Mojo Convention

I recently asked a question on UKScrappers: "Is there a mojo convention somewhere? Cause mine seems to have disappeared to sunnier climes to meet up with other mojo's!" My scrapping mojo has gone. Well, actually, its not just applicable to scrapping... unfortunately my mojo also influenced my ability to type stuff on my blog too! So, my most sincere apologies to all those people who have been looking at this page eagerly for an update, only to find the longest silence in the history of blogs.

There is, happily, a very good reason for this sudden lack of mojo.... I'm pregnant! Yup, #2 is on the way and is expected on or around the 3rd September. Which when I first intended to tell you seemed ages away; but now is far too close for my liking! Unfortunately for me, lack of mojo goes hand-in-hand with being pregnant... as I found out with #1. I was doing a Fine Arts course when I fell pregnant with herself, but found it impossible to complete as I kept just staring dumbly at the paints and canvas. Now this time, my scrapping has completely stopped, my writing has stopped and all creative thought has completely failed to materialise. Its only in the last week or so that I've picked up my knitting again and made a very feeble attempt at scrapping - which has yet to be completed. Someone on UKScrappers mentioned that they had checked on here and found it quiet, so I figured I needed to somehow get typing again. Well, at least for long enough to update here!

The second reason for my lack of updating is that my PC has been packed away. We have converted the study/scraproom back into a usable bedroom and all the study stuff; including PC, books, scrapping stuff etc has all been put into storage. This is because we have put our house on the market. There is a long, involved explanation/background to this decision - but the upshot is that himself has transferred with his company to Glasgow and we are moving back up to Scotland. Himself has already started work and we are currently living with my parents while our house sells. We are hoping for an offer any day now as we have had a fair amount of interest and viewings. I'm trying to resist looking at houses here in Kilsyth until our house has been sold. I just know that if I start viewing houses I'm going to fall in love with one and not be able to do anything about it until our own house has sold. However, patience is not one of my virtues so I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to resist! I shall have to tell you the whole story of our move up here at a later date, but as its incredibly long it will have to wait.

Other than that, I'm afraid all the rest I have to report would be mundane, boring, everyday stuff. Our focus so far this year has pretty much been to get ourselves out of Bradford and up to Glasgow, so everything else seems to have paled into insignificance.

I hope your life is a little less hectic than mine is at the moment!

Oops I did it again...

How bad am I at updating? Terrible, I know! Feel free to reprimand me in any way you feel inclined to! I suddenly realised how bad I was when both my Sister-in-law and my Dad both asked me when I was going to update again. Oops!

Anyway, so here I am. Its been a manic few weeks. We've been away on holiday, been to a Ruby Wedding Anniversary 'do', my parents have moved house, my in-laws have found a new house and started a new job,  my sister has graduated university and landed herself a brilliant job, had two major announcements from family members and some sadness thrown in too. As I 'speak' I'm currently in Glasgow where my parents moved to. I am staying here for two weeks - having brought herself with to spend time with 'Ouma' and 'Oupa'. Himself, on the other hand, is still at home. He's working during the day and then spending his evenings doing DIY to finish off some projects that were started well over a year ago. The only way to actually get things done is to take herself and myself out of the picture completely... as toddlers and doing DIY quickly do not seem to go hand-in-hand.

The holiday was great. We joined my parents for a 9-day camping break in Northumberland. The campsite wasn't up to much and not to the standard we have enjoyed at other CCClub sites, however, the area was stunningly beautiful. When the weather co-operated (and sometimes even when it didn't) we did loads of walking, saw some stunning castles and beautiful views, went to plenty of National Trust properties, went to Alnwick Gardens - which was amazing, and even flew some kites! Oh, and I almost forgot.... we also went to Lindisfarne... wow what an awesome place that was! Here's a piccie or two from our hols.

My sister graduated university this summer having gotten a 2:1 in her Contemporary History with Journalism degree from Queen Mary University in London. My parents, brother and her partner Alex attended the ceremony in July. Unfortunately due to limited places being made available by the university Himself and Myself were unable to attend. We were there in spirit tho' and are really proud that she has accomplished so much. During the remainder of the summer my sister applied to various companies for jobs and finally started her new job on a graduate training programme with DeLloyds, one of the top five auditing/accounting companies in London.

After only 4 weeks of working for DeLloyds she found out that she was pregnant. Wow! What a shock that was! However, it was short-lived. After 3 weeks of complete emotional rollercoaster ride, she miscarried. Everyone's initial reaction to the pregnancy was a bit reserved due to the timing of it. We were all concerned about how her employers would react, however, they have been brilliant. Our reaction to the miscarriage is shock and sadness... we had gotten used to the idea of another little body in our family. I think my sister and her man were just getting used to the idea too. They are saddened and grieving - naturally, but I know that they'll come through this time too. Our heartfelt condolences go out to them.

The other shock announcement came from my brother (the one flying the kite in the picture above). It seems that he has decided to apply to the Army. That decision has completely suprised me as I didn't think it would be the type of thing he would be interested in doing. At the moment, his application is going well and he is currently working on his fitness for the physical tests. He has to undertake endurance and strength tests and has to make a certain grade for acceptance onto the next stage of his application process. We wish him all the best for this process.

Anyway, That's about all I have to share at the moment. I will try to update more often from now on!! Feel free to email me with your tirade or post on the comments section about how disappointed you are in my updating skills!

Strange Cravings...

Nope I'm definitely NOT pregnant, believe me I have tested and have proof. There is not going to be any new additions to our family any time soon.  So why am I craving?? Anyone out there with medical knowledge who can tell me, I would be most grateful!

So here it is.... I hate olives. Never have liked them and always avoid them like the plague.  I bought a 400g jar of them from Tesco's just before Christmas for the simple reason that my parents were coming for Christmas day and my parents love them. I figured it would be a nice little snack to have with a light tea in the evening.  As it turned out we were all so full from lunch that tea never happened, so I was left with some food, including a jar of olives. The rest of the food got eaten over the course of the week between Christmas and New Years but the olives got shoved to the back of a shelf and I was resigned to the fact that in a couple of years time I would discover the jar of out-of-date olives while I was desperately trying to find a tin of tomatoes. 

Then suddenly last week I started this craving for olives.... don't know why, it just happened. I remembered the poor un-loved jar of olives in the back of the cupboard and opened it thinking that I would probably have one little olive; decide I still hate them and end up throwing the rest of the jar away.  Well, it didn't happen like that. I ate the whole 400g in the space of 36 hours.... and I'm still craving olives.

This morning I decided to rummage through the larder cupboard again to see what I had and found a tin of anchovies. They're ok but have to be put with loads of other stuff to take the edge off the saltiness.... but I had them this morning on toast with melted cheese. It was rather nice actually, but surely not normal?

So there you have it. Why am I craving? I have no idea, but I'm rather enjoying the odd combinations!