First Sunday in November - Progress!

A beautiful morning indeed, the sun shining through the leaves in trees against a backdrop of fabulous blue sky - just wonderful.  When you wake up to days like this, you just want to smile for the sheer joy of it!

Sunday - a day of rest?  Not here!

Sunshine inspires me...now the earlier darker nights are here, and often darker days, it seemed the right time to have a good change round in the lounge.  Still some to do, but I can you show you the things I have been doing today.

We have a large table and wall unit that my husband inherited from his Dad and wanted to keep and so it was moved in to our small bungalow earlier this year.  We used the wall unit as a divider and the table was length wise across the room.  The only problem with this is that we couldn't close our lounge door if the chair was at the end of the table.   I have been using the table as a work space and over the last couple of weeks or so...it has become well rather messy!  

I cleared the table, moved it, vacuumed and then also cleared and emptied the unit so I could move it.  Yes I know I shouldn't have done it on my own, but sometimes you just got to, and anyway hubby was out.  

A few hours later.... Unit is in position with my Sasha family taking pride of place.  There is a home for my cello, giving me easy daily access for practice.  Oh and yes I now have a space to practice in - will show tomorrow! I've since added a centre quilted piece to the table.

A closer look at the top of the unit.

The three girls on the right look like they are having a good gossip!

I had to move our cuckoo clock which I bought in Germany when visiting my friend in 2011.   Out came the power drill!

I moved our two armchairs which meant I had to move my china cabinet slightly - which was actually a good thing as now it is centred under our portrait of Shadow.

Three more girls dressed in Autumnal finery.

The doll on the right is the fabulous American Girl Saige who was a surprise gift from my lovely older son for my birthday.  The Sasha in the middle, Amber, is the gorgeous girl my husband bought me when I first started collecting these lovely dolls, and the doll on the left is a Gotz doll called Autumn.  

Come December this little display will change to feature Christmas.

I have started to play my clarinet again - well attempting to.  At the moment I am doing five minutes a day (or every other day) - less is more!  Plus my embouchure has been totally lost so it is not just the arm to consider, but building up of the embouchure again.

I am also playing my cello again - yeah!  Hoping to have a lesson in a couple of weeks, I have phoned my teacher, but she has unfortunately been ill and is hoping she should be better in a couple of weeks.

I have a load of physio exercises to do, which I think I have already mentioned in a previous post - they are hard work, but they were slightly easier today - so making progress!

Yesterday I went to monthly quilting group.  I made a doll - she isn't stuffed yet, just limbs, head and body sewn.  Not sure what she is going to look like yet!  Will hopefully get round to working on her tomorrow once I have finished in the lounge.  I also cut out nine Christmas dresses and managed to get all nine bodices sewn up.  Will work on these over the course of the week all going well.

I had my eyes tested yesterday at the opticians and they have changed it seems...I thought they had!  It will be two and half weeks before I get my glasses - yikes, how am I going to multi-task in the evenings?!

Last night was interesting, I went to a concert with my friend.  I had to read the directions and was using an old pair of glasses and had to take them off to read the directions and then put them on to read the road signs!  It made me realise just how jolly useful those trifocals that Percy chewed were!  We arrived for the last note of the first half - very disappointing as we were both looking forward to hearing the Finzi Concerto.  The road were bad, we missed the turn off to the road we were supposed to be going up - the road sign couldn't be seen and then ended up in a horrendous one way system!  When we finally got to the venue there was no parking!  Fun and games!

Something a bit nicer...parts of my day.

Needing something pleasant...

Pretty sheets and pillowcases. 

My blue crochet bedspread back on the bed with two little bed friends.

The cupboard I bought the yesterday - the one that 'accidentally' found its way home.

It is now in my sewing studio full of fabric.

Apple, blueberry and raspberry crumble that I made the other evening - might make another tonight for pudding.

A rose for the 1st November.

A childhood toy - I remember taking this to school when I was around the age of 5 years (wouldn't have been any older as it was in England at the time) and I lost the baby on the way to school.   My Mum had to go back to look for it.  Fortunately she found it and they have been together ever since!

Some books that I have either just finished reading, are working through or still reading... in that order.

Oh and I have a few plans for November

Physio exercises - for the hamstring tendonopathy - I now have a mat down in my bedroom and the gym ball for the exercises the physiotherapist set me.

Clarinet practice - yes I am going to try again - five minutes daily.

Work in my Art Journal on a more regular basis.

It is just too much!

On 25th October, this was the state of DS2's room.  He absolutely refuses to tidy it and hey who am I to argue with a Arnold Schwarzenegger wanna be?  So the only time it can be tackled, as indeed it must on occasion for health and safety reasons is when the stars align...i.e. when he is out and I feel the strength to go in there!  Now whether this is JUST because he is a gross teenage boy, or whether it also has to do with him having Autism Spectrum Disorder I don't know.  I do know one thing, don't believe that they like things neat and orderly....so many other parents with children on the spectrum have similar issues...although whether they are quite this bad I don't know.

Anyway after I told him I needed all the plates etc...out and washing in the basket for me to wash, it still looked like a health hazard.

Yes, they are empty sweetcorn cans, empty bottles etc...

A view under the bed...I am surprised there wasn't anything either alive or dead under there!

More rubbish, oh and some 'school work.

Um...I thought I asked for all the washing?

I attacked the room and the result was...

\

Three plastic bags full of recyclable plastics and tins.

