We're all set.

Thanks for all your comments and emails re my last quandary! It's been helpful; it isn't just the advice itself it's also the knowledge that people care enough to pass it on =)

We've come to compromise. A wee bit of one, at least.

If mum is coming to stay with us next week then we need to move the cats for next week anyway. So we're taking them with us and if they just can't take it at my place we'll return them with mum in a week's time. Mum says she'll be ok without them so long as they are ok and settle.

As she pointed out, if she's selling her place and moving up to be near us (something that's been in progress for a while now- a buyer has been found for her house, but now that buyer has to find a buyer for his before things can move....) this means that the cats will have to move to a new territory at some stage anyway.

I've bought two new carriers for them, slightly larger than the old one but still small enough to be cosy and "safe". They are also designed to be used with a seatbelt in a car, so we'll all be going in the car together rather than booking a pet taxi.

The new space-age carrier.... a pink one for Fluffy, orange for Scooter =)
So far they are unimpressed.

The carriers arrived dismantled and it took a wee while to put them together. Both cats sat in front of me looking utterly bemused, then refused the newly built prisons and duly set up home in the packaging.

Hmmmm.... good job I bought the "Large" size.....

I can't believe that I've been away from home for nearly 3 weeks now. I wonder how it will feel to be home. Warmer, certainly, as the central heating guys were in fixing the system when all this happened. I want to get back and see what it all looks -and feels- like!

Mum is looking forward to next week. She said, "It will be like a holiday for me."

Geesh I hope Luvbug has done some cleaning.

Foundation building....

Love this photo. Not one of mine. Can't remember where it comes from!

Well, this bug must really love me because it just doesn't want to let go!!! Just as I think it's gone, another symptom comes back. This has been going on since January 2nd now. Grrr....

Yesterday I was out and about, feeling fine. Then, in the evening, the stomach bug part of it came back. Today, the bad throat is back too. It must be a circular bug. Round and round we go. Oh boy!

Hence, I haven't been able to post all the lovely photo's from Ireland that I had hoped to have done by now. I haven't done any crafting, either :( We've had no luck at all with getting someone in to give an estimate for a new heating system, so my craft room/study is still pretty much out of bounds.

I've been occupying myself doing a spring clean. I used to tell myself, do one room a day. And I used to find the job of organising, tidying and deep cleaning really frustrating and stressful. This time I'm telling myself something slightly different: do one room at a time. Ha! Little change there, see it? But a nice one. No pressure.

And whereas, in the past, I would have started with the rooms most used and most needed, this time I've started with the spare bedroom. By starting with the least used room, getting that one cleared and organised, you then have space for all the stuff you move from tidying the other rooms! Ta-daarr!!!

So obvious. Why didn't I think of that before?

I'm looking forward to me being 100% well, to the house being nice, and then settling down to a routine that includes regular crafting and writing: January is my getting ready month, I've decided.

Thank you for all your emails. Sorry if I haven't responded yet. Emailing is another thing that has taken a back seat. As has blogging. But this doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about the people who visit and get in touch. All those names and nicknames mean a lot to me. I hope you all come back. I hope my absence doesn't mean you forget about me!

Take care; hope you don't have the bug!

A few cards, and lots of heating problems!

One rotten side effect of having a bug at the start of the year is that all the good intentions you had stored up for "new Year" get sidelined. It's hard to stay psyched up for them.

Hence, my intention to lose weight was put off with "not while I have a cold, I'm going to treat myself!" The one about tidying up and re-organising much of the house had to be dropped and the one about crafting and writing seems a long time ago now!

But the calendar keeps pushing forward and new, important dates come around... 4 birthdays this week! Here are two cards I managed to make last night, one for my mum, the other for a friend I made in an online depression support group 9 years ago (good grief! NINE years???? It can't be!)

I used the last of the papers Julie sent me in the one for my mum (above). I like the ribbon- I'd seen something similar in craft shops but it was very expensive. This one was 90p a metre (about $1.75 for 40 inches) at a traditional haberdasher's shop in Colchester.
I decorated the envelopes and the insides this time, too...

-I haven't met Donna (yet?) but she has been a great friend over the years. She has MS and has ups and downs with that. At the moment she isn't too well. Her husband, John, is a vet and they have adopted lots of animals- 11 dogs at the last count, lots of semi-feral cats out in a barn, plus a family of gliders (google them, they're really cute!).

Luvbug bought me these metallic watercolours for Christmas:-he let me have them early so that I could do these cards, one for his mum, one for mine :)
I only started making cards last August, so I've done mainly Christmas cards. I'm feeling a bit lost now I'm to make 'normal' ones. I suppose there is Valentine's and Easter coming up though.... I have been visiting a few crafty sites (see list, left) for inspiration and to get back into the mood. Seeing what others are doing, I feel more left behind than ever!

The study/craft room, where I organised all my arty stuff, is as cold as the garage. I made these sprawled across the living-room floor, in front of the fire! Remember the heating engineer that came and went? He left us with one working radiator, out of nine. Unfortunately it wasn't one of the downstairs ones.

As an experiment, I left a plug-in radiator switched on in the study last night. I went in there today around noon. The heater had been on its highest setting for about eleven hours, and had barely made any impression at all; still too cold to work in there, even with fingerless gloves. OK, I can put on extra layers, but I would still be breathing in cold air. With asthma, that isn't a good idea!

It's really frustrating to have parts of the house you can't use. It starts to affect how tidy the rest of the place is- you know where things need to go, but put off taking them there because it means opening doors to draughts and freezing cold rooms.

We've put our heating problems on the 'rated people' site, hoping for a few quotes from engineers. Hope we can get it sorted soon.

I want to get stuck into things before long, as I am starting to feel the year slipping away from me. I want to shout, "Wait for me! Come back!" but I need some damn heating, and to shift this cold/bug once and for all, first. I'm wary of getting bored, as boredom really does lead to depression.

Soooo frustrating....