Fit, Fat and Flourishing

Gettin' Hooky!

2012-02-09T14:02:00.000Z

Welcome back! First, I have to say a big "Thanks" for all the lovely comments that were left yesterday! It was lovely to be welcomed back to blogging so enthusiastically!

Yesterday I promised you that I would be discussing all things crochet today, so here I am! Are you sitting comfortably? Got a cuppa in hand? No?!!.... okay, quickly go make yourself one. I can wait!

Okay, now that you're back... lets get started! So, I picked up a crochet hook for the first time in July last year. I was very quickly hooked! Pardon the pun. Between YouTube and a book that a friend lent me I managed to pick up the basic stitches. After that it was simply a matter of how many patterns I could lay my hands on and how much yarn I could get hold of. I've discovered a whole new addiction!

I started off learning how to do granny squares, but got bored of them quite quickly. Oops. Then I found a lovely pattern on the web for a hook holder. I couldn't resist! In fact there's loads of tutorials and free pattern on this lady's website. Here is my finished Hook Holder...

I also made a cardigan made out of two Granny Hexagons. It's a really clever pattern!

I made a little drawstring bag using these yarns too, but I haven't quite finished it yet. It just needs lining. Once I've finished it I'll take a photo and post it for you to see!

Over the past few months I've finished quite a few projects including:

Crochet bunting for my kitchen (pardon the strange facial expression, I think I must have been concentrating!)

A lovely soft frilly scarf. I made a few of these for Christmas presents and to sell. They sold ok, but I still have a few to sell! Let me know if you want one.

My latest finish is this Kindle Cover. I love my Kindle but I was worried about the screen getting scratched so I made this cover to protect it. I'm quite pleased with the results!

I also made a little handbag for my SIL's Christmas present, but then I forgot to take a photo of it! D'oh! I'll try get her to take a photo for me so I can show you.

Now you may be wondering where I've been getting my inspiration and patterns from? The easy answer is... online mostly. More specifically, I've been browsing blogs like Attic24 and Coco Rose Diaries and finding lovely free patterns on Ravelry. Inspiration has also been easy to find on Pinterest, there's another thing that I'm addicted to! If you're looking for some crochet inspiration on Pinterest then I've put together a board of hooky goodness. Have a look!

I've also started going to a stitching group. It's been great to have a couple of hours each week to sit and crochet and natter without being interrupted by the kids, hubby or any of the three million things that I'm supposed to be taking care of. Some great 'me' time and I get to be creative too! Our group is called Glasgow Fort Stitch'n'Bitch and they meet on a Tuesday evening. If you're local and interested in joining us let me know and I'll send you details. They have a blog and a Facebook page too! I love grabbing a Starbucks and then having a hooky hour. Bliss! (BTW. I should say 'Thanks' to Karen from the group for taking all the photo's of my projects!)

So, are you inspired? Let me see what you make next. I've got a couple of projects that are nearly finished, so come back soon for an update.

WOYWW 8th February

2012-02-08T14:20:00.000Z

Whoohoo! I'm back for WOYWW again. I haven't posted a WOYWW update in ages. That's not to say I haven't been crafting. I've been doing quite a bit of crafting - as the state of my desk will testify! However, I've been far too busy to blog my craftiness. But I thought it was about time that I did an update so you can see my mess. Here it is! (Don't say that I didn't warn you!!)

Here's one of the cards that I made recently.

However, papercrafting is not the only crafting I've been doing! Last July I took up crocheting. I bought myself a 4mm hook and some yarn and then sat and watched YouTube videos to learn how to do the stitches. Since then I've had something hooky on the go constantly and I've finished lots of projects. So part of my WOYWW really needs to be a picture of my hooky bag

Okay, so it's just a sneak peak really as you can't tell what these projects are in this picture, but it gives you an idea of what I've put my hand to lately! Come back tomorrow for a good look at some of my finished crocheting projects, inspiration and some hooky blogs I've been following!!

If you're interested in reading a some more WOYWW posts, head over to Julie's blog for loads more!

See you tomorrow, don't play hookie we're getting hooky!

Whoohoo Weightloss!

2012-02-04T18:07:00.003Z

I'm a very happy bunny today!

I've been struggling with my (lack of) weight loss for the past 10 months, and I've been getting steadily more and more frustrated, disillusioned and discouraged with the whole process. On the other hand, however, I haven't really been *doing* the 'diet' properly either so it was hardly suprising that it wasn't really happening.

This year, as part of my "One Little Word" and the "Move More, Eat Well" classes that I've signed up for, I decided that I would get back to doing the 'diet' properly. It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of this but this morning I finally started seeing the results of my efforts. 2 lbs off this week!! Yay! So drinking more water, cooking fresh and TRACKING everything really does work!

Why did it take me nearly a whole year to remember that?!

Post Christmas Weigh In

2012-01-13T00:21:00.000Z

I went to Weight Watchers today for my first weigh in after Christmas to find that I've gained 3½lbs. Now, I'd usually be getting really depressed at a figure like that but today I was actually happy about it! Mostly because I know how much I ate over the holiday period, how little I tracked (not at all!) and how much exercise I got (not much!). I also know that my scales at home told me last Friday that I had gained over half a stone!! It seems that my strict tracking, more exercise and eating waaaay better did the trick this week and limited the damage for my first weigh in. So yes, I'm actually happy with a 3½lbs gain.

I've been feeling a lot more positive this week and I'm thinking that maybe it's because I feel like I'm back in control of my eating again.... something that completely eluded me last year! Hopefully, I'll be able to hold onto this feeling for the rest of the year and can have some good results to show for it at the end of 2012.

How is everyone else going with their New Year Resolutions? Anyone else out there trying to lose weight this year??

One Little Word 2011/2012

2012-01-04T16:24:00.000Z

Happy New Year too all my blogland friends! I hope that you all had a great Christmas and got everything you wanted. I was thoroughly spoiled this year and got quite a few gadgets to play with, including an iPod Shuffle and a new (to me) DSLR camera. Consequently, I've been taking a lot of photo's over the last week or so to convince myself that I *can* shoot on manual. I'm not sure if it's working at all, but I'm having fun!

Now, the New Year is here and it's time for many of us to make our New Year's resolutions. Well, I dispensed with those last year and decided to live my year by One Little Word instead. My chosen word for 2011 was 'Reclaim'. It was quite a difficult word to live by, but I think I managed it in a lot of ways... and failed dismally in others. So in 2011 my word was manifested in:

the Kitchen: We reclaimed the room and some extra space by knocking down the boiler cupboard and integrating it into the kitchen and fitting new kitchen units, flooring etc. It looks lovely and I actually look forward to cooking now. Result!
the Finances: We installed our new 'Cash only' system in the form of the Envelope system. So far this is working wonders! Ok, so we're not out of debt yet, but we have managed to get through some emergencies and Christmas without having to increase our overdraft. Result!
the Nappies: Potty training Weeself was a mission and a half! However, after 3 months the message finally sank in and I was able to reclaim the 'nappy' bag for other use. Result!

So there were also some failures along the way. Firstly, my weightloss. Well, lets just say that it completely stopped. Thankfully, I managed to limit the damage and haven't actually piled any of the weight back on again. Secondly, I struggled with Depression during the summer.... not exactly 'reclaiming' the life I wanted to lead. Thirdly, we took a step backwards with regards to churches. The less said about that the better. However, other than that I think 2011 was a pretty good year over all!

This year I will be attempting to live by One Little Word again. I think it's a great alternative to making New Year's Resulotions which get broken before the end of January comes round. So my word for 2012 is: 'Persevere'.

I'm hoping that I can 'Persevere' this year in:

My weightloss
Stampin' Up!
Crafting
PTA
Finding a new church
Loving my family
Making a home
My faith
Fitness
Blogging more regularly
Learning to use my DSLR properly

There's a lot on my list but I don't think any of them are out of my reach.

Do you make New Year's Resolutions or do you live by One Little Word? If you're a OLW person what is your word for 2012?

See you soon!

Depression, Swimming and Eating a Frog

2011-11-25T12:27:00.001Z

In January this year I chose the word 'Reclaim' as my One Little Word for 2011. I envisaged reclaiming my weight loss, my spiritual side, my house.... and I have done some of those things. However, the one thing that seems to have reclaimed me is Depression. I don't know why and I have been trying to fight it but it's been very hard going. Every time I felt like I was winning something would come along and knock me down. It's been a constant battle. However, the one thing I really didn't want to do was to go on medication. It may seem stupid but I have seen friends and family members taking their little 'happy pills' and they have worked. But I have also seen those same friends and family members trying to wean themselves off the pills only to go right back into depression again. It's not something I want. A lot of things have been affected by my state of mind. My weight loss, for one, has completely stopped. I have managed not to gain any so that's something to be grateful for, but I've hit a plateau. This plateau has lasted almost a whole year now and it's very frustrating! It was so frustrating that I stopped going to my Weight Watchers meeting for 3 weeks because I couldn't face the scales... and that didn't do my mental state any good either because I felt like I was quitting.

On Monday evenings I take Herself to her swimming lessons at the local community pool. As she's old enough to go in the pool on her own for the lesson I normally sit at the tables provided and do some reading or chatting etc. However, this past Monday I decided that I would go for a swim too. As the larger pool was available and there were some people doing lengths I decided to join in and do some too. I think I must have done about 20 in the half-hour I had available. It felt good! Little did I realise that the swimming instructor was watching me! The following day at Weeself's lesson she offered to devise a programme for me to improve my fitness, which I gladly accepted. I LOVE swimming and would much prefer to be in the pool than the gym. I went along to the pool on Wednesday morning, child-free, and was handed a killer programme. 64 lengths!! A mile!! Never would I ever challenge myself to do that, but I got swimming and had finished all 64 lengths in an hour and a half. Wow. I shocked myself and, boy, did it feel good!!! I was buzzing for the rest of the day until the evening.

That evening I phoned my Stampin' Up! Upline, Julie, and she told me about Eating Frogs. Ewwww. Ok, not that Ewww, as it turns out. Julie told me to identify the tasks that I least enjoy or have been procrastinating about the most. Turns out I have PLENTY of those!! Those are your frogs. They are not pleasant to eat, but once you have eaten it you are safe in the knowledge that nothing else is going to be that bad for the rest of the day. Julie said that I have to eat my frog first thing in the morning so that the rest of the day can go smoothly, because nothing else is going to be worse than eating that frog! Thanks Julie for the pep talk, it was just what I needed to hear!! I identified that my first frog should be getting back to WW the next morning..... and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I hadn't gained any weight in the 3 weeks I'd been off. Despite shovelling in enough food to feed an entire army! (Somehow I think the swimming helped with that!)

So, I'm back. Yes, I'm still struggling with the Big D and that's mostly likely going to be a long term battle. But between swimming, to get the endorphins going and to boost the weight loss, and Eating my Frogs, to get past the things that are bogging me down, I feel like there is actually light at the end of this tunnel now. Maybe this year hasn't been a complete waste? Maybe I can 'reclaim' things that I thought were lost?? I don't know, but for now I shall go swimming again and eat another frog.

Thanks for reading all this way through! Leave me a comment please, I'd like to know how you eat your frogs!!

WOYWW 05th October

2011-10-05T10:33:00.000+01:00

Good morning peeps! Yes, I'm feeling a little better and life is getting back into some semblance of routine. I still have a lot of down days but in general I'm feeling a lot more positive than I was a few weeks ago. Thanks for bearing with me while I was AWOL!! I can see how many people visit this blog daily to see if I've updated and it is really lovely to see that you are keeping an eye out for me and my little life. Thanks!

Anyway, it's Wednesday again which means that people are linking up on Julia's blog for WOYWW again. I haven't taken part in aaaaages so I thought I'd get back into the swing of blogging again by showing you my desk. Or rather my whole room. I'm feeling like I need to shame myself publicly by showing you in all it's horrific glory. Maybe that will get me to actually go do something about the mess and sort it out!!!

Now, don't go screaming and running away.... okay?

On my desk is the remains of the stuff that got dumped after my new catalogue launch. The cutting mat which went downstairs for the event has made it back upstairs, but not actually back onto the desk. Unfortunately I actually need to clear the whole desk to put the mat back on. Sigh....

This is the rest of the room. As you can see, there's an awful lot of stuff that has just been dumped. And hubby has decided that the spare bed is an ideal place to put clean washing. Er, no! Clean washing goes back in the drawers please!! People have just started using the clothes straight out of the piles instead of putting it away first. All the boxes are from recent orders and they're waiting to be used for shipping ebay sales out to winning bidders. We've decided to clear out and sell some of our clutter, so far a pushchair and baby car seat have been sold. Neither of which needed boxes!! In the boxes in the foreground are all the stamp sets that got discontinued with the new catalogue. All 28 of them!! Ouch. I'm keeping a few of them for personal use simply because I like them, but the rest will also be sold off. What you can't see in this picture is the top of the chest of drawers or the windowsill. There is yet more gubbins piled on top of both of them!! I really must get this room sorted now, it's really frustrating me.

Do you find you can craft in a mess? Do you like things piled around you? Do you not mind the little snippy bits and the dribbled ink/paint all over your desk?? I don't! I feel like I need to tidy up BEFORE I do any crafting. Unfortunately that means that I'm always tidying and very rarely actually doing any crafting. Let me know about your mess/tidy crafting preferences in the box below!! Or even better, take a photo and come link up over on Julia's blog so we can all take a look.

See you soon and thanks for leaving a comment

Struggling

2011-09-09T12:09:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts at the moment. I'm really struggling to get the motivation to do anything right now. I think I'm suffering with a touch of depression... or maybe I'm just a little bit down. Don't know why though!! It's not as if anything major has gone wrong or anything. Just feeling.... low. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things again now that Herself has gone back to school. So maybe I'll be able to start posting regularly soon. It will be sooo much better when the Weeself has started nursery too!!

On a positive note.... I think the potty training has finally sunk in! Just in time for nursery too. I'm very happy about that!

I realised I've got a lot of pictures to show that I've taken this year. They've only made it only my computer... just. I haven't had a chance to print them, scrap them, show them off or anything. So here's one, well, just because!

Isn't this face the cutest?? This picture was taken in March this year... and she's grown so much since then!

Right, I'm off out to the local Retail park as she needs some new shoes. Again! See you soon!

Mr Mojo and the Envelopes

2011-08-19T00:04:00.000+01:00

Wow! Mr Mojo is well and truly back today. After doing my post yesterday I was itching to do something inky but somehow I got sucked into online stuff and well, after that nothing happens. Then last night after the kids had gone to bed I ended up going out to visit a friend of mine and well, after that nothing happens! LOL. So this morning I packed Herself off to school on the bus and Weeself decided that she was happy playing on her own, so I decided to follow her example and headed to my desk. I had about 3 or 4 hours of complete (almost) uninterrupted bliss!!

Now, before I show you what I made I'd like to explain a little of the 'back story' to this item..... Our finances are currently a mess. I think most of you will know the feeling, especially as the pay cuts, inflation, higher taxes, higher fuel costs, and super-inflated grocery costs all hit our pockets. Added to that the fact that hubby hasn't had a pay rise in nearly 6 years, we're carrying two mortgages (long story!) and both cars seem to be determined to be as expensive possible at the moment we're definitely finding it hard going at the moment. Please tell me I'm not alone in this?? Does any of it sound familiar?

Well, I often read the Life as Mom blog and had seen her explain how they got out of debt using a modified form of the Envelope System. I took no notice as I figured this was a 'big American thing that couldn't possibly apply to us'. Then I saw (quite by accident) a video on YouTube on it, a book on Amazon about it and heard another friend talking about it. By that time I was sitting up and taking notice... and finally getting the message that maybe this idea was being presented to me over and over again for. a. reason. The final straw was when I was browsing on my mobile phone only to find an App for it!! So hubby and I have done a budget and labelled up some envelopes and we've been using the system for about 3 weeks now. And it SO WORKS!! Have a look at this video to see how this system works.

My only problem is.... it's not PRETTY. Yep, as a crafter I have to resist the urge to make it pretty. And today I completely failed on the resisting front!! Mr Mojo came back in full force and I went with the flow..... including cutting up an old pair of jeans. Not my usual way of working but I'm soooo pleased with the results....

So there it is... Mr Mojo's much-prettier-completely-craftyfied-envelope system. What do you think??

The Trouble With Holidays

2011-08-17T13:13:00.000+01:00

The Trouble with Holidays.... is that you get nothing done. The kids are off and the sun is shining so you sit outdoors while they play with bubbles, bounce on trampolines and learn to ride a bike. OR . The kids are off and the rain is pouring so you sit indoors and watch movies, rubbish telly or them to make sure they don't get the paint/playdough all over the floor and walls. What you don't do is get anything done. All those things that were absolutely pressing before the holidays now get shelved in favour of doing nothing in particular with the kids all day. When your hubby gets home and asks 'so what did you all do today' the kids answer "nothing!" and you nod and say "well, I had to watch them didn't I?" Okay, so you still cook and tidy up... but that's not doing anything, that's just ticking over.... and so, the blog gets neglected and the crafting stuff gathers dust.

Well, after today that is all going to change. Because? Well, the holidays are over and the eldest one officially went off on the bus back to school to start Primary 2. She's grown up so much over the past year! I have a feeling that this year is going to fly by.

So, all those pressing things that needed doing before the holidays have all come rushing back to sit on my shoulders again. The thing is I know they're still there and that I need to do them, but just for today I'm going to tell them to go sit quietly in the corner while I blog a little and get back to my poor neglected desk. Ahhhhh, that's better! So here's my starting point.... I'm sure there will be quite a few proper projects on this desk fairly soon.

Until then I've got a list, on this piece of paper, of various challenge blogs that I might use to inspire me and get the mojo going again!

I'm looking forward to getting back into a regular posting schedule again, picking up routines again and getting stuff done again.... but just for today.... I'm going to pretend it's still the holidays! I might even get to hop around some of the other blogs on Julia's WOYWW just to see what everyone else has been up to. But first.... A Cup of Tea!

