Getting use to going about on my own steam again

Last Friday on way way to the shops in the next town my car decided to splutter to a halt. Conveniently this happened right outside a garage on the main road. I tried to contact my hubby to find out what I should do but he must have been too busy to answer his phone, so I reluctantly went into the garage and asked if one of the mechanics would have a wee look at it for me. The lads were good enough to bring the car off the main road and check it over for me. And of course, like most mechanics, with the sharp in take of breath, "that a costly repair Missus. The timing belt has snapped. Would you like us to go a head and repair it for you" "Ermmm no thanks I better wait for hubby to make that decision" I replied. They were good enough to allow me to leave the car outside their premises. That evening, when hubby came home in we had a rather scary drive home as hubby towed me using his car. I hate being towed, especially if its dark and raining and I cant see! So that's car No 1 off the road. So the following day I used his car to do my shopping in. But it wasn't plain sailing as it took 15 minutes each time I tried to start the car. The car engine would not catch first time. Anyway, yesterday hubby was going around getting all the spare parts to repair my car. He used to be a qualified motor mechanic for his family business, then a self employed taxi driver. He now works for parcel force. Much better being employed than self employed, at least at the end of the month you know there is a guaranteed wage coming in. He is going to repair my car and despite my problems starting his car, he was managing to get it to go from A to B ok. Then comes the phone call. My car has broken down come and get me from hubby. So once again using Son No1's car I went out to get him and he towed me again. This time it was less scary as it was during the day, but I still hated it. After some discussion we have decided to scrap his car but will take all the good bits of his and put them on to mine and we will have to learn to car share. It wont be too hard as he works constant backshift and I do my shopping in the morning. But while both cars are off the road we are having to get about on our own steam. Apart from when its cold and raining its really not too bad. On a business forum that I am a member of there was a thread asking "what do you call your car?" Well I have come up with a name for mine. Steve Austin! The six million dollar car(man). We can rebuild him, we can make him stronger, faster..... ;)

The Women's Guild

I was asked a little while ago by a member of my church if I would consider attending a women's guild meeting with my tiaras and jewellery. I was assured that all that was involved would be for me to set up my stuff and chat with the ladies about what I did. I said "I would be delighted to", thinking it would be just a case of allowing the ladies to try on the various tiaras, side tiaras and jewellery, passing out my business cards and hopefully get a few calls from them looking for Christmas presents. Oh how wrong could I be! The chairperson of the women's guild contacted me to say that the meeting was to take place in my local parish hall. I was also told that there was a possibility that the ladies would purchase from me that evening as well. I felt a little uneasy about making sales in the church hall as it was part of the main church building. The bible story of Jesus entering the temple and getting angry with the people selling in his fathers house came immediately to mind. I toyed with the idea of making a donation to the women's guild favourite charity if I made a reasonable amount of sales. Well the evening came, I set up my table and about 30 women piled into that church hall. I recognised quite a few of the women. The meeting started and the chair person introduced me and the women all fell silent and I realised that I was expected to speak about my work. So there I was in front of 30 women some of them complete strangers. I immediately apologised that I was not a natural speaker and neither was I a witty speaker but somehow I managed to talk a little about my work and how I got started. The I told them how I acquired new talents by attending various courses and I showed them the first pieces that I had created. Finally stuck for words I decided to demonstrate how to make earrings followed by a demonstration on how to make a ring. Then I remembered to tell them the story of my rosary beads that I made for my mum. At last the ladies were willing to leave their attentive seats and look at my work for themselves. I was delighted to sell 3 pairs of earring and one pendant. Ok no great fortune here but I felt for the stress of being in the spotlight and having to give a talk, that it was well deserved. Then in the middle of deciding to myself about making a donation to them for their charity I heard that raffle tickets were being given out. So I immediately gave over the pair of earrings that I had been demonstrated to be the raffle prize. But just before the raffle prize one of the ladies approached me with an envelope "payment for attending and talking to the ladies". How much more guilt were these ladies willing to impose on me! We were in the House of God. I had sold my earrings and pendant and now they wanted to pay me again for doing so! I thanked them but refused the payment and asked them to give it to their chosen charity. The payment went to St Catherine's Homeless in Edinburgh. The evening finished with a vote of thanks. I have never been so exhausted and happy to get home.

