Thursday 7 February 2019

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.

7 comments:

  1. Hi Shoshi, I totally get those sink/toilet combos. In fact we've been looking at them for our downstairs loo. Very, very small room- it would have been the outside loo donkeys years ago, so you can tell. Also thought that it was a handy solution for pouch changes too. Glad you got the heating sorted, isn't it always this time of year they break down? Scarf is looking good, as are the 'feathers'. Have a lovely week, Hugs, Shaz #5 X

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  2. Hi Shoshi, it's nice to have you back! The cartoon is hilarious - it really made me laugh! The kitties are cute beyond words and I would really like to see your Shoshified loo if it becomes reality - sounds like an adventure in itself LOL! Hopefully all that's gone wrong has now been repaired - and that's the end of the round of things going wrong. I've heard of the medicine shortages - it's really bad that you can't get the only thing that would help with the pain! I get headaches too from time to time - though probably nothing like yours - I just take paracetamol with codeine and that helps, especially if I can sleep it off. Hopefully, by the time you're reading this, you'll be feeling better.

    I can see that all your previous photos have disappeared! Is that because of Google as well? I hope you can get them back! Thanks for your visit earlier - good to know you're doing ok - I was getting a bit worried that we didn't hear from you for a while! xx

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  3. Hi Shoshi, I'm glad I popped back to check if anyone else had linked up. Glad to hear that you have heating again although it certainly never rains but it pours. The toilet wash basin combination sounds ideal. Meow to Lily and Ruby, I don't blame them for spending lots of time curled up together in this weather (with or without heating). Your peacock scarf is certainly going to turn heads once you finish it, such a beautiful piece of art! Happy WOYWW. Sarah #4

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  4. What a lovely, beautiful fantastic blog you have, Shoshi! So sorry about the photos losing their integrity with recent google changes. I wanted to send you an email, but you did not have that enabled, so I could not hit "reply" to respond to your questions. So am leaving them here. I'm sorry to hear about Open Live Writer. In your dashboard, on the right side, in the bottom right corner is an orange button with white words that says SEND FEEDBACK. That's what I use whenever I experience a problem, and it is usually resolved within a week. You could also try "googling" your problem and seeing if others are experiencing the problem. How sad to have lost your photos - I can only imagine your frustration and the overwhelming amount of time it will take to re-upload those photos. Please use that feedback button - maybe there is a fix. Thank you for visiting my blog, Shoshi! I am your newest google follower and email follower - would love to have you follow me, too! hugs, de
    {Creative Smiles - my little crafting world}

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  5. Hi again, Shoshi! What a wonderful way to awaken and see your lovely comments. Thank you so much! I look forward to our blog relationship deepening. Like you, I love my kitty! Shoshi, I am leaving how to enable your email address, so people can respond to you. You leave such endearing comments, that I cannot imagine anyone not returning to see your blog:
    Enable email address,



    Do you have Email notification set for your Blogger Blog? If so, you know that each time someone leaves on comment on your blog, an email notification is sent to you.

    Sometimes it is nice to “reply” via the email, like when someone asks a questions. Unfortunately most people do not have their email address “enabled” so that an email can be sent. It might show up as DonnaEllis@no-reply.blogger.com

    Not having that email address makes it difficult for anyone who owns a blog and wants to respond.

    Sometimes, we don’t want people to have our email address. But mostly, it is a case of not knowing how to enable our email address.

    On the left, go to Settings > USER SETTINGS > then under Edit User Profile PRIVACY check mark Show My Email Address.

    Below that on the Edit User Profile page, scroll to IDENTITY and where it says EMAIL ADDRESS type in your email address.

    On the left bottom is a button to SAVE PROFILE.

    (stay warm, and I hope the weather is soon back to normal!)
    hugs,
    de

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  6. Hi again Shoshi! I don't think my comments will ever come back - they were deleted by Google along with G+ - they told me so. However, I have no idea why all your previous images disappeared! Your blog was never connected to G+ so I think it's just a coincidence that they disappeared just when Google was killing G+. Have you changed any settings in the last couple of weeks?

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  7. Hi, Shoshi. I have been missing from WOYWW for a few weeks due to our trip to Spain, but was worried to have to scroll back a few weeks to find a link to your blog. Hope you are ok. Email me (teddybob@live.co.uk) if you are having blog tech issues. It is wonderful to see daffodils in the hedges and mild weather forecast for the next few days. I look forward to seeing photos of your downstairs loo - definitely go with that tropical theme. The peacock feathers for your scarf are truly stunning. Ali x

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Thank you for your comments! They are much appreciated. Spammers, please be aware that I read and moderate ALL comments, and yours will be deleted before publication, so please don't bother!

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