Mouse for Mouse Swap

OK, here he is!!!!
Can you think of a name?
I think he might be an Alfie or an Albert.
How about Monty?
What do you think? :)

I didn't follow a pattern or anything, I just made him up as I went along. Originally, I was going to do him with long dangly legs. But I got tired of the needle-felting so did stumps instead. LOL!

Here are some more views:

HAD to give him a belly button!!!-

Toes!!!!-

I'll send him on to my partner in the Swap on Monday, as Mum wants to see him first.

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I'm back to mum's tomorrow.
Luvbug is staying there for the weekend too, but then he has work next week so we'll be apart again :(
-it is hard to be torn between two loved ones like this.

This evening we went to have another look around the bungalow that mum's buying. She can't quite picture the layout or size, so I took some photo's and filmed a walk through the rooms. The Estate Agent seems confident that things are moving along OK.

I do worry how mum will settle, in a new home, in a new area, new town, with only us known to her. She does have a few friends where she is now. I'm worrying about the uprooting, whether it will be too much, make her go downhill. Then, at other times, I feel a flood of confidence about it all and see nothing but blue skies ahead.

I need to find a middle ground, I think. I think the middle ground just takes a lot more work, a lot more energy, perhaps, which is why we all seem to fall into one extreme or the other......

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ANYWAY.... I am pleased with my mousie, which turned out so much better than I'd hoped. This is only my second needle-felted creature, the first being a blue Bear I made for someone in August 2008. I don't even know if I'm doing it right! Maybe you're meant to needle it more, make it stiffer, eliminate the fluffy bits? No idea! LOL! If you're an expert, do let me know! Meanwhile, I quite like this result...

Sheepish Mice and Dead Hair.....

Well I've made the mouse's head so far.....

Looks like a sheep to me!

A few tweaks later: got rid of the fluffy haircut, added a nose and smile, threaded in some whiskers and raised the ears a wee bit....and.... mouse?Hmmm.... now for the body. I need to nip into town and get a new needle-felting needle. I could only find two. I snapped one (OUCHHH!) and the other is getting a wee bit blunt. If this mouse-head is going to get a body I shall need a new pokey poke poke tool.

This is for an online mouse-swap, by the way. There's a link in the left-hand column to the blog behind it, if you're curious!

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I've just got back from the hairdresser.
I told her that I needed a good trim because my dry, brittle ends are driving me crazy. I just can't stop fiddling with them, tying them up and even snapping them off.

The hairdresser looked through my hair, tweedling it with her fingers and making long-drawn-out, studious hmmmm noises.

"Well," she sighed, shaking her head, "the thing is, all this hair here is dead."
Before I could think, I blurted out, "Well I should damn well hope so, or it'll bloody hurt like Hell when you start cutting into it!"
Erm..... it was one of those "Did I really say that out loud?" moments.

Feeling guilty, (though God alone knows why, if they will insist on coming out with such silliness) I allowed myself to be talked into buying one of their special conditioners. You know, twice the price of your usual one from Boots, but in a more plasticky bottle and an odd "designer" name on it. [Sigh] Never mind. At least it smells good :)

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't get hold of mum on the phone for over an hour. PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!
Action stations!

• Bag packed -check!
• Crafty stuff packed- not leaving it behind this time! -check!
• Email to family written and ready to send -check!
• Text message to Luvbug at work -check!
• OK one more try to get hold of her...

brrring brring.... brring brring....
"Hello?"
"MUM?????" -relief so heavy I nearly fall over.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!
Her hearing aid battery had fallen out!
She hadn't heard the phone!!

Oh! My nerves! My nerves!
Arrrghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK off to start on a needle-felted mousie now.
My shaking will come in handy with the technique.

LOL!

Home and ok....touch wood!

Got home last night. Rang mum before she went to bed; ok.
Asked mum to ring me each morning once she's up; this morning, ok.
Rang her again lunchtime; ok, just going for a walk with a neighbour.

(Can you tell I'm not relaxing yet?)

Plan is to stay here these 5 days, then back to mum's for the weekend + week + following weekend, then back here... so 5 days here, 9 there, 5 here, 9 there, and so on.

If "anything happens" this time, we're going to take it as she can't be left on her own yet. What we do then, move her in or move me in there, well, we'll cross that bridge when and if we have to. Please keep things crossed for her. For us.

Now.... what was it I used to do around here??? :)

Another update, a snowy one!

Just a wee note as I've heard from people who are worried by my silence!
Fear not, as this has been caused by BT BEING A USELESS INTERNET PROVIDER....grrrrrrrr and not by any of us dropping off the planet or being snowed into it.

I am still at my mum's: she still can't remember falling or hitting anything.
I may be going home for next week, then doing one week there, one week here, etc. We'll see how it goes....

Meanwhile we've had tons of snow!

Scooter and Fluffy are spending most of their time indoors by the fire or on my bed, and the "stray" from up the road hangs out in the shed: in a large box of old clothes with a Winnie-The-Pooh hot water bottle refilled periodically :) he also gets food and water, of course. What he really wants is to come indoors and be a lapcat, but Fluffy goes bonkers when she sees him, and Scooter "bravely" hides behind something bigger than himself and makes a high pitch wailing sound.

Fluffy is so reluctant to go out, we caught her peeing on the carpet upstairs. I just caught her after the event. "WHAT the????" was answered with a chirrup as she ran top speed back downstairs, flicking her tail up at me.

Well, I've tried soap, hot water, sodium bicarb (reputed to remove any pong) and now I'm on to lavender scented dettol. Hopefully I can get rid of the ambient evidence before mum's buyer [of her house] next wants to pop in.

Maybe Fluff caught wind of the move plans and wants to mark her territory....

I don't want to get them used to a litter tray indoors as, if I go back home, this leaves more work for mum. So, whenever Fluffy has seemed reluctant to go out since and do what cats do, I've picked her up and carried her out to her pee-patch, snow or no snow. You wouldn't think a 16 yr old cat with arthritis could run very fast, would you? But after leaving a little patch of rising steam in the snow, Fluffy runs so fast up the path, one time she slipped and fell over.

I shall miss them when I do get home. I'm becoming accustomed to Fluffy cuddles on the sofa in the evening and Scooter smooches on my bed at night. (Their version: warming cold paws and backs and getting something soft to sit on.) Mum tells me I spoil them, but I think in reality they are spoiling me.

Take care! Hope to be able to visit your blogs soon- no time here in the library!

ps.........
mum's birthday tomorrow-
oh goody, more cake!!!

A wee update

Thanks for the messages of support :)

Mum is doing ok but the bruise on her face has got worse- she now has a black eye and the other eye is black all round the nose. The lump on her forehead is shrinking though. She still can't remember how she did this, but whilst in the kitchen, I noticed that when she opened a cupboard door it lined up exactly with the marks and lumps- so maybe she opened it then tripped into it? Could be...

I fell asleep this afternoon till early evening and when I woke up I discovered that she had cooked herself an omelette and remembered to have her pills :) this is a good sign. She has been so down as to be almost inert.

Her neighbour slipped on the ice the other day and has broken her wrist. She had an operation on it today but is staying at her mum's in Rochester. This may mean I need to stay longer as she is one who was keeping half an eye on mum!

More snow today, but it didn't settle much. It looks like tiny white marbles on the grass verges.

We filmed some starlings, swooping in to roost, the other day. I hope I can get it online for you to see.

It seems ages since I did any crafting! I am taking part in a mouse swap this month so I am starting to think about how to make a wee mousie. Being restricted, away from my craft supplies, might actually be helpful as I have to be more inventive. I'll take photo's as I go along, of course!

Bye for now,