Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 22

A Week Of #Pet Chaos, #Crafting, And Organizing + Medical Mutterings + A #Sale Reminder And #AmWriting

Somehow I have a lot to post about, even though it's mostly been a pretty quiet week, with only day to day chores, food shopping, and other such tasks to fill most days, which there really isn't anything to say about, since they were uneventful.  Not that I'm complaining... Uneventful is generally a good thing, especially when it comes to things like doing housework, getting food, making sure bills are paid, etc.

     

~

     

Even the weather has been pretty quiet - or, it had been until Wednesday.  Most of the week it's been quite chilly (not incredibly cold, but there's definitely still a nip in the air) but with the sun trying to shine. Until Wednesday, when the rain decided to return, followed by some very strong gusts of wind. 

    

*~*~*

     

Of course, there was the incident - technically last week, but I didn't mention it last Friday, since I'd already scheduled that post before it happened, so I'm counting it in this week's events - where Artemis' heat lamp bulb went before we'd had a chance to go get a replacement ready for when it would need changing, which meant an emergency trip out to fetch a new one fast - especially since the chilly weather meant her vivarium temperature was dropping steadily, which is a bad thing, especially for a tortoise as young as Artemis.

  

We'd have had the spare ready, only Kelly couldn't remember the wattage when he did last month's petshop run, and I forgot to ask Dad to pick one up when he took Wayne to get supplies for Gizmo a couple of weeks later (Gizmo is Wayne's Leopard Gecko... He also has a Staffie x Wippet named Maya).

 

This time I actually brought an extra spare bulb when I brought the replacement, and I think I will make a point of keeping a spare bulb on hand from now on.  Hopefully then we can avoid a repeat of that incident.

     

~

     

While I was out, Logan was getting upset and under foot (this is normal for him... Logan really hates me leaving him, even if it's only for a short time) and Kelly managed to fall over him.

 

Logan is fine.  Kelly has a cut and some bruising on one leg, but is otherwise fine.  The shoe rack Kelly landed on... Yeah, that's now kindling (I'm only slightly exaggerating).  Needless to say, we had to buy a new shoe rack.  But at least Logan is fine, and Kelly is mostly fine, though it's going to be a while longer before the cut on his leg is fully healed.

     

*~*~*

     

 On the subject of medical stuff: we're now finally registered with the local doctor.  Why it was so much hastle, especially considering we've been registered with them in the past, I have no idea.  But it was. 

 

For some reason - and nobody seems to understand why, apart from them, including the doctor I was with in Hastings - they decided I had to get hold of my NHS number for them if I wanted to get registered.  Having literally never needed it, I wasn't even aware I had one (I knew about the hospital X number, which you never need to look up yourself, since the hospital can find it using your name and date of birth, but this is a different one).  What followed was a lot of messing about, ending in me quite literally spending three hours solid trying to get to speak to someone at my old surgery so I could ask them for it.  Then another half an hour trying to get hold of the new surgery to give it to them.  Loads of fun... Not! 

 

At least we're registered now.  Got a letter confirming it and everything. 

 

Now, since I actually have a doctor again - the same one I had before moving away from the area, if you're interested in knowing that random fact - maybe I can get my inhalers refilled before the spares I luckily had on hand from when I was given new ones before the old ones needed to be thrown away (when they kept giving me inhaler refills every time I needed something else, such as my iron tablets, even though I hadn't asked for them and didn't yet need them) run out.  But, of course, they can't make things simple, can they? I have to show them the inhalers or proof I have them prescribed to me first, and even then I can't have them refilled until after I talk to their asthma nurse, who I can't talk to until March 24th.  So, I booked a telephone appointment with the asthma nurse for the morning of March 24th.  It's April I'm going to need new ones by, so in theory this will give me plenty of time to get new ones before my last set runs out.  Let's hope it works that way in practice too.

     

~ 

      

I got an invitation to book my Covid vaccination... In Hastings. 

 

I guess they never got the memo I moved. 

 

When I called the new doctor to tell them about it, I discovered I'm also on the list and due to be contacted in the near future for the county I'm in.  So, apparently I've ended up on both areas' lists. 

 

I asked them what to do about a concern I have regarding whether or not I should have it.  It's got nothing to do with the stuff you hear about the jabs, or being against them or anything, since I don't believe the rubbish about them, and I think they're a very good thing.  My concern is that I react badly to flu jabs - badly enough that it was agreed I'd be best not having them in future - and since flu-like symptoms are a common side-effect of this one, I worry about how ill I'm going to end up after it.  I get that there are benifits to having it, but I need to weigh the risks to myself here, and given my issue with flu jabs I'm incredibly reluctant to have the shot, despite the benifits.  Anyway, they said those doing the vaccinations would be able to answer the question of whether it's a good or bad idea for me to have the shot better, so I should book the shot, and ask them about it when I show up (before I let them actually stick the needle in me).  So, I guess that's what I'll do, since it's either that or just refuse to get the shot.  Initially that was my plan - I'm terrified of getting this shot, because how I react to flu jabs has me more than a little concerned having the Covid Vaccination will result  in me ending up ill enough to end upin hospital - so I was going to refuse the Covid vaccination, like I do the flu jab every year.  But I figure I should at least discuss it with them properly.  So, when I'm contacted by the right county, I will.

 

Oh, and both my parents are scheduled to have their first shots this month (Mam tomorrow, and Dad a week later).

    

*~*~* 

      

In other news: both my craft boxes for March are here.

 

This month it's a macrame feathery wall hanging kit for the Cosy Craft Club one, and a natural soapmaking kit for the Makerly Crafts one - just in case you're interested in knowing what they were.

     

~

      

One of these days - I hope soon - I'll start working on the kits properly, and you'll get to see the finished products.  I definitely intend spending at least some time each week working on a larger variety of craft projects once the craft room is organized and I can do so, and those kits are among the things I want to work on.

  

Plus, Nan has a bunch of half finished projects among her craft stuff.  Once we've got everything organized, we're thinking we'll finish them for her.  Then we can frame or make use of them, depending on what the items are.  We think she'd like that, and it seems a shame to leave them unfinished.

 

Between those projects to finish for Nan, my craft kits, a selection of brand new craft kits Nan had among her stuff (which have been added to my kit collection) and some projects I've been thinking about myself in general, I'm definitely going to have plenty of projects to keep me busy.

  

In the meantime, I'm still working on sloly making that crochet scarf, and knitting the toy I'm making because I plan to gift it to someone.  The latter of which I would have finished by now, but I had less of the purple cotton yarn left after making my tea cosy than I thought, spacifically want it to all be in that colour, so had to wait for more to show up so I could finish it.  The extra yarn should be here by the time this goes live, so I might have that ready to show you next week though.  The person it's for doesn't read my blog, so I can go ahead and show you even before she has it.

     

~

     

Speaking of the craft room, and Nan's supplies: Dad brought more of Nan's craft stuff over, so - between those things and the stuff I hadn't gotten to before, all of which needed to be sorted through and organized - I've been continuing to work on organizing the craft room.  Thankfully some of Nan's supplies came with a set of those drawers on wheels, and I brought another set of them to go with the ones I already had, so that's helping with finding places for the smaller and lighter items, which then ckeeps the shelves available for the larger or heavier items, as well as my collection of kits waiting to be done (which take up a few shelves by themselves, despite being in small boxes). 

