Nayu's Craft Time #166 Hairball, anyone?

It's a gloriously hot day - sadly no Mount Fuji is in my skyline.

So today has (so far) been a non craft day - well, I'm about to do some writing which is a craft, just not one involving yarn which I usually deal with. Earlier today I had errands, and this afternoon I came face to face with an ongoing problem which my family never had with our other cats: hairballs. 

Found this while looking up hairball cartoons  - it made me smile ^o^ Very appropriate for this blog!

I will spare you a disgusting photo of a hairball - they aren't nice. While they are associated with long hair cats (my cat is medium long-haired), short haired cats can get them too. Google hairballs and you'll get a wealth of information. In an attempt to help Belle we are now brushing her at least 2 x a week, which she doesn't appreciate. Unfortunately she's had a sore on her chin that we've had to treat with cream and special solution, so if me or my family so much as look at her with a tissue in our hand then she runs away. 

From her behaviour she always feels bad after being sick. Never her fault though.

This is sad but unfortunately she has to have the cream, and we have to brush her. She's had several hairballs this year which have been completely gross (yes I'm the one who deals with them now, probably making up for all the times my previous cats were sick and my family dealt with their mess). Today I even squidged the lump to be sure it's a hairball - I'm 89% sure it is. 

I'm undoubtedly biased but my cat is gorgeous, hairballs and all!

I've looked online for help about hairballs, and I think the next step is probably going to be making sure some of her diet includes specially prepared anti-hairball food. I hope she likes it! Gross factor aside (I'm now oddly used to cleaning up hairballs), hairballs if not thrown up can create blockages in the intenstine - no one wants a poorly cat. Here's hoping for less hairballs for the next half of 2016! 

I'd love to hear if you've dealt with hairballs: is there a particular brand/treatment which works for your cat? 

Nayu's Craft Time #143 Necessary Tasks Take Time!

I love this nifty paperwork storage idea from Pinterest!

I'm writing this post as I sort some paperwork, which includes scanning it into my laptop and printing several copies. If you've done anything using 3 aspects you know just how time consuming it is. I'm convinced it always takes way longer than you expect, especially when you forget to add in topping up the printer with paper, rescanning an item because you accidentally delete it before saving it etc. That's why I saved this task for another day, today, as I knew it would take time and I was already tired from filling in said paperwork. 

Tick tock! Time passing would be cuter if I had this adorable rose clock!

When I've got dull/pointless but necessary tasks like this I do try and do them in the morning, as that's when I usually have vaguely more energy and motivation too. Somehow knowing that once I reach lunch time I can then relax makes me feel so much better about putting the effort in, even if I'm sluggish. I'd like to head to the post office today, but that depends what time I finish this. If I don't make it in time then it'll be a trip for Monday. Oh and I've manage to schedule a few book reviews for Nayu's Reading Corner inbetween button clicks and paper changes - go me!

Due to the time and energy this takes I won't be doing any sewing today - I may however do some crochet later, as I've got several audiobooks to review! It depends how I feel after relaxing with anime. So craft is still happening! I hope I can do a bit of editing my novel later too. 

Whatever the weather, and whatever you're up to today I hope you smile lots and have some fun! 

Some of you may be soaking up the sun with a picnic in the park!

Nayu's Craft Time #126 Spring crochet facecloths, Cat antics, Investigating black rooms & mystery food!

Spring colours!

Hi everyone! Yesterday was a quiet-ish day. Rain doesn't always agree with me so I spent the morning working on these crochet face cloths/face flannels. These are made of a much softer cotton than my dishcloths, which look like this and can always be used as an exfoliation cloth, lotion not included! 

Lemon & white = bright & cheerful!

At the moment I'm undecided if they should have loops for hanging them up, so may have it as an option so you can choose to buy them with or without a handy loop to suit your preference.

Not the cover of the book mentioned, but it's at least the title. I find the cover a bit creepy.

I had a delicious salad and jacket potato yesterday which I will chat about tomorrow because 1 key ingredient is a new favourite food of mine.. I wasn't in the mood for gaming, so fiddled around with anime books and Youtube. After dipping into a reread I read quite a harrowing experience of child abuse for review, and recovered with happy go lucky anime Aikatsu. Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield is out in June, I highly recommend it, but make sure you have tissues and something fun to do after. 

