my sunday snapshot

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Mandala

November 22, 2020 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making this mandala. I’ll be sure to be making some more of them.

My First Mandala

a ring with a crochet mandala in the colours of pink, cream, blue and green. — crochet mandala

Making the mandala has to be the most exciting thing I’ve done this week. Well, I did finish reading a rather good book, The New Girlfriend which I have reviewed here if you are interested. But it’s been a fairly quiet week.

The Bad Morning.

I had a bad morning. It started with a weird dream, but then I woke and I couldn’t move. The room was dark and I confused my son because I couldn’t speak when he came in. He did come back though and when he turned on the lamp he realised something was wrong. With his help I managed to get moving and eventually sitting on the edge of the bed where he gave me my medication. He gives me my medication every morning, today he had to put them in my mouth for me and pour the water in too so I could swallow them. I feel so sad. He’s 10 years old and these are the memories he will have of me when he grows up.

My oldest son realised something was wrong and came into help. He got me standing and helped me down the stairs. It’s days like this that I wish I’d had my lift installed. It’s so scary trying to go down the stairs when your body isn’t responding. I couldn’t even bend to go down on my bottom.

An hour on the settee with a nice cup of tea which was made for me, and couple of extra, different painkillers, and I was feeling much better. I got to watch my morning Christmas movie wrapped in a blanket. The Little Man played Roblox on his laptop next to me.

I dread the time when this becomes an every day occurrence. I may have to consider that lift, or maybe even a stair lift. It’s crazy, but the occupational health team are happy to pay for a lift installation but won’t approve a stair lift because they don’t think it would be safe enough for me. A lift sounds great, but I would have to lose a large chunk of my bedroom and living room to have it installed and I really don’t want that.

Ok, I’m rambling now. Today will be okay now I can move again and the pain is under control. I may even cook the kids favourite roast chicken for dinner.

my sunday snapshot badge from Rachel Swirl dot co dot uk

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My Sunday Snapshot – Somebody I used to Know

October 25, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

Today’s Blogtober prompt is Somebody I Used to Know. I’ve chosen an old scanned photo of two very dear people who are no longer in my life, and my Little nephew who was such a gorgeous baby.

old scanned photograph showing a man and woman with a baby in a buggy walking down a concrete ramp with a cliff wall to one side and metal railing to the other. They were heading down to the beach at Tenby. — *Mum, Desmond and my nephew walking down the ramp to the beach at Tenby.*

The photo was taken in Tenby in 1977. We went on holiday with my brother and his wife and their two children. Little baby nephew was the youngest.

Desmond

Desmond was a neighbour, he moved back in with his Mum two doors away from my Mum when he became divorced. Mum was already a widow and it wasn’t long before they fell in love

Desmond wasn’t in our life very long, he had a massive heart attack and died at home when I was just 13. While he was around he brought my Mum a lot of happiness and we enjoyed some lovely holidays too. Like this one in Tenby.

So Desmond is Somebody I used to know, but he’s more than that. He was someone who brought a lot of happiness into our lives. It was sad he couldn’t stayed around for longer.

Synchronicities

My Mum met Desmond when he was her neighbour, as I did Graham who had also moved back in with his Mum who lived two doors away from me. Mum had two young children at home, as did I when I met Graham. And Desmond was 10 years younger than Mum just like Graham is with me.

Seven years ago we moved to a new home. This was some 34 years after Des had passed away. Straight away I felt a sort of familiarity with the area, although I was certain I’d not been here before. The more I drove around the more familiar it beccame. Then one day I took a detour from a route home and ended up in a little grove. At the end of the grove was a house I recognised. It was Desmond’s ex wife’s house and where his children lived. He had three children one slightly older than me, one my age and one younger. I got on really well with them and even stayed at their home…the house I was now looking at, a few times. It was then I realised why I recognised the area so well.

While I stayed with them we’d taken the bikes out and I’d been riding along the streets I was now driving on. Then I realised that my children where now going to the same school that they had gone to, although the school name had been changed. (I may have realised sooner had I known this.)

Desmond had a huge influence on my life. He wasn’t my Dad but he came along at the right time and made life better for a while. He was much more than Somebody I used to Know.

I love the little ways that my life has kept a part of him alive. I would love to get in touch with his children again, but so far my searches haven’t revealed anything. I was even tempted to knock on the door of their old house, but 34 years is a long time.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Fall Guys

September 6, 2020 by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

Fall Guys

Fall Guys Ulitmate Knockout is a fun new game on PS4 and Steam. And I love it. I think I love it more than the kids, there hasn’t been a game I’ve enjoyed so much in ages. The game is simple, you start off with a load of other fall guys and compete to finish five rounds of random games. They can be races or skill games, some are down to chance, some are skill. It’s just fun and competition in its simplest form.

Anyway. I was thrilled to find this lovely little crochet pattern on Craftfix and had to give it a go. Such a cute jelly bean guy. I want to make some more and some outfits like you can get in the game.

