Abba - Happy New Year!

So it's New Years's Eve once again.

I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and prosperous 2010!

Still can't believe we are about to usher in the year 2010...seems odd....surely that's the future?

So does that mean the future's here already? If so, that was quick! Kinda snuck up on me!

Anyway, for those brave enough to be getting their glad rags on and venturing out into the cold and snow, the best of luck and have a fabulous night...you deserve it!

Hubby and I will be enjoying a quiet night in with the cats and no doubt at some point reflecting on the busy year we've had. Oh, and preparing the goose for tomorrow's dinner! :)

2010 is going to be a busy one for us and Begin-Again and we will be using this time to mentally prepare ourselves. With classes and workshops, more all-day events in Care Homes, new Sales Agents to recruit and train, our first Craft Fair to prepare for there will be no end to it this next year and sincerely hope you will all be alongside us for the ride...I have a feeling we will need all the support we can get and we welcome your company!

I put this Abba video here, Happy New Year as I feel it sums up the feeling of New Year and the anti-climactic lull that inevitably follows the parties, the build-up, the anticipation and the final countdown

as we set about bidding 2009 adieu and extend a warm welcome and offer a generous

glass of its favourite tipple to 2010!

Happy New Year everyone! May 2010 bring you more than you dreamed of!

Snow in Chopwell and Santa

So we have also been treated to our share of festive frosting here in the Northeast! We had some severe  snowfall and the landscape now looks festive and ready for Christmas.

This was the picture that greeted us sunday morning from our bedroom window. We were awake early enough to enjoy the sunrise as it lit up the countryside and made the snow glisten.

This is the view over the Derwent Valley looking out from our bedroom window. Stunning.

I was thrilled as the sun was rising to see how it caught a window across from us bringing a sunny warmth and light to the frozen landscape. Magical.

I zoomed in and just had to take a snap of the unspoilt countryside and fields surrounding us.

It felt like us and this little fella were the only ones up in time to see how the snow had shaped and changed the scenery overnight. We all just sat for a while taking it all in.

We are very lucky here in Chopwell to have such wonderful chaps working as our firemen. A this time of year, they take on an extra role, one that has stood the test of time and a long-established tradition that has been around since my hubby was a nipper (some 30-ish years ago!).

Every Christmas, on the last Sunday before Christmas we hear the fire engine's sirens and horns going....signalling to excited children and expectant parents alike that Santa Claus is on his way!

Every year one of the firemen dresses up as Santa and sits atop the fire engine as it drives through the village, accompanied by the other firemen who walk alongside handing out sweets to the kiddies.

It really is the most amazing sight to see and to hear the kids running up the street shouting "Santa's coming!" is such a joy.

And finally......

I thought since this is a festive post, I would leave you with the picutres I took of our beautiful Poinsettia plant, given to us by my cousin Joan.

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy & peaceful New Year!

Small gift baskets, large gift baskets, just gift baskets!

Here's a picture of one of our small gift basket's I recently put together for an order. I simply used a small basket padded out with gorgeous luxury tissue paper, carefully arranged the customer's items, added a cinnamon stick bundle (a nice touch I thought for a xmas gift), filled out the gaps with forest green Christmas-scented pot pourri and then wrapped with florist cellophane.

The wrapping was actually the trickiest part and is definitely a two-person job! Thankfully, hubby was on hand to hold the basket while I wrapped.
We cater to any budget, and the one above was for £10.00. For that, the customer received a 10mls bottle of perfume, a jar of Shea Butter (60mls I think), a boxed Shea Butter Soap and a sliced handmade soap.

It's such a joy to do and seeing them come to life at each stage is just enchanting.

This was the end result once it had been wrapped and dressed with gorgeous wire-edge ribbon from Costco.

I also added a large gift tag and attached it with cream satin ribbon for a luxurious feel.

The ribbon bows are all tied in a way that you simply have to pull them and the parcel unravels itself. No cutting or awkward knots to deal with!

The next picture is a large gift basket I put together for a 65th birthday present.

