Crystals and cat paws

This week has been rather a busy one on the housework front. Don't worry, I wouldn't normally spend every spare minute cleaning, but my dear friend Caren is coming to stay next week! And I had to clear her a space to sleep in. You know, my usual method of tidying up is to pick up the piles from the floor and transfer them to the desk, or vice versa, depending on what area I'm trying to clear. It's really rather difficult, doing the whole house... I'm just going round in a circle!

One way to beat the boredom when house cleaning is to take a break and go pretty shopping. So I did, and the best pretty I found is in the photo above: sparkly dangling crystal chandelier ornaments, marked at 50% off! I bought four, which I can already tell won't be enough (especially come next christmas). I think Caren and I might have to go grab up the rest of the stock...

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post about Lui. He's no longer called Funnelhead as a couple of days ago he ripped into his neck again, so I've taken the funnel off since it wasn't helping. I'm trying to decide what the next thing to try will be - any suggestions are gratefully received! I made a little sock to go on his leg, with felt on the base to dull the claws. However it's so hot at the moment I can't bring myself to put it on him, especially since it would have to be on for so long. I ordered some nail covers from Soft Paws, but they'll take at least a week to get here. Sooner or later we will need to go back to the vet, but I'm reluctant to do that just yet because I don't have a lot of faith in them... we've been back and forth so many times, and no one seems to know what the problem is. Every time we go it seems to be me asking the questions and making the suggestions. It doesn't help that every time we go it's a different vet on duty! Anyway, Mr Lui is a lot happier without the funnel. He's actually quite pleased with himself that he managed to get it off.


By the way, remember the crochet bag I posted about a while ago? I finally finished it and sent it off to Caren. If you want to see how it came out, she's blogged about it here!

The Sad Saga of Funnelhead

This is Lui, currently known as Funnelhead. The thing on his head is an Elizabethan collar. It's on there to prevent him scratching and licking at his neck where there is a small lesion.

This is a saga because it's been going on since late last year. He would let the wound almost heal and then scratch the scab off, opening it again. We've been to the vet countless times... opinions differ on the cause (most likely an allergy, but it's not clear to what) and the treatment (ranging from the lovely collar to steroid pills to flea treatments to hypoallergenic food to the suggestion of biopsies and skin grafts).

Poor Lui was a miserable cat when we first put the collar on him. It was much too big and would drag on the ground in front of him and trip him when he tried to walk. The next day I trimmed off a good third of it and it was much lighter. His whiskers poked out the front and he could walk without crashing into furniture. He could even get out the cat door again, although it would take a couple of goes to get into the right position. (Crash, bash).

I have to smile whenever I get a glimpse of him strolling past in his Sunday bonnet with the big bow. It bobs back and forth as he walks and, at the right angle, it certainly does look like a funnel..

Right now we are coming to the end of the latest regime of pills, and crossing fingers, toes and paws that the itch has stopped for Lui! If only, if only he can leave it for another week or so then all will be well.

Faux Lemon Meringue Pies

These are almost embarassingly easy to make...

FAUX LEMON MERINGUE PIES

1 pack of premade pastry cases
2 large eggs, separated
400g can condensed milk
80 ml lemon juice (use fresh juice - not horrible pre sweetened bottled juice like I did the first time!)
100g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

Whisk egg yolks, condensed milk and lemon juice and set aside to thicken.

In another bowl, beat egg whites to form soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, still beating until you have a thick, glossy meringue.

Spoon lemon filling into cases and top with meringue. Create peaks by drawing the spoon up.

Bake for 6 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes about 16.

The giveaway is given

I'm so excited, because now I have a winner! Just before I announce the name, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to have a look at my little blog here and leave a comment. Especially those who also commented on posts other than the giveaway post. I hope that you like what you've seen and that you might pop back to say hello in the future! I know that I've discovered some wonderful blogs that I never knew existed before this event, so a big yay for new friends and thank you to Lisa Oceandreamer for coordinating this whole thing!

Okay, the lucky commenter randomly selcted was.... Moon of Peanut Butter Etouffee! Check out this wonderful blog - it is full of the yummiest recipes and food photographs. Congratulations Moon! I will be sending this pretty little package your way.

Thanks so much to all who entered!

Etsy update

Oh dear, the Lovecraft Christchurch market on Saturday was rather a shambles! A lack of enthusiasm, organisation and trestle tables on the coordinator's part meant that I did not, after a prolonged period of waiting, get to vend my wares and crafty bitties. However, the good news is that I've updated my Etsy shop, relisting some older items and adding my new Tiny Trinket Boxes. I'm even going to add some more items later in the week, so do pop back!

ONE World - ONE Heart (because all the cool kids are doing it)

*******Edit: It's 8.40pm on February 14th NZ time - that means the draw is closed. But stay tuned, my dears... I will be announcing the winner soon!
And here it is!**********

After seeing some beautiful posts around lately featuring some super cool giveaways, I decided to join the ONE World - ONE Heart event. I've been meaning to do a giveaway for ages and this also seemed like a good time to officially launch my new blog. So here it is, and thanks to everyone who takes the time to visit me here! If you don't know about the OWOH idea, click on the link above to go to the official site. There is also a list of the participants (over 200) who are all hosting giveaways at their own blogs. So much pretty eye candy on display...


These are some little wooden art pieces measuring about 20 x 50 mm. They have been painted, drawn on, collaged and embellished with little rhinestones, before being liberally coated with a lovely shiny glaze. Together they form the phrase "Live, Love, Laugh". The back side has a magnet, so you can attach them to your fridge, filing cabinet or any metal surface!

Check out my Flickr page for more photos.


All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment here. But be quick, because I'll be drawing the winner on February 14 (6 days from today). Looking forward to hearing from you!

Tiny Treasure Boxes

These were some wooden boxes I had lying around which had held wooden dominoes. I painted and collaged the lids, distressed the boxes and added a ribbon pull. They are about 117 mm long, 67mm wide and 34 mm deep. I'll be bringing them to the Lovecraft market on Saturday, and anything that's left will go in my Etsy shop.

Many more photos at Flickr (I had a busy day!)

Love in the mist

Love in the mist, originally uploaded by ghostmyst.

I've had some photos of the garden on my camera for a couple of weeks that I've finally gotten around to uploading! As it is late summer the garden is getting rather overgrown so I'm sticking to close up shots for now, rather than show it in all its untidy glory.

We started a bit of a tidy up on the weekend which was going to be just a light prune, but turned into a major tree-cutting excercise. It was brought to an abrupt halt when Jonny fell out of a tree and narrowly missed being impaled on a stump. He is okay though - scratched, bruised and grazed but otherwise fine.

And now there is a lot more sunlight shining on my tomatoes... roll on harvest time!