❤️ Engagement ❤️ and Other Things…

Congratulations Ads and Charlotte! Ads took Charlotte to Norway for their three year anniversary, and proposed to her there! Of course, she said yes ❤️

I can’t believe it is the 6th and I’m still not well. Whatever infection I have has caused a super, super itchy rash to develop over my body. The pharmacist thought it was shingles but I’ve never had chicken pox and, anyway, it’s over different areas of my body not just one side. So not shingles. Possibly chicken pox but its trajectory is different from chicken pox as I’ve had the rash now for ten days and so it should be improving, or at least be less itchy, which it isn’t. The pharmacist ended up giving me some antihistamine which I’ve been taking religiously for five days but there has not been any improvement. Darn it, I’m going to have to go to the doctor’s and I hate going to the doctor’s 😢

Insomnia Clinic

I had my second appointment at the insomnia clinic and they have ruled out a circadian rhythm disorder. The specialist wants me to get tested for some sort of neurodivergency since I’ve struggled to sleep since birth. There are also lots of other pretty obvious signs from my childhood that I perhaps don’t experience the world as others do. My mum always thought there was something different but in those days things like autism were in their infancy of understanding and you couldn’t get tested like you can today. Anyway, the sleep specialist feels that I show signs of being neurodiverse and if I got a diagnosis it might open doors for treatment options for my sleep that might not otherwise be available to me. Double darn it! I shall have to go to the doctor’s in order to be referred…and I hate going to the doctor’s 😭

Christmas

Whatever infection I have began on Christmas Day so I have no photos at all from then onwards. Christmas didn’t really feel like Christmas this year because we were all unwell to varying extents. I did however, get some Christmas Eve photos, so I shall leave them here. We have traditions we do each year and this year was no exception. Christmas Eve means Christmas pyjamas, Nativity scene cookie decorating, a roast pork dinner and sitting together watching The Muppet’s Christmas Carol. This year, everyone was here, including Thomas, Jess and JJ. We had a blast and I am so grateful we got at least one good day together. Anyway, here are the photos. Enjoy!

Happy, happy days…and then we all became ill with at least two (and probably three, if my rash is anything to go by) infections which floored us for the week ahead.

Reading Books

I’ve published a Books Read Page #ad, so if you want to take a look at the 100 or so books I read last year, please do. I’ll be adding more for this year. Speaking of which, I finished ‘The Body Keeps the Score’ by Bessel van der Kolk #ad. Oh my goodness! An amazing book! Such an eye opener for those dealing with trauma. I can’t recommend it enough. He has a really unusual outlook on people who have experienced trauma, borne from many years counselling such people. This may be a book I return to for my final master’s assignment this year.

In the coming year, there are a few books that I want to go through again and annotate, the book above being one of them. I think I’ll also annotate The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting by Jane Mitchell and Sarah Naish (primarily from a master’s point of view because I’d like my final essay to be about parenting children who have had trauma in their lives) and The Circadian Code by Dr Satchidananda Panda, to support the work I’m doing with the insomnia specialists.

Silhouette Cutting Machine

Gary bought me a surprise for Christmas! I’m not a surprise kind of woman. I really don’t like surprises. Given the last time Gary bought me a surprise it was a toy drill, I wasn’t holding much hope. To give you some context, I have been nagging Gary for a proper drill for almost all of the 25 years I’ve been married to him. He refuses every single time…the reason being is that about six months into our marriage I borrowed his drill to make some holes in the wall to hang a couple of large paintings. I mean, ‘how hard could it be?’ I asked myself. He made it look so easy. 

Unfortunately, although I managed to drill the drill into the wall, as I tried to drill it out again the drill bit snapped off and remained in the walls. Ahem. So, he’s never let me use his drill again. And we have a running joke that if he bought me a drill of my own I could still drill and not ever break his drill. Last year he became so bored of hearing me beg for a drill he bought me one! I was so excited to see it until I realised it was plastic and came with a warning that I had to be over 18 months to use it!

The Infamous Toy Drill

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I opened this year’s present from him. This time, however, I was bowled over! It was a Silhouette cutting machine! I can now make my own stickers from home and I am so excited!! That said, I’m not very quick at learning any new skill and I’m useless at reading instruction booklets. After watching a few instructional videos on how to operate the machine, I gave it a go. And another go. And another one after that. Each try I got a bit closer to achieving what I wanted to create and on Sunday I finally managed to make my own die cut stickers which were cut cleanly and all the way through:

I am SO pleased with how the stickers came out, and am very excited to try and make stickers with all my designs.

This week’s video is a studio vlog where you can see my utter failures as well as my eventual success. I also had a few failed attempts at using the Silhouette to cut my bookmarks. I’m really struggling to figure out how to print double-sided bookmarks. I can never get the backs to match the front in terms of position. So far, I’ve managed to make some lovely one-sided ones:

Clay Models of George, my Logo Bird

My final mini project was to make some clay birds to turn into magnets/keyrings and/or pins. I ordered a cookie cutter and printer from a 3d printer Etsy shop. Whilst I was impressed by the resulting items, but actually think the birds are a bit big to turn into pins:

I may order a second smaller one. First though, I need to change the colour as two of my daughters asked me why George was red instead of a deep plum colour. Also, I need to figure out a way to sand them down before I varnish them. As they stand, I don’t feel they are good enough to sell…but this was my first attempt so I shall just keep practicing until they are just right 🧡

My latest studio vlog is out if you fancy taking a look:

Master’s Degree

I’m running a bit behind on my master’s right now. I have an assignment due 19th January and I’m doing okay with that. I’ve already written it, I just need to get rid of 2/3 of the words! I’m not particularly worried about that, but I am about a week behind on the actually course work because I’ve just not felt well enough to be able to concentrate on something which requires so much concentration to just understand. So I’ve avoided it and procrastinated by making stickers with my new Silhouette! This coming week, I need to knuckle down and really focus on getting up to date with the work. I see a few late nights in my future…

What did you get up to last week?