I've been missing - not in action!

 It's been a few weeks since I have been able to post, or even to check out all of your wonderful blogs.  At first it was because of other commitments.  The person who I was finally able to pass over the editorship of the Irish Association's newsmagazine, after 10 years of doing it myself, was unfortunately unable to continue with it after putting out three issues.  She still works full time, has two college students living and studying at home, and is taking courses herself towards her Professional Project Management certification so I do understand.  The main problem was that I got it back at the beginning of May and had a print scheduled for May 24th and only 3 articles and a couple of reports that came along with it.  It was then a scramble to find enough material to fill the 48 pages, do the setup and quality control and get it to the printer on time.  So - that kept me away from anything that was not focussed on that work.  Then, a few days before the May 24th deadline, I started to feel ill.  By the day before I was very ill.  By the time I sent it to the printer the next day I was deathly ill.  For 4 days I was completely down and out.  I still didn't eat a thing for another couple of days after that.  I was surviving on Gatorade to try to keep my electrolytes up.  I am still trying to recover.  I find I'm a little weak and not my best when I get up in the morning but by noon I am actually feeling pretty good.  That lasts for a few hours then I have to go for a nap.  Then I'm good for another couple of hours, then things go downhill in the evening and I am forced to go to bed pretty early some nights.  Every day is a little better so I hope I will be 100% soon.

I am so looking forward to going online and catching up with all of your wonderful blogs but please forgive me as it may take a while.

But, in the middle of all this - while I was working hard on the newsmagazine but before I got sick, I had a birthday.  I had a wonderful day because my work kept getting interrupted.  Yay!!!

First, my sister arrived with a lovely birthday card to start my day.  Then, a little later, my dear friend, Louise, arrived with this wonderful birthday present which will find a home in one of my North Pole projects:

Isn't it absolutely perfect?  Don't forget you can click on a picture to enlarge it.  Louise had a friend of ours from Alberta, Aleeta K., who makes wonderful dogs, cats, and other animals, not to mention luggage, and other leather goods, to make the husky dog for her.  Then Louise built the sleigh herself based on a picture of a real life one she saw online.  She cut up an old cashmere scarf and used her printer on it to get the stripes of the Hudson's Bay blanket.  Then she wrapped all those tiny packages.  What an incredibly thoughtful and beautiful gift!  Thank you so much Louise (and Aleeta too, of course!)

Here are some more pics:

After being back to work on the newsmagazine for a little while after Louise's visit, my daughter arrived with a gift from her, my grandson and son-in-law.  I had hinted that I was running out of my favourite dish cloths - her hand-knitted ones, so she brought me 4 new ones which she had sewn together to hide yet another present - something else I had wanted for a long time:

I love these dish cloths.  I don't think I will ever go back to store bought ones.  And that little iron?  It is going to come in very useful when making clothes for the elves.

Well, my apologies, I had wanted to show you the inside of the tiny shepherd's hut because I did get the inside done before everything got on top of me.  Unfortunately I am starting to feel quite bad again, given the time of day and must cut this short for today and get to bed.  I will be back regularly on Tuesday nights I hope because, surely, I will be getting a bit stronger every day.  Next posting I will show the little hut, and also a few things I received in my recent order from my friend, Liz, at Grandpa's Dollhouse.  And, God willing - progress on the landscaping for the Post Office.  Until then, please stay safe and healthy and keep mini-ing! - TTFN - Marilyn