zzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz

Tired, sore, fed up.

So have some piccies!

Obviously loads of Olympic piccies around.

Queenie, you are a bloody STAR to let this happen, and Mr Boyle thou art a genie arse. Superb.

Look at those leggies on the last one!

Fudged spelling.

Rescued wombat baby - look at that nose! Look at it! AWWWWWW!

Had forgotten about the nastursium seeds I had shoved in - this looks fantastic against the rich pink of the pentunias.Subtle it is not.

Making has been happening, my dry and sore hands are proof. One crow finished, four almost finished. One cat started, one sheep ditto. 30 sheep brooches finished. Phew.

I had a fire incident in the kitchen the other day (nobody hurt, nothing damaged except some oven trays), meant I had a bit of a delayed blub and then cleaned the oven, so that's added to the dry handies.
Phew. Again.

My house is, to put it bluntly, a shit hole, it was NEVER like this when i was working which is ironic I suppose (except obviously the sole reason I am not working is because I am too ill - so I suppose there is a reason for not being on top of the tidying). Doesn't make it any easier to bear though.
I don't think this little house reflects the 'me' that is in my head. Or maybe I am much duller than I thought and this house really DOES reflect me!

Either way, I am determined to spend the next few weeks trying to make friends with my house and turn it into more of a home ( a bit hard when it is rented but that cannot be helped).
The messy hall - yes, all one metre of it, was quite straightforward to tackle. I took the existingshoe rack from there, hoovered, and plonked this unattractive but very handy set of drawers there. Then did all the drawers, covered it and added one of my favourite gifts:

I can't do much about the fact that the walls need painting (rented) but will get my daughter to paint the woodwork. This is definitely a start - the stairs are next!
I have also gutted one side of the living room thoroughly, looks cleaner and more organised.

Not much but it is a start.

Hope everyone reading this is well - do you love your home?

Found one!

Camera that is. Nopthing flash (and by hell I am missing my broken one) but it's better than nothing.

So brace yourself - garden piccies galore!

Vegetables? A total and utter soggy, drownded, rank looking disaster - what the rain didn't destroy the giant mutant slugs relished.

Tis upsetting really but sod all I can do about it.
The sole survivor of the peas and beans:

Poor things!
The cabbages, rosemary and mint are the only things that have flourished. Thankfully PSidney likes baby cabbage.

Self sufficient I am most definitely NOT.
Some of the plants and flowers have loved the weather - not all, and of course some were minched by the red beetles. But in general most of the flowers looks pretty still.

I need to get back out with the greenfly spray, and there seem to be quite a lot of tiny black flies around (no doubt attracted by the standing water in a couple of the pots, so have emptied those as best I can).

These have been fabulous, reds, all shades of pinks and white. They have flowered constantly, I deadhead then every few days but they have kept the garden looking colourful over the last couple of months.

Look at the colours in that! Gorgeous.
It is a lovely day here, sunny and dry - two loads of washing have dried on the lines so that's good. Cannot beat air dried washing - bedding tomorrow, and hopefully get the covers off the settee over the week and get those out to dry.
I have done a bit of knitting but it's on a back burner at the mo - I am so so tired.

Very easy, very simple, acrylic - and I really like it! More details to come, tis a Chrimbo gift to out away when finished. And probably lose.
I have also been sewing away on things for a certain upcoming mini fibre festival - plenty of sheepies like the ones I made for KnitCampSh1tCamp. They were extremely popular, and having found some lovely 100% wool felt I am really rather pleased with the slight changes I have made which I think have improved them.

Boo!

And the crows of the steampunk variety are also coming along but again on a bit of a backburner until I perk up a bit.
I gave up and went to bed last night at 6pm - yes, 6pm, then slept until 5am then again until 9am. Have also had a few hours kip this afternoon and can hardly keep my eyes open - hence being outside for an hour or so to try and wake up a bit and get some vitamin D.
This is real ME territory - cannot stay awake yet don't feel any better for it.

I have my paperwork through to sort an appointment with the cardiology team for more tests on my angina, that was extremely speedy as I only mentioned it to the Dr on Monday. Wish I had kept a copy of my ecg just out of interest.

Not a lot else to report really, just how lovely it is to have some sunshine.

Hope all are well.

Free Smiles.

Have found a camera that might do for now, need to get it all rigged up. So in the meantime have some daft photos from around the interwebz, things that have made me grin - hope you enjoy!

An oldie but a goody - spot the cheeky boy!

Ha.

Cannot help it. Makes me smile everytime.

Want.

LOVE munkies.

Confirming what some think about Heston.

There.
Nothing of any intellectual, artistic or other interest at all!

Broken things!

My beloved camera is broken - will turn on, wont turn off.
Will show things but wont take photos.
Far too skint to take it to ber repaired.
Gutted :-(
I do have another camera tucked away somewhere so will have to dig it out and hope I have the leads etc.

