Buddy gets a Bandage

On Friday we had a lovely lunch out with Sean and his charming Mrs, Charito. To save me blogging about it you can pop over to Sean’s blog and get all the gen along with seeing pictures of my current cancer patient hair cut (it’s shortness having been confirmed by my Uncle Ray on Saturday).

So after a good time being had by all we arrived home to find Bud had stamped the bedding with little spots of red, unfortunately he hadn’t used a fabric paint but his own bodily fluid ie, blood.  An inspection of his little furry body revealed a graze on his right rear paw.  However by this time it seemed to have stopped leaking – possibly because the 3,000 spots on the bed had used it up – so we left it alone.  Then later on in the evening I noticed a couple of little spots on the landing carpet near where he was lying so decided action was required.

Okay I admit may just have been an excuse to use this…

It was in our original first aid box and is therefore over 12 years old.  In these 12 years the opportunity to experiment with this obviously useless essential piece of kit had never, ever arose and it had been relegated to a basket in the kitchen cupboard – because you can just have bet that if I’d thrown it away we would have needed it.

The bandage is tubular so how easy would it have been to pop onto Bud’s paw – very, I assume, but since his paw was a tad too big for the tube that knocked that idea on the noggin.  However I was by now unwaverable in my determination to use it in some way, shape or form. Well, that and the fact that we only had a wappingly large crepe bandage that had been tainted with the aroma of citronella or sticking plaster.

Now I have to say that I have limited bandage applying experience (I was going to title this Nurse Paula but decided that was really too much of a stretch).  I have applied them to my knee when I had stitches following the fall off my bicycle (which was adequate – the bandage, not the fall) and on the couple of occasions I sprained my left ankle (which was superb – really, I am your ‘go to gal’ if you ever want an ankle strapped – you even get a free herringbone pattern included – I can’t take the credit for this skill since my Dad showed me how) however it turns out I am not your ‘go to gal’ for getting a bandage to stay on your small furry family member.

Bud was really good at being still whilst the bandage was being applied, and the second one did stay on for at least two hours but then promptly fell off after he’d got on the duvet at bedtime – which worked out really well as one of the prime objectives for applying it was keeping the bed linen clean.

‘What the heck is this?’

‘I can still see it behind your hand.’

‘Okay, let’s play!’

‘Sigh.  I’m not feeling it.’

‘Right, I’ve having this instead…’

‘…it’s all mine now.’

‘Right you’ve had your fun, now pleasssssssssssse take it off!’

Prickly positions

If at all possible I go to Armchair Yoga and pre Yoga lunch on a Tuesday however today as I still have the sniffles I had to forego it so after walking Bud, crocheting and watching Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (which produced extra sniffles and copious amounts of snot) I decided to do some gardening.  Well, not so much gardening as making a start by cutting out anything prickly eg, brambles…

(yes I know me peony’s pooped – the flowers started to open just at the time of the recent high winds and there were so many buds this year too – 26 in all)

and nettles…

which resulted in me getting nettled in an awkward spot.  Let’s just say that if the shed door had blown open whilst I was rubbing said spot with a crushed dock leaf it would have been embrassing for all concerned.

And here, courtesy of a friend who called round tonight and not B, is a pic of my latest hair cut…

Bud was in the photo too but my top seemed to be hanging funny* making it appear as if I had a roll of fat so it got edited!

*Yes that is my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Crochet Club Tuesday – March Madness

I was intending on posting a picture of my Crochet Club 2011 progress stating that I’d finished the March instructions and wasn’t I good for doing that, etc, etc and then I realised that although I have finished the crochet bit of March there’s some sewing together to do – DOH!  DOUBLE DOH as it means I HAVE to weave some of those 60,000 loose ends in.

So here’s the crochet bit, which was photographed with the aid of my trusty assistant…

Speaking, or even typing, of ends I had my hair cut today.  It stopped thinning after the second lot of Doxorubicin.  Fortunately it had come back thicker than before my SCT so I could afford to lose some.  Since we have a very, very important event to go next week I thought I’d get it cut by a professional in a salon rather than me in the garage with the clippers – uh, that sounds like a solution from Cluedo.  I’ll post a pic tomorrow if I can get B to take a half decent one, Bud’s finding it a bit tricky to hold the camera AND press the button at the same time.

Hairy Muffins

Following on from my first attempt in January to cut my own hair, disregarding the fringe incident at age 13ish, here’s the photographic evidence.

The before with out of control curliness and a colour that was never naturally mine…

The day after, not very clear but since in the other two I’m wearing my jim jams I just wanted to prove that I do get dressed sometimes…

And last night still sporting the cut from four weeks ago.

