Tag Archive | cockerpoo

In the night garden

After the excitement of finding my first hedgehog resident I was happy to go to bed satisfied that my wildlife garden plans are coming to fruition. There is nothing like success to spur you on to greater things and I couldn’t sleep straight away as more ideas were swirling round my head.

I finally dropped off only to be woken up at 2am from a deep sleep by Jasper barking incessantly. I knew that it wasn’t his “I need a wee” bark, and it didn’t sound like his “I can’t reach my toys” bark either but he went on and on until I staggered out of bed and went downstairs to investigate.

Jasper checking out the strange spikey thing in his garden

Jasper was standing at the window looking out onto the back garden and when I managed to prise my eyes open wide enough to focus I saw a hedgehog on the lawn. Even Jasper is becoming obsessed and I’m not sure how he knew it was there unless it was making a hedgehog-noise but there it was. I let Jasper out and he ran straight towards the hedgehog. he doesn’t attack them or hurt them in any way but he is very curious.

All curled up waiting for the annoying dog to go away

I managed to hold him back for a while until the hedgehog realised that there was no threat, uncurled and tottered off into the bushes.

Off into the bushes

As you know I love having hedgehogs in the garden but if it means having to get up in the middle of the night to satisfy Jasper’s curiosity, I may have to rethink!

keep calm

114 Days of freedom-days 8-12 catch-up

Feb24

I am hopeless.

All my good intentions of keeping my Blog/journal up to date thwarted by …….by….. Mmmmm. Not sure, except that I have neglected my duties for 5 days.

intentions

In my defense, Days 8 and 9 were spent celebrating my birthday 🙂 Whilst I am not a fan of Christmas, Easter and other Public holidays when I am celebrating something totally unconnected with me, my birthday is sacrosanct. I have never worked on my birthday. Ever. I have always loved my birthday and the work thing came about in my penultimate year at school when I sent off for retail management opportunity information from our best-loved high-street stores. Strangely, it was the Woolworths scheme which caught my eye.

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In addition to the standard holiday allocation, they gave you a day off for your birthday! Wow! That really appealed to me, and I vowed then and there, never to work on my birthday. I never have and my well-trained secretary used to book my birthday off as her first job each New Year. I think that Woolworths were years ahead of their time with my employer ony following their blazed trail 35 years later by introducing “Birthday Leave” in 2014. It may not seem much, but it meant a lot to me; Better late than never.

My birthday this year fell on a Saturday. I went to my Slimming World class as usual and the class sang “Happy Birthday” when they found out I was in group on my day. I didn’t want to do anything special on my birthday except that I got to choose the dinner menu. Steak of course! Not only do my hubby and I enjoy a good steak, Jasper has developed a liking for it too. The good thing is that today, steak is not the expensive luxury it used to be, and Jasper gets his own slab of red meat to eat with his mummy and daddy. Yes, we spoil him but he deserves it. He gives us both so much pleasure that we cannot possibly deny him a bit of sirloin.

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Jasper also likes going to the pub. He likes it because he gets lots of adoring attention and he meets his doggy friends for a get-together!

Jasper and Tess

Birthday celebrations over, I have mostly been busy making the quilts I have “on order.”

If someone wants a quilt, I am happy to make one if they choose their colour scheme. It’s very interesting to see who chooses which colours. Everyone is so different.

I currently have 4 quilts in progress.

Will’s housemate (a) yellow/green/spring-like colours
Will’s housemate (b) teal/grey/silver
Feri’s mum in Iran- Moda Modern Neutrals
My Slimming World Leader- lap quilt in random FQs

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Whilst looking at quilts on Pinterest, I have also found details for “Fidget Quilts.”

I will explain these another day. 🙂

Streetlife:-

About 12 months ago, I discovered a great website called “Streetlife” Streetlife is a social network website which “makes it easy to connect with local people, ask questions about your area, share news, events and recommendations with neighbours”

So far I have found a great local tiler, who did our kitchen tiles before Christmas, found free horse manure for our garden and this week, found a group of ladies who are interested in walking. Today we met for the first time in the local park and went for a walk along the canal. It was a beautiful sunny spring day and we have a lovely time. It was so successful that we will meet again next week for a walk in the fresh air and sunshine (hopefully). People bemoan the internet but I love it. It has provided some great friends and wonderful inspiration and ideas apart from being able to keep in touch with family. How did we ever do without it?

So, a quick run-down of the last few days. I am trying to keep up with myself. Now I am beginning to understand how my mum felt-she always said she always felt like she was living in the middle of a whirl-wind. If I can’t keep up with myself, I can’t possibly expect anyone else to.