No Tasty Tuesday

2011-06-28T11:22:00.000+01:00

For anyone expecting a Tasty Tuesday post today, sorry! As we are away for a week's holidays I can't post a recipe today. Well, I've got photo's of food but the recipe book got forgotten at home! Oops.

There won't be a WOYWW post tomorrow either. However, i will be back later this week with a few photo's and some news from our holibobs.

See you soon!

WOYWW 22nd June '11

2011-06-22T10:31:00.000+01:00

Good morning! Welcome to WOYWW, hosted by the lovely Julia!

I unexpectedly have a child-free hour this morning so I decided that the blogging that was going to be relegated to last on the list, can go ahead anyway. Yay! Weeself is playing at her new nursery for an hour and since she toddled in without a backward glance the nursery teacher said I was probably safe to go home. Whoohoo!

So, what's on my desk today?? Well.... just a little bit of this...

Yup, I've got my Bigshot out, some cardstock and my lovely new Mini Milk Carton die. I made a little prototype last night and today I'm going to be making about 15 of these little cartons. Why? Because it's teacher gift season, of course!!

Our schools here in Scotland break up on Friday for the Summer holidays and Erin announced last week that she wanted presents for not only her teacher but all the classroom assistants, secretaries and the head teacher too! Wow. So I ordered the die and it arrived yesterday. Having had a play last night I think it's going to turn out fab and it's going to be soooo much easier than doing it all by hand! Now all I've got to figure out is what I'm putting in them and how I'm going to decorate them. Have you got any ideas or suggestions?? I could do with a little inspiration!!

Thanks for your comments, I'm looking forward to your suggestions this morning as I've run out of ideas. See you soon!

Pasta Arrabiata

2011-06-21T10:45:00.000+01:00

Welcome to another Tasty Tuesday! I'm really enjoying getting into a regular habit of posting these. I've noticed however, that I'm doing mainly Main dishes and I'm wondering if anyone out there would like some pudding/dessert recipes or maybe some starters? Let me know in the comments box and I'll get to work on them for future posts. In the meantime though, here is another delicious recipe to try out if you're trying to lose weight.

Now we all know about good carbs and bad carbs right? Pasta is one of those that seems to be able to fall into both camps. Certainly I've noticed that since Weight Watchers have changed their plan, I get far less pasta for my ProPoints than I used to on the old Points system. Which is a pity because I lurve pasta. I don't care what the sauce is just give me pasta!! So I was really happy to see this recipe in my favourite WW recipe book. Yay! Pasta!! Anyway, have a look at the recipe and tell me what you think.

low fat cooking spray
2 rashers smoked lean back bacon, trimmed of excess fat and chopped into strips
1 large garlic clove, chopped
½ - 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
400g can chopped tomatoes with herbs
150g dried pasta shapes or spaghetti
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, to serve

Heat a medium, non stick pan until you can feel a good heat rising and spray with the cooking spray. Add the bacon and cook on a medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add the garlic and enough chilli flakes to suit your taste and then cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and seasoning and cook for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta for about 8 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Drain and then mix in the tomato and chilli sauce. Serve the pasta sprinkled with the parsley.

Serves: 2

Total ProPoints: 18

ProPoints/serving: 9

Verdict:

Of course it's pasta, so it was always going to go down well with me. However, it uses tomatoes which meant it was not really going to hit the spot for Himself and the girls. It had me unduly concerned though as Himself loved it. The kids refused to eat it the first time. The second time they picked out the bacon only and the third time the whole lot disappeared! Now it's become one of Herself's favourite dishes despite it having tomotoes in it and being far more spicy than she would normally tolerate. This dish is definitely well worth making! Especially if you love pasta and feel like you're being deprived of it on the road to your new, leaner body.

Just a note though, you will notice in this picture that I shaved some parmesan over. It is gorgeous with it on, but you have to remember to add the appropriate amount of ProPoints to your total. However, the good news is that Parmesan is very low in ProPoints compared to other cheese, so you can get quite a bit on your plate!! Yum.

So what do you think? Would you try this one or are you tomato-phobic like my family? Give it a try and tell me what your thoughts are on it. I'd love to hear! Now if you'd like to see some other gorgeous recipes hop over to FTLOB to see what everyone else has been cooking up this week!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment. I always read them and appreciate them!

WOYWW 15 June '11

2011-06-15T23:03:00.000+01:00

Good evening and welcome to my little blog. Ok, so in my head I was saying that in the 'Arabic' accent used by the narrator in Disney's Alladin. I don't know why, but I thought you might like to know that piece of very important information...

I'm extremely late in posting my WOYWW contribution today. It's been one of those days unfortunately. My car was at the mechanic to have something rather expensive done to it. I wouldn't mind the expense if it was making my car look prettier, but I begrudge spending the money on something I can't even see - much less understand what it actually DOES. However, I'm assured by those that know these things that I definitely need to have this bit fixed or it could result in lots of oil all over the road and an engine that goes 'KABOOM'. That would not be good at all, so I took the little car to the garage last night so they could start work on her bright and early this morning.

That means I have effectively been trapped in my house all day.... so you would think that I would have been able to find time to post on the little old bloggy. But no. Instead my day started in a mad rush to get Herself to the bus stop which was easier said than done because her only thought this morning was about her school trip. So she bounced round the house like a flibberty-jibbet instead of getting dressed which very nearly resulted in her missing the bus and not going on the school trip at all!

My intention to blog before lunchtime was thwarted by technology. No, not Blogger misbehaving. Unfortunately. Instead I was wrestling with ordering systems, credit card details not being accepted and banks... all the while getting increasingly frustrated with various technologies NOT being able to communicate with each other properly. Or even at all. By the time I had that sorted it was 1pm and Weeself was asking for her lunch. While she was eating her lunch, the Window Surveyor turned up to measure the port-holes for new casements. He was extremely meticulous and very chatty! Which resulted in me only getting to eat my lunch at 3:45pm AFTER I had collected a very happy, bouncy, excited, chattering and twirling girl from the bus stop.

Himself arrived just in time to bundle us all in his car so we could go pick up my, now repaired, little car from the garage and after that it was go, go, go for dinner, bath and bedtime.

So despite being indoors all day and within 5 yards of the computer at all times, I'm only now sitting down to do this post. And it's turned into War & Peace already!! I'll stop gabbing now and let you have a look at the desk...

On my desk today you can see my layout for my July Scrap Club. I'm having a whole month of 'Christmas in July' so it's gone all festive. I used the papers you saw on my desk last time. Also on my desk today is the stamp set I was planning to use this morning to make Father's Day cards. Somehow, I don't think it's going to get done tonight.

Right, I'm off to read my book. I'm borrowing Himself's Kindle as it's got a series of books on it that I've been dying to read. It shall be an early night tonight (well as early as I ever get!) and then an early start tomorrow as Weeself has been invited to a birthday party. Her first ever! She'll be in her element I think.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment! Oh, and don't forget to hop over to Julia's to have a look at some more desks.

Spicy Lamb & Couscous

2011-06-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

Good morning my lovelies! Isn't it a lovely day? We've got some sunshine forecast for today and so far it's looking like the weatherman might be right. Yay! That will be the first sunshine around here for.... well, ages (it seems)! While the rest of the UK seems to be suffering from drought we, here in Scotland, have been facing endless days of grey skies and rain. Lots of rain. So today's forecast is definitely a good thing. This morning I'm rushing off to take Herself to school and Weeself to nursery. I then have errands to run before it's time to pick Weeself up again. Lunch and then swimming lessons for the Wee one before coming home in time to collect Herself from the bus stop.... and then tonight, well... I don't know exactly but I feel like I'm meant to be somewhere tonight. I think I'll check the calendar once I'm finished doing this! Just in case.

Anyway, I'm rambling now so lets get to the food!! With today being quite a busy day I need something really quick and easy to make for tea so I've pulled out some lovely Lamb steaks. I think I might make this recipe since it is so simple and quick and also, we love it! Ok, so it takes the kids a bit of convincing to eat the Couscous but they are starting to get used to it. I think if we put it in front of them often enough they'll eventually get used to the idea and start eating it!! So here's what I'm making tonight...

finely grated zest and juice of ½ a lemon
1 red chilli, de-seeded and diced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 x 150g lean lamb leg steaks
low fat cooking spray
100g dried couscous
½ a kettleful of boiling water
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

On a plate, mix together the lemon zest, half the chilli, cumin seeds and seasoning. Press the lamb steaks into the mixture to coat the meat.
Lightly coat a non-stick frying pan with the cooking spray and fry the lam steaks for 3-4 minutes on each side, until done to your liking.
Meanwhile, mix the lemon juice and remaining chilli into the couscous in a bowl. Season and add 175ml of boiling water. Stir the mixture then cover the bowl with cling film and leave the couscous to stand for 5 minutes to soften.
Fluff up the couscous with a form and mix in the coriander. Serve the lamb steaks on a bed of couscous.

Serves: 2

Total ProPoints: 25

ProPoints/serving: 12

Note: I will admit that I cheat a bit with the ingredients.... I tend to use 'Lazy Chillies' (bottled, pre-chopped chillies) and dried Coriander leaf instead of fresh. However, I don't find it makes a huge difference to the flavour. I have also been known to add spring onions to the couscous for an extra veg portion.

Verdict:

Yummy! Yummy! Yummy! Himself and I loved this recipe from the moment we first tasted it. It has become a regular on the menu now and each time the girls are more inclined to eat it. The Lamb gets eaten very quickly, but the couscous isn't very popular. However, the Weeself surprised me the other day by actually eating 2 or 3 spoonfuls before deciding she'd had enough. Slowly but surely I will win this battle! I just wish it wasn't such hard work!! Anyway, if you have more adventurous kids or no kids at all to worry about then I would definitely give it a go.

If you're wanting some non-Weight Watcher recipes to try out then hop over to FTLOB to have a read. There are usually some really yummy recipes there to tempt you.

Anyway, I have to dash now as a certain Wee one is wanting breakfast and Herself needs reminding that mornings are for getting dressed and ready.. NOT for playing! Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment! Oh, and please make sure you let me know if you try any of the Tasty Tuesday recipes. I'd love to hear what your verdict is!!

Speak soon!!

Meatball Pasta Bake

2011-06-07T10:12:00.000+01:00

Good morning! If you've been reading my Tasty Tuesday posts for the last couple of weeks you'll have noticed that I seem to have gotten stuck on chicken. So today, I've decided to stay away from the chicken and go for beef instead. Himself and Myself love using mince beef (or ground beef as our cousins across the big blue like to say), however, Herself and Weeself always pull their noses up at it. I don't know why. The only thing I can think of is that they don't like the texture? Who knows with kids and toddlers, eh?! The only way they DO eat it is when it's presented as Meatballs. So it was with great joy that I found this recipe in one of my WW recipe books.

400g lean beef mince
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon dried oregano
low fat cooking spray
175g dried penne pasta
2x400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, chopped
125g pack mozzarella light, drained and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix together the beef, onion and herbs with some seasoning. Shape into 16 walnut sized balls.
Spray a non-stick frying pan with the cooking spray and heat until hot. Add the meatballs and cook for 7-8 minutes until browned all over; don't worry if they are not cooked through as they will continue cooking in the oven. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C/fan oven 170C. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes or about half the cooking time stated on the packet. Drain well and mix with the tomatoes and garlic.
Spoon the pasta mixture into an ovenproof dish. Nestle the meatballs into the pasta, top with the mozzarella and bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbling

Serves: 4

Total ProPoints: 42

ProPoints/serving: 10

Verdict:

Finally! A mince beef meal that the kids will eat!! Ok, so they still refused to eat the tomato bits, but all the pasta and meatballs disappeared at the speed of light. Yay! As for the adults, I would recommend some salad to go with it just to fill any gaps. Very very tasty dish, so be careful because you WILL be tempted to go back for more!

Right now I'm rushing off to the hairdresser for a trim.... and then after that it's rush, rush, rush!! Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment. Have a look at FTLOB for more Tasty Tuesday recipes.

WOYWW 1st June '11

2011-06-01T10:44:00.000+01:00

Good morning all you lovely Blogland people!! Wow, I'm feeling all bouncy today which is really strange as I'm one of those people who gets horribly affected by the weather outside my window and today it is horrible. Grey and drizzling. Again. So, it must be purely the knowledge that I'm going to be able to see all these wonderful workdesks again today that must be making me so happy!! If you think I'm nuts, sorry. If you'd like to join in the happiness then please check out Julia's Blog to see what makes me so ridiculously happy on a Wednesday morning!

Right, I suppose as you've trekked all the way over to MY little blog that you'd really like to see my desk, right? Ok, here it is this morning....

Ok, so I'll admit that my desk was like this last night too. I sat down to do some sample scrapbook layouts for my new Scrap Club that I'm launching and despite staring at the papers I came up with nothing. Nada. Nix. How is it that when you don't have time to scrap you have Loooooooaaaaads of inspiration but the moment you actually sit down to do some you end up staring and paper and cardstock. And, worst of all, the paper and cardstock actually ends up staring. right. back. Freaky! Anyway, once I've done this WOYWW post and done some admin I shall be heading straight back to this desk to get something done with that lovely Jolly Holiday DSP. I'm thinking maybe something Christmassy.... hmmmm.....

Anyway, maybe you can give me some ideas? Inspiration? Help!!! If those papers start staring back at me again I'm going to have to do something drastic and I won't be held responsible for my actions then!!

Oh well, I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions so PLEASE leave me a comment. Thanks for dropping by!

Cider Braised Stuffed Chicken

2011-05-31T13:40:00.003+01:00

My apologies for being so late today with the Tasty Tuesday post! Normally I schedule the post at least the night before but with yesterday being a bank holiday here in the UK things got turned upside down. Normally I schedule the posts beforehand because Tuesday is one of my busiest days of the week with nursery and school run, gym, housework, collections, lunches, swimming lessons etc. And that is all BEFORE Herself comes home from school and all the homework needs to be dealt with! So today I'm busy typing this at the dining table, having finished my lunch and while Weeself if finishing hers. Once she's done we'll be off for her swimming lesson and then back just in time to collect Herself from the bus stop. Phew! I really should have pulled my finger out yesterday and scheduled this post but ho-hum.

So, today I wanted to show you this beautiful dish. We seem to be on a roll with Chicken dishes at the moment... and this one was to die for.

2 x 150g skinless boneless chicken breasts

low fat cooking spray

1 red onion, cut into thin slices

150ml dry cider

freshly ground black pepper

For the stuffing:

50g wholemeal breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons capers in brine

4 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 garlic clove, diced

15g low fat spread

Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of cling film on a chopping board and bash gently with the end of a rolling pin to flatten slightly. Use a sharp knife to cut into the meat to form a pocket.
Mix together the ingredients for the stuffing and season with some black pepper. Push the stuffing into the pocket, pulling the chicken over. Keep back about a tablespoon of the mixture.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/fan oven 160C. Spray a non stick frying pan with the cooking spray and heat until hot. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until softened. Spoon into an ovenproof dish which will hold the chicken snugly.
Place the chicken on top of the onions and pour over the cider. Scatter over the remaining stuffing. Spray a sheet of foil with the cooking spray and cover the dish. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately.

White breadcrumbs work well in this recipe if you have them to hand, but wholemeal adds a good nutty flavour. Serve with 150g chopped carrots, 100g boiled peas, as well as 125g potatoes mashed with 30 ml skimmed milk each for an extra 5 ProPoints values per serving.

Serves: 2

ProPoints Total: 14

ProPoints/serving: 7

Verdict:

Wow. This recipe is gorgeous!! The first time we made it just for Himself and Myself and we were completely blown away by it. Last night we made it again and this time we made enough for the kids too. Hmmm, to say that they were unimpressed would be an understatement. Although Herself did actually eat most of the chicken. However, Weeself decided that the chicken was a step too far for her. Oh well, we will carry on putting new foods in front of them in the hopes that they might oneday grow up to be less fussy children and eventually non-fussy adults!! We live in hope!!

Anyway, I'm off to the swimming pool now with Weeself. We will be a little late but hey at least we'll be there!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment. Please feel free to drop by FTLOB to see what other recipes have been shared today!

April WW Round-up

2011-05-27T10:43:00.001+01:00

Wow, this is such a late post. I completely forgot to do a WeightWatchers round-up for April, although I did remember to take photo's. So it was obviously on my mind to do it and then life must have gotten in the way as it usually does.

So here are the photo's I took...

Strike the normal poses... LOL. As far as weight loss goes April was not great. I was still really struggling with the new ProPoints plan and getting my head in the right place. So my overall weightloss for the whole month of April was 1lb. As I said, not great. However at the end of April things started clicking into place for me and I managed to get my head together too... so I'm hoping for a decent overall loss in May!!

While I was taking these photo's this happened... and I thought you'd find it amusing.

... and then she insisted on having her photo taken....

What is it with my kids and always wanting to pose for the camera? At this rate they'll both end up as models when they're older!

Anyway, it's a lovely day here so I'm going to take them to the park. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with them lately due to being extremely busy with prepping for workshops etc. So today is going to be a Mummy and Daughters day and with the sunshine finally making an appearance I'm thinking that a trip to the park might be a good call.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment. See you soon!

WOYWW 25th May '11

2011-05-25T11:58:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's Wednesday again! Fancy a look at my seriously messy desk??

Oh my! A little tidier than last time isn't it?? It's tinged with sadness though as I've had to pack away the mini album project for now. I promise I will get it out again soon though as I really want to finish it. I'm about halfway through the photo's that I wanted to scrap for this mini.... and I must admit that it's not looking so 'mini' anymore! In fact, it's going to end up quite a chunky, fat album. The only thing mini about it is the pages really. It's going to be lovely though.... once it's finished, that is!

