Dreams of Bizar (by sarah)

Ok so last nights dream... this guy called Matt I know who is a fantastic musician was setting up a performing arts space which needed loads of work, the building was shambolic and dark with wires hanging out of the ceiling. I was the manager and it really was a big rambling old building.

Creatures from the nth dimension had broken through these sort of crab-dogs which I was shooting whilst trying to prevent tenticles rising from the basement in a Cthulu type manor. Mean while Alaric had gotten himself trapped on the elysian fields which were accessible through the attic windows (these are the Greek/Roman version of Heaven). He was in the van and was trying to avoid the giant that was smashing it up whilst not driving off the edge.

Matt was wondering around doing DIY serenely whilst smashing mosters with a bit of two by four whilst asking me if I thought that we should put a climbing wall up in the hall way. Then one of my uni friends James (another fantastic musician) knocks on the door to ask if he can borrow the recording studio - I tell him to talk to Matt and it is all agreed but then he is followed by the backing choir, which was a 60 + strong hippy choir run by Jesus. They all wore technicolour coats made of patch work or knitted.

I was starting to get a bit frazzeled at this point so had to shrink Jean and Mary and pop them in a travel coat with two magical mice for protection. Mum and Dad then turned up looking grim with a credit card given to them by James Bond for me - I used it to hire a paranormal assassin to kill the giant and retrieve Alaric and whilst doing all of this I was making drinks and food for everybody and fretting over the fact I couldn't find any disinfectant to clean the crab-dog gunk up :/

Oh also it was tipping it down and grey outside in the dream and only the fields in the attic were sunny. There was flooding occuring and refugees began to turn up expecting food but Jesus told me he was out of miracles and that it was up to me.

When I told Al the dream he said, 'Ah so the fret about organising the big family meal has started - I thought you'd been rather calm.'

Merry Christmas On And All (by sarah)

Merry Christmas on this dreary Christmas Eve!

Here at the Snell-Pym Household we are recovering from mulled wine and minced pies with friends and are about to under take some lovely craft activities followed by christmas food prep!

Until then here is the outline of the Cathedral I have drawn for Percival's Christmas Wish. I have only so far managed two complete drawings both in outline but will attempt some more later on! I have a confession - I'm not very good at drawing buildings - I've never really done it to be honest and it took a lot longer than expected and I'm not entirely happy with it but it will none the less be going up on Wiggly Pets with the story a little later today!

The Homeless Babies (by sarah)

Today I am doing the front cover of Percival's Christmas Wish as part of my Draw-a-thon to raise money for Shelter. I have only been sponsored £10 so far but that is half a family who wont end up homeless in the first place! So it is all good though making it a whole family by the end of today would be brilliant :)

In total I need to draw 14-16 pictures before Christmas Eve! I am currently on number three which is the hardest of the pictures as it is the one for the cover as well. So far all pictures are only sketches and some of that quiet rough but I am going out later to pick up some new colouring pencils as mine were damaged in the move.

I would like to just emphasis that there are over 75, 000 homeless children this christmas the likes of which has not been seen since the 60's! I know it seems like a sea of faceless people but it's not - those people are people like you and me, things can change so quickly where finances are concerned.

Also last week a baby bunny was dumped outside a pet shop near us in a cardboard box, which we said we would take if it was adopted by yesterday - it hadn't been adopted so we now have a new addition to the Snell-Pym zoo - Fluffy Obsidian!

Guess which part of the name was mine and which bit was Jean's? :/

She reckons that rock names are too hard in that they are not fluffy and they are hard to say! She gave Alaric the option of Hedgwig or Fluffy for the rabbit and he opted for Fluffy as a bunny isn't an owl and though it is also not a three headed dog it's genetics would be closer to that than a bird.

If we could adopt the homeless kids we would but they don't need adopting - they need to be with their families and taking them away would be taking us straight back to the horrors of Victoriana, therefore we help the whole family. I am really hoping that someone will donate another £10 so that we have helped one whole family instead of just half.

Here is a donate button.

And thankyou so much for the donation/sponsor that I have already received :) The money goes directly to Shelter so they can start doing stuff straight away :)

Third Time Was Not Lucky :( (by sarah)

Ok so I've been bleeding since Mary was born and as she is going to be two next month that is a long time, I've had hormones and scans and a coil and then a scan which showed the coil is in the wrong place and then I was waiting for biospies and re-coiling as the womb linning is too thick etc...

But the appointment kept being rearranged or the Dr was sick etc... so today I finally get in to have the coil removed, biopsy done and new coil put in but... the coil is stuck. They are worried that it is in the scar tissue from the C-section so am now awaiting a phone call from another clinic were they can scan me whilst trying to remove it.

I am actually quiet freaked out to be honest.

Because We Have Our Home (by sarah)

This time last year we were not sure if would get this house, we were not really blogging about any of the trials and tribulations of it as we didn't want to get our hopes up. Alaric and the baby were both quiet sick and I was still on crutches and even Jean was not 100% with a repeating stomach bug. But we got through all of that and we got our shiny new home :)

With more than a little help from our friends. And feeling secure within this lovely house I finally felt able to write a story about our time after the 2007 floods. Again a time we would have really struggled with if it were not for family and friends!

So when I found out that over 75, 000 children will be without a home this year I thought, I am luckier than them and I should do something to help give them what our friends and family helped us get... A Home. Alaric agreed but we are not flush with money so how? And then a thought.

My mother asked me why didn't I draw the pictures and make the story into a little book for Christmas presents like I did last year with The Little Book of Festive Poetry. My initial reaction was 'There's not time!' and then I thought but I could do it as a mad sponsored thing and raise money for Shelter. So that is indeed what I am doing!

So here is the page where you can sponsor me. The money goes straight to Shelter. You are sponsoring a Draw-a-thon, the idea being that Christmas Eve I will release a free e-book for you all to enjoy :) It will be an illustrated version of Percival's Christmas Wish and it is not going to be a five minute job so I am going to need lots of encouragement!

I have set the target as £100 as that will help five families not to end up homeless in the first place. More money = more people helped. If the target is reached I will be adding in the audio version of Percival's Christmas Wish as a free download for the 12 Day's of Christmas!

Families need homes

I'm not sure if you can understand what it is like to being staying on friends sofas and things unless it has happened to you - no it is not sleeping rough but it is unsettling and exhausting. Especially with little ones. And not everyone has friends and family they can get help from. We are lucky others are not. Please donate/sponsor me.