Scan trauma & stuff...

Thank you all for the replies and wonderful suggestions on my last post regarding plastic pollution.  I'm afraid I no longer get email notification from Blogger when someone responds to a post so I don't get chance to read them in a timely fashion, but they are all very much appreciated.

The last couple of weeks have sped by in a blur.  My poor hubby is now suffering with a neck problem.  After a whole year of dental problems (now resolved) he has a spinal problem.  Physio hasn't helped and I took him for an MRI scan yesterday.  He came out looking pale and in pain.  The problem he has is that his head keeps turning to the left of it's own volition and he has developed a slight head tremor too.  He explained this to the chap at the Hospital so, to ensure a good scan, they placed a pillow under his lower spine to make sure his head connected with the table and supported his head as best they could.  The scan lasted just 10 minutes but hubby was in so much pain trying to control his head movements that he almost pressed the alarm button to stop the scan.  He was just about to press when the nurse told him that a few seconds remained so he gritted his teeth and remained there.  He has been in pain today too although he went off to work as normal to try and take his mind off the pain.  I do so hope that the scan shows the problem and something can be done for him.  He has been slowly getting worse over the last 6 months and the future looks bleak at the moment.  He is so restless because he can't sit to read or watch much TV and it's making me feel restless too...….

Whilst he was at work I have been tidying, de-junking and cleaning.  I also had an hour crafting this afternoon...bliss!  Stuff has been listed on eBay so I might have some more cash to add to my challenge fund.  I have a bid on one item already...yay!  I can't find any other local venues for craft fairs so I'll have to persist with the current one until the end of the year unless something changes. 

It has been announced that there is a shortage of CO2 at the moment.  This affects fizzy drinks and the meat packaging industry.  Well I never...you learn something every day.  It won't affect me very much but OH does like a beer and with the World Cup in full swing a lot of people could potentially be a bit miffed.  Has it affected you at all?  Any shortages where you shop?

It has been a wonderfully warm sunny day today and a heat wave is forecast so yesterday I bought a 4.5tog duvet in preparation.  I used my Nectar points to reduce the cost from £15 to £10 so I AM READY! :)  What's it like by you?  What on earth do you find to eat when it's really hot?  My appetite disappears off the face of the earth.  All I crave then is ice lollies.  Help!

Take care everyone and thanks so much for popping in x

Plastic Pollution

After the shocking revelation that we are killing marine life by polluting the oceans with plastic I have been spurred into action.  I do recycle as a matter of routine but wondered if I am letting some things slip into the normal bin by mistake.  As I have said in the past, we have a communal recycling and refuse area and I have lost count of the number of times I have retrieved glass and plastics from the bin (other people's) and placed it into the proper recycling bin.  I have been spending a little extra time each day checking everything before I put it into the proper receptacle.  I keep a carrier bag (plastic, unfortunately, but I will use it until it falls apart) by the back door in the kitchen for recycling and a pedal bin for everything else.  I rinse out containers in the last of the washing up water before putting them in the recycling too.  Since being more diligent I have noticed that I can fill the recycling bag in just a day, which is more than scary.  There are just two of us most days so where does it all come from?  75% of the recycling seems to be plastic of one sort or another.  I know that it's a faff but we desperately need to do something to reduce our use of plastics.  We can't carry on regardless and hope that someone else sorts it out! Canvas bags are used for our shopping so I need to try to buy less stuff encased in plastic.  A lot of plastic wrapping cannot be recycled and I do use cling film...another issue for me to address I think. 

I know some bloggers began to do without plastic completely but I've lost them in blogger ether so don't know if they managed to do it.  Are you cutting back on plastic? Have you managed to cut out cling film?  What changes are you making?

On a lighter note, we bought raffle tickets at the church when we went to the Art & Craft exhibition and today we had a visit from 2 lovely ladies from the church as we have won a prize.  Anyone remember this?.....

In my youth I was introduced to the delights of a drink called  Snowball.  Advocaat with ice, topped up with lemonade and a cherry on a cocktail stick.  Happy days! :)  It will be passed on to DD as a treat.

The craft fair on Saturday was a bit of a flop :(  If we had a dozen people through the door we were lucky.  After the cost of the table I was £4 in profit.  I really need to find another venue as my challenge is really not working for me :/

Ah well, it's a beautiful warm, sunny day today so I refuse to be downhearted.  Onwards and upwards!

Take care everyone xx

Stash to Cash so far £59.18

Craft Fair Preparations

Tomorrow is the village craft fair for June so I hope to be adding a little to my Stash to Cash challenge.  I have had to make a few necessary purchases this month:

Paper bags  £2.25
Cello bags  £2.25
New plates for my Big Shot die cutting machine £5.30
Adhesive  £1.99

Total  £11.79

But I've had a couple of eBay craft sales totalling £13.57 after fees, therefore I have a small net figure of £1.78 to add to my total so far.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

See you later :)

Stay safe and thanks everso for popping in x

Stash to Cash Challenge total £55.18

Painted Treasures

 

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.  It seems that skips are few and far between in some areas, yet very productive in others.  Jules requested a photo of the barrow planted up.  This is how it looks at the moment, a bit green... but it should perk up no end when everything begins to flower.  When there is more colour I'll post another photo...

