Please pray for Tom

(Tom - June 2008)

A week ago Tom was diagnosed with chronic renal failure (CRF). I had felt for a couple of weeks that Tom had been drinking alot and urinating a great deal, was ravenously hungry and when he slept it was a really deep sleep.

I had already decided I would get Tom's blood tested when the vet examined him at Tom's yearly MOT and told me that Tom needed some dental work doing.After a certain age, vets recommend that blood tests are done prior to any surgical procedure. if Tom had had his dental without blood tests, he would have been very ill and possibly worse.

As the day of the dental approached I became increasingly edgy, I just didn't feel right and it was more than the usual (though huge) anxiety felt when one of my guys is at the vets. the day before the date of the dental last week, Tom didn't actually properly get up and eat anything of substance until 5.40pm. Most animals other than rabbits (who must NOT fast)have to fast in order that they are not at risk during surgery; the same reasons we have to. Tom hadn't eaten enough considering the next day he wouldn't eat much at all and not until late in the day and I was very anxious about this. The next day I cancelled the dental but took Tom in for some blood tests as he was in a virtually constant deep sleep by now and I was concerned his toes weren't as pink as usual.

The blood tests confirmed that Tom is in the early stages of kidney failure.Although it is classified as the early stages, the kidneys in fact has to be failing quite consideratly before tests can pick up any problems.

Tom has been put on medication and we also have some special food. I will post more about this soon and provide some links to wonderful support groups and sites which provide information that can be understood by us laypeople!


I am posting this now as Tom is due in a hour to go to the vets for the aforementioned dental. Due to his condition he will need to be on a drip before and throughout the procedure. I am scared to death. Tom is the most beautiful (inside and out) gentleman who has been a loyal friend and family member for a good 15 years now.

Please pray/think positive thoughts and I will let you know how we get on asap. I'm hoping all will be ok and he will be back home tonight. Tom is so brave and resiliant. I have to be too.

Thank you.

Tom the Polydactyl

The extremely photogenic Tom has been a member of our family since 1993.The year before the much loved Benjie had become very ill and I had had to dash back from University to take him to the vets to be put to sleep. Although Benjie was officially a 'family' cat, he and I were very close and I miss him greatly. It broke my heart, that trip to the vets, and as Benjie had been the sole survivor of the vast array of 'original' animal family members, Benjie's loss hit us all very hard indeed.

One day my Mum telephoned and told me that she had been to the local RSPCA centre and adopted a cat. The 'new' family member looked very like Benjie and was at the centre following a road traffic accident. No one had claimed him so after the qualifying period, the cat who would become Tom, became available for adoption and we were blessed to re-home him.

Tom didn't actually become 'Tom' immediately. Initially (and as a direct result of his mischievous character) 'Tom' was named 'Houdini'. 'Houdini' was with us very briefly however and so Tom became 'Tom' or to be more accurate 'Tom Thumb'. Tom, you see, is a 'POLYDACTYL';

'A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly, with more than usual number of toes on one or all of its paws as a result of a cat body type genetic mutation. In animals including humans, polydactyly (or polydactylism, also known as hyperdactyly) is the anatomical abnormality of having more than the usual number of digits on the hands or feet'.
(Wilkipedia)





Tom's front paws look very much as though he is wearing boxing gloves. We always used to say that Tom could write as he looks as though he could hold a pen. vets are always fascinated by toms toes; our last vet used to spend much of the consultation repeatedly saying 'toes everywhere, there's toes everywhere'!

As well as being very cute, these extra toes come with extra responsibilities. With most cats (and indeed dogs, walking on a hard surface such as concrete will naturally keep the claws in check and prevent them becoming excessively long. With Toms toes, many of them don't ever touch the ground and so its is necessary to trim them on a regular basis in order to prevent them growing too long and then be vulnerable to getting caught and potentially being torn off which would obviously be very painful for Tom.

As you can imagine, it's important to have a cats co-operation when attempting nail trimming. Alas, Tom disagrees with the need for what I call 'maintenance' and he calls 'mutilation'! What follows is very similar to wrestling but with no rules; basically I try my very best to quickly but accurately clip the necessary claws and not cut off one of Toms toes accidentally, while Tom fights like an extremely wild and probably rabid banshee and in a valiant attempt to ensure absolute authenticity, Tom screams and wails and hisses and yowls like a wild rabid banshee too!! It truly must be a sight to behold; me with blood seeping from numerous scratches, ducking desperately to avoid additional injury and trying my very best to control Toms mad thrashing (and that's just trying to wrap the towel round him), whilst Tom puts in yet another Oscar winning performance (Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining' looks like a child in a school play compared to Tom) just to avoid having a few nails trimmed!!

