Weekend whizzing by …..

Once again another weekend has disappeared in a flash! I think we need to add more time to these days - you can never get done what you plan to! 

Yesterday was filled with flitting to all different places and meeting different people. A trip to the vets first thing - just a booster injection for Squid .......(she's the one on the far left looking at the camera)......

......then home to collect DH to take him to the garage to collect the van. Woohoo, we got the van back! Yay! I dropped DH off without waiting at the garage as I was carrying on to visit my mum who I haven't seen for a while because I've been so busy. 

After a lovely catch up and sandwich (thanks Mum) it was time for me to head in to town to meet up with a long lost cousin of mine who moved to Italy 16 years ago. It was quite strange seeing her as neither of us really remembers the other as we were both young when our families stopped being in touch. We had a good chat about previous family fall-outs, and what we're both doing now and the strange coincidences that have meant we are in touch now - being on Facebook with my crafts meant that another of my cousins saw it, mentioned it, and put us in touch. Not only that, but I work with the sister of her friend from school! Small world ......

After leaving my cousin I then headed off to do some shopping and called in to see DD who proceeded to do me a quick makeover at her makeup counter before I could finally head home. 

Phew - what a day!

Today has been a little bit more relaxed - a bit of shopping, a bit a van cleaning, and a bit of crafting .......some pretty rainbow earrings to go with the bracelet and necklace.....

......and some more beaded dangle earrings .....

All this followed by a delicious meal and a lovely dog walk in the sunshine.  

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend whatever you've been doing. 

Now it's time to face Monday morning ....

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Countdown

It's Thursday already. I seem to have missed Wednesday. Maybe because I was on a training day at work yesterday, and then with DD being off work it threw all plans out of the window as she wanted to do other stuff. 

After Line dancing on Monday night I've been trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to get some crafting done. Tuesday night I opted to take Oscar for a lovely walk over the fields as it was such a glorious night......

.......unfortunately what I hadn't realised was that all the nice weather and rain had made the grass grow a little bit........

Poor Oscar ended up wandering through a jungle! 

Then last night was taken up with brushing Oscar thoroughly to get rid of the rest of the bits in his fur! He looks lovely now though. 

Today was my long day at work. And then a dash home to let Oscar out and back out to pick DD up from the station as it was her day to have a training day, except hers had been in Manchester. 

Tomorrow is a Ladies that Lunch meet up again - time to catch up with everything that we don't get chance to discuss at work. 

And then that brings us to Saturday, and another lovely weekend ........and hopefully some crafting at last!

Weekend gardening and crafting

This weekend has been all about crafting and gardening for a change. No walking. No van still. But time to catch up with other stuff, in particular the 5 foot high thistle that DH dug up today! Both of us set about tacking the weeds that have been steadily increasing over the last few weeks. It was hard work, but needed to be done, and the garden looks loads better now. 

Aswell as weeding I also planted up my camper planters that my mum bought me for Christmas - time to get rid of some old pots and bring in some cheery new ones .....

They look fab outside the patio doors! I also planted up the tubs to go outside the front of the house (I'll take a photo when they look a bit more settled). My tomato plants are doing really well too .....

....so we should be in for a good crop this year. I'm thinking it could be a chutney making year again like it was a few years ago when we had a glut of tomatoes .....

Yesterday I spent most of the day crafting. I haven't had many full days recently where I've been able to set up and just craft. So I did a lot of painting yesterday .....

.....and managed to finish a friend for Splodge - meet Cleo! Pretty pink Cleo. 

I have to say they look quite cute together......

And to finish the weekend off, I made a delicious lemon cake after tea. I haven't done any baking for weeks and really miss having homemade cakes and biscuits (not so good for the diet though).

I don't think the cake will last long .....

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Little Splodge

We have no van this week. DH took it to the garage on Monday for its MOT and we were told it needs a bit of work doing on it to get it through, plus a few advisory jobs. As we need the van for our holiday in a few weeks, we've left the van to get everything done. I don't think I fancy the idea of the clutch or brakes going when we're in the middle of nowhere! So, no van over the weekend = no wild camping for us either. Time to catch up on jobs at home instead! 

I finally got to finish my first painted wooden shape yesterday. A cat. A nice round cat. Reminded me of one of our first cats, especially when I painted it black. So meet Splodge .......

.....he comes with or without a ribbon collar and tinkly bell ......

I think he's quite cute. I have plans to make more little cats, all in different colours and styles (just need to find the time to do them!). I'm happy with my first attempt though, and enjoyed making him. 

I'm now on countdown to our holiday, even though it's not for a couple of weeks or so. I've started a 'food bag' for the van, so we've got a few bits to keep in - store cupboard items I guess - pasta, beans, coffee, dried milk powder. We have no idea where we'll end up - that's the fun of having the van, being able to take off and go wherever. Not long to go now......

Leicester again.

After working all day yesterday DD set off for Leicester, aiming to drive there herself for the first time. She normally gets the train there to see her boyfriend (or, as was the case last weekend, we took her part way).  She was only staying for one night, just to get the driving experience more than anything, but it meant taking two vehicles - her car that she was driving, and our van, as we would be driving back with her today and needed the van so that we could have a wild camp night. We'd decided that I would sit in with DD until she got to Keele motorway services, and then DH would sit with her for the rest of the journey. So DH got to drive the van for the first bit, then I took over when we swapped. 

