Send Me Your Karma

ohhhh exciting times ahead, or very likely, potential heartache............

Let me explain, we have found THE house, THE one, THE most gorgeous house in Edinburgh and I am trying my best not to get hysterical.Why? , well because the house buying system in Scotland seems to have been invented by a sadistic lunatic on crack cocaine. Imagine the scenario, you find a house you really, no like REALLY love and you say "oh Mr House Seller, we are loving your house and would really like to buy it, how much do we owe you" Mr House Seller replies "oh well, we have come up with a totally random number of pounds we think it is worth, but we thought it would be good fun to play a game called "offers over", this is where you have to guess how much will be the highest bid for our house and if you offer us the largest amount you have won the contest!!!!!!!!" Isn't that fun???? ERRRR Nope, it means (possibly) BIG upset and dismay and right now our little family could do with some serious luck (queue the WOE is me speech). Any how, we are entering this game of madness this week and in the next 5 days or so will know if we are going to get to live in a place which ticks all of our boxes or.............Not. Please wish us the biggest amount of luck...........................................

Anyway, enough drama. We have had a wonderful weekend. We had lunch in the most eclectic pub in Edinburgh called the Canny Mans, it's the strangest place I have ever seen, with memorabilia, all over the place and the most incredible range of champagne on sale (yey! -not that I had any!!) AND the longest sandwich menu possibly on the planet. We followed this up with a trip to the National Museum of Scotland and it was great, however we only saw a fraction of it. It's free (you gotta love those Scots!) so we'll be back very soon.

We tracked down a wee (get me with the Scottish lingo) Scotland strip for Alex and he also took a fancy to a Fancy Dress shop (no pun intended) where Alan bought some "bubba teeth". These things are HILARIOUS. They just look awful, think Austin Powers teeth but worse. Alan has perfect teeth and he put these in his mouth and I just about wet my pants laughing at him. When we got back to the flat, I secretly put them in so I could suprise him, but I sat there sniggering and gave the game away. They should be prescribed to all people who are feeling "blue" I defy anyone not to laugh like a drain!

Well a 4 hour drive and I am back home. I love coming home to see what mail I have, sad but true, I am addicted to mail, I have been waiting for some mags to arrive from Papercrafts mag in the USA and they did but someone has opened the package and nicked one them (the most expensive one I might add) I am LIVID, OK it's only a mag, but I love mags and it's still stealing. So if any of you know where I can get the latest edition of "Card Creations " in the UK, give me a shout.

Phew long post!!

Love Bug

I am in lurve - BIG LURVE with my Cricut Expression, it is just so flipping cool. I admit to knowing SFA about the way it worked before I bought it but my ebay auctions have helped me fund it .

Rachel from Hobby Horse Crafts did a demo at the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza at Harrogate first thing on Sunday morning - Sarah and I watched with bated breath and Rachel said there was only one left and her Mum was bringing it up from Derbyshire from the shop. Her demo was so good I haven't even needed to open the manual to make it work.

Sarah was like "tell her you want it" since there was an eager lady behind us. So I did and was soooo glad. It is so clever. Alex loves it too!! I have even been telling people (non crafting ones) at work about it and even they like the sound of it!

Talking of ebay, I went to the PO to send about 15 parcels at 4.45 today, and had the slooooooooooooowest man at the teeny tiny post office in Chelford. Bless him - he told me at the end that Weds is when all the post offices upload their figures etc so it makes the system very slow - then I felt bad. I held up the queue behind me and felt the need to apologise profusely. The poor lady behind me had a teeny parcel to post but she was so sweet and didn't mind at all!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - almost forgot, I went out to lunch today in Alderley Edge ( think Man Utd footballers, ladies who lunch etc) and when we were on our way back to the car park a rather nice Bentley Turbo drove in - so we all knew it could be a footballer and who steps out but Ronaldo and bobs into Somerfield - and gosh was he gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!

Harrogate

Ohhhh Sazzles and I had a fab time at Harrogate today, it was so nice to see her and her baby twins, they are sooooo cute.