  

We've also been working in the computer room, since we got the rest of the shelves for in there.  We're going to need to properly organize the books later - and not just the boxes of audiobooks Dad also gave me from Nan's stuff - since we're concentrating more on getting them on the shelves that are for them than making sure they're in the right order at the moment.  On the one hand, organizing them properly as we put them on the shelves would save some time later.  On the other hand, I'd love to stop falling over boxes.  So, we decided when it came to the books we'd just focus on getting them on their shelves, only making sure each book is shelved in the correct area for now, and go back and organize them properly later.  Well, apart from a spacific large set of graphic novels Kelly has, which he had to organize, because the spines form an image when they're in the right order, and it bothered him that the image didn't look right, so he insisted on taking the time to put those in the right order... All 152 of them (at least, I think that's how many are in the collection).  I don't mind though, since they needed to be organized sooner or later anyhow, and it's one less thing to do later.

 

Books are the one exception to my proper organization of the craft room right now too, since all craft related books and magazines are going in there, but I'm not worrying about organizing those properly right now, just putting them on the shelves.  The rest of the craft stuff, however - what was originally mine, and what I've inherited from Nan - is being properly organized as I unpack it.

      

*~*~*

      

Speaking of books: don't forget there's still time to grab some eBook bargains in the Smashwords Read An EBook Week sale.  If you missed hearing about it, check out my post from Sunday for details. 

     

*~*~* 

     Oh, and I have one more thing to share:

 

Though I didn't end up entering the Carrot Ranch Rodeo writing contest last month - which you may remember me posting about just before it started - since I wasn't feeling inspired and didn't manage to write anything I could submit for it, I did write and enter a poem for the Eros Open Mic contest I found out about from someone else.  And, guess what? Turns out I won.  YAY! 

 

I got some badge thingys I can display on my blog and website, bragging rights, and a year's free subscription to their Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores magazine.  Here are my badges:

The 12th Annual #Smashwords #ReadAnEBookWeek

 The 12th annual Read An eBook Week starts today over on Smashwords!

All my books - poetry and children's stories alike - are enrolled at 50% off, with prices of $2.49 or less.

To check out my books, and grab your discounted eBooks, go to my Smashwords page. Coupon codes will automatically be applied at checkout.  However, if you do have any trouble with that happening, simply enter the coupon code EBW50 at checkout.

 

The sale runs from today through March 13th, which means you have seven days in which to take advantage of it.  So, hurry, before you miss your chance to get your hands on my eBooks at discounted prices!

~

I always make all my books available in all formats Smashwords offers, which includes both MOBI and ePub.  In fact, among the format options is even a HTML version, which can be read by your web browser (regardless of which web browser you happen to be using).

In other words: regardless of your eReader of choice - whether Kindle, Nook, or something else - or even if you prefer to read on your computer, there should be a format available that works for you.

 

And a single purchase of the title automatically grants you access to all available formats.

~

Since this is a sitewide promotion, there are plenty of other authors also offering their books for sale this week.  So, head to the main sale page to check out all the awesome eBook bargains.

But hurry, because the sale only lasts seven days!

#Baking + #StDavidsDay + #AmWatching + #Knitting And #Crochet Projects + #Lockdown Exit Plans

Mam and I made some vegan rice pudding last weekend.

 

I haven't had a decent bowl of rice pudding in years, and definitely not since becoming vegan.  But between Mam making herself some recently, and a friend talking about it, I ended up really wanting some.  So we made some using coconut milk and coconut cream.  Here's a photo of a bowl of it, just because.

~

We also made some flapjacks, because I've got a lot of oats and Mam fancied making some.  Plus, I do love flapjacks.  We decided to put some chocolate on top, and tried to be lazy with putting a chocolate coating on the top by just sprinkling the vegan chocolate drops on top rather than properly melting them first, which didn't work quite as planned, so some parts of the chocolate are melted better than others.  But here's a photo of it still in the pan - before we cut it in to squares:

*~*~*

March 1st was St David's Day (Dydd Gwyl Dewi).  St David, for those who don't know, is the patron saint of Wales.  To celebrate, Mam and I made Welsh cakes.  This was our first time making vegan versions.  Here's a photo of them:

And here are the daffodils featured in that photo a couple of days later, once they'd opened up properly:

~

We also did a St David's Day pet photo shoot with Lilie, Izabel, Logan, and Artemis.

 

Mollie would have been included in the photos too, but she doesn't do photoshoots, and decided there was no way she was even coming out of her bed with all three dogs in the house.  Not that I blame her.  Besides, it was daytime, and she's never enthusiastic about getting up for anything in the day at the best of times.  Chinchillas are nocturnal, after all.

 

Anyway, here are the photos:

 

 

The shawl Lilie and Izabel are wearing was a baby shawl Mam brought, which is aesigned for a baby or toddler to have as part of the traditional Welsh costume.  Their bonnet was made by my Mam... It's the closest we could do to the bonnet or hat a little girl would wear while allowing for dog head shapes being different, and their ears needing space.  Logan's bowtie is a red hairbow.

Oh, and - for the benifit of anyone who knows tortoises shouldn't eat daffodils - I want to assure you that Artemis wasn't allowed to get any closer than she was in the photo to the daffodils, and was only out of my hands on that spot for long enough for my Mam to snap the picture (I literally let go long enough for the shot when Mam told me she was ready to take it, and then scooped up the tortoise).

*~*~*

I watched a movie called "Flora And Ulysses" recently.  It was very entertaining, but with a really sweet ending.  Only one thing spoiled it for me: William.

William is a blind character in the movie.  He's suffering from temporary blindness caused by stress.  Now, I don't know if they intentionally took all the myths about blind people and tried to make a joke out of them, or if they genuinely didn't have a clue that the myths about blindness are generally a load of rubbish.  Either way, how they did William's character was not only not funny, but it spoiled the movie for me.  Seriously people, if you're going to include a character with a certain disability, talk to someone with experience with the disability first, get your facts right, and learn what's appropriate to use for comedic material as regards that disability and the person's struggles because of it.

 

I loved everything else about it - there was even one scene with William I actually found funny - but because of how they portrayed William's character, it barely scrapes a four out of five stars from me.  And the only reason it gets four is that loving the rest of the movie means I can't bring myself to lower the rating to three stars.  It's a shame when something like that spoils an otherwise awesome movie.

~

I've also been watching the "A Series Of Unfortunate Events" series, which I'm loving.  It's different to the books - which I'm a big enough fan of that I've read them multiple times - in that some of the stuff we learn later in the books was going on behind the scenes is shown to the audience as it's happening in the show, but otherwise follows the books much more closely than the movie.  I struggle to only watch a single episode of it at a time, so am already almost done with the whole thing, even though I only started watching it on the weekend.  This show definitely gets five out of five stars from me.

*~*~*

 

I finally finished my tea cosy!

It wouldn't have taken me so long if I was spending more time each week working on crafts.  But it's done now anyhow, and here's a photo for anyone who'd like to see it:

~

Now I'm making a knitted toy I plan to gift someone, and working on finishing my crochet scarf.  Officially the crochet scarf is meant to be the main project now, but since I knit a whole lot quicker than I crochet, the knitted toy is coming together more quickly, and already about half done (the scarf is maybe about a quarter done - if that - at this point).

*~*~*

We're sort of still in lockdown here, but they're working on taking us out of lockdown slowly.  Numbers have been relatively low as regards infection and death rates from the virus (here in Wales especially) so the hope is that a slow end to lockdown will mean this really is an end to lockdown.

