A few more photo's.

 Body and brain are trying hard to reconnect but struggling a tad!

So first up Vikki and Eric, good job she had waterproof mascara as we had surprised her with a limo to take her to the Registry Office!

Signing the book

group shots and limo

 My parents on the right

me Mum and Mathews Mum

Mathew wth his bestman and Ben

cake

Vik Mathew and BEN

and Vik and Trudy her cousin doing what they do LOl.

Start to end was fantastic and all that Vikki had hoped it would be and not a bad way for the bride to spend her birthday!

 Now the countdown to honeymoon begins. They have to wait until school summer holidays and then the 3 of them are going off to visit Mathews sister in America. 59 days so I'm told.

Dogs were spoilt rotten by our friends who came over to doggy sit and even Orin eventually overcame his shyness and joined in with cuddles.

Orin is still very nervous of anything or anyone new but is much more settled with us now and gets very excited, which means lots of bouncing around. Bedtimes are funny, we say bed so off he goes, lights out and then guess who reappears, normally goes on 3 or 4 times before he finally gets the message. Elmo is still being good which means a) he's being good or b) planning his next major bout of bad LOL. That's Orin on the sofa chilling out, almost got all 5 in one shot but missed Mojo's head LOL.

Can't wait to see the professional photographs, sure have lots to scrap..

A perferct day!

Very short post! one is well and truly cream crackered. !!!!!!

Fantastic day from start to end, fantastic weather !!! a couple of  photo's so I don't start getting yelled out LOL

more to follow when brain and body have recovered.

Bath time!

As the rain has finally stopped and the weather turned really warm yesterday we decided it was time for the orange ninja aka Orin to have a bath! His coat whilst not smelly was quite matted with clumps coming out. Whenever we've bathed a greyhound for the first time we've found that they all love it and as they relax suddenly collapse in a heap! so there I am taking heaps of photo's but typically managed to miss the collapsing bit LOL.

So now he's all lovely and clean. He's still quite nervous of anything new and is frightened of males (not Eric), he is also very very bouncy and over excited at the moment, hopefully he'll start to calm down a bit soon. Orin loves playing with Elmo but we just have to watch he doesn't get to rough because he is so excited. Haven't seen any major issues, so hopefully it's just a matter of time and he'll calm downn and learn some manners. He sure does look very handsome now he's had a bath.

Elmo has either decided he no longer wants to be known as the dark destroyer or he's planning his next major bout of naughtiness! because since Orin arrived he really has been very good! watching and waiting LOl......

Alfie Bear is being a bit aloof, Mojo is still a tad sulky and Gangley isn't bothered at all and has told Orin several times "mess with me again mate and your history" LOL. Orin is a tad clumsy to put it kindly LOL.


Our friends arrive later today and are kindly doggy sitting for us on Saturday, wedding plans all seem to be in order and paws crossed no last minute problems. Weather forecast looks good as well!

So next time I blog hopefully I'll have some wedding photo's to share, going to be a long day as I have to leave home at 7.45am to help my daughter bridesmaid get ready etc, probably won't be much help but it's nice to be included LOL, starting to feel quite excited and nervous now LOL.

AN AWARD

Jane over on her blog here has very kindly given me this award. I now have to pass it on to five blogs with less than 200 followers. The word Liebster is German and means favourite, beloved, dearest.

 If you want to accept this award you have to

  1.Link back to the person who gave it to you.

  2.Post the award on your blog for all to see.

  3. Give the award to 5 of your favourite bloggers with less than 200 followers.

  4.leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have been given the Liebster Blog award

The blogs I have chosen are

1. Carol's blog here , Carol does the most fantastic altered art pieces and has a way of taking a piece and thinking outside of the box All her work is fantastic!

2.My cousin Sandra's blog here. Sandra is a very talented bear maker and is now also exploring altered art, her work is beautiful!

3. My friend Nic's blog here . Nic has had a rough time lately and has just started her blogging again. Nic is a fab digi scrapper and makes wonderful clothes for herself and her daughter, so talented.

4. My friend Sue's blog here. Sue is lucky enough to be owned by a blue greyhound! blue greyhounds are not very common and one day I hope fate will send me a blue one LOl. Sue is also a crafter and makes gorgeous cards.

5. And Lori's blog here . I love this blog because there is so much going on, from watching Lori's art develop each week and seeing different projects she makes and her general take on life.

