Today I've mostly bin...

[giraffe]

I'll let you into a secret Eirian. It's amazing what can be achieved with tracing paper, carbon paper and a few matchpots of paint!

[clvrlad]

no stencils ? well id just do it free hand after workinh out the easy way to paint them.....


no im not artistic just sneaky.....

[Wulfruna]

Well, when Eirian was a stroppy teenager (can you believe that???) she was allowed a free choice for decorating her bedroom - and lo and behold.... it ended up dark brown! She is clearly determined to influence her offspring into having the same tastes right from the start
I suppose it's all my own fault for not giving her a pretty pink nursery to put her on the right track...... But then, I don't like pink either!
hmmmm..... must get back to the knitting, or this matinee coat will not be finished in time.......

[nell]

Just wanted to pop by and say Hi. Not been here or the old place for ages so have only just discovered the old place has gone . Still was to be expected.

Today I've done a bit of work (not a lot as worrying not a lot on at the moment), done some wedding planning (got proposed to on my 50th birthday) and some round the world trip planning (if all goes to plan will leave in the spring to live in a Land Rover for 18 months and visit as many countries as possible in that time).

So great to see so many familiar 'faces' here.

[Bunnylump]

Wow! A forthcoming wedding AND an around the world trip!! Crikey!

Many congratulations!

[nell]

or as he keeps telling me - some honeymoon!!

[LAT]

Sounds brilliant fun Nell! And congratulations too!

[MBH]

Congratulations Nell - great to hear.... But....... If you go round the world this year, you'll want to go somewhere else next time

[kathlyn]

Congratulations Nell, enjoy the trip and of course the wedding

[nell]

thanks for the congratulations - the wedding was booked for 12th september but we've just moved it to 5th - cos the 12th clashed with a land rover show we want to go to - not into footie here but for a comparison that's akin to clashing with the world cup !!

[strep98]

Congratulations nell, hope everything goes well.

[katsmom]

Organizing a puzzle raffle!

One of my good friends from the twistypuzzles forum has been diagnosed with lukemia. The poor guy is only 38 and has two small children. After a week of chemo and blood transfusions, the dr.s found it wasn't working. They are planning to do a marrow transplant early next week if they can find a donor. To raise money to buy him an expensive puzzle that he has been wanting, another friend contacted the builder and we can get it for cost. So, I donated a rare puzzle, and another builder donated another 3 puzzles.

I'm only posting this because I want to put out a plea for two things and this is as good a place to do it as any. If you don't have tatoo's, aren't underweight , and haven't lived in a malaria infested area please think about going and donating blood. You never know when it will be someone close to you who needs it. And Eirian, a special plea to you. Think about donating your chord blood when you give birth to that beautiful baby you've got coming soon. I donated mine when I had Katherine, and it doesn't cause any harm, but stem cells can do amazing things. (I hope that doesn't upset you, I'm just so saddened by these events I'm reaching out to all I know)

I tried to donate today, but aparently you have to be of a certain weight before they will take your blood....I'm quite a bit under those stupid insurance charts so they wouldn't take it. Have you ever heard of anything so crazy?

Gill, a pm will be sent to you shortly.

[eirian]

And Eirian, a special plea to you. Think about donating your chord blood when you give birth to that beautiful baby you've got coming soon. I donated mine when I had Katherine, and it doesn't cause any harm, but stem cells can do amazing things.

This is something I'd heard about before, I'd thought about it, but thanks for the nudge to look further. Unfortunately now I've investigated it looks like the NHS will only do it at certain hospitals (well, 4.... and none anywhere near here). The only other option appears to be private, where they would store the blood in case my baby needed it in the future, which isn't the point (and we certainly couldn't afford to pay for the storage even if we wanted to). If anyone can direct me to somewhere more helpful, please do!

I tried to donate today, but aparently you have to be of a certain weight before they will take your blood....I'm quite a bit under those stupid insurance charts so they wouldn't take it. Have you ever heard of anything so crazy

urrrmmmm.. well, I gave blood back at Uni when underweight. I'm not saying it was related but it took me about 3 hours before I was even able to stand up again afterwards and then took me another hour to walk the 5 mins to a friend's room so I could lie down again, so I guess they have their reasons.

[LAT]

I used to give blood regularly but having had a transfusion about 18 years ago I am no longer allowed to.
I do keep checking in case they have changed the rules.

[SparkOut]

Mrs S would not be here today but for transfusions. In the op she had more units of blood put into her than she had in her entire body to start with.

I'd never managed to give blood until after that.

[pebbles]

Congratulations Nell!

[Bunnylump]

That's a sad story, Katsmom. I have tried (unsuccessfully) 6 times to give blood in the past. It's a really worthwhile thing to do, and I too have benefitted from blood transfusions. Sadly, now, I can no longer even try to donate (because of the transfusion and because I've had a jaundice in the past). My contribution is to encourage my kids to donate blood - Donald can't, he's had cancer - and we've just found out that Katherine has a rare Rh negative blood type, so they are now continuously pestering her to donate more! My son has also made the effort to donate blood even though he ends up in a heap on the floor!!

SparkOut - I hope Mrs. SparkOut is OK now. I wish her well.

[SparkOut]

In the eight years since then she's had 13 operations/invasive treatments (about 10 under general anaesthetic). Still in a lot of pain.

[gill216]

Packing a very small bag to take to Spain for the next 6 days....................

I will be back well in time to post you next magazine

[MBH]

Lucky so and so.... Enjoy yourself