Christmas Tidings!

Well, the day has been and gone. We've unwrapped all the presents, eaten the turkey, drunk far too much alchohol and we're *still* eating the Christmas cake - and probably will be for another 3 weeks! The presents were fab. I got a lovely hooded jumper, some toe socks , rapidough (the game), a lovely kenwood chef and a fair bit of money - some of which I used to buy myself a yummy PINK Garmin SatNav. It's been invaluable already! Gone are the days of getting lost in the middle of Leeds and having to stop somewhere to haul the A-Z out. Herself also rather likes it it seems as she sits in her seat in the back of the car and imitates it.

I got Himself a Garmin Satnav too. It's not pink, and definitely not basic (like mine is)... however, it seems that it only wants to talk to us in an American accent; which might end up winding him up something cronic! However all the other features its got will more than make up for it I hope! So we're all gadgeted up to the eyeballs now and we have enough of the Christmas money left over to buy the camping fridge that we wanted too. So in the spring we shall be ableto go camping and have nicely refrigerated food.

I shall have to post pictures of Christmas day later when we've gone home and had time to upload them to our PC. Until then I hope you're all having a good Festive season and that you're all happily playing with your gadgets too! Drop me a line and tell me what you got! ... and if I don't see you again before the New Year.... HAPPY NEW YEAR! May all God's blessings be given to you in the New Year. 

It's a losing battle...

But I'm rather happy about it! I've lost my first half stone and am dead chuffed! I have been anticipating this moment for a while and so went and bought my next dolly bead in preparation. Unfortunately I've been banned from wearing it until I reached the milestone properly... which I did this morning. So I have now added 'Tanith' to my bracelet! Isn't 'she' beautiful??

My next goal now is going to be to try not to put any weight on over the Christmas break! It's going to be tough, but I'm hoping that if I control my portion sizes, severely limit the puddings and chocolate and stay away from cheese completely that I should be able to do it. I might just treat myself on Christmas Day tho'... afterall, I can't be a stick in the mud all the time can I?

The other battle I've been fighting has not been so pleasant. Herself has now recovered from the 'water' infection but has then come down with croup, which has now turned into a nasty cold. And then to top it all off perfectly she started complaining about her ear being sore... one visit to the doctor's later she now officially has a double ear infection!! Just what I needed. Anyway, hopefully this next set of antibiotics will kick in quickly and she'll be fit in time for Christmas.  Speaking of Christmas, it's her nursery's nativity play this afternoon. Her first one! I'm sooo looking forward to it and will definitely be taking photos and possibly a video too.

I suppose I'd better dash off and go check that the various camera's are fully charged up and have enough film/memory!

(un)Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, I'm completely shattered! To say that yesterday may have been the worst birthday ever, is the understatement of the century. The day started fairly well with all those lovely pressies that I told you about and then got steadily worse from there on.

Firstly herself was miserable and grumpy because of a roaring temperature... at one point in the morning we recorded 39.8C. Which is not a good temperature for anybody to have! We duly stripped her down to her knickers, gave her a cool(ish) bath and pumped her full of Calpol. I phoned NHS Direct and they said that she might be coming down with a bug. So himself and I decided that we should stay away from people and not pass the bug on to anyone else... at which point himself decided to tell me that he'd organised a suprise dinner party for me and would have to call the guests and cancel. Herself continued to struggle with the temperature all day until we finally decided to take her to the A&E Department at the local hospital at 6.30pm. There they did all the usual checks, including a urine sample test, and found that she had a 'water' infection. Poor little mite! They prescribed an antibiotic and sent us home. We managed to get her to eat a little and then put her to bed. She woke up again at 11.30pm crying and complaining of back ache; she was also shivering uncontrollably and definitely in distress. I was halfway through my second phonecall to NHS Direct when she turned a strange shade of greyish blue... all the way down to her toes! The nurse on the telephone line immediately had an ambulance dispatched which took himself and herself to the A&E again, while I followed on in the car. This time the A&E doctors took some blood tests and more urine samples as they were concerned that her infection may have spread to her kidneys. After which we were referred to the Pediatrics department who further reviewed her test results. After several hours they decided that it hadn't spread to her kidneys and we could go home and continue on the course of antibiotics. We eventually left the hospital at 5.30 am this morning and were in bed shortly after 6am. After only 4 hours of sleep we had to start dealing with herself again as the temperature had returned.

