Crafting bonanza and NOISE!

My last day of work before Christmas was Thursday, and it wasn't an easy day. Why is it that everything has to go wrong just when you want to finish easily, early and forget about everything work related? I got there in the end but am going to have to have a major rethink about something when I go back...trying not to worry about it or think about it now.

Alex has been so LOUD over the last couple of days...he seems to have had another developmental spurt this week what with learning to go forwards and now trying to string different sounds together so alongside the very loud shouting we have had some very cute strings of noises including DaDaDaDaGagagag and squeals of joy and excitement. It is so lovely to hear him enjoying the new found vocabulary, although it isn't so great at 5am! He is also enjoying the fredom of going forwards which is causing utter chaos as he can now get into more and more things.

I have had a very busy couple of days crafting wise as I have made 4 bracelets for my family thereby finishing off the last of the Christmas presents. This first one is a chunky green design and is for my Mother to go with her necklace.

This next one is for Gran, again in green, but less chunky to go with her necklace!

This blue one is for my sister-in-law to go with her necklace.

Finally this purple one is made from beads from an old amethyst and metal necklace of my mothers that broke years ago and is for my Great Auntie Jean who will be with us for Christmas at my parents.

The other bits of crafting today have been to make 24 tags for the Christmas presents. I basically covered an A4 bit of card in red and green ink and then stamped music in red all over it before cutting it into 24 pieces, rounding the corners, stamping Happy Christmas in green and adding stickers, using my crop-a-dile to make holes and add gold ribbon. I am quite pleased with how they have all turned out...I just need to wrap all the presents now!

I also finally finished off the bookmarks, they are all laminated and had an eyelet set in one end and the threads added. I think they look great all together and I am thrilled with them. Lets hope everyone else likes them. More soon,

Love,

Caro

xx

forward movement

As the title suggests Alex is now crawling forwards...not fast and it is more like swimming than crawling, but he can actually go forwards now. He is so pleased with himself it is lovely!

At work we have a Christmas competition each year, and this year it was festive biscuits or cookies. I decided to make white chocolate chip cookies and cut them into a bell shape and decorate them as above. I was quite pleased with them and they tasted yummy.

There were a number of entries as you can see, and I have to say that the person who judged it hadn't realised that cookies were allowed as well as he was judging for biscuits...i.e. properly hard biscuits. This caused a few ructions, but the ones that won did taste very good and I could understand why he chose them. It was interesting as he was a chef for 20 years before deciding he could do without the stress and changing jobs to become a lab technician, so he gave us good feedback on our cooking. He liked mine a lot, they were just too soft to qualify as a biscuit apparently!

We had our works Christmas lunch today, and instead of the traditional turkey lunch we went to K-Pasa which is an Italian/Mexican food place. I must say the food was delicious and we had a great time with lots of fun chats and some nice presentations. It also meant that I got to come home early and spend some time with Alex which I enjoyed as always.

Crafting wise I haven't done much over the past two days...I finished off the bookmarks by laminating them and then adding fibres to the top. My crop-a-dile came into its own, cutting through the thicker layers like butter and setting the eyelets beautifully. I also finished off decorating the Christmas crackers as the picture shows. It was quite fun adding little embellishments and stickers to them to make them a little more individual. Tonight I hope to do some beading once Alex is safely in bed. Last day of work tomorrow, so more soon.

Love,

Caro

x

A Christmassy Atmosphere!

We put up our Christmas decorations this weekend to the sound of carols playing loudly on the stereo and Alex shouting in accompaniment. Since we got married and lived in a tiny little house we had an18 inch Christmas tree...this year we decided to buy a bigger fiberoptic tree and it is great...1.2m means that it is still small enough to sit on top of a speaker out of Alex's reach, but is so much nicer than our last one. We have also 'thrown' tinsel and fairy lights around the room to great effect. All together it looks very festive and was a lovely thing to do.

When we went shopping yesterday it was to the sound of carol singers from the local church which I just love, and they were really very good...singing in 4 part harmony and despite having no voice at the moment I was determined to try and join in.

At weekends it is my turn to take main responsibility for Alex and to give Tim a break and I just love it. Alex and I have so much fun playing together or me doing my thing while he plays on the floor at my feet. I just love making him laugh, although that isn't always easy...something that will make him laugh one day will only raise a smile on another day. A game that made him laugh today was him gently grabbing my mouth and nose and me wriggling my face in response...great fun but not so good when he is supposed to be breast feeding. Story time is good fun too...some days he will sit peacefully and listen whereas on other days he will try and grab the book and play with it! This photo is just to prove that he can sit up when he feels like it!

