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Wednesday 21 January 2015

A long night with two companions.

I have no crafting to report today, my night was long and painful. I had 2 companions that kept me pacing, albeit slowly, Sciatica and Insomnia.
I went to sleep very quickly after an earlyish night, 10:00 but woke hot and sticky at around 12:30 in not a little pain.
I made some Camomile Tea and washed my painkillers down with it, while I waited for the meds to kick in I just pootled around. After half an hour I went back to bed but instead of drifting off I just became more awake. More camomile tea and a biscuit, more sloping around for an hour, back to bed, rinse and repeat. Eventually I slipped into the arms of Morpheus around 4:30 and woke tetchy at 8:00. My head has been woolly all day and apart from walking and feeding Ben have done diddley squat.

The only good bit of my day has been reading my blog list and leaving a few comments, I did not leave many as it is hard to concentrate. A Simple Suffolk Smallholder is throwing a "feed 2 people on £20 for a week" challenge, I want to do this but it will probably be next week now.

I did manage to get down to see Maggie at lunch time for a visit, she is making some lovely jewellery and gave me a ring. I will get it photographed to share ASAP, I also have a bracelet and brooch that she has made for me. I love her work but have no interest in making it myself, at the moment.

 While I was pacing last night I cast a critical eye over the house. It is in serious need of some TLC involving considerable quantities of paint and elbow grease. There are some small repairs that need attention, nothing major, now I knew these were all there but as with most things after a while you stop seeing them.

Once I get over the excitement of my quilting frame I will be pacing again with a note pad and pen. I aim to work through the house, room by room, until all the jobs are done. I have help lined up as decorating is not one of my strong points. I can choose colours, find the accessories and make the soft furnishings. But I can not get paint on a wall without patches, brush strokes and runs.
 I know a man who can!

My garden is planned, in outline so I can change as I see fit, and I can do everything there.
My apple trees are budding up, the garlic, hardy herbs and overwintered onions are looking good and I will be sewing seeds soon, indoors for now, then outside in March.
My front garden will have a bigger central bed and new edging beds, all filled with edible decorative plants. I will grow early potatoes in builders buckets, that way I can harvest in small amounts for optimum freshness.
 I am looking forward to the year unfolding, new crafting skills to be acquired and lots of good things from the garden. The house taking on a fresh, loved appearance. Days out exploring the area and visits to well known favourite places.

Now I must go and get ready for dinner, which is being cooked for me and smells wonderful.

           TTFN                                                            Pam



27 comments:

  1. Hi Pam, sorry to hear you've been unwell, I hope the pain has eased off. I'm looking forward to seeing your gardening posts come spring. X

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    1. Much better today Lisa, I had a decent night and am up and about in good time this morning, just about to make second cuppa of the day. It will be good but nothing beats the first one.

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  2. Hi Pam. Get well soon. Insomnia is the pits and pain along with it, NO fun at all. Please rest up and back to the doc if needs be. Jennie xx

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    1. I am fine today Jennie, looking forward to start on cutting the mile a minute blocks.

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  3. Oh Pam, how awful; I do know what painful wakefulness is like, and you have my real sympathy. Incredible you managed to get up at 0800hours!
    Hoping you have a better night tonight. Lxxx

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    1. Ben woke me, he had his legs crossed and went out into the garden like a greyhound out of the trap. Last night was a good night.

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  4. Oh I do symapthise Pam. Last winter I had frozen shoulder (right side) and this winter it is in my left shoulder. I spend many hours tossing and turning in discomfort. I hope your sciatica tones down for you tonight. It is so much easier to deal with things if you get a good night's sleep! Take care.

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    1. Thank you Julie, I slept well last night and look forward to an active day.

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  5. Oh no Pam. If I had known we could have emailed each other with sympathy. I had Exactly The same night. Up from 12.45 to 4.30 with shoulde pain, sciatica and brain pain. I went to bed with a sewing problem on the brain and would have done better to have gone to my craft room and got on with it but didn't want to wake the whole house. It's a good job I don't have to get up to go to work. Cross fingers we both have a better one tonight

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    1. My night was much better, I hope that yours was as well. I usually sleep like a bump on a log. I did go through a cupboard and had a tidy out but was not up to sewing.

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  6. So sorry to hear you had such a bad night, I know the feeling xx

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    1. Thank goodness that it is a rare occurrence, I am fine this morning after a good night.

