Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

One Little Word 2011/2012

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!

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

WOYWW 18th May '11

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!


Wednesday, 27 April 2011

A Day in Photos

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

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