As you imagine the scene, may I mention that Tom has claws actually in the space between his 'thumb' and 'first finger'. These claws never even see the light of day,(even my vets are surprised when they are mentioned), but they (left to their own devices) would continue to grow until they would simply grow back into Tom himself.These nails are the very devil of nails and it is these (astonishingly and heart breakingly) fast growing nails that cause the most yowls (from Tom) and (prayers) from me in my determined efforts to prevent Tom becoming lame from these awful nails.



Afterwards, Tom makes a big thing of shaking himself clear from me and licking off my horrible touch and then will sit beside me happily with no apparent fear or upset remaining. My recovery takes a little longer and generally involves tissues (to mop my brow and soak up blood!)plasters, and on the odd occasion a paper bag to control the hyper ventilation brought on by the extreme stress and fear involved in facing an animal who looks and behaves as though tempted to kill you!!

Funnily enough, although Tom is happy enough (no doubt congratulating himself on another incredibly authentic performance) my other animals all view me with caution and wariness for quite some time! Tom will notice this and with his beautiful eyes will gaze at me intently before producing a drawn out blink; as if to say 'Tom 1 - Human 0 again!!.

Cool Tummies

This is my most recently completed layout. The stars of the how this time are Humphrey and the Beautiful Sophie. I started this page in the days following Sophies death. I wasn't sure if I could cope but she had always been my crafting company, always close, too close actually as I had to climb over here more times that I could say! I always told Soph that when I did her page (I always intended to do a joint Humphrey and Sophie page and then individual pages) that it would be the most beautiful page ever, really girly and beautiful as it would have to be to properly represent her - the beautiful Sophie.

That page is next to do and I have gathered as many pretty things as I have managed in an attempt to properly show off how very beautiful Sophie is.

This page concerns Humphrey and Sophie in their 'digging box', which is a large wooden sandpit with a canvas roof. Sophie adored being outside, literally spending every moment she could and as well as munching on everything she could find, Soph also pursued her hobby of digging. It was Soph who discovered that if she dug a hole and lay in it, her tummy would be much cooler and with her brother (Humphrey), would spent happy times in the shade watching the world go by.

When I did this page I was very much out of my comfort zone. Emotionally it was very hard and the pressure to produce a page that was worthy of Humphrey and Sophie was higher than ever. I knew it neede to be a sunnyish page though hence the involvement of the colour orange which I loathe! I had great difficulty finding stuff that would be suitable and once again the paper I used (K and Company) whilst initally appearing perfect, was in reality very difficult to 'control'.

I did my very best and again chose to add some hidden journalling (under the smaller photos to be accessed via the green tags) which for Sophie contained additional information about her and for Humphrey likewise. I do have some journalling on show in my awful handwriting, but I do think it's more personal to write it myself.

As ever my photos aren't great and my cropping is criminal! (I do find it hard to photograph my layouts well). Unhappily this means that the detail on the paper isn't very clear. The paper itself contains words too which I picked up by using additional K and Company words. The vinyl American Crafts thickers I felt were perfect in texture as well as colour and add to the summery theme.

I hope the page shows not only the fun Humphrey and Sophie had outside but also their deep love for one another. We miss Sophie terribly and when I did the journalling I found I was unable to speak of Sophie in the past tense, so the present tense is used. It's hard now to say Sophie 'did' rather than 'does'.

I am only a beginner at scrapbooking so my technique, style and sense of design isn't all that great. Having said that, to me scrapbooking is about preserving memories, about the ability to create something that in 50 years time people can see and know something about the subject matter, why the photo was taken, what's happening, why the event, the time, the participants are special. I'm not stretching the boundaries of design but I create a page to fulfill all the requirements mentioned above. I do this for me and I do it so others can see the pages and enjoy them but mostly I do it so the people/animals on the pages will never be forgotton.

A favourite place

At number three in the 'scrapbook history of me' is 'A favourite place' featuring Basil.

I mentioned how difficult I found this layout on the previous post. I found it so tough. I think one of my problems (I have loads!) is that I am very hard on myself, I want perfection immediately. I am an avid reader of just about everything, but certainly card and scrapbooking magazines and also have somewhat of an addiction to UKS. The gallery on UKS is inspiring, amazing, fantastic and also a little intimidating for a beginner who can't even begin to determine what materials have been used, where to get them from, how to use them etc!

