WOYWW 505 Crochet and Kitties, Frostbite and Loos

Uploaded a day late because I’ve been having problems – again… – with Google not playing ball with Open Live Writer. I’ve been unable to publish any blog posts containing photos, until I found a workaround online.

Sorry to be AWOL for a few weeks folks. I’ve been very busy with other things and resting in between. I’ve not been feeling too well lately with my M.E., and my sleep patterns are very disrupted again which is a pain, so I’m trying to rest as much as possible. I’m going through a phase of getting a lot of headaches again, too, and it’s an absolute pain, because the only pills that really touch it have been unavailable everywhere for months, and I’ve run out now.

I’ve been working very hard on new material for the Bible study group which I am finding very fulfilling and interesting, and I’m learning a lot, which is all very exciting. My creativity has been devoted to designing lots of PowerPoint slides for upcoming sessions, which I really enjoy doing. Still nothing on the actual desk, but when I’ve had a moment, I’ve been making a bit of progress on the embellishments for the other scarf I made last year – the peacock one.

Here are the feathers so far. They are extremely labour-intensive unfortunately, so I don’t see this project getting finished any time soon!!

This is the scarf, just to remind you.

I am really enjoying wearing my striped scarf and have had some nice comments about it, my favourite being, “Oooh, it’s so YOU!!” Lol lol!

Plumbing

The plumber was eventually booked to come on Monday, which was great, because on Friday evening, the boiler broke down!!!!! The house was freeeezing so we wrapped for an arctic expedition and heated rooms as we needed them, but working in the kitchen, my hands kept getting almost frost-bitten! Out with the fingerless mittens and the hot water bottles, and really enjoying having kitties lying on me for mutual warmth during the day!

The plumber’s wife has been very poorly so he’s had to take some time off to look after her but now she’s on the mend, he’s back at work, and he said I should have phoned him over the weekend, and he’d have come, but I said I didn’t want to bother him when he had so much on his plate. We survived, at any rate!

The boiler was soon fixed. He had a look in the loo and agreed that the cistern was the problem. It is a very old high-level one. I like these because you get the benefit of gravity for a really good flush – the one in my bathroom is like Niagara Falls which is great for dealing with Kermit! Anyway, he said it needed replacing, but the trouble is, being so old, it’s incompatible with newer fittings. We’ve decided to go for a complete new loo, with a little sink on top of the low-level cistern for hand-washing – I’ve seen pictures of these and thought what a good idea it was. The room is tiny and there’s no room for a hand-basin, so we have to use the sink in the utility room. The room itself is pretty grim and in need of redecorating and smartening up – the pipework looks a mess. The plumber said we’d need to bring the loo forward and box it in at the back because the window comes down so low, so that there would be some support for the cistern, and this box would cover the bottom of the window, which doesn’t really matter. We’ll end up with a higher windowsill for putting stuff on.

Having seen some really whacky decorating in a tiny loo on a house renovation programme on TV recently, I’ve decided it would be fun to do something similar in our loo. We have quite a few visitors (including my Bible study group each week) and I’m rather embarrassed about the state of our downstairs loo at the moment as it’s pretty basic, and would like it to be nice for people to use! I’m hoping to do a jungle theme with dark green walls below the dado, and if I can find it, some nice bold rainforest wallpaper above! Possibly some stars on the ceiling? Waddya think? Would that sufficiently Shoshify it?

I’m not sure whether this idea will become a reality – my hubby pulled a bit of a face when I suggested it, but he’s always allowed me free rein where interior design is concerned, and anyway he’s colour-blind, and apart from that, he never notices anything haha!!

As this loo plan goes ahead, I’ll share some photos!

He also looked at our boiling water tap which has been out of order for several weeks after it caused a flood on the kitchen floor. He phoned the company and we’ve ordered a new tank, which should arrive in a couple of days, and the plumber will come back and fit it, and he’s going to bring me some brochures about the new loo as well. He’s a really nice bloke and we are very fortunate to have him – he was recommended by a friend from church, and they also recommended a very good electrician who we always use, too. We like supporting small local businesses and you get to know them. When we moved here and all the building work was complete, we had a housewarming party and invited all the builders and other trades, with their families! Some of them who’d only seen the early stages were really interested to see it all complete.

One of the garage doors has also broken down (electric up-and-over) and my hubby has booked an engineer to come and fix that over the next few days, too.

Then the car battery went flat. Fortunately it was just due to the cold and it’s been fixed now. The car needs new tyres, though.

Funny how everything seems to break down all at once, isn’t it. I hope this is the last of it!

Kitties

They’ve been out a few times, but one of the fence panels had got damaged by the storm and of course Ruby made an absolute beeline for the gap and my hubby had to grab her double quick! The panel is now replaced, but a combination of bad weather (cold, snow, rain and wind) and my hubby being out a lot, has put paid to any more excursions outside with them for a while. They are quite happy indoors. They’ve spent a great deal of time cuddled up in the hammock together, especially while the heating was off over the weekend.

Lily showing her pretty tummy.

Spending lots of time together keeping warm.

I do love my sister so!

A pair of spoons.

Finally, a kitty funny.

Hope you all have a great week with lots of creativity.