To make our day even more distressing, we recieved a phonecall from my sister-in-law, just before lunchtime, informing us that himself's uncle had passed away. His employers raised their concerns with the police when he failed to report at work. The police went to his house to investigate and ended up having to force their way into the house where they found him at the bottom of the stairs. Early investigations indicate that he may have suffered a heart attack.  Himself and the rest of his family are devastated at this news as their uncle was well-loved and was always the life and soul of the party. We will miss him.

Uncle Chris and Erin - October 2006.

Happy Birthday.... to me!

Yup, another year gone. I can't believe how fast it's come round again! I have been concentrating so much on making Christmas cards and getting presents sorted that it's kind of come as a surprise really. Himself and Herself have given me some lovely presents including a pair of shoes (some closed ones to replace the Birkenstock sandals now that the weather has turned) and some really lovely beads. I knew of two of them as I chose them... they are Amaia and Merrie, but this morning I was suprised with two more. The 'Root Chakra' bead from Herself and 'Lilac Edge' from Himself. They're both stunning! So a big thank you! I also received some money from various members of the family.

So far, my birthday isn't quite panning out the way it was intended, but I'll not depress you too much with that. I'll post later on to tell you that news, when I've figured out how to word it and deal with the emotions it evokes. Thanks to everyone who has wished me a Happy Birthday so far and to all the family for their generous gifts!

WWII

No.... not World War II, just Weight Watchers 2! After getting on my scales here at home I nearly fell off them and had a major coronary, it seems that I'm now at the heaviest I have ever been. This is a combination of 1) not taking my medication 2) having developed a sweet tooth during my last trimester with herself 3) too many take-outs and 4) not enough exercise! Himself is also complaining that he is putting on all the weight that he lost the first time we did Weight Watchers and wants to stop gaining and start losing again. So.... it's back to counting points, cutting out take-aways and chocolates and making healthy choices. I've also purchased a Tai Chi DVD to get myself into some gentle exercise rather than trying to torture myself at a gym (not to mention the boredom of running in the same spot all the time!) I'm trying to set myself little goals on the way to my final goal, just so that I can keep focused. I'm aiming to lose my first half-stone by Christmas... and then NOT TO PUT ANY ON during the festive period. To this end, himself and I have agreed that I can have a little treat after losing each half-stone. I've decided to collect Troll beads... "What beads?" I hear you ask. Well, here they are have a look! I think they're lovely, but the one's I really like are these - Dolly Beads. Himself has bought me a bracelet and two beads as part of my birthday present so that I have something to put the beads on as I earn them. I must admit that collecting these teeny little beads could become quite addictive... and I'm hoping that they will keep me focused all the way to my goal weight!

So far I'm doing well. I've been on WW for 2 weeks already and have lost 3.5lbs so far! I'm dead chuffed as I normally find it really difficult to lose any weight. However, wanting to lose weight has spurred me on to start taking my medication again as that is supposed to help combat the insulin problems that come with having PCOS. It seems to be working... well the combination of medication, healthier eating and the occassional Tai Chi has at any rate! The real trick will be having a great festive season without putting any weight on. This year we have been invited to spend Christmas with my Sister-in-Law, her hubby and their two boys (along with all the rest of the family!), and as they generally cook fairly healthily anyway I'm hoping that it's going to be down to resisting all the chocs and peanuts and portion control.  The question is.... can I resist the peanuts?? I'm not sure!!

Anyway, keep any eye on this space.... I'll update occassionally on my progress and the lovely beads I have earned as I get them!