Orin

Have to say what with Elmo and now Orin I should drop a few lbs this week ready for daughters wedding on Saturday and boy are this lot in for a teat when Arntie Shellie and Unkle Kit arrive to dog sit whilst we're at the wedding

Anyway Orin is fast tracking from nervous and jumping at everything to being a rather large boisterous puppy who is discovering life is pretty darn good, no accidents in the house yesterday and when he's out for a walk he only pulls when he realises he's getting close to home

He's decided his bed is in the study with Elmo and last night came through to let us know he needed to go out, did his stuff then roared around for a few minutes and back to bed.

A few photo's most of them were blurred because he's only still when asleep.

 

New arrival

Had a lovely time at crop and came home to the new arrival!

Orin is a tiger brindle, we’ve been told he’s 3 but haven’t checked out his tattoos yet. His write up says he is scared of everything, which was true yesterday, the slightest movement and he shot out of the room. Ate his tea like he’d never been fed before, which of course he has having been in Gaps kennels since beginning of April. Must have only recently had his bits off as he’s still trying to mount the other dogs. Gangley was not impressed.

He settled in the study last night with Elmo and I got up early to let him out as he’s not housetrained and witnessed one terrified dog transform into a puppy who was roaring around the garden playing, talk about a feel good factor. He’s just settled back down for a nap, which is not surprising as he ran around the garden non-stop for about 20 minutes.

He’s missing one large tooth at the front like Lucky, spins on the spot like Mac, likes to help like Jim is the same colouring as Ruby and walks on his toes like Dill, oh and stands up and puts his paws on Erics shoulders like Ranger did.

. So needless to say we are both quite smitten LOL, he does seem to fill the bungalow up, just as we had got use to having only 4 dogs. Feels so lovely having a greyhound in the house again. Have to keep reminding myself it’s very early days and he is a FOSTER dog.

Going to be a busy week, Vik coming over Tuesday to run through last minute wedding stuff and I so need to clean the house ready for our guest’s arrival Thursday.

Going to drive myself into Ipswich this morning to see Mum and Dad who arrived back from their 10-day holiday in Cyprus yesterday.   

  Sue

PS lavender bath for Orin this morning, he has a terrible kennel coat, greasy and coming out in clumps

Good news!

Back from the hospital, surgeon thrilled with the finger and my progress. He can’t say whether it will achieve full bend as when he operated it was on muscles that hadn’t moved in 18 months so judging it was difficult, he can go back in and tweak if necessary but we’ve decided to give it 6 months and see where it is then. We have also decided that to repair ruptured tendon in little finger is low priority whereas the broken wrist joint in the other hand is more important to get it fussed. Agreed on 25^th October for that date as we both felt I needed a break from surgery. Only have to go to hand clinic once every 4 weeks now unless a problem develops, so all in all pretty chuffed with today’s visit. Surgeon did say as I was leaving please promise me you won’t over do it LOL and then added any problems ring me on my personal mobile night or day. That man is a superstar!

We were gone 3 hours and apart from a torn magazine no Elmo damage!

So the phone was ringing as we walked through the door, greyhound gap urgently trying to find a foster place for a greyhound !!!!!! Bad timing with wedding next Saturday, so we’ve said if a transport run can be put together for this weekend we’ll take him if not it will have to be after the wedding unless someone else can take him.   Mad or what. !!!!

Sue x

A fab weekend!

Well here I am back home again! Boy did that weekend go quickly LOL.

Had a wonderful time, weather was amazing, the sun shone and it was pleasantly warm! considering we've had nothing but rain for weeks we sure got lucky. It was cold overnight and first thing but as the caravan actually had central heating we were warm and very comfortable LOL. Got quite a bit of scrapping done and generally chilled out and it was brilliant to walk along the beach and hear and smell the sea!

No chance of forgetting my hand exercises as Dawn turned out to be a bigger nag than Eric LOl and kept reminding me to use my finger. I was surprised how well my hand held out and it has probably done it good to be used so much.

I got far more done than I ever imagined and started off Friday evening with 3 little books, same but slightly different for my daughter and the 2 bridesmaid who organised her hen night.

Front

back

Inside

Really easy little books to make just using 1 12 x 12 piece of cardstock, the page were done digitally

 I also did a 12 x 12 of the front page for my yearly album and decoupaged some of the layers and added bling

Then 3 paper kits, yes I actually did some paper scrapping, all from papermaze crop kits.

