You Asked For It!!!

Well not aallll of you asked for it, but you know who you are Aky!!!

Here's one baldy pic and 2 wiggy pics and(you have been warned!!)

Don't mess with me I is WELL 'ARD.......

Halloween anyone?? Think this one is best with a hat, check out those streaks!

This is my sensible, "let's not frighten the neighbours one", blondes have more fun...................

Wanna know something reaaaaaally spooky? When I bought the "Halloween" wig the other night at a place which is a charity, I wrote my name on a list so they can claim the tax wotsit back. The name of the lady on the list above me was the same name as one of my Mum's bridesmaids, and it's not a common name..................how weird is that?

Brittany

Well I've shaved my head, I was beginning to look very odd and picking the hair out of my head was making me feel like some distressed monkey ha ha!!!

So I got the electric clippers out this morning and I now look like GI Jane - don't mess with me. I'll have to video myself singing "nothing compares to U" a la Sinead O'Connor and post it on You Tube.

Feels a bit weird but I kinda like it, was sick of trailing about the house moulting anyway.

Yesterday morning I was driving into Edinburgh to drop Alex off at school and I was waiting at the traffic lights next to a big church on Princes Street and a group of nuns walked past, dressed like Mother Theresa, they were looking around them at the castle and it made me smile to see them all. I looked one of the nuns straight in the eye and smiled and she beamed back at me, it made my day!!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow....

I know, it's a terrible pun but it's true, my hair is falling out, by the weekend I reckon I'll have a head like a billiard ball.

Hey ho, I knew it would happen and I've been a wig shopping! OMG what fun! I have been to two places and I have practically wet myself laughing both times.

I suppose I should have more decorum really, but my take (not everyones I confess) is to have fun with this. Although I think I may feel a little sad when I finally have like NO HAIR!!! I've always wondered what shape head I have, knowing me, I'll have all sorts of lumps and bumps like a football that a dog has chewed.

I have 2 wigs so far, a long brown one, which has a slight "oh is she dressed up for halloween?" feel about it, and a perky blonde mid length one. They are probably less "wiggy" when worn with a hat, so good job it's winter.

So I am literally "pulling my hair out" - I am pretty gruesome and I have been making a pile on my desk which is size wise mid way between a merkin (look it up) and a guinea pig. Oh I am awful..............

I promise to post pics in me in my wigs soon - we might as well have a laugh eh??

Stampin Up! AND a Giveaway

I have made a couple of Christmas cards so I thought I would share them with you. The first one was inspired by a card sketch challenge from Beate.

And this one is a bit of a rip off from the current idea catalogue

Both of these cards use the "Season of Joy" Stampin Up! set which I love. Plus I have used the big Polka Dot background stamp for the brown embossed circle on the card above.

There are a few things going on with Stampin' Up! right now that I thought I would share with you.

NOVEMBER PROMO

Firstly we have a great promo on Rubons and Textured Card from now until the end of November - spend £20 on goods and get 20% off rubons and textured card . The textured card is lovely, very like Bazzill and new this catalogue in all the colour families.

WISH LIST

Also I am setting up a wish list service, if you would like friends or family to buy SU! products as your Christmas present I can organise this for you. Send me your wish list and I will make contact with your loved ones! I have a handy gift list in PDF format which I can email out too which lists gifts under £50 and gifts under £25 from the catalogue. Let me know if you are interested and I will send one via email.

FREE CATALOGUES!!!!!!!!!!!

As a little thank you to all my blog readers I will send out a free catalogue PLUS a colour chart to the first 5 people who email me using the link on the right hand side of the screen. No need to answer any question or tell me in 50 words or less why you deserve one LOL!!! Just email me and I will post em out.

Wooohhhhhh.............

OK someone has been slipping alcohol into my tea, I feel a teeny bit weird at the moment, kinda woozy. Apparently this is normal and it does feel kind of fun..........

It's a lovely day here in Edinburgh so we are off to the pub for luncheon.

People Are So Kind

I have to admit that I am simply blown away and humbled by the kindness I have been shown in the last month or so. Thanks to all of you who stop by and read my daily drivel and for all of your lovely comments, it makes my day, I do know some of you but others I have never met have also taken the time to write the kindest things. Thank you doesn't seem enough really........

