Quick Update

Hi you all! Sorry, long time no see, no hear, but I am still feeling really bad! Good news -  The Op was an absolute success, no complications, my knee is healing well - but....Still got high fever. I'm taking antibiotics and tablets to reduce the fever, and the doc is doing lots of tests. Next week it will continue....The blood tests have shown bad liver and kidney values. And the positive side? 7 kilos less in a week!

Take care of yourselves, I will try to get on the computer again when I have a bit of energy!

Oh oh!!

Hi Ladies, I still have high fever, have to take antibiotics, and even worse, have to really stay in bed!
Will be back in a few days when things have settled down! Take care of yourselves, and have fun!

(Image from Wikipedia)

Happy Mail

Lately I was lucky enough to get lots of happy mail. I did an 'exchange of words' with Donna, where we each sent die cuts of words we had. This is just a small selection of my words, I am going to have fun with them. Donna sent a lovely card, and as usual, put a wonderful selection of stamps on the envelope. What did the post do?? Some ASSH*LE there cancelled them with a black felt-tip pen. How silly can you get????

The second mail I received was a tag swap I did with Denise of Coffeeberry Cottage. She packed her beautiful tag with lace and ribbons, and I was very happy that it got to me safely after the long journey from California!

And today I asked my neighbour to look in in my mail box, as I do not want to be crutch-hopping the stairs too much. And he found this gorgeous envelope from Donna again! This time the mailman had left the stamps in good condition, well done! Donna knows how much I love Halloween!

Inside I found a Halloween Folder....

Filled with goodies

And papers.

Looks like I am going to have fun!!

Thanks a lot ladies, you made my day!

Have a good day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Hatter's Challenge - Christmas Decoration

Hin you all! Today I managed to finish something simple for the Challenge.  I made this wreath 6 years back, and since then it has been stripped and redone in different colours and styles. At first it was white and glittery, then last year I didn't use it at all as I had 'stolen' so many of the decorations for other things. So I added some more leaves and berries. and more of those TH flowers cut from white drawing paper. I sprayed it all silver, leaving some of the leaves dark at the back to give it  a 'frame', added some new red and silver ribbons and the last of the red berries. The angel has been fixed with a heat gun.

This will be gracing my door in December. I am linking  to  out of hat creations.

After getting it done yesterday morning I started feeling fevery and achy again, so spent the rest of the day on the couch, which is what I am planning to do today, too!

Have a nice Sunday, and take care of yourselves. Thanks for dropping in!

Sharing some pictures!

Hi you all!
As I write this I am sitting watching the sunrise again, but today I will not try running onto the balcony every few minutes for a shot! Had a rather painful night here, my knee wasn't too bad but the rest of me hurts from hopping around on the crutches! I had to do my own anti-thrombosis injection  last night, but as my belly is large enough I couldn't miss even with closed eyes!  It can only get better!

Here are some photos taken from my room at the hospital. I had a lovely view from the sixth floor onto the autumn woods. The weather was lovely, and should give us a great weekend here, too.

Another wonderful sight....and delicious!

The marvelous coffee machine in the kitchen - coffee, milk-coffee, latte and cappuccino at the press of a button. But you did have to put the cup under it yourself!

And the lovely sunrise yesterday....

I am planning a restful day, and hope to do some light crafting later on. Have a great weekend you all, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Happy to be back home!

Hi You all!  Thanks again for your wonderful messages of kindness and cheer over the past few days, was great to know that so many people were supporting me! My knee is looking good, looks like a shrivelled pumpkin now, I have a lovely waterproof dressing on it so I can shower, and my neighbour brought me safely home, for which I am very thankful. Got up all the steps with no big problems either, and now I am going to rest for a few hours, as I am totally knocked out!

I want to wish all those partying at PPF and sending postcard's at Darcy's challenge a fun day, I will join in again next week. Hope to be so far recovered tomorrow that I can start with some gently painting and crafting.

And to those ladies who are wondering why I didn't fly home on my new crutches - well, they gave me  leaflet with them which say it is not allowed to hang luggage or bags on to them for safety reasons....Perhaps I can learn some more tricks from Harry Potter first....

I will be back tomorrow with some photos I took while I was in Essen. Don't worry, no horror pictures of my knee!!

Have a great day, take care, and I will be round to visit you this afternoon when I have had a rest!!

Halloween Pumpkin Knee!!!

Hi you all! First I want to send you all heaps of thanks and hugs for all the good wishes and prayers which have been coming my way! The docs are satisfied with how my knee is looking, and I get good painkillers, so I am not suffering. They just removed the drainage tube, which was rather nasty, but it feels better now it's out!! Although a bottle full of gore hanging from the knee would have been a good Halloween costume!! But my knee is fully tuned to Halloween. Round like a pumpkin, and as they distressed it before the OP with some pretty orange coloured ink or something,  it's just the right colour! And the stitched up sides look real!! (Oops, think they  are!) Later on the physio therapist will be bringing my  crutches (which I will surely be able to dress up as broomsticks) and will practice walking and going up and down stairs with me.  And I should be able to go home tomorrow. But it's a great hospital, I have a lovely room, everyone is really  nice, food is great, and the kitchen ladies keep knocking on my door and persuading me to take a coffee, or a nice plate of fruit or juice or a snack - I mean it would be rude to refuse....
Will visit all your blogs when I get home. Till then, thanks for staying around, take care and have fun!

