An itch to scratch.

On Tuesday 18th September, I was acutely admitted to CHCH woman's hospital and booked for surgery at 8.30am the next day. Let's just say I was quite nervous and didn't sleep much the night before with the constant monitoring and noise. I had a longstanding issue that I could no longer ignore due to intense pain, and had a laparoscopic cystectomy done (yeah... go look that up). I'm not prone to Dr's visits, and am not a fan of pain killers or hospitals, but I could no longer ignore this one. 

It was a pretty major surgery removing a huge cyst (think large grapefruit size filling the left half of my pelvis) no complications on the day so that's good! (There have been a few hurdles since but am working through them!) The last thing I remember before falling asleep was looking up at the theatre lights. Then I woke up in recovery 2.5 hours later mumbling to the nurses some nonsense about a dream I'd had about surgery. (eek...was I awake for some of it ?) I can imagine they hear some funny things when people wake up! So 4 holes in my tummy later, I am resting up on my 5th day, and recovering at home in bed. It was my first surgery and hopefully my last! 

Hence this post. I'm itching to be creative, to do something fun or at least get some work done, but I can't. I'm confined to bed while I heal, and even if I wanted to get up and sneakily do some work when my hubby isn't looking, I can't!  I tried a quick trip to the kitchen to make a cup of tea today, and that had me back in bed dizzy & tired, for the rest of the afternoon. I've also got 3 kiddies whose new hangout spot has become my bed and so in between listening to stories about lego men or checking out new doll outfits,  I'm trying to stop my 2 yr old from kicking me in the tummy, and trying not to catch his vomiting bug (which he got the day I came home)

I'm just not used to sitting still or laying in bed for so long. I've read a wonderful book by Nancy Atherton, trawled through stumble to get a creative fix ( couldn't live with out my iPad right now!) and slept 100+ hours & even folding washing. It's times like this I wished I knitted, did crochet, sketched/ painted or something easily done while lying or sitting up in bed. Any ideas? I could be in bed for another week or so! 
I could do boring things like paperwork, and probably should, but that's not very exciting is it! ( and quite frankly I'm lacking the motivation to do that... and this post along took quite a while to write with regular breaks)

So in the meantime while you or I dream up things for me to do, here are some things I found over the last few days -to do with the kids or for yourself or just to inspire.

ENJOY!

Incredible artwork by Abby Diamond

Chocolate bowls by Bakerella

String balloons
(wrap string coated in PVA glue around a balloon)

Gorgeous Hand stitching by Freckled Nest

Paper Cup Garland from Hello Gorgeous

Map Garlands from Bookity

Most of these ideas are pretty self explanatory, but if you need any help with how to get started just ask.

So in the mean time, I'll continue to look at lovely things and try not to panic... I'm making my debut at two HUGE Christmas Fetes starting October 25th (Culverden Christmas Fete and the Geraldine Summer Fete) they are only 1 week apart and I really need to be rolling, cutting, shaping, smoothing, firing and glazing right now! Not to mention there is only 1 week left before School Holidays start, and I'll have 3 young kiddies with boundless energy bouncing around the house.

I didn't have any control over the timing of this surgery, but I guess it is better that it is over and done with, rather than living with the pain for a couple of months.

Talk soon x Gill

Day in the life of a pottering painter with 3 kids

Hello 2012!

Last weekend we got home after a FANTASTIC holiday - 7 sunny hot days of camping at Okains Bay. After getting through a week of 8 loads of sand filled washing, unpacking and getting back to ‘normal’ life, last night I decided on a whim to start painting the studio! Hard part is that it was filled with tables, cabinets, bags of clay and well… general studio stuff! So I hauled a few bits around and did the ‘cutting in’ paint work in the studio. With the French doors wide open I was joined by about a ton of mozzies, moths and other buzzing things. Hubby made it lovingly clear that he built the inside of it, so I get to decorate it…. On my own!

So today I decided to start undercoating the walls once baby was napping. All started off perfectly – drop clothes laid out, paint tray filled, new roller attached, studio packed up properly and most of the contents on and under the large trestle table in the middle with large drop cloth over it (don’t ask me to find anything!).

9 wall panels to paint! Each approx. 1.2m x 2.2m

My 5 & 7 year olds were playing nearby and happily occupied so it was now or never.

BEFORE with messy cutting in....

1^st panel = carefully painted using the new roller, even smooth finish & coverage, up to standard! I’ve been painting rooms for 21 years so feel like I’ve got this one sorted!

2^nd panel = same as above – it’s looking good folks. Sore wrists (old pain) but I’m powering through. The paint I am using is a new 3 in 1 paint, not my favourite but its doing the job! (actually its a bit like glue!)

3^rd panel = enter 7 yr old daughter wanting to watch and ask LOTS of questions = result still looking great, although taking longer to paint. Not letting her anywhere near the walls or paint!

4^th panel = 7yr old daughter wants to paint the wall with the small roller. I gingerly set her to work on panel 5 with the tiny roller and not much paint! With lots of interruptions and instructions, panel 4 stops and starts and not as perfect as others.

Helper # 1: Taking her job very seriously...

5^th panel = Grandma W arrives to take 7yr old out, so enter 5yr old son who has been pleading to paint (baby still sleeping!!) He strips off, then dons his superman cape and works messily on panel 6 while I finish off panel 4…. And start panel 5. End result is a bit patchy but I try to fix it up with more paint. Meanwhile I try to save panel 6 from his artistic offerings. By this stage I’ve embraced the children’s ‘artwork’ and just try to keep the carpet covered. I think I’m making more mess due to being distracted.

Helper # 2: He nabbed the big roller when I went inside!

6^th panel = needed to refill paint tray again, so check on baby. He is happily using his cot as a trampoline so time for lunch! (2pm ). Organise a smorgasbord of snacks & lunch and a drink, take high chair out to studio and plonk him in it by the French Doors. Start to paint panel 6, takes a looooong time with many, many interruptions. Can’t fix the dried lines from where I stopped/started the roller and had to entertain him. Also trying to stop his toy missiles landing in the paint tray. 5yr old going to town on panel 7, then takes off outside to ride his sisters pink bike in the yard. Panel 6 looking very sorry for itself.

Helper #3: Just being cute.

7^th panel = Baby finished lunch and needs nappy changed. Do that inside then try to con him back outside with some toy animals as we practice animal sounds. "No, a cow says Moo, not Meow". Panel 7 has surprisingly been painted quite a lot by 5yr old son, with 2 different brushes and the big roller!! Argh, when did he get his hands on that?. Slap on a extra layer of paint and cover up the blotches. I was even distracted enough to do a few swipes on the peaked ceiling panels.. oh dear.. loosing it.

8^th panel = its just undercoat right? No need to be tidy? The top coats cover all sins.

9^th panel – hubby arrives home and I’m in a rush to get this finished so we can drive out to Sumner for Fish and chips in the sunshine. Surprisingly this panel looks half decent in the end… or maybe it’s due to the failing light and I can’t see it. Final verdict tomorrow when I tackle the ceiling… JOY!

After.. not a job I am proud of ;-) Top coats will fix all that... and they will be done ALONE!

*** Small flys and other flying insects were harmed in the painting of this studio ***