We arrived at Harrogate bright and early and I headed straight to Hobby Horse Crafts to see their Cricut demo.............oh dear a Cricut Expression just fell into my shopping basket, I am so naughty, but I really loved it, so I got it.

The best bit of the day was catching up with Sarah and also seeing all the lovely gals who have been so nice to me over the last few months. I got big hugs from Julie Hickey, Diane Grimshaw and of course Beverly Fletcher, it was so nice to see them all, such nice ladies. Bev's stand looked fab, lots of yummy stuff. Craftwork Cards had lots of scrummy stuff as always and the Practical Publishing team were alse there in force (that crew are mad and I love 'em!!!)

I was a little bit sad from time to time as Mum and I always used to go to this show so I missed her lots. But it was also a lovely day out, I can just imagine her saying "you can't buy that Cricut, you'll never use it!!" But I will Mum , I promise xxx

Shopping

OK retail therapy is helping me through my sadness at the moment, bolstered by my ebay sales thank goodness!

Went to John Lewis today................I LOVE JL, but I live in Cheshire, and quite frankly in some areas (not where I live) there are people who have waaay too much money and not much sense. Ladies who lunch, who need a slap if you ask me are in plentiful supply. The car park was full of v expensive cars and most of them seem to park in those "pick up or drop off zones" It makes me so mad, these are people who are so full of themselves and so darned rich they don't care where they park their ridiculously expensive cars........................it makes my blood boil. An American friend of mine used to use the phrase "please hurry I'm very rich" which used to crack me up ,but it really applies to some of these self important gits!!!

AAAAAAANY way, I had a nice day despite my Victor Meldrew tendencies.

The best part of the day was coming home to find the latest edition of Simply Cards and Papercraft waiting for me, and my cards are featured on the front cover too! It was the last project I did before Mum died and I am so pleased to see it in print. I don't do a lot for this mag, but Diane the editor has been very nice to me............so big wave to Diane!!

I am off to Harrogate on Sunday with my pal Sazzzles (of Sarah's cards) and I haven't seen her for months so I am really looking forward to seeing her, having big chats and spending dosh on stash..................and of course seeing the gorgeous twins.

I'll let you know what I buy!

Ebay Geek

OK so I have about 40 items for sale on ebay at the moment (check me out, my ID is Samantha725 ........ohhhh Sunday name)

I LOVE ebay and have sold bits and bobs over the last year or two, but in light of our move in the next few months I am seriously in a de-clutter mood. I log onto ebay every 2 seconds to check out who is bidding on my stuff I am like a big kid. I have so much more to sell, I am quite obsessed with it, plus I can't bear the thought of a car boot sale with people touching stuff and offering me 5p for treasured crafting bits!!!!!

It's a bit of a pain doing the photos, weighing stuff for postage and writing it all up on ebay but I still like it.

Anyway I must go check on my stuff ......

First Day Back at Work

Well I went back to work today after 6 weeks off!! Yikes! It's been a mighty long time. But my chums at work are just fabbo and nice and groovy and have let me ease my way back into the team. There are lots of exciting things going on at work and it's great to be back.

I had an envelope on my desk sent via internal mail, now I NEVER get fab mail at work. This mail came from the US of A from a fellow IT Trainer from Delaware, I once mentioned I was into papercrafting. Anyway inside the envelope was the Aug/Sep issue of Scrapbooks ETC magazine - how cool is that? She'd sent it via internal mail for lil' ol' me - I was sooooo chuffed.

I have emabarked on a pseudo stint back at Weightwatchers, I have eaten so much healthy food in the last 2 days that I think I am developing an anti social ahem! "wind" problem if you get my drift- ewwwww!

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

I am currently watching "ghost hunting with the Dingles" on TV.............I can't believe the depths to which I have stooped. I don't watch Emmerdale but the tall lanky one (please tell me his character name) doesn't look as dopey as he does on TV - in fact he reminds me of an ex. Now I know I am losing it.

OH OH have you seen the new Cadburys Dairy Milk advert with the gorilla on the drums? Hysterical, I love it!

GRRRRRRR Injustice

Well what a great day - not! I went to Manchester this morning to deal with my Mum's affairs, was feeling a bit choked up about it all really, and especially since today would have been my Dad's birthday. Co-incidences run in this family, the day Mum was due to have an appointment for Dad's affairs turned out to be the day of her funeral, it's unbelievable!

Anyway, I parked just around the corner from where I was supposed to be going and since I hate breaking rules and I am naturally cautious, I paid for almost 2 hours on a parking bay for an appointment that was to take less than half an hour.

I get back to the car and I had a bloody parking ticket. Turns out I got one cos the ticket was face down instead of up, the damn thing must have flipped over when I slammed the car door. THE AIR WAS BLUE!! Can't believe it!!!! I get fined £30 for the privilege of parking for half an hour and the ticket flipping over I am so mad.

I am even more mad because a while back Alan (in a hurry) left his debit card in an off-licence, found out the next morning that it was missing and £50 had been obtained on his card. It was the guy who worked there! Caught red-handed on CCTV, he was sacked and then spent a couple of weeks walking past the shop taunting the manager.

Well Alan gave evidence, he was arrested (not Alan, the robbing toerag in the shop!) and guess what?? The filthy theiving toerag gets......................yep you guessed it, a caution. OH well that's got him shaking in his boots, he won't be stealing off anyone else sometime soon will he???

I give up........................!

Sorry for spitting such venom but I will probably be £30 worse off for a simple mistake today, just what I need. I have written a letter to the parking ticket people and quite frankly if they make me pay I am going to chain myself to the railings ..........not sure where yet (hee ! hee!)

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnd RELAX.............

All Partied Out............

Well I had Alex's Birthday tea last night - it was lovely but my God the house was trashed afterwards and I was pooped out too.

This is the scene before the carnage............

I am not showing the "after" but suffice to say my lovely fellow Mummies helped me tidy up. Here is birthday boy!

I was totally shot by the end of it all and fell asleep at 8:30!

Oh here is the card I made for hubby.......it won't win any prizes but I have to prove that I do something every once in a while...

I used a Blonde Moments stamp and a cuttlebug embossing folder, I just love the Cuttlebug stuff.

Movies and Cheese

Well I am very chuffed with myself, I have managed to do a project for Quick and Crafty mag (almost) on time.........I am soooo chuffed with it, it's all about Christmas and I think I found my groove again.

I have watched a couple of movies in the last couple of days, last night I watched "Frankie and Johnny" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. Now Al is cool and he was very cute, andthis film was made before he developed his mad bouffant hairsprayed hair-do. You know he reminds me a bit of Paul McCartney (weird huh?) but he looked good, although his character was a teeny bit OTT with the love thing. Nevertheless it was a great film. Tonight I watched "Night at The Museum" with Alex, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this film, great cast. If you haven't seen it, get it for your kids.

So that's enough of the Barry Norman................

Had a "Mum moment" today. Was looking in the fridge and found a pack of cheese my Mum had brought to the house. She used to bring food over to our house when she visited . So I have this tall fridge with shelves I don't use much................and I found this old bit of cheese and it reminded me of her visits ...........and I stood there crying my eyes out.......................and I hate bloody cheese.

Knackered.............

Gosh I am really pooped, I have made a card for hubby, it's our 9th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. With the luck I have is it any wonder I got married on the 11th Sep??

Not showing the card since he might read this drivel (although he swears he doesn't). I am not knackered from card making, just everything has caught up with me. So this morning I dumped my ironing at an ironing place, and called a cleaning company to blitz our house for 3 hours on Friday morning (now I really hope hubby ain't reading this ha ha ha!). I am having a little tea party for Alex on Friday after school , as he didn't have a birthday party. I have ordered some fabbo Pirate themed stuff from t'interweb today for him. I am having a mad idea of dressing up like a pirate to make him laugh!

I am having major cravings to buy a Cricut or Cricut Expression, no idea why , I just LOVE gadgets. I am selling a Craft Robo or offering as a swap for a Cricut if anyone is interested????

I ain't no Dawn Meehan

Dawn Meehan, you may have heard of , she was the lady who had the Pokemon cards on ebay that one of her six kids sneaked into her shopping trolley. Her blog is hysterical read it here

Anyway I have only one child but he sometimes cracks me up - this morning we left for school at stupid o'clock because the road near us is closed, we were outside the school gates in the car at like 8:25am and school starts at 8:50am !!! So I found a few mags in the car to kill some time, and whilst I was reading about Jade Goody and her £1000 champagne party nights whilst trying to get over "cheating Jack", Alex starts coughing his head off. He croaked that he wanted water and I gave him some , he turned a funny colour , his eyes were watering and I said "are you OK sweetie" to which he replied "no mummy I think I swallowed some sick juice" ewwwwwwwwwww. I have a new car and I got him out PRONTO, he was OK, no puke thank god.......

The Average Contents of a Loft

• 30 odd Beano, Dandy, My Guy Annuals
• LOTS of dust
• Cut glass bowls (loads of the damn things)
• Almost all the Christmas cards sent to my Grandparents.....(huh?)
• Great grandmothers death certificate
• Books about Hollywood stars in the 1950's (very cool)
• Love letters sent to me (a whole 2 of 'em)
• Photos taken by me of Charles and Diana when I was 19 and I met em (very spesh)

hmmmm lots of stuff still to be cleared out of Mum and Dad's loft, the clearing continues and now I am dealing with estate agents (joy!)

Also, two rants

1. on the first day back at school some pencil pushing ee-jet decides to close a road on the school run. We were HALF an hour late and escorted to the classroom by the headmistress (eeek) I had to write "I must get my arse in gear faster each morning" 50 times on the blackboard. Not really, she was lovely, I almost hugged her!

2. Why is it that people are so damn incompetent. Despite asking the morons at the local Spar to "CANCEL THE PAPERS AND MAGAZINES as my Mum has died" ", they still continue to send them. A family friend has seen them right. Also a woman we went to see about my Mum's accounts at the building society, sent a letter offering her a new account which I opened this morning. I rang the branch and said verrry slowly " PLEASE .........................TAKE .........................HER .......................OFF............ YOUR ..............................MAILING.............................. LIST" How difficult is it to do a job this easy???

OH and .........

3. Apple have just announced a complete revamp of the iPod...........Cheers Mr Jobs, now my coolio iPod is out of date..........

Annnnnd Relax..........rant over, sorry bout that xx

House Hunting

Oh woe is me, this house hunting is hard going. Yesterday we went to see 2 houses, one was a definite no-no, run down and loads of work required. Having spent 6 years doing up our current house there is NO WAY I am going down that road. The second one was what they call a "double upper" flat, in a lovely district of Edinburgh. OH MY GOD I loved it, so much so I had tears in my eyes walking round , it was just full on antiques and gorgeous things and soooooooooo classy. Downside is, although it had it's own garden you have to go down 2 flights of stairs to get to it, and it is facing the wrong way to catch those "I need a beer after work" evening sun rays..........so it's a no go for us.

I am so excited about moving up here, it totally seems the right thing to do and I just love it so much.

I foresee weeks of nail biting and tension for us to get the right place...........hey ho.

On the Beach

Yesterday we took a drive over to Fife to St Andrews. Alan spent most of his hols as a child in St Andrews and we have visited it often.

The weather was glorious and we had a picnic on the beach. Mind you by the time we got there I was starving and had low blood sugar grumpiness. It was warm but windy and every 5 mins I was getting a face full of sand which was flying all over the food. We retreated into the sand dunes where I took this pic

I soon cheered up though , we went shopping, a place with a Fat Face and a White Stuff can't be all bad eh? Especially since they both had sales on.

We topped off our day with a trip to the Fish and Chip shop at Pittenween, and ate them by the harbour.

When we got home the old grief kicked in I had the urge to call my Mum to tell her all about our day, of course I couldn't. Then it dawned on me, the horrible, horrible realisation that there is no-one is at home wondering what we are up to, whether we got home safe and how we are. I can't tell you what an awful empty feeling that is.

Hey ho, it'll happen from time to time I just have to accept it.