Sorry, still nothing to show you

Good morning everyone, I hope all is as well in your world as it can be...hugs to you all.
Thank you all for understanding that I can't help being behind on visiting your blogs at this time. 
Susan is now fine and will be back at work the week after next.
Stephen is coming on apace now. He started last Sunday by wiggling his toes, then by Wednesday he was lifting his foot, and on Friday evening he was lifting his whole leg :o) We, (Susan and I) were absolutely cock-a-hoop, as was Stephen. His personality has not changed, thank goodness, and he was laughing at himself struggling to cut his bacon one handed with a fork. In the end he let us help him but wouldn't let us cut his sausage up, he stuck his fork in that and ate it like a lolipop LOL.
His speech is still very slow in coming back but he can at least now make us understand what he wants to say with facial expressions and gestures, none of which have been rude so far LOL.
No crafting for a while from me as I am currently dismantling my craftroom to make it into Stephen's bedroom, his little room is not big enough to allow for any nursing needs when he is able to come home. My bedroom is very large so I am moving most of my craftroom into there and the overspill into Stephen's old bedroom. Luckily I have plenty of cards in my box to tide me over for a little while.
As soon as I am able, I will be attempting to catch up with you all. Thank you for your patience, but most of all, thank you for caring :o)
Jackie xx

Milestones for Stephen + commissioned card

Good morning Bloggers, I hope you are all well or getting there...hugs

A couple of milestones for Stephen this week, the first on Tuesday when they said he could have normal fluids instead of them being thickened with some horrible stuff, and the second was yesterday when they gave him normal food instead of everything being mashed up. He ate his chicken curry with real gusto :o) He is still saying only about 4 words, but hopefully the rest will come with time!

Anyhow, this card was commissioned by my very good friend Jean for her great-granddaughter and she loved it, thank goodness. It took me several days to make it between work and hospital visiting but I got there in the end!

White base card is from stash, folded to A5.

Papers and images are from an old FF CD.  I printed the stars onto linen card and then cut the 3 out on the Cricut using one of the fonts in SCAL (sorry, forgot which font I used!).

I stuck the negative inside and the positive I raised with sticky foam pads.

I cut the little bears out by hand, and what a fiddly job it was too, then raised them with sticky pads too. Sentiment is computer generated then punched with SU.

I hope that Jaylei liked it :o)

Jackie xx

Good news at last + a commissioned card

Good morning everyone. I hope all is well with you and if not then here's a few {{{{{hugs}}}}}

The good news is that daughter Susan has finally had her gall bladder removed and is home, so I am not having to traipse from one end of the hospital to the other to see both of them (very painful on my legs) :o)

Stephen continues to improve a little each day. His level of understanding seems to be virtually back to normal as far as we can tell, although with this comes the realisation of what has happened to him so he is sometimes very frustrated, especially when he can't get words out or move his right arm or leg! It is still early days so "onwards and upwards" as they say!

In the meantime, here is my card for today, commissioned by my cousin to send to her grandson.

Sorry it's showing up dark here, it isn't that dark IRL.

Photograph supplied by my cousin. The making of it is fairly obvious so no details :o)

I will be at my Uncle Doug's funeral today. He is being buried with Aunty Margery so I hope the promised rain holds off!

Jackie xx

And finally, a card

Good morning everyone. Thank you for your support through my family trials and tribulations...hugs to you all. They haven't finished because no my daughter is now in the hospital with her gall stones! Thank goodness they are both in the same hospital, makes visiting them easier! 

But, there is a bright side at last. I got my car back yesterday, no charge as it was a manufacturer's fault,  afternoon and it feels wonderful. Only trouble is, after driving Stephen's card for a few days, I keep turning the windscreen wipers on instead of indicating LOL. 

The very best thing though is that Stephen is improving slightly each day. He now helps them (one handed)  to dress him, and when they are washing him he turns over when they ask him, so he is understanding things more. His face is back to normal. He talks a lot with his face and eyebrows and the old Stephen is back :o)

Anyway, enough of my family's woes. Here is the only card I have made since Stephen's stroke!

This photograph is of Uncle Doug in WW2 on his ship, HMS Penelope.

I gave it the soft frame and the text in PSP11 then printed it onto white linen card.

What a wonderful man he was and he will be remembered with much love :o)

Jackie xx

The bad news just keeps on coming.....

Good morning everyone, Thank you so much for caring, you have all lifted my spirits...hugs

 

In the immortal words of Victor Meldrew, "I don't believe it"

 

I set off to go and visit Stephen in hospital yesterday but never got there. Instead I was sitting on the Derby ring road broken down for over an hour until my breakdown service arrived. Ended up being towed to my usual garage and still awaiting a report on it. Something broke in the engine and it's going to be costly! Can anything more happen to us now?

I never got to see Stephen  but Susan went last night and she said he was very tired. They must be putting him through his paces in rehab!

This morning I am going to have a try at driving Stephen's car. It is a lot bigger than I have driven for many years so I think I will take a turn or two around the village before I venture any further!

 

To cap it all, I had word from my cousin that our wonderful Uncle Doug has passed away. He was the nicest person anyone could ever meet and will be sadly missed. He had cancer so we were expecting it, but it's still a shock. R.I.P. Uncle Doug 1920 - 2013

 

Oh well, onward and upward as they say!

Jackie xx

Biggest milestone yet...

...Stephen actually lifted his righ foot off the bed while I was there yesterday,  only seven days after his stroke. We were both absolutely ecstatic. He was actually laughing, albeit silently. I am sure that all of your prayers are working, please keep them coming for him!
In the meantime, what with visiting him daily and then going to work, and trying to decorate his bedroom for when he comes home, I'm afraid that commenting is taking a back seat, but I would like to say what a wonderful selection of cards you have all posted while I have been awol. I will be back as soon as I am able. 
Love to you all :o)
Jackie xx