Unfortunately, though, I've run out of time for personal crafting as I have another workshop tomorrow night. It's my first mid-week one ever and I'm being told to expect 12-15 people so it's going to be busy! So in preparation for that I've had to pack my Dorset mini album stuff away so that I can get cutting and glueing for tomorrow night.

Here's my desk now.... with a fresh piece of grid paper.

I love that grid paper cause I can get as messy as I like and I know that my cutting mat is not going to get all gunky. Mind you, it's had it's fair share of gunkiness over the last few years!!

So now, bid me adieu... cause I'm off to get all inky again! That grid paper isn't going to stay clean for long!! If you'd like to see some really messy desks, organised desks, pretty desks, haphazard desks, feats of engineering desks and desks with piles of stuff on that somehow manage to defy gravity and all the laws of nature.... then hop over to Julia's blog for a peek at other WOYWW entries!

Thanks for popping by today and leaving me a comment!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2011-05-24T08:00:00.001+01:00

Oooooh, yummy!! Welcome to Tasty Tuesday!! If you're not sure what Tasty Tuesday is then please hop over to FTLOB for details and lots more tasty recipes. Some of them are healthy, some are most definitely not.... but they're ALL delicious! If you just try the recipes from one Tasty Tuesday you won't have to reach for a recipe book in a looooooong time. Just make sure you come back here once you've had a look over there!

Now, are you back? Did you like those recipes?? Mmmmm..... yum.

We've been trying recipes from several different recipe books, class leaflets, online resources and also ones that we just made up. However, there is one particular book which constantly seems to provide tasty recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. This one! (Click on the picture to check it out on Amazon). I got this book in Tesco. It was an impulse buy and totally random. I don't know if I even looked at the recipes before I put it in the trolley. I just know that it had those two magic words.... "WeightWatchers" and "Easy"! What a gem of a purchase it was too! So here's another recipe that we tried from this particular book recently:

50g Smoked Ham, diced
2 teaspoons snipped chives
100g low fat soft cheese
4 x 165g skineless, boneless chicken breasts
low fat cooking spray
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200C/fan oven 180C
Mix the ham, chives and seasoning into the low fat soft cheese
Using a small sharp knife, make a pocket along the length of each chicken breast, taking care not to cut right through. Fill with the stuffing then place the chicken breasts in a small roasting time and spray with a little cooking spray.
Roast for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through; the juices should run clear when the thickest part of the chicken is pierced.

Serves: 4

ProPoints Total: 21

ProPoints/serving: 5

Don't forget to count the ProPoints for your potatoes/rice and any other sides you might have!

Verdict:

We first tried this recipe a few weeks ago and it's been done at least 3 times since then. I was absolutely amazed to see two little girls who absolutely wolfed it down and then asked for seconds!! Now, those of you who've been reading my Tasty Tuesday submissions for a bit will know how fussy my kids are. Not many of these recipes have gone down well with them and yet, here is one that they can't get enough of. Yay!! Happy Mum! This is quickly becoming a family favourite and will stay in the repertoire long after Himself and I have lost the weight and become super-skinny.

I hope you liked today's recipe! I'm really enjoying doing the Tasty Tuesday submissions and we're enjoying trying out new recipes as a family. It's a real bonus when the kids enjoy them as much as we do!! I have yet to pluck up the courage to try them on the Spinach Lasagne yet. I might serve this one a few more times before I try feeding that one to the world's fussiest children!!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment!

PS. I've suddenly realised that I didn't do a Weight loss update for April! I have the photo's ready and waiting so I'll put that post up tomorrow.

WOYWW 18th May '11

2011-05-18T23:54:00.000+01:00

Wow, what a busy day I've had today!! My apologies for not posting my WOYWW earlier today but it really has been manic today and this is the first time I've managed to have two minutes to even think about posting. Actually, I had actually decided not to post as it was so late but then had second thoughts about that too. I'm so decisive, aren't I?! However, since Julia takes the time to host it and I've not joined in for a few weeks I figured I just had to!

Anyway, I'll stop chattering now and show you this:

Oh yes, I've been getting creative again! This time, however, it's been personal stuff not business related! It's been such a long time since I last did any scrapbooking just for me! I nearly forgot what it felt like actually. Anywho, I don't know how much you can actually see here.... there are a few random things dotted about as I had to quickly make a birthday card this morning to put in with a gift that was being posted. The birthday 'girl's big day is tomorrow so I thought I'd better get my butt in gear! So I hauled out my SU inks and stamps to get that done, but they've already been cleared away. The open printer is because I had to print off directions to get to someone's house last night and the rest of the stuff is what I've been using to scrapbook with!

There's still my trusty SU Stampin' Scrub for cleaning my stamps, grid paper for being messy on and punches for adding lovely handmade elements... but the rest is all from my stash!! OH MY! I've actually managed to cut up one of those Scrapagogo kits that have been hanging around in yellow pizza boxes for the last 2½ years! Yes, 2½!! I went to a charity crop last weekend in aid of Arthritis Care Scotland and took along a whole load of 'Beach holiday' pictures, masses of tools and one Scrapagogo kit. I completed all of one double page spread for a Paperbag minibook during the whole day and I really thought I would end up unpacking it and shoving it underneath my desk and forget about it. However, for some reason the Mojo has really got going with this one and I'm really enjoying it again. Yay!

On the grid paper you can see the results of my only Non-SU purchase in the past 12 months. At the crop I got my hands on two bottles of Mica Mist. I've never seen or used this stuff before so I was intruiged. Wow. It's gorgeous.... even if a little messy. I'm normally a very clean lines, crisp edges sort of crafter so it's been refreshing to get really inky and shimmery with these. You can see a little bit of the front cover for the minibook on the desk and it's well and truly covered in Mica Mist! Oh and ribbon, lace, chipboard letters, stickers, papers and...... a beautiful rose that I made using 2 punches and a pair of scissors. I'm really rather pleased with that rose because it came out so beautifully!

Anyway, none of that has been played with at all today (although I'm considering a late night session tonight!) as I was out and about all day. This morning started late for me and then proceeded to be a headlong rush all day. Took Herself (aka TwirlPower) to school, rushed back and gave Weeself (aka DestructoGirl) her breakfast. Changed nappies, got dressed, made a birthday card, grabbed present, rushed to train station, caught the train to Edinburgh, found friend, strolled down to her house, kids played, kids had lunch, unpacked wardrobe, moved wardrobe, held baby, had lunch, ordered taxi, got into taxi (forgetting changing bag at friends house), got to the train station, walked 2 million miles to get to the correct platform, ended up running for the train whilst pushing Weeself in manic pushchair dash, got on train, entertained Weeself in order to stop her getting killed by grumpy businessman, got in car, dashed to bus stop to pick up Herself, went to Tesco to buy wrapping paper, wrapped present, posted present, rushed home, helped Herself with homework, greeted hubby, helped cook tea, ate tea, helped bath kids, attended screaming child after she fell off the changing station, calmed distraught hubby down, calmed screaming child down, convinced distraught hubby that it wasn't his fault, got kids dressed and into bed, read bedtime stories, did some business adminy stuff, surfed Facebook, blogged and collapsed! Phew!

Any chance I can have a quieter day tomorrow please? Mind you, it's been good to get out of the house and see some real people again so I'm not complaining too loudly. PLUS, I got to hold my friend's new baby which is always well worth any rushing around that was done to get there in the first place!! Shhh.... dont tell hubby I said that! LOL.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. I know now why the chinese curse is "may you live in interesting times"..... Right now a quiet life sounds like a good idea to me!

All advise on how not to run around like a headless chicken would be gratefully received!

Blog Makeover

2011-05-17T19:32:00.001+01:00

Oh my! Oh my!! Isn't it lovely?? Shimelle has done such a brilliant job on this for me and I'm so honoured to be one of only 5 people from the 'Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers' class that got a makeover like this. For once I was quick off the mark for putting my name down for stuff. Unlike normal, when I'm usually about 3 weeks too late!

So, I asked Shimelle to make it look more 'website-y' and less 'bloggy' and I think she has managed to do that really well. I wanted nice clean lines and a not-too-cluttered look. Lovely, lovely, lovely!! Now you can see my 'about page' and my 'fat to fit' page tabs on the Right hand side, along with ways to contact and connect with me. I'm mostly on Facebook but just recently joined this thing they call Twitter. So I'm still getting to grips with that! Also, Shimelle has handily (and very neatly) listed all the classes, meme's and communities that I'm involved in. I'll be adding more as I join and take-part too.... if I can find out how to resize all the little logo's.

I am soooo happy with the end result! A big "Thank you!" to Shimelle for working so hard and putting up with my rather large amount of questions and modifications. It's brilliant!!

So what do you think?? Come on, be honest!!

Follow my blog...

2011-05-17T13:50:00.003+01:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Ignore this post, I'm just registering with a bloglister!

Superquick Spinach and Cheese Lasagne

2011-05-17T08:07:00.000+01:00

Yay! It's Tuesday, which means Tasty Tuesday is here again. If you're new to this blog and don't know what I'm talking about then please hop over to FTLOB to see all the entries for this week's meme. There's loads of lovely recipes all waiting and crying out to be tried. Over on this blog I try to inspire my fellow Weight Watchers with yummy recipes that are not going to result in the dreaded weight gain at the weekly weigh in. Most of the recipes are from various WW cookbooks, leaflets, websites etc.

When Himself (aka Lego Man) decided that he wanted to try this recipe, I will admit, I pulled a face. Hmmmm, yes. Spinach. Need I say more?? My perception of spinach has an awful lot to do with boarding school food. It was a mass of soggy, stringy green stuff that was schlopped onto your plate on a fairly regular basis. It sat there looking malevolent and giving off a smell - no, an odour - that was only a mild foretaste of the horrors that you were going to have to endure. And it had to be eaten because the Boarder Mistress/Master would be checking. The first mouthful would be enough to put anyone off spinach for life because it would reveal that the wonderful odour was just a confirmation of the flavour. The second mouthful would reveal that it hadn't been washed properly and still contained grit, and then you had to chew your way through half a bucketful of soil that had managed not to get boiled out of the soggy mass. You also learned to pick your way very carefully through it after one unfortunate girl found a teeny tiny baby snail on her plate. Yes. Really.

So, it was with much trepidation that I agreed to put this recipe on the menu for the week. Himself did the honours of cooking it. It was surprisingly quick and easy to do...

Low fat cooking spray

200g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained (we used a whole bunch of fresh spinach instead)

100g low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs

6 sheets no pre-cook lasagne (ok, we used a few more... about 9 or so)

400g can chopped tomatoes

50g low fat Cheddar cheese, grated

salt and freshly ground black pepper

a handful of fresh basil or parsley to garnish, optional.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/ 180C/Fan oven 160C. Spray a small ovenproof dish with the cooking spray.
In a bowl, mix together the spinach and soft cheese and season with black pepper. Place two sheets of lasagne in the oven dish, then spoon over half the spinach mixture.
Place two more sheets of lasagne on top and spoon the remaining spinach mixture onto it. Repeat with the last two sheets, pours over the chopped tomatoes, season generously and sprinkle with the grated cheese
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Garnish with basil or parsley, if using.

Serves: 2

ProPoints Total: 17

ProPoints/serving: 8

Verdict:

Oh my! This dish completely changed my view of spinach!! I never knew it could be this good. I'm definitely not a vegetarian and love my meat, but this lasagne was a great addition to our repetoire. We will definitely be putting it on the menu more often from now on. Although, I have to note that we didn't attempt to serve this to the kids as we predicted that a riot would probably be the result. However, I think the gruesome twosome could probably learn to eat this without too much fuss......

Who am I kidding? Expecting them to eat greenery in a new recipe is going to be disastrous, but I might still try. They pull their noses up at everything else, so it won't make much of a change will it?

I heartily recommend it, even if you don't usually eat spinach. Let me know what you think, and if you make it I'd love some feedback!!

Come back tomorrow for WOYWW. Hopefully I'll be able to participate this week. It all depends on how organised I am in the morning.

See you soon!!

Orange Mustard Chicken with Parsnip Mash

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000+01:00

For quite a number of weeks now, himself and I have been trying out some new recipes. We figured that we have so many Weight Watchers recipe books that we never seem to use! Each time we try a new recipe I try to take a decent photo of the plated dish. I'm not sure I always succeed though as I am by no means a food-photographer. Here's my contribution to FTLOB's "Tasty Tuesday" meme. As I've got quite a selection of photo's and recipes now I figured I'd join in!!

2 Parsnips, peeled and sliced thingly

1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

2 teaspoons reduced-sugar orange marmalade

150g skinless boneless chicken breast

1 tablespoon low fat fromage frais

1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives or parsley

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the grill to medium high. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the parsnips for 15 minutes or until tender.

2. In a small bowl, mix the mustard and marmalade together.

3. Meanwhile, place the chicken, upper side face down, in a foil lined grill tray. Season. Grill for 8 - 10 minutes, then turn the chicken over and spread on the mustard and marmalade. Cook for a further 8 - 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the glaze has turned a deep golden colour.

4. Drain the cooked parsnips. Mash with the fromage frais and chopped chives or parsley. Slice the chicken and serve piled on top of the mash.

Serves: 1

ProPoints per serving: 10

Takes 25 minutes

Verdict:

Himself and I loved the chicken done this way. It comes out wonderfully succulent. Not dry at all, which is the problem I normally find with doing chicken breasts under the grill. However, as I'm not overly keen on parsnips, I didn't particularly enjoy the mash. It was okay-ish when eaten with the chicken; but once the chicken was gone I found the flavour unpleasant.... much to hubby's amusement. He loves parsnip! However, even he was struggling with the mash. We tried this recipe a second time using potatoes for the mash and found that to be much better as long as you don't use the fromage frais.

The kids, however, pulled their noses up at it. As usual! I'm not sure why we don't just serve them chicken nuggets and fries for dinner every single day. However, himself and I are not giving up. We will continue to put new foods and recipes in front of them in the hopes that oneday they might try something and find that they actually like it! Hmmmm.... hell might freeze over before that happens I'm afraid!

All-in-all, I'd say this is a good one to try if you adore Parsnips. If not, substitute them with normal mashed potato and it still works well!

If you'd like to see some more recipes then please head over to FTLOB to see what everyone else is up to! Make sure you come back again next Tuesday for another Tasty recipe!!

.... and the winner is......

2011-05-09T22:34:00.000+01:00

.... dah, dah, dah, dah....!!!

Which means that I need your contact details please Becky Bromley - Craft Jar. Yes, you! Email me please and let me know your postal address so I can send these goodies off to you asap. I hope that this will help you get more into stamping.

To everyone else who took part but weren't lucky enough this time.... I'm sorry. There will be more draws on this blog, probably around my 200th post or annual anniversary. I rather enjoyed putting the kit together and then reading your comments so I will definitely be doing it again!! Thanks for taking part and make sure you come back regularly. I intend to be posting regularly so there should be plenty to read. Speaking of posting... join me tomorrow as I'm going to start taking part in 'Tasty Tuesday' again. It's hosted by FTLOB each week and I will be sharing some of the latest Weight Watchers recipes that we've been trying out. Some have been a great hit, others..... not so much.

See you tomorrow morning bright and early! (It's all scheduled and waiting to go, so don't worry about it relying on my actually being awake at that time of the morning!!) Right now, I'm off to my bed.

Congratulations again to Becky!

11 years ago....

2011-05-06T10:40:00.000+01:00

11 years ago, at the tender age of 23, I walked up the aisle of a church in Sheffield, South Yorkshire to say "I do" to the most wonderful man in the world. When we married we had only known each other 9 months and a lot of people said it wouldn't last. A lot of people thought I was marrying him because I needed an extension to my visa. A lot of people thought it was being hurried because I 'had a bun in the oven'. There was a sweepstake held in his office, amongst his closest work colleagues, for people to guess when we would be announcing the impending arrival of a little person.

We married on a beautiful May day. It started off extremely foggy but the sun was out in full force by 11 o'clock. We had a beautiful day. A day I will never ever forget. I promised myself, my life and my whole heart to my man and in return he promised his. What we both got was soooo much more than that.

So today, I want to officially tell the world about how much I love him. He does so much for me!! I'm not the world's best housewife and yet he puts up with that and tidies up after me. He does all his own ironing. He always goes way above and beyond the call of duty. He adores our children (and they adore him). He provides and protects and, most importantly, perseveres!! Even when I'm hormonal or just plain grumpy. But above all... he loves me, and he lets me know that every day in a million small ways.

For that I love him even more.

Thank you God, for sending me my perfect other half. You knew exactly what I needed and sent him my way. Amen.

Happy Anniversary my love!

(PS. You still have time to enter my Giveaway!)

100!!

2011-05-04T06:00:00.003+01:00

Welcome to my 100th post! Ok, so I don't really have a reason to post today.... other than the fact that this IS the 100th post and I figured you might want to have a look at this:

Fancy this?? It's got some retired Stampin' Up! papers (double sided), some random cardstock, Rouge de Garance rub-ons, an 8x8 album, a random selection of buttons, some retired Stampin' Up! ribbon, 3 packs of letters, a brand new and unopened pack of American Crafts papers, a Stampin' Up! ink pad in Soft Suede and a set of Stampin' Up! stamps from this year's Sale-a-bration. I tried to coordinate colours, but I can't guarantee it's a good match as I'm useless at matching colours properly. However, I thought that the colours mostly matched what was in the American Crafts paper pack. So hopefully you can find some use for it!!

Entries for this giveaway will close on Sunday 8th May and I'll announce the winner on Monday 9th.

So if you'd like to get your hands on this pile of yummy stuff then here's what you have to do.... Click on 'Follow' and then leave a comment. Well actually, comments are optional but as I love reading them it would be nice!! Tell me what you would do with these items. Anything specific you can see yourself creating? Would this challenge you at all, or is it what you would normally pick out for a crafting session??

Good luck!

