Nothing Useful then Taunton again!

Snow, snow and more snow! That's how it has felt this week, although we've had far worse weather in past years. Sarah and I have bought newspapers, bread , milk and the essentials for the older members of the family who certainly couldn't have got out, and delivered it on foot. It's not far to my Dads or Aunts but of course it always takes longer to walk in wellies in the snow. It has been good to get out in the fresh air though. I hate being stuck indoors for too long. Neil wasn't able to get his car out of the Avenue until Thursday and only when he used a snow shovel to make two tracks right to the top of the road! I must admit to thinking it was hilarious and I'm sure any neighbours will have thought the same, but it was a case of having to get out. Riley had an operation on a paw and couldn't walk home from the vets. We were going to carry him but hat would have been even more difficult in the snow.
I have cleaned and tidied, kept up with the ironing (which I hate with a passion) and at last started to sort out my craft room again. It's been in an awful mess since Christmas when it was full of everyone's presents and basically everything that hadn't got a real home while the decorations etc were about.
I've been taking photos for my photo a day challenge and added a few to this post. A word or phrase each day is given as a prompt and from there it's a matter of using your imagination. That's sometimes a little tricky for me. I look at the results from other people and am amazed. Technically far superior to my own and some of their ideas are fantastic. If I keep up with the challenge maybe I will also have a good record of 2013 and some wonderful photos.
Poor Riley is at the specialist vet in Taunton again. On Friday evening after our evening meal, he suddenly took a turn for the worse and then spent the night at our local vets. On Saturday morning Neil and Sarah had to take him back to Caves, where they started more treatment straight away. His meningitis is turning out to be much worse than I ever expected, although all of the vets say he can get through it or it can be successfully managed. I hope and pray they are right. The news on Riley this morning was that he had chewed through two drips so far and was barking with frustration so he must be feeling better. Hopefully he should be home again within the next couple of days.
The prompts for the photos shown were...Shadow.....Delicious......and Two Things. I hope you like them.

A Snowy Weekend.

It's 8.40pm on Sunday evening but in my mind ( and the way my body is feeling) it must be at least midnight and I should have been fast asleep in bed a couple of ours ago! I'm not really sure why, as this weekend hasn't been the busiest of times. It has though, been a snowy time. On Friday, 18th January, we had our first snowfall of 2013. By evening we had quite a covering. 2-3 inches I would say, which looked absolutely beautiful. I love to look out onto fresh snow that hasn't been walked on, driven over or marked in any way. Once we have all gone about our daily routines and the snow has frozen over then turned to the dirty black slush..... I hate it.
Sarah spent the day with her old school friend on Saturday. Clair has asked her to be a bridesmaid at her wedding in September and Sarah's first duty was wedding dress shopping! A special day for Clair and lovely for Sarah to be included. Neil and I had the day on our own, but as we couldn't even get a car out of the Avenue onto a main road, we couldn't actually go anywhere. Instead we took Dillan (Sarah and Matts dog) and Riley for their first walk in the snow. Riley managed to walk around the block, albeit very slowly and carefully, for the first time in weeks. He even seemed to have a spring in his step. I spent the rest of the day tidying up the house and looking through my new Stampin up catalogue, dreaming of the things that I would like to buy. Neil caught up on some television whilst resting, which he needs to do otherwise he just won't relax.
Sunday was also,a restful day. Walking the dogs and pottering around the house with not much else thrown in. I love the way that the snow lets me take a step back from rushing about and allows me to "not have to bother" unless I want to.
Riley seems to have made an improvement this weekend. He has a little more life in him although he's still not interested in his toys or playing with his brother Dillan at all! It's a shame because all Dillan wants is to play, and he tries his hardest to encourage Riley to do the same. Hopefully it won't be long until they are chasing each other around the garden again. That's when I will know that Riley is well on the road to recovery.

It wasn't a very good start!!

A blog to record my day to day life and to make new friends. That was how it was all meant to happen. As you will all now have seen..... It didn't turn out anything like that at all. Goodness it all seems doom and gloom in my first blogs and since then things have got even worse, so a very quick update on the last 3 MONTHS ! and then onto a new blog start and hopefully brighter, happier and healthier 2013.
Since October, things have been very stressful and not really very happy at all. Life seems to have been an uphill struggle. Not just for me, but for all of the family. To summarise briefly. Sarah has been missing Matt so much. She has up days and down days, waiting for messages, phone calls or contact of any kind. Nicholas has been getting used to life at his house on his own, but thankfully seems to be coping very well nowadays. Neil, my husband, has been ill since I last blogged but is now back at work as and when he can. He is such a strong person and never ill so its been very hard seeing him suffer both mentally and physically. Christmas wasn't our usual celebration. We usually have a large family gathering but this year for so many reasons that didn't happen. Sarah's 2nd wedding anniversary was on New Years Eve but without Matt that was never going to be much of a celebration. Riley, our cockerpoo puppy has been in and out of our local vets and a specialist vet 2 hours away from home, for over a month now. In fact I could count on one hand how many nights he has actually been at home during that time. As I write this, its medication time, again. Poor little thing. I am praying he actually does get better but at the moment I just don't know what is ahead for him. He is such a character and had brought so much happiness back into our lives since "Scamp and Lucy"

2013.
It's been a couple of weeks since we left 2012 behind. A New Year. A New Start. I hope to have some time for myself, doing the unimportant things that I love to do. I am going to set some goals for the year, projects that I would like to be involved in and, I would love to loose some weight!!! I don't think I will be on my own with the weight loss wish. I wonder how many people in the world make that a resolution each new year.
Tomorrow, is a new beginning. I don't suppose I will post on here each day but will try for a couple of times a week. Is that too ambitious? Well, lets see how it goes. It's snowing here today for the first time this winter so maybe some photos would be ahold starting point.