Of course, the whole of the UK still can't agree on things entirely, so how the process will be working naturally differs depending on where in the UK you live.  It's also subject to change if anyone in charge decides it's not working (in other words, if numbers start rising again).  The situation is to be evaluated at each stage to see how things are going.  But, wherever you are in the UK, the plan is basically to have all restrictions lifted by the Summer.  The Prime Minister gave a date in June, but since his dates apply spacifically to England, and I can't find a dated "roadmap" for Wales, I can't be sure what the Welsh government's date deadline is.  To be honest, I think they're hesitant to give one in case they can't stick to it, which is sensible.

~

I have to admit, I don't envy them the job of attempting to balance the needs of the economy with the threat of the virus.  Things like this are why I'd never want to be in charge.  Sure, making the rules might sound fun, but - as is often said - "With great power comes great responsibility."  And I don't think I'd like to be the one with that kind of responsibility resting on my shoulders.

 

Mind you, though I don't envy those in charge the task of figuring all this out, that doesn't mean I like or agree with certain decisions they've made.  I'm just not convinced I could do better, and wouldn't like to try.

#Poetry #Book In The Spotlight: "The Further Selected Poems of K Morris"

As I go,

I make footprints in the snow.

The red postbox continues to stand,

A symbol of a vanishing land.

 

Footprints will go,

Covered by snow.

And this dear England of mine—

Is it all in my mind?

 

~Above poem copyright © Kevin Morris

 

*~*~*

 

 

 

Book Description:

This little book consists of serious and humorous verses. The poems range from those dealing with nature and mortality, through to limericks and other humorous verses.

 

Book links:

To purchase the paperback edition please follow this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XL7YZ9H (for the UK).
Or to read a sample and/or buy the Kindle edition, please click here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XPMGD3F/ (for the UK).

To buy on amazon.com please follow these links https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPMGD3F/ (for the Kindle edition)
And https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XL7YZ9H/ (for the paperback).

February 2021 Random Ramblings

I have a bunch of random things to update you on today, so this is going to be a long-ish post.  It's not going to be an essay - if you know what I mean - but you might want to grab a cup of your favourite drink and get comfortable.  Maybe a snack too, since I talk about food at one point.

 

*~*~*

 

Logan is the kind of dog who will happily play by himself, as long as you're nearby.  He loves playing with people, adores cuddles, but will also play by himself.  He's really cute to watch, so we got a couple of short videos so you could see.  Here you go:

 

 

~

 

For some reason, Logan is also a big fan of rocks.  In fact, he's taken such a liking to them that he was utterly miserable when Kelly took his entire rock collection back outside where it belonged, and told him firmly that rocks belong outside.  In the end we had to allow him to have a rock or two in the house, because he was moping that much.  He was ecstatic with joy when he realized we were going to let him keep a rock after all.

 

As anyone who knows me won't be surprised to learn, Lilie and Logan have a box overflowing with toys, and get new ones regularly.  They even play with them - the short clips I just posted prove that.  And yet, despite that, my dog's favourite toy is a rock.  Not any of the countless balls, tuggies, etc, they own.  No.  A rock.  And any rock will do too... It's not like it's even one particular rock he wants.

 

*~*~*

 

The Lunar New Year was two weeks ago, and tonight is the first full moon of the year of the metal ox in the Chinese calender, so the lantern festivals to celebrate it will be held this evening - in case you're interested.

 

Personally, I was born in the year of the wooden rat.

 

*~*~*

 

Kelly had his eye on a teddy dressed as Ahsoka from Star Wars he'd spotted on Build-A-Bear when we were getting my Grogu plushy last month, so I brought it for him, and he got me a plushy of Toothless the dragon from How To Train Your Dragon.  Though we don't really worry too much about Valentine's Day, we used that to justify getting them right now.  Not that we really need an excuse to buy each other gifts, but it was a ready made one, so we used it, even though Valentine's Day isn't a big deal to us, as I mentioned in another post a few weeks ago.  Anyway, I intended having photos of Ahsoka and Toothless to put in this post, but we didn't get around to sorting those, so I'll show you them another time.

They both have a single sound chip.  Ahsoka has a sound chip to play the Imperial march sound, and Toothless has one to make six different sounds he makes during the movies.  Since we had no idea about birthdays to put on the certificates you get with the toys, we put the date we got married on them.

 

~

 

Despite Valentine's Day not being a big deal to us, Kelly made me a breakfast of vegan pancakes with maple syrup, plus a cup of tea, that morning.  He said he'd have brought it to me in bed, but with the dogs being the way they are that wasn't going to work.  He's not sure if they'd be more likely to spill it everywhere when they get excited, or eat it before I could do so.  I have to agree with him, unfortunately, and don't really know which would be more likely either.  It was a lovely breakfast anyhow, and a sweet thing to do, which meant more than any amount of cards and gifts would have.

 

Two days later he made me pancakes for dinner, since it was pancake day.  I enjoyed those very much too.

Vegan pancakes can be complicated recipes, but we opt for the simple version: two ingredient pancakes.  They can be vegan or not, depending on the milk you use.  All you need is flour and milk for the batter.  Then just grease your pan (we use vegan butter, but you can use either butter of your choice or oil of your choice) cook your pancakes, and top with whatever sweet or savory topping you desire.

*~*~*

I now get two craft subscription boxes.

 

At least, I will as from the start of March, which is when I'll get the first box from the new one.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  But... 

 

Someone told me - well, posted on Facebook where I could see it - about the Cosy Craft Club box, which is a similar idea to the Makerly Crafts one I already get.  Well, I couldn't resist.  Because, you know, you can never have too many craft supplies.  Right? Plus, happy post...

So, I subscribed to Cosy Craft Club this month, and will get my first box in March.  Since Makerly are moving their box from the middle of the month to the start of it, I'll get both boxes around the start of the month from now on.  Two new kits to add to my crafting stuff every month.  Maybe I don't need them - it's not like I'm short of crafting supplies.  But I want them, and I'm excited about having them.

~

 

Speaking of crafting supplies: I'm making great progress with getting the craft room organized.  There's still a bunch of stuff to sort, and Dad says he still has more to bring over to me when I've got the last of the current batch sorted, but it's getting there.  So is the computer room/study, which we've had to be working on at the same time, since we made some extra space - in fact, doubled the space - in the craft room by making room in the other room for the graphic novels and magazines Kelly had been planning to store in the craft room before we realized just how much crafting stuff I was inheriting.

I don't have progress photos for the computer room/study, since I didn't think about getting those until I was writing this post, and I want to get this scheduled.  But here's what the craft room looks like now:

 

 

 

We even opened up the bureau so you could see the stuff in the cubby holes of that.

 

I know it doesn't look like it's all that organized right now, but it really is much more organized than it was the last time you saw the room.  Honest.  I had hoped to get more of that unsorted stuff you see on the floor dealt with before I needed to get Kelly to take the photos for this post, but I didn't get a chance due to needing to do other things.

 

~

 

In other crafty news: I decided, since I inherited a whole load of crochet stuff from my Nan, I should at least attempt to learn how to do it.  So, that's what I did.

