New Year here

So, did we all celebrate the end of the year in style then? Things here were random as always, friends came over, alcohol was consumed (although I did stick to my limit, which was very very hard!) and the Wii was busted out. I checked with my Anti-Coag nurse on Christmas Eve whether it would be very bad to have an extra drink or two over the festive period. Hmm, how many are we talking here she asked. An extra one, or an extra two? Because an extra one every once in a blue moon won't do you any harm, but an extra two may put you in hospital and you certainly can't make a habit of it. Yikes! So I've been good. I had an extra one on Christmas Day, and I had an extra one on New years Eve, even though I could quite easily have carried on drinking, I stopped and was disappointingly sensible. However much I'd have like to get a bit drunk for a change, I really don't fancy the idea of being back in hospital, or worse. It was amusing watching the other's get drunk though. Well, K and I watched them get drunk. He's not old enough to drink yet, so we were sensible together!

G and K came round with their dog Tia, who promptly took up guard in Joe's bed, and Joe being the chicken gentleman dog that he is, let her. Tia was very grumpy because she's allowed on the sofa at her house, but not in ours.

G decided to wear the dogs festive antlers (yeah, she'd had a bit to drink before she decided that this was a good idea *lol*)

We played bowling for hours with some great music on.

G got her first strike and was duely congratulated.

The clock struck twelve and we saw the New Year in in the garden watching all the fireworks

and waving sparklers (K is happier than it seems in this photo *lol*)

Unfortunately M's celebrations in the garden caused his cold to go onto his chest and has had to go to the Doc's today for some happy pills to sort out a chest infection. Silly boy!

Craftwise, here's the mystery project all finished and assembled. It's a sunflower hair grip. I just felt like a bit of sun in my life as its midwinter here and it'll be months before we see the warm weather return! It's two layers of felt edged in glitter, then a central circle of felt which I beaded in lots of yellows, browns and oranges. One of my aims this year is to make a tribal headpiece, so I've been thinking of ways to do the flowers. I may try to get some silk ones, or I might make some from scratch.

I also finished another Meret for a friend, this one's in white and yeah, it's another stash busting project. I'm usually not a big lover of white, but this looked good on my hair as I'm a brunette. It was a nice contrast. Luckily the friend I've made it for is a brunette too.

And here's another mystery stash busting project. Those needles are 20mm! I'm using about 5 strands of yarn so it's nice and colourful. Can you guess what it it? Ah, I'm not giving anything away here, so you'll have to see when it's finished.

So it's back to work on Monday. I'm going to be trying to get some of my outstanding assignments completed over the weekend so that I have a clean slate when the TESOL new term starts again. I've also got some lesson plans to finalise for the coming term. We have lots of new intake arriving this week, so it's possible my timetable might change again.

New Years Resolutions? Well, I try not to make too many, and this year I have alot on my plate, so my main one is to pass my TESOL course, but I think I also need to lose weight/get fit (yeah, I know, everyone seems to have that on their list at this time of year), get the hang of my microwave kiln, make a new tribal headdress and costume for my belly dancing, and to get away in the caravan a few times this year. I'm also looking at a fisheye Lomo Holga camera so I might have to splash out and treat myself I have a pocket Holga, but it takes 110 film and that's hard to get hold of and even harder to process. I'm still doing my 101 in 1001 project, so many of my goals are on there anyway.

I'm not going to review my year here, it's had a lot of ups and downs and some places I don't want to go right now, but I'd like you to know that I love writing my random scribbling's here, and I read and treasure every comment made, so even if I don't reply to you directly (I wish Blogger would allow us to do that) I really value your kind words and appreciate all your visits to my crafty blog!

Right, back to the books. Have fun and may your year be a good one!