This large gift basket contained 3 x boxed soaps, a handmade soap slice, a jar of Shea Butter, a Soapstone oil burner, a Pacstick and a 10mls bottle of perfume and was all presented in a reinforced cardboard box which was decorated and padded out with luxury tissue paper. I again used seasonal pot pourri to fill in the gaps as well as some decorative fabric rosebuds. The parcel was finished off round the sides with the fabulous Costco wire-edged ribbon again.

Oscar's Perilous Adventure

So a couple of weeks ago, Oscar, our youngest kitty suddenly started to lose weight..worrying, and at the same time started to make this blood-curdling crunching and grinding noise when eating wet food. Not when he was eating dry food, but only wet food.
We became very concerned for our little one, and tried everything we could think of to get him interested in eating again.
The grinding/crunching noise was unbearable to hear and pained us enormously when he DID try and eat.
Lord knows how poor Oscar was feeling.

Anyway, this whole thing did not clear up as we had wished and hoped and Oscar continued to lose weight, now a fraction of his usual size.
Hubby and I were becoming frantic, in 9 years Oscar had never been ill and this was heartbreaking to see, my poor little Oscar, who had been with me since he was 10 weeks old, now clearly suffering.

So, after an agonising week and a half, we took our poor little Oscar to a vet in Crawcrook, Tyne & Wear, called Westway who in my opinion, did not necessarily give Oscar as thorough an examination as she could have. Imagine our horror when after a brief glimpse at him and poking his tummy, she declared "it could be a stomach infection...or a tumour"! She gave him an antibiotic shot and told us if he wasn't better in a few days he would have to be admitted, at a cost of £160!

Needless to say, we were NOT happy about this!

After much lengthy debating between hubby and I, we decided we would NOT be returning to that vet.
So, in a frenzy, I called Winlaton Vets, (Tel: 0191 4148081) and the lovely Helen on reception, told me to bring Oscar straight down. Bless her.
So that's just what I did. And the lovely vet Vio, saw Oscar straightaway.
He gave him a thorough examination and discovered a problem with Oscar's jaw - which of course would account for the grinding noise when eating!
The vet gave him antibiotic and anti-inflammatory shots and told me to bring him back the following day (yesterday).
So after my hysterics yesterday and much distress all round, hubby and I experienced our own Christmas miracle - Oscar came home and started eating, and I mean eating! :) He was ravenous!
Clearly whatever the vet gave him was helping him eat more comfortably and easily. We were thrilled! Moreso when he started playing, coming to us and being affectionate and generally seeming more like his usual self!

I took him back yesterday and the vet gave him some anti-inflammatory pills, as well as giving me a fantastic little invention for giving cats pills - an absolute godsend! And I am delighted to report, Oscar is making up for the last couple of weeks lack of food and attention! He's happy, playing, talking to us again and spending lots of time jumping around and looking at things!
He even pulled the Christmas lights off the tree last night! hehehe. That's my Oscar!
I honestly can't fully express how happy and relieved hubby and I are to have him back, and I owe it all to the fantastic Winlaton Vet Centre. They have been kind to us, kept the costs down as much as possible for us, something greatly appreciated, and more importantly have given us our Oscar back.

The Vet even took the time out to show me exactly where the problem was, showed me how to handle him and let me feel where the problem was on his jaw, I learnt a great deal and thank him immensely for this.

So, hopefully, Oscar is well on the road to recovery, fingers crossed, and if anyone needs a Vet and live in Tyne & Wear, I can whole-heartedly recommend Winlaton Vet Centre.

Oscar, left looking nonchalant, while Kevin does his best, I honestly didn't notice you had the camera pose!

And 1, 2, 3...and sleep! Synchronised sleeping formation No.1!

Aaaaaand...stretttccchhhhh!! 

Just to update:

Oscar saw the vet again yesterday and we are happy to report that all seems to be healing nicely. He was given another 7 days worth of tablets just to be sure so we are confident that the little fella is now over the worst of it and most joyously, the awful grinding crunching noise has ceased completely! Oscar is back to his mischievous self and enjoying his food like its going out of fashion! That's my Oscar! :)

Former blog now an archive

For anyone who used to read our other blog on wordpress, (http://begin-again.co.uk/Begin-AgainBlog/) we are now only using that one as an archive. Instead, from now on, all posts, news and product info will be posted here.