Stay with me!

114 Days of freedom-Day 2

Feb14

Valentines Day.

Hubby and I don’t send cards or buy pressies for Valentines day, but we do treat ourselves to a nice meal cooked at home, usually a big, fat juicy steak. Jasper, of course, doesn’t like to be left out so daddy makes sure that he has a steak too. I have never come across a dog as spoilt as Jasper but daddy lost his heart on day 1 and Jasper hasn’t looked back since.

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De-cluttering

Having lost so much weight, I have lots of clothes which I have hardly worn and which are taking up too much room in cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, boxes, airing cupboard and several vacuum packed bags piled up wherever there is a little space. I got up this morning and decided to start sorting my stash into 4 piles;

Ebay- Clothes that I would still be wearing if they were the right size.
British Heart Foundation- items to donate that are still in good condition but which I wouldn’t wear now even if they were the right size.
Dusters-usually old t-shirts and cotton work shirts
Rubbish

It seemed like a good idea at the time but I am a bit of a hoarder and take the view that whatever it is, “it might come in useful one day.” I found myself looking at a dress before putting it on the Ebay/donation pile then changing my mind because “it might come in useful one day” and it went straight back in the case/cupboard/drawer/bag. This went on for a while and my piles were very small in comparison to time spent. Feeling a bit defeated by my good intentions I came downstairs for a break and had a chat with my sister on facebook.

She referred me to Marie “KonMarie” Kondo who I had never heard of before but after looking her up on the internet, this is remarkable. It seems that I must have been living on a different planet, she is so well-known.

KonMarie has written some very poplar books and is in demand round the globe. In short, her philosophy about decluttering is that “if the item doesn’t spark joy” dump it. She helps her clients turn their living space into places of “serenity and inspiration” and thinking that would benefit me too, I gave it a try.

Apparently in her book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying” which I have yet to read but is now top of my list, she encourages readers to put everything they own in a pile, clasp each and every object, then keep only those that ‘spark joy’, booting out everything else after thanking it for its service.

Strangely, it was like being given permission to get rid of things you don’t like, or just don’t “spark joy” anymore and my pile of get-rid items grew much quicker. It was a weird experience and I wonder why her philosophy works. Not that it matters, I just know that I now have more space and I feel less guilty about condemning some pre-loved items to the trash.

I still have some way to go but it’s a start.

Quilting

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Hubby recenty told me that his mum had admired a quilt that I had sent over as a gift for friends of ours. Without any further ado, I knew exactly which fabric I am going to use for her quilt and which we will take over with us on our next visit to Iran. The fabric colours and patterns speak for themsleves so there is no need for anything more complicated than to sew the charm squares together and hand quilt each square with two circles. This is Moda fabric, Modern Neutrals. Moda make great quality fabrics and I have never been disappointed.

I was hoping to sit in front of the TV this evening and chill out whilst hand-sewing the quilt. Unfortunately, Jasper got hold of my cotton which I wasn’t looking. Something else to add to my shopping list.

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So, that’s Day 2. I wonder what Day 3 will turn up?

Time flies….

Apr22

Groomed

Bradgate Park

Brampton Valley way

when you are enjoying yourself. So the saying goes and I endorse that wholeheartedly.

I ask you, how is it 2 months since I last posted? Where did those weeks go?

All I can say is that I have been out and about, “doing” things, making things and generally making the most of my 4-month break from work.

My biggest thrill is my puppy Jasper who is now 8 months old. He is such a revelation and has made a huge difference to my daily life. Anyone who has suffered from/is suffering from depression or anxiety will understand that it is often difficult to engage socially with others and it is easier to keep your distance than make an effort. As a result, I could spend hours in solitude and although I enjoy my own company, it is not healthy for a person to become so self-contained. Jasper has changed all that as I hoped he would before we had him.

He is such a beautiful dog both in appearance and nature that I am “forced” to talk to other dog walkers and appreciative members of the public every time I take him out for a walk. It helps me to engage with people as the attention is deflected away from me and is instead focussed on Jasper. Although outwardly I appear confident and am happy to speak up, I do not like attention to be focussed on me and therefore if I am not comfortable in my environment, I keep quiet and move on.

Jasper makes me happy. I love animals, I particularly love dogs and have waited a long time to have another one. He makes me laugh and I love to see him enjoying himself usually in water (the muddier the better) and as I am responsible for his welfare and enjoyment I have less time to think about me. It’s a win, win.

I wish that I could bottle Eau de Jasper. I would make a fortune!