Still busy!!

Not felt I have had time to blog much (too much playing of Hay Day) over the past month or so. I have been setting up my business, even had a client asking about my services, so fingers crossed. 

Had another bump in the car, failure on the part of the other guy to stop when I did an emergency break... but I was simply happy that I hadn't broken anything. I have been given a lexus as a curtesy car which is worth about £48,000 so I am terrified to park it anywhere in case it gets damaged. It feels amazing to drive though :D

I have also been working on a new crafting project, it is a table runner for in the new extension. Probably need to do about double what I have but the shop has run out of the backing stuff I need. 

This is a picture of my hopefully to be pony Bella who is utterly adorable and may be coming to live with me for a few months next year (very excited)

And this is my first attempt at grooming Tess :) I thought I did well... both her ears seem to be level :p

Busy busy busy

I don't feel like I am stopping at the moment! Every day seems to be packed with stuff. I have a weeks free bus pass so the dog and I have been out and about. This afternoon I am off to visit the Bar Covent in York and tomorrow the mother-in-law is over. 

Windsor was really good and I felt like I had a really good break from reality and a chance to actually relax. We did Hampton Court Palace and the Harry Potter Studio. 

This is us in the maze of Hampton Court (there really was too much for us to do even though we had given ourselves a full day!)

And this is me and Hogwarts! It was really busy even though it wasn't school holidays any more. It was excellent but I don't think I would go again as I have seen what I wanted to see. I even got to open the doors of the great hall as it was my birthday :D We were the first tour of the day so we got to actually open them... not like all the other tours who would be fake opening them lol. 

I have been taking part in a Christmas tree ornament exchange. I can't believe I got it finished so quickly! The only problem is that I always make cross stitch ornaments for other people and I never end up making one for myself and I always fall in love with the one I have done but have to give it away. 

My other crafts are not going so well. I have gone backwards with my perfectionism since returning from China so I have had to put some of it away as I am not enjoying it, I am just rushing to have it finished so I can put it up on facebook!!

Business wise things are moving along but I am waiting for the local council to get back to me with a date when they can come and do a home inspection for me. 

Stitching show

Today I went to a stitching show in Harrogate with a friend (although a teeny bit of me wanted to go alone so I could spend more time just oogling and looking at individual things on various stalls). We learnt from last year and went towards the end of the day and it was much less busy, the last half an hour there were only a handful of people left and the stall holders actually had time to gossip!

I got aida, buttons, fabric, two patterns (one for a rabbit cushion and one for a needle case) a gorjuss cross stitch kit and this applique kit (though the photo does not do it justice). 

Some of the workmen were here today to finish off so I now have the joinery finished, a radiator and a plumbed in dish washer (thank goodness!!). However the electrician had a nasty shock for me. We have no upstairs lights because a junction box has gone... the problem is that we don't know exactly where it is so next week we are going to have to take up the carpet and flooring to find it *sighs*. Anyway tomorrow the guy is coming to finish off all the outside stuff and then I can get my house back again!

No more blogging for a while for me as I am off to Windsor on Sunday for my 30th :D Hampton Court Palace and the Harry Potter studios!!!

Back from the Far East

Back from our honeymoon!! It was a whirlwind that started with an upgrade to business class and ended in Shanghi. 

Business class was amazing!! Only I was a little too fat to lie in the chairs comfortably over night and my poorly knee rested between the foot rest and the chair.

No visit to China would have been complete without the obligatory panda viewing  

This is the hubby at the forbidden palace

These were at a street market we went to and a couple of girls we saw bought some and ate them as part of a dare... yuck!! It made me shiver

Hubby on the Great Wall this time. It was pretty amazing but there were too many steps for me and the heat was just relentless

The Terracotta Warriors were my ultimate thing that we saw during our visit. Unfortunately both of us were poorly for part of the visit which did spoil it a little and we spent the whole time running from attraction to attraction (not very relaxed). But we are away again in a week for my 30th and we have said that we will make sure that it is a lot more chilled out!

Since we got back we have finally managed to make it to the York Maize Maze. It was a great day out and the dog thoroughly enjoyed herself, we even let her pick which way to go in the maze (when it wasn't obvious that she was taking us completely the wrong way!)

This is evidence of the abuse I suffer at the hands of my husband, we were supposed to be doing the 'finger fortune maze'. But after he had painted his fingers and acted out the silly thing his fingers told him to do (act like superman, mine was a Tasmanian devil) he decided to start with the wifey beating. I really am hard done by!! :p

Planning and flying

Where to start!! Today we got planning permission through for our extension... so much for next door telling us we would need to pull it down! (Stupid idiot of a man... who is supposed to be a builder!) We didn't even have any modifications that we need to make :D The planning guy even commented on how it fit in so well with the house. So that is a big party for us when we get back from China!! I can also twin it with my 30th Birthday celebrations so it will be extra specially exciting and super. We are off out to Yo Sushi tonight to celebrate (so long as hubby is not too tired after working and then having his evening crazy classes)

The day after tomorrow we fly out to China for our honeymoon! I cannot wait (though I am not really looking forwards to the flight). We are there for 10 days and get to do the most amazing tour. But I will blog about that when I get back. I feel really in need of a holiday (ignoring the fact that we just had a weekend away in Stratford-upon-Avon), I have not been sleeping well as I have too much on my mind. I just need to get away from it all for a few days and have someone else look after me for a change!