For this layout, I really wanted to try the idea of using a single photo within a simplistic layout. This photo of Basil on his climbing frame seemed perfect so I printed it off in various sizes to see which would be best. The moment I saw this paper (K and Company - Amy Butler), I knew it would be perfect for this layout. Everything seemed to be going really well until it became apparent that the paper is extremely limiting due to having large patterns in two corners. This affected the size of photo I could use and also how I was able to further embellish and add the necessary journalling to the layout.

I had bought the 'Queen and co' felt ribbon a while ago and just had to use it on this layout. This version isn't self adhesive so typically I had huge problems trying to work out how to adhere it invisably to the page! I tried everything - Xyron, PVA, glue dots, double sided tape etc, etc. I didn't want to use brads as it would have affected the whole presentation of the ribbon which I believed provided a great effect but only if it could be attached to the page without other adornments!

In the end UKS (as usual) provided the answer. The forum is an amazing source of information and there seem to be so many members that any questions asked receive an answer almost immediately!

I 'xyroned' the ribbon and with my 'pricking tool' then removed the excess glue from the holes in the ribbon. (Yep, as awful and ridiculous as it sounds).

Although I really struggled with this layout, I am pleased with the result. I tried very hard to keep the embellishing under control and the hidden journalling underneath the title was my solution to the issue of potentially cluttering up the layout with words.

I felt uneasy about 'space' though so had to fill it, but I hope I've not overdone it with the flowers (first time I've done these and I think they'll transfer well to cards too). What would I be without inspiration from magazines, websites and blogs?

My intention with all my layouts is to create something I can look at again and again and enjoy. I've started with my animals (how could I not) but eventually, I hope to scrap family photos from today, yesterday and tomorrow! My work rate is slow as my health is poor and interferes constantly. It's frustrating when to be occupied is so good for my head yet so bad for my body!

Never mind, slowly but surely and at least I eventually managed to get going after several years of trying and failing. I love scrapbooking though, all those memories, Trouble is more memories are created all the time, how on earth do we keep up when I need to go backwards as well as forwards!!!!

'The many beds of Tom'

(Maya Road alphabet,The English paper Company papers, Paper Nation cat decoupage, PSX stickers, Anna Griffin card and frames, Anitas acrylic paint, Glossy Accents, K and Co alphabet stickers and other various items).

This is the second scrapbook page I have made. It's called 'The many beds of Tom' as Tom has these incredible phases on sleeping in a particular place, loyally sleeping there for days, weeks, even months without fail, before suddenly transferring his affection to another place entirely!

The page is designed in a patch work format, as you can imagine, in order to mimick a patchwork quilt on a bed and thus hopefully re-inforce the 'sleeping/bed' theme.

I really enjoyed making this page and has employed 'hidden journalling' as a way of ensuring that the necessary text does not interfere with the 'patchwork' effect which is otherwise consistent in the use of photos, paper and relevent embellishments.

In my short scrapbooking life (all of four pages so far) I have grown very fond of hidden journalling! Partially it's useful in that I ideally want my pages to 'stand alone' to the extent of not needing me to explain what the page is about. In order to successfully achieve that goal, it's seemed necessary to include more text that I can happily/easily place on the layout without the text becoming overly dominant.



Perhaps in time I will gain the confidence and experience necessary in order to 'control' the layout no matter what items I wish to include. My 'more is more' policy no doubt is providing it's own difficulties, though with the next layout I did (one based on Basil cat), I did try to do a 'cleaner' layout and it was by far the hardest page to do, taking ages and involving regular episodes involving putting aside for a few days, calming down and then trying again. I got there in the end and I will post that page next, but it was hard and I certainly wouldn't say I have cracked the issue of 'less is more'..in truth,I'm not sure I really want to; when there are so many nice crafty things in the world and stash to use, why limit myself to using only one to two items a page??! Something for us crafters to ponder!

Scrapbooking first attempt

(K and Co paper, Maya Road chipboard letters, Basic grey chipboard photo tag,Brenda Walton rabbit embellishment (in wood), Paper Nation decoupage rabbit,various other items from craft shops and haberdasheries).

