Indeed , where DID I go ?

 Its been a few long years , since i have even felt like updating or adding to my blog. Yes i have thought of adding to new ones , and have started some new ones, but just never gone on with them .  

So exactly where have I been ? I moved - reluctantly , apprehensively , anxiously moved . No one comes to this blog as it reached a sudden end when my mother died . and life just didn't seem as bright any more. 

Sometimes one has to do things they don't feel like doing , and they are scared to do . I uplifted my whole life and exited my comfort zone and travelled to Mud Island. I started work here as a carer. I remember the training days , where i would creep down the cold steps of this old building in Alcester , and phone my son. Then phone my daughter. The hardest thing ever on this planet is being away from the things that matter most to you. Before training I got introduced to the First World way of doing things. That alone made me want to go home to my comfort zone of the Third world simplicity. How on earth do you do self check out? And I admit it took me six years until I decided to try it. There is no such thing as ''swipe''. You touch your card to the reader and hey presto all is paid for - that would be a disaster back home. Then the scan as you shop - that to me can be mo0re of a hinderance if you have a large amount of shopping and then it beeps and wants the assistant to scan various items.   Back home there is a loss of coins , but here in the First World , coins carry value. For me , if you have coins you are always rich , that is my view , and I have now acquired  piggy banks for my coins. One day I will be rich -LOL

Travelling on busses , and trains and then began my introduction to doing things on the internet like shopping , and organising travel. So much to go through when landing and living on Mud Island. Though i hate to say or admit I live in this place, its not home , you cannot possibly live in a place that isn't home . So i work here , which isn't a lie I do work here. 

When I first started in my first placement , i felt totally lost . I was in this old Tannies house , and she was asleep on her arm chair . Id done hand over , been introduced to the family and then left there . Jeeze if I had been that Vroe and woken up to a total stranger in my home , I would have screamed the whole house down then passed out from heart failure !! But I navigated the day , and at night I phoned my friend and was - I have done nothing all day , are you telling me this is my job ? Yes I was informed , this was the world of care. Well I soon had organisation , a plan and a routine and it wasn't too bad . I met my best friend who was a carer too but an hourly not a live in. 

My perfect idea is not to move all over the kingdom of Mud Island , I want to stay in one place , form a bond , do my job and that's that. Be the best that I can be . In this journey , I have met people who I am glad I met and have remained friends . I have met people who have made me question Evolution , and i have met people I have no wish to meet and regret meeting . All of that though is the people come into your life for a reason or a season , and I tell you , sometimes even that season can be too long for that person to exist and take up space in your life. whew !!!!!

In my profession , If I may call it that ,there are certainly a lot of foreigners . I have again met beautiful souls whom I treasure as friends , and then again on the flip side I have met plenty a wolf in sheep's clothing. Plenty plus - way toooooo many of those horrid people . 

Sometimes I feel sorry for these Elderly people . They really don't have much of a say whom comes in to look after them , and if they want someone at all . Independence is key . Always let them feel in control of the situation and it is all ok in the land . Other times we are taken as the low life, common home help and don't even deserve a thank you. All of this you have to take it as water off a ducks back and it means nothing .Do your job to the best of your ability. 

Sometimes you are unfortunate to have met someone in passing , even worked with them and when you go back to working with them , you just have no will power in you as everything you know to be right is over run by their absolute wrongs and how do you approach this?  I loose voodoo dolls of hair with stress and anxiety. Imagine , being qualified and knowing your shit to be told no its not like that - by someone who hasn't even become an apprentice in care let alone level one carer . My hope is all these crappy carers out there , someone treats your parents how you deem it fit to care for someone else's parent. See how you like it then.

where did I go ???

All crafts came to a sudden halt with the sudden and unexpected passing of my mother . Then weeks later my father in law passed away .  I will soon be back on track with crafts and ideas .

Table cloth weights .

Nothing worse than sitting outside , and your table cloth edges fly up . So here is my take on the table cloth weights .

Blue Hanging

I like making hangings - they can look so pretty . 