I seem to be spending my time just running around trying to get ready for the holiday, even though my parents are house sitting. It is really just as well that they are here as the extension is still not quite finished *sighs* I just want a couple of men to come for a day and blitz everything. The head builder is back off his holidays on Monday so hopefully he will get the whip cracking!! Either that or my mother will!

The paper piercing is coming along steadily, I hope by September I will be able to start making it into a cushion. I am away for so much of August that I am just giving up the thought of getting anything done!

I will blog again on my return.

Spoke too soon!!

My handrail is coming off the wall!! The joiner mustn't have fitted it properly. It has been put on with different screws and it has also pulled off some of the plaster from the walls :( Luckily they have to come back anyway to finish off some other bits and pieces. 

Hubby has been away this weekend on a stag do, meaning that today he is really tired. I have been putting furniture back in our new kitchen diner. Still got loads of bags in the loft full of stuff but at least I am getting there. I will have to stay in for the next 3 days to oversee the end of the build (as the head builder and project manager is away on holiday) so it will give my plenty of time to get everything straight again. I have managed to get the bunny moved back downstairs again (he is now busy scent marking everything again) but the dining room table was a nightmare!! We ended up having to take the kitchen door off it's hinges to get it through.

Other than that nothing much is happening in my life as I have £20 to last me until the 4th 

Stitching and stairs

I have some cross stitch photo finishes to show AND a photo of my new handrails on my stairs... no more being worried I am going to slip and hurt myself!!

Stratford-upon-Avon

This weekend I was away in Stratford-upon-Avon which was the most amazing weekend. We did Warwick castle on the Saturday, below is a picture of me being attacked by a rat!! It was a really good day out, they had jousting, a flaming trebuchet  display and warriors fighting but at the end of the day we got caught in the most massive thunderstorm and were drenched. This was extra frustrating as we had seen the thunderstorm coming from the top of the castle and hoped to beat it back to the car!

On the Sunday we went to Stratford-upon-Avon and did a walking tour (which was amazing), a tiny bit of shopping and then drove home via small roads. We really want to go back again as there seemed to be so much that we wanted to do but simply couldn't fit in/ couldn't do with the dog in tow.

Now I am back to reality, had my second lot of blood tests taken this morning for my fertility testing. The joiners are here fitting my new floor and making sure all the doors fit properly (they leveled the floor on Friday so the kitchen door wouldn't close!). I am feeling very on edge today as there is no door between here and the kitchen plus I can hardly get in and move around in the kitchen with them working. I will have to make sure that I have lunch when the workmen do! 

Oh and I have started learning English Paper Piercing, this is how far I have got so far, eventually this will be turned in to a cushion for my bedroom :D All the fabric was donated by a friend so this has only cost me the price of the thread I needed!

Jam

The past couple of days I have been experimenting with the new hob and loads of free raspberries given to me by a friend. Yesterdays experiment was disastrous, which of course came right after the fact that I told the builders how well I could make jam!! So I spent an hour boiling burnt on jam off the bottom of the pan using washing tablets!!

But today was much more successful! Here is a photo of my efforts

The kitchen diner should be finished within a couple of days, and then all that there is to do is lots of little fiddly jobs that I want doing while the builders are here... Then I can get my life back to normal again!

Must resist new crafts

I am being tempted by various new crafts, all of which are going to cost money I don't have at the moment. I will have a bit more after the honeymoon but still not enough to fuel my crafty desires. I want to do a decopatch "Mr & Mrs" for my new extension. But it will probably cost me about £20 for all the bits and pieces.

Then there is the quilting (however I am booked into a course in September for this but I still have to pay for this, it is about £100 but my friend is paying for a bit of it and I will get some cash for my birthday). Quilting seems to be very expensive so I probably won't be able to take it up even if I enjoy it. 

Oh and I have seen some pro marker pens that I really really want (not that I will probably use them very much), they look so pretty and you can colour in without streaky lines *sighs hopefully* Maybe I will come into a small fortune!? 

I think I have done so much cross stitching recently that I am cross stitched out!! Although on a very positive note my extension should be finished in two weeks :D So I can start getting on with my life again *fingers crossed* as the neighbours are being difficult over the extension (which is smaller than theirs). However things do look good on the business insurance side of things :D Just need to get the extension finished then the council can come and give me my licence!

Teeth, Tour de France and stitchy finishes

These are some of my recent stitchy finishes. I am working on them rather than my big projects whilst the extension is being completed. 