This is my first scrapbooking page! This is Jacob bunny trying out a new tunnel. Jacob can run really fast despite having little legs and being rather porky!He has the nickname 'The Rocket' as a result of the way he blasts out of the blocks to reach me whenever I have a plate of veggies and herbs for him!

When I first started cardmaking about 3 years ago, I really wanted to do scrapbooking. The first kit I ever bought, the first craft stuff ever, was a K and Co scrapbook kit that was a TSV on QVC.

All my life I have been a hoarder and memories have always meant a great deal to me and the preservation of them. I love photographs and the stories people tell of what they have done in their life, special moments and so forth. I spent a great deal of time as a child with one set of Grandparents. Granny and Grandad meant the world to me; every weekend, every school holiday, every moment I could I tried to spend with them. Granny used to tell me about the adventures she got up to when she was young. She lived in Warwick (UK) all her life and so the places she mentioned were familiar to me. It's wonderful to think of all the generations who played on 'the common' which is also where Warwick Racecourse is.

To this day I am especially comfortable with older people and I have several neighbours who have incredible stories to tell of fighting in World War 2 and being called up for National Service to name but two of their experiences.

As a child I loved making scrapbooks, filling the big plain pages with postcards, pictures, birthday cards and all the things that meant so much to me at the time. I must take some photos (yes, the hoarder in me kept these too) and I can show you my scrapbook on Holland. I had an absolute obsession with going to Holland and did a scrapbook with as many pictures and stuff that I could find, even getting out library books on the subject! My Granny and I actually wrote to 'Jim'll Fix It'to ask if we could go but with no success. I was devastated! In hindsight it was possibly a lucky escape; I find Jimmy Saville rather sinister and scary now! I value my personal space alot and don't think Jim would have so i'm not sure I'd have coped in reality! I did make it to Amsterdam about 10 years ago for a couple of days though. Granny died in 1983 but she came with me in spirit and it was even more fantastic than I had ever imagined. I'd love to spend more time there as there's so much to do.

I visited Anne Franks house though which was desperately moving and the Van Gogh museum. I also went to a wonderful palace in the centre of town with amazing murals on the walls and ceilings. I'd love to go there again. I also had a lovely wander around the Amsterdam that's not touristy, visitng markets and seeing where people live which I enjoyed but found myself completely lost and had it not been for a local who spoke English, I may still be there now!

My prize has arrived!

Wow!

Well everyone...LOOK AT THIS!


If ever there was something that changed your reluctant minds about entering competitions, surely this is it!

I am so chuffed, I absolutely love this bag and it's so special as it's been designed by Alix, so absolutely unique actually as it would be impossible to make two bags identical as made from natural materials..so very, very special and utterly gorgeous.

The contents revealed themselves to be some beautiful card making goodies! These were wrapped carefully and would have looked really nice in a photo but I'm afraid to confess that excitement got the better of me and before I could contain myself, I had (carefully - I wasn't entirely out of control)opened the pressie and was happily rooting through the contents!




I did try to re-wrap the pressies in order to take a photo but try as I might (and I really did try, I just couldn't make it all look as pretty and perfect as it had with Alix wrapping. Sorry about that. The pretty pink paper and bow in the goodies picture are the wrappings. You'll have to imagine a pressie beautifully and perfectly wrapped in the paper with a big bow and once you have that image in your mind tell me (and you have to tell the truth; I'll know if you're fibbing) if you could have resisted unwrapping it to find your camera, try and find a suitably sunny place that's reasonably tidy too, in order that the picture could be taken before the pressie was unwrapped!? Nope, thought not!

Anyway massive thanks go to Alix for holding the competition and providing, wrapping and posting the fab prizes!

Mustn't forget 'the guv' or Beverley who continues to enjoy her '40 days of celebrating' her forthcoming 40th birthday. Every day there are more competitions, more prizes and mixed up with all of that a really fun blog trip round the world. On that note, I had best end this post so you can tear on over to see Alix and Bev!!

Vets charging for prescriptions soon?

Three years ago (2005) a moratorium was put in place which meant that for a three year period, vets would NOT be able to charge for an animals prescription. The charge used to be in the region of £15.00 per prescription, and since this charge was removed (albeit temporarily), the animals medicine market has opened up dramatically allowing us, the consumer, to purchase animal medicine items without the additional (and often extremely large) mark-up placed on the product by the vets.

I currently have four animals; my rabbits are insured but my cats aren't, quite simply because I always have rescue animals and older cats which have been and still are extremely difficult to insure if possible at all.