My kind of fun is seeing Otome glomp (hug with fangirl love) Ichigo in Aikatsu

Not mine but I'd love a cat with this colouring!

I just had to get up to let my cat know she isn't allowed on a certain spot in my room, not that you need  know that as this isn't a vlog, but I felt like sidetracking you! Who doesn't like a cat interruption?

Sample of camoflage patterns - I have to research a lot when writing!

Today I was up rather early, so once I woke up fully I got stuck into writing. I finally finished making notes on the seemingly endless chapter 13! It's not mega long, but because there were a lot of details to the environment my characters are in, I had to note it all down for future reference. Doing this has helped identify impractical items, as well as make me think about decor in a way I never did in previous edits. I end up searching all sorts of random things like various camoflage colours, black rooms and the lowdown on holograms! It's fun writing science-fiction for children!
 

Time to head off and see if I can finish notes on another chapter by lunch, since I take a long afternoon break to recharge myself. Be sure to come back tomorrow find out which food I'm in love with at the moment! 

It's not watermelon, although that would be really refreshing right now!

Nayu's Craft Time #124 Cat drama, Grocery Skip, Quiche delight, sewing time!

 

This is sort of an innocent garden shed.

Hearing caterwauling 5 mins after waking up saw me out of bed, at the window, and praying my cat didn't get hurt as she stood her ground over her territory on a neighbour's garden shed roof. There are just some things a cat owner shouldn't witness! I can proudly say the other cat slunk away-given my cat is prone to letting strange cats in the house this is indeed progress.

Love this bed when I spotted it - it reminds of Little House on the Prairie when Laura and Mary slept in a trundle bed kept under their parents bed! Obviously not looking like this... Picture source

Adrenaline is one way to wake up fully! I did go back to bed and catch up on last night's Casualty episode from BBC 1. I wasn't up for crochet and I'm glad as it involved a fair few subtitles saying 'earlier' since it was full of flashbacks. Very good ep!

Groceries can wait because...

I was due to go shopping later but I feel like an afternoon of sewing so I'll postpone it to tomorrow instead. This is me listening to what my body wants!

 I did manage to get some sewing in yesterday. White thread on white canvas does require a lot of concentration, but I managed to almost finish the polar bear on the Z  and make a start on the Y penguin. A different colour is needed for the bear-I do 1 colour at a time, not 1 section at a time. Looking forward to some homemade quiche at lunch-the one Imade the other week. 

No, I'm not food poisoning myself, it's called frozen quiche ^u^ It will be much needed after a morning of blog work and writing! I'm still making notes on my wip (work in progress, a term used in both the writing and craft worlds) which is good fun for refreshing my memory on the story. Already seen areas that need improvement, as well as what I think are good bits.

 

Nayu's Craft Time #119 The week ran away with me..

Good old Eeyore expresses how I feel! Picture source

It did! It really did run away! Or rather I had a few days getting my super strong pain meds ketamine through my system. Usually I feel rough for a few days. This time I felt hyper (like I used to feel) on Tuesday, rough on Wednesday, and fine but extremely exhausted yesterday. Guess I'll stop trying to predict how my body will feel and just go with the flow, something else Eeyore does.

Yes there is always something, but there's always a positive aspect when plans

Due to the volume of reviews I've been putting up this week, and to various issues that required more than a simple reply by email, this morning I haven't been able to post any reviews on social media! 

Again this is an Eeyore thing and a life thing that there is always something that crops up. Initially I

was a teensy bit frustrated because I like my schedules going to plan. I suppose it went to God's plan today, rather than mine, which is fine as He is the best planner there is. As I'm being stricter on time spent online I'm going to simply post everything on Sunday, or, possibly tomorrow afternoon after I've had lunch out with a friend (resting up lots beforehand in prep for all the chatting!). On second thoughts I try and keep Saturday's as my non work day so won't be doing that!

Days off are important. Saturdays I try to avoid doing blog work which while fun uses up brain cells & energy.