 

I watched some YouTube videos I saw being recommended to people who wanted to start learning to crochet - Bella Coco is good, explains things so clearly that I can follow most of what she's doing even without being able to see her showing us, and comes highly recommended by several people on some of the groups I'm on over on Facebook, if anyone else wants to use YouTube to learn - and then had my Mam show me the parts that were too visual for me to be entirely certain what the videos were showing me.  Between those videos and my Mam, I managed to figure it out well enough that I had something to show for my efforts by the next day.  And, here it is:

Surprisingly to both of us, neither of us got cross at the other when I was getting frustrated when I was initially struggling to get what I was meant to be doing.  That would usually be an issue, which is why it was Nan (Dad's Mother) who taught me to do crafts like knitting and sewing to start with.

Anyway, we did it using the same kind of  cotton yarn my tea cosy is being knitted with, from my personal stash.  I believe the colour is called ice blue.  It's one of Nan's hooks I'm using though, of course. 

 

I started off the chain, and once we'd established I could do that, my Mam did a couple of rows for me to show me what I was aiming for.  That part where it looks like we were doing fancy stitches was my first attempt at a row, where I learned that it really matters which way you wrap the wool around the hook.  We decided not to unpick it though, since that was the only fault, and it looked pretty.  The couple of rows after that I did with a lot of help from Mam.  But the final two rows I did completely solo after she'd gone home.  Took me about an hour to do each row, but at least I did it, even if my tension is all over the place, so my stitches are far from being neat and even.

~

 

Since then I've been swapping between my crochet project (I'm making it a scarf) and my knitted tea cosy.  I'm sure you won't be too surprised to learn that the knitting project is coming along faster, since having been doing that for many more years - I mean, Nan taught me to knit when I was about eight or nine - means it comes easier to me, so it takes me a lot less time to do a row of knitting than a row of crochet, even though there are a lot more stitches in each of my knitting rows for these current projects.  But there's progress for both, and I'm enjoying doing both, which is the main thing.

 

~

 

In yet more crafting related news: I joined a virtual crafting session via Zoom this past Saturday afternoon.

 

The Zoom session was being hosted by the person who does the Cosy Craft Club boxes, for members of her Facebook group of the same name (which you can be a member of even if you don't subscribe to the boxes).  At least, I think it was a members only thing, since you had to reply to a spacific post on there to get the details to join the session from her.  Apparently it's a regular thing.  You just do crafts - either work together on that month's craft box, or do whatever other craft you want to do at the time - while chatting.

 

I was torn about the idea of attending it.  I was unsure about whether I wanted to go, and made a point to warn of my irregular sleeping schedule ahead of time so that would justify my absence if I didn't show up.  On the other hand, the idea of spending an hour doing a virtual crafting session did sound fun, so I was kind of excited about the idea, and did want to go at the same time.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  It was my introvert side warring with the part of me that likes to connect with like-minded people.  It's how it always works for me: "YAY! People who enjoy the things I do.  I'll get to talk about things I love with them," immediately followed by, "OMG! People! I'll have to interact with them and everything!"

 

I'm sure the first mention of the session told you which side won though, and you already figured out that I went to the virtual crafting session.  Had a great time too.  In fact, I was so busy enjoying it that I was kind of surprised when someone announced the hour was already up, and I only left when the host ended the meeting almost quarter of an hour after the planned finish time.

 

And, yes, I do plan to join them again for future sessions, assuming they continue to do them, and I don't have a valid reason for not attending (like I have something else happening that needs to be more of a priority and can't be rescheduled for a different time or day, or I really am sleeping).

*~*~*

 

The first half of February was incredibly cold, with temperatures often dropping to -2 C or lower (not counting the windchill) even in the day.  I know it's been much colder for many people, but when it's 3:00am, -3 C with a windchill making it feel -10 C,  you're only wearing a pair of cotton pyjamas and flipflops, you've so far been out there for 20 minutes, and your dogs are in no hurry to go back inside, you really don't think beyond how cold it is for you at that moment in time.

 

Either the combination of the temperatures and wind chill are pushing it below even my cold tolerence, or I'm not as able to tolerate extreme cold as I used to be.  Either way, thick socks and other warm items of clothing have been very gratefully worn by me during trips outside with the dogs recently (at least, after those first couple of times when I didn't wrap up warmly and wished I had).  And even then I've generally been glad to come in to the warmth of the house when the dogs are finally ready to go back in too.

Kelly helped me with keeping warm by buying me a new hat.  I couldn't find mine, so said I'd need to find time to make a new one (I'd given people most of the ones I'd made in the past, and couldn't find the one I was sure I'd kept for myself).  One of the local shops had some for sale though, and he spotted a purple one when he was in there getting milk and such, so he grabbed me one.  Naturally though, it warmed up a few days later.  I appreciated the hat for those few days though, and at least it increases my chances of locating one the next time we have cold weather.

~

 

Before it warmed up, we got a little more snow.  It was on February 13th.  OK, so it was only a light dusting, which didn't come to much - there was maybe about an inch - and it was more ice than anything within a couple of hours.  But the weather reports said there would be snow, and there was, even if there was very little of it.  Anyway, this is what it looked like a little after 8:45am, right after it snowed (in fact, I think it was still snowing a littlewhen these were taken, though it stopped quickly afterwards).

 

 

~

 

Since then it's mostly been rainy.  But, hey, it is Wales, and Wales is good at rain.

*~*~*

I watched "Mary Poppins Returns" a couple of weeks ago.  It wasn't bad, but it was nowhere near as good as the first movie.  But that's often the case, isn't it? Anyway, I'd give it a tentative four stars out of five.  Tentative because it only just qualifies for the four stars in my opinion.

 

~

 

I also watched "Pride & Prejudice" (the 2005 movie).  It was pretty good, though I didn't love it.  I give it four out of five stars; a firmer four stars than "Marry Poppins Returns" got, but still only four stars.

*~*~*

I took a couple of photos of Artemis while I was playing with her this past Sunday (Feburary 21st).  She was enjoying some supervised out of vivarium time.  So, before I end this post, here they are:

#PetKid Posts: Lilie The #Westie's February 2021 Checkin And Vet Trip Report

 Hi everyone.  This is Lilie the Westie.

Mummy keeps stealing our posting slots, so I haven't been here myself lately, as you've likely noticed.  But this week I thought I'd stop by and say, "Hi," in the fur - so to speak.

~

Me and Logan love this new house.  The garden is great fun - especially when the white stuff falls from the sky - and running up and down the stairs is loads of fun too.  We love having all the extra space to play!

 

Also, we see Nana and Grandad lots.  They never stay long - which we're a bit sad about - but we think it's great that they come visit.  Me especially, since I love visitors! Mummy says they'll stay longer when we aren't locked down any more, which we still are right now - again.  I hope she's right, and we stop being locked down soon.  Even Logan, who got so used to seeing nobody but Mummy and Daddy because of Avirus, gets excited when Nana and Grandad come, and wishes they'd stay longer.  He's still not sure about other dogs coming near him, but Nana sometimes brings Izabel with her, and he's gotten better about being close to her without getting upset.  Mummy says maybe when we're not locked down any more we'll go see Maya again, or Uncle Wayne will bring her here, and Logan can start getting used to her too.  Hopefully he'll learn that being near other dogs besides me is a good thing.  Although, I love being his favourite, and am glad to hear Mummy saying I always will be.

 

~

 

We've had loads of that white stuff.  More than we ever did in all my life where we were before.

 

We love the white stuff they call snow! Even if it does make things smell all strange.