Certainly when I have had my cats, insurance schemes were not available for older cats; and remember that a cat is classed as 'old' once he/she reaches the age of 7 despite an average lifespan of between 12-20!

It is important to note that in cases of emergency or urgency, the animal's need is the priority, even if this means paying a premium to buy the medicine from the vets where the animal is being treated.

For chronic and/or long term health conditions and routine 'maintenance' such as flea treatments, worming treatments, ear drops etc, as long as your vet is aware and has advised the use of a product and you fully understand how to safely apply/administer the medication/treatment, buying such products from an independent source can save a great deal of money.

I use Stronghold flee treatment which additionally provides protection from ear mites and a few other 'pests' for my two cats. It is recommended that cats are treated monthly with this product (though out of the flea season, in Winter I do reduce the frequency of application as I am loathe to over medicate).I worked out that if I bought 12 months supply from a reputable UK based company on the internet I would save approximately £60.00 a year in comparison to buying the same product from my vet.One of my cats has arthritis (Tom) and he has metacam for cats. I also use metacam (for dogs but also other animals) for my rabbits in certain situations and under strict supervision of my vets. With Toms medication I am saving approximately £50.00 a year, with the other it is something in the region of £5/6 a bottle price difference.

It's not pennies, this is serious money and frankly the vet mark-up is a huge factor in this. My vet says that his supplier does not offer products at the prices I can get them, but misses the point entirely. It is my personal opinion (but one I feel very strongly) that vets should not make a profit from medicines at least to the extent that they do. A small amount is one thing, but currently it seems as though they actually make their living from medications and flea treatments. This leads people to buying flea treatments from supermarkets or pet shops where they have no idea what they're doing and this in turn leads to animals being harmed. They are a great many cats for example made seriously ill and dying each week from being given the wrong dose of flea treatment ie given dogs flea treatments instead.veterinary drugs and treatments need to be made more affordable and not less affordable. If the vets are allowed to resume charging for prescriptions in October 2008, not only will animal carers be subjected to a prescription fee likely to be in the region of £15.00 a time, but the vets will then be in a position to take a greater hold on the market and prices will rise for the medication as well.

There is a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling for the prime Minister to continue with the current situation preventing vets from charging for prescriptions.(I do apologise not in link for but I have tried and tried and won't do it for some unknown reason so you will need to copy and paste.Sorry!).

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/petprescription/


Please do sign it if you can. There is a great deal of support for the continuation of the 'ban' on charging for prescriptions and the petition is a good place to start to pledge your support. It's perfectly safe etc. In an attempt to make 'the people' feel that politicians do listen to them, this petition site was set up. Anyone can start a petition about anything, but it is an official government site and so can be viewed and accessed safely (or so i would hope

I won (the sequel)!!!!!

Wow! This is both amazing and a little embarassing!

I mentioned to you about Beverleys' 40th birthday celebrations and that there would be various things going on with the possibility of blog candy to win. Anyway, lo and behold, I HAVE WON!
I won a compettion to guess what the said Beverley would spend £40.00 on to fill the most beautiful of bags hand created by bride to be Alix.

I racked my brains (not knowing Beverly from Adam so to speak) but crafters are crafters are crafters and if there's one thing we all do, that is to overspend! Loads of people entered this competition and it was clear from the posts that EVERYONE wanted this beautiful bag.

To my utter amazement, I checked the blog yesterday (thinking myself silly even to look as there was no way I would win), and I WON!!!

I've been in touch with Alix and thought I'd do a quick post to confirm my identity!! I hope you don't mind me using the piccie of the bag Alix, just until I can take a picture of my new bag myself!!

If I can add, I am not a competition addict, nor what I would consider a 'winner' or 'lucky' person. All it boils down to is that you've got to be in it to win it and someone has to win and there's no reason it can't be any of us.

I won!!!

A few days ago I answered the door to my postman to discover that he had a box in his hands addressed to me.My postman is lovely and we often have a chat, he always asks after the animals and how my scrapbooking is going, and overall is just a really, really nice man!

I'm not sure if this is a 'postman' thing, but he loves to try to guess what my parcels contain. Often it is medicine for my animals as in the UK it is much cheaper to buy veterinary drugs from reputable internet sites that do not employ the same 'generous' mark ups that vets do! This clearly is not possible in case of emergency or urgency, but for flea and worming treatments and long term medication such as for Toms arthritis, the savings are huge, not pence but many pounds usually. Most offer free P+P too so it can really help to save money. The only words of caution I must add are to ensure that the site is reputable. I also ensure that the drugs are from the UK for quality reasons but I've never had a problem yet nor heard of issues with these sites, many are vets in fact!!