Most recent LO

Just want to show you the Layout I have just completed. I'm dead chuffed with this one since its been such a long time since I last managed to complete one. I have been feeling like my inspiration had completely fled the country, but after a visit to the Falkirk Wheel it came back with a vengeance and this is the result.

The title of the LO takes the form of a conversation saying:

"What did we do today?"
"We went on a wheely big boat wif a yittuw Ewin toiyut"

Erin just loved the small child-sized toilet in the boat that she wanted to go back there for days afterwards just so she could go to the loo!! So I felt I really needed to document the occasion. Although I will do another LO about the Falkirk Wheel itself at a later stage. I'll update more about our 3 week stay in Glasgow later.

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!

Friends Reunited

I have a little time to do another update post before we dash off for our hols, so I thought I'd tell you about the wonderful visitors we had... our lovely friends David and Tjits and their two girls came to stay for a few days having travelled all the way from Inverness!!  It was so good to see them as they are the couple that we really miss from our old Church in the Highlands.

It was great to have them round! Just to be able to chat to them without the constraints of the telephone and being able to see them face to face was brilliant; and served as a huge 'pick-me-up' to both Robert and Myself.  The girls all had a fab time playing together too!!

While they were here we took them to Golden Acre Park in Leeds for a bit of a stroll... and for the kids to see all the ducks! The weather was beautiful, lunch was delicious and the kids had a ball!!

Here's some piccies to prove it!

Dead chuffed with some of these photo's as they were taken with my mobile phone's camera!!  I can't believe the quality of the pictures it takes.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great time over the next week or so!! I'm sure we will be... and I'll have plenty more pictures to show you when we come back!

Update part deux

Our next major trip away was down to Charmouth in Dorset, where we rented a cottage with the parents-in-law, my sister-in-law and her husband and their two boys.  Nine of us in one cottage for the week was rather fun! Lots of trips to the beach (which was only 5 minutes walk away), plenty of sightseeing and loads of walking kept us busy for the whole week.  Erin and her cousins particularly enjoyed building 'santastles' on Charmouth beach.

Here's few piccies from that trip

There are so many other beautiful piccies taken on that trip I wish I could share them all with you!  Keep a lookout for them as I'm sure they'll be appearing in future scrapping projects!

We are away on another camping trip from tomorrow (Friday 17th) and will be returning on Sunday 26th.  I'll update some more when we get back.  Think of us camping in the pouring rain up in Northumberland and pray that we get some decent weather!!

OMGosh! I'm sooooo sorry!

Wow, I really have to apologise to all of you for not posting for so long! There has been so much going on, I've not been able to keep up with it... nevermind blogging about it!  I will attempt to catch up on all the happenings over the next few days or so.

Let's start with our camping endeavours! Our first trip I have already talked about, but hadn't gotten round to posting any piccies. Want to see?? OK....

Erin enjoying the 'tampin' - as she calls it!

My parents tent, which we borrowed

Erin feeding the goats

Mummy and Erin on the See-Saw... I think Mummy enjoyed it more than Erin did!!

I shall update on the rest of our camping endeavours in another post as it seems that Typepad is objecting to me posting so many photo's!  See you later!

Honey, I'm home!

Oh My Giddy Aunt! How long has it been??  Well, the two weeks suddenly turned into 5 weeks... mostly due to horrible plasterwork that was lurking under all that 80's wallpaper.  Yup, you guessed it... 1930's horsehair plaster!! Ugh!! What a nightmare that was to work with!  Everytime we filled and sanded one patch, another patch crumbled... we did eventually catch up with it tho'... until we put a coat of white paint on, to find sooooo many more crevases suddenly showed themselves.  We also had to have the ceiling replastered due to finding artexing hiding behind the wallpaper - (I wish now that I'd had the money to replaster the walls too).  However, all the hardwork is now finished and is soooooo worth it.  The room looks FAB!  I'll have to take few pictures later on this week to show you, but want himself to get a few finishing touches installed before I take them.  Also, it needs a serious tidy up as I've just dumped my scrapping and art stuff on the shelves... Need to make another trip to IKEA for storage boxes. Not sure himself is going to be too pleased with that idea - considering how much I've spent at IKEA just recently!