He hasn't been very well over the past couple of days, indeed yesterday was the most vomitous day we have had for ages. Fortunately that has improved today. I just wish he would learn to sleep...he was absolutely shattered today and therefore really grumpy in patches after not sleeping last night.

I am making progress on the list of things that I have to do before Christmas...I made the fudge today which was a complete success. The instructions from Mother were so clear that for the first time I got it right...previously I have burnt the mixture while cooking it. Much to Tim's dismay, this fudge is actually for two Christmas presents, I just need to package it up. I will make another batch for Tim! The only crafting I did this weekend was to make the Christmas crackers using a pack from The Works...they have turned out really well and I have filled them with much nicer treats than you usually get in a cracker. I just need to decorate them now...I have only done two so far!

Anyway, must go and get ready for work tomorrow. More soon, I hope.

Love,

Caro

x

What a week!

It is Friday evening and I am shattered. I don’t think I have slept properly for the past four days as I have a really annoying cough and so work has become a huge struggle, especially today. I have yet another grant to write and I have spent most of the past few days gathering together all my previous data on this topic. The grant is going to be based on a potential new drug for cancer therapy that I discovered during my PhD and we have loads of information about it which I had to try and organise so that I could work out what else we need to do. It is hard going at the moment and I feel like I can’t see the wood for the trees. I think it will help when I get some more sleep and can think straight!
Alex is being so funny at the moment…he is refusing to sleep again and so gets very tired. When he is tired he can get very attached to certain toys or objects that he has been playing with so when I try and take them away so that I can feed or change him he bursts into tears! His sense of humour is definitely developing and Tim and I can keep laughing for hours on some days. He also can play or watch the world with such intensity and a seriousness that is really endearing. I try and read a story to him every evening, and although he gets bored if it goes on too long, he loves it when I do fun animal noises. He still can’t go forwards when crawling, but now goes up onto hands and feet rather than just hands and knees. Isn’t it amazing how babies develop?
I have had a new toy this week…Tim bought me a new digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. My little Nikon is over 3 years old now and beginning to show its age so it is a real treat to have a new one to play with. However, it is going to take some getting used to as it is a lot more complicated than my previous one. All the shots on this page (with the obvious exception) were taken on it.
I have had some time for crafting in the evenings after Alex has gone to bed which has been lovely. I have managed to complete the final three bookmarks for my family for Christmas. The one with playing cards cut up on it with red background on one side and black on the other is for my Dad who plays Bridge. The elephants are for Nel, my sister-in-law who loves them and the remaining bookmark featuring wine bottles and glasses is for my brother Andy who likes the odd tipple! Now that I have completed all 6 of them I just need to laminate them, punch holes in the centre of the tops and add ribbons.

I leave you with another cute photo of Alex taken on my new camera. More soon I hope

Love,

Caro

x

Apologies

I must apologise for not updating for a while...things have got a little out of hand in the past week with me still not being well and trying to keep up with work and home life. I will try and give a little synopsis of what I have done over the past 5 days...

Wednesday saw me going back to work still feeling a little rough. It was hard going but successful as I managed to do review a manuscript for a journal called Angiogenesis. In the evening I had a lovely play time with Alex and then after he went to bed I had a beading session in which I made this necklace, a commission from my mother for one of her friends. She wanted a slightly chunkier necklace than the one I made her...lets hope the lady in question likes it.

Work on Thursday saw me shortlisting potential PhD students ready for interview and beginning to gather some data on experiments that have previously been run using a potential anti-cancer drug that I discovered some years ago. The aim is to put together a grant to do some more research on this drug. By the evening I was shattered so although I had a great time with Alex, I was too tired to do much else so collapsed in a heap and caught up with the chat on the forum. I did recieve some lovely crafty post in the form of these trading cards...M is for Movies by Joanne, N is for Noddy by Christine, and O is for Octopus by Dawn...these are all great additions to my expanding Alphabet.

Friday saw me meeting up with a professor from London who supervised me on a summer placement just before I came to Sheffield 10 years ago. It was great to catch up with his news and he gave me some really useful advice on my potential grants as well. In the evening Alex and I were very silly and he giggled away like mad while we played. However, I was too tired to do anything else and collapsed in front of a movie with a Chinese takeaway. Very Yummy! I also received some crafty post in the form of these lovely snowmen ATCs from Kerry, Kayleigh, Doublesided (I don't know her real name) and Angela...wonderful!

