Try a Crossword – Not a Cross Word…

Try a Crossword – Not a Cross Word…

Hi there,

Thanks for popping in. Hope you are keeping safe and busy? The sunshine will I hope take you into your garden. Perhaps you can sit in the shade of a tree or umbrella, and craft something lovely, or just do a crossword…

And if you don’t have a crossword puzzle at the ready, here’s last weeks offering, created by lovely Hazel Edwards, just for us. The download for it is directly underneath.

And directly underneath the download ARE THE ANSWERS! So cover them up if you haven’t had a go at completing it yet!

CROSSWORD No. 1:

Of course, now you need a second crossword to keep the old grey cells clicking..

CROSSWORD No. 2

Many many thanks to Hazel for her help; it is much appreciated. xxx

Crosswords versus cross words. I reckon a lot of us are living on a knife edge just now. But I can only speak for myself. It doesn’t take much right now to tip me from fine to not fine very quickly. Things that wouldn’t normally grind my gears are really getting to me – and with no build up! But then why am I surprised? The world has been turned on its head – everything is in jeopardy. I KNOW that there are poor souls much MUCH worse off than me, or us. I know that. But I am still anxious, albeit subconsciously. And when you hear that the PM is in intensive care, the Captain of this little ship called Britain – well how can you NOT be concerned? What a state of affairs!

SO here’s what I did today when my head turned into an instant wasp’s nest when somebody wound me up on the phone.

Cup of tea. Piece of bread and butter sprinkled with salt. Sunshine seat in the garden. No phone. 15 minutes. Back to calm. The surge has subsided, and it’s all back to OKAY again.

It’s not just doing what you can to avoid losing your rag; it’s about what to do when you already have!

In fact, I think I’ll go out and sit in that sunshine seat for a little longer, before dear Dave gets home from work. I may even tackle a doodle – after the crossword puzzle!

These are very uncertain, bewildering times. For all of us – each and every one.

Keep calm and keep crafting!

Love and Hugs

Barb xxx

19 thoughts on “Try a Crossword – Not a Cross Word…

  1. I’ve never heard of a piece on butter sprinkled with salt . Mind you I like sea salt so that might be ok . A fried egg would be good! Ah well each to his own . Really enjoying the doodle lessons for which I thank you immensely. Your a tonic to us all every morning . It’s family quiz night so that should be a laugh . It’s a good job we have technology to see us through . Have a lovely evening xx

    1. Evening Barbara,
      Hope you have had a better afternoon with less aggravation. Understand how little things can be the things that light the fuse. During one of the most stressful periods of my life, I had a meltdown after having been served a very expensive coffee in a really thick heavy mug which made me feel like a navvie.
      I don’t do Facebook but just wanted you to know how much I am enjoying the doodles. Can’t draw for toffees but am making progress, wish you had been my art teacher at school. Dropped the subject at earliest opportunity, there is only so many times you can take being told you are rubbish. Thanks so much. See you tomorrow. Xx

  2. Sorry you were ‘wound up’ Barbara but thank goodness a spell in the garden with sunshine and a cup of tea sorted you out.
    So pleased with the doodling although I have a way to go. It gives me a focus to the start of the day.
    I have been out in the garden weeding this afternoon and I had a Robin and little frog to keep me company.
    Have a good evening with Dave. See you tomorrow. xx

  3. I know what you mean, as I am having the same problem. I have a very short fuse at the moment, so save my daily walk until later than I used to, in case I need to just get away for a while. If that isn’t possible, I get out my doodling and rewatch you on You Tube. It really does help.
    There is no medication for cabin fever and I think it is the fact that we are not allowed to go out that makes it worse. Talk about rebellion!
    On a brighter note, my postcards arrived today. Thank you! Hugs. Annette. X

  4. You’re right about taking a few minutes just to walk away from things and relax. Have just got home from work after another full on day. although I’ve missed most of the sunshine, I’m planning to spend 10 minutes in the garden later this evening with my son, looking at all the stars we can see now the skies are clearer, even though we live on the edge of London. We did it on Sunday eve and it was brilliant. He’s got a great app on his phone called Starwalk – you point your phone at the sky & it tells you which constellation you’re looking at. Completely fascinating. Take care everyone

  5. So far in this pandemic we have managed to keep upbeat, healthy and happy and carfting our socks off, doing crosswords to give the brain a workout and generally enjoying ourselves but it seems it was too good to last.

    We rarely argue, just agree to differ, but today we had a big row over a delivery of furniture which was TOTALLY wrong, with missing parts not discovered until all the packaging had been skipped. The silly thing is it all happened because OH wanted to surprise me by getting it all put together this afternoon so I could finish the craft room. I contacted the company and it has all been sorted out now thank goodness.
    Just have to wait for the missing bits to be delivered.

    While all this was going on we had a text from the doctor (we are both in the at risk category) telling us both to self isolate for the next 12 weeks. Oh Joy!!!! Apart from a weekly shop at quiet times this is exactly what we have been doing for the last 4 weeks. The restrictions they want to place on us within our own home are not possible.

    All the lovely calm, restfulness and peace has gone out the window today so it’s a non-diet dinner tonight followed by a double brandy in my special coffee. Should put me in a better mood for tomorrow morning when I will be following Grace’s advice and sorting my wardrobe.

