Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning, and Fred got very excited when I told him that Santa had left his stocking and gift in the hallway so that he would not be woken up during the night!

First to be opened was his teddy bear from Nanny Marg. As Fred is called Fred, we named this new bear Flintstone!

Then the Pedigree stocking from us was opened, and he found the toy in that to be just as much fun. He decided, however, that Flintstone was his favourite, and soon gummed it to death!

Having opened Fred's presents (we don't do pressies for ourselves), we headed over to Perran to see JB and give her gifts to her.

She had bought Gemmy a set of antler ears, but as he is so small we had to fit them to his back!

It was then back home for food. I'd laid the table last night, and as it was only two of us, already started on the Bucks Fizz, before eating our retro prawn cocktail

We are hoping that next year we will have a group of us to eat dinner - the only bonus with it being just the two of us was that we could collapse and sleep in front of the TV for the rest of the evening!

Happy Christmas Everyone.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, and we are all in work, doing what we do best, and despite us all having rotten colds/flu, we tried to make the best of it, and asked someone to catch a snap shot of us all in our Christmas hats. Despite the fact we all look a bit the worse for ware, there was no stopping us.

When I got home, we organised ourselves, and settled down to catch the Christmas Eve TV, not that there was much on, and Fred showed his displeasure by curling up on the foot stool and resting his eyes!

Meanwhile the tree twinkles away in the corner, waiting for Santa to make an appearance later in the evening.

A Welcome Delivery

It has taken us some time to get to the stage where we could order our Oak Sideboard for the living room. Between Paul's work commitments and pre-booked holidays, it has taken a long time to complete the parts of this room that got us to this stage.

The floor went down in a weekend, as you saw a long while back in an earlier post.

The walls got painted once power points and tv cables were repositioned, and the curtains/blinds that I have made, have taken longer than expected, mainly because I've had the flu and did not want to make any mistakes whilst my head was full of nasty cold residue.

It came as a great surprise, when I received the call from the furniture company, to say that they could deliver our sideboard to us before Christmas.

Although they had said that they would do this when I originally orered it, I thought it highly unlikely, due to the snow up country, and how it was affecting the roads and transport in general.

and so, here it is! We had it delivered in an unfinished state. That is without wax or varnish, just beautiful sanded Oak, so that we can briwax it ourselves to match the colour on my Great Grans writing bureau that I love so much

The pictures were awaiting to go back up on the walls, so that we could position them correctly once the unit was positioned below them.

If you ignore the cream throws on the sofa, that are a mud catcher for Fred's paws, this gives you an idea as to how the sideboard fits with our room.

The briwax is sat in the kitchen waiting to be tenderly stroked onto the beautiful oak surfaces of my sideboard, and it will soon, be a deep medium brown, glossy finish.

All we need now is to add the wax to the unit and get a rug for the floor and the room will be finished.

A great start for the new year I think.

Party Time!

Christmas Party time once more, and we returned to Penmere Manor after last years success.

The company was great the food good and the duo singing DIRE!

It didn't stop us enjoying ourselves, however we think another choice of venue for next year may be the order of the day when I arrange next years LOL

Roman Blind Making

Right then - This is the blind that we have in place over the one window of our living room currently. It was originally made, along with the full drop curtains, for our old house.

These window decorations have worked hard for us over the last 11 years, and we have certainly had our moneys worth out of them, however it is time for a change, and something that will match the decor (once it's complete) in our current lounge room.

It all began with some floral wall paper, and an idea at the back of my mind, that I could DIY the blinds!

I managed to find some curtains in Trago, (as I have already told you in a previous post), and the colour was an exact match to the green flowers in the paper.

My first task was to undo the tape header that was on the first curtain. I was taking it easy on myself, and using the current blind as a template, although I do have some pretty good instructions to follow (message me if you would like a copy of them).

I then unpicked the hem and cut the surplus fabric from the bottom, and then refolded and ironed the new cut line into place just below the line of the current lining.

All of this had to be done by hand, using a hidden stitch that would not show through onto the good side of the blind.

I laid the blind out onto a sheet on the floor and placed some tubes of fabric that I had run through the sewing machine. These tubes are then measured at intervals and will hold the doweling that allow the blind to fall in folds when pulled open.

Again these had to be stitched by hand, so that the stitching would not show through to the good side.

I pinned a few tubes at a time, as this took a while to do.

