#Storms + #Crafting + Random Ramblings

Storm Eunice, which hit at the end of last week, was bad enough that the MET office issued a red warning for severe weather, and I'm told stories of the damage from it were mentioned on the news outside the UK.  There was a bit of rain and hail with it (and a little snow in some areas, though not anywhere near me) but mostly it was the winds that were the problem, and the cause of all the damage.

 

Schools were switched to remote learning the day it hit, and the rubbish collection didn't happen.  It's possible there was no post delivery that day either, because I don't recall hearing any sounds of the postman/woman (we have both, and I'm not sure which would have been delivering that day) and something I'd been expecting to arrive that day didn't come until the following day, when the winds weren't quite so strong, though the rain and hail were heavier, and the storm was definitely still around.

 

The noise from the wind tossing things about, and making our letterbox bang, was driving the dogs nuts, so they were barking a LOT.  Though I was struggling to remember it while dealing with the constant barking, I'm incredibly grateful things weren't worse for us - we only lost power very briefly, and the only damage we needed to worry about was to a drain pipe that somehow got bent in the wind (which we're now waiting to have fixed... Unless it gets done between when I'm putting this post together and when it goes live).  A lot of people weren't so lucky.

 

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The milder storm Dudley had been here before Storm Eunice, and then Eunice was followed on Monday by Franklyn, which hit further North, so things were even milder in my area than with Eunice, with just a little wind and some rain.  They say there's yet another named storm on its way in the next day or so though, so we'll see what happens with that one.

 

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I finished some more craft projects.

For one thing, I worked on an enamel jewelry kit I got from Cosy Craft Club, and made a necklace with three red and white flags and two blue flags on it, as well as a bracelet with a round circle that's blue with white flecks.  Had to get Dad to help me with atatching the chains, because it was rather fiddly, and I was struggling to manage it.  Anyway, here are photos of them:

I also went to a Future In Sight quilling class, which is part of the Zoom sessions they do for their Kaila's Craft Corner podcast.  And I made this picture of a flower, which also has two hearts and two stars in the corners of the canvas.  The colours are kind of random, because I didn't know which colours I was grabbing for each piece (and didn't really care, hence not asking Kelly to help me make sure I knew which was which before I started).  Anyway, here's my quilling picture:

And I made this good luck card, just as an excuse to play with the Celtic knot and shamrock stamps I got recently.  Yes, I wrote the, "Good luck," on the card.  Anyway, here's a photo of it:

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I love getting my happy post, as I call it, but I've decided not to continue with the Cosy Craft Club and Makerly Crafts boxes any more.  Though I'll be continuing to get the subscription boxes I have for other things.

 

They're fantastic kits, and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a craft subscription box.  However, it's harder for me to do those kits because of instruction accessibility, so for the most part they're just piling up while I work on other crafts.  And even when I have accessible versions of the instructions - like I got from Rachel of Cosy Craft Club for the jewelry kit... Thanks for that, Rachel (if she happens to see this post, which is doubtful, but you never know) - they're still really tricky for me to do without calling in sighted help, because they're designed with sight and the ability to see the pictures in the instructions in mind.

 

So I decided to stop those, and use the money I'm spending on those each month to ensure I have the supplies for any projects I want to do with the ACB Crafters group or Future In Sight, which are spacifically designed with visual limitations in mind, so are much more accessible to me.

 

I will, of course, get someone to help me get the Cosy Craft Club and Makerly Crafts kits I do have done - Dad and Kelly have both agreed to help - but I won't have those coming every month now, and they'll just be done whenever time and availability of sighted help permits in between other projects.

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There's new content on my YouTube channel, with hopefully plenty more to come in the not-too-distant future.

 

The new stuff this time is all music videos and poetry readings, but you might like to check it out.  If you would like to check it out, and aren't subscribed to my channel, you can find it here.

I'm thinking of possible ideas for other things to put on my YouTube channel, but not sure what I'll do yet.  Suggestions and requests for content are welcome, so feel free to post those below, or eMail me.

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On February 13th I did host training with the ACB.  Now I'm officially an ACB trained Zoom host, and can host calls as well as facilitate them.  Well, not at the same time, since the two roles have to be held by separate people if it's on an ACB call, but you get the point.

 

I had my shadow session this past Sunday (February 20th) which is when an experienced host acts as co-host for a newly trained one, just to make absolutely certain they know what they're doing.  It's something all new hosts do for their first time hosting, just to be sure someone's on hand if they have issues.  And tonight (Friday February 25th) I do my first solo hosting session.  It was going to be tomorrow, but I got a message asking if I can fill in tonight, and I'm available at that time, so I said I could.

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On February 15th Kelly had his Covid booster.  Now he's tripple vaccinated.  He was a bit more tired than usual for the first 24 hours after it, but otherwise you wouldn't have known he had anything done.  He's been really lucky with jab reactions every single time, even with him being given the Maderna vaccine this time for some reason, despite having had the Pfizer one for the other two.

 

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Speaking of Kelly: he went to the shop for something the day before Valentine's Day, and came home with a present for me.  These white roses:

 

And he promptly apologized because they were white and not yellow.  He said there were all kinds of shades of pinks,  as well as both red and white, but he couldn't find yellow.  It bothered him because he knows yellow roses are my favourite kind of flower.  I told him the white ones are close enough, and anyway I appreciate the thought enough not to mind what colour they are.