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  7. Hi Pam, I hope you feel better soon. What does your 'quilting frame' do? I've always understood them to be foe hand quilting, but that doesn't appear to be the case with yours. Do you have any brand names/sites so that I can google for information? I've been following you on blogger for a short time and have read your blog from the beginning........ Boy...... What a ride! I'm looking forward to following you on you journey. My retirement journey starts in 5 days! :)

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    1. If you type Little Grace machine quilting frame UK into your search engine it will bring up sites to look at. Or go straight to Cottonpatch, who seem to be the main retailer in the UK.. You attach the bottom fabric, the wadding and then the quilt top onto rollers, your sewing machine sits on a stand that moves sideways over thw layers and quilts them together. There are some very good videos on the net. I hope you enjoyed the journey through the blog, just like many peeps I have had my highs and lows. When I took retirement It was with mixed feelings, I knew that I would miss the people and the sense of purpose, but I have never repined about my decision. I am much too busy enjoying my new life to look back..

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    2. Thank you for the information about Little Grace. I just checked her out she seems rather more grown up than 'little'! It looks like I'll continue to pin baste on a table as she is quite large! I'm looking forward to seeing all the beautiful quilts that you make together. Look after your back and don't let her entice you into spending long periods of time with her as you get to know each other.....she's still a young chickie babe and will be able to work for veeeerrrrry long periods of time!!! Enjoy your new quilting companion!

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  8. Take it easy dont want to be laid up when that frame arrives, I am looking forward to your posts about the frame lots of pics please :-) do they assemble it for you ?

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    1. I want to be fighting fit when it arrives and will post lots of pics, you are close enough to come over and have a play yourself.

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  9. I'm sorry to hear of you pain. I hope you recover quickly. x

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  10. Oh, Pam, I am so sorry to hear you have been in pain. I know from experience how back pain & sciatica can drag you down. So glad you slept better last night x

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    1. Luckily it never (touch wood) lasts too long.

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  11. Really sorry to hear of your broken, painful night, Pam. I can empathise as when my back was hurting it was impossible to get comfortable in bed. I hope you sleep better tonight. It took me ages to drop off last night, too, but that was because my head was spinning with all the things I wanted to get done today. I eventually gave in and took one of the Boots SleepEaze tablets. I only buy the 25mg ones as I can always take 2 if one doesn't work but I like to take the smallest dose possible. Here's hoping the sciatica wears off soon. Love, Helen xx

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    1. I slept so well the next night and last night I was hot and sticky again but persevered and stayed in bed. I am going to put a lighter cover on the bed tonight and open the window further.

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  12. Oh Pam your post brought two reactions, one of sympathy re the pain, it's a mean little so & so is sciatica. I was advised by my physio at the time to try sleeping on my side with the affected leg bent up and the knee resting on a pillow. It helps to open up the discs and ease pressure on the nerve.
    The excitement was reading about your frame, I bought one in 2013 from a lovely quilter from Wales. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with cancer and spent the following 7mths having treatment so my little Gracie is still in her packaging. Circumstances (health) meant Mr B has to sleep in the spare bed in my sewing room sometimes, I will be letting 3 cupboards go and downsizing my stash to try and make room for her. I can't wait to see your photos and hear how you're enjoying yourself. You'll probably have found out there's a great video on YouTube about assembling the frame, lasts about 45mins but is good. I've saved the link for when I finally get the space to put mine together. So excited for you. I hope this one gets through I've written and posted 3 times and it keeps disappearing :)

    Peg xx

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    1. I hope that you are soon able to get your frame up and running. I am going to shuffle the sewing/dining room round once I get the frame in. There is plenty of room but I can not visualise the layout, probably because I am so excited.

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    2. Lol, I can just imagine how excited you are, one of the ladies on a quilting group I'm on has hers in her living room and makes use of the option to fold it down inbetween sessions. She puts it behind her sofa, her hubby has it down to an art now and can have it set back up in 30mins now. Not an option for me my LR isn't big enough, I could possibly swing a cat and not bash its head on the wall :) . Mr B is my soul mate and is very accommodating but I think he'd draw the line if I had it in the sunroom lol.

      Peg xx

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    3. One of the main reasons that I love this house is the cosy living room which is just right for my sofas, books and TV plus a big coffee table to spread stuff over combined with a dining room big enough to multi function.

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