 

It's another thing we like about living here.  I hope we'll get to see lots more of that stuff... Especially since Mummy is like a puppy with it, so eager to take us outside in it loads and loads, which is fine with us.

 

~

Mollie and Artemis love it here too.  At least, I know Mollie definitely does - not surprisingly, since she's got a bigger cage here, and is in a great spot where she can see what's going on in the living room, or hide out of sight, depending on what she feels like doing.  And Artemis isn't having many of what Mummy calls, "Stompy days," so I think she must be happy here too.

 

~

 

 We got a bit worried at one point, because Mummy and Daddy were playing with boxes, and it looked like they were packing, so we thought we were going to have to move again.  We don't want to move again, so weren't happy to see them messing about with boxes we thought they were done with.

 

But they said it was OK, and it turned out it really was OK.  They were just moving things around, and using some of the boxes they hadn't thrown out yet to help move it.  Something about reorganizing some stuff to make room for all the interesting stuff Grandad keeps giving Mummy (which she won't let us play with, even though she says she's going to have fun playing with it... That doesn't seem fair to me, especially since I always share my toys with her).

 

It makes no sense to us, but as long as we aren't moving, that's OK.  Logan's still a bit worried, but he's always worried about something.  Not me.  I'm not the kind of dog to worry about things more than I have to.  There's too much excitement to be found in the world to waste time worrying about things.

*~*~*

 

In other news: me and Logan went to meet our new vet yesterday.

Nana took us and Mummy in her car, and brought Izabel too.

 

Nana has a special doggy seat for her car, which I was meant to ride in.  I hated it though, and when I had to ride in it on the way to the vet I kept trying to get out and wouldn't settle.  They'd said for me to go in it because I'm smaller than Logan (Nana has two seats in the car, one that Izabel was in, and the one that was meant to be for me) and for Logan to be the one who just had the harness atatched to the seatbelt, but I really hated that plan.  So, on the way home from the vet, Mummy and Nana decided to see if Logan would ride in the car seat better than I did.

 

It turned out he was eager to do so, and loved being in it, even though he only just fit.  Nana even took photos so you could see.  Here they are:

I was much happier with that arrangement too, and settled better just being on the seat with my harness atatched.  Daddy thinks it's because I don't like being confined, where as Logan loves being cosy and cuddled in to things.  Mummy thinks Daddy's probably right.  Nana doesn't care one way or another, as long as we settle in the car properly whenever she has to take us anywhere.

~

Because we got to the vet early, and it's right by a park, we went for a bit of a walkies in the park.

 

It was great fun!

There were loads of new smells to investigate, leaves blowing past that Logan kept trying to chase, a couple of other dogs we got to meet, and even a couple of human pups we could watch playing.

 

~

 

We weren't sure about the new vet at first, because his face was all covered up - humans keep doing that lately for some reason.  But then we realized he was friendly, so we decided we liked him.  Even went with him without a fuss when he took us inside the vet place to get weighed (he talked to Mummy and Nana outside, and just took us inside one at a time to do what he couldn't outside).

 

Speaking of which: we've somehow managed to put on a bit of weight, even with all our running around, so the vet says Mummy has to keep an eye on that to make sure it's a seasonal weight gain and not because of some kind of health issue.  He says to keep an eye on our portion sizes, make sure we keep getting good exercise - or get even more than we have been - and see how our weight looks when it's time for our shots in June.  Hopefully it's gone back down where it should be by then.

I've got to go see the vet again next month though.  Only me.  It's because of my itches.  I've had trouble with this before, but every time it starts looking like it's getting better it gets bad again.  The vet gave us some new tablets to try, which will hopefully help.  If they do, I'll have to take them for the rest of my life, or until they stop working.  If they don't - or if they stop helping in the future - I'll have to have a monthly shot instead, which would also be for the rest of my life.  Apparently I've reached the stage most Westies do at some point, where my skin irritation issues are here to stay.

We also got a special sweetie to have instead of the wet stuff to deal with fleas and things.  We've never minded the wet stuff Mummy and Daddy put on us, but we love the idea of a sweetie instead loads more.

*~*~*

So, that's what's been happening with me.  Now, I need a nap, so if there's anything I forgot to tell you about, I'll either tell you next time I can get Mummy to let me have a turn on here, or Mummy can tel you.

 ~

Lots of licks,

Lilie

#Febookary Book Tag From @TStrawberryPost - #AmReading

 Cat over at The Strawberry Post started a reading challenge called Febookary - I mentioned it in last week's post, and she explains what it is on her blog too.  But she didn't stop there.  No.  She also created a book tag to go along with it.  Well, given that I'm participating in the challenge, and also happen to be addicted to these tag things - in case you didn't notice from all the ones I did last year - I had to play along, of course.  Now, come on, you know I had to. 😉

     

Anyway, here's Cat's original post about the Febookary tag.  If you'd like to play along too, feel free to do so, either in the comments section below, in the comments of Cat's post, or on your own blog.  If you do the latter, don't forget to let me know, because I'll want to read your answers.

     

There's still just over half of February left, so there's still time to join in with Febookary too, if you want.

     

Either way, here are the tag questions, along with my answers to them:

    

~ 

    

1. Have you always enjoyed reading books?  If not then when did your love of books start, or end?

    

I've always enjoyed reading books.  Reading - and being read to - were excellent ways to pass the time while waiting around in hospitals, and I quickly learned what an excellent escape reading could be. 

    
2. What books, if any, did you like to read as a child?
     

As a young child it was fairy Tales, anything by Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton, and Beatrix Potter's books ("The Tale Of Peter Rabbit" etc).  Later that expanded to be anything and everything, though I was particularly drawn to books involving magic, like Jill Murphy's "Worst Witch" series, and animal stories, especially ones with horses in them, such as Bonnie Bryant's "Pony Tails" books, and Monica Dickens' "Follyfoot" and "World's End" books.

    

3. What are your favourite genres, if any, of fiction and why?
      

Fantasy and science fiction are my top favourites, with cosy mystery not too far behind.  Fantasy appeals to me because of the fantastical make-believe worlds many of them contain, the magical aspects, and fantastical creatures.  Science fiction appeals to me because I have an interest in space exploration and science in general, and a lot of real facts are combined with the fantastical elements that aren't all that different to the kinds of things you find in fantasy, such as creative worldbuilding on unknown planets, and potentially interesting made up creatures (aliens).  As for cosy mysteries, I like the puzzle of trying to see if I can figure out who did it before it's revealed, and cosy mysteries give you that  without things getting overly dark as a rule.  I do enjoy other genres too, such as other mystery genres, historical fiction, romance, etc.  But those are my favourites.

 

4. What are your favourite genres, if any, of non-fiction and why? 

    

I love books with random facts in them, plus ones that teach me more about a subject I'm interested in.  The random facts because I enjoy learning new things, and my reason for enjoying the ones that teach me more about something I'm interested in - be it a particular historical period, how to do something for a craft I like to do, or whatever - I'd think are self-explanitory. 

    
5. Are there any genres you just don’t like or have never tried reading? 

    

There are so many genres out there that I'm not too sure about ones I haven't read anything from.  I'm sure there are plenty I haven't tried though.  As for ones I don't like: Christian fiction is the one I dislike so much I'd never even agree to read it for Febookary.  I find it too preachy, probably because I don't share the beliefs mentioned in it.  No offense to people who read and write those kinds of books, but if I want to be preached to I'll go to church, or read the bible again.  Yes, I read it once.

