Getting arty

I've not been very well for several days, hence the lack of posts.  You're all safe, I'm not infecting anyone, it's not the virus - well, it could be 'A' virus, I suppose, but it's not 'THE' virus.  Actually, I don't even think it's a virus, I reckon it's a diabetic thing.  For the past few months I've started to have some diabetic complications, a few different ones....I've been diabetic for about 9 years now, so it's not surprising I guess.  It's generally well controlled, but my control has slipped a bit over the past year and my BG has risen, I think stress and anxiety has a lot to do with that.  The specialist I had my phone consultation with last week is referring me for a scan and some tests, no idea when that will be though.  Anyway, I've been like a limp rag, worn out, no energy or enthusiasm, random aches and pains, just generally feeling yuck.  I did feel a little better when I got up this morning, just as well as I needed to go shopping.  We went early as usual (husband stayed in the car), Sainsburys was fine, no queue outside, hardly anybody inside, only 1 person in front of me at the checkout.  There was a big queue outside waiting to get in when I came out, though.  By the time we'd got home and I started unpacking the shopping, I was shattered and had to go and lie down, husband finished putting the shopping away.  I've done nothing much since, we're having a bacon and leek pasta bake out of the freezer for dinner, with some frozen veg, so nothing to do there.

I did go up in my craft room for an hour, to practise a new technique for doing a card background.  I must say thank you to Cherie (North Yorkshire's Craft Guru) for introducing me to this, Cherie, you put a link on your blog a few days ago to a YouTube video, a crafting lady showing how to draw various things like birds, she's called Barbara Gray and has a craft supplies company, she apparently does presentations on one of the crafting shopping channels (I've not seen one as yet), as well as on Facebook.  She also has a blog (called barbaragrayblog.com), which is lovely, a mixture of card crafting and life.  And she's really funny and down to earth.

Anyway, she gives clear instructions for what she calls her 'doodles' - very clever calling it doodling, rather than drawing or painting - it makes it much less intimidating for those of us who aren't gifted artists - anybody can doodle, right?  Following her instructions for drawing birds, I drew them within seconds - who knew it could be so easy?!  Glancing through her blog, I came across a post showing a technique for making an abstract background for a card and thought that looks interesting, so I gave it a go this afternoon.  Wow, it's brilliant, I love the effect and it's so easy and fun.  I'll do a bit more practising and show the results on my card blog in a few days.  Basically, it involves using ink pads to stamp randomly on card, then brush over the results with some water to blur all the colours, then carefully press a blank card onto the wet ink, giving you a lovely abstract pattern on your card blank.  So I've learnt two new card decorating techniques in the space of an hour.

My laptop is a big problem, I don't know what to do about it.  The new battery isn't charging....that indicates it's a problem with the charger I suppose, not the battery.  However, as I said before, the machine is still overheating randomly, very much so, and I don't know if the charger being knackered (I know how it feels) would cause that.  It was suggested that I buy a new charger, but I don't really want to throw any more money at the machine if it turns out that it's not the charger causing the problem either.  Basically, I need someone to have a look at it and diagnose the problem and be guided by them.  I don't feel up to dealing with it at the moment though.

Husband has bought me a new Fire tablet - I already have one, a small old one which was only really suitable for reading books, so he's got me a bigger and better one, as an anniversary present (it's our anniversary tomorrow).  It's fine for what it is, but does have limitations - I wouldn't be happy doing banking on it, eg, and don't like typing on it, although it's perfectly good for reading emails (and sending short replies), blogs and FB.  It'll do for now, it's filled the gap left by the laptop and I'm pleased to have it.