A little bit of everything!!

Crikey, it is ages since I updated my blog. I have had my mum staying with us for a few days so I haven't been on the computer much. It was lovely to have her here as with one thing and another we haven't seen each other for about 3 years or so. My Auntie Angie, mum's twin sister, looked after Dudley so that mum could come up. He has Alzheimer's among other medical problems and it was too much trouble for his son or DIL to have him. The children were absolutely thrilled to bits to have her here and Luke in particular howled like a baby when we saw her onto the train on Tuesday. We didn't do a lot whilst mum was here but it was nice just to chill and catch up on news.

Rachael was taking her gold challenge in swimming this week. She had to -

• plunge dive and swim 100m using 2 strokes in 2 and a half minutes
• tread water for 3 minutes with her hands above her head
• sculling head first and feet first with a 360 tucked turn
• 10m swim, forward somersault, 10m swim
• 800m swim using 3 strokes, minimum of 200m on each, in less than 25 minutes
• exit from the deep end without assistance

SHE PASSED!!! WELL DONE RACHAEL

I received my fall/halloween exchange from Jackie a while ago but I had to wait until the 27th to open it. The package she sent me is fabulous with loads of lovely goodies and some beautiful choccies. I feel very spoiled indeed. I got my first ever scissors keep too which is gorgeous and won't just be kept for Halloween. Thank you Jackie. (There was a cute little halloween teddy too but Rachael has decided she wanted it.)

I have been emailing my partner to see if mine has arrived with her yet, but there has been no contact at all from her. I sent 2 packets as I couldn't get it all in one and I would have thought they should be there by now. Below is a photo of the ornament I made her. I was going to save it until it arrived but as I don't know if I will ever find out it arrived I thought I would post it now instead.

I also received my Fancy Fibres exchange from Lindsay. I didn't know that Kreinik made silk threads. They feel gorgeous and I have been playing with them all day. There were also 2 Threadworx threads which I have already used to cord an ornament I was finishing. The other thread is a Thread Gatherer thread which I haven't tried before either and feels gorgeous. The blue colour is wonderful too. Thank you Lindsay!!



Colin carved our halloween pumpkin today. It's just a basic one because we have 2 more to do with the children tomorrow. Mum bought the children a decorating kit for their pumpkins. It's a bit like Mr Potato Head for pumpkins so it should be fun tomorrow.