This was by Vanessa and uses papers from Echo Park " A boy's life" photo's of Eric and Ben.

then another by Vanessa using Authentique genuine papers, photo of Eric Gangley and Elmo on his 2nd day here.

and last my favourite Lou Collins for papermase using papers from Basic Grey Picadilly, photo was taken on my birthday of Lucky,  Vikki and Ben just a few days after she had been diagnosed with Bone cancer.

Apoligies for rotten photo's, no change there LOL.

Came home to a nice clean house, dogs are all being a bit sulky with me but I was expecting that LOL. Elmo has done really well being left 2 hours Friday and this same this morning with no damage. Poor Eric had to go to our sons twice a day whilst I was away to see to his animals as they have been away, so gold star for Elmo and Eric.

Have a really busy week ahead with 2 hospital appts, dentist appt and hair cut! Then next week will be all systems go for the wedding, feel like I need another weekend away just thinking about it.

Sue x

4 more sleeps

Yay just 4 more sleeps then Dawn and I are off on our yearly long weekend get away! We don't go far just up to Norfolk and spend the weekend in a caravan chilling out and crafting. I need/have to walk along a beach and hear the sea at least once a year, so wish we lived near the sea. Nowhere near ready of course, I thought I had it all under control but now it's this close I realise I haven't LOL. We're going quite early this year as Dawn's daughter baby is due in 4 1/2 weeks, and my daughter's wedding is coming up fast on the 26th hence the early get away BUT Dawn's daughters first baby came 4 weeks early so now we're thinking what the heck made us book this weekend. Every year something goes wrong, last year Dawn's house had a bad flood, a previous year I had to rush home as Eric thought Sandy was approaching her last few hours, all we ask for is 3 days peace and quiet LOL, no drama's this year I hope.

Elmo has been good since the last incident, of course I took a photograph being  a scrapper you would wouldn't you.

New mattress topper has arrived today and looks good, so the dark destroyer may yet be forgiven LOL.

Rain continues to fall and everyone including hounds are totally fed up with it.

Son in law to be has survived his stag weekend thank goodness and we'll find out Thursday whether DIL needs her broken wrist operated on or not. Either way she'll have a plaster cast on.

I am so enjoying the freedom of being out of the splint during the day and each day brings more movement and strength to my finger.

Keep all paws crossed for me and Dawn this weekend, 3 days is all we ask please ..........

Sue x

ELMO

During the day I prefer for the dogs not to go into our bedroom but Alfie has figured out how to open the door recently and the result is ................total destruction, a memory foam mattress topper for my sore joints ripped to shreds quite literally! by Elmo! so tonight Eric is fitting a bolt thingy to stop Alfie opening the door and Elmo doing what he does best destroying.

I don't think I have ever been so cross with a dog before, I had to put him outside because I was worried about all the yelling I was doing was upsetting the other dogs. Two weeks of being so good and wallop. I could howl with the frustration of it.

We've tried everything that has been suggested and had really thought we were making good progress, it's not like he was alone and upset I was at home when it happened, the bottom line is he just likes to tear, rip, chew and destroy!

I am one very cross Muuver tonight

Wedding bits

My hand and in particular index finger are feeling very happy to be out of the splint and have to say it's ghastly putting it back on at night! I really feel like the finger has made a big improvement since being released and I'm working hard at the exercises. No gain without pain as they say.

Today for the first time in I don't know how long I had a shower and washed my hair without plaster cast/splint and plastic bag, oh the joy, what has been such a difficult thing to do was so easy today.

Have to say like us humans, hounds are very fed up with the rain and mud, takes forever to clean them every time they venture outside and this morning Alfie ran across the meadow which pretty much looks like a lake and was sooo dirty it took several towels to clean him up.

I am so relieved to have finally finished all the bits I needed to do for daughters wedding just the card to make now, so thought I'd show you.

Way back last year I did the day invitations and evening invitations and prior to that save the date cards.

Now I've done the table names this is for the top table

name cards and inside is the menu

table plan

and finally thank you cards.

So now I can get myself ready for NSD Saturday at Bramford crop and then net weekend awn and I go away on our yearly long weekend where we chill and scrap all weekend whilst drinking lots of earl grey LOL.