Thanks be to God x

Well, at last we have good news about Nick!
After having his case reviewed by a non-RAF Doctor this morning, he was told that his knee had suffered nothing more than badly bruised ligaments, and the main damage he has suffered is due to the fact that the RAF have made him use crutches for the last 2 and a half months, with absolutely no physio. Exactly what we have been saying since Day 1!
The Doctor then gave him 40 minutes of intensive physio, then took his crutches off him and he is now walking again!! Praise God, we have had really good friends praying for him too, and at last they have been answered. I kept telling myself everything happens for a reason, and now I can see that He had everything under control when yesterdays injections were cancelled at the last minute.
I am just SO thankful x

RAF Blues

Sorry everyone but I need to let off steam about the RAF....AAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!
1st of all Nicks transport didn't turn up this morning as the RAF medical centre had forgotten to book it! Tried to rearrange his injections but he'd have to wait 3 weeks!!!! So John then had to drive him to Cranwell to make his 1pm appointment, only to get a phone call from the RAF en-route to say sorry but the doctor's gone home sick and has cancelled his appointment!!!!!!! Can you believe it, I am SO angry. They are now getting a non-RAF GP in to see him tomorrow to see if it would be quicker to operate after all!!!!!
So as I said.....AAARRGH!!!!!!!!!!

Finished at last!

WOW! At long last, our hall is decorated and carpeted, with new curtains and a hall table to finish it off. The spare room is now my craft room, and that is finally finished too. Phew! I'm really pleased with how the rooms have turned out, and now look forward to many hours of peaceful crafting...if only I can evict Polly from my new desk, as she loves it and seems to think it belongs to her!!
I hope you like how the rooms turned out x

All change!

Phew, my feet seem to have hardly touched the ground this month. We have had a leak in the conservatory repaired, and the room repainted. It's strange how tidying a room up makes it suddenly more appealing, and we have found ourselves voluntarily going to sit in there again, after avoiding it like the plague for months, as it gradually became a dumping ground for all sorts of unwanted stuff...now it's all gone to charity, and we can feel virtuous and clutter free!
Being gluttons for punishment, we have also had the hall, stairs and landing re-decorated. It looks lovely, and will be even better on Friday when the new carpet arrives...walking on floorboards is not very kind underfoot, especially when you make contact with a gripper rod, ouch!
Nick is still at home with us, and still on crutches. His MRI scan showed that every part of his knee had been badly damaged, but luckily they don't think it will require surgery. They are going to give him a series of injections on 6th April, which will coat the cartilege's frayed edges and enable them to start physio so he can hopefully get some movement back in his knee. If that fails, then it will mean surgery, so let's hope it works!
Finally, all the staff at school were called to a big meeting last night, and told that our small private school could not survive financially for much longer, and they are applying to the Government for Academy status. It will mean the school will double in size, but our jobs will be secure. We are all a bit shell shocked at the news, and wondering what the long term implications will be for all of us. Early retirement to our beloved North Yorkshire is winning hands down at the moment!

2010 Scrapbook Challenge

In the New Year, I decided to join Shimelle's scrapbook challenge, to scrap 2010 month by month. Her ideas are inspirational, and include adding a divided page in the middle of each month, so that you can include more photo's than you would on a normal layout. A lot of people have also used the dividers to make several "mini" layouts too, which has been fun to do. Here is my attempt for January!
It's been a hard month to be positive about, as Nick injured his knee a few days after he returned from an RAF exercise, and was sent home on crutches. We took him back to Cranwell last weekend for an MRI scan, only to have to go and collect him again on Wednesday, as they haven't even booked the MRI scan yet. He is trying to stay positive, but after a month he still can't bend his knee, and is obviously very worried about his future. He goes back again to see the head physio on Thursday, so we are hoping he will actually get things moving. Not knowing is hard to bear, and it is awful not being able to do anything to help him. We just hope and pray constantly that they will be able to repair the damage, and that he WILL achieve his dream of becoming an RAF pilot, even if it will take a bit longer than he had hoped.
Let's hope that by the time I scrapbook February, it will be better news!

Getting organised

Well, the snow is finally melting and life is slowly getting back to normal. Polly was a bit upset to see the head on her snowman had melted away, but other than that we are very happy to see the grass starting to reappear!

As the roads were too bad to drive to our scrapbooking crop, I spent last weekend trying to tidy up my tiny crafting corner. I bought a tall chest of drawers from Ikea, and gathered all my bags and boxes together before deciding what to put in it. I then made labels for each drawer, and it is SO good to know that I can now find paints in my paint drawer, and stamps in another one etc...believe me, before they were all stuffed in wherever there was space. I now need another unit for all my 12" scrapbook papers, but have no space to fit that so they will have to stay under the desk for now.

Happy Snowy New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone, and welcome to a very white and snowy New Year! After a lovely White Christmas spent at my sister's house, we awoke on New Year's Day to a light sprinkling of snow, which at the time looked quite pretty. After 2 weeks of real disruption, the novelty is starting to wear off! One consolation is that I now feel a tad fitter, as my car hasn't been out of the garage for a few weeks now (it can't cope with snow and ice, and is better suited to doing a Bambi impersonation as it skids down the drive with the handbrake on!). School had been closed for a few days, and the days it opened have seen Polly and me wading through the white stuff in our wellies....fun for a short while, at least!

Nick is back at RAF Cranwell after a fortnights leave for the Christmas holidays, and is dreading the next few weeks when he will be taking part in a huge leadership exercise, camping out in the wilds for TWO WHOLE WEKS!!! He was very nervous about whether he would pass the exercise or not, but is now equally worried about how he will camp in the open without dying from hypothermia!

I am still scrapbooking, and have resolved to try and teach myself some other skills. I knitted a poppy for Remembrance Day, which turned out to be a rather large corsage (well, I haven't knitted for over 20 years!). This week, I've been teaching myself to crochet again, and I much prefer it to knitting. My Grandma taught me to crochet when I was little, and although it was about 40 years ago, I am amazed how it's all coming back to me! So far I've just done a small square while I practise my trebles and double crochets, but watch this space...there will be more!

I have also completed an online photography class (Thank you SO much, Chery Johnson!) and have learnt lots of better ways to take pictures. My family are now fed up with me clicking away!

Finally, I have also got round to updating this blog. My intention is to try and update it at least once a month...time will tell if I manage this!