I would have expected it to need another trim by now but maybe it’s slowing down before it departs completely!  Typing of which I went for my blood taken this morning, but haven’t heard anything yet about the counts or cycle two staring on Friday.

I also baked today – Quinoa Muffins as per Martha Stewart.  They turned out not only edible but quite delicious.

I substituted dried cranberries for the currants as although I love Fly Pie (Chorley/Eccles Cake – which is not a cake but a pastry – don’t tell Brussels or the name will need to be changed) I’m not a big fan of currants in cake and don’t even get me started on sultanas – blah!

 

It’s a bob – a woolly bob!

Let’s have a look at my new hair style…

Way back in September Sean Teirnan blogged about a knitted alternative to the traditional wig.  I fully intended to knit one in bright orange for Halloween, but could I get bright orange aran (worsted weight) wool locally – well, obviously not.

However having just finished something in some aran (worsted weight) wool I’d forgotten I had, and having some left over, I remembered this pattern last night and decided to give it a whirl.

I even learned a new technique for a three needle cast (bind) off – instead of using a third dpn use a crochet hook it really makes it so much easier.

Now as mentioned previously B is not exactly David Bailey add to that the new camera and the teething problems we seem to be having and well, unfortunately, the above was the best of a bad bunch, many of which the camera seemed to take itself.

And here is what Bud thought about my new style…

Guess what I did!

Guess what I did today, well this evening, within the last hour.  Go on guess, go on – no, not that, not that either, no, how dare you I’d never do that – well not twice!

Okay I’ll tell you – I cut my own hair!  This is pretty monumental because when it was long I practically needed a valium to get it trimmed.  Now, well I don’t really give a sod – it’s just hair – I have a hat!

However I have two things to say

1)  There’s a reason hairdressers TRAIN

2)  My mum was a hairdresser, even having her own shop up to me arriving – it’s not genetic!

There was however some very logical reasoning behind my decision to give it a whirl, or rather a trim, myself.

Do you know how much it costs to have your hair cut?  Well obviously some of your do – a number of the women in my life either lie or do their very best to avoid having the men in their lives find out how much they spend – and let’s not even get started on having it coloured.

After having it long for so long (boom, boom), I had gotten use to having it cut twice a year, whether it needed it or not!  A dry cut round here costs about £9.50.  The hair trimmers cost £19.99 so even if I thought if I only get two haircuts I’ve more or less broken even. Plus if it worked out all the money I’d saved* is extra money for wool!

(* I realise this is subjective – if I’d not decided to keep it short I wouldn’t have to spend the money and since this is a new expense I’m not really saving anything – more avoiding a new expense but as I said extra money for wool.)

A friend said it particularly suited me when it was at pixie cut length, this was before it went particularly curly and started growing OUT.  Before it was fine and straight – now it’s thick and curly.  So I decided to go with a pixie cut rather than the bob I’d originally thought.  Well, with the size of my backside at the moment not so much a pixie cut more a garden gnome cut.

So despite ordering the trimmers before B’s Christmas present of a garden vac/blower they only arrived yesterday.  I was beginning to think I’d have to use the garden vac.  They charged overnight and I just ventured into the garage to give them a whirl.  Well I thought it could get messy.

We (Bud supervised) narrowly avoided a bit, well HUGE boo boo because I hadn’t realised it had two length attachments and we nearly had 11mm instead of 21mm!

I could not believe the amount of hair on the floor and how much was still left on my head.  So I made it shorter and then some other bits a bit shorter!  The directions did happen to say keep a note of the settings so you can repeat the cut – I think I must have used about 25.

Lessons I learned…

1)  Stand closer to a mirror.  We do have a mirror in the garage, we don’t have one in the bathroom mind, but the one in the garage is the other side of the multi-gym so at least five feet away.

2)  Double check the length setting (I should have known this as one of the ladies at Armchair Yoga was scalped by her husband about a month ago).

3)  It looks better once it’s been washed.

As for pics well the camera is still busted!  Actually I took a before one on the webcam and I may take an after in the cold light of morning.

 

Buddy Two Poos

This is me and Bud on 10 September, the day after we got him…

this is also why I don’t put many photos on, B is not very good with the camera.  I never look like me, I AM a 5′ 8″ leggy blonde and yet in B’s pics I always look like a 5′ 1″ non leggy brunette, well brunette-ish I guess in that one!

