WOYWW565

Well another week on and another week on lockdown so although I am running a little late here is my entry to the nicest bloghop in the world - Julia's WOYWW.

Here is my desk as it was late last night with my computer packed away and a little bit of crafting underway. I had nearly finished my mug of tea by this time and nearly completed a drawing of a lion.  I can't draw at all so was following an instruction video on You Tube by the incredible Oliver Pengilley. 

Here is the end result.

The other crafting from this week has been zentangling in my art journal - it takes ages but is quite therapeutic in this crazy world of ours.

Alex on the other hand has been crafting on a while different scale - he has made a LARP axe from a stick and rubber and foam and duct tape - a LOT of duct tape! It is officially the school holidays now so I am always happy when he has a project to keep him engaged so I can work. I tend to feel very guilty that I can't play with him and do all the cool things that non working parents are doing with their children at the moment.

We did get out for some decent walks at the weekend. 

From our house you can walk across the estate, then across the golf course and down into some lovely woods.  This little stream flows over a waterfall not far from where you enter the woods.

We have a fantastic neighbourhood scheme going on, partly through church and partly just local people, called The Lodgemoor Mutual Aid group where 'street heroes' look after all the houses on their streets, providing everyone with their phone numbers so that people have someone to call on if they get ill.  I am one of the street heroes for my street of 91 houses and yesterday went shopping for an elderly neighbour who lives alone, and spent a happy hour chatting to her from the other side of the garden.  It was so nice to actually have an interaction with someone in person rather than on a screen for a change.

All this makes me realise how truly blessed I am with my family and our neighbourhood and church. Hence another encouraging verse from Isaiah 41.

I will leave you with this daft video of me dressed as a dancing elephant! Alex and I are intermittently joining in with the Taskmaster 'Hometasking' challenges and this was one of them.
Take care of yourselves, my friends,  You are all in my thoughts and prayers at this time,
With love & God Bless,
Caro
xxx

WOYWW564

It is Wednesday and time for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, the nicest blog hop in the world (See Julia's blog for details).  It is a little bit of colour, love and support in a crazy world.

Sadly my desk isn't colourful because I am working from home and my desk is where I can have my meetings with work colleagues and students because I can shut the door.  This isn't the only desk I have been working at this week.

I have also been working at the dining room table to try and help Alex with his school work.  Marking student literature reviews while trying to keep my ADHD son on track is a challenge, but we are making it work with giving him regular exercise breaks.  

We start the day with 30 minutes exercise (PE or the cross trainer), 4 lessons with breaks in between (bouncing on the trampoline to get fresh air and get rid of the fidgets), 

then helping in the house (gardening, tidying, hoovering etc) or going out cycling round our block. I am so glad that the weather has been so good so far. The evening is his time to do what he wants (usually screen time). 

My evenings have been spent having regular chats with family via zoom and google meet, and a little crafting.  This is my latest journal page - thinking about isolation and the self-distancing we need to do at the moment. The journaling on the page reads 'Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, the Lord will be with you'.

For Mothering Sunday we got out into the peak district and enjoyed scrambling round the rocks 

making sure to avoid other people (everyone else was on the paths!).  

I will leave you with another encouraging verse from the Bible. Let me know if I can do anything to help, or any prayer requests that you have. Stay safe everyone.

With love and God Bless,

Caro

xxx

WOYWW563

It is Wednesday and after missing one week I couldn't bear to miss joining in with WOYWW...it is a bright spot in an otherwise challenging world. I am so grateful to Julia for hosting this wonderful blog hop.

This is my desk (photo taken on Tuesday evening) which is in a very unusual state - I am actually sewing!  I hate sewing with a passion as no matter what I do I always seem to get the thread tangled and knotted and it never looks neat, but anyway, greater love has no Mum than she sews on her sons endless Scouts badges.  To be fair it is about time I got on with it, as I haven't sewn on a single one since he joined Scouts two years ago! So there you have it, a large scouts shirt, hundreds of badges, my ipad for something to listen to/semi-watch while I sew and a much needed large mug of tea.

I have managed a little crafting amidst the chaos of trying to sort out MSc students who are supposed to be doing laboratory projects in labs that we have had to shut - redesigning lots of projects is time consuming and stressful. In addition to that I am having to learn on-line teaching software (I am in the vulnerable group so am working from home where I can). Playing with colour has been a bit of a therapy - no plan in mind, just colour on the background of some pages. It will be interesting to see how they turn out in the end.

Last weekend saw Alex having fun with 100 other Scouts outside getting filthy while competing in the Hallam Trophy. He was the muddiest Scout in the place and had a fantastic time.  While he was doing that I was busy prepping for the services on Sunday - I led both the Morning worship and the evening Encounter service this weekend as part of my training.  They are sadly the last services we are able to hold for a while due to the coronavirus shut down so I am glad that they were uplifting ones.