Do's and Don'ts of blog writing

2011-04-28T12:20:00.000+01:00

Over on Shimelle's class yesterday the prompt was all about what NOT to post on your blog. Reading the prompt this morning I found it to be highly informative and I was pleased to see that for the most part I don't do most of the stuff she was warning about. Things like:

Don't make your readers nod off
Don't turn your blog into a whingefest
Don't forget to credit your inspiration or sources
Don't post just for the sake of posting. Rambling on about nothing in particular does not make great reading.
Don't write with your emotions in control. You could regret it later.

etc, etc.

I thought I was doing ok with all of them as for the most part I'm only posting when it's important (to me) or if I think my readers would be interested. I read on a bit further.... and then it hit me. One of the final points was "Having too much to write" and subsequently making multiple uses of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!! LOL. Oh dear, this is where I fail completely. I am a serial !!! user. I got the bug baaaaaaad. I sometimes look at what I'm typing and think "oh my!!!! I'm on the happy juice again!!". LOL.

I think my problem is that typing just doesn't have the vocal nuances that speech has. It's difficult to stress certain words or get the inflection and intonation absolutely correct. Other than higlighting specific words in bold, but then I'd be highlighting my whole post because I'm just super-excited about everything. Which wouldn't work. At. All. And so, I hide in the refuge of the exclamation mark. A little too much.

So the question I have for you today.... how do you get off Cloud Extra-Extra-Happy!!!!! and back to the real world where people talk normally without going Extra-Extra-Boring?? There's got to be a way of reducing the !!!'s without reducing my sense of excitement (or stress) in the post. I've got to find a way because if I don't my SHIFT and 1 buttons are going to stop working soon!

A Day in Photos

2011-04-27T10:02:00.000+01:00

** WARNING! Photo-heavy post. Please be aware that it may take a while to load. **

Join in on Shimelle's site!

Top 5.... posts!

2011-04-23T18:15:00.000+01:00

Ok, today I'm going to start with saying "Today Shimelle has asked us to look at...." Only because it's difficult to introduce this topic any other way. At least I can't think of any other way to introduce it! Anyway, I'm having a little catch up session with the class because I'm procrastinating with the masses of photos I'm supposed to be Scrapbooking for the album I have been commissioned to do. Let me say this, as much as I enjoy scrapping.... it is a completely different kipper when you have to do it 'to order' or 'to a deadline'. Suddenly my mojo has fled the building and taken inspiration with it. I'm worried the the whole album is going to be plain, boring and very dull. So here I am, procrastinating! I am very very very good at procrastinating. Ask my Mother. So....

Today (okay a couple of days ago, actually.... but I'm good at procrastinating aren't I?!) Shimelle asked us to look at our blog and analyse which 5 posts we loved. Which ones got the creative juices flowing? Which ones got the comments going and discussion happening? Five. Hmmmm, I'm not sure I'd come up with that many!! Let me go back over the blog posts and see what I can come up with....

Oh yes, here's one! Handbag Envy. It was one of my early posts when I first started blogging. It very accurately described my view on handbags at the time! However, a while later I revisited the topic and blogged this post. This is my current handbag. A bit bright and in your face, but I luuuurve it!

I'm still amazed at how my life has changed soooo much in the past few years! And I'm loving the fact that this blog has charted that change even though I only blogged sporadically during that time.

Another post I did was inspired by a prompt from the last time I did a class by Shimelle. She knows how to get the most out of you! In fact, I think I need to hire her as my personal inspiration. Hmmm, that might be a little expensive! Still, I love the results when she gets me thinking about the mundane!

I love blog hops, don't you? Being able to see everyone's posts on a particular topic or crafting technique? I'm not sure if blog hops are something just crafters do or not. Afterall, I don't ever recall having seen a blog hop on the topic of "Far Left politics and it's effect on today's society". I took part in a blog hop to commemorate Elvis' birthday. Not that I'm an Elvis fan, but I am a musician... or rather I was!

Lastly, in a blog full of really random posts... nothing is more random than LEGO. Or rather my husband's love of all things building-blocky and multicoloured!

Hmmm, 5 posts that I enjoyed writing. They're all.. completely. random. Does that say something about me? For someone who started off blogging to keep friends and family in the loop and then progressed to blogging about crafting; it seems weird to me that not one of those posts are about crafting or family life. Is it weird?

Leave me comment please! I need some pepping up and love how special comments make me feel. (I'm not going to go into WHY I need pepping up... that would just open up a whole can of worms!!)

WOYWW and thinking about blogoversaries

2011-04-20T10:05:00.000+01:00

Gooooooooood Moooorrrrrning Wednesday! Yup, WOYWW is back again and I'm playing along with Julia at the Stamping Ground. Sorry I didn't do so last week, but although there was lots on my Workdesk, I just didn't have time to share. Sometimes that happens I guess. Mind you, I don't really have time today either but I didn't want to miss it again... last week felt wrong. Really really wrong.

So, today on my desk is my preparation for tonight's class. I'm so excited! Granted, I haven't had the uptake I was hoping for but still, it's started! And we all know that from small acorns, mighty oaks grow! Here, have a look....

I'm loving the colour combo. It's Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red... both Stampin' Up colours. Well, what else would it be? D'oh! I *think* in Stampin' Up! colours nowdays. In fact, a while ago I was trying to describe the colour of a car to Himself. I'd seen it driving on the motorway and thought it was really fab and I quite fancy having one in that colour myself. The only problem was that when he asked me to describe it, all I could come up with was 'Pear Pizzazz'!! The blank look that crossed his face was pure class and I ended up getting out a piece of cardstock just to show him what I meant. Comprehension Dawned. Am I sad or just sad? LOL.

Yesterday I was discussing Blogoversaries with someone in Shimelle's 'Beyond Blogging' class and realised that I'm coming up for my One Hundredth post. It's taken ages to get to that figure because I've always been such a sporadic blogger. So, as I'm blogging more regularly now, I'm expecting to get to that magic 100 sometime later this week or early next week. What would you think to having a Giveaway for that post? I'm going to have a rummage in my vast collection of stash and I'll come up with a goodie bag for a lucky commenter. Does that sound like a good idea? Any particular sort of stash that would appeal to you? I'm sure I've got papers, ink, ribbon and maybe some stamps that could go to a good home. Anything else that you'd like to see in there?? Let me know and I'll have a look to see if I've got it!!

Leave a comment please so I can feel special! Who doesn't like to feel special? Nope, I can't think of anyone... so leave me one and I'll pop round to your blog tomorrow (remember I said I don't have much time today??) and leave a wee comment for you too. Because we're worth it!

A very important question for you!

2011-04-18T14:14:00.000+01:00

Remember last week I said I'd signed up for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class? Well this is the next one! I'm hoping that it will help me with the whole design of my blog, what I'm writing about, how it looks, how we interact with each other etc. So over the next three weeks there will probably be quite a number of changes here on this blog... and probably over on my business blog too! Is there anything you'd like to see happen or change? I'm open to suggestions! After all, that is the whole reason for taking this class!!

Like a lot of scrapbookers I started my first blog (dont' worry all the stuff I wrote then is now on this blog!) with the aim of keeping in touch with family and friends who live far away. Then I discovered that none of them were reading it... but my crafting friends were! So my focus changed to show more of crafting projects that I'd completed. However, then life got in the way and needed to be blogged about - with the full intention of scrapbooking it at a later date of course! - and then slowly this blog morphed into a "life, the universe and everything" type of blog instead. Lately most of the "everything" stuff has been about my weightloss journey. So now, I'll admit that I am confused what this blog's general topic is supposed to be. It's not really a crafting blog anymore, but I'd still like to include that if I ever get any crafting done that I can actually show you! It's a little bit about life, kids and holidays... but it's also a little bit about weightloss. Oh and perhaps a touch about my faith?? Basically it's a confused mess. LOL. So as we're making changes over the next three weeks I'd like to ask you a question... what would YOU prefer to read about?

Is there anything else that you would prefer? Granted, I'm not going to turn into a pro-blogger overnight but I'm hoping that this class will bring about a few improvements over the next three weeks.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me your opinion and comments! I always love reading them. In fact, I was thinking of doing a post in response to some of the comments I've had lately. Would you like to read that or would it be too boring??

See you soon!

One Little Word 2011 and other such online classes!

2011-04-12T21:22:00.000+01:00

You know what? I'm a complete sucker for online classes. I love the idea of signing up to learn something new and that I can be delivered directly to my inbox. I don't have to pack up bags of books, drop the kids off anywhere and I can do it when it suits me. My idea of Utopia. Except...... when the emails start coming, I get behind. And then I get frustrated, and depressed and cross with myself because I've shelled out good money for something that I'm not actually getting any benefit from! Still, sometimes one or two come along that say "hey, it doesn't matter if you're not keeping up with the prompts right now, just do it when you can!" I love that. Which is one of the reasons that I love classes by Shimelle and Ali! They're both like that. Which is why I don't have any regrets signing up for Shimelle's latest class, which is called 'Blogging for Scrapbookers'. I've done this one before but it's great to have a refresher course in preparation for her next class 'Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers'. I've been re-learning a lot and I'm hoping to learn a lot more! This time round I've been a bit behind on this class, but I'm not stressing... because unbeknownst to you all I've been following her prompts! I just wasn't starting with 'Today Shimelle has asked us to blog about...' Which is good.

My other class that I signed up for this year is being taught by Ali over on BigPictureClasses. It's called 'One Little Word'. Although this is my first time taking the class, you might still recognise the title as I have played along unofficially several times before. Last year my word for the year was 'Self-Discipline'. A rather tricky word for most people but I needed it and saw great results from it. A few years ago my word was 'Create'. That year I created loads, including my second child! I love that the words start off with one intention in your head and then as you live them loads of other things start happening as a result too. So this year, I decided to sign up with the class that runs through the year. It's more for creative ideas on how to document the word and the results. I signed up late because I was umming and ahhing about whether I should or not. So I started out behind! However, I'm taking photo's and pondering and mulling and in the meantime I'm trying to live my word for the year. This year my word is 'Reclaim'. Tricky, I know but I think it will be interesting to see how it all pans out at the end of the year!

Things I want to reclaim:

My weightloss
My self-discipline
My self-confidence
My creativity
My kids
My husband
My home
My faith
My fitness

Amongst other things!!

We've been set a task to take photo's of things/people/places that would encapsulate your word or things you associate with your word. I'm struggling a little on that one!!

So far, I have only got a few photographs including this one.

Have you got anymore ideas on how I would photograph the word 'Reclaim'? Any suggestions would be gratefully received!! Thanks for your comments!

March Weight Watchers Update!

2011-04-10T22:57:00.000+01:00

Wow, things have been sooooo busy this past month (and a bit!). I've only just about been keeping up with the WOYWW posts and that's been about it. I had been intending to post an update on my weightloss at the end of March but it fell by the wayside in the mad rush to get ready for various workshops, mini catalogue launches, training events and well, life in general! I took the photo's and then they just sat there!

So, a quick summary of March?.... not great. LOL. Sorry. Truly though, I ended up only making it to my Weight Watchers meetings twice and neither time did I come back with good news. Which has also contributed to my lack of posts. Why post when it's just bad news all the time? I don't particularly want to end up depressing my readers!! At the last meeting, though, I had to face up to the facts that I just don't have my head in the game anymore. My leader, Mandy, asked me a question in the class and as I heard myself give the most ridiculous answer on the planet I was actually thinking "Why the heck are you saying that? You know what the answer should be and that ISN'T IT!!" Still, my mouth replied with the stupid answer and Mandy looked at me like I'd gone mad. Then she said: "Well, now we know where you've been going wrong!". Too damn true!! It made me really come away from the meeting knowing that I had completely lost the plot.

The good news is that after that hiccup, I went back to basics and studied the blurb they give us when we first start and I've done it all from scratch. Then I went away this weekend to Leeds and didn't get to weigh in, but I feel better in myself again. So I'm hoping that I'll be losing weight when I weigh in on Saturday!! Fingers crossed!

Here's the photo's I took at the end of March.... not much change visually at all!!

I'll post these up on the Fat to Fit page along with my weigh in results later this week!

Anyone got any tips or ideas on how to keep my head in 'the game' at all? I could seriously do with it!! I don't know how I managed it last year, but I certainly don't have it this year at all!!

WOYWW et al.

2011-04-06T12:30:00.000+01:00

Wednesday again! Gosh, it really does come around quick. So here's my desk for this week....

So, on my desk today is what is left over from designing my stuff for the Blog Hop my SU blog took part in on Saturday. PLUS I also made some Mother's day cards and a birthday card to match. Well, the stuff was all there so I just went with the flow! If you'd like to look at the projects I did for the blog hop then pop over to my other blog and have a peek. I'm quite pleased with my finished projects, but not so happy with the photo's. I took them in a hurry and only later realised that there was definitely something weird happening as they're a) shining and b) ghosting. To all you photography bods.... maybe you could advise me how to NOT take pictures like that again? It would be much appreciated!

Also, I thought you'd maybe like to see what was in that little box I had on my desk about 2 weeks ago? This one! Well, here's the finished project which I'm now advertising as classes. We haven't had the class yet as it's scheduled for next week so I'm hoping it will go well. I thought you might like to see what was hidden inside though. As for the project I had hidden on my desk back on the 9th March, well it still isn't properly finished! I've had to put it to one side as I got stuck into prepping for classes, workshops, team training events (this coming weekend) and blog hops! There's not much chance of it being finished anytime soon either as I've got more workshops and classes coming up, PLUS I've been commissioned to do a 12x12 album! Eeek!! So I'm afraid that an update on that particular project will be .... erm, somewhat delayed. LOL. Still, it's good to be busy!

Have you joined in with WOYWW this week? No? Quickly take a picture of your desk and then pop into Julia's blog and let us have a peek too!! If you have then leave a comment and let me know which desk is yours and I'll pop by in a bit to have a peek.

Thanks for your comments! I love reading them all!!

Things I love about Mother's Day

2011-04-03T23:22:00.000+01:00

1. Breakfast in bed! This year.... Toast, Bacon, Scrambled egg and Mushrooms. Yum! All very Weightwatchers friendly too which is definitely a good thing.

2. Presents! Ok, just one this year but it was good! Poach Pods! Brilliant for my newly discovered higher protein breakfasts.

3. Hugs from my girls! Need I say more?

4. Handmade cards from the eldest! I definitely think she's got her Mummy's passion for creating.... and a certain 5 year old flair.

5. Sunday lunch cooked by someone else! This year, my Mum.... and rather delicious it was too!

6. Being able to have a lazy day.... Priceless!

PS..... I'm not sure why this post didn't publish on the day! I've only just noticed that it was saved to 'Drafts' instead of being published. Sorry!! (10/04/11)

Redefining our Family

2011-04-03T23:13:00.000+01:00

When I started this blog... ok, not THIS exact blog - the previous one: Creating Space- I realised fairly quickly that although I didn't mind showing pictures of my family I still didn't want to include their names. In this day and age of identity fraud, web-savvy criminals and internet paedophile rings, I just didn't want that sort of information floating about. I figured that as the main reason for my blog was to keep friends and family up-to-date with our happenings that it wasn't really necessary to mention names either. Simply because anyone who might need to know that information... well, already knew it! So I settled on calling us Myself, Himself and Herself.

Easy enough to remember. Just a little bit confusing to write!

But then this one arrived!

Now, for a while my blog just referred to her as 'the Baby'... not a problem! But babies have a habit of growing up like this:

Can you believe that is the same child in both pictures? They just refuse to stay small!!

Now, this presents me with a problem. I can't really call her 'the Baby' anymore, can I? She's determined to be 'a big girl' and I feel I ought to honour that. So what do I call her here in blogland?

Myself, Himself, Herself and ..... and?... and? Nothing rolls off the tongue at all! I'm thinking that I might have to redefine ALL our blogland names, but that presents further complications!

Any ideas would be most welcome please!

For all those people out there that think I have completely lost the plot... you may just be right! LOL.

WOYWW

2011-03-30T10:59:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's Wednesday again! Where did that last week go?? I had been intending to post loads and get back into the swing of blogging again but then life happened and all my best intentions shacked up with my will power and they both fled the country. Consequently, not only am I blog-postless but I'm also feeling fat. Oh, and I'm also waaaaay behind on the things I need to do.

All this has not been helped by Herself who decided on Monday that it would be a good idea to trip over her own feet and break her fall with her face. This resulted in the school phoning me at 9.20am to come fetch her. When I got there she was covered in blood and not in a happy frame of mind. Once we'd cleaned her up a bit more it turned out she'd grazed her forehead, cheek and nose; bitten her tongue and top lip and also dislodged three teeth. They're not completely out, thank goodness, but they're more than a little wobbly! Luckily they're still her baby teeth so it's not a complete disaster but still not what I (or her) needed on a Monday morning. After the emergency dental appointment we came home and she suddenly decided she was fine. And then she decided she was bored. And then she whinged..... the whole day! So consequently, I spent all day entertaining her and got nothing done. Remind me again, why I volunteered to become a parent??

Anyway, so here I am on Wednesday posting a photo of my Workdesk. Several of you have told me that this is not a mess... but when you consider how small my space is it definitely feels messy. I've had to clear some of the things away that I was working on as they're a secret until the new Stampin' Up European Mini Catalogue is launched on Friday. After that date I'll be able to share again. The other thing that I'm working on is all preparation for a workshop on Friday night. The hostess wants ideas for wedding invites and her colours are Purple and Silver... hence all the purple cardstock and inkpads on my desk!!

If you'd like to join in with the WOYWW meme then head over to Julia's blog for more details! Thanks for popping by and all your wonderful comments. I really appreciate them!

Now, I'm off back to my desk to see if I can come up with some more Purple and Silver ideas! Wish me luck!!

WOYWW

2011-03-23T10:50:00.000Z

Here's the mess!! I've been in full flow designing my new classes and this little box is part of it all. As you can see I used pretty much every punch that I own, which means it was all loads of fun!