The other reason that it's taken so long is that we've had loads of weekends being taken up with other stuff... like seeing friends, going camping, visiting family, going shopping... oh and the UKS Mad Hatters Cybercrop!!

Camping
The camping was seriously good fun!  Thanks to Tim, Tammy, Sarah and Jonathan for wanting to take us newbies along.   Six adults and 4 kids in 3 tents near Birmingham made for a really great weekend.  I realised that the last time I'd been camping was 14 years ago!!  Himself, on the other hand, had NEVER been camping. We borrowed my parents camping gear, just to try it out and see if we enjoyed the experience. Needless to say, we came back from that weekend away, completely hooked! Which meant we simply HAD to go shopping for a tent the following weekend.  Managed to get a great deal, but now need to get all the other stuff... before July when we go camping with the 'crowd' again.

Oh, ought to mention that we had our 7th Wedding Anniversary during the camping weekend too.  What a day that was... we spent all day in Cadbury World eating chocolate!!  It was a great experience... not particularly romantic, but definitely very delicious!

Visiting Friends and Family
What can I say about this?? You go, you stay, you chat and eat and drink and sleep. You do a few interesting things (such as Crich Tramway Museum and a lovely old windmill) and you get to meet a new little 5 month old friend, who was just gorgeous!!  Bronwyn was born 13th December to our friends Nick and Wendy... what a beautiful baby she is!! I even got to have a cuddle without her crying too much, which only made me broody again! LOL. I think I can wait for another one, but then I see a new little baby and it sets me off all over again!

Some friends from Inverness came to visit us too, in the past week.  What a joy it was to see them.  It was lovely just to have a good chat, do some shopping and see the kids playing together.

UKS Mad Hatters Cybercrop
Oh what a fabby job was done by the leadership team on UKScrappers again for this cybercrop.  Yet again the classes were fabulous and the LO's produced were gorgeous.  I temporarily moved all my scrapping stuff down to Tammy's house where the two of us spent the whole weekend producing yummy new Layouts. The menfolk entertained themselves and our little monster for the whole weekend. What bliss! No kids, lots of scrapping, lots of chatting and lots and lots of hot chocolate to drink.  Sooo looking forward to the next one!!

Well, that's about it I think.  I shall be updating regularly again, now that I have my PC back and the room all nicely decorated around it.  Hopefully I'll see you all around!!

PS. Pictures to follow as soon as I've downloaded them all from various cameras and mobile phones!

Connections

Just a quick note to say that I'm not going to be posting much over the next two weeks or so.  This is due to us finally starting the decorating process on the room that will be known officially as "The Study" (and un-officially as "my Scrapping Space"). Himself is most determined that this is NOT my scrapping room even tho' I will be doing my scrapping in it... it's a STUDY.  LOL.

So far the room has had it's cupboards ripped out and our PC is currently in a pile in the corner of our bedroom awaiting the day it can finally be put back together on it's new desk (which is currently sitting in the garage waiting to be assembled).  I'm planning a trip to IKEA for some other bits and bobs (including the 'scrapping' desk) to finish the room off.  All Hail the Glorious Empire of IKEA!  We shall make another pilgramage to the hallowed halls of flat-pack shopping sometime next week, so I'm hoping the room will have had it's wallpaper stripped and walls painted, floor carpeted and new light fixtures installed in readiness for flat-pack assembly to commence as soon as possible after the shopping trip.  Anyone want to volunteer to come and help??  Thought not!

Until, then I shall have to make use of his company laptop and some very kind friends computers to get my daily fix of UKScrappers, ebay and blogs!!

Watch this space for before, during and after pics... they should be good. Can't wait to get rid of this 80's wallpaper!

Onwards and Upwards

A mere 5 days after the accident himself has gone back to work.  I wasn't entirely sure that it was a good idea, however he doesn't do sitting around at home very well.  So he trundled off to work this morning in the hire car - a Mitsubishi Colt semi-automatic - which he has nicknamed 'the Dolt'.  He doesn't much like semi-automatic driving, but at least its a set of wheels!

