Himself the Engineer

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!

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 2: Himself

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!

Happy Birthday!... and moving along...

This weekend himself, myself and herself (Erin) went to an 80th Birthday 'do'. The whole extended family was there.  The birthday 'boy' was DH's grandma's hubby. Confused yet?  The whole thing was organised and hosted by his daughter and was really well done.  If I get chance I'll download the photo's off the camera later.

Herself decided not to have a nap in the car on the way and was really tired before we even got there. However, having her two cousins to run around with was so much fun that it kept her going until we went home.  It was rather lovely to watch as she and David (3) ran around like mad things giggling their heads off... Daniel (1) was in a pushchair at first and was desperate to get on the floor and join in the fun too. Once he'd been let out he crawled around at high speed to try keep up with the other two.  I have never seen any baby crawl that fast before!  Much giggling was done and, although there were some tears (mostly due to overtiredness), the kids really enjoyed themselves. I'm looking forward to Easter and Christmas this year as Daniel should be walking by then and then we'll have 3 kids tearing around after each other.... it should be fun, but I might have to invest in a good pair of earplugs!

Other news is that my parents might be moving house. My father has decided to go back into Methodist Ministry (it's a long story) and put an application in for a posting somewhere out of Sheffield. They all feel they need a break from Sheffield and Yorkshire and were mentally preparing for a move somewhere down south.  It came as a shock that when the phonecall came the invitation was to a church in ... Glasgow! Well, just outside of it.  My parents travelled up to have a look see and meet the folk this weekend and have come back with great reports.  I think they are really looking forward to this move (especially as they love Scotland!).  I think they need to get  confirmation of the invitation and then have to officially accept, but I don't think there is any doubt about how pleased they are with this move.  They will be waiting for a phonecall today to make it all official, so hopefully the church in Glasgow won't be changing their mind!

The last 6 months!

Wow.... so much has happened!
To start with Robert got a new job in Leeds with Carl Bro Engineering which meant a move back down south from the beautiful Highlands! New challenges faced us as we tried to find a house to buy within our limited budget. Luckily for us house prices in the Highlands had risen enough to give us some cash to play with for any modifications that needed doing. Boy did we need it! We found a house in Thornton, Bradford which belonged to an elderly lady that had been committed to a home due to her Alzheimers. It needs loads of work, but is a lovely property in a good area. We moved in on the 31st of May even though we had to rent off the vendors for 3 weeks while the paperwork was completed! During those 3 weeks I made use of the time to get quotes from builders, electricians and plumbers. We discovered that the house still had it's original wiring from 1938 with round pin sockets included for free! Also original was the tiny kitchen which couldn't accomodate 2 adults. A huge dining room next door was just begging to be turned into a kitchen diner! So we proceeded to knock the wall down between the two rooms, remove a chimney breast in the dining room, rewire the whole house and replace the entire central heating system. The latter had to be done due to the existing central heating system consisting of a backboiler which was in the fireplace we wanted to remove! OK so it's a bit drastic - but the modifications, building work, dust and expenditure have been worth it as we now have a really big Kitchen diner!
This week the plumber has been turning the understair cupboard into a downstairs loo!! This will be a welcome addition to the house as I'm finding it difficult going upstairs to go to the loo all the time. Especially as Erin doesn't want to leave her toys downstairs but doesn't want to be left behind either! Robert and I are off to Pilkingtons tomorrow to choose tiles for the bathroom as our friendly plumber is ripping out the Lilac 1970's bathroom suite next week. We are needing to remove the tiles on the walls before then!
Other than the house.... the only real thing that has happened in the last few months is that I've started scrapbooking! Really enjoying this as a new hobby and I'm hoping that over the next while I'll be able to share some layouts with you!
Will update this later again with some photo's of the house just so you can see what a state it's in!