I'll be posting the details of the class on my business blog later this week. Whoohoo!

Anyway, now I'm offski as my Mum is here and we're off to the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.

If you've just randomly dropped in on my blog and you're wondering what on earth WOYWW means then head to Julie's blog to get the low down.

On Earthquakes, Tsunamis and other such disasters

2011-03-19T18:56:00.000Z

Just over a week ago I woke up to news reports that Japan had suffered an earthquake. Not so good, but it is not unsurprising considering that it's on the Pacific Ring of Fire and all. It was only as I sat eating my breakfast (after dropping the eldest one at school) that I heard about the magnitude of the quake and the resulting Tsunami. Definitely not good! I gobbled down the remainder of my breakfast and herded the younger one to the living room to switch on the telly. Despite having planned lots of things to do that day I sat absorbed in events on the far side of the world with a somewhat morbid fascination. As more and more images, videos and interviews were shown my morbid fascination lessened and my prayer burden increased. To the extent that at 3pm when I had to set off to the bus stop to pick up the eldest one I could barely move with the weight of it all on my shoulders. I didn't feel responsible. How could one feel responsible for a natural disaster? But I felt strongly the call to pray. I felt like crying for all those poor people who were having to live through it all, but most of all I felt the need to pray. For the survivors, for the dead, for the missing, for families torn apart, for the grief, for those in fear, for those who would lose hope. I never really knew what the Bible meant when it said 'Pray without ceasing'.... but on that day I came closer to understanding because, without realising it, I found myself praying. Not on my knees. Not with my hands clasped before my like a 'good little girl'. Not repeating rote responses to ritual prayers. Not even the loud, hands-in-the-air prayers of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. But the quiet weeping prayers of a burdened soul. I cried for those people that I can never reach or see, simply because I knew that God was crying for them too.

The news reports started showing footage taken from YouTube and a few days later I found myself on that site looking at that huge wall of water throwing cars about and sweeping houses off their foundations. I kept thinking "that car has it's rear windscreen wiper on! Is there someone in there? Are they screaming in fear?". I had to stop watching. I read comments instead. On several of them I saw people mentioning Matthew 24. I looked it up and found this:

Matthew 24 v 6 .... And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

Wars and rumours of wars. How many are being fought all over the world right now? Just off the top of my head I can count, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen.... granted some of these are 'rumours'. Trouble in the making, not yet fully formed. And yet today French fighter jets are flying over Libya.... just in case. While British and American forces muster to support them.... just in case. Are we coming to the 'beginning of the birth pains'? I feel we are. It is a sobering thought.

As if to confirm my feelings I found this on YouTube...

And yet, we are told not to be alarmed, for these things must happen but it is not yet the end. I will admit I have been struggling with that bit this week. Until I realised that the answer to my fears was to 'pray without ceasing'.

There is absolutely NOTHING that I can do to solve the world's problems, calm unrest, keep the peace, rebuild lives, restore health and happiness to those who are dispossessed. However, I CAN pray. Because if I pray then God can move in Power to bring about His plan for this world. It is scary to be living in these uncertain times, but the Bible tells me that God is my refuge, my shelter and my rock. He is my ever-present help in times of trouble.

So I will continue to pray, and I hope that some of you out there will join me in praying "Your Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven", because that is the only way that we will keep our sanity and find peace in our time.

Amen.

WOYWW

2011-03-16T23:10:00.000Z

Oops! This is a little late to post but I have a good excuse, honest! LOL.

First though, have a look at my desk...

So on this picture are two clues. One is a clue about why this blog post is so late today and the other one is a clue as to what the result of the late blog post is! LOL.

Firstly, I didn't get to posting earlier today because I.... (have you spotted the clue yet?).... made a trip to IKEA today! I had to return something and get something else instead. Hence the returns voucher on the desk with the yellow and blue arrows on.

Secondly, not a lot of crafting has been happening today because .... (spotted this one yet? Come on, it's right in front of you! LOL)..... hubby has been crawling around on the floor putting together an item of flat pack furniture... or two.... for my craft room...er.. SPARE room. He decided that my desk was a good place to dump his hammer and screw driver so I grabbed my camera and took a photo before he did his neat freak thing and tidied it all away like he normally does!

Now, silly me didn't pick up an extra pack of....*mumble, mumbles*.... so I can't show you what it is yet. So I'll have to take a photo of the completed project once I've gone back to IKEA again, put it all together and then put all my stuff back where it should be. Hubby thinks that I may have forgotten the extra pack just so I have an excuse to go back again! He might be right... but don't tell him so!

Now, if you haven't a clue what WOYWW is all about then pop over to Julia's Blog for a full explanation and a whole load of other blogs to hop around!!

WOYWW

2011-03-09T10:41:00.000Z

Wow, a whole week has come and gone! I can't believe it's been that quick!

Well, last week I wondered if I would manage to keep up with WOYWW and yes, I'm back again. I should be heading out the door to Herself's school to do PTA stuff but instead I'm sat here posting pictures of my desk. So please forgive me for this quick, short post! Well, short for me at any rate!!

Last week I also said to come back and see if my desk was tidy. Well.... have a look for yourself.....

..... nope not really! Mind you, I did tidy it completely over the weekend but then I got stuck straight back into another project so it got all messy again. Oops!

Now I have purposefully covered my project there on my desk. It's not quite finished and I'd like to show you all the finished article soon. So, here's a sneaky peek to keep you going until I'm done and ready to show you all!

All I will say is that it's shaping up nicely!!

Now, if you want to join in with WOYWW or you want to check out some other people's desks then head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for a gander!

Sausage, Apple & Lentil Casserole

2011-03-08T08:45:00.000Z

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday! This is a regular feature hosted by the For the Love of Blogs community. I figured I would jump in and add my tuppence worth and show you a dish that we had on Saturday. It was simply gorgeous and will definitely become one of our firm family favourites. The best thing is that it's a Weight Watchers recipe! This is great because it means I can keep on track with the weight loss which you guys have been so great about encouraging me to do. The results have been well worth it and I'm happy that I'm finally back on track again.

Each week Weight Watchers releases a small publication called 'Your Week' containing tips, advice, inspiration and recipes for the week. I find it useful to read in about 5 seconds flat and then I don't look at it again for the rest of the week. Bad, bad dieter!! LOL. I really should pay it more attention as there are always some really gorgeous looking recipes included. Some weeks more than others. Last week when I headed back to the meeting for the first time in aaaaaaages I picked up the 'Your Week' and gave it the usual cursory glance before shoving it in my bag alongside several boxes of WW Chocolate or Cereal bars and a couple of packets of WW crisps. I thought that would be 'it' as per usual, however, our wonderful leader Mandy pointed out a couple of interesting tips to us during the meeting and that made me dig it out again and have a really good read. I'm so glad she did because this recipe caught my eye and I took it straight home and made Himself look at it. It was good timing really as he was just preparing the weekly menu and shopping list!

Of course, the 'Your Week' had a photograph of this recipe piled up high with lashings of onions and sausages draped artistically in the food equivalent of the girl-on-the-car-bonnet photo. Mine, however, looked somewhat plainer.... but I still took a photo because a photo is always good on a blog post, right?

Ok, ignore the photo then.... and trust me, this dish is delicious!! (and my photography skills are not)

Sausage, Apple & Lentil Casserole

Mist a large casserole dish with calorie controlled cooking spray and add 6 Weight Watchers Premium Pork Sausages, halved. Fry, turning, for 5 minutes until starting to brown. Add 2 onions, sliced into thin wedges, with a splash of water and fry, stirring, for a further 10 minutes. Stir in ½ tbsp plain flour to coat, then add 1 x 410g can green lentils, drained, 600ml hot chicken stock and 1tbsp fresh sage leaves, chopped. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 20 minutes until thickened. Add 300g apples, peeled cored and sliced into thick wedges, and simmer for a further 10 minutes, until the apple wedges are tender. Divide between 4 bowls. Serve with 50g crusty bread each.

All this for only 8 ProPoints, including the bread!! Bargain.

I know that my daughters both pulled their noses up at it, but they missed out. Unfortunately both my kids are at that stage where if it's not coated in batter and deep fried they won't touch it. More's the pity!

I'm off to print the recipe off so that I can put it in my stack of trusty recipes. Will it join your regular repetoire? Let me know once you've tried it!

PS. If you're not overly worried about watching your waistline then you can use non-diet sausages and lashings of butter on the crusty bread.... oh and you'll want to cook up a double batch because I guarantee you'll want a second helping!

I'm a loser baby!

2011-03-06T22:17:00.001Z

3lbs off at the scales yesterday!! Happy! Happy! Happy! I wonder how much my hair weighed?? LOL. Probably not 3lbs. Certainly I feel lighter than I did and actually felt like glamming it up for church this morning. Not often I do that, but it seemed a good time to do it.

This evening I'm on a mission to update my Weightloss page with my figures from last year. I can't promise any real commentary though as it all seems so long ago and I've slept since.

I'm loving the comments I've had on the blog lately. Keep 'em coming cause they make me H-A-P-P-Y!

Oh, and come back on Tuesday morning. I'm joining in with the For The Love Of Blogs 'Tasty Tuesday' feature and I've got a cracking Weight Watchers recipe to share with you!

See you soon!

Getting back on Track

2011-03-02T20:01:00.000Z

I posted here about losing my way with the whole Weight Watchers thing. I am soooo grateful for the encouragement you guys gave me both on the comments and via email. It really picked me up, so thanks. You can come again!! LOL. It still took me a while to get myself back on track though. I was hoping that it would be an instant thing, cause I'm definitely an instant kinda gal, and that I would wake up the next day and just be fine with it again; have my weight loss head on straight and get right back into it again. Strangely enough that didn't happen. It took me a while.... and then I fell ill. Yes, properly ill with a stomach bug that didn't seem like it was ever going to go away. In the end I had to take extreme measures to stop it. It's amazing how medicinal Brandy can be especially when combined with Cayenne Pepper!

However, now that I'm over that episode I can safely say that I'm back on track. I went to my WW meeting on Saturday morning and found that I have gained 4lbs. Not too bad considering that I haven't been to a meeting since early January! But I'm also wondering how much having that bug must have helped me lose prior to the weigh in? A fair bit I'd say, but I'm not going to concentrate on that. 4lbs is what I need to shift to get back to where I was early January and then a further 3lbs to get back to where I was before Christmas. Not an impossible task really. I've been tracking my food again and following a meal plan this week so I know I've been good in that respect as usually my one huge weakness is not planning ahead and then just grabbing something from a shop somewhere. Which usually means it's really high in points as they don't tend to use low fat anything do they? So, planning ahead this week has been a big deal. Also, I've cut down on my snacking this week too. Hopefully between these two things I will see a result on the scales on Saturday.

The gym thing hasn't happened this week though. Only for one reason though.... I decided to use my child-free time yesterday morning to take a visit to the hairdressers. I haven't had my hair cut (or even trimmed) in about 4 or 5 years which has meant that 1. It was quite long (most the way down my back) and 2. It was in horrible condition. It had gone all whispy and had horrible split ends, PLUS the lack of care for it (other than wash and condition) has meant that it was falling out by the handful. So, it had to go!! Tell me what you think?

Sorry about the picture quality! I was trying to take a photo in the mirror without the flash and was struggling to hold the camera still enough. I think the style looks good and I'm really happy with how easy it was to get it looking good again this morning!!

So, while I was taking those pics I also decided to take some pictures for my monthly photographic record. I'm intending that at the end of each month I'll post a picture or two of myself here on the blog as a visual record of how I'm doing with the weight loss. So here are February's photo's....

Hmmm, I've just noticed that the mirror has some mucky fingerprints on which has made my jumper?(waistcoat? gilet? what *is* that thing?!!) look mucky too. Great!

I think I will add a page onto this blog for weekly weigh in updates and then do a monthly blog post with pictures and a review. Hopefully that way I'll keep motivated! So, tell me what you think of the new 'do'!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment!

(Wow, 2 posts in one day!! Wonders will never cease!!)

Blog Features and Introducting WOYWW

2011-03-02T11:56:00.000Z

I read a lot of blogs. Lots and lots of blogs. The best thing I found since I got my lovely HTC Hero mobile phone last year is that I now have an app that connects with my Google Reader account and sends all those lovely blogs straight to my phone! Which means that I can keep up on my blog reading while I'm waiting for Herself at the bus stop, or at the dance class, or at swimming lessons. I can read blog posts while I'm eating my breakfast! With an app this handy I have discovered that reading blogs is about the *only* thing I actually manage to keep up with in my life right now. Everything else is behind and running late..... sometimes by several months!

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of these blogs that I read, follow and subscribe to have regular features. For example I've just started participating at For the Love of Blogs (see sidebar button) and one of their many features is Tasty Tuesday which considering how yummy our dinner was last night I'm really considering joining in on.

The other blog I follow is Stamping Ground with Julia Dunnit. She started a feature nearly two years ago called WOYWW or What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. It's become hugely popular with loads of people joining in and sharing the scary mess or freaky tidyness that is their workdesk on a Wednesday. I figure after nearly two years of reading and hopping around other people's blogs to check out their desks I might finally make the leap and join in. The sad thing is that, in this, I am yet again late to the party! Some things never change do they??

So, here's my workdesk this morning....

Basically, it's a mess! I don't have a large space to work on so I really should keep it a bit tidier. However, this is how I left it after I had to run out the door on my way to an appointment I was late for. As usual! So, today I shall be picking up this project and hopefully get it finished. Or else it might join all the other projects I've got waiting in the wings or half done... mostly they live UNDER the desk and as you can see...

..... that's not any better either!! I have spared you the horror of seeing the rest of the room. It's not untidy (anymore) but it is a bit crowded. I think that I need to stop buying stash and start using it all. Ha! I think it will take me at least 8 years to use up the stuff I've collected in the past 5 years.

Shall I continue with WOYWW? Make it a regular feature? (or about as regular as I can be considering my lack of organisation!) Would you come back? I dare you! It will be interesting to see if my desk ever improves or if it stays this messy.

I did promise you some news on my One Little Word didn't I? Let me finish the project on the desk and then I'll get my pages finished and photographed and then I'll show you! Please don't hold your breath as it might be a while and I wouldn't want you to pass out! One thing you *can* come back for later today is an update on the Weightloss issue and a little change I've made to my person.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me a comment! Even in my disorganised state reading the comments you leave for me is definitely one thing I keep up with!

Photography A-Z Challenge

2011-02-25T13:12:00.000Z

I chat on quite a few forums here on this wonderful web of ours but one of my favourites has to be UKScrappers. It's full of wonderful like-minded crafty gals (and guys!) who inspire me and challenge me to do better, go further and create more.

Each year they come up with a variety of challenges to keep us creative through the year focussing on various media and techniques. Last year I was reading my team mate Jo's blog an awful lot as she was taking part in the "52 Walks with my Camera" challenge and was producing some really OUTSTANDING work. I was in awe of her amazing photography skills. Looking at my sad little pictures I realised that the reason I don't improve is probably because I don't practise enough. So this year, along with Jo and quite a few others, I decided to take part in the "A-Z Photography Challenge". Every two weeks we are supposed to take photo's of people, places or objects that start with a particular letter.

As usual, I am waaaaaaayyyy behind! However, I didn't want to get all depressed about that so I've decided that while the year is still relatively young I want to do some catching up. My inlaws came up two weeks ago for a few days to visit and we all decided to visit one of Glasgow's many museums - the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. I took along my camera and decided that this was probably as good a place as any to do some "catch up shots" for the letters A, B and C.....

A is for Arches....

.... Antlers...

.... and Art!

(oh and Anthea too, but you saw these pictures in an earlier post!)

I love Glasgow's architecture so B is for Beautiful Buildings!

These are both of Kelvingrove Museum's external features. This red sandstone is so prominent in Glasgow's architecture as the whole city is full of it. Everything from grand civic buildings to the lowliest tenements were built with it.

C is for......

Curves.....

....Café's...

....Cecily with Grandad's silly Cap on!.....

...Crockery and Cutlery....

... Chairs... (particularly Art Deco ones!)

.... Costumes....

... with beautiful Cuffs...

.... and Columns!

We all had a fabulous time at the museum - even my two girls! I admit that I didn't think it would be their thing but they thoroughly enjoyed it. We didn't even make a dent in it though as we only got to see about a third of the museum so I think a few more trips will be called for.... and while we're there I shall definitely be visiting the café again. The food was gorgeous, especially the Chorizo and Bean soup that I had! Delicious!!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Come back soon as I'm currently working on photo's for 'D'.... and I want to share about my One Little Word for 2011!

Himself the Engineer

2011-02-22T00:30:00.000Z

For those of you who don't know, I'm married to an engineer... a Civil Engineer. They are the guys that deal with roads, bridges, water, pipelines etc. For the past 12 years or so Himself has been exclusively devoted to the world of Water Engineering. He helps companies like Scottish Water (his current secondment) to design pipelines, reservoirs and treatment works. He is very good in his field and has worked his way up to being a Senior Project Manager with a whole team of people working for him at his every beck and call. However, it may surprise you to know that I think he has completely missed his calling. Yup, Mr Diva is in the wrong job. What he should have gone into is Lego Engineering.

For example, take today's offering... we have all been poorly today with a stomach bug so Himself took the chance to spend some extra quality time with his two acolytes. Herself, being the eldest and currently more demanding, asked Daddy to build her a 'Building site'. "You want me to build you a house?" says He. "No Daddy, I want a building site". Now, having spent a lifetime on building sites of various shapes and sizes, Himself is well aware of what makes a proper building site.... but could he recreate it in Lego scale?

He rose to the challenge I think!

Please note, all builders are compliant with current Health & Safety regulations and are wearing the appropriate safety gear. Correct use of the sack barrow has been ensured by full training which has been given on site. The skip will be emptied regularly by a trained operative. All building materials will be stored in a designated area on site, out of the way of foot and vehicular traffic.