Talking of the extension nothing is happening this week, apart from at the end of the week the electrician will come and at some point the kitchen guy will finish off a few little bits and pieces. I am looking forward to a quiet week though so I can finish recovering from this tooth being taken out. Well my week was quiet until next door came over to throw another hissy fit. Something about boundaries and vent pipes this time. Still soon the building work will have finished and he will have to find something else to complain about. The architects have told us not to do anything or say anything as it is probably all hot air!

Tooth is no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be, it hasn't really hurt, just ached occasionally. It has not been amazingly happy today but then I am starting to be able to eat food that is more solid. Glad it is out and one less thing for me to need to worry about! Only problem is that I lost a filling a few days before the operation, annoying as till my mouth is healed I don't want to mess around having fillings redone. 

I am trying to read through my perfectionism book, I am realizing that my problems go a lot deeper than I thought. However I am making moves to progress in the right direction with my life. So fingers crossed that soon I will be feeling more in control of things. 

Saw the Tour de France the other day when it came through York, very impressed that I made it despite the tooth issues... brilliant atmosphere!

Kitchen progress

Just a visual kitchen update... It is all very exciting!

Missing my Tess dog

My Tess dog has been relocated for the weekend as the builders are here to lay the floor. It is going to take them longer than expected though so she has to stay for another day. The house is really quiet without her and I miss my little shadow!

I now have walls in my extension which I am uber happy about. On Monday my kitchen arrives and I cannot wait to see it go up! It is going to look so pretty, this is the picture from the website of it (although we have made a few alterations). 

I have started my fertility tests. I have had to have swabs taken and they are checking me for chlamydia too. Then I need two lots of blood taking and my ultrasound. Though they cannot be as bad as having the swabs taken! One of my blood tests needs to be on the first day of my period which may stuff up my plans to visit people and be sociable this week as I will need to make sure that I get to somewhere that can take it lol. On Friday I am having my cracked wisdom tooth out. It is sitting sideways in my jaw! You can't see as it is under the skin (apart from the teeny bit which has now broken). So they will need to knock me out and cut the tooth into four bits and then remove each section... lovely!! So next weekend my fun plans are being affected! I was going to cycle into York with the husband to watch the Tour De France but instead I will be driven to a random place on the route by my parents and left in a chair by the side of the road to watch it lol. I have had to cancel dinner plans with a friend who is visiting from the lakes as the consultant told me I would not be well enough to go :(

I will update this blog after my op as I will be on bed/sofa rest for a day so will have plenty of time. 

Photos from the wedding

So I have finally got around to uploading some of my wedding photographs :)

This is my gorgeous car which cost a small fortune but I couldn't help falling in love with it... bit scary to drive in though as it didn't have seat belts!

This is my cake topper - we are keeping it as a memento... I damaged it slightly on the way home in the morning but you can't really tell!!

I adore this picture!

My handmade name placings with the confetti my friend bought me in the background (it is pages from Jane Austen novels)

We danced down the isle at the end of our wedding to Imagine Dragons - On Top Of The World. This was a surprise for my new husband and he loved it.

We choreographed a bit of a waltz for the first dance, I was impressed as I didn't fall over my dress and I only made one mistake!

The renovation is trundling ahead, someone is here today to put the plaster board up ready for the plasterers on Wednesday. He keeps making lots of puffing and huffing noises (but then I think he is sorting out the ceiling. This is what the place currently looks like. The floor is at three different levels so it will need leveling out meaning the puppy will have to go and live with my parents for a few days as she will totally run over it. Poor work man today keeps swearing... something refuses to go up. Kinda feel a little uncomfortable with him here which is odd as I haven't minded about anyone else.

In other news the dog was at the vets as she ate something which hurt her throat and she was making the most horrible noises. She seems much better now, though my Pepsi bunny's eye ducts are now blocked again so that is another fun trip to get them flushed out tomorrow!

Yesterday we took my dad out for his fathers day treat (we left it late as they only just got back from holiday last weekend and both parents were quite tired). We went to Rievaulx Abby and had ice creams. After that we drove to Dalby Forest where we had a picnic and then went on a three mile walk. The only negative was that my tens machine failed half way around the walk and I had to limp the rest of the way. My knee and body in general were not impressed with the walking so today I am utterly shattered (doesn't matter too much as I need to sit in today for my John Lewis delivery - wedding presents!!!)

We learnt how to do brass rubbings yesterday - it was more complex than I thought!

Random bent over tree

Hubby and I taking selfies

Other than that I am just attempting to plod on with things, though I am starting to loose track of what I am doing (forgot it was my friends son's 2nd birthday yesterday AND I have missed my god son's birthday!). All I seem to do at the moment is have appointments - tomorrow for example I have three different ones. Cannot wait until my life settles down a bit and I can catch up with myself! I am ashamed to say I haven't even written most of the thank you cards for the wedding and it is well over a month now! *big sighs*