So, in the spirit of trying to get back to normal, I can give you a belated update on events prior to the accident on Wednesday...

On Friday (23rd) I finally took the plunge after much umming and ahhing and had my hair cut.  It had been about half-way down my back but was really getting me frustrated and wasn't in such good condition, so decided to go to the hairdresser and do something about it.  Had it cut to an 'inverted bob' style with some lovely streaks of red in it too.  I think it looks great!  Although the picture that the hairdresser took at the salon doesn't really do it any justice. 

Also, the hairdresser bloke was determined to blow dry it straight.  Why can't hairdressers just accept that I have curly hair? Along with the fairly busy life, a toddler who's into everything and pure laziness I really can't be doing with a style that needs hours of straightening and styling.  The result is that my hair on the day it was cut looked like a strange half-arsed attempt at straight and slightly wavy when anyone who knows me will tell you that it's very very curly!  It looks much better now as I just wash it and leave it to curl in its own way.  Still I like the style and how light it feels.  Much easier to look after too!

On Saturday (24th) I went with my friends Sarah and Tammy (who are both cardmakers) to the Great Northern Papercraft Extravenganza at the Yorkshire Events Centre in Harrogate.  Wow.  It wasn't quite as big as I had imagined, but still took me all day to walk around and make my purchases.  There was so much fabby stuff that I was really struggling to decide what to spend my £50 on.  Wisely, I only took cash with me and left my cards very much in the care of himself as I couldn't really afford to spend too much.  I'm still supposed to be paying back about £200's worth of overspend from January!  I did manage to get a punch and pair of scissors (both of which I've been trying to get for months), a lovely selection of papers, a glue nozzle applicator for fine work and the really yummy pack of Basic Grey 'Scarlett's Letter' paper.

Some other random bits and bobs also managed to fall into my shopping bags too and eventually walked out with only a penny change.  Not bad for a day out and I'm definitely going again.  The next one is in September sometime, so I'm going to have to start saving up now I reckon!!

Wednesday (28th) was also my little brother's birthday.  I can't believe he's 22 now. Makes me feel old...although my Mum would probably laugh to hear me say that.  I have to say "Happy Birthday" to little-bro as I didn't get a chance to do so on Wednesday (what with the accident and all).  Sorry that we mucked up your big day mate... it wasn't intentional! LOL.  Have a great year and enjoy being 22!

Crunch Time

Well himself, myself and herself are home again safe and sound. In more or less one piece although himself is still limping and wincing everytime he moves.  He's feeling loads better today espesially after the shock of seeing the car yesterday.  We had to go to Sandbach to fetch some stuff out of the car wreck and took the opportunity to take some photo's at the same time.  Rather scary I felt, it made me realise how much we owe to airbags and other wonderfully complicated safety measures that we take for granted nowdays.  If Roberts' car had been older he wouldn't have walked away from the wreckage.  We counted a total of six airbags in the car 3 of which were for the driver (thank goodness!) I didn't even realise there were that many in the car!

The other guy's car didn't come off much better either although he apparently didnt feel the need to go to hospital.

Apparently himself was merrily tootling along the country road doing 60mph when he saw a black Toyota Celica coming around the bend.  The driver lost control of the car and veered across the road. He fought to regain control of the car but couldn't and ended up ploughing into our Fiat pushing Robert sideways through a brick wall and into a garden.  We're unsure what speed the other car was doing at the time of the accident, but it must have been at least 60mph.  Robert was trapped in the car for a while until somebody managed to wrench one of the back doors open.  The ambulance service then took Robert to Leighton Hospital A&E in Crewe.

We would like to thank the ambulance and A&E staff for their care. My in-laws (who went to sit at the bedside) were very impressed with their care and efficiency.  Also to the South Merseyside Police who have been very helpful in providing information and support after the incident. 

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive in this stressful time. We really appreciate it!!

Ouch!

