My little tent

 Ever since I was a little kid I've had a passion for tents. Funny as I've never been camping and have never been  a scout either.
Every summer we'd build the tent in the garden...and I'd bring my toys and books in , and have my meals in lunch boxes in there too.

 I decided it was time for a tent again...so I got  the cheapie one from Decathlon. It was crazy easy  to build...took me about 20 minutes all by myself.

It's nice to be able to go in the garden even if the weather is not very warm...nor very dry.
The tent has become my little bubble of peace, away from the real life..which is not very pleasant at the moment.
Also,  I cannot seem to enjoy the garden the way I used to. I miss Pepita who'd follow me around.
I've barely stepped outside other than for mowing the lawn ever since she passed away.

Cats are fairly indifferent...only Bunny (who's technically not my cat) joins me for cuddles and late afternoon naps.

Diego doesn't like Bunny so he won't come inside

 It's nice to be outside again...and it's nice to have all those childhood memories come back...

News

Dreaming of unicorns

I thought it was about time for an update.
When I'm not happy, I don't blog. I'm not happy.
Life is currently a long unpleasant drag. I cross off days on a calendar (make that 4 calendars)  like an inmate doing time.
Yeah, I hate my dayjob. I no longer even care if the boss come across this. Not that there's much chance with the carp IQ  the aforementioned person has.
My colleagues are cool. I even made a real friend there. But the way we get treated...blaaaaaaah
I can't get into details here obviously. One day I'll vent...LOL

Feeling close to extinction

At home it's not much better. I still  miss Pepita so much. Mom is a lot of work, to be totally  and brutally honest she is exhausting.
My health is declining too...ears and eyes going...Good thing I still have ears as there's a lot of stuff hanging from them, hearing aid, glasses...earrings ;)
My only hobby these days is sleeping. Seriously.

I had some fun last month with  US friends visiting for a week. But it also painfully reminded me how much I miss my old life and how much I hate my life right now.

On the shop front, very oddly though I hardly ever list new things  or promote...no change. No drop in sales at all. Which is mind boggling because it was almost a 24h job before.

Oh well, I'm miserable but at least I have money huh?
10 months and 3 weeks to go!


DAWANDA
DINA FRAGOLA ETSY
CAPTAIN COSMOS ETSY
ALITTLEMARKET

Bugs

 Strangely my view of insects (and spiders) has shifted 180° as I grew older. From being terrified of them (you should have seen me running from a fly or a ladybug when I was litte) I now really like them. I think they are pretty and fascinating...except maybe from cockroaches which are still a little bit disgusting...(sorry, cockroaches...)
Available in  my shops as earrings and plugs for stretched ears (I'm slowly listing them...)

DAWANDA
DINA FRAGOLA ETSY
CAPTAIN COSMOS ETSY
ALITTLEMARKET

NEW YEAR and a look back on a bad year

2016 was an extremely tough year. I lost so many cats  that I spent most of the year grieving. The passing of Pepita was is extremely difficult to deal with. I love that little cat so much and she left such a big gaping hole in my life...I  find it almost  impossible to find anything positive in that last year.
Fleur died in April, Gazette in May, Pepita and Daget in August and Bruno the Fabulous lost his battle against cancer only last week.
To try to fill the void they left, I adopted  new cats. Little Chloé was abandoned pregnant on a parking lot. She gave birth to 2 kittens, Pookie and Floki. I adopted the 3 the last week of September. They settled in fine...Chloé is still terrorizing the  poor Diego though. I have no idea why he is so scared of her as he is 3 times her size...and usually gets along well with everyone.
Bruno was a little jealous but he liked the kittens, he would eat with them and check on them. He was a kind cat.
The kittens are very rowdy. I've never had such destructive kittens before...but they are very sweet and do enjoy a snuggle or 2.
I didn't travel as much as I had hoped for. I only went to Scotland in August...when Pepita died. And it rained the whole time so the whole trip is just like a blur in my memory.
I got myself a day job...which is incredibly boring but pays well and is close to home...and it is fortunately temporary...so I make do.
My ear issues are just getting worse and worse and I ran out of doctor options.
But my shops did pretty well despite the lack of attention I gave them in the last months.
Financially I've never been this comfortable...but not being very materialistic, I'd happily give that away to get my kitties and happiness back :(
I hope 2017 is less harsh and that I get my drive back...because right now everything seems tough...too tough.
I hope I see more films this year, that I read more books...and that I start enjoying traveling again.

Pookie, the silky one

Floki, the coarse one

Mom Chloe

The real Alice and Lewis Carroll - new items!

As you probably know, Alice in Wonderland  was a real little girl. Lewis Carroll who, on top of being a teacher, mathematician and writer, was also a photographer. We therefore have photos of her and himself.

Lewis Carroll was one of the first photographers, when it was still an expensive and time consuming hobby. He was very popular among famous people and royalties of his time.

By the time he took photos of Alice, exposition time had dropped down to about a minute (from over an hour a few years earlier)

But it was still quite an achievement to have little kids stay still for a whole minute.

Available in my shops....and remember


15% off  on all orders over 10 Euros valid till November 30 in all the shops.
New items added daily! 

DAWANDA
DINA FRAGOLA ETSY
CAPTAIN COSMOS ETSY
ALITTLEMARKET

Wordless Wednesday

Secret Santa 2016

One of my Etsy teams organized a Secret Santa gift exchange. I was spoilt (again) this year.

I received all those nice things from Karin ( her shop is CreativeCrochetShop)
and that was a double surprise as I've known Karin for a long time and she is always helping me with German translations for my shops.

Two cute keyrings

A horsie soap...I almost bit into it thinking it was marzipan...

A chocolate Santa, Xmas spice cookies (there was a whole box...), Indian spice mix, and a cool tea advent calendar. There was also a lovely pesto style mix that had already been eaten by the time I took the photo..

Karin probably didn't know, but I looooove advent Calendars. And this one is  just gorgeous and so original, you get a different tea every day. I can't wait to get started. 

There's a little booklet with a story about every tea...and that will make me work on my German too!