And after slightly more than two months and…

3 walking harnesses

1 chewed door frame

3 poops in the house

3 puddles inside

1 vicious leap at Ben (my Auntie Ann’s dog)

numerous soft doggy toys

lots of chewing toys

1 wee in the garage – not 2′ from where I was sitting

chasing two pheasants across a field

several instances of vomiting (by Bud – just one by me)

an hysterical moment when I painted the bathroom ceiling when he got a piece of masking tape stuck on his paw

about 1,000 poop scoops (hence Bud’s nickname Buddy Two Poos because why do one when you can do two 100 years apart and thank goodness for frosty mornings in the garden! – If you don’t own a dog and need an explanation let me know – let’s just say I’m not looking forward to warmer weather)

an encounter with an Akita that confirmed that although my organisation skills are a bit shot I can still remain calm under pressure – stick hand out, grab harness extract Bud from Akita’s grip – I think it wanted to play but then again it was lunch time!

a little toy box for Bud – because there is no way I am going to end up in A&E explaining that I fractured the lytic lesion in my right femur by tripping over a blue goose on the landing in the dark!

several stones in the pads of his paws

one somersault onto his back on the lounge laminate flooring which he walked off but which nearly gave me and B a heart attack

one twisting somersault somersault on the kitchen lino for which he got 10.0 as he landing back on his feet, I mean paws

two grazes on his back legs from skidding to retrieve his ball

a boo boo that required a trip to the vet’s…

this is me and Bud on 17 November…

And strangely I have MORE hair!

Hair Today

How you know you have a full head of hair of a reasonable length –

Children no longer stare – girls when it was bald and boys about yay big… ooops hand gesture – about 8 to 10 when it was a number one (ie, there but very, very short).  B would chuckle and I would turn round to find a small boy or boys (in the case of two brothers when one nudged the other to look) staring.

Obviously a little confusing – ‘Why has that woman got a skinhead?’

And you no longer hear conversations like this…

Mum:  ‘…because some women don’t have hair!’

Son:  ‘But you’ve got hair!’

You have longer hair than the short haired furry animal you acquired.

You have to wipe it twice with the towel to get it dry.

You can feel the wind in it.  This feels odd the first time – you have to be walking into the wind but you can still feel it in your hair rather than a draught on your head.

However the one undeniable confirmation that you have hair is when, after months of getting up and getting dressed to go out without giving your hair a second thought you happen to glance in the mirror before you leave the house on day and… you have bed hair.  It may have only been five strands sticking out funny the first time but it was bed hair!

 

 

Perfect Timing

Look what I got in the post…

Just as I’ve got enough hair to use shampoo again.  I had been using soap but my Auntie Ann said ‘Uncle Ray uses soap and look what’s happened to his hair!’ – he’s BALD!

The only thing is I won’t know whether to recommend this product or not as my hair is still to short to tell if it makes it ‘glossy’ and too long to tell if it gives my head a ‘botanical shine’.

More Dresses

I dropped on this material in my local fabric store, which I must take a photo of as it has to be seen to be believed, although I’d need some spy training first as some the staff would probably escort me from the premises if they caught me.

I particularly liked the way the flowers were denser at the edge of the fabric although the dress doesn’t show this off as well as it could because I was a little short of material and had to cut out what I could from where I could – grain be dammed.  I had intended for the band under the bodice to be smocked but that turned into a smocking mess and I took the scissors to it one night when I was a little over tired – as my Great Aunt used to describe it – I was nangy tired!  I ‘tidied’  the dress bits away (for tidied read stuffed in a drawer) but fortunately the following day after a good night’s sleep I tackled it again and used the waistband that went with the original pattern but altered the skirt.  Fortunately being short was advantageous and even with the three inches of smockiness cut off the dress was still long enough.

The zip I inserted by hand as per Couture Sewing Techniques.  I don’t think my running stitches are quite as small as they should be but so far the zip hasn’t burst free and I’ve worn it twice.  I had a zip in which matched perfectly the peachy colour in the material and decided rather than hide the zip I’d leave it on display as a contrast.

When I put it on to go out last week B had just woke up and said he liked it but enquired about my wig.  I tried it on and B didn’t think the wig went with the dress – thus proving my theory when you are folically challenged you don’t have to worry about your hair style matching your outfit.

The second dress was made from scrapes.  A dress I’d made but didn’t like in the blue gingham along with plain white cotton and three different lots of broderie anglaise* my Auntie En had given me.  I like it but… because I lined the broderie anglaise on the top two tiers it doesn’t hang like it should, being a little bit stiff.  I have a sneaky feeling it’s not going to get a lot of wear.  It took a lot more material than I had anticipated hence the patchwork bottom tier which got complemented by a fellow customer in the fabric shop.

*  I had to google this because spell check had no idea – I also had no idea – how hard is it to google something when you have no idea how it’s spelled – but I did find an online fabric shop so it worked out well!