    

6. Do you often DNF (Did Not Finish) books and why? 

    

No.  If I start a book, I finish it.  Sometimes it might get better.  Other times it doesn't.  Either way, if I start a book, I'm going to read to the end, even if it's so bad all I feel on finishing it is relief that it's over.  I've even been known to finish a series just because I started it, even though I'm not enjoying the earlier books in that series.  If I start it, I have to finish it.

    
7. Do you enjoy reading things that aren’t books like magazines, newspapers or blogs? 

    

I enjoy reading almost anything, though my level of enjoyment varies depending on how good the content is, and how high my interest in the genre or topic is.  I mean, I once read the dictionary from cover to cover, just because I complained about having nothing new to read to my Mam and she told me to (she meant it as a joke, but I took it literally and did it).  Actually, if you count the time I read and entire English-Welsh dictionary, technically I've read the dictionary cover to cover twice... Can't even blame my Mam for that second one.  Anyhow, I read pretty much anything I can that's in front of me for long enough, read both blogs and books daily, and am just as likely to enjoy the book as the blog posts. 

    
8. Are there any books that have put you off reading a whole genre or reading in general? 

    

Only if you count the fact the preaching in the Christian fiction I've tried has made me dislike that genre. 

    
9. What books do you plan to try for #Febookary this year? 

    

For Febookary this year I'm reading "Metal Warrior: Born of Steel" (Mech Fighter, Book 1) by James David Victor.  Kelly chose it for me when I told him I needed a book to read that I wouldn't necessarily pick up for myself.  He chose well for me last year, so I'm hoping he has this year too.

#StDwynwensDay + #Blind #Crossstitch + A #Knitting Project + #Snow + #Imbolc + #AmWriting + #Febookary

January 25th was St Dwynwen's Day (Dydd Santes Dwynwen) - as it is every year.  St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, so it's basically the Welsh Valentines Day.  We didn't celebrate it though.  I mean, we barely do anything for Valentines Day, let alone the lesser-known Welsh equivalent... Valentines Day isn't really a big deal to us, since we think you should show the person you love that you love them all year, and not just lavish attention on them for one spacific day.  I just thought I'd mention it, in case anyone was interested.  Plus, I thought it would be nice if I at least acknowledged its existance.

~

 

I've learned a lot in the years since I lost the last of my sight, and one of those things is that - more often than not - the thing stopping me from doing something I want to do that I could do when I had some sight is actually often myself, and my refusal to try and find a way.  So, I decided to have a go at crossstitching for the first time since losing the last of my sight - especially since I just inherited a whole load of supplies from my Nan, and it would be a shame not to use them.  Nan was the one who taught me to knit, sew, and crossstitch.  I know she'd have wanted me to try.  So, I did.  For Nan, for those who need to learn what I learned about the limitations of a blind person, and for myself.

So, how did it go?

Well... It went OK.  I mean, I think it's going to take some practice - and a whole lot of patience - but I don't think I did too terribly for my first attempt, and think I can potentially make it work for simple designs anyhow.  Here's a photo of my first attempt.  It's supposed to have been three little Christmas trees... Even if they are red... I think I did best with the middle one.  What do you think?

~

I mentioned to Kelly that I wasn't sure where to startwith craft projects, so he suggested I start by knitting a cosy for my new teapot.  I agreed it was a good idea, so that's what I'm working on now.  Well, when I'm not busy attempting to organize all the crafting supplies, of course.  Hey, at least it's something I can do amidst the chaos that the craft room is currently in from Dad bringing over more of what used to be Nan's crafting supplies recently (which I haven't had a chance to sort through yet).

The cosy's got two colours in it: purple, of course, and a shade of off-white called vanilla.  Also, it's made from 100% cotton yarn.  There is some sheep wool among the things I got from Nan, which I'll use for future projects - since it's here - but this wool is from my own stash, and I've only been buying the 100% cotton yarn. It costs a bit more, but I personally think it's worth the extra cost.

 

Anyway, the tea cosy isn't finished yet, but I'll show you it when it is, which shouldn't be too far in the future, since it is coming along nicely.  Would have been even further along if I hadn't dropped my purple yarn and wasted a LOT of time untangling the mess it got itself in to. *sigh*

~

We got more snow!

 

Yes, more of it! It happened this past Sunday.

OK, so there wasn't much of it to enjoy, despite the fact it was drifting down for a couple of hours, so technically a couple of inches probably fell, because it was melting almost as fast as it hit the ground, and it was completely gone by the evening.  But still.

Here are a couple of photos of Lilie and Logan out in the yard during it:

And here's a short clip we got during the best part of the snowfall:

Sorry about the noise in the clip, but someone decided to come to the nearby shop while we were doing snow videos, and used what's meant to be one of our parking spots for the purpose, waiting there with the car running for a while.  They do that a lot, because of our proximity to the shop.  Any time they see us out there when doing it they ask if we need them to park elsewhere, but since they're only popping to the shop a couple of doors down, so gone pretty quickly anyhow, and we don't have a car of our own so aren't in any real need of our two parking spaces, we let them do it.  I mean, why not? After all, they aren't in our way, and they aren't hurting anyone being there, so... *shrugs*

~

So... Last year I'd planned to make more effort with doing something for the Pagan holidays other than Ostara, Samhain, and Yule - something I've gotten abit lazy about in recent years.  I wanted to at least acknowledge those lesser-known and more commonly ignored holidays that are part of my beliefs.  But 2020 was... Well... We all know what 2020 was.  Anyway, I'm determined not to let the same thing happen in 2021, even if it tries to be another year like last year.  Wish me luck with that.  Ahem.  Well, at least I can say so far, so good.  I even remembered to acknowledge St Dwynwen's Day, which is one I generally always ignore (and counts as one I should acknowledge because of the Celtic influence in my beliefs, even without the consideration of the fact I'm Welsh by birth, and have now moved back to Wales).  And then there's Imbolc...

February 2nd was Imbolc - the first festival of Spring.  Well, technically people celebrate it any time from January 31st to February 2nd, sometimes literally celebrating from sunset on January 31st to sunset on February 2nd.  But since February 2nd is the most commonly recognized date (or, with a lot of Pagans, sunset on February 1st through to sunset on February 2nd, since sunset to sunset celebrations are common) and I don't personally feel like it's one of the holidays that needs to be celebrated for days - though I can totally see why people might have done so in the past - we just acknowledge and celebrate it on February 2nd.  Or try to anyhow.  Really though any date from January 31st through February 2nd is correct.

 

Either way, we don't go in for big celebrations anyhow, and our Imbolc celebrations especially have never been elaborate or fancy in any way - on the years we've remembered to celebrate it, I mean.  Sometimes we'll go on a walk to search for signs of Spring, and call it an Imbolc walk (even though we regularly go out with the dogs anyhow).  But beyond that we usually just have a special meal where at least some part of it is conciously being linked to Imbolc, and then do our own thing to celebrate.  In my case that generally seems to involve lighting a scented candle to enjoy while I write - and nine times out of ten also read - some poetry, often followed by a bit of quiet meditation, which has led to more poetry writing in the past.  The main difference between that and most writing days being the addition of the candle, which I wouldn't usually bother with for a writing session, and the concious thought of the fact it's Imbolc when sitting down to do it... It's all about the intentions behind the actions.