Wood hanging .

this is another one of my wood hangings . 

Wind Chimes

So the first try at a wind chime , didn't quite work out with the tangling of the line , so I re thought it .  This one is ""ok"". I am not happy with the circle part on top - but I rectified it .

Then I went back and worked on it , thought it through and came up with

Handbag charms

Because I use semi precious stones and stones - making key rings would surely result in the stones chipping ,. These would be used as handbag charms .

little things that make a noise in the breeze .

I bought some copper pipe and experimented with it . I didn't want to do the middle part to make the noise but each one to tinkle with its own element .
Issue I am having is that it tangles so easily so really back to the drawing board on this one .

but I must say - they do sound very pretty . 

More things that hang and look pretty .

I had cut wooden circles , I tried out on this piece different writing . Was hard to engrave , but in the end it looked good . I engraved the word "Love" both sides and painted them both differently .

the bottom picture shows the alternate colour I used on the opposite side of the hanging . 

the last little ring is a wooden ring with stones glued onto it . 

Hot !!

Another idea - wooden place mats for your hot plates at the dinner table .

These were a 50th wedding anniversary present for my Inlaws . 

Pretty things to look at

I had an idea to make a mobile of sorts . Not to make a noise but to look pretty . My first attempt , didn't work out very well as I was using stone chips , and they are different weights .

my next attempt , which was a present for my friend , discovered the line I was using was too thick . 

I went back and thought long and hard about this - and came up with 

wall hangings ??? just an idea .......

I am sure on the veranda wall - some etched wood would look nice , but I am not sure I have quite got there yet .
Here are my attempts - the first was butterfly

It looks alright so here are two more

What can I do with wood .........

Now there is a sheet of wood in the back room . Seems a pity to see it just sitting there .   So my mind wandered to all the possibilities there can be .  Wood tapping together in the wind does sound very pretty .
I just needed to find words , engrave the wood , paint then sand it off to give an antique look - and hey presto .     I do not know what I was thinking of in the beginning , I made everything in sets of three - as I say I had no idea what I was thinking of .

.  My first set yes is a set of two - only because my beloved Jack Russel , Zoe , decided to nibble on the other part of it .

Live  Life my first creation . Then I had to mess around with my second , nothing really seemed to go right with it .

Just didn't seem to hang right - with all three hanging down , so back to the work bench and I came up with putting them on a ring ,To keep them in place - super glue . Didnt look good either . .

now the end result .. 

yes not perfect - but the right idea is there .  So I hang it up with the others - so I can look at it , and figure out new ideas . 

Cog wheels a turning again ..............what to do !!!!

DH found a whole lot of aluminum welding rods in the workshop , that aren't being used .  So my mind gets to work . Book marks !!!
First lets get the anvil to the house .

next , the rods . 

so , now what to do and how to do it , well I had bought some book marks which could be made up , 

in South Africa so I had some faint idea what I wanted them to look like . Trial and error yet again and lots of pictures back and forth to my internet friend for comments and ideas and soon came up with 

Now what next can I come up with ......

Oh yes Spoons !!!! yes spoons .  Just look at what this mind came up with , how pretty as a sugar spoon ??

I do admit this turquoise one is my favorite, so I am keeping it . 

Introduction to my mind .

My mind , sick and tired of being idle . I decided to get my creativity out from the furthest corners of this mind of mine , and put them to some use - and at the same time occupying time . After much thought and long talks with a very close internet friend - I had some sort of idea what I could do , so just needed to get supplies and start . The trip to South Africa this year was exciting as I could get what I needed , and when I had everything I could not wait to come home and get started . More thinking and long talks on what to do , and finally came up with fridge magnets. Ok I admit my first try was trial and error purely . The circles cut out with the jigsaw , which I found out later played havoc on my already dodgy wrist , thank goodness for circle cutters .

so  ......... this I gave to my best friend as a belated birthday pressie and I must say it looks pretty on her fridge .  It is a bit big - so back to the drawing board on this one . 

I encourage my children to be creative too - so one of them had a try and made me this