    What we would do without Clarity to keep us sane I dread to think. I see that 2 of my orders have been dispatched so will have something new to occupy me later in the week.

    Thank you Barbara for keeping us all united. Take care of yourselves, keepsafe.
    🍒🍒🍒

  6. Enjoyed my birthday morning, doodling with Barbara. Sorry you had a bad afternoon. My husband made me a lovely meal and put up balloons. All very surreal and then reality kicks in. Thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday. Indeed I am lucky if a little older! Not wiser! Best wishes to all

  7. Hope your feeling calmer now , amazing what a bit of sun can do . Had a message from my daughter today , my granddaughter who’s 7 is getting bored as they don’t do Facebook I sent her the link for daily doodles on YouTube. 5minutes later got picture of Ebony doing the birds in lesson 1 . On behalf of my daughter would like to say massive THANK YOU .

  8. Hope your feeling calmer now , amazing what a bit of sun can do . Had a message from my daughter today , my granddaughter who’s 7 is getting bored as they don’t do Facebook I sent her the link for daily doodles on YouTube. 5minutes later got picture of Ebony doing the birds in lesson 1 . On behalf of my daughter would like to say massive THANK YOU .

  9. My fave bread butter and sea salt. Quite refreshing. Blow the blood pressure a bit of what you fancy hehe. Hubby actually admitted to making my life hard while having an assessment by phone to the brain injury clinic today. Just wish he could realise (remember) when he is doing it. Thanks for the relaxing chill out time doodling, it really helps me cope. Enjoy the sun and peace. The outside environment is so much calmer and quieter except for the lovely chirping of birds. Thanks barbara for being our crafty key worker. X

  10. Have just finished the day’s dood-a-long (8pm) with my friend. We both really enjoy it. I think as we are both night owls and 10 am is pre-coffee (as well as dog walk time) we enjoy it more in the evening. We are both pensioners (for a LONG time!!) and have been in a routine for many years, so it hasn’t been nearly as hard for us as for many people as we only went out for appointments and occasionally to shop on a Sunday. In fact there are still not enough hours to do all I’ve planned!! Thanks again for the crossword, Hazel (finished it last week but this week looks more difficult), and the brain workout each day for us all Barbara. Looking forward to receiving my cards to colour. Now going to try and upload the doodle -card I did for my cousin’s birthday.

  11. Finished my Easter cards & popped them in the post, then realised I had forgotten to take a picture of them 😒.
    Enjoyed the 1st crossword & looking forward to doing the 2nd one. Few tricky clues at first glance 😂 need to get my thinking cap on!!
    Hope your afternoon in the garden restored you to a happier place.
    See you at 10am for our next doodling session x

  12. Never had bread and butter with salt on ! Hubby always has bread with his butter, no doubt he’ll be trying salt on it now as he loves it – I have to get Lo-salt in the hope it is better for him! I think I’ve now finished my Easter cards – should have had more than enough time but left them …. Haven’t finished today’s doodle yet ! X

  13. My mums treat was bread and butter sprinkled with sugar – not ideal for Type 2 Diabetic! Finished last weeks crossword and got it right…whoopee and thank you Hazel! Sewing is now finished…been making face masks for the family as while they’re not medical grade at the moment feel like every little bit helps and as husband is high risk/locked down feel it’s only right I try to protect us both when I do need to venture out for shopping..ie tomorrow. Stay safe everyone, right now to tackle the new crossword….

  14. Hi Barb,
    Hope you feel better after sitting in the sun for a while. It has been too cold up here to sit outside for long, although the wind has died down a bit today so if you get somewhere out of the wind it was quite pleasant. Another lovely doodling session today, but I definitely need to practise! Thank you again for helping us through these mad times. Thanks to Hazel too for the crosswords – managed the first one and have most of this one answered, but I’m too tired now to work the rest out. I’ll save it for tomorrow. Love and hugs,Alison xxx

  15. Hello Barb, what you are saying is so true about being on a knife edge, and then you hear about the escalating domestic abuse. Hard times, and I can just Thank God, that at the moment we are managing, but there many that are not. We had a lovely facetime with some special friends last night that own a little rustic restaurant that we love and miss and also one of their previous employees now back in Portugal and that really helped. Thanks to the lovely Hazel for the new crossword. Not quite finished the first one yet, as am using it to calm down during the work day, one clue at a time. Just poured my morning coffee and about to get going and get logged in. Take care all and stay safe. Bx

  16. Barbara, I am really enjoying your little doodles. I made a birthday card from the little rabbit and trees only put another rabbit in the woods and wrote, happy birthday from a social distance! I watch you all the time but never comment because I watch on a smart TV and can’t comment. I’ve also done some of the doodles and mailed to my grandchildren. Miss them so much. Please keep up the good work!
    Barbara Fisher, Tennessee, USA

  17. Enjoying your doodling sessions in the mornings Barbara, something worth getting up for you do make me laugh, love your sense of humour. Had a few little melt downs this last few days but just go up in my craft room and play. Decided to do a rainbow as a thank you to the NHS and all our keyworkers, really enjoyed doing it so it’s now in the Porch window. I did the last crossword and looking forward to doing this one. Just realised I’m on the wrong date, bit late to do the right one. Stay safe everyone.xxx

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