Insomnia stricks again ...

I keep waking around 2am which is great for stumbling and checking out Pinterest, however it's going to be a nightmare for going back to work next week.

It's given me time though to indulge myself in capturing some bits and pieces around the flat as we start to get organised:

Our one organised corner.  The shelves are made out of recycled scaffolding boards by Mr BL, the chair was being thrown out at the theatre he works in, the doll was a present from my best friend and the phone was from the junk market - £5.  Mr BL fixed it - he's so clever!

A couple of old boxes we've picked up at the junk market - the top one is an old Police ammunition box.  Great for hiding away games controllers and wires.  I picked the vase up at the Salvation Army shop for 95p; it's going to be drawn on I think for my Etsy shop.  But for now it's holding some lovely sunflowers :)

So there we go - the ONE corner we have sorted! ha ha.

While I was sorting things out I noticed this weird 'connection':

This box we picked up (where? You've guessed it - Deptford Junk Market) ages ago and it houses more wires and tools. Note the number on the side.

This tea crate was one of two that we found on the street where we used to live.  Note the number on the side!

 I know it's only a coincidence but a weird one nonetheless.

I thought I'd also share a couple of bizarro purchases from last week before I got sick:

We discovered this weird Kewpie praying Spiderman doll in the Salvation Army shop - really a bizarre mixture of ideas.

 

Found these 'aura goggles' on the market - £1.  They were produced by the British Metaphysical Society in the 60s and are just fascinating.  The only place I could find something similar was here and they sold for $49.99 - one of our friends wants them - not sure we want to get rid of them.  They're also quite steampunk in a way I guess.

Yesterday my Zuzzle Bind-It-All turned up - the instructions on the disc and the booklet are rubbish so I turned to trusty Youtube and found this awesomely simple tutorial.  I was binding within minutes and only really messed up a couple of times being my usual over-excited self.  I haven't really done anything ground-breaking but I was fairly pleased with my first tries, creating some little 'art journals' for when I feel 'arty'!

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The covers are vintage bingo cards I picked up on the Market.

Random pages taken from an old scrapbook I found on the market - mostly of playbills and adverts from the 70s and 80s.

I painted some of the pages with oil pastels and water colours.

And finally on another 'crafty' note a new addition to the Belle-Laide collection and a 'second' which ended up being just a test plate that I kind of liked!

Mucha inspired

Just a doodle - I kind of like it though.  I'm really not a very good artist! ha ha.

Well there you go - my little life in a nutshell.  Hope you managed to get to the end of this!

and breathe ... albeit with a wheeze

Hello!  Well - where do I start? 

At the end of the summer hols my dad went in for his bronchoscopy (sp?) - as I picked up my nephew from the station my sister got the text - it was BENIGN :)  honestly - it just didn't sink in for days.  After waking every morning worrying about my father, nightmares, stress, depression - all of that weight and worry dropped off.  I woke the next morning with the word 'benign' simply echoing through my brain.

Then - I had my nephew stay with me for 3 days - he didn't know what was going on or why my sister and I had burst into tears at the station and started hugging each other insanely.  I think he's guessed, he's far from stupid, however the poor little love had to put up with my mood swings (from no sleep and stress about the move) and migraines.

We then moved - two days of lugging stuff down 3 flights of stairs then lugging up 4 flights of stairs.  I'm so lucky that B's a theatre tech and we have theatre techs for friends.  They're used to lugging and packing vans.  When we next move we are getting movers in - but hopefully that won't happen for a while!  The flat is coming on lovely.

I've been back to work 2 1/2 weeks and I'm off sick.  I have a stonking chest and sinus infection and am on sh!t-hot anti-biotics; 500mg 3 times a day and steroids.  Yesterday work phoned and said that I've got a meeting with the Head next week.  Seriously - I hoped I wouldn't be sick this year and now I am, and I'm so angry.  I need to be in my classes, teaching my students, helping them progress.  And now I have more stress about my job.  I think everything has just gotten on top of me and my body is making me flop - WHY NOW? Why not wait for half term?

But enough of whinging.  My dad is well and the tumor is BENIGN :) The flat is awesome and can't wait to post photos.  I have a job (for now).  Things are good :)

I'm now going to come around and see you all xxxxx

ps: while I've been trying to deal with things and get better I've done a bit more 'doodling' on ceramics:

All are available on etsy here - I did sell the teapot but then the woman messed me around severely so it's now relisted.  I've got to go and get some more meds today so I'm hoping I've got enough energy to go to a charity shop and get some more bits to draw on.  However walking from the car to the docs to Boots yesterday knackered me out.