Alfried Krupp Hospital in Essen

Hi you all. Op went well, now I am in my room being waited on hand and foot, isnt that something?  More when I am fully conscious again!  Thanks for all your good wishes!!

Tag Tuesday gone Rusty

Hi you all, just a short blog today, as I have a lot to do getting ready for hospital. I have just been watching another wonderful sunrise, it seems to get more beautiful from day to day!

The theme at Tag Tuesday this week is rust:

I used white drawing paper scraps for the tags, which have been distressed with wild honey and rusty hinge, and then 'rusted', as have the metal embellies. I think the one with the heart looks like an owl!

All for today; I will catch up with you all as soon as I can! Take care, and thanks for dropping in!

A new day dawning & Hatters' Challenge

Hi everybody! You may think I am mad to keep taking pics of the sunrise, but it is just so lovely I can't stop! And as I am waking up very early each day just now, long before dawn has even thought of cracking, I have something to enjoy while drinking my coffee. The colours were so lovely yesterday, I'm sorry the photos don't really do justice to them, from deep blue to turquoise, lemon and lilac, and then pink and gold.

And I made some boxes for the hatters Christmas present challenge. I used some boxes I got last year as packaging as templates, placed them on a sheet of red velvet paper, and drew round them. These are just the old boxes. After they were all neatly cut out and fitted together, I decorated them.

I kept to red and silver decorations and embellies. The smallest box is for a gift card, and the others will be filled with toiletries or home made cookies. I have taken the photos of them sitting on my clean and tidy kitchen table. Look well, this is a sight you might never see again!

Here's wishing you all a great day, take care, and thanks for visiting!

Harry Potter Surreal

Hi you all, hope you are enjoying your weekend. It's cold and wet here, good weather to stay home and craft. Thanks to all who left good wishes for my coming Knee OP yesterday, I was at the hospital yesterday for the pre-op exams, so it can go ahead next week as planned. Depending on what they do, I will be hopping around on crutches for something between 2 and 6 weeks. I'm trying to see it positively - no H*******K and plenty of time for reading, crafting, knitting etc!

This week I thought of a sentence I had read in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', which inspired me to do this rather surreal journal spread. I am sure it's not everyone's taste; I'm not quite sure it's mine! But I had fun making it. For those who haven't read the story, they were talking about apparating and getting splinched. 

(Both terms can be looked up on the net). People who don't apparate  carefully are in danger of leaving parts of their body behind when they magically transfer themselves from one place to another....

I used prismalo water colour pencils and stickles to do the eye, the legs, street sign and owl have been collaged, and the houses and shoes stamped.

That's all for today! Have a great day, take care - especially if you are apparating anywhere - and thanks for dropping in!

Postcard Challenge and PPF

Another week is over, and it's time for Paint Party Friday and Darcy's Postcard Challenge again, where our theme this week is Scotland. I may not be able to participate next week, as my knee is being operated on next week, and although I should be home by Friday, I am not sure how fit I will be. But I hope to be able to visit you all anyway!

Cissie and Thelma have been invited to a Scottish evening at a friend’s, who originally came from Glasgow, married a ‘foreigner’ from London, and settled there. But she has invited her friends to celebrate her birthday with Haggis, whisky and Scottish dress. Cissie is, as always, game for everything and anything. Thelma is still making excuses. ‘I haven’t got a kilt or anything suitable to wear!’ she moans. ‘We can buy one!’ says Cissie. ‘I don’t like haggis!’ sighs Thelma. ‘Have you tried it?’ asks Cissie. ‘No! Of course not....Oh well,’ answers Thelma. ‘If I eat something beforehand, I won’t starve even if I don’t want to eat it!’ ‘That’s the spirit!’ exclaims Cissie! ‘And talking of spirit – there will be plenty of whisky and good tea, too!’
The ladies get dolled up to go out, Cissie with a kilt and accessories to match, and Thelma wearing a tartan scarf round her neck as she does not want to buy a kilt. They take a taxi to their friend’s house, and are greeted by a merry band of elderly ladies, all wearing various shades of tartan, and sporting accessories like thistles and sporrans.

Tartans

The Scottish thistle

A sporran

There is not only whisky to drink, but red wine and beer, and Cissie samples them all, refusing to think about the headache she will have the next day. Thelma is rather pissed inebriated, too, by the time dinner starts, and tucks in to her haggis,  neeps and tatties with gusto, and manages more than one portion, as does Cissie.

No words necessary....

(Haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a sausage casing rather than an actual stomach. Neeps are turnips and tatties potatoes). For dessert there is Tipsie Laird and apple frushie, followed by oat cakes and Dunlop cheese.

Tipsie Laird

 After dinner they listen to Scottish folk songs, and everybody sings along as best they can. In the wee, small hours of the morning they take a taxi home, and stagger, singing ‘Scots wha hae’ back to their flat, much to the amusement of neighbours who hear them. They sleep late the next day, and both decide to wear sunglasses at breakfast, which consists of Alka Seltzer and strong tea….

(All pictures courtesy of Wikipedia Commons; Alka Seltzer collage made in Picasa)

Here is the postcard they send after sobering up:

For Paint Party Friday I am sharing a paint roller picture  (60x42cms) which I have called 'Skyscrapers and rainbow'. I have used acrylics, painted with a 1" roller, which I made myself by dissecting a larger one into several small ones. 

So that was all for today. Have a great weekend you all, take care, and thanks for visiting!