One huge black sack full of rubbish.

One huge black sack full of clothes - they look pretty dirty to me!

One large plastic bag of loose CDs and DVDs.  I reclaimed all ours and put them back in the right cases - although some are still missing, goodness knows where they are.

There were 8 spoons and 2 plastic spoons,

4 forks,

1 glass,

2 plates (he had already brought out FOUR earlier.

Oh and this.... pretty gross don't you think?  He isn't studying science for sixth form either!

A closer look at the grossness!

Oh and one of the spoons was completely encased in a harden mummified melon skin!

Oh and his Sixth Form AS Level work for the first half term...

Apparently this is it...I picked it all up from off the floor.

Brand new folder bought at the beginning of the term...I don't think he has used it to file his orderly notes in somehow.

Combine this with his complete and utter rudeness to me, whenever I ask him (nicely I might add) to do something, I really don't know how much more I can take/tolerate.

Never mind all the towels, food, supplies etc...that just disappear on a daily basis as well!

I can never go into a well stocked cupboard to make something, or get a dry towel, as he uses all his we supply him with - this was in a bid to try and least have a towel each ourselves to use as required.  It is so frustrating.

Oh and he nicked his bigger brothers large tin of coins (out of a locked room, so he must have found/taken the keys to unlock it)

Yes I know other teenagers are very similar....I have already had one, but this is on another level altogether and you really have to live with it to understand it and I don't want to have to put up with it any longer. 

Oh and the other side effect of having to deal with all this is the resulting pain that I am left with!

Next post will be more pleasant!

Creative spaces, baking, cleaning - all good stuff!

After a pretty awful day yesterday, today has been much more productive!

I have been working on the kitchen - I would like to eventually repaint it, so need to clean the walls and ceiling.  I am only doing one wall at a time though and have cleaned the 'blue' wall today and asked one of my son's friends' mother who does cleaning if she does ceilings and if so how much as I know I can't do it.

I also cleaned the big louvre window pains and the large window.  I still have the door panes and the other window to do, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.  Trying to pace myself.

With nice clean work surfaces and one bright window I felt like doing some baking.

Out come the ingredients for some scones.

I couldn't find my usual cutter so used the big one - it was a bit big really so they are big scones!

Next out came the ingredients for a lemon drizzle cake

This time I thought I would try baking them in loaf tins so the cake could be sliced, with the thought in mind we will have smaller pieces....

Of course after all that cleaning, baking and hanging out of washing a nice 'Cream Tea for One' was needed!

I've just inserted these here as we need a little sunshine today as it is raining....fortunately I managed to get my washing out and dried before the rain came down...well apart from one load sitting in the washing machine!

I potted my new rose.  It may go in the garden - just behind the pot you can see a sad specimen of a rose - just branches...that I am hoping will come back, but if it doesn't this rose will take its place.

This rose bush has three buds on it which I am looking forward to flowering.  

The first time we went to the Garden of the Rose, I saw a rose called 'Hot Chocolate'  which I quite liked - a little different to my usual roses.  I admired it but didn't purchase one.  During our subsequent visits I admired these roses and watched their colours changed and so wish we had bought one after all, but unfortunately they were all sold!  

When we saw one at the garden centre we went to during the week (a different garden centre to our usual local ones) we decided to buy it, especially as it was the last one left!

Hot Chocolate Floribunda Bush Rose.

These little flowers are grown from some packet of seeds that had no labels on them.  The only lot to actually grow.

Rhapsody in Blue has an abundance of more buds and blooms.

My eldest son comes home tomorrow after the last three months at sea, so I will probably be too busy to blog for the next few days so thought I would draw some more of my 'Inspiration' cards.

Wisdom for Healing:  

I do like this card - what fun it is - just love the hats.

Today's Lesson:  This is the day to practice the power of choice.  Choose the quality of mood you want - that is, whether you'll adopt a positive or negative attitude - the choice is up to you!  Your goal:  to realise that you do have the ability to enhance your life each day!

What a brilliant card!  Yesterday I have to say my mood wasn't the best - due to the migraine, the fact that I travelled into London to the Pain Clinic and they wouldn't even give me any paracetamol for it - which meant that I couldn't focus on the session so it felt like a waste of time!  Frustration at the sheer stupidity of it.  The afternoon spent in bed trying to get rid of said headache and neck pain.

Today however, before I even thought or looked at this card, I got up with the attitude that I was going to get things done and indeed I did!  So what a great card to draw to reinforce that.

Bugs Knowledge"

I just love the colours on this bug - they remind me of autumn and also with the falling and changing of colours of the leaves on our cherry tree you can see these colours reflected.

Such an array of colours.

Back to the beetle.  It is a Metallic Wood-Boring Beetle Megaloxantha bicolour and has its home in tropical Southeast Asia.  It  is about 7cm long.

Power Thought Cards:

The past is over and done and has no power over me.  I can begin to be free in this moment.  Today's thoughts create my future.  I am in charge.  I now take my own power back  I am safe and I am free.

Oh yes!

Nurturing Creativity:

I love that this card drawn is a tree house....there are some plans under way for just this thing!

Having your own creative space is so important - just clearing part of my sewing studio so I can now sit at my sewing table and sew in it has made a real difference.  You need a place to inspire and to feel safe and comfortable in.  It doesn't have to be large and spacious (although that of course would be wonderful!) but it needs to be YOURS where you can design, create, plan, and do.

My daily doodles for the last few days: