Struggling

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

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.