I’ve been a busy bee with my embroidery the last few days, so here is an updated photo of where I was at with it before I started work today:
I’m almost done! All the important things that aren’t border are there, with the exception of a butterfly in the middle of space in the top left which I’m waiting to have the borders done/semi-done to add so that I don’t miscount. Since the photo I’ve completed a bit over half the floor, and a lot more backstitching, as well as some more of the left hand border. I’ve also ordered the frame for it (since it has beads I can’t just stick it in a photo frame, even though it’s only 6×8″ and that would be easy otherwise) and I’ll do the framing myself when it’s done/frame gets here. My grandmother is currently in hospital recovering from a hip replacement, so I’ve told her that I’ll lend the angel to her when she’s finished to keep her company there. Hospital rooms are very stark otherwise.
In other news, I got sick the other day but appear to have recovered reasonably well. My response to feeling sick was to take to bed and refuse to do anything strenuous and that seemed to work, hooray! My chickens continue to eat anything thrown at them and produce eggs, so I got five yesterday and seven today. Today brought storms and rain and cold, but I spent it largely indoors so that was alright. We lazed around the house for most of the day, ate bacon and eggs and beans for brunch, and then my mum and I went shopping for baby clothes for my cousin’s shower tomorrow…so much fun and so tiny! We got one wonderful set which had jumpsuit, footed tights, short sleeved top, jacket, hat, gloves and bib all to match, in white with pink roses and the occasional mouse, for a really good price, plus a bunch of jumpsuits in yellows and oranges with bunnies and mice, a plain one with faint goldybrown bunnies, and an adorable going-out dress for summer (in a 3-6mth size) in blue with roses complete with matching knickers. I am dead of cuteness. Mum left to do something with Dad, but I stayed on to buy sneakers for the first time since I was 15 and discovered that I still fit into childrens’ sizes, which meant that my brand name sneakers cost half what they would have, bonus! I needed them because I’ve recently joined the gym where my sister and mum go, which does a lot of classes and has the best pool in the state, and I plan to take some pilates and balance classes plus maybe some aqua and stuff to build up my fitness. I came home from overseas much healthier ME/CFS-wise than when I left, which confirms my suspicions (shared by my doctor) that summer/warm weather/sunlight/something? causes me to get better (and quickly! I was hiking by a week or so into American summer!) and winter makes me go downhill, which has been slowly happening although I am glad that spring is just around the corner. This health that I have I want to try to build on and we’re wondering if me being active (carefully) might help a bit, so I’m going to try it. And that means I need the right shoes for classes, which I have now 
I treated myself to a lovely big bag from the surf shop to use as a gym bag as well, which is brown leather on the bottom (and up the sides a little, enormous, and has both two side straps to pick it up by and a long strap for over my shoulder. I put my thick knitted jacket in there, plus a scarf, and the box of shoes, and other stuff, and there was still room, so I’d think I could fit what I need for the gym in there I just need a small toiletry bag now so I can take shampoo and stuff. Yay! The cloth that the rest of the bag is made of has an aztec print in red, green, blue, yellow and white, and is really cheerful, and hard to lose in the changeroom or mix up with either my sister’s gym bag (all coloured stripes) or my mum’s (black). After that I was hungry, poked around the shops, bought a boost juice and came home to stitch, eat dinner, stitch a bunch more and then curl up in bed with the electric blanket. It’s very cold here at the moment, so being warm is important, especially since my health seems dependent on it