Ordinary Moments

This week the Little Man went back to primary school on Thursday. He’s in year 6 and it’s a good school that has taken all the precautions. They are taking the COVID19 risk seriously so I was happy to let him go back. Not only that but he needs the interaction and discipline of school. I’ve let him get far too lazy since we stopped home educating in July.

The first day went really well. As I’m clinically vulnerable the plan was for Graham to bring him home then he could get changed and wash his hands before coming in to me. But it didn’t go to plan. After school, on the way to the car, he had a big fall and hurt himself quite badly. So as soon as he got home it was straight to me for cuddles.

He hurt his knee, his wrist, his hands and his back. So it was a nasty fall. Later he also complained of headache and had an upset stomach, his eye was hurting too. I think it was a combination of the return to school and the fall, it really took it out of him. He didn’t go back on Friday as I was worried about his wrist and his back was still aching. But now, on Sunday, he’s much better. So I’ll let him go back to school tomorrow.

We didn’t even get a back to school photo because he didn’t wear his uniform on the first day and we were waiting for a uniform photo on Friday. We’ll try in the morning.

Did your kids go back to school this week?

Worst Back to School Ever 2020

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Pool Time

June 28, 2020 by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

I’m sitting here while a gale is blowing outside, and yesterday it rained all day. But for most of the week the weather was glorious…and we got a pool! I’m sharing this weeks ordinary moments, sometimes the ordinary ones are the most special.

The pool, a great way to cool down on a hot day in June.

It hadn’t been a good couple of weeks. The kids were bored and refusing to do their school work. Everyone in the house was tetchy and moods were low. But then the sun shone, and it was splendid. I knew it was coming so I bought a pool from Argos. It was a big 8ft one, and Graham had to go out and buy a pump as the one we already had didn’t fit. He blew it up and then went to play his PS4. The kids put some water in from bottles because the hosepipe was broken. It didn’t work out too well.

The next day we got a new hose and the pool was filled. The Little Man was excited but the girls not so bothered. But once it was up it was way too tempting not to have a paddle at least. The Little man was in having a good time and eventually the girls joined him, they put on shorts and t-shirts because I hadn’t found their costumes.

Special Moments

Eldest son joined in with a paddle, and in the evening all five of my children were outside playing ball games, chatting, laughing and having fun. It felt like a very special moment. When you have five children of very different ages the bonding is very rare. When they do bond it’s usually over a video game they are playing together, so to have fun in the garden is even more rare.

The next day, the pool was filled even higher and the girls found their costumes and they all had a real good cool down. After a while the girls were fed up of their little brother’s ‘antics’ and gave up. Going back inside to resume their Youtube watching.

But the Little Man stayed in the pool and was joined by his Dad. They both lay there relaxing and the Little Man asked for some ‘zen’ music. Dad complied and they spent ten minutes just lying there. I was so jealous.

It was so lovely to see all my family have some fun over some hot sunny days in the garden. Who needs to go to a crowded beach!

My sunday snapshot — https://www.rachelswirl.co.uk/

My Sunday Photo – Rainbow

April 19, 2020 by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

Rainbow

I went through my wool stash and found that I had all the colours of the rainbow. This doesn’t surprise me. My wool stash is pretty big. I’m trying so hard not to buy wool until I’ve used up a lot of what I have.

I found this rainbow pattern online and decided to have a go. It took me about an hour, which is good because I can’t seem to concentrate much longer. I’m not over thrilled with it. I checked the pattern over and over but still it didn’t seem right. Who makes a circular rainbow? The clouds didn’t seem to be right either. But I worked with it and this is what I ended up with. I’ve hung it up in my window along with my rainbow message of encouragement to all who pass by.

Cornavirus Rainbow

All around the country the rainbow has become the symbol of solidarity for those working on the frontline during this pandemic. That includes the NHS as well as carers, delivery drivers, postmen, bin men, shop workers, truck drivers the police and so many others that are vital in keeping our country running.

Times are hard and people have been asked to stay inside for another three weeks, so it’s nice to see a little support in the windows.

I’ve not been out so I don’t know if there are many others in our neighbourhood. But even though my kids were not keen to get involved, I decided to make something myself.

Graham made a rainbow picture which he stuck on his guitar. Then he got some of his musical mates to take part in an online live concert in a local Facebook group. Music is his way of dealing with this.

Back To School.

Tomorrow the kids should be back at school. It must be hard for them, although you wouldn’t think it with their faces glued to their screens. I bought my son a new laptop to do his school work on and it broke in two weeks. I mean physically, he opened it up and it fell apart! Needless to say it’s on it’s way back now and I’ve had to order a new one.

I’ve written out a timetable for some structure. We are going to get up and get ready each morning as if they were going to school. Then We are going to try the BBC bitesize programs. The kids will need to keep in check with the work sent daily by the schools but I’m not going to fret too much with getting everything completed. It was way too stressful. We we do what we can, stick to a routine, and take regular breaks. If they don’t want to do school work when they are supposed to then I will encourage them to read instead. Each day I’m making them spend a little time outside in the garden. I hope this time we’ll get the balance right.

Linking up to Rachel and Donna.

Brightening Birthdays from Gamely Games.

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