So feeling a bit 'behind' even though I'm not really. I'm sure most of you can relate to that! Plus side is getting unexpected Amazon credit due to a Kindle update issue which did muck the review books in my carousel which has me hoping that I haven't missed one out. Tomorrow I'll figure out what to buy with it ^o^

Craft has been on the backburner this week as I've had zero energy for anything other than watching stuff & reading. It's annoying but I know tomorrow I'll be doing lots of cross stitch (Yay!). I wanted to do something today but I'm still not quite on what is normal for me, plus I have to do laundry and sort my now once a month organic box, both of which need zap arm strength. Might just cross it off today's list so I'm not frustrated by not being able to do any. 

What I am going to do today is do my weekly email to a friend, who only gets a regular email because she puts together a blog post for me using the info I give her *waves at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers*. My actual email list is a long one I'm very slowly tackling. Then it's rest with Aikatsu anime as I'm a bit too tired to play video games today. Oh & I need to sort out the stuff in my room that piled up from the days of not being able to do anything - think I'll do that relaxing otherwise I may get distracted by Other Things to do. I'd better stop babbling and let you get back to whatever you need to do!

Nayu's Craft Time #110 Chaotic Long Weekend!

A calming picture of a pair of zebra finches (similar to one of my birds)

I'm here! Been a crazy few days Friday I was too tired to post - visited a friend in the morning, came home and promptly napped for 2 hours. Me needing naps is a sign I need to rest so I did just that. While I'd meant to post Saturday, I'd forgotten that I'm trying to keep Saturdays as the one day where I do no blog work, no crochet, no review book reading - it's my 'day off'. I started this post Sunday but was doing it in between other blog bits so had to stop without posting it when my online time was up. I hate sticking to a schedule but otherwise I don't fit in enough rest. 

Nothing like the cat in question but a cute one all the same.

Monday I'd had 3 hours sleep due to a stray cat incident which is ongoing. I promise to do a full post once it concludes. I'm find it hard emotionally and am praying for a happy ending, so well wishes and thoughts most welcome! 

My latest craft news will be up in tomorrow's post.

Such a cute themed bed! I'm guessing the larger bow is a cushion...if not I wouldn't want it attached to the duvet.

While I slept better last night (no 1.30am wake up call) I'm more tired than I was yesterday. So after a very quiet morning I'm finally managing some blog work between household tasks. Go me! 

I wish this cute pencil was mine! Adore the dainty flowers and ring/tiara. Very girly!

Due to life getting in the way of my book review work for Nayu's Reading Corner, I'm now doing review blog work every alternate day, so I can get some writing of my own novels in too. I was trying to catch up with review then write, but I'm missing it too much, life happens, and I want to write! Alternate days will do for now.

Nayu's Craft Time #95 What I Did On My Mini-Break!

Awww!

 I'm back! Had an enjoyable mini-break from blogging, including 6 hours of writing yesterday. It was a bit too much in one go, but I hope to do many more long writing sessions over the next few weeks - just got 9 pages left to edit of my novel! It will soon be with friends, and I'll be editing the next one in line.

Colouring Mulan is fun! Tried to give her royal colours ^o^

I did have a lot of fun doing craft bits. I got a few pictures coloured in in my Disney Princess Art Therapy book.H

Since I watched Disney's The Little Mermaid this weekend it was appropriate that I finished colouring these pages!

Still got some tiaras to colour but over halfway finished now!

My family adores this white chocolate fudge in bite sized pieces!

I made some chocolate fudge - a white chocolate batch and a milk chocolate batch. I can't remember

making chocolate fudge, and it is so easy to do, quicker than my vanilla fudge!

It guarantees super smooth fudge (unlike my vanilla version which is a bit grainy so I call it rustic!), which is yummy and I'm going to experiment with flavours next year.

I have to use a lot of chocolate, and use a mix of chocolate slab & chocolate drops!

So cute!

I've made a start on my next sewing project: I've got a friend having a baby soon, so this will be whenever I complete it. It's a cute alphabet sampler in blues and greens, with the thread going light and dark which is a nice effect.

Tonight I'm going to do some more sewing, as well as some reading. Winter nights make me want to snuggle up with some craft and relax! Would love to hear about what you are working on craft wise at the moment! 