My body is slightly broken too, bit of a mad day at the RA hospital on Wednesday which ended up including an emnergency ECG and then a cortisone injection into my wrist for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Am still trying to recover some energy and not really succeeding!

I am however Making Things in readiness for a certain mini fibre festival next month - I would say watch this space but being cameraless there's sweet FA to watch!

And don't tell anyone - we have sunshine.

In which the red beetle meets its match.

Anyone passing by knows how much I love my teenytiny garden. When Kez was here last week we found what we thought was a rather pretty little beetle and didn't think anything more about it. Took piccies, continued with the Door.

See, quite cute in a beetly way. But bloody hell these things are a nightmare - they decimate lilies in particular, and several other plants. They also seem to happily munch on anything nearby.
Red Lily Beetles - do check your plants and get rid of them before they do this:

See? I have lillies planted near this and the bloody things have had a real feast.
I found one beetle this morning happily tucking into a lily plant:

This is now an ex beetle.
Squished.
Stamped on.
Gone.
I googled and became lost in a world of red beetle destruction. General opinion seems to be to hell with organic, nuke the little gits.
I have been out and sprayed and sprayed but only have cheapo Wilko spray, will do for now. There are a lot of recommendations for this spray

So that's next on the shopping list.

The weather here in the UK has been dire to say the least. Peeing down mostly, muggy as hell. Today here in this part of Yorkshire it is sunny and warm, I took a risk and bunged a load of washing on the line so it will pour down no doubt.
I checked the plants this morning after putting the washing out and the poor things were half drowned. These are pretty substantial sized planters:

Poor things! Have emptied them as best I can but it's going to take several days of sunshine and warmth to dry them out again. It's so damp I found a bloomin toadstool!

It is Silverstone Grand Prix this weekend - the qualies have just been halted because of the rain. Piccies from yesterday look like this:

and todays commentary seems to be more of a wet shirt competition, they look drenched!
I love it when it rains, makes the race even more exciting. I love the racing so much and cannot even drive ....
What else - I finished my first ever sock but all is NOT well. More to come about that little fiasco tomorrow I think when I have pondered what to do. Pah.
And the Door colour has been chosen, more on that too (exciting eh)(waddya mean no??).

I have this to sort through. Sums me up perfectly.
Toodles.

Brought to you by the colour PIIIIIING!

Today I feel almost awake - had NO sleep for a couple of nights but managed about 4 glorious oblivious hours last night, so I am just on the right side of overtired. I do think  snooze is due soon though, and am at the Drs later this afternoon.

The sun is out, not convinced it will last for long as I have put the washing out and everyone knows that is the signal for the gods of rain to do their funky thang. But it's fab to have some daylight.

The garden - yes I am fraid MORE garden piccies are coming - is a bit bonkersmad. The fleurs are loving it, the veggies not so much, In turn, the SLUUUUGS are loving the veggies. They appear to be mutant cyber slugs as they are oblivious to the slug pellets etc and just keep coming back. Teeny tiny ones, huge ones, snails galore, yuk.

The cabbages are religious cos they are holy. Sowwy.
The mint and cabbages are about the only things thriving, the peas, beans, broad beans all scoffed. Buggerit.

But there is pinkness galore.

Some natural.

Some not so natural.

The pinks I waffled about the other week are thriving thankfully - the 'fakes' and the 'real' ones both look and smell amazing.

Real                                                                                                                                      Fake

When I was a tot both nan and mum's gardens were full of the 'real' ones, all the borders were crammed with them, the smell was so lovely. The older I get (snort) the more I seem to be consciously or subconsciously choosing plants from my childhood. Tis great that such treasured memories can be triggered by something so every day as a plant.

Seeds from mum's garden = yellow poppies galore.
There are even poiple fleurs, which clash wonderfully with my manky door.
Brace yerself -

Pretty.
And FUUUUUGLY:

In my defence, your Honour, it is a rented house. The door and the godawful fekkin carpet are NOT of my choosing. I am still trying to decide what colour to paint that bloody door. Mum suggested red which I said would clash with the red bricks.
Mum's reply:
'But you don't have many red bricks.'
Erm. The ENTIRE HOUSE is red brick, in a street of red brick houses.
If it was my own house I would paint it a deep rich raspberry or a zingy chartreuse.
Daughter says paint it black. Deffo don't want white or blue.
Or grey.
Daughter is sanding it all down tomorrow and if tis dry will undercoat it. So I really need to decide on a colour pretty damned soon!

Hmmmm - any suggestions?
I half like muted greens but a bit dull. Would depress me before I even opened the door I think.

OOh - knitting is happening. Sox. Wool has been bought. Fibre is being spun. Shawls have been finished.
Piccies tomorrow all being well.
Table sold and hopefully collected Thursday.
Sewing machine is in use.
Hurrah!