We'd already sorted out where we were going to be staying over - another pub stop just outside Leicester, and one still serving food until 10pm as we knew we were going to be late. So, a pint and a decent meal later we set the van up for the night, and of course, Oscar went straight under our bed in to his little den for the night.  

This morning we had a quick brew before leaving the pub carpark and heading out to Watermead Country Park north of Leicester. We don't really know the area so had asked DD to ask her boyfriend if he knew of any local country parks, and this was one of his suggestions. So we sat and had bacon butties while looking across a lovely lake, watching the ducks and moorhens. Lovely! 

After breakfast we set off walking with Oscar and had a lovely two hour walk round. 

We managed to find a few geocaches, and saw some very cute ducklings ......

......and some large stone shapes .......

......and even had an ice cream part way round!

DD met us for lunch, and then we all set off, with DD and DH together for the first bit, and then me with DD for the motorway bit. 

So DD has now successfully driven to Leicester and back, and seems more or less OK with it. It means she won't have to rely on trains to get her there and back (there have been quite a few delays on recent train journeys for her), and builds up her confidence on driving on strange roads (and it's given us some lovely nights away in the van!). 

And I'm now sat with 3 of my 4 cats on my knee!!

Gizmo

Those of you who have read my earlier posts will have read about Gizmo's trips to the vets this year. She was diagnosed with kidney problems and also ended up having most of her teeth out. Since then she has been on regular medication and a special diet. When we got home on Saturday after our pub stopover it was clear that Gizmo wasn't well at all. She was refusing to eat and just wanted to curl up in her bed. She spent most of Sunday sleeping, and finally left us Sunday night. She was 17 and a half, a good age for any cat to get to. 

She was our first pedigree cat back in the early days of us having our first house together. We knew nothing about pedigrees, breeding or showing. Gizmo accepted further feline additions to the family with no problems at all - she was the one cat we could rely on to get on with any of the other cats, even when we had fall-outs between any of the others, Gizmo would be able to walk in and stay calm. 

Those of you who are familiar with the GCCF may remember years ago when the Tonkinese breed was trying to gain Championship status. They needed to get through the provisional status and needed cats to win IC's. Gizmo was the first Tonkinese in the UK to be awarded 3 IC's and start the breed off on their journey. This achievement,however, appeared to upset a few people in the Tonkinese world - we weren't breeders and we were very new on the scene. The fact that a well known breeder's cat didn't claim the first IC's was something that people appeared to take offence to. But whatever they thought, they can't take away the fact that our Gizmo did it. 

We have known since her diagnosis that she probably wouldn't have a long time with us. I suppose you always hope they will live a little longer. But it was her time. She had decided. We have lots of happy memories of her - eating hair bobbles, shouting at me. And while I love all my cats, Gizmo will always be my special girl. 

Pub stop!

After having a long day at work on Thursday, Friday saw us heading south on the M6 with DD, heading for Uttoxeter. The plan was to hand DD over to her boyfriend at a designated stop, then they could carry on to Leicester, and we could carry on to a pub stop that DH found. It all worked out quite well - we all found the designated stop, and the pub stop we were using was lovely - The Saracens Head at Weston. What a lovely place. The food was good and the carpark was level and quiet (things to look at when staying in the van). Oscar went to bed no problem......

.....so all in all a good night. 

Saturday morning we headed out to Cannock Chase for a walk. Having never been to this area before we didn't know what to expect. But the sun was shining, we made bacon butties for breakfast, and off we went.  

It was a lovely area to walk round, and we did a bit of geocaching on the way round, finding 4 caches!

Part way round we were amazed to see not one, not two or three, but four deer run across the path in front of us!!!! I was so shocked I didn't even think about taking a photo - it was so unexpected!!

The weather was beautiful - blue sky and lots of sun. We ended up sitting next to a stream for lunch which Oscar loved .....

And then back to the van for a brew before heading off to see DH's mum for her birthday, and then back home.........ready for another week!  

Half way there …..

I don't know how these Wednesday's keep coming round so quick - mid-week and it's June too! It'll soon be Christmas at this rate! It's been a lovely day today too - sunny for much of it. It was a beautiful evening for taking Oscar out for a walk tonight ...... 

......we took a slightly different route tonight and headed across a couple of fields. Poor Oscar was nearly hidden in the tall grass!  

I was Line Dancing on Monday after missing about 3 weeks, so crafting time is snatched whenever I can. I've managed to make another bracelet this week.......

.....something bright again. I love the rainbow coloured beads you can get, and am trying to think of all sorts of different ways of using them. And then I managed to wire up a few beads tonight to add to my stock. And here's a peek of what I was painting ........

I'm waiting for more bits to arrive so that I can put everything together, but aren't they cute?! 

We have the prospect of a night away in the van this weekend too. DD is going to Leicester to stay with her boyfriend - we're taking her part-way which will be too far for us to head home, so we'll be parking up somewhere for food and sleep. And then hopefully a nice walk on Saturday, weather permitting. 

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