Anyway, traditional herbs, food, and drink for Imbolc include:bay leaves, cinnamon, basil, vanilla, blackberry, all dairy products, breads, cakes, scones, muffins, raisins, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, greens, bell peppers, onions, garlic, herbal teas, ale, mead and spiced wines. Of course, with my being vegan the dairy products were out for me, Kelly doesn't do raisins, and neither of us drink alcahol so those were out for both of us.  But that still left us with plenty of options for connecting our meals to Imbolc, especially since - while we might have similar meals sometimes - we almost never actually eat the same thing these days (our different diets makes it too complicated, so we just plan our own menus).

 

This year I decided to theme my Imbolc Eve dinner and Imbolc breakfast for Imbolc too.  So, Imbolc Eve dinner for me was a vegan omlet (consisting of tofu, vegan cheese, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, garlic, and turmeric) with chips and baked beans, Imbolc breakfast was homemade orange marmalade on toast with a handful of raisins, and Imbolc dinner was vegan cheesy mash with green beans and carrots served with onion gravy and a bit of bread (it would have been a bread roll, but I didn't have any, couldn't be bothered to make some, and decided to just have a regular slice of bread instead of sending Kelly to go look for some).  Simple food, quick to make, but still themed for the sabbat.  Kelly went for simple too, and only bothered making sure his Imbolc dinner was linked.  He had chicken and cheese wraps, plus a bit of chocolate cake, in case you're wondering.  I'd planned to do some baking so I'd have some cake for myself too, but a few bad nights in a row had me exhausted and needing a nap, and my planned hour to recharge turned in to a four hour nap.  Oops! Well, I obviously needed it.

Anyway, I finished up the day by spending about an hour writing some poetry while enjoying the scented candle I'd had for my birthday from my Mam, followed by reading "Pass the Turkey: The Small Dog's Christmas" by Sue Vincent, and a few minutes of meditation.  It had to be a few minutes only, since apparently that was a relaxing enough evening that I was ready to go to sleep at a decent time despite my longer than planned nap... Slept for a solid five hours afterwards too, which would have been a good night for me even without the four hour nap.

 

 ~

 

Other than the poetry I wrote on Imbolc, I also wrote a couple more poems so far this year.  I still haven't done any work on a story, but at least I've been writing again.  Hopefully I'll get back to working on one of my stories soon.  That's definitely the plan anyhow.

First though, if I plan to be a part of it, I need to write something for the Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic that's going on over at The Carrot Ranch right now (click here to see the official contest post at The Carrot Ranch).  Plus, I definitely need to either pick a couple of my new poems to submit to an anthology I'm contributing to, or write some new ones spacifically for it very soon, since I've got to have those sent over to the person arranging it before the end of this month.

~

I'm joining in with the Febookary reading challenge this month too.

 

Febookary is a challenge created by my friend Cat over at The Strawberry Post, which is designed to encourage you to try reading something outside your reading comfort zone, like a different genre, for example.

At Kelly's recommendation, I'm reading "Mech Warrior: Born of Steel" by James David Victor as my Febookary challenge book.  He picked well for me last year, so let's hope he did this year too.  The book's blurb makes it sound good anyhow, so I'm hopeful he's picked me another great read.

The Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic Begins Tomorrow At The Carrot Ranch!

Sue Vincent is one of those special bloggers that inspires people all over the world. Readers have long been galvanized by her posts about mythology, about ancient ruins and medieval churches, and her daily #midnighthaiku. Even more have participated in and grown as a result of her #writephoto prompts. In addition to posting her prompts, Sue has tirelessly supported other bloggers by sharing others' responses to her 19,000 and counting followers. 

     

Recently, Sue has been faced with a new and difficult challenge: lung cancer. You can follow her blog to find out more directly from her. The Covid pandemic has served not only to pose a specific threat to a person with a severe respiratory illness, but it has caused loss of human connection through self-imposed quarantine.
     

Now it's time for Sue to receive something back from the community she's been a cornerstone of for a decade. Let's bring the Rodeo into Sue's house through her computer, and let's come together with hearts full of joy. Join us for the Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic at the Carrot Ranch - a contest, parade, and celebration all in one!

     

There are many ways to participate. One is to visit the prompt image, "Hidden", at the Carrot Ranch. The prompt image and entry form will go live on Monday, February 1st, 2021. Enter a flash or a poem by Friday, February 19th, 2021, and you could win either $100 or a copy of one of Sue's books. The form will allow you to give a small donation for Sue and her family, and a link can be found on the contest page. The winning entries will be announced at the Carrot Ranch on March 22nd, 2021.
     

If you're not ready to rodeo, there's always the "Parade". Reblog one of Sue's posts from any of her sites (Daily Echo or France and Vincent) with a comment about why you found it special. Follow her blogs. Read one of her books, then leave reviews where you can, such as on Goodreads. Several people are already gearing up for the parade - so feel free to check out other people's blogs for suggestions.
    
Also, go ahead and reblog, tweet, Facebook, or somehow otherwise share the contest! 99 word literary art is a fantastic way to celebrate a blogging hero and very deserving person.
     

Saddle up, everyone! It's time for a Carrot Ranch Rodeo like none ever held before. The Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic begins on Monday, February 1st, and it'll be a TUFF prompt to fit within 99 words.
     

See you at the Ranch, buckaroos!

#Snow + A Happy #Westie Wiggle Dance + #Grogu+ A #Teapot + #Selfcare + Inheriting #Crafting Supplies

Look what we woke up to Sunday morning:

 

 

The dogs and I had to go out and play in it, of course...

Apparently my dogs love the snow as much as I do.  This is their first time seeing this much snow at once, and they were thrilled.  They were also as reluctant as me to stay indoors, and as eager as me to keep going out to play in it, which - since they were enthusiastic about the idea, and it gave me an excuse to do so - we did on and off most of the day.

To my delight - since yes, I was delighted, even after a day playing in it - it snowed more in the afternoon, after a bit of the earlier stuff had melted, and we'd trampled a lot of it.  So, since we caught it snowing this time (we'd been asleep when the earlier snow fell, so it was a nice surprise for me to wake up to) we got a bit of a video of the snow falling:

 

 

 Later that same day it snowed some more...

So, of course, I took the dogs out to play in it yet again...

(OK, so I took them so I could go out there again myself, but whatever... They still got to go outside again, which they were happy about).

I know this isn't much to some of you, and it will likely all be gone before this goes live, but... We got around five inches in total in our area that day, with a lot of it (what hadn’t melted or frozen overnight) still on the ground the next day, which is a big snowfall here in Wales.  It's rare to get more than an inch or so in one snowfall.  It's been a great Winter for snow this year, and Winter's not even over yet!

~

I’ve been mentioning Lilie’s happy wiggle dance since she was a tiny puppy, and trying to get a video of it for almost as long.  But, no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t get it on video, even though it’s her regular form of greeting.  Now though, with her almost four years old, I can finally show you it, since my Mam got a video for me when I took the dogs outside to greet her when she came to drop off a couple of things she’d picked up for me from Tescos that we didn’t get in our food box, and couldn’t get at the corner shop.  So, though I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with an excited Logan getting in the way from time to time (he was pleased to see Nana too) here, at long last, is a clip of Lilie doing her happy wiggle dance:

 

 

As you can see, my dogs love visitors – especially Lilie.  Even Logan is learning to be enthusiastic about people other than me and Kelly.  Just wait until we stop being in lockdown so Mam and Dad’s visits don’t have to be restricted to them only seeing us briefly for essential errands*.  Lilie’s going to be over-the-moon.  LOL!