Saturday was the most miserable day in terms of the weather...it rained, it sleeted, it snowed, it hailed and was incredibly windy and we had to go shopping in it! Poor Alex didn't think much of it screwing his face up against the wind, but he was very good...not a yell or cry in sight. The rest of the day after shopping was spent playing with Alex and writing masses of Christmas cards...sadly no time for crafting. Alex's favourite toy of the moment is an empty Pringles tube as the photo above shows!!

Sunday saw me taking a step backwards with this cold... I felt horrible! However, I did manage to get all the Christmas cards finished while curled up in front of the TV which was good. Alex was very good, and every so often tried to go forwards while crawling, but couldn't work out how to move his hands and kept toppling onto his nose and then crying lots. You shouldn't laugh because it did hurt him quite a lot, but it was an amusing sight. I also managed to find some energy and time on Sunday to make one of the 'special' Christmas cards using a rather cute photo of Alex in his Santa hat.

Today I was too ill to go into work and so spent the day at home curled up on the sofa in front of daytime TV while Alex played on the floor and Tim went to brave the queues at the post office. It was a much better day in terms of TLC and I felt well enough to do a little crafting and finished the 'special' Christmas cards. It was a really pleasant change to make some original Christmas cards after making 80 of one design. Alex was on great form today and a joy to be around...we had giggles and fun as well as some serious mess with a felt pen (all over the desk, his clothes and my hands). I think it will be back to work for me tomorrow as I am feeling a little better this evening, although I have no voice and have developed a really annoying cough. More soon I hope,

Love,

Caro

x

Feeling rotten

Sunday got worse as I came down with the flue! By the time I went to bed I had a temperature, the shakes, extremely achy legs, couldn't get warm despite the house being boiling, golf ball in the throat etc. Needless to say the despite the huge amounts of work I have at the moment I didn't go in yesterday or today. Yesterday I still felt revolting and hoped for some extra sleep and a little TLC from Tim, sadly that didn't really happen. He took the opportunity of me being at home to go into town by himself leaving Alex with me. Fortunately Alex was a complete star and while I curled up on the sofa with a good book he played happily on the sitting room floor with the occasional cuddle time with me. We had some lovely giggles and lovings (a very sloppy wet kiss, probably more by accident than design, but extremely nice nonetheless), which made up for everything. Sadly Tim got a parking ticket in town which left him in a really bad mood for the rest of the day, so the TLC I had hoped for was somewhat lacking.

Today I have felt a little better, although my legs and head are still achy and I am still slightly fluey. To make up for yesterday Tim took me to Jencels, the bead shop in Sheffield where I finally managed to get the beads for a necklace I have been commisioned to make. My first commission which is exciting! I just had to share this photo of Alex with you...when I went in to check on him last night I found him asleep having buried himself in his toys! So cute!

One advantage of being off work is that I have managed to do a little more crafting, not a great deal because of feeling so rotten, but I did manage to make a further two bookmarks for Christmas presents...the greeny one is for my Great Aunt, and the purply one is for my Gran. I hope that they like them. I am much happier with these than the previous one. They were made using the same technique as before. I will probably be back to work tomorrow so more soon.

Love,

Caro

x

What a weekend

Not one to be repeated if at all possible. Not because Alex was difficult or because I didn't manage to get a lot done, because I did, but simply because Tim's computer has broken down and will have to be sent back to the manufacturers which meant that he has been in a brown cloud all weekend. We had a great family shopping trip on Saturday to Broomhill and managed to buy a number of Christmas presents, and because the weather has been so revolting the house looks like a Chinese laundry with all the washing we have done. It has been a very productive weekend as I have cleaned, tidied, hoovered, contacted people, changed the sheets, made 8 Christmas cards (current total 68), and washed up. However, it would have been a lot nicer if Tim had been in a better mood.

Alex on the other hand has been a complete star and sat quite happily while I stuck a santa hat on his head to take these photos. I hope to use at least one of the photos for a Christmas card for both sets of Grandparents. Alex looks so funny when he wakes up as his hair is often standing on end and it is now getting quite long. Tim keeps threatening to cut it, but there is still comparatively little of it that I am really reluctant to do so.

Apart from making some more Christmas cards, I only managed to re-do the back of the bookmark...I am really pleased with that, so pleased in fact that I am not as happy with the front anymore and may end up re-doing that.

The lid of the advent calendar box!
Inside the Advent Calendar showing lots of little boxes

One of the open boxes containing a chocolate!

As it is December it is time for an advent calendar. I made this one several years ago for Tim out of the top of a shoe box and then filled it with my own home-made little boxes. Each year I then fill the advent calendar with little treats, mainly chocolate, but anything else I think of. This year it is going to include a few home-made items as well, such as the little love note above.

Love,

Caro

x