Once all of the tubes were stitched in place, the original baton was used for the top of the blind, and was attached with Velcro, which I was able to sew on using my machine thankfully. The side of the Velcro that went onto the baton was self adhesive, but we ensure that it was stapled in place too, just to make sure.

Finally the baton was fitted above the window once more, and the doweling rods inserted into the tubes. I stitched the ends over to hold them in place.

I sewed some small rings along the tubes at intervals for the cord to run through, and then ran the cord up to some screw rings in the baton and hung them down one side as the pull cord. The blind put in place on the baton using the Velcro.

Not bad for a first attempt, just one more to go!

Sneaky Carvery

I am making a start on the curtains and blinds today, and did not want to have to take time to cook us a meal, so we stopped by the Gold Centre for their Christmas Carvery.

It was very lovely, and only took 40 minutes out of my schedule, which meant that I could crack on with the blinds.

Hectic Day

The snow finally disappeared last night due to the rain, and I was able to get my car out of the garage for the first time in over a week!

Not that the car was snowed into the garage - it's just that the garage has a slope away from it towards the one behind it and there was compacted snow and ice causing my little rear wheel drive sports car to slip slide all over the place. There was no chance of getting it out of the garage gully way and down the hill to the main road that was pretty clear, and even if I did manage to get it off the 'estate' there was no way it would get back up the hill to come back on!

At least I was able to get to Falmouth today for a much needed mooch, and a craft demonstration at Trago I had been looking forward to.

I arrived early (9.15am) so that I could look through the fabric and curtain section before the craft demo at 10am. I need some fabric for some new lounge curtains, but as the windows are so tiny on the side and front normal ready mades don't fit.

I had an idea! OMG Not a good thing for me!

I would buy smallish ready mades (If I could find a matching fabric colour) and then split the pair to make two roman blinds. No I haven't done it before! It can't be that hard can it?!

The rear french doors are also smaller than average, so I have bought some 90 x 90 and will take them up and hope for the best, as I need an 83" drop!

Having found a perfect match for the colour, I purchased the correct sizes for what I needed, with a little help from one of the ladies working there. She was so helpful, and gave me some great money saving tips.

The 90 x 90 fully lined curtained cost me £49.95 and the 44 x 54, that I shall be cutting up, were £14.99.

Considering the cost of curtains made to measure these days, I reckon, if this works, I will have a bargain........ IF IT WORKS!

I wandered back downstairs and found Sarah from Do Crafts, and as I was the first to arrive, sat and had a chat. She remembered me from the last time I had been to one of her demos, which was nice.

I had an hour with Sarah and some other ladies who had arrived to join her, to get some new ideas, and then headed out to put my things in the car.

45 min's left on the meter meant that I could treat myself to a cup of tea and a tea cake at the water sports centre (or yacht club as I like to big it up as). Very enjoyable.

Then it was off to Truro. I had a wasted journey, could not get what I needed, and ended up in loads of traffic.

I finally walked through the front door at 3.30pm!

Having grabbed a toasted sandwich for lunch, I was now time to make some Christmas cards....

I managed to do 4, and then gave up. This cough I have left over from the flu a few weeks ago has been tiring me out, and the 2nd lot of antibiotics are not helping, so it's an early night for me..... after Strictly Come Dancing and Merlin of course!

Decorating

It's been ages since the flooring went down in the living room, and the wall paper has been in a ciupboard for the last 18 months, so it's about time to do something about that!

I went to try and find some curtains that I can cut up to fit the smaller than average windows and when I got back, Paul had already started the papering.

Lucky I got back when I did, as the paper was a pain to put up, as it was so thick. I kept creasing - that's what you get for buying decent quality I guess, but as we only needed a roll and a half the £14.99 per roll was justifiable I thought at the time LOL.

Snow!

We awoke to snow this morning

Just over a week ago we were on top of Carn Brea releasing balloons, an now look at it covered in snow in the distance!

Farewell To Emily...

Before I tell you about our day, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for their support and kind words. Our friends have been marvellous, and between them all, have made these last few weeks bearable. Many thanks to Sally-Ann, Mike, Alison K, Kelly, Mandy, Sharon, Alison P, Alison T and Yvonne. I apologise if I have not mentioned you, but you know that I love you all and thank you with all my heart.

Moving on to the day....

Emily's 'Party' is today, in Bournemouth. The only stipulation that has been made for the day is that everyone take a pink helium balloon for her.

As we are a 10 hour round trip from my family, they suggested that we not make the trip, but that we celebrate her life at the same time here in Cornwall, as the service in Bournemouth.