As is normal for a project of this size there will always be someone slacking off for a 'brew'. This site is no exception.

All tools will be stored in the appropriate place and distribution will be overseen by the site foreman.

Ladders may only be used if there are no black cats present.

Unfortunately a recent gas explosion resulted in the deaths of the majority of the workforce, including all the site medical staff and the site skateboarder.... ok I don't know why he's there but he definitely died in the blast!

Your comments of condolence for the deceased are always welcomed. Please do not send flowers, however, you may wish to send a donation to "The Dead Lego People Foundation" in memory of our fallen colleagues.

(Gosh, it's been a long, tiring day! My sense of humour is having to kick in or else I'll end up killing someone tomorrow)

My new Venture!

2011-02-21T00:01:00.000Z

In my last post I promised you that I would update you on a new venture as time had run out on that post. It really ended up as War & Peace didn't it?! I'm sorry if I was whinging that day.... the whole (lack of) weightloss was really getting me down. I'm so glad that a whole load of you guys were there to pick me up with your comments and spur me on to getting back on track! I'm not completely there but I am working on it and am feeling a lot more positive about it all.

Anyway, I've gone off topic haven't I? Typical me! LOL.... now back to the subject.

Last May I was looking at a friends crafting blog and saw that there was a special offer on Starter Kits for Stampin' Up! which really got me thinking. I had been looking for a way to help the household finances and thought that this would be a good way of contributing while indulging my passion for all things crafty. After having a rather in-depth discussion with Himself we decided that I should go for it..... and so my new business "Stampin' Diva's" was created. Here's my business blog if you want to go have a look!

I'm happy to report that it's going quite well so far, although not really enough to contribute to the family bank account.... yet! However, it's paying a little bit so far and as I've had a fairly slow build up I don't think that's too bad. Himself is happy though as I haven't spent anything out of the family bank account on crafting in quite a while now! So that's at least a million pounds saved from the current account each month (I wish!).

The only downside - if it can be called that - is that I'm so busy making samples, swaps, demo pieces, make & take items etc. that I haven't had an awful lot for my own personal crafting lately. It's not all a bad thing though as I'm still having fun and getting to craft a lot.... just not on personal stuff. I'm hoping to remedy that soon as I have a couple of non-Stampin' Up projects in the pipeline at the moment.

More of that another day though as I've just realised what the time is! I shall have to rush off and get a couple of things done before I retire to bed. Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. They really lifted my mood last time and I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts again!

Part 3: Me! Me! Me!

2011-02-13T00:17:00.000Z

Yes I know, it's all me, me, me isn't it? I'm so eager and keen to extol my own virtues to you that it's taken me ages to actually pull myself together enough to sit down and DO this post. My apologies. I have now started keeping a little notebook on my person which I'm using to write lists, reminders and ideas in. I'm having to do this now because I have so much on my plate at the moment that I keep forgetting stuff half way through doing them! I found myself putting the tub of sugar in the fridge the other day - and then couldn't figure out what I was really supposed to be putting in there. I walked into the kitchen two hours later to find the milk still sat on the kitchen counter. Anyway, now I have my little notebook so I'm hoping that if I put it down on a list it will eventually get done! Blogging is most definitely on the list!! In fact, I've actually got a couple of crafting posts in mind to do. Yeah, yeah I know you've heard it all before.... but this time I'll change! I promise!! LOL.

Anyway, I did promise you an update of everything I've been up to in 2010. I'll admit that firstly, it was a fairly quiet year and secondly, I'm not sure my memory is up to remembering all the important bits - but I'll try!

So in January last year after a horrendous Christmas full of enormous amounts of food and booze I saw some photo's that my Father-in-law took of me over the Christmas period. Yes. One of those photographs that makes you stop in your tracks with a gasp and the words "Is that really me? I look horrendous!" follow very quickly after.

Yes, that fat woman is me at 18 stone 12½ lbs. Not good! So, I decided that I would start on Weight Watchers again and get rid of the weight once and for all. I think I posted about it here in April. I also signed up for membership at my local leisure centre.

By March I had lost about a stone and was really pleased with my results. I got Herself to take this photograph so please excuse the odd angle and my head being chopped short!

By mid-summer I had lost about 2 stone and was feeling soooo much better! Although my weightloss slowed down a bit as having the temptation of barbeques and ice cream vans meant I wasn't sticking to it as well as I had been. By the time the school holidays had ended I was back on track. Christmas and New Year of 2010 I was 3½ stones lighter and I was in my element! I had dropped from a size 26 jean to a size 16! I bought a gorgeous evening dress for an awards ceremony from a 'normal' persons shop in a size 16 too!!

The last time I was a 16 was when Himself and I got married in May 2000. I made that wedding dress and only I knew at the time that while some of the wedding dress was a 16 I had used my sewing skills to 'ease' certain areas in order for it to fit properly.

So, it with a heavy heart that I must report to you that since January of this year I have been really really struggling with the whole diet thing. I haven't attended very many meetings, I haven't weighed in properly in over a month now and I *know* that I have gained weight in the last few weeks. My problem? Boredom, frustration, lack of will power.... and also a sense that I am so much happier in my size 16's that maybe it's not worth all the hassle and bother to lose more weight. However, in the back of my mind I also know that I'm letting myself down by not staying on track.

I took this photo a couple of days ago in the hopes that I can start taking photographic evidence of my weight loss over the next few months. I'm hoping that it will spur me on to get motivated again, but so far I'm failing miserably. So, I'd like to ask you all a big favour! I think I need some accountability in my life right, certainly with regard to weight loss. Can I ask, if one or two of you (or maybe more if you feel like being involved!) can post a comment on here holding me to this promise. I want to be accountable to you, my readers and followers, for getting back on track and posting on here at least once a fortnight about my progress - even if it is just to report my last weigh in! Can I ask you to check in here regularly and yell at me in a comment or by email if I havent posted how I'm doing? I really really need to know that there is someone out there who will kick my bum (even in a 'virtual' way) if I don't get back on track and report in regularly. Please tell me you will help me in this way? I don't want to go back to what I looked like at the end of 2009. I really want to keep going with this and get down to a medically healthy weight, not just one that 'will do', but at the moment I feel like I'm losing my grip on this whole weight loss thing completely!

Anyway, I was going to share news of another journey I have embarked on, but it will have to wait now as this post has turned into War & Peace!! Thanks for all your comments, I really appreciate them and read them all. I'm looking forward to seeing you back here soon!

Part 2: Himself

2011-01-28T12:36:00.000Z

Ok, I know that I promised to update on my weightloss 'later this week' but I've been hit with the most horrendous cold ever. As I write I'm sat in bed with my laptop and I've been in my PJ's all day. Consequently the photo I was going to take of me looking all svelt and slinky has not happened this week. I look rather a lot more like a hedgehog that's been dragged through a haystack... backwards. So excuse me if I don't take a photo right now; I don't really want to cause a stampede as you all run away screaming!

Instead I thought I'd update you a little on what Himself has been up to in 2010 and give myself a little bit of time to recover before I try to take a photo of myself.

So, what's he been up to? Himself would say:

Eat. Sleep. Work.

True as this may be, it's not the full picture even if it is a large part of it.

This year Himself decided to embark on Weight Watchers with me. He wasn't fat as such just a little tubby and in need of a healthier diet.... like most of us on this planet actually! His will power is amazing and has been really inspiring to see him shed the extra pounds! So far, he's lost 3 stone and is looking much trimmer. He's happy because he's back into his 'skinny man' clothes and feeling much better without the additional weight to carry around. Well done that man! I think his goal weight is only about a ½ stone away so not much more to do.

The other major change that has happened this year is that Himself changed jobs... well, sort of. These things are never straight forward with our family are they? His previous company has seconded him into the local water company and he was enjoying that job when it was announced that his employers were losing the contract in the next 5 year spending period. This prompted Himself to approach one of the companies that had been awarded the contract and they took him on in exactly the same role that he was in already. So the upshot is that he works in the same office with the same people on the same projects for the same salary BUT the paycheck is signed by a different hand. This move has also provided him with a good 4 years worth of steady work before the madness of tendering for the following spending period begins in earnest.

Eat. Diet. Sleep. Work..... and play with the girls. His engineering skills come in really handy when they're playing with Lego!

Thanks for coming by! I really appreciate and read all comments that are left. I will be posting an update on my weight loss and a few other things early next week so come back soon!

Part 1: The girls

2011-01-17T01:10:00.000Z

I promised you an update on all our comings and goings during 2010, however, it's been harder to put together than I anticipated! Firstly, I'm so out of practise with this whole blogging thing that the words dont seem to flow very well. Secondly, I wanted to include some photo's but then realised that, along with blogging, organising my photo's isn't one of my forté's so I felt the need to sort and organise first! (Procrastination, however, IS one of my strong points!) However, being the numpty that I am I somehow managed to delete almost my whole Picture folder!! So I have spent ages using various free programmes off the web to restore all those memories that I lost... and then because the programme just dumped it all in once place I've had to go through and sort it all out again! Methinks I should just have posted the update and ignored the mess on my hard-drive!

Anyway, now that photo's have been recovered and restored and reorganised and re-sorted I shall finally do this blogging thing again! Thanks for all your patience!!

So in January 2010 - which is about the last time I mentioned either of them in a blog post - Herself was 4½ years old and still at nursery. She was very much looking forward to her birthday in July and starting 'big school' in August although she was still rather enjoying nursery!

The Little One was only 16 months old and had only just gotten the hang of walking!

In May the girls enjoyed having Grandma and Grandad around for a visit from Down South. Especially as Grandad is always up for a bit of this:

In June Herself performed in the nursery 'end of year' play and did really well! Never the shy, retiring type she was very pleased to be given a 'solo' part!

As the weather improved we all spent more time out in the garden, which Himself and my Little Bro had childproofed for the girls.

We also went on holiday where Herself started learning to ride the bicycle ....

..... and so did the Little One!

In July, my pre-schooler turned 5!!

.... and so she officially became old enough for 'big school' which she duly started in August. There was quite a bit of excitement from Herself on the big day (and a fair few tears from myself!)...

Meanwhile the Little One had progressed to running everywhere and talking ten-to-the-dozen. She turned 2 in September!

In October we had a lovely (if somewhat chilly!) day picking apples in the back garden.

With all the snow bringing so much disruption in November, we ended up staying at home a lot! We tried building a snowman but the Little One didn't enjoy the experience!!

Gosh, I can't believe what a fun year we've had with our two growing girls! It has been fun, frantic and very special. I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

Finally, I leave you with this image. The Little One has been brushing up on her computer skills so she can take over the blogging from her mother. Perhaps this way you might get more regular updates!!

Thanks for your patience and thanks for dropping by! Later this week I shall be updating about my weight loss progress. It will be significantly LESS photo-heavy I promise!!

Coming soon....

2011-01-13T11:42:00.000Z

Watch this space! I'm currently putting together a series of update posts for 2010. It won't be too much longer I promise!!

In the meantime here's a random picture that I took in my back garden this autumn.

2011 already!

2011-01-09T00:24:00.000Z

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great time? Were you sensible or are you still feeling the ill effects of too little blood in your alcohol stream?

Our new year's celebration took a last minute change of course this year. We were all set to go to Derby to ring in the bells with our usual set of friends only to receive a phonecall from our hostess to say that they were having to cancel as both her and hubby were ill with a nasty bug. So, after a chance phonecall to another friend we we found ourselves on our way to Bradford instead!! I must say that for an impromptu party is was rather well attended and better organised than I would have managed!!

We headed back up to Cumbernauld on New Years Day and have so far spent our time running around like headless chickens... all in the name of trying to get back into the swing of things! For some reason I have found it really difficult to get back into a routine. Consequently my sleeping habits have gone down the hewey and I'm oversleeping in the mornings and then finding I'm late for EVERYTHING for the rest of the day. It's not good.

Anyway, I hope it's not too late to wish you all a very happy, prosperous and healthy 2011?

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog more often.... so pop back in a bit!

PS. I think I shall have to bite the bullet and do a massive (or maybe a couple of large) blogpost(s) to fill you all in on the events of 2010. What do you think?

PPS. Do you like the new look of the blog? I'm still trying to get used to it!

Snowy Birthday to me!

2010-12-02T09:38:00.000Z

Oh my gosh, I'm 34!! When did that happen?

Almost my whole life I was a summer baby and was used to having my birthday around the pool or on camping holidays with my parents. However, since I moved to the UK I've had to get used to wrapping up warm on my birthday. This year even more so as we are completely snowed in! It's the first time I've ever had snow ON my birthday. It's odd, weird and very very strange. You would think that I would be used to it after living in the UK for the past 14 years, however it still seems slightly wrong.

In some ways its great as my hubby has decided to stay home due to all the trains being cancelled, but in others it's not so good. All my birthday cards and presents that have been sent by family and friends are all stuck at the Post Office because the Postie hasn't been able to deliver in quite a few days now!

Anyway, this is my car today.... despite the fact that it got cleared of snow yesterday!!

Now I'm wondering whether I should try to clear the car again and attempt to go out and do something special for the day or whether I would be best just snuggling down with a duvet and a cup of hot chocolate for the day. Any ideas??

I shall let you know what we decided in my next post! Thanks for dropping by!

Anthea

PS. Can you tell that my writing skills are a little rusty? It's been ages since I last did any sort of post and I'm feeling a little out of practice!

Welcome!

2010-11-24T23:31:00.000Z

Welcome to my new blog! If you've come over from my old Creating Space blog then please leave me a comment. It would be great to know that you're here!

I will be posting a catch up post next week sometime so keep checking back! Thanks for dropping by!!

WW3 has started!

2010-04-05T23:23:00.000+01:00

Having finished with breastfeeding in August last year I had been looking at myself again and thinking that my weight was definitely spiralling out of control. Ok, so I'd had to quit my last attempt at Weight Watchers due to falling pregnant. However, since then I'd gained over a stone again - all in the name of needing to eat more due to breastfeeding. Hmmmmm..... not good! Anyway, I dithered and swithered and finally persuaded myself it wasn't worth starting a new diet just before Christmas. Ha! After Christmas I got on the scale only to find I'd gained another stone during the festive period. Right. This was getting ridiculous and had to stop!! So mid-January I finally dragged myself off to a Weight Watchers meeting and took that first horrendously embarrassing step onto the scales of doom. The result was a whopping 18 stone 12.5 pounds!

So I had these two pictures taken to remind me how far I had let my weight go. And I'm planning on taking a photo at fairly regular intervals to show my progress during this journey. I have an enormous amount to lose to get to my final goal weight. However, I know I can do it this time! In fact, I've already lost a fair bit... but I shall post about that another day!

The future of Blogging

2010-03-27T22:21:00.000Z

So I'm seriously considering my position on blogging. Time is short and there's so much other stuff going on at the moment that I haven't actually been able to sit down and blog for ages! Is it worth keeping going or do I pack it all in? What do YOU think?

Where does the time go?

2010-02-10T23:16:00.000Z

My goodness, how time does fly! Today is the 10th of the month, which means that it is Little Miss' 'month day'... and today she is 17 months old! Where did that time go? It seems to have gone so quickly and suddenly she is doing new stuff and trying new things. I can't keep up! She's walking properly now - trying to run even! She's finally cut her third tooth, ages after her peers have but at least it's there now. I'm hoping that the fourth one isn't too far away! Talking is progressing well too; she has a few words that are quite distinct and loads of words where the general sound is present but not properly formed yet. Signing is still popular and she seems to be learning or making up her own signs almost on a daily basis! She has started dancing to music now; well, waggling her bum really but that's as close to dancing as a toddler gets! She loves singing and has learned the tune and rhythm to loads of nursery rhymes. The words aren't quite there yet but in some cases (particularly 'Twinkle Twinkle') she is forming the sounds quite well. All good and positive things... however, there is a downside too.

The beginnings of the terrible two's have struck as well. It's as if someone flicked a switch last weekend - and suddenly the tantrums, the head-shaking and saying "NO!", the running away from Mum & Dad when called and the fighting over toys - has all started! Except now we have herself joining in too as usually the fighting over toys is because Little Miss has something herself wants to play with. Suddenly herself has turned into a Little Madam as she realises that her sister can not only get around much faster, but as she is standing up too she can now reach the toys that had previously been out of reach! And so, trouble ensues! Somehow though, over the next 18 years I'm hoping that they will learn to put up with each other, but right now it's not happening!

My baby is growing so fast, and I'm having to learn to keep a camera handy at all times just incase I miss that vital moment that marks another step forward. Unfortunately it means that I'm snowed under with lovely photo's and not enough time to scrap them all!

January Craft Update

2010-02-08T23:00:00.000Z

I'm amazed! I have actually managed to get some scrapping and cardmaking done this past month. Wonders will never cease! There are a few things which I didn't get any photo's of; the last CJ that I did, for example. I'm working on another one at the moment, but will probably forget to take a photo again. I usually do, simply because I'm usually in a rush to get it to the Post Office. It's only after I have posted it off that I remember - by which time it's too late! The other thing I don't have any photo's for yet, is my weight loss journal that I'm just finishing off at the moment. Once it's done I shall take some piccies for you to look at.

Until then, you will have to make do with pictures of a few cards and one LO that I did this month. It's not much of an output, but it's more than I've done in quite a long time!

I made these three cards all at the same time. One for my friend's birthday and her hubby's birthday (they're only a few days apart) and then also one for my SIL's hubby who is around the same time.

Then I also made one for my FIL's birthday which is in early February. He's a massive Beatles fan (as he went to uni in Liverpool when the Beatles were still gigging there) - and as he's turning 64 hubby commissioned me to do a card based on the song "When I'm 64" from the Yellow Submarine album. The inside of the card has the words of the song printed inside. Hubby was pleased with the results!