So, I was planning to do a post this week about the brilliant Great Northern Paper Extraveganza Show that I attended with some friends in Harrogate on Saturday and also about my dilemma of to cut or not to cut my hair.  Unfortunately these exciting topics have been pushed out of my little head completely by the phonecall every wife/partner dreads.  The one that says "Mrs Goodman, please don't panic, but your husband has been involved in a serious collision".

Due to this phonecall I'm now in Leicester with my in-laws and my very bruised and battered hubby.  He is ok, but the car is a complete write-off.  He's very stiff, has loads of little scratches and cuts and some very big bruises. Also some friction burn on his face from the airbags, but that is bearable considering the alternative injuries he could have had.  The hospital have given him a clean bill of health, which is great as I wasn't sure what state he was going to be in when I arrived here.

Anyway, I shall post again as soon as everything has settled. I might even have an idea of what happened in the accident which I shall post at a later stage.  Thanks to everyone who has phoned, texted or emailed us since yesterday morning. I shall get back to you all in due course.

Hard at work

Well, as much as normal anyway.  Finished a few LO's this past two weeks or so, but haven't really had the time to take photo's and upload them.  I did manage to take one photo so I'll post it here for you... It's my first LO about himself, which took him by suprise I think.  I felt the title was particularly apt!

I have also added a slideshow to the blog, after much muttering.  Struggled to do it as TypePad kept giving me error messages. Then once I figured what was wrong there I found out that it was too big for the sidebar and was being chopped in half. So, after several attempts at making it smaller I finally got it down to the right size!  E voila! One slideshow with LO's on! Now that I know what I'm doing with it I might add another with family pics on.  What do you think??

That means my dear SIL and her DH (and other technically minded members of the family) and my parents can see the latest and greatest shots of the darling cherub. Even if she is being a monster at the moment cause of teething.

Anyhooo, the little monster is trashing the room behind me as we speak, so I'd better go rescue the cat again who is currently cowering under the furniture!

Have you ever?...

Just saw this on someone else's blog and thought it would be interesting to share. Those things inPurple are what I've done.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars 
20. Changed a baby’s diaper 
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger 
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch 
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage 
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children) 
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking 
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ... yum!
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Thanks to Kirsty262 for sharing!
I hereby tag Natalie to share hers!

Creative Overdrive

Think I ought to share some of my recent Layouts with you. It seems that the last few months haven't been particularly creative, but now the creativity has kicked in again.  Only did 2 layouts in February (one of which was a lift of a beautiful LO in the Scrapbook Inspirations Magazine) but have already done one in March and have another planned.  Hoping to do loads this month for a scraplift challenge on UKScrappers. The challenge for me is to do 20-odd LO's in a month. It's not quite as difficult as it sounds tho' as these LO's are to be based on or 'copied' from a set list of layouts that other people have done.  Consequently the first scraplift LO only took me 3 hours to do (rather than the week and a bit it normally takes). Want to have a peek??

The first LO was the lift of the magazine layout and all credit goes to SuzyB who made her original so wonderfully inspiring!  She is also a member of UKScrappers but I didn't know that until after I'd started work on my version.  Thanks to SuzyB for giving me permission to copy her beautiful work.  The second LO is all mine and the third LO is from the UKS scraplift challenge.  The original LO was done by UKScrapper Debly.

The other thing that has been particularly inspiring this past week was a little crafting evening that I hosted at home on Wednesday. Nothing big or fancy, just myself and 3 other ladies who are all into crafting in one way or another.  We all sat around the dining table and did our thing while having a good chatter and some nibbles.. although I might have over catered on the nibbles as himself and myself have been eating them for days afterwards to finish them off!  Still, it was great fun and a good time was had by all.  I think this might become a regular thing rotating at the four houses.  So I'm seriously looking forward to the next one!


Anyway, I shall have to go wake up herself yet again... otherwise we won't get any sleep tonight.  I'd better warn the cat before I do so as Erin has taken to chasing it around the house shouting "Tat" at the top of her lungs. The Tat in question is actually settling down fairly well, but still legs it everytime she sees the toddling monster coming towards her.

