Stephen has had his operation, a day later than originally planned, due to the fact that the NHS is chronically understaffed, and under-funded. This has meant early starts, and rush hour driving in the centre of Sheffield for 3 days in a row, and a 4th again tomorrow so that I can take Stephen to his postponed interview. I am desperate for Friday, when all I have to do is walk Finn morning and evening, make dinner, and sleep. I am currently well into using Christmas's spoons, and I've got another 2 weeks of being unable to delegate any chore that involves Stephen needing to move his head, which is to say every chore, except for making an occasional cup of tea. He is just as frustrated by this as I am, especially as he can't even shower, or wash his own hair. I have to run him a bath, help him in and out of it, and wash his hair while he holds his head perfectly still, and tries to keep water out of his eye without actually touching the area around his eye at all, but it is what is necessary if we hope to save as much of his sight as possible.
Needless to say, I have not had much time or energy for knitting, and in the not too distant future, there will be a post that reveals my tendency towards comfort shopping when in stressful situations, regardless of affordability, has not changed.
Anyway, here we go:
Advent
December 9th
On the 9th, my Advent of Change donation helped:
The Rainbow Trust, who help children suffering from serious illnesses, and their families.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I have found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle, with a milk chocolate shell, and white chocolate ganach.
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with a penguin on it.
Charms - little reindeer stitch marker.
Yankee Candles - Snowflake Cookie scented candle.
Imperial Candles - light blue coloured soy wax melt. I'm afraid I really don't have the energy to attempt to determine what the fragrance is supposed to be. Sorry.
Cath Kidston - Bath Fizzer. I put this in Stephen's bath earlier tonight, it turned the water a beautiful blue colour!
Bird and Blend - Mulled Cider flavoured tea.
Made by Penguins - the bottom sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "Grape", which I love! Plus several stitch markers, one with a tiny elephant, one with a star, one with a number 5 on it, which makes me wonder if numbers 1-4 are behind the other doors somewhere, and the last one with seed pearls.
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "DibDab". I used to love those sherbet sweeties when I was little!
Gamer Crafting - the middle sparkly mini-skein, in this outstandingly bright orange and pink colourway.
Finn now gets a bit sad if I open my own advent calendars, but forget to open his! He's waiting patiently for his treats, and for me to put my dog-walking shoes on and take him out in this photo, as he's already done a round-trip to Sheffield in the car with us while I dropped Stephen at the hospital. I don't want to be leaving Finn at home on his own as much as would be necessary right now if I didn't choose to take him in the car with us. Partly because it would upset him to have his routine changed *and* be left alone, but also partly because with everything else to do, I'm just not physically capable of keeping on top of the housework as much as I'd like to. I don't think there is anything lying around that he might get into that he shouldn't, because we're generally careful to avoid that, but I'm not willing to risk him accidentally eating chocolate or something because of something I missed by being exhausted.
Day 9 was a sock calendar day for Stephen, but he put them straight on, and then we went straight out, so neither of us took a photo. I think they had Christmas trees on them. Instead, have a photo of Finn carrying Stephen's hat around. Sometimes when he misses one of us, he picks up an item of our clothing and carries it around with him for a while.
December 10th
On the 10th, my Advent of Change donation helped:
Women for Women, a charity that helps women who have had their lives torn apart by war to get back on their feet, offering support and education, so that they have all of the skills they may need to recover, and return to a successful and rewarding life.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I have found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle, with a milk chocolate shell, and white chocolate ganach.
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with Santa Claus on it.
Charms - beautiful snowflake stitch marker.
Yankee Candles - Evergreen Mist scented candle. This is probably my favourite this year, but not as good as Perfect Tree last year.
Imperial Candles - Spiced Orange scented soy wax melt.
Cath Kidston - Gardeners Club Cucumber Spa liquid soap.
Bird and Blend - Brighton Rock minty tea.
Made by Penguins - the bottom sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "Frozen".
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Crayon Box".
Gamer Crafting - the middle sparkly mini-skein, in this super bright yellow and orange colourway.
Slightly impatient Finn yesterday, but then none of our calendars were opened until after I brought Stephen back from hospital, as Finn and I had spent the day with Becky, who had offered to keep me company, and provide me with tea, while Stephen was in surgery. Thank you Becky!
No photos of Stephen's calendars again, but here's a photo of Finn snuggling with me while I do some knitting instead.
December 11th
Today, my Advent of Change donation has helped:
The End Fund, who provide much needed medical care, and treatments, for the millions of people, usually the world's most impoverished people, who suffer from neglected tropical diseases.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I have found:
I'm sorry that this photo is out of focus. When I took it I was literally so tired that I couldn't tell if it was in focus or not.
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle.
Hotel Chocolat - mini chocolate slab with a snowman on it.
Charms - tiny little Christmas stocking stitch marker.
Yankee Candles - Cinnamon Stick scented Candle.
Imperial Candles - pale pink soy wax melt. Once again, I'm sorry, but I don't know what the fragrance is.
Cath Kidston - Cottage Patchwork Body Lotion. Not that I dislike any of these things, but I did choose this calendar because it looked like it would have a lot of hand cream in it, and we're almost half way through Advent, but still only 1 tube of hand cream! I desperately need to be using a lot of hand cream right now too, because I'm scrubbing my hands several times a day so that I can safely put several different types of eye drops in Stephen's eye, 4 times a day, plus gently wipe away any sticky residue with sterile water a couple of times a day. Not to mention my normal borderline obsessive over-washing of hands.
Bird and Blend - Snowball flavoured tea.
Made by Penguins - the bottom sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "Romancing".
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Yarnicorn".
Gamer Crafting - the middle sparkly mini-skein, in another really bright colourway of yellow and green.
Finn only had to wait until a little after midday for his advent treats today, although calendar opening was delayed longer than expected by Finn also needing a bath after thoroughly enjoying this morning's walk in that special spaniel way that involves getting as muddy as possible. Then we all went for a snuggly family afternoon nap.
Stephen's socks today have penguins on them!!!
Regulars
FO's
3 more Christmas baubles completed, although Finn thinks they are just small tennis balls. I've started hanging my knitted baubles on our tree, and fortunately, once I do that, Finn seems to forget about them. Once he had a brief try at stealing the one on the lowest branch, but decided it was too difficult when there was an actual tennis ball in his toy pile.
WIP's
Bauble number 8 in progress, sitting on top of what I've achieved so far on my mitred squares blanket, which is little more than I showed you a few days ago.
Now it is well past time I should have been in bed, as tomorrow is another early morning.
Night Night my dears.
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