I ordered the pink balloons from Clinton's, and went up to collect them at 11am on the day. The girls in the shop were wonderful. As soon as I walked in they knew that I was the lady wanting the pink balloons for a funeral. Whilst one of the girls went to get them for me, the girl on the til (who was not there when I ordered them, so I had not met) advised me that they thought we might like some little pink cards to attach to each balloon with our messages, and so they had put some in the balloon bag for me. Needless to say, their kindness bought a few tears on my part.

I had also bought some blow up balloons to make the numbers up to 16, and attached them to the helium balloons and tied them all in a 'bouquet' ready for the release later.

Sally-Ann and Mike arrived at our home at 12 midday, ready for the drive up to Carn Brea.
The weather was glorious, and despite the chill in the air, which meant that I covered up my pink jumper with my hideous jacket, the walk up to the monument showed up views for miles.

We then took the photo's for Sandra, so that I could send them to her, to show what we had done for Emily

Having waited for the release time, which San had advised would be 1pm or just before, we counted to 3 and I released the balloons into the atmosphere.

They took off in the direction of the Lizard, and lifted higher and higher into the sky

It was a beautiful sight to see, and such a wonderful tribute to our special little girl.

RIP Emily Charlotte Rose, we love you so much.

Doors and Windows!

Forgive me, for forgetting to get a before picture, but I was side tracked, ordering Emily's flowers!

Sooooo: the old door came out after some pretty heavy duty banging and pulling on behalf of the window / door fitter. These had only been organise two weeks ago, and suddenly it was all happening, and we would soon have a watertight door.

Before long the framework had gone into place, and everything was screwed in

and it was just finishing strips to completed the door and make it all beautiful one more!

Then it was off upstairs to the bathroom - normally a very cold and draughty place as the seals on the previous window did not work!

out came the old one - leaving a pretty awful gap

and in went the new one. - Beautiful! Once the new sill was in place it made the bathroom a haven of warmth.

Great job, messy, but worth it. I want some of the others doing now that's the only problem! Think we need to save up and do them one at a time!

A Huge, Huge Shock

I found out this morning (7th) that my beautiful, beautiful, 16 year old cousin, and our god daughter, passed away on Friday evening (5th).

I was actually chatting with my Aunt on the phone at the time, and she said to me that she had to go, as Emily was being sick.

It turns out that she was choking.

There was nothing that my Aunt could do, and the paramedics could do nothing either.

I am posting this retrospectively one week later (today is the 14th) as I have been unable to bring myself to think about this shocking event without breaking down.

We chose Emily for our family. When I say we chose her, she was adopted by my Aunt and Uncle when she was a few weeks old. Her birth mother did not feel she could cope with a Downs Syndrome child, which is such a shame, but by the same token, very lucky for our family. She was such a joy to be around, and so very loving.

We had the honour of becoming her godparents.

I have just been told today (14th) that her 'party' and celebration of her life, or funeral for those of you who are more traditional, will be on the 23rd. At 1pm we shall be releasing pink helium balloons into the air in her memory.

We love you so much Emily Charlotte Rose. Now you can be with Nanny, Grampi and Uncle Alan - I now you will keep them in line!

Hospital Visit

We had some bad news last night. Paul's Dad has taken a turn for the worse. His chemo seems to be really affecting him, and his kidneys are objecting.

He was taken into Royal Cornwall, so that they could keep an eye on him, and rehydrate him.

Having parked up on the park and ride, we got off the bus at the hospital, and made our way towards Trelawney Wing. As we were walking up we could hear the helicopter coming in to land on the helipad just behind us.

I could not decide if I was being morbid or not, but either way I was fascinated at watching a helicopter come in to land to close to where I was, and so got out my trusty BlackBerry to get some clicks!

Having taken my pictures we walked on through to see Mel, and found that his room overlooked the helipad.

It transpires that the copter was coming in for tea break, according to the nurse who was checking on him, so I felt it would be OK to post these pictures, nowI knew that no-one injured was on board.

Mel is undergoing loads of re hydration and may need a transfusion before continuing chemo, but doing better since arriving here.

Feel better soon. xx

Sally-Ann's Birthday

It's Sally-Ann's birthday today, and we met up for a meal at the Portreath Arms to celebrate.

This place is a definite favourite of ours to eat. The food is always good and prices are very reasonable.

Having eaten our rather lovely meal, we then headed back to theirs for some scrummy chocolate birthday cake.

A lovely way to spend a birthday with friends.

Happy Birthday, Sally-Ann xx