Lookie!

Well, after much uhmming and ahhhing, himself and I headed out today to the RSPCA to have a look at puddy tats and pooches. Himself wanted the former and I was rather keen on the latter... our choices are both due to how we were raised.  Himself's family have always had cats and are most definitely CAT PEOPLE whereas I have always had a dog and my family are most definitely DOG PEOPLE.  I have had a cat once before but only after I had married and moved out of my parent's home.  I found a dog I liked and wanted to have a look at and himself found a cat... the dog was lovely, she was a springer spaniel and was beautiful, lovely natured and VERY VERY VOCAL!! Unfortunately this was a little too much for herself to cope with. Poor Erin, she really wanted to pat the doggie but the doggie was more interested in barking at her very loudly and jumping up against her.  That put paid to my plans for a pooch so the puddy tats won... and himself is rather pleased with our selection.... who is still using the sofa as a retreat from a very exhuberant and noisy toddler who keeps yelling "TAT" at the top of her voice. 

May I introduce you to Orchid... NOT! The RSPCA called her Orchid, but himself and I have decided on a much simpler name. Pollyanna!

As you can see she has ventured out from her hidey-hole, but only when the little monster we call Erin isn't around!

Long time no see

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted! Much has happened, but on the other hand nothing particularly notable has happened either! Confused? Me too!

It was himself's birthday on the 19th. I keep telling him he's doing ok for a 110 year old! LOL... that doesn't impress him much.  He got loads of money which he put towards buying himself a lovely Canon 300D DSLR camera. He still has enough left over to buy himself a few accessories to go with it too.  I guess it means tho' that I will inherit his little compact that he got as a birthday present a few years back... although I'm looking enviously at the DSLR.  Perhaps I can convince him to let me borrow it?  Maybe if I get myself on a course? Hmmmm... I don't think he's going to let me touch it for a while never mind letting me take it out of his sight to a course where I might try to do wierd stuff to it!  Saying that, the poor man has yet to find the time to properly read the instruction manual. Believe me, it's a bit more complicated than our point-and-shoot compact!  Mind you, there is an upside to it being HIS camera.... it means that now I might be able to get IN the photo rather than being the one taking the photo.  Maybe I can actually start on the scrapping item known as a BOM? (A Book of Me for all you confused non-scrapping people out there)  Up to now my problem has always been that I'm the one behind the camera rather than infront of it.  Finding photo's of me for a BOM has been a problem so far!  Hopefully not anymore!

Must say thanks to all the friends and family who contributed to the camera, I'm sure we'll all enjoy the benefits even if some of us aren't allowed to use it!

On another topic entirely, there is a little discussion going on on the UKS forum at the moment about whether or not people would sell framed Layouts.  It's got me thinking... do you think people would pay to have their treasured photo's nicely scrapped and then framed to hang on the wall? Would they pay for a whole album to be done?  Would you? How much would you pay to have your memories preserved? Let me know your thoughts as this sounds like an ideal way to spend my time and maybe get a bit of pin money in.  Not sure it would be profitable enough to do as a 'career' tho'.

I'm off now methinks. I have to wake herself up or else we'll get no sleep tonight! I promise I won't leave it so long next time between postings.  I have a new LO that I want to show you anyway, but need to get a better photo of it. Perhaps himself will let me use his flashy new camera to take it?? Or perhaps not!

Sleeping Beauty

This morning herself has been a whirling dervish, a two foot high Taz... creating havoc wherever she goes!  She has not been in my good books either, mostly due to the mess caused.  The final straw was when she got hold of the glass of water on my bedside table and emptied it's entire contents onto the bed! Which means extra work for me as I've had to strip the whole bed to let it dry out and will have to put new sheets on and remake the bed later today.  It's not a job I enjoy doing at the best of times...

I got the young madam to help me tidy up the mess she'd made, by packing up all her toys.  During which she was whinging the whole way. I figured it was just because she had been told off.  After most of the tidying up was done she went to sit on the floor on the upstairs landing while I finished off. When I turned back to look at her ....

