Update

Sorry for the delay in posting again.

Following on from my previous post, my mum was sadly sectioned that day under police orders.

She has been transferred back to our local mental health hospital, but we wish she was still in Norwich as she was getting better care. She is surrounded by alcoholics and drug addicts and there have been at least two incidents there since she arrived when they've had to call the police in to deal with the perpetrators. My dad said that whilst he wants her to get help, that ward is doing her more harm than good and she is becoming a nervous wreck.

I've been unable to visit since Wednesday as I have been struck down by a water infection and then a sinus infection and feel absolutely rotten. I've got no appetite and am having to force myself to eat even though I don't want to. I've hardly eaten in the last few days and have no energy, so I know I need to do something to keep my strength up.

Please forgive me for my lack of card making and blog visiting the past month or so, I will try and get back to normal soon.

xx

Where to begin?

How I wish I was back on holiday!

I've been unable to do any of the washing as our machine has packed up!! I put a load on and let it go through the cycle as normal. When Jon got it out, he shouted "Shouldn't it be wet?!" Turns out one of the valves has packed up. We got an engineer out the next day who put a new part it, but it turns out his was faulty and we need a to wait now until Monday for another engineer to come out with a working part.

Things with my mum have also got worse than I ever imagined possible. She's become violent and attempted suicide on a couple of occasions, but still the hospital say that she's okay. At this very moment, she's waiting to be seen at a mental health hospital in Norfolk after hitting my sister and dad with a poker as well as going for them with a knife. I feel so angry as my dad was told to take her away and now this has happened. My sister should not have to be going through this, she wouldn't hurt a fly. I'm also angry with my mum. I know she's ill, but to turn round and tell the police that she's not violent, that she doesn't mean it, I find hard to believe.

She didn't want me to go away on holiday. On my 30th birthday, all she wanted to do was to take all her pills and end it.

This is why I haven't been around (as well as the holiday). I've been trying to get my head round everything and it's so hard. I'm at a point in my life where I should be happy and enjoying myself.

Thanks for listening.

I'm back!!

Hi all, I'm sorry I've not been around for ages. I've just got back from 2 gorgeous weeks in Skiathos where the sun was shining and the temperature was in the high 30's everyday!!

I'm sorry I didn't post before I left to let you know that I would be going missing, but, as you know things haven't been that great.

Hopefully the rest will get my creative juices flowing again, although I can't get to my craft stuff at the moment as it's blocked off!!

Anyway, I'm going to go and check out what you've all been up to in my absence.

Speak to you all soon!

xx :0)

Long time, no blog

Firstly, thank you to those who sent me lovely birthday cards for Sunday. I will post a picture of them at the weekend hopefully.

I'm sorry that I've not blogged in the past week, or visited any blogs for that matter. I've been feeling very tired when I get home from work and have not picked up my laptop once in that time. I've not made any cards either.

Whilst Sunday was on the whole a lovely day, I had a very difficult time when visiting my mum. She was very low and it was so hard to see. I'm not going to go into any more detail as I feel I have posted too much already about her condition. It's not been helped by news that my dad may need bypass surgery.

I've not been anywhere near my craft room in days, which is not like me. I hope to feel more like my old self in the next few days.

In the meantime, thanks for looking.

xx :0)

Almost there!

I can't believe that I'm nearly at the big 3 0!! I've been burying my head in the sand trying to pretend that it's not happening, but it's crept up on me so quickly!!

Thank you for all the kind wishes and cards that I have received. I have been good and not opened anything that has arrived this week that may be a card so I can look forward to opening them all tomorrow.

Jon took me shopping town today for my presents. He couldn't get me what he wanted (a Wii Fit and Mario Kart) so he left me spend £100 and then told me that he would get me the others once they were back in stock!! How sweet is he?!?!

Anyway, I brought some new clothes for my holiday and Mario Party 8 for the Wii which looks fun.

I will post back either tomorrow or Monday with photos of the cards that I have received.

I hope everybody is enjoying the weekend.

xx :0)

Email Attack

This is just a quick note to apologise to anybody that may have received an email from my account yesterday evening. It would appear that my account has been hacked and this email sent to everybody from my contacts list.

I would like to assure everybody that I am no way involved or responsible for that email and have now taken steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

I don't know how this happens when I have a very good system/virus protection on my laptop. It makes you worry about everything else they may have accessed. It's the last thing I need at the moment as things are still very bad and we've received some bad news about my dad too which my mum has taken very badly.

xx :0)

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #50

I've been looking at Beate's blog for a while now but never been brave enough to attempt one of her weekend sketch challenges, until today! I liked the look of this sketch and the samples that had been provided are amazing.

My card isn't in the same league as the others that I've seen, it's very simple. I'm not sure if it's missing something, but have decided against adding anything extra. It's also the first time I've made an A5 card.

This is the first time I've used the Hook, Line and Sinker Penny Black stamp. I've watercoloured the image and added some stickles on the water ripples. The white shimmer card has been embossed using the Swiss Dots folder and layered onto some purple cs. I've added some organza ribbon and a Prima flower to embellish the card.

I hope it is okay. Thank you for looking.

xx :0)