonderful to see them and we had good food, played games and more.
Then they left to go and visit our eldest daughter and family for a couple of hours. So we have a rare picture of our children, son in laws and four of our five grandchildren. The other two being Jack and Evie. Our other granddaughter Darcey lives in Leeds so we didnt see her. It was a lovely day for everyone.
Well this week Im babysitting a house, 2 dogs, a cat and 2 fish while family is off enjoying the cold in Japan!
I will be here for 10 days and I made sure I wouldnt be bored and brought my computer with me so I am still able to stay in touch with the world.
Doggys are getting on in age now, and pretty easy to look after. Fish easy. The cat is gorgeous. Shes 21 years old and just wants cuddles.
I am her servant at meal times…..she lets me know with her cry when shes hungry but I have to stand and watch her eat because the dogs also like cat food!
So while they are over there all rugged up in their coats and beanies and gloves, Im here with the air con cranked up.
This weeks designs is a pretty perfume design and some crosses suitable for Easter and those that dont want eggs
…. Was my Great Grandson, Noahs, second Christmas…. But the 1st Christmas he got to join in the fun with! Ohhh boyyyy did he love it! We all went to my daughters so he was on home ground (as his mum (my 2nd oldest granddaughter) and dad all live there.
He sooo loved it … and that was before he got to open his very, very large pile of presents!!
It was really magical seeing his eyes sparkle with all the fun he was having … it really made us all feel very Christmassy!
Lol
Our Christmas was celebrated on Christmas Eve for family. This being due to parents having their kids who then had to go to the other parent on Christmas Day.
First of, we had a lovely lunch at my sons place with his wife, son and his sister and her partner and kids.
Thought it might have had to quickly be moved indoors when a storm rolled through as we were about to sit down.
But it passed quickly and lunch was served about 15 minutes later than planned.
Then it was a quick trip home to get changed and head down to hubbys sons place. Our granddaughter who lives with us took us down and we managed to get through the evening/night with no further storms although they had put warnings out for severe storms.
It was a hectic but wonderful day and come Christmas Day it was a quiet day at home with just the grand daughter and her partner.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones. This weeks designs have a journaling feel with several sentiments given to place in the middle
I hope everyone who celebrates it had a lovely Christmas. We enjoyed a wonderful couple of days with our family. On New Years Eve, we went out for a nice meal, followed by some fun at the amusements on the pier.
My daughter and I tried out a dance-off game machine, which was a lot of fun, though quite challenging! My husband even joined in on an arcade game; I think hes now considering getting a game console for home—lol!
To wrap up the year, I wanted to share a picture of the last Post Box Topper of 2025.
Its a brilliant knitted Paddington Bear with the words Happy New Year around his feet.
No sure if I told you all about my new opportunity. I have always loved arty stuff from making clothes to knitting with my Nan and then I got into cardmaking and designing cards.
A few years after I got interested in Jewellery making too.I came by jewellerymakerTV by accident when channel hopping on TV.
Once I watched it I was hooked. Ive had a bit of a sad year, I lost Mum earlier in the year then in July my Son qualified as a teacher and moved to Dubai, whilst I am very proud, I miss him.
Anyway at a lose end and with my Son pushing me I done a screen test and interview for Jewellery Maker and have been their newest Guest Designer.
Ive always loved Nutcrackers from the ballet to the Christmas ornaments. I currently 3 good size ones and a tree ornament. However, my daughter is on a whole other level.
She too loves the Nutcracker ballet from being a little girl and that started her off her love of all things Nutcracker themed.
Not just the ornamental ones but mugs, tea towels, biscuit tins etc. she has accumulated quite a few. Including a huge floor standing one. Her husband has always said at Christmas time she can buy no more than one new one.
Well that never happens and this year has been no exception. The ceramics club at RAF Benson was putting on a Christmas themed event and of course my daughter chose a Nutcracker and all she had to do was paint it and then it would be fired in a kiln.
Now she doesnt profess to be arty or crafty and doubts her own abilities in this area, but when she showed me the final piece I was amazed.
Its not perfect but she made a fantastic job of painting it. It turned out beautifully and I am proud of her achievement.
had a great week celebrating an early christmas in scotland as my partner is working over christmas it was amazing we went to edinborough to see the christmas markets and a cruise on loch lomand ,we saw the new year in with a piper and haggis ,a fabulous time was had by all ,now i can relax over christmas watching what i want eating what i want lol hope you all have a fab christmas and a Happy new year ..thank you for your continued support picture is of me and Cameron our driver at Glamis Castle
Granddaughter was competing again in another cross country race on Sunday last weekend. She had taken the gold medal at Berry Hill. On 5he Sunday she was competing at Welbeck Abbey in yet another cross country race!
This time it was a step up in terms of she was competing against much better competitors … but … she again did really well and got the silver medal!
Tonight (Thursday) we had an awesome sight in our sky around 8pm. Starlink satellites were launched early this morning and made two passes over Australia tonight. It was amazing to see and must say never seen anything like it before.
I have seen the Starlinks before after theyve broken up and spread out. Although it was posted on several sites on Facebook, a lot of people didnt see then and a lot asked what they were.
Besides the actual answer of Starlink the best answers seem to be Santa doing a practice run. Of course the kids will be happy with that answer!
Apparently Santa is doing another practice run tonight as well!! This weeks designs are a set of Flamingo toppers and a set of Australian Floral notelets.
When my children were still at home, my daughter used to decorate our Christmas tree. And when she started work, she even bought some new decorations for it. I still use some of them. However, Im not very good at decorating it myself.
For a few years, when we moved house, we didnt have room for a big tree, so I just used two pre-lit small trees.
Now we have a space for the bigger tree, but I am so out of practice with decorating it. I usually spend days tweaking it. But this time, I just put everything on and decided that I would leave it at that.
It doesnt look anywhere near as good as the ones online, but I am actually quite happy with it, considering the tree is quite old and tatty now.
And after I had finished and stood back to admire it, I noticed it was leaning to one side. So here it is, my tatty, wonky Christmas tree.
My daughter has been the biggest fan of the Musical Wicked since it first appeared in the Westend of London and the first time she heart the original Elpheba (Idina Mendel) sing defying gravity.
Her the fiancé now husband bought her tickets for the show in London.
She has seen both movies and plans to go and see the musical again in the Westend. So she was beyond excited when she discovered this years extravaganza for Christmas at Blenheim Palace was going to be the Wizard of Oz.
She has been to a few of these over the years and theyve always outdone themselves and this was no exception.
Being greeted by Aunty Ems farmhouse and a tornado. Then a few days later she went to Westfield Shopping centre in London where they had a small Wicked for Good exhibition which gave plenty of photo ops for those who are fans of the movies.
She had a fab time and made lots of happy memories, now all she needs is to bump into the actor who plays Fiero in the movies whose parents actually live in Benso village near RAF Benson where she lives.