Here's hoping for a really boring 2008...

It's the end of 2007 so I thought it was time for my annual blog entry!  So much has happened this year that I'm only now starting to breathe.  To summarise:

29th January: Fell down a flight of concrete stairs when leaving work, managing to dislocate my right elbow so badly it fractured both bones in my lower arm...oops...  I ended up in the Royal Infirmary in Manchester for a week (fantastic staff, unbelievably bad food and extremely uncomfortable beds) and left with two pins sticking out of me and a 4 inch scar.  Not good.  My boss was amazing, even paying for taxis to work and back when I insisted on working part-time and taking the train was too painful, and generally humouring me through the drug-induced haze of February and March!

I can't describe how well A looked after me - he did everything from washing my hair to getting up in the middle of the night to check I was okay, not to mention visiting me every day from 2-8pm in hospital and bringing me all kinds of delicious food to tempt me to eat (I think I should have bought shares in M&S before I went in!)...I wasn't the best company, being either doped up or unconscious, but words can't express how good it felt to wake up in the ward & see him reading in the chair next to me.  I hated being in hospital and being so helpless but he made it bearable and I will never be able to thank him enough.

Oh, and of course not being able to stitch normally for 3 months wasn't much fun either!  One-handed stitching is bad enough, let alone when you're not left-handed...deeply frustrating...all that time off work and nothing to show for it...snarl...

February & March:  Both months passed in a haze while I worked part-time and tried to catch up with sleep - I still can't remember half the conversations I had with clients or friends!  Those drugs were gooooooooooooooooood.....

April to August: When I wasn't slaving at the office to catch up with work, physio and hospital appointments took care of any spare time through the summer, and I celebrated with an extremely good chinese dinner after the physio finally gave me the all-clear.  The elbow isn't totally straight and I can't turn it completely over but it's workable!  Catherine (the physio) and her colleagues worked really hard to fix it, and did a damn fine job :-)  Thanks guys!!

September & October: This house went on the market and we found a new place further south.  A had found himself a new job by this time and I started working in my new role as Branch Manager at the new office.  A comes home at weekends while I commute every day so I can look after Daisy - the 5.30am start isn't much fun but I love the challenge and can't wait to be moved closer to work!  At the same time, we were planning the wedding for the end of October...me, stressed?  Surely not...

27th October: Our wedding day!  See the next post if you want all the details, if not, all you need to know is that it was amazing and better than we had ever imagined :-)

November & December: We are still waiting to move but hopeful that everything will be sorted out soon :-)  I managed to come down with an infected cyst just before Christmas which meant I was enjoyed the cuisine of the local hospital...again...luckily I only needed to be in for a couple of nights but I really, really don't want to be there again! Christmas hasn't been quite as we'd hoped but it's been thankfully quiet - just the two of us and Daisy - and rather sober as I've been on antibiotics and A has been suffering from a case of man-flu. All entertaining and socialising can wait till next year!

As far as stitching goes, I finished the wedding sampler for my sister and presented it to her the day before our wedding - only a year late...  Frustratingly enough, I only had a couple of hours work to do on it when I fell down the stairs and had planned to finish it that weekend - instead I had to wait until I'd recovered properly as I was halfway through an over-one section, and on 32ct linen I didn't dare take a risk...  It was based on my Honeyapple Meadow Floral Sampler, but with some changes :-)  One of the topiary birds was turned into a robin (after my BIL's name) and the bee nearest to that tree was moved so that it kissed the robin, and I added a tiny gold crown too!  Other changes included a blue spider amongst the forget-me-knots, a particular phrase (understood only by the family!) made from the forget-me-knot stems and half covered so it is only visible in certain lights, and of course I added the year they married :-)  Unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture, but my sister seemed to like it!

I also started Anagram Diffusion's Les Caleches, finished Mirabilia's New Year's Fairy and a very cute one by The Trilogy called Happy Bunny Bunny Day which I did over-one, and I've finished the stitching for Lavender & Lace's Angel of Love - there's still a lot more beading to do though...Daisy's finding this bit entertaining...  The Sampler Guild's Huswif is slowly progressing too :-)

I've not stitched as much as I would have liked this year, but I have been coming up with quite a few new design ideas which are at various stages of completion.  It's been such a busy time with work that I have found my brain cells sadly lacking in energy in the evenings!  A has promised to start working on a new website for me next year but I suspect it might be towards the end of next year...there may be a little interior decorating to help with first...tee hee... ;-)

Phew.  I think that covers most things.  As you can see, it's been eventful - and while some of it has also been fun, I really, really hope 2008 will be very, very boring...the most exciting thing I want to happen is for us to move with as few hiccups as possible...hmm...anyone taking bets?