I somehow managed to find a few days where my Mojo returned for a bit of scrapping too, so I did this scraplifted LO. It was based on a LO that has been in my UKS favourites folder for ages! It worked really well and was lovely to do a LO about my baby girl growing up! Unfortunately I can't remember who did the original - so if you know please give me a shout so I can credit her!!

Anyway, I hope everyone out there is having a fabulously crafty time! I'm going to go finish off my weight loss journal so that I can update you all on that a bit later!

December Catch Up : Advent Calendar

2010-01-21T22:53:00.000Z

From this...

To this...

Its only taken me two years to complete, but I finally managed to finish this advent calendar which I gave to my Sister-in-Law and her family just before the Advent season. I have another one waiting to be done for our family. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we get to use ours!

All Hail the King!! (of Rock 'n' Roll)

2010-01-08T22:38:00.000Z

So in honour of Elvis' birthday (which would have been today) I'm taking part in the Music Blog Train organised by Helen. If you'd like to follow the blog train from the start go back to her blog here! If you've just come over from Laura's blog welcome!!

We're all talking (in various ways) about our musical tastes and styles... which really got me thinking! I wonder if any of my lovely readers would know about my musical past? No, probably not! It's not something I advertise much because for many years now I had 'fallen out of love' with music. Sure, I still listened to it but I haven't taken part for ooooh.... nearly 13 years now. However, over the past few months I have started feeling a stirring, an urge to get involved again.

I started playing Piano at the age of 6-ish and went to lessons after school for years. At High School I started doing my lessons at school and eventually I got my Grade 8 and sat my Matriculation exams in Music. Several times I had wanted to quit, but my parents kept saying that they "hadn't paid all that money for music lessons just so I could give it up!" During the early part of High School I started singing in choirs and groups and the latter part of High School saw me involved in the Natal Youth Choir. At the end of High School I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my future and found myself being "guided" into doing Music at undergrad level. I enjoyed the first 18 months of it as I transferred from Piano to Voice as my first instrument. Then, it all went pear shaped. My whole life fell apart for various reasons and I left Uni at the end of my second year vowing never to play an instrument again. I returned to the UK and met my husband. It was at this stage that I realised that my musical tastes were not exactly 'normal'. All my life I had only really ever listened or participated in "Classical" music. After Uni I decided to start 'educating' myself in more modern music. I started at early Jazz and Ragtime and there I fell in love with the arrangements of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. The crooning of the jazz singer's including Ella Fitzgerald and the gravel-voiced Sachmo (Louis Armstrong). They led me onto the wartime years where I fell in love again... with Glenn Miller and Vera Lynn and Nightingales in Berkeley Square. Elvis followed soon after followed very quickly by Cliff Richard and the Shadows. I was lucky enough to see Cliff Richard perform in Durban soon after the sanctions had been lifted in 1993 and was amazed by his energy. I dabbled a bit in the Beatles too, but that is where my musical 'self-education' seemed to stop. It was only after I met and married my hubby that I realised I had missed out on so much. The 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's all held so much that I needed to catch up on!

Now days I can say that I'm a little more 'with it'. I'm enjoying Snow Patrol, Keane, Paloma Faith alongside some of the older bands such as the Rolling Stones, BeeGee's, Pink Floyd as well as some of hubby's favourites like Big Country and the Housemartins. Yup, to the casual observer it may seem that my musical tastes have caught up somewhat... however, the more discerning eye will still catch me putting Classic FM on the radio and enjoying my Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt... In fact, I'm considering returning to my roots all together as I've raised enough money between my Birthday and Christmas to invest in a Digital Piano . The only question is... am I going to play Classical Music... or teach myself to play more modern stuff? I'd love to play the Blues like Jamie Cullum!

Now, head on down to Tracey's blog for a look at her musical tastes!

New Years resolutions and just one word....

2010-01-08T22:32:00.000Z

Happy New Year to all my friends, family and random readers! I hope that 2010 is a year of peace, happiness and prosperity for you and your families. I don't know about you, but I'm actually looking forward to 2010 and everything its going to bring with it. I can't believe that we are already a full week into the new year. See? Only 51 more weeks to go until we do it all again!

Seeing as there has been so much snow around this week, I've not been doing a lot of rushing around like I normally would. This forced inactivity gets a person thinking and this week there has been an awful lot to think about. Two things have been the focus of my thinking.... firstly, New Years Resolutions. OK, so if you're anything like me these are a nightmare. I make a looooong list of things that I want to change and by the time the end of January comes along they've all fallen by the wayside and are long forgotten. The last few years I tried not to make any resolutions at all, which was okay-ish, but I felt I was lacking something to work towards. Not really a problem for two years or so as I was too busy dealing with being pregnant, renovating a house, putting said house on the market, packing up, moving, finding a new house to rent, starting eldest daughter in new nursery, moving in and unpacking lots of boxes, having new baby, having too many sleepless nights, finding a new house to buy, organising 4th birthday parties for the same day we got our new house keys, decorating and flooring the new house before we moved in, packing and moving in loads of boxes, changing eldest daughters nursery again to be closer to the new house, having a first birthday 'party' for youngest daughter, getting stuff fixed on the new house that the previous owners had bodged, my own birthday, preparing for Christmas.... and trying to remember to breathe in amongst all that lot! But this year I don't forsee any babies or moving or renovating. In fact, other than the eldest daughter starting 'big school' I don't actually forsee much happening at all. Ah! Bliss! Ok, there will still be the usual day-to-day stuff and routine maintenance on the house... but this year I would like a challenge of some sort. So I'm resorting to New Years Resolutions again! So here they are....

Lose weight. My excess weight is really affecting my health and mobility now. I've had enough of it all and am going to make the change to get rid of it.
Get fitter.
Create more. I love being creative, but with all that I've been doing over the last two years its taken a bit of a backseat. I would love to increase my creativity... including the painting and sewing I used to do before eldest was born!
Learn a new skill. I still have to decide what I would like to learn. Something creative that I haven't tried yet? Or maybe a new language?
Be more involved at Church.
Improve my relationship with my kids... basically, yell less and hug more!
Improve my relationship with God... basically, yell less and listen more!

Are these impossible? I don't think so. The key to all of these things is self-discipline. Something I'm not terribly good at. Will they last? I hope so, but only time will tell. Check back at the end of January for that one!
Part of the New Year Resolutions thing for a lot of people, including Ali Edwards , is to choose one word to live by for the whole year. Just one word that will guide your thoughts, actions, goals and dreams for the year. I participated in this a few years ago and found it to be really inspiring. I chose the word Create for that year. And boy did I? It was a great year for creativity, not just in scrapbooking or artistic stuff... but also for creating a home out of a building site, creating a second daughter, creating a calmer environment for all of us as a family etc. This past week I've been thinking about choosing another word for the year. Create came to me easily, but this time I was really struggling. Then, a couple of days ago I suddenly struck on the word Seek. No, its not a generic, feel-good factor sort of word... but I think it will work! It came with a couple of Scriptures attached too....

"Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" Matthew 7:7

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" Matthew 6:33

(source: http://elegantwordart2.blogspot.com/ )

So this year I believe that if I seek God in all these things then I will be able to accomplish the goals I have set myself. This year I'm going to Seek a slimmer, fitter body; A more creative life; A new skill; Greater involvement; and Better relationships.

I don't think they're bad things to strive for... do you? What resolutions have you made?

JYC Prompt 28

2009-12-28T22:23:00.000Z

My favourite Christmas indulgence... baked goodies! Shop bought or home baked I don't mind which! Mind you, home baked is definitely better!

I'm still trying to catch up with all the JYC Prompts that I've missed. Its going to take some time though as I'm waaaay behind!

JYC Layouts

2009-12-23T22:13:00.000Z

Sorry for having been absent the last week.. or two.. or three! You all know how it goes, Advent arrives and you swear its going to be calmer and more organised than last year; and then before you know it you're running around like a headless chicken. Well, its happened again!

The good news is that we are now with the extended family and have been forced into a more sedate and calmer way of life. Which also means that I've been able to get some essential stuff sorted out on my laptop... things like - organising the mess of photo's I'd just dumped on my laptop for the past 8 or 9 months, and also sorting out my digi scrapping kits that I'd downloaded and then done nothing with. Anyway, they're all sorted now and actually inspired me to do some scrapping! Going along with the theme of catching up, I decided to do some layouts for Shimelle's 'Journal Your Christmas' class! So here are the two that I've completed today.. and hopefully there will be more in the next week or so, so keep checking back to see my progress!

Madam & Eve

2009-12-11T22:05:00.000Z

Fun Friday is here again and this week I'd like to introduce you to one of my favourite comic strips! I love this strip for its uniquely South African view on life. Most of the time the comic strip is a commentary on the politics, news or social state of the 'Rainbow Nation', which means you really have to understand what is happening in the country... something which I must admit I have lost track of. However, sometimes they produce a gem that works no matter what nation you live in. This is one such time!

Madam & Eve takes a humorous look at the daily lives of two people from very different backgrounds as they experience life in postapartheid South Africa. The strip's main characters have become icons of a changing South Africa, providing light relief through the days of transition to democracy. Madam, is a typical white South African madam struggling to come to terms with the new South Africa.Eve Sisulu, Madam's "domestic maintenance assistant" actually runs the household. Always fighting for a wage increase, Eve often sets up mini-businesses to run from home to supplement her meagre income. Madam & Eve fight a lot, but they secretly like each other, even though neither of them will admit it. Mother Anderson is Madam's mother from England. She's a guest who arrived but has never left. Her hobbies are watching TV, drinking gin & tonics and fighting with Eve.

Spiced Yummy-ness

2009-12-07T18:03:00.000Z

Yummy-ness. Yup, in this household its a technical term! I'm sure it is in some other households too, although the Oxford Dictionary people would probably be turning in their gravy right now. The reason for using this technical terminology is... baking. Hmmmm.... there is much yummy-ness to be had whenever baking is being done, but especially when the festive period arrives and I get the urge to bake. It doesn't happen often tho', which is a pity! I don't really see myself as a baker. That was always my sisters forté.

We used to go to my Gran's house whenever my parents needed to go shopping. Once there, she would sit me behind her old treadle Singer sewing machine with some fabric, thread and a big tinful of buttons. Then she would scuttle off to her small kitchenette with my little sister in tow to do some baking. My sister would have hours of fun measuring and mixing and then out of that small kitchen would come the most delicious things. I think that was when I realised that working in the kitchen could produce more than just food to fill hungry tummies. Working in her kitchen would produce the most mouth watering stuff which could only be considered as treats. Scotch pancakes (which we called crumpets), brownies, cakes, pancakes, scones, fairy cakes and biscuits. My Gran and my sister made all of those in the times we visited her. I suppose my Gran did most of the work in the early years - my sister would only have been about three at the time - but over the years my sister became more proficient in her own right. My sewing improved too in those years, and so it became that while sewing was 'my thing', baking was always the province of my younger sister. Even now, when I try to bake it doesn't always come out well. Its always a bit hit and miss. However, occasionally I find a recipe that always works well.

The one thing I don't ever remember my Gran baking was muffins. I'm not sure if they're largely an American thing or a modern thing or just not my Gran's thing, but muffins were never on the menu. Me? I luuuuuurve muffins of all flavours! Luckily for me I found the most delicious muffin recipe... and it seems to be one of those that always works! Yay!! We had invited some people around for Saturday afternoon as a housewarming/christmas/birthday party and had decided just to invite people around for coffee and biscuits. However, I decided to do an extra little something in the form of some Spiced Cranberry Muffins and some Mulled wine too. So, on Saturday morning I did some baking and produced some lovely yummy-ness! They turned out well and everyone who had one said they were delicious!

So, for those that visited and asked for the recipe... and for those that are sitting at home wanting some, here's the recipe!

You will need:
300g Plain white flour
2tsp baking powder
½tsp ground cinnamon
½tsp ground nutmeg
finely grated zest of 1 orange
125g demerara sugar
75g frozen cranberries, defrosted
50ml sunflower oil
225ml skimmed milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to gas mark 6/200C/Fan oven 180C. Line 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases. Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Add sugar and cranberries. Beat together oil, milk and egg and pour over dry ingredients.

Mix well with a wooden spoon to make a soft batter. Spoon mixture into muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are well risen and golden.

I have made a couple of changes to this original recipe. Firstly, I used dried Cranberries as I couldn't find any frozen ones; and Secondly, I put more mixture into each muffin case so I only got 9 muffins out of the recipe rather than 12.

Don't you think these are just the epitome of yummy-ness? I do! In fact, I have a few left.... I might just go knick one now. Shhhhh! Don't tell the kids!!

More Fun!

2009-12-04T17:56:00.000Z

So while I was surfing around YouTube the other day I came across this video. I think its fab! But I also think that it completely confirms that I spend waaaaay too much time on YouTube looking at silly videos! There will probably be many more on Fun Fridays to come, I hope you don't mind!

I think this is the perfect combination since I love the Muppets and I adore Queen. What could be more fun than a combination of the two?!

Oh, and a big Happy Birthday to my little sister!! Have a fab day, m'dear!

Another Year Older!

2009-12-03T00:36:00.000Z

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to meeeeee...

Happy Birthday dear meee-eeee.

Happy Birthdyay to me!

OK, so I have officially lost the plot! Still I'm happy today, because its my birthday. I have had a few presents, my girls are behaving well and in general life is good! I haven't had a particularly eventful day but that is good too. Sometimes eventful days are things nightmares are made of!!

This morning I was presented with a digital slow cooker. Lovely! I haven't had a slow cooker since the last one packed up. I used to love doing roasts in it. Lamb, in particular, used to be done to perfection in it. But since the last one went phizz I haven't had the money to replace it. Hubby, however, has taken care of that with this new one. It's a biggun' too with a whopping 5ltr capacity! Which means I should be able to get a good sized joint in there! Also, I'm hoping that this one is better for stews and casseroles too. The last one used to leave a really funny taste in the casserole. Not pleasant! I really hope this one doesn't do that. I know that a slow cooker wouldn't be everyone's idea of a good birthday present, but I'm dead chuffed!

Another pressie from hubby was another coat. "But you just got a new one!" I hear you say. Well yes, I did. But when I was in the shop trying on coats I really couldn't choose! In the end I asked hubby to choose for me as they were exactly the same price, both fitted well, both looked good and both would go with my current wardrobe. And then this morning I found the other one nicely wrapped up! Now I can have choice of coats... which is my idea of heaven!

The girl's gave me this book! Perfect! I love Simon's cat... he's hysterically funny and I see so many of my previous cat's character traits and behaviours depicted in cartoon format. Reading it this morning I had to laugh out load as the pictures showed him trying to fool birds into thinking that his mouth was a bird box, attacking his owners bare legs, getting the dog into trouble whilst having a perfectly innocent look on his face and demanding food with menaces... to name but a few! It makes me seriously consider getting a cat again. If you want to have a good laugh then check out Simon's Cat on the web! Thanks girls for getting me a fabulously funny read.

And now, I'm going to tootle back to my crafting space to continue making my Christmas cards. Or maybe I'll treat myself and do some scrapbooking instead!!

And so it begins!

2009-12-02T00:26:00.000Z

The Christmas madness, that is! Its slightly frustrating as I'm trying to keep the focus on the various birthdays happening in our family over the next week or so, but I know that everyone else doesn't give a fig about that and just wants to concentrate on that extremely commercialised, de-Christianised, overindulgent, who-will-be-the-number-1-pop-jingle, waiting-for-that-episode-of-Dr.-Who-and-snoring-through-the-Queen's-speech, festival. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not all "Bah! Humbug!" or anything. I just like to get the birthday's done with before I go dashing headlong into this period of madness. At least that's what I always resolve to do. The reality is usually far different! I get past my birthday on the 2nd, and my sister's birthday on the 4th, but then by the time I get to my Mom's birthday on the 8th I'm itching to get the Christmas tree up and start being festive. Come the 9th of December I'm usually running around like an overexcited child!! Then by the time the 20th arrives I've found that my whole festive period has turned into an exhausting fiasco which involves me doing my ingredients shopping at 1 in the morning at the local 24hr Tesco, posting my cards two days *after* the Royal Mail posting deadline and hoping that they get there in time, spending Christmas Eve wrapping millions of presents, eating far too much between Christmas and New Years and then collapsing in a tearful, quivering heap on the 2nd of January. At which point I write a long list of New Year's resolutions that I know I will completely fail to do anything about before January is even over! Does this sound familiar to anyone? Please tell me you do the same thing and that it's not just me?!

In an effort to reclaim my Christmas sanity this year I have decided to take part in Shimelle's 'Journal Your Christmas' class. I signed up for it 2 years ago, and then again last year - but ended up not doing anything at all and letting my Christmas simply degenerate into the fiasco as usual. However, this year I am determined to remain calm and serene and to enjoy it to the full with Shimelle's help. Obviously being a crafting sort of person, Shimelle tries to encourage us to produce a wonderful album full of beautifully scrapbooked memories of this season. However, I am going to keep this simple. I intend to blog about it most days, and will occasionally produce a layout when I have the time. I am not going to end up running around like a demented person. I am going to enjoy my Christmas. I hereby give everyone notice that I am reclaiming the festive spirit, and all the serenity that is *supposed* to go with it!

So, here is my declaration of intent:

"Starting today, December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream about the holidays of the future. To some, this would be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I relish and most importantly I am giving at least fifteen minutes to myself, every day, no matter how crazy this season becomes. This Christmas I will make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories."

Later, I might add a picture or a finished layout to this post. But right now I'm going to go finish making my Christmas cards so that I can actually post them early this year! Well, earlier than normal anyway. May everyone have a very Merry Christmas, a relaxing festive season and many happy memories. As for me, I'm looking forward to my birthday tomorrow!!

Fun Fridays!

2009-11-28T00:13:00.000Z

I'm thinking of setting up a regular post section called 'Fun Friday'. I believe in this current economic climate and with all the doom and gloom around from Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Swine Flu epidemics and everything else that threatens to overwhelm us at the moment that we should be able to let our hair down occasionally and have some fun! So once a week on a Friday I hope to post something that will make you smile. Or something that I had fun doing.