So, the good news is, I still feel fine...................long may it continue, feel slightly "wool headed" but apparently that is normal and I am still working.

This weekend I think I need to start my wig hunt, that should be fun! I think my hair will probably make an exit over the next 2 weeks - c'est la vie, I shall see if I can get a couple, different lengths and colours just to confuse people hee heee heeeee!!!!!!

So Far So Good

OK , phew, so far no horrid side effects. The puke fairy has stayed away. I am takings my tablets religously, wearing seasickness accupressure bands on my wrists and drinking gallons of ginger ale BUUUUUUUUUURP!!!

My wee was the colour of blush wine right after the chemo was in, I had to show Alan, he said "OH MY GOD" ha ha ha!! Didn't take a pic you'll be relieved to know.

So I felt a bit woolly headed for a while yesterday but not too bad, taking it easy on the food front, no vindaloos for me for a while (ick!!). Today I am in front of my PC intending to carry on as normal with work....................let's hope it stays that way. It's a gorgeous sunny day here and I can see the see from my office window so life feels pretty cool right now.

That Pea Ain't Gonna Rule Me

Saturday, I felt pretty darn low. I lay on the sofa under a blue blanket, weeping big silent tears, convinced that this darned "C" is gonna come back and get me.

But then I thought ........it was the size of a pea, it's out, and gone and now I am about to do the chemo thang to blast any "floaters" (ewwwwww-sorry toilet humour) out of my system. I have tied myself up in knots reading about statistics and all that depressing stuff, but last Friday I visited the Maggies centre at the Western General Hospital. I spoke (through lots of tears) to a lovely lady who said "statistics don't really mean a lot, they act as a guide, everyone is different and you can't compare yourself to others"

So OK I am still wishing I hadn't got this "thing", I am terrified of the consequences, but I just gotta get on with it now.

10:30 this morning I get my first dose of the chemo, apparently my wee will be red this time (yay!) There's a photo opp ha ha ha!!

In the meantime I have been cheering myself up with the latest India Knight book called "The Thrift Book", very interesting, lots of ideas and I love her writing style, she is very clever and very funny with it too. It's half price in Waterstones at the moment and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Great Night Out

Lordy my head feels a bit sore. Alan and I hit the town last night, and crikey I think I had a few too many glasses of vino. Firstly we went off to a "do" at my friends furniture shop BeSeated in Edinburgh, he makes all his own very groovy furniture (he actually says his job is mending chairs - nutter!

Anyway we had a great time, met loads of great people and we got the chance to chat again with Craig Hill (super funny comedian) he had me in stitches -god love him. Hark at me name dropping. We also chatted to the lady who is running the Jean Muir exhibition at the museum in town. So our plan was to leave there at 8pm and go for din-dins, we staggered out at 11pm and skipped din-dins. We wombled to our neighbours house who was hosting his "lad's poker night", I was officially dubbed "geezer bird" by one of the guys, promised to keep my mush shut. Well I ended up dueting with another neighbour to "Endless Love"....................blimey what a lush I was.............we arrived home at 3am..........hic!!!

Quiet night tonight zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mrs Potato Head

In anticipation of losing my hair when I start Chemo next week, I have had my hair cropped, not very keen to be honest but what can I do? The oncologist said not only will I lost my hair but I will be on steroids and will get the menopause early so I may put weight on............great, bald AND fat, I am gonna look like Humpty bloody Dumpty. Currently I think I look like a spud with hair (most attractive eh?)
I am trying to be a big brave girl about all this, but I have to admit to feeling rather low at the moment. At the moment I am "cancer free" which I am of course utterly grateful for, however I am under a black cloud of "what happens if it comes back". I want to see my little boy grow up................I just can't even go there.

So fingers , toes and eyes crossed that I will be one of the long term survivors, I don't care if I don't make it to 85 but another 20 years would be such a gift.

Enough of the pity party eh?

Flippin eck!

Looks like it's chemo................. bummer.....

I WILL lose all my hair and it's long and (fake) blonde

I may throw up and anyone who knows me knows I am TOTALLY vomit phobic arrrrgggghh!!

HOWEVER it will save my bacon (hopefully)

AND drying my hair is a total drag........as is shaving

so if you have any happy chemo stories please share because I need them, my chemo is going to take 6 months UGH!