Here's the framed result of the cross stitch owl project I've worked on this year - the recipient loves it! Due to frame size a few stitches are covered, but I couldn't do anything about that.

Nayu's Craft Time #84 Time for a rainbow!

Picture source

Rainbows always make me smile: they are full of colours, and feel full of hope too. Another natural phenomenon is the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis at the North pole. 

Picture source

Nature's pretty colours found in many other objects are the main focus of today's post because my next crochet project will be brightly coloured! It's been a grey day, with the morning spent writing (both actually writing (editing really) and research for writing which wasn't that productive, and I feel like creating my own rainbow to perk me up. 

I'm undecided whether I'll make some fingerless gloves, or rainbow snowflakes, but I will report back to you tomorrow with both the yarn and the result! I'll leave you with a rainbow themed saying which I discovered today.

This is a brilliant thing to be! Picture source

Nayu's Craft Time #83 Windows 10 & some fudge!

It's here!

I'd intended to do a craft post today involving - you know - craft, which it vaguely does, but mostly it's me praising Windows 10 update. In case you're wondering this isn't a sponsered post. But, since I use the internet to create my blog posts, and thus I'm now in Windows 10, it is related to my crochet! 

This is a genuine offer!

For a few weeks I've had the opportunity to install Windows 10 for free, because Microsoft are feeling generous. I kept declining because I didn't have enough time to download it, but after finishing other blog bits this morning, I decided I'd download it while I vaguely had the time. 

In my search for Windows 10 pictures I iscovered Japan actually has mascots for Windows - here's version #10! Other versions will be in a post soon over on Nayu's Reading Corner which is more anime orientated than this one. Didn't quite think you'd want 10+ anime pictures! .

4-5 hours later I'm logging on Windows 10. Yes it really took this time to download, upload, and do whatever it needed to do. I was slightly worried when the set up screen gave the following message (roughly) 

this is taking longer than usual, but not to worry it will be finished soon. 

Considering this is on a blue background with a black bar at the top, I was thinking 

THE DREADED BLUE SCREEN OF LAPTOP DEATH!!!!

An amusing version of the dreaded blue screen

Thankfully it wasn't, and hey presto it worked. With just a few more minutes of waiting as it set up my account, I dived into Windows 10. No more silly screens that appear from nowhere! 

As much as I love my tablet (not Windows) and the style of touch screen layout, I didn't think it worked as well on a non touch screen laptop, and since I don't use apps on my laptop it was just an annoying extra screen.

It's like the old windows, with everything found on the taskbar. Happy me! 

Sort of like mine, except I always have the task bar across the top (have done for years, just easier), and naturally a cute anime background rather than plants)

You do have to be patient when uploading it. It might be 3-4 hours, but I made some fudge (yummy) so 5 hours was when I sat down to deal with it. I had to wait a few more minutes for it to sync up my emails. I prefer Windows 10 because if an email is flagged, the email itself is in orange! This makes it so much easier to spot rather than trying to figure out whether a flag is black or clear. 

I was a bit worried that my computer would forget all my logins for social media and other sites (I only realised this as the new Windows 10 Firefox browser loaded for the first time). Thankfully this isn't the case, which is a relief.

They are perfect together! It may be a marketing slogan, but I do love Firefox!

So far the only downside that I discovered is the window sizing (using the touchpad to make contents in a window bigger or smaller) seems a bit sensitive, but that's just me needing to be careful when I put my thumb. 

Overall I'm loving the new icons for everything, and feel happy enough unlike when Windows 8 appeared and I had no clue what I was doing for a little bit. Windows 10 may be less than a day old with me, but already it feels like I've used it for weeks! 

Hopefully today's fudge will look like this photo from a previous batch once it's set.

Today's crafting was secret present. I then baked yummy fudge, and only remembered after I made it that I shouldn't bake on a day I have other chores (laundry, lots of dishes, etc) as it makes me more tired, so I'm not writing tonight. It'll be anime and reading, as I need the R&R! Fear not, crochet will soon be back in my posts! It's just with secret presents needing to be made, and my writing having priority, crochet has had to take a bit of a backseat. However I missing it lots so going to change that ^o^

Time to bring out my crochet basket!