Sensory Sunday the Second of December!

Hi everyone!

Firstly a huge HELLOOOO to my new follower, Becky.  Its so good to 'see' you here and thank you for following my blog.  I shall be along to pay you a visit very shortly. :)  Thanks also to those of you reading and commenting.  It makes my day to see your comments and seeing the reader-count climbing.  Thank you!

I had an absolutely rubbish night's sleep last night.  My head was whirring with "stuff".  I tried to read my way through it but couldn't concentrate.  I think I finally fell asleep at about three, woke again at five, and the on the half hour until seven am when I promptly fell asleep until eight and then gave up! I got up then and made poached eggs on muffins and coffee and retired back to bed where oblivious Man was just waking up!

All that awakeness !  And then I fell asleep just in time to miss this "fire in the sky":-

Luckily my next door neighbour WAS awake and took this snap on her phone of the most stunningly beautiful skies.

I've been feeling rough all weekend.  My ears are blocked and my head is fuzzy.  My throat is just beginning to get sore and so I know I'm in for a bout of something yuksome!  Typical!  I can't have any more time off work this side of c-word so its going to be a case of "dose up and get on with it" I'm afraid.

For medicinal purposes (!) I've made a big pan of mulled punch today as Mum came 'round for dinner. It's quite a steep walk from her house to ours and she was breathless and cold when she arrived; her glasses steamed up instantly as she wandered into the scented fug of the kitchen.  She was most grateful for the mug of hot, spicy apple cider I offered to her.  I had heated through a small bottle of cider which I had diluted with a large carton of winter punch from Aldi.   Some pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, chopped apple and orange had also been added to the brew.  I've waited to sample mine until now as I'm typing this blog post and it is soooo comforting.  A veritable hug in a mug.  There really is nothing nicer when you're feeling under the weather.  I can't tolerate spirits, so a hot toddy or whiskey mack wouldn't be good for me.  This is mild and gentle and ... Oh, look - it's all gone.  How did that happen?!

Apart from cooking dinner today, I made a couple of cards - like this one!

The fairy was part of a set of stamps I picked up in a charity shop.  The images are beautiful and as you rarely see such items in charity shops I made sure I snapped it up.  The image was stamped first of all, then powdered and heat embossed before being cut out and mounted on to a serendipitous find of near matching starry paper, then again on to some mirri card.  A little bit of stickles dotted here and there glammed it up a little et voila!

As is usual at time of year, I've had candles burning all day - these orange and cinnamon ones -

Aww - you've not met my little owls have you?  I picked them up
at a boot sale earlier this year for about £1.50.  They're carved and painted and are all
individual.  I adore the way the little one is cuddling into the middle one!

and this lovely 'rhubarb and custard' scented soy candle in a little vintage ice cream sundae dish,  which I picked up a couple of weeks ago at a craft fayre.

Ah well - Sunday evening ironing looms upon us (well me anyway!).  I've worked out that I have just fifteen working days left before I break up for Yule on the 21st.  Just.  Fifteen.  Three little blocks of five days, interspersed with blissful weekends. **steels self**.   I can do this.   This is, as a very good friend agrees, "eminently do-able!"

See you soon !!

xx