Happy Dance..New Arrivals...and long post (ed)

Hi everyone,
Happy Mothers Day to our USA friends xxx

I trust you are all well this late Sunday Morning.  Boy, have I missed you all and your stitchy inspiration.

I have fallen into the same old trap I always end up in and am now hauling my heavy self out, ruining my far-from perfect nails as I do so.

Yes: you know the trap: the one where you try to start back at work and before you know it, it takes over your whole life.  I have volunteered myself for some mentoring schemes (unpaid) and with the fund raising, I have found myself online working none stop.

What the heck is wrong with me??????
Why do we do this to ourselves?

OK: so now I am setting boundaries: internet on weekends is ONLY for blogging.  Nothing else.  I need my craft time.  I have found myself back on anti-anxiety meds again and yet yesterday and this morning with my crafting, I haven't needed them.  I have to learn to be good and look after myself!
This is me seriously telling me!!!!!
There.  That is me told.


And yes, I have a happy dance.  I have finished my March Page for the Needlework masters book: It is one of Nancy's designs 'I've Time to Spare, said the Hare'.  Perfect for March because we get Mad March Hares in our fields every March, getting ready for their tittivated season (see Bambi, Disney version).

Darn this lack of sunlight....honestly, it is May and all we have is rain, hail, sleet and the odd hint of sunshine to remind us of what we are missing.

The fabric is actually a nice straw colour.  I stitched it in some of Nancy's threads, some Belle Soire and some WDW.....you know me by now though: I put the threads back and can't be bothered going in to find the colours lol.

I have a book called Crochet Motiffs but can't make head nor tail of it: so I made the flowers up.  My brain is as good as it is going to get apparently so that means my person-recognition and name recognition is screwed and I struggle with following written instructions.  Never mind: at least I am still here to be confused.

Hospital appointments are still three monthly which is a pain: as soon as one says, go six months, the next dept finds something and says back in three months!

On a bright note, I have raised 2002 euros for the Cancer Walk!!!!!  Woooo!!!  In four months!!! So that is just fantastic.  Still a way to go yet though!

And finally: though my brain is mush, my ability to use irony and sarcasm isn't.  Without going to too many details on my craft blog, here is a letter I wrote to my welfare office which deals with my disability benefit; I am soooo angry with them especially as I just found out I could have been doing a little bit of work which would have helped!  I have never received anything from them telling me about what I am being paid and why and how much I can earn...tossers, and I have lost so much money through their imcompetance...it is beyond a joke!  Still writing this made me feel better lol

Dear Sir,

I am sorry to hear your department has lost all three of the letters I have sent either directly or through Castlerea Welfare office.

Here then is a fourth complete with a letter signed by my son’s school. My son turned 18 on the 15th of March and we lost 30.00 euros a week from my disability payments with no warning nor letter of explanation. I am told because my son is still in school then I am entitled to this payment complete with missed back payments.

So here (again) is the letter to prove this.

Dealing with cancer is extremely stressful and I am sure your department did not mean to add to this stress by forcing me to feed a family of four on 30.00 euros a week. I have since found out that if I had been unable to pay my bills, the Welfare office would have covered them: foolishly I was brought up to pay my bills and manage with what was left. And that is what I have been doing.
I am sure the weight I have lost through eating just one full meal a day will do me good in the long run and won’t impact too much on my recovering from multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

I know you must be really busy so will leave it here and I look forward to receiving the full payments and back dated payments soon. I know you will do your best, despite the difficulties your office must be having. I didn’t ask to get cancer any more than you asked to receive a letter from a very disgruntled member of the public: I know how unfair life can be. Especially as actually I would love to have a job which I would do properly unlike the poor person who keeps loosing letters.

Have a lovely day,
Gaynor French



Heehee...and yes: I did send it rofl

And no, not really living on one meal a day: not with chickens laying endless eggs xxxxxxxxx But that isn't the point is it; he doesn't know I have chickens xxx

So, we have been managing on 30 euros a week to feed a family of four and boy is it hard work.
I make my own bread
I make my own pastry
I make my own pasta
If it isnt made by me from scratch: we don't eat it and wow...is that a look of cooking by me.  I go to sleep and I dream I am making the next days staples lol.

We have been getting lots and lots of eggs.

Duck and Hen eggs

Goose eggs (eq. three hen eggs each)

 I don't like wasting anything so I have been making my own icecreams, pasta, meringues and cakes and shoving them all in the freezer.
We also left some to make some of these!

Can you see the little head peeking out from under momma?

Our first five chicks: we have two more hens sitting.

And what happens when you have lots of eggs and spinich?

 You make green taglietelle

 And Spinich and potato or spinich and chicken curries:

And not to mention spinich and tomato pasta sauce (from scratch), spinich and salmon quiches (smoked salmon with the tin of salmon that lurks behind everything in your cupboard sneaked in to bulk it up so nobody notices), creamed spinich, spinich in stir frys and small spinich leaves used as salmon.
Much as I like spinich, I am relieved other things are starting to come up in the polytunnel!


OOOOO nearly forgot:
Here is my baby blanket, one more round and then I will try to work out how to edge it.  I haven't added new wool balls properly because I can't work out how but you can't feel the knots rofl xxx

I will edge it and block it and hopefully next post it will be finished.

Right, the best bit about finished something is you get to rummage through and start something new!  I want to get up to date with my Needlework book and then perhaps I will get a chance to work on Santa's Village.



Have a great week everyone!

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