I am just going to get on with it and at the end..............bloody BIG holiday yay!!!

(can you tell I am putting a brave face on...???_

Loadsa Shopping

Phew!! Just back from the SECC loaded up with more crafting goodies and a lighter purse (oops!)

Craftwork Cards had a load of yummy goodies and I got a big hug from Julie Hickey. She is such a trooper standing at her post demo'ing cards at all the shows, some day I might just have to kidnap her and make her have a cuppa!

Stampin' Up! did a couple of demos for Christmas, lovely stuff as always and with giveaways!!

Please remember that I am still able to take any Stampin' Up! orders from you - just drop me an email if you need anything at all. I made a couple of Christmas cards this week so I will post the pics once I find the charger for my camera battery doh!!!

Great News..................And A Lecture

Great news!!! It's all out, no spread, caught early, thank God and also thank my gorgeous husband Alan since he persuaded me to go in the first place. PHEW!!!

I go back in 2 weeks to find out when my treatment starts, definitely radiotherapy and possibly chemo. I don't care, I am just very very relieved that I caught this bugger early.

Now for the lecture.......

I got lucky (not unlucky), this was caught before it could be felt, so go for that mammogram, insist on it or pay for it if you have to. Sod the new shoes - get a mammogram

AND

Look after yourself, reduce the risk of getting cancer and don't put it off. When you have been diagnosed with this NOTHING else matters than your health. All the things you worry about day to day mean nothing to you. So......

Lose weight
Cut down on the alcohol ( I didn't!!)
Exercise
Look seriously at foods that are good for you and reduce the processed foods
Drink green tea

Nuff said...............................lecture done.

Black Adder Goes Forth

General Melchitt (to Baldrick): "how do you feel about the big push?"
Baldrick:" Absolutely terrifed Sir"

Which pretty much mirrors the way I felt yesterday in the hospital before my op. I am a big fan of ER, Casualty etc etc, but lying on that bed seeing the lights on the ceiling flash by on my way the theatre, I said " I'm not watching that stuff again.........."

So less than 24 hours later, I am home, feeling fine and peeing blue! They injected a blue dye into me so that they could do a biopsy on my "nodes" so I have a great blue nipple now (not that I will be showing that off in a photo).

Will be taking it easy for a couple of days.

Monday

Thanks so much for your lovely comments and emails, it really does mean a lot. All of my friend, colleagues and crafting friends have just been lovely.

I really do thank God (although I am not religious, I can see myself becoming more so) that Alan persuaded me to have the health check . It wasn't free and I said, "I know I am overweight and unfit why can't I just have a designer handbag with the money?" ha ha!

Also fortunate was that the mammogram was "optional", they don't usually do them under the age of 45, but Alan said "oh well you might as well have it to put your mind at rest" -ha! the irony.

So I owe him so much! I am actually glad that my Mum is no longer around, having lost my brother and my Dad, this would have been such a huge worry. However if anyone fancies adopting me please send your CV - I have a huge pile of ironing.

I have been walking around for the last couple of days with a knot in my stomach, I feel a bit sick most of the time with worry. My lumpectomy is scheduled for Monday, once I have had that they will do some tests to see what we are dealing with. I am also going to be injected with a blue dye for a sentinel biopsy. Apparently I will look a bit grey for a while and will probably have a blue nipple till Chrismas, so that's the end of my pole dancing career eh?

So, wish me luck for Monday !!!

What can I say?

Yesterday, after a week of frantic worry, I met with a specialist and it turns out I have breast cancer.

It's a bit of a shocker to be honest. I went for a routine BUPA health MOT and they found it. It's small, it's been caught early and I am hopeful that I will get through this, there is no other way, I just have to.

So, not much else to say other than wish me luck and send me positive vibes and stories if you can, and I'll concentrate on beating this!

Finally ....Some Photos and a GIVEAWAY

I have spent most of the last two months droning on and on and just realised I haven't posted any photos in ages. So I though I would make a resolution to change that.

A couple of weeks ago I attended SU! training in Glasgow and I made some cards to swap, I used my favourite stamp sets Pick a Petal and Stem Sayings, here they are.....