Today I'm covering two Friday's with one fell swoop. Last Friday I had great fun watching something and thought I would share it with you this Friday. I'm talking about Children in Need... and this is the single! Peter Kay has really outdone himself again. Himself, herself and myself all had great fun trying to recognise all the BBC animated characters from past and present kids telly programmes... oh and a few making guest appearances from other channels too!

So, how many do you recognise? And if you're from outside the UK, are any of these familiar to you? Or did you grow up with completely different characters? I did!! More on that another time!

Top 5.... books, erm authors....

2009-11-26T00:06:00.000Z

What five books should every person read? A very good question, posed by Typepad on their homepage today. It got me thinking... I have a whole wall full of books. Some good, some bad. I've read all of them, but wouldn't recommend every single one. Lets face it, there is a lot of dross out there in bookland and I've bought my fair share!! So which books out of vast collection would have to be on my mandatory reading list? Wow.... now I've got to sort through all my crime novels, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, classics and other random books that don't seem to fit into any particular category. Its a tough job! In fact, I can't single out any particular books as such, but I do notice a definite trend when it comes to Authors! So instead I shall recommend some authors and perhaps one of their finest works for you to hunt down and add to your reading list...

Jane Austen - Yes, I know, that's a particularly 'girly' choice, but she definitely is one of the best authors out there. Every person - including men - should read at least one Austen in their lifetime. I guarantee that once you get used to the old fashioned way of speaking, you will completely fall in love with her books! Now, everyone gets all excited about Pride & Prejudice andSense & Sensibility, however for me one of her best novels is Persuasion. I think it is quite an undiscovered gem, and that the literary bods don't make enough fuss about it at all!
Terry Pratchett - For a good all round laugh Pratchett is one of the best out there. All his books are easy to read and very humourous, abounding in puns and double entendres. His characters are all charming and really get under your skin. If you need a good 'pick me up' book then you can't go wrong with Mr Pratchett's charming assortment of Diskworld residents!
Raymond E. Feist - Fantasy at its best! His epic collection has spanned several worlds and numerous generations and is truly breathtaking. Starting with Magician the Riftwar Saga flows seamlessly from one book to the next. The best bit is.... he's still writing them! So far I have about 15-20 books on my bookshelves with his name on and I'm currently eagerly awaiting the next installment. Magician, however, is probably the best one and I often find myself re-reading it! His collaboration with Janny Wurts has also produced an excellent trilogy viewing the Rift wars from the opposite side.
Dorothy L. Sayers - An author of immense talent. Her series of books on the adventures of Lord Peter Wimsey really draw you in. They present a picture, a snapshot, of life spanning the turn of the century, the twenties and all the way up to the years of the Second World War. Solving crimes and working in covert operations for the government in wartime, Lord Peter Wimsey hides a cunning and astute brain behind the facade of an indolent, well-off, second son. Murder Must Advertise is one of my favourites although I thoroughly enjoyed Thrones, Dominations - an unfinished manuscript that was completed by Jill Paton Walsh.
J.R.R. Tolkien - The father of fantasy novels wrote The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and used his books to express his religious views and some childhood experiences in allegorical form. His books are so well written and so popular that he achieved cult-figure status within his lifetime. Although I did enjoy The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings my favourite book has to be The Silmarillion. A prequel to the rest of the Middle Earth books, it describes the creation of Middle Earth, the origins of all the races and also details some of the legends that form the backdrop to the other books. It is fascinating to read, especially as it makes use of Christian beliefs as the foundation of Middle Earth.

I hope you've enjoyed my list of authors and some of the book suggestions too. I'm interested to see what other people's choices would be. Send me a link in the comments box to your favourites so I can have a browse please!!

Going Digital

2009-11-24T00:01:00.000Z

This weekend I was supposed to be tidying up, cleaning the house, putting up rollerblinds and generally getting ready for our visitors who are set to invade next weekend. However, after realising that we are going to be away for a full two weeks over the Christmas period... and that I'm going to be bereft of scrapbooking gear for the duration... and that I will therefore have no way of keeping up with Shimelle's'Journal Your Christmas' class, I thought I would look into Digital Scrapbooking. Ha! "Look into" turned into almost a full weekend of fiddling about with Photoshop, surfing t'interweb for free digital kits and generally having fun in a non-gluey, non-sticky, non-cutting way! So absolutely nothing got done in the way of cleaning or tidying, but I *am* most definitely going to be doing digital scrapbooking for those 2 weeks over Christmas. I'm quite proud of the results of this weekend's labours, especially as last week I couldn't even figure out how to print out my photo's from Photoshop... and yet this weekend, I have managed to suss-out layers, changing colours, using brushes and merging!

The picture is of my brother flying an awesome kite on the beaches of Northumberland in August 2007 when we went camping together for 10 days. The beaches were beautiful, the scenery was stunning and the weather was atrocious! (Except for this particular day!!) Oh, and thanks to ShabbyPrincess for the free digi-kit!

Today I am starting our Christmas cards... and my arm is already sore! Perhaps punched edges and borders for 100 cards was not a good idea!! I'm currently considering buying 'Sure Cuts a Lot' for my Cricut so that it can do the rest for me! Anyone have experience of this software and can tell me if it would do??

Revisiting....

2009-11-18T23:32:00.000Z

Since having started blogging again just recently, I have been reading back on some of my old posts and marvelling at how much has changed in such a relatively short time. Its amazing to see how my perspective has changed on events, how my hopes and dreams have changed and how even small things have morphed into something completely different. This post ,for example, was inspired by a blog prompt that was shared on UKScrappers - an event that no longer happens due to people going their seperate ways. The topic? Handbag envy... lol.

What a change three years can make! I'm still a jeans girl, but the trainers have gone out the window. Crocs, Birkenstocks, walking boots and a lovely pair of leather mules are in. My pockets are currently empty, and have been for quite a while now. Mostly because they've been well and truly been replaced by.... a handbag! Oh My gosh! Having two kids now I find I have far too many things to carry, especially as there is usually a baby who also needs carrying at the same time. So, its easier to have a bag hanging off my arm while the baby sits on my hip, the keys are carried in the same hand and the 4 year old is being controlled with the other hand. Yes, I've become SUPER-MUM! Well, not quite... What I am tho', is a mum who now does school runs and toddler group on the same day followed by baby swimming lessons the day after and various other groups throughout the week. Not forgetting the nursery open day, parent-teacher conferences, play dates, birthday parties and school concerts.

The contents of my pockets are still present... the bank cards that used to sit in my pocket now line themselves up neatly in my wallet; the reciepts overflow and the change keeps escaping - but the wallet is being used. However, wallets dont fit conveniently into pockets - so into the handbag it goes. The mobile phone has also migrated to the handbag too, except now I can never find it. Somehow it always escapes from the specially designed mobile phone pocket (which was my whole inspiration for buying this particular handbag!) and makes its way down to the bottom of the bag. And its never in the section I'm looking in when its ringing, so consequently I usually find it a few seconds after it has transferred my caller to voicemail. The keys are usually to be found at the bottom of the bag too, usually making mad attempts at scratching the mobile phone's screen or grabbing at the fabric lining of the bag in a ,usually, successful attempt at ripping it all to shreds. The one thing though that really has changed, and which really sparked the purchase of a handbag... is the PDA. Yup, I've gone all electronic. My poor mushed baby-brain can no longer cope with having to remember all the appointments on its own and I have given up and resorted to using an electronic nagging device to remember it all for me. Its very handy as it keeps all my appointments, contact details, birthday reminders, notes, shopping lists etc. all in one handy place and it beeps at me when I need to remember things. Well, it should do.... unless you let the battery go completely flat as I did last week! In which case, you will find that it loses every last piece of data you had ever entered into it and you are left with a useless lump of plastic that has reverted to default factory settings, thus making you miss one very important appointment, several birthdays and leaves you having to rewrite your whole Christmas list. Unfortunately this wonderful piece of technology is too large for pockets which means that I ended up buying a handbag... and finding that actually, I can make it work for me! Its just all the stuff inside the handbag that overwhelms me now!!

Back to reality

2009-11-17T00:25:00.000Z

Well, the Cybercrop is over. I've scrapped my little heart out. My team the Lions won... and now its back to reality. What an anti-climax!! To top it all the weather is horrible outside and even with the heating on I'm frozen. So, if you don't mind, I think I shall indulge myself in a little nostalgia with a look at all the layouts I managed to complete this weekend..... just to cheer me up a bit!

I love comments.... but

2009-11-14T00:22:00.000Z

As you can see I have this little blinkie on the side of my page. It doesn't do anything special really, its just there to draw your attention to the fact that I looooooove comments. I'm a comment addict, in fact if there was a 'Comments Anonymous' I would have to sign up and follow the 12 step programme. BUT, and here is the big BUT, I have noticed when hopping and reading other blogs that it can be quite difficult to leave a comment on some of them. Mostly because of the millions of security questions that you have to answer. Granted, nobody likes spam... after all why would I want to buy viagra, slimming pills or an e-book that promises to give me the secret to becoming an instant millionaire? However, having to fill in what my date of birth is, my favourite colour and my first pets name is a bit ridiculous. This got me thinking about my own blog. Now when I comment on my blog I don't have to do any security questions, because it already recognises me as the owner of this blog. I'm wondering tho', does it make you fill in security questions to leave me a comment? If it does.... can anybody tell me how to disable this facility or make it easier for people to leave me comments? Please let me know! I'd love to hear your opinion... it would make this comment addicts day!

Fun! Fun! Fun!

2009-11-11T17:57:00.000Z

Here's a bit of fun for today... my seven favourite YouTube Videos! Some are them are funny, amazing, awe-inspiring and then there's the lame ones. Either way, they bring a smile to my face and I wanted to share them with you... 'cause we all need something to laugh about! Laughter is good for the soul, uses up calories and makes us feel better. So have a look at these and laugh!

My favourite puppet. He's non-pc and maybe slightly racist but he's very funny!!

These girls are amazing! I wish I was this fit and flexible.

This man has some amazing moves. How many of these dances did you do at school? Don't own up to too many of them... some of them go waaaaay back and will really show your age!

From the history of dance to the complete History of Music!

William Tell is probably turning in his grave! Its a moment of pure genius!

Husbands shouldn't feel left out either. This one seems to know his place!!

And finally, for pure 'feel good factor'! I don't normally listen to the Black-Eyed Peas but ever since seeing this video for the first time I just can't help smiling every time I hear this song!

(**edited to add** .... Hmmm ok, so this video is no longer available on YouTube! Sorry!!)

Hope you all had fun with my favourite YouTube videos today. Come back again tomorrow for something completely different!

Photo gallery cannot open this picture...

2009-11-10T16:27:00.000Z

A picture is worth a thousand words... or so the old addage goes. So I wonder when I get a message that says "Photo gallery cannot open this picture or video. The file appears damaged or corrupted" how many words, impressions, descriptions of my little one I have lost? I wonder what this picture would have said to me. I cannot tell. I have lost the words, but the memory is still there. I remember taking lots of photo's of her first few hours, her first days. All in hospital. A photo of her under the photo-therapy lamps - looking like a little sun worshipper complete with sun-goggles. A photo of her in a Number 2 bodysuit to match the one of her older sister in the Number 1 bodysuit at the same age. I have that one, but not the other.

So imagine my delight when I find, hidden in the vast megabytes that is my mother's picture folder.... these! These few pictures of her that are now so precious, so treasured. A few thousand words returned to me out of the many thousands lost to the crimes of technological corruption.

Thanks Mum, for being such a shutterbug. A thousand words could not express the gratitude I feel for just one of these pictures!

At the going down of the sun...

2009-11-08T16:22:00.000Z

"They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

We will remember them

Lazing on a sunny afternoon... in the summertime!

2009-11-06T16:08:00.000Z

(Photo's taken in May 2009)

Prompt #4: Blogging the Mundane...

2009-11-05T15:55:00.000Z

I'm loving Shimelle's class! Today's prompt is all about blogging mundane things. Things that we think are 'boring' that might actually be interesting to other people. So, life is not always a rollercoaster of highs and lows, sometimes its just nice and flat and uninteresting... so what? Perhaps nice, flat and uninteresting is good - because a rollercoaster life can make you sick! Shimelle was talking about blogging about things like

going to the library
doing the shopping
the school run
filling up at the petrol station ....

....oooh now there's one that would do me! I nipped there this morning to get some milk after I had dropped herself off at nursery. I filled up with petrol too at the same time... and then came home to find Shimelle's prompt sat in my inbox. It did get me thinking! I remember when I was a kid I used to sit in the car with my parents while the petrol was being filled up! Yup, my Mum and Dad sat in the car too! See I grew up in South Africa where illiteracy is high and lots of people don't have jobs. There is no dole, no benefits or handouts - so if you don't work, you don't eat. Consequently, there are a lot of things that people are 'employed' to do, that here in the UK we do for ourselves... and one of them is filling up at the petrol station. You drive onto the forecourt, open your window and hand a guy the keys. You tell him what type of fuel your car takes and then wait for him to fill up. I remember as a child thinking how it all sounded like a foreign language as my Mom would hand him the keys saying "fill up, 98, oil and tyres" Suddenly there would be three guys rushing around. One would be filling up, one would be checking the oil and another would be checking the tyres. A fourth man would approach the window and ask if she would like the windscreen cleaned. The petrol attendant would then tell my Mom how much it cost and she would give him the cash (before the days of credit cards!) he would take it to the kiosk and bring her the receipt and the change. She would then have to tip him and they would divide it between them. That is how they lived... on tips. I only found out years later that the garage didn't pay them a salary, they did all that in the hope of a tip... and quite a few people didn't give them even that much! The only time my parents would actually set foot anywhere near the kiosk was when us kids nagged them into getting us some crisps or a drink. Quite unlike living here in the UK... where we now have to get out the car (shock, horror!) and do it ourselves. So I filled up the car; watching the numbers whizz by until it clicks. Then I do this "thing", I rock the car - to get the air out of the petrol tank - and then continue to fill it up until it clicks again. Does anyone else do this? I'm not sure where I picked it up from? I think I must be the only person who does this. LOL. I collect my wallet from the car and then head into the shop. Of course it is a *shop* now - not just a little kiosk- petrol stations have now become mini-supermarkets. Our local one has a Marks & Spencers shop, so I often get stuff for tea from there too. I wander around the shop; even though I know I really only need milk - and pick up a quiche, milk, bread, a snack selection, ham, cheese and sushi. Mmmmmm, yup Sushi. Its a M&S and their sushi is gorgeous. I'm addicted to it! I can happily walk right past the chocolates and crisps as long as I can get my hands on some sushi! I take my stuff to the till and pay.... £60 later I walk out of the shop with a full tank of petrol, the milk I originally wanted and nearly £20's worth of stuff that I had never intended to buy! And sushi. Yum!

I think that the old South African system was probably better, the temptation to buy additional stuff was easier to resist when it was someone else who was handling the money and doing all the work!

(Photo source)

Blog Prompt #3: 5 Favourite things!

2009-11-04T15:34:00.000Z

So today Shimelle has us thinking about lists. Mostly lists of our favourite things, places or people. Favourite aspects of life, our kids, food, landscapes, tv programmes, clothes, colours, scrapbook pages, books, movies, CD's, concerts, plays, colours of nailpolish, pizza toppings... Well as you can see the list of all the lists could be endless! So thinking about my list of favourites, I started thinking about all the bits of life that are good right now. So 5 things that I love about life at the moment:

1. I love our new house! OK, so its cost us a fair bit more than we had expected. We've had to do stuff that we didn't think needed doing. Like replacing the entire fuseboard because the vendors had tampered with it and it was unsafe as a result. Like having to replace the oven - which had looked perfectly ok, but wasn't. So the ensuite needs completely replacing because the previous people bodged it and the garden drainage needs sorting because a tiny bit of rain turns it into a quagmire. BUT! And here's the big BUT, I love it. The house feels more like home in the few weeks since we moved in, than our previous house did - even after all the work we did to it. We've all settled in well and most of the boxes are actually unpacked!

2. I'm loving how both the girls are playing so nicely on their own now! Both herself and the little one are enjoying taking themselves into their own corner and playing. No interference from me! Herself is currently dressed in a Stephanie costume (from LazyTown) and playing with her little sisters toys. The little one on the other hand has crawled between the bookshelves and sofa and is happily unpacking and re-packing her older sister's bag of Baby Annabel accessories. Both girls are happy playing with each others toys, and peace has ensued. Long may it last!

3. I'm enjoying my little scrapping space! So himself finished building my new scrapping space inside the spare wardrobe, all the rails and flatpack have been assembled and the stash has been unpacked and sorted... and then re-sorted again! Now that its all accessible I am really enjoying my crafting again. I'm trying to make time every evening to sit and do a little bit of scrapbooking and also some altering. In fact, I'm in the process of completing a project that I bought the pieces for 2 years ago! I shall post piccies once I've given it to the recipient.

4. I love that the Christmas preparations are underway! I love the festive period every year. The days getting shorter, the air is getting that cold bite, the councils are putting up the christmas lights, we're drawing up pressie lists and making our purchases (slightly later this year!), menu's are being created, christmas cards crafted (or bought!), christmas cakes baked, the decorations will soon be taken out of the loft and then christmas trees start appearing in every window on the street and soon we'll be sitting down to eat a meal and open presents with family and friends. I love it all... including the mulled wine!!

5. I'm loving the thought of setting up my own business! BUT, the reality of it is quite scary actually! There's so much to think about! Wholesalers, ebay, website, premises, funding, business plans, bank accounts... and then the elusive name for the whole lot! Definitely having problems with that one! Each time I think I've got a name that's suitable I discover that someone else has beaten me to it. Suggestions on a postcard please!

Phew, that's enough for now I think! Thanks for reading!