I wanted to leave you with this Bible verse which I personally find very comforting.  It is hard in the current climate not to feel anxious, but I know when I give my anxiety to God I am definitely more at peace. Take care of yourselves and stay safe.
With love and God Bless,
Caro
xxx

WOYWW 561

Firstly an apology, last week ran away with me and I didn't manage to join in at all with the lovely blog hop that is What's on your Workdesk Wednesday (check out Head Desker Julia's blog for details).

Here is my desk as it was late last night, and almost empty mug of tea, my journal and some stickers everywhere.  There hasn't been huge amounts of crafting, but I have got my journal nearly up to date. 

This is the February monthly page all decorated and finished at the end of the month.

Since last updating my blog we went down to stay with my brother for half-term where we were joined by Mum and went for lots of walks.

And this last weekend Alex went to Freezer camp with scouts (this is the before shot)

where the wind threatened to blow their tents down, they got hailed and rained on, but also had sunshine and a lot of fun - this is the state he was in when he came back - exhausted, grubby but having had a fantastic time!
That's all from me for now, keeping it short and sweet the way Julia likes it!  Have a great week everyone,
With love and God Bless,
Caro
xxx

WOYWW 559

It is Wednesday, the day of the week that I look forward to because of the wonderful blog hop that is What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday. Don't know what I am talking about?  Then check out Head Desker, Julia's blog for all the details.

Here is my desk featuring my journal, various stickers and pens, my mug of nearly finished tea and importantly at the back two memory bears from the lovely Annie.  The one on the left is new and is in memory of my Gran.

It has Gran's bobbin lace carefully sewn onto it, and a brooch she made.  Alex also has one, which has buttons from one of Gran's cardigans on the front.

I had a lovely Valentines present from Tim last week in the form of more crafting goodies - all for pocket scrapbooking.

I hadn't done any in ages, but prompted by my new goodies, I put together two new pages - one of a meal out with Tim's family

and one of Abby's ordination. I have all the photos ready to complete pages up until Christmas, but now need to find the time to actually do them - these two pages were from early July so I have a way to go.

Thank you for your supportive comments on my preaching preparation last week - the sermon went really well with lots of people commenting how apt it was for them and how helpful, which was really encouraging feedback.  I have a discernment meeting coming up at the end of March with the diocese as to whether I am called to be a minister in the Church of England, and in what capacity.  Although my vicar thinks that ordination would be right for me, at the present time it isn't right for my family so I would be grateful for prayers that we discern the right step forward. Thank you.

I hope you have all managed to stay safe through the recent storms. Do take care out there! I will finish with a rare photo of me and Tim out for a meal on Valentines Day.
With love and God Bless,
Caro
xxx

WOYWW 558

Happy Wednesday - welcome to the nicest blog hop in the world (WOYWW)

Here is my desk as it was yesterday - sermon prep underway with a mug of tea for sustenance.

Later I cleared away all the sermon prep and started on Valentines Day cards so you can see brushos, ink pad, stamps, paper scraps etc.

This is the final card which I made for Tim - not quite how I planned as the black paint pen splodged.

This week saw us having fun at a silent disco at church - a very surreal experience but hilarious.  everyone wears headphones that have three channels so you can choose your favourite music and dance to it. From the outside there is no sound other than people singing out of tune, which is even funnier if people are singing two different tunes.  The funniest bit was when three of us were dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller doing the actions while others were dancing to YMCA!

I will finish by saying stay safe and warm in this weather - we had our first proper snow today so Alex was looking forward to snowball fights on the way to school! 

With love & God Bless,
Caro

xxx

WOYWW 557

Welcome to the nicest blog hop in the world courtesy of Julia - What's on your workdesk Wednesday!

Here is my desk as it was first thing this morning.. you can see an empty mug of tea, a nearly finished lemsip (Yes, I have another stinking cold courtesy of Alex), my prayer journal (the red notebook), my diary/bullet journal in the brown case, and a note book where I am currently writing down potential appliances for our new kitchen.  If all goes according to plan we are hoping to knock through between our very small galley kitchen and dining room and turn it into a brighter and nicer kitchen diner - we are currently at the planning phase which is fun, but daunting.  I am dreading the actual process, but the end result will make a huge difference to us all.

What with work, my school of ministry course and planning the kitchen, the only crafting I have done this week has been my journal so here is the January overview

And two page layouts for the past two weeks.

I will leave you with this  image I found that sums up exactly what I need to remember to do. Work is very unsettled at the moment, so I need to give it all to God and wait patiently for his way forward - not something I am very good at doing!
With love & God Bless,
Caro