Bubbles!

Yesterday morning herself and I went to Tesco's to do the monthly shop, boring yes I know!  Still, it had to be done as we had nothing in the fridge and even the larder cupboard was looking a little bare. So despite the snowy conditions we got in the car and drove to Tesco's. While I was there I found some Mer-Matey bubble bath in the kids section, which I thought herself would enjoy. Boy was I right!! She loved them and had a great time trying to eat them... don't ask me why? Who knows what goes on in her little mind?  Here's a few pics:

Unfortunately she enjoyed her bath so much that she didn't want to get out! Which ended up in tears; at least they didn't last too long as she was deposited into her bed not long after. I'm rather looking forward to scrapping these photo's... should look good!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Here's a blog prompt from UKScrappers today that caught my eye. Thought it might be a good one to try out...
"What changes do you plan to make in your life in the coming months. Do you like or loath change?"
Changes I would like to make are rather different to changes that I'm going to make. Firstly, I would like to put an extension on our house that could give us a study/scraproom downstairs and another bedroom upstairs. The change I'm going to make is that the spare bedroom is going to do double duty as study(scraproom) and guest bedroom.  This is going to involve ripping out some really dated fitted wardrobes, stripping wallpaper, ripping up carpet and then painting, laying laminate floor and installing some desks and shelving. Secondly, I would like to have someone to do all the housework for me so that I can spend my time doing the stuff I really like. However, I'm going to be following the FLYlady (www.flylady.net) to learn how to break the housework down into more manageable chunks.  I'm hoping that doing it this way will mean that I can actually do the stuff I like too! Some other changes I would liketo make are:

1. Lose weight
2. Finish decorating the house
3. Move back to Inverness
4. Have another baby
5. Find a job I can do from home
6. Go back to college to finish my Fine Arts studies
7. Re-model the back garden

Somehow, I really can't see me actually accomplishing all of those in the next year.... but I will give it my best shot!  Change isn't something I have a huge problem with. In fact, I love change! To the extent that every 2 years I start getting restless and wanting to move house... that isn't normal is it?!  But then, who is?!

Re-decorating

As you can probably tell I decided that the black background was too dark and gloomy. As the sun was shining and spring flowers are starting to appear I decided that a fresher look was needed.  Although my decision was also influenced slightly by the fact that TypePad has decided not to like my previous banner  - the one with the lovely sunset was not allowed on my page apparently. So I played around with another photo that I'd taken in Scotland and made this nice new one. I hope you like it!
I have to confess too that I finally succumbed and bought some more olives today. Half the bottle has already disappeared!  I'm sure we have an olive-eating pixie in the house cause I certainly don't remember eating that many!

Poem

Thanks to Eleanor on UKScrappers for sending me this poem. It's apt! The cravings are still there but not as strongly now.... just trying to ignore them as I don't have anymore olives in the house and don't really want to go shopping especially!

Olives
Sometimes a craving comes for salt, not sweet,
For fruits that you can eat
Only if pickled in a vat of tears —
A rich and dark and indehiscent meat
Clinging tightly to the pit — on spears
Of toothpicks, maybe, drowned beneath a tide
Of vodka and vermouth,
Rocking at the bottom of a wide,
Shallow, long-stemmed glass, and gentrified;
Or rustic, on a plate cracked like a tooth —
A miscellany of the humble hues
Eponymously drab —
Brown greens and purple browns, the blacks and blues
That chart the slow chromatics of a bruise —
Washed down with swigs of barrel wine that stab
The palate with pine-sharpness. They recall
The harvest and its toil,
The nets spread under silver trees that foil
The blue glass of the heavens in the fall —
Daylight packed in treasuries of oil,
Paradigmatic summers that decline
Like singular archaic nouns, the troops
Of hours in retreat. These fruits are mine —
Small bitter drupes
Full of the golden past and cured in brine.
A. E. Stallings
The New Criterion
June 2006

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!