I've also made some SU! colour samplers, I am going to some of these away to anyone who places an order and as my first ever blog candy giveaway, I am going to give away a FREE BRAND NEW SU! catalogue with a set of the samplers. Leave a comment and I will get my wee boy to pull a name out of the hat and it'll be winging it's way to the winner soon!

New Stampin' Up! Catalogue online now

1st October - so it means the brand spanking new Stampin' Up! Catalogue is now now online, check it out here



Lots of lovely new stamp sets but also great new accesories/papers etc highlights for me are...



Scallop Edge Punch £10.95 (no holes!!)

Scalloped square punch £12.50

Stampin' Spots - 12 small ink pads in each of the four colour families, a great way to sample all your favourite colours - £17.50

Textured 12x12 card in each of the colour families 24 sheets (2 of each colour) £9.25

Paper snips- mean and very sharp small paper scissors, perfect for those teeny corners £6.95

I am holding an SU parrrrty at my house on Saturday 11th September 2pm-5pm, if you would like to come along and see some of the new yummo stash, let me know and I'll book you in.

Mrs Paddy Pants

Well I have been tootling about in a really good mood for a good few weeks now, we had some friends over this weekend and went to a really great Christening at a neighbours house on Sunday. Our neighbours are sooo lovely, we have a group of them, we are all of a similar age and have kids, and they are really fun and friendly. So all in all the weekend was great.

Yesterday however, the red mist descended for some reason, it started with my gymn induction. As you know I have joined a gym so I had booked in to get a programme started for me. GOD I HATE THE GYM, I plodded up the stairs, the music was blaring as there was a spin class on.

I very slowly and carefully explained to the toned trainer that " I am VERY unfit, I HATE the gym and please take it easy with me" OK so being faced with a blobby unmotivated 41 year old stroppy cow first thing on a Monday morning probably wasn't likely to "float her boat" but god love her she pressed on regardless.

She apologised for the loud music "it's the spin class, which is a great way to lose weight and get fit" I almost said "so is cutting off a limb but I ain't doing that either". I did a spin class a few years back and I almost needed an ambulance! The guy kept telling us to "turn up the resistance" Bog off sonny my resistance is fine at pensioner level thanks and all that!

So then she writes down "rowing machine" on the programme and I for some reason just flipped I said " NO WAY, I am not using the rowing machine, if you make me do it I am not coming back!"

I am actually not even sure why I said that, I think I was just out of my depth in the whole PE environment and I was just being petulant. The torture continued, she's got me doing all sorts of mad rubbish including some stability exercises with a flippin' great big ball.........only time will tell if I ever make it back ha!

So strop number one was over, then later in the day I noticed that some "eejit" had kindly dented Alan's bonnett (his car, not his Easter one LOL) with a sharp object. Honestly I don't understand what makes people do this, it makes my blood boil. Anyway, it's no big deal.... what's the point in getting het up about it.

Strop 3 of the day was during a phone call. On Thursday night on the way home from school a girl bumped into the back of my car on the mound in the centre of Edinburgh. I jumped out and couldn't see any damage, she was only young and was quite upset, so I took her phone number and car reg then drove off because it was in the middle of rush hour. However, on closer inspection when we got home, Alan noticed the top section of the bumper was dislodged and will need fixing. So I call and leave a message that there was some damage and it will need to be checked by a garage and could they call me back. Her mum rang me back last night and practically accused me of making it up!!!! The cheek of it, I was sooooo mad and once I got off the phone, poor unsuspecting Alan got it in the neck too.........................

Thankfully today, I have stayed away from the gym and hopefully from any further car "incidents" so my mood has improved somewhat!

Looking forward to the "official" launch of the new Stampin' Up! Catalogue on-line tomorrow. If you log on and browse the catalogue I am happy to take orders which can be delivered direct to you, email me for details.

Lost in Austen

Gosh there aren't many times when TV hits perfection, with of course Cranford as the great exception, but wasn't Lost in Austen just wonderful?

I will not spoil the last episode for you (just in case) but Alan and I have been glued to this fabulous series. I am now hoping for a second series- please Mr ITV grant my wish.

The other thing is noticing how much our way of speaking has changed, not for the better either. I think we should have a national "Speak in Austen" day. "I would very much like to partake in such a refreshing and novel occupation. Are my wits disorded by opium....................." ha ha ha!