 

*We could technically have one of them visit more.  However, to do that we’d have to prevent the other coming, and since both of them are doing different things to help us, we all agreed it made more sense for us to just restrict visits from both to short ones just while essential errands/tasks are dealt with, and keep other contact to phone calls.

 

~

 

Though we still have plenty of things we actually need to get to sort things in the new house, when we learned that Build-A-Bear did a Grogu (Baby Yoda) plushy, I really wanted one, so Kelly told me to get myself one, and count it as paying myself back some of the money I should have been having presents from anyhow (in other words, the money I’d gotten for my birthday and Christmas, which I’d been prioritizing paying for moving and household costs out of, and not spending on myself like I was meant to).  So, I got a Grogu plushy, and here he is:

 

 

He has a sound chip in each of his little paws.  One plays the “Mandelorian” theme tune, and the other plays the various cute little baby sounds you hear him making throughout the show.  I could have had him with just one or the other, or with neither, but I decided to splurge for the whole package.  I mean, if I was paying out for the plushy – which was the bigger part of the cost – I might as well just pay an extra few £s for the sounds too, right?

 

~

 

 I also brought myself a teapot.  It’s a little ceramic one that’s perfect for just a couple of cups of tea, so ideal for when it’s only me having some tea, which is the case more often than not even without lockdown making visitors few and far between.  Anyway, here’s my new teapot:

 

 

Though I’m told it’s not easy to tell from the photo, it’s actually purple.  Well, when I saw they had them in purple, I had to, didn’t I? I mean, purple has always been my favourite colour.

 

I had a teapot before – that one was purple too – which was bigger.  But it was a bit big for me to be using on my own, and I gave it to someone a few years back.  I’ve wanted to get a new one ever since, but wanted just a little one this time.  Well, now I have one, and even managed to make it a purple one again.

 

~

 

In the interests of practicing better self care, adding proper “me time” to my routine is something I’m working on making a priority this year.  I even have a plan.  In fact, I’ve got a list of some things I want to do every day, and a list for stuff I’d like to do at least once a week, which I’m setting days for. My plan is to do the daily things for at least a few minutes every day, and each of the weekly things for at least an hour each per week.

 

Every day I want to:

•         Enjoy a quiet cup of tea while listening to some music

•         Meditate

•         Read

•         Write

 

My weekly self care activities list though is:

•         Have a bubble bath (scented candles optional)

•         Have a movie/TV show night where I just curl up somewhere and watch a DVD or something on a streaming service

•         Work on crafts (I even re-activated a craft box subscription service I used to get to encourage this... You may remember me mentioning the Makerly Crafts subscription box in the past?)

 

My tentative plan for the weekly thing is a bubble bath on Friday night, a Saturday movie night, and a Sunday afternoon crafting session.  That way I get the whole weekend to recharge.

 

~

 

I won’t be doing a review of this every month, but I figured I’d do a check-in this time, since I’m only now getting around to telling you about my plan.  So, how did the first month – well, about four weeks - of doing this go?

 

I’ve been managing to sit and relax while listening to music for at least a few minutes each day, even if sometimes it’s with a cold drink rather than a cup of tea.  The point is the quiet time just relaxing while listening to the music though, so I’m not complaining.  I've listened to a variety of music, including panpipes, country, 80s, 90s, and classical.  I tend to do this in the morning, when the dogs aren't quite ready to start racing around and cause chaos, Artemis hasn't yet crawled out of her bed, and Mollie is sleepily waiting to see what I'll be offering her for breakfast before she goes for her daytime sleep.  It's a nice relaxing way to start my day.

 

I’ve also generally managed to get at least a small amount of reading time in each day, even if some days it’s only been maybe 20 minutes or so.  And I managed to read five books in January, even with two of them being long-ish books, and mostly doing shorter reading sessions.

 

I’ve had less success with the meditation and writing.  I’ve done some writing since the start of the year, but not as much as I’d hoped, and definitely not every day.  We won’t talk about the meditation part.  Yes, I did that badly with it.  With the writing it was a conscious choice, since I chose to use my writing time to work on unpacking boxes, but the meditation thing just didn’t end up happening... I'll make it a habit again eventually.

 

Also, despite having resubscribed to the Makerly Crafts box again, and gotten my first kit since doing so (January’s kit was a Valentine's themed cardmaking kit, if you're wondering) I’ve not done anything worth mentioning in the way of crafting yet either, since that’s another time slot I gave up to unpacking boxes.  In this case it was essential I did so though, since I needed to unpack and organize the craft supplies I owned, as well as ones I inherited from my Nan (the one who died last August) – which my Dad has slowly been dropping off here for me whenever he’s been here to do an essential errand – as well as make a space to work, before any crafting could actually happen.

 

Plus, my relaxing bath nights have been a bit hit and miss, and the couple of baths I have had didn’t include scented candles, even if they were still relaxing.  Baths are on my self care list because I mostly just have a shower, but a nice relaxing bath is something I enjoy having sometimes.  However, it’s a bit more special if I don’t have one all the time anyhow, so I don’t mind if this one doesn’t happen every week.  I mean, I kind of would like it to happen every week, since it would be a nice way to kick off my weekend.  But I’d still call this one a success even if I only did it once a month.

 

I’ve had better luck with TV show/movie nights.  I watched more episodes of “The Simpsons” as well as a couple of movies.  The movies were the live action version of “Mulan” as well as “Soul” – both movies were on Disney+.  “Mulan” was really good – very different to the animated version I’m familiar with, but still good, even if I did enjoy the animated one more.  “Soul” was fantastic though... An absolutely wonderful movie with a lovely message.  I’d give “Mulan” four out of five stars, and “Soul” five out of five stars.

 

All in all, I don’t think the first month went too badly, especially since I was making unpacking and organizing stuff the main priority intentionally, and we actually have most of that done now, with mainly just stuff we need to buy extra shelves or other storage solutions for still in boxes at this point.  Although, more organization will need to happen with the craft supplies, especially with Dad still slowly dropping off more.  But at least I can now make use of the craft room and supplies when I want to, as well as claim back my writing time.

 

~

 

And there are so many supplies!

 

Nan was a big crafter, who dabbled in a lot of different crafts, and kept anything potentially useful for future craft projects, and I'm inheriting the lot, some of the tools for which she's had longer than I've been alive.  Dad’s dropped off a load, and there’s still loads at his place yet to come over here (since he has to do it in bits, since he can only drop stuff off when he’s coming this way for other reasons, because of needing to restrict his visits due to lockdown, plus there really is a LOT of stuff).

 

There are supplies for crafts I do a lot already, like sewing.  Supplies for crafts I’ve tried in the past and want to do more of, like quilling.  Supplies for crafts I haven’t done since I lost my sight, but would kind of like to try again to see if I can do them – despite my initial reaction on thinking about it being that it would be impossible – like cross stitching.  Supplies for things I’d like to get back in to that I haven’t done much of for a while, like cardmaking.  Supplies for things I’ve never learned to do, but wouldn’t mind learning, like crochet.  And supplies for things Nan was going to teach me, but we never got around to more than a first lesson I don’t remember very well, like tatting.  Let's just say my craft room will be very well stocked by the time it all makes it over here. Oh, I’m going to have so much crafty fun!

I just have to decide what to play with first...