 

 

For some time now our village has been taking part in the painting and hiding of stones around the village. The idea is to bring a smile to someone's face when they find one and you can keep it when found.  I'd virtually given up until I saw this little chap hiding under a bush! He gave me a little shiver of excitement, especially thinking about the child who had painstakingly painted and hidden him.....

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Art and Craft Exhibition at the village church and lo and behold I spotted this tucked into a fork in a yew tree in the churchyard....

Inside the church was a box of painted stones priced at just £1 each in aid of church funds so I purchased two more; a pansy and a butterfly.  Now they keep each other company in the bare patch where the drain cover is....

Have you found any painted stones? Or have you left any for others to find? I just wonder how long it is before they are found?

Stay safe everyone and thanks so much for popping in x

Skip Diving!

A few days ago, when the family were visiting, OH took the rubbish and recycling up to the communal area and found a wrought iron wheelbarrow which someone had put into the skip.  It was a bit rusty and the wheel wobbled but we were sure it could be saved....

Son in Law sanded, primed and coated it with Hammerite black paint....

It's come up beautifully so he lined it and filled it with compost ready to plant up.  It would cost a fortune to buy new and another item has been saved from landfill....Win, Win.

On the park where we live it's normal practise to put potentially useful items near the skip so that anyone who wants them can help themselves.  A while ago we bought 2 new kitchen bar stools and put the old ones by the skip.  Within a couple of hours they had gone.  Very little is wasted here!

Have you found anything useful in a skip lately?

Take care and thanks for popping in x

What a difference 3 weeks makes in the garden

I was quite excited on Friday, OH presented me with our first strawberry of the season (you can tell I don't get out much!) and it was a whopper! It was luscious, sweet and wonderful simply because we had grown it ourselves :)

On 11th May I wrote a post called Walk With Me. Do you remember the potato I missed last year and which grew among the leeks?

I pulled out all the leeks to eat (they were quite small and thin)  and then OH emptied the tub in order to use it again.  These appeared in the soil....one meal's worth of spuds... ta da!

The Lupins and other cottage garden plants have really put on a good show since that post …..

The bees love the Digitalis....

The Paeonies are almost ready to open too....

And look at my Lilies! Can you see more potatoes behind them?

This was how they looked 3 weeks ago...

The Rhubarb plant is one that I saved from certain death.  It had no good growth on it just limp leaves and was about to be thrown away.  I paid £1 for it and it has repaid me by producing 3 healthy shoots.  It should be great next year....

 

I bought this single Ailsa Craig tomato plant for 75p from a local smallholder just as an experiment to see if I can get it to fruit outside.  It's doing quite well at the moment although my gardening skills might let it down later.  We'll see....

How is your garden coming along? Do you have strawberries yet?

OH is outside watering everything as it has been quite hot today.  I think it will be another sticky night so I will leave the window open again for some cool night air.  I wish it wasn't quite so humid, yet after the torrential rain we have been getting it's little wonder.

Stay safe everyone and thanks so much for popping in x

A Lovely Day Out

First of all, a warm welcome to Jane, my new follower, hello! :)

It was such a lovely day yesterday (although very humid) that we decided to meet the family at the Black Country Living Museum.  The kids are off school for a week so needed occupying.  OH and I already had an annual pass giving us free entry so OH paid for a family pass for DD, SiL and the GC. (EDIT just realised that OH paid half the cost for the family...oops..sorry!)  It cost £46 for a family of 4 which sounds expensive but it gives access to the Museum as many times as you like for a whole year. The kids really enjoyed themselves, even taking a trip down the mine, so I can see them getting real value for money over the Summer as it's not too far for them to travel to.   I couldn't face the mine so we went into the Dudley Canal Trust area (free entry!) and treated ourselves to a trip under the canal tunnels.  I wore my fleece on the narrowboat as it's chilly in the caverns but we certainly had to strip off again afterwards. Phew...This is me with my 'Bob The Builder' safety helmet on....

OH didn't want his photo taken but I snuk in a tiny glimpse of him in the bottom right hand corner (red fleece)…..

I would love to learn how to paint barge ware roses but the course is full at the moment, maybe next time if I'm quick.....

Inside the Canal Trust Museum is a giant mammoth.  How scary would it have been to come across one of those!

We spent around 5 hours at the museum in total and only saw a tiny proportion of all there is to offer.  I do suggest taking some food and drink with you though. It can cost an arm and a leg if you don't.  As it was, we ended up buying fish and chips (OH and I shared a portion) and extra drinks. Another visit will definitely be on the horizon very soon methinks.

During the night we had a torrential rainstorm and I heard distant thunder around 1am, but this afternoon has turned out muggy, sunny and rainwashed.  OH is sowing vegetable seeds of some sort in pots in the garden so there could well be a veggie growing post tomorrow :)

Stay safe everyone and thanks everso for popping in x