Freshwater Pearls

I recently purchase some fresh water pearls. It is the first time that I have worked with them. I am amazed at my self for not even thinking about using them before. The pieces of jewellery are so beautiful that I am almost loathed to try and sell them. I am to attend a woman's guild evening tomorrow and I hope to impress them with my freshwater pearl collection. I purchased a selection of colour. Some large pink coloured pearls, gun metal small pearls and then a selection of cream/white and of various shapes freshwater pearls. Here are the photos of my new collection.
P.S. I just thought I would add that I think the tiara that I have at the top of this blog would look even more stunning if I used the freshwater pearls instead of the swarovski pearls in the design :)

A personal story about my firstborn

I just thought I would tell you about my oldest son Chris who is almost 20. Like most teenagers he can be a right pain, but occasionally they do something to surprise you. He is doing a HND in Sports Science at college and for the last month he has varied his exercise programme but the one thing he had being doing more of, was running. This morning just before I was about to leave for my wedding exhibition he asked me if "the old man" aka Dad, would run him through to a town called Denny. Asking him why, he announced that he was going to do a charity 10K run in aid of Strathcarron Hospice.
Strathcarron Hospice has Princess Anne as its patron and it is visited by her on a yearly basis.
Dad gave him the directions so that he could drive himself through as it was too early for him to get up on a Sunday morning . Also he didn't have a very good night's sleep (hubby is not keeping well). Chris had to register by 10.30am. I had asked if he had been collecting sponsorship money but he told me that his entrance fee of £10 was the sponsorship.
Well just before 1pm he called me to tell me that he had run the 10k in approximately 42 minutes! I was well chuffed for him. He also said that there had been professional runners there who had done it in 30 minutes but I didn't care as I thought 42 minutes was excellent. The poor wee soul has two blisters, one on each foot as a reward for his thoughtfulness. I thought he would have a nice quiet day after that but no, off he went to his black belt training in Tae Kwon Do. Had the training finished on time he was then going off to his new martial art class called Krav Maga. But thankfully it ran late, so he came home had some dinner and then being the very active person he is....went out again to the pictures. I asked him what are your going to see...."a film" he replies. >roll eyes here< a typical teenagers reply eh

A missed opportunity

Today was full of highs and lows but the lows were really low. My uncle passed away last Friday and the funeral was today. My mum and my aunty are sisters, they are both Italian and they both married Polish men. Sadly my dad passed away in 2004 and today my uncle's funeral brought back all the harsh and sad realities of losing a parent.
My daughter was particularly upset, as seeing the coffin reminded her of her papa's funeral. After the funeral the family went home to my aunt's house where we all sat and remembered my uncle. The conversation sometimes being sad and sometimes happy as we laughed at some fond memories that we had of him. One of the stories that made us laugh was very recent. One evening just after my uncle had died, my cousin had asked my aunt if she would like a drink from the bottle of rum that my uncle had in the cupboard. As they drank it they had to spit it out. The rum had been watered down. There were 2 explanations for the rum being watered down. Because my uncle didn't keep well he wasn't supposed to drink. He either watered down the rum so he could drink it or he drank the rum and put water in it so that he wouldn't get into trouble for drinking when he wasn't supposed to! We all laughed at the two reasons. The other high of the day was my great nephew who is only 16 months old. It is almost impossible not to smile and laugh when you are in his company. He has such gorgeous brown eyes and an amazing smile.
The other high had me slightly shaking but almost as quickly I was deflated. It was a great opportunity had I been an expanding business, which sadly I am not. It is just me, myself, I. A gentleman from the BBC in Edinburgh had found my business through one of the Business forums that I frequent. He was hoping that I was an expanding business having trouble trying to get credit to do so. Had I been in this position I was to be interviewed and a film crew would have recorded the interview tomorrow. He had said what a pity that I wasn't in a position to expand as it would have been really good with me doing the wedding exhibition on Sunday.
I would have felt like a fraud had I said that I was trying to expand and I don't think I would have come across terribly well educated in the world of financial wheeling and dealing. i have had my fair share of media coverage in the past with various things that I have done in my life. Maybe I will tell you all about it sometime but not today. Life throws all kinds of things at you and all one can do is go with the flow. Rest in Peace Uncle Kajik