On this occasion, my postman had decided that this particular parcel wasn't medicine for the animals and as I had no idea what it was as I wasn't expecting anything, I too was dumbfounded.

There was nothing else to do but open the mystery parcel and see what it was! As I turned the parcel over to open it, I noticed that the box was labelled 'Stampin Up'. The crafters amonsgt you will immediately recognise this name for 'Stampin Up'are a HUGE and I mean HUGE name in crafting. 'Stampin up' are an American company who have recently extended their empire into Europe. their products aren't available to buy in any shops; instead, they have demonstrators who hold 'Stampin up' parties as way of showcasing and (they hope) selling their products.





This means that accessing 'Stampin up' products can be a bit difficult and so although I have heard a fair bit about the brand (and from vising websites I know how popular these products are in the States), I haven't actually ever seen any of the items nor used them. My limited knowledge extends only slightly to that I have discussed above. The only other thing i know about 'Stampin Up' products is that they are EXPENSIVE.

When I saw 'Stampin Up' printed on the outside of my parcel, my heart skipped a beat. the problem was i hadn't ordered any craft items, certainly not 'Stampin Up' and so i thought that in a cruel coincidence, whatever was in the parcel (probably cat flea treatemnts I had forgotton about) had merely been a suitable size to fit in a random box for posting and it just happened to be a box that some 'Stampin up' items had been in.

Nonetheless, I hopefully opened the parcel and couldn't believe it when the parcel did in fact contain a 'Stampin Up' card kit! accompanying the said kit was a note from Future Publishing congratulating me on being a winner in a giveaway from 'Papercraft Inspirations magazine'!

It was only then that I remembered entering a competition online a couple of weeks before. I had actually entered 2 or 3 from that issue but primarilly had entered as there was a (you've guessed it) 'Stampin Up' competition!!!!!!

The prize is a lovely card kit with some stamps, ink pads, ribbons, little cards and envelopes, some lovely crystal brads, pastels ( think this means chalks!)and even glue dots. There's a little idea booklet too with card making suggestions.



So, I was rather chuffed as you can imagine! It just shows that it is worth entering these competitions as someone has to win. I haven't actually used any of my new goodies as I've been VERY busy with various creations for my beautiful niece on the occasion of her naming ceremony.

Once I've recuperated from this exhausting but immensly worthwhile project, I intend to get back to scrapbooking and have a play with my 'Stampin up' prize.

On the subject of scrapbooking, that should be my next post actually. I have done the grand total of 4 pages thus far! I shall take some photos and post as soon as I can. Bye for now.

40 days of celebration!!

Birthdays can be funny old things can't they? For years, we are so excited about them and the excitement builds and builds over months until the day finally comes and BOOM! In the good old days birthdays were fantastic; we got presents, cards, everyone made an effort to visit and for a whole day we were the centre of attention and everyone thought we were wonderful and moreover showed that love so we knew we were special.

I don't know what birthday it is when that changes. When suddenly we're not all that important really and people don't visit, the presents are in short supply, cards arrive a day or more late and the telephone doesn't even ring. Is it a particular day, a particular age, or does this all just slowly dwindle away before suddenly it's that day and all that's planned is a dental appointment or a solitary trip round a local supermarket as loo roll is in desperately short supply?

Apologies reader (shall I go for it?) OK, readerS! This is all a bit gloomy isn't it! Despair not for I have a story to tell about a woman who in a Peter pan type way, is keeping a firm grip on the joy and excitement of birthdays and is celebrating like it's..(I want to say 1999 here but maybe not all of you have heard of Prince/Symbol/His Royal Purpleness?)...nearly her 40th birthday!!

So guys, if you have linked the title of this post to the story so far, you will gather that Beverly is celebrating her 40th birthday with 40 days of celebrating!

I'm impressed. I'm overwhelmed. Ok, I'm jealous.

Beverly is not keeping these 40 days of celebration to herself though. Oh, no! If you follow the links (go on, go on)* and you can not only write a lovely message for Beverly suggesting ways to make her 40's memorable, but maybe, just maybe win some blog candy!

Way to go!! **



*(I've been watching alot of Father Ted lately)
** (I watch too much American television methinks!)