Taking it easy

Well we are still having a wonderful time here in Camps Bay, I thought I would share a few picures taken from the balcony of our apartment. We have been taking it easy so far with some lovely meals and just enjoying the sunshine

Last night we went to a lovely seafood restaurant which does Tepanyaki and Sushi, we decided to go for the tepanyaki option which came with Miso soup, Alex loved the soup -that kid amazes me, I for one think Miso tastes a bit yukky but he did very well and we had some giant prawns which he loved too!

I am totally blown away by what we have seen so far here, we are planning a couple of trips out in the coming days including a trip to the Winelands and Boulder Bay where there are loads of penguins. Apparently there were dolphins in the bay visible from our apartment yesterday morning, but we were pretty tired after our travelling and weren't up early enough to see them. Fingers crossed they come along again soon.

Heaven

Words cannot describe the beauty of where we are right now. We arrived in Cape town just before 8am this morning, picked up our hire car and drove to Camps bay. We had to wait until 2pm to get into our apartment, so went for a drive about 5 mins away and we saw the most amazing sight 2 whales in the sea, probably about 200 yards off shore. Apparently it's quite unusual to see them here and we were so excited! We just saw lots of people with camera and binoculars and stopped to gawp with them.

We then arrived at our apartment and it is soooooooooo gorgeous, just above the beach with the most amazing wrap round balcony we love it - pics to arrive very soon. The sea is just awesome with HUGE mountains behind, and the weather is HOT HOT HOT - yey!!!!

We're on our Way
Yep we are en- route to Cape Town, yey!!!

The fact that my hubby does a lot of travelling is a BIG drag most of the time - however, when it comes to holiday time we do get the chance to go into the BA Exec lounge. Yey and double yey, I am sitting drinking a loverly Chardonnay (hic!) and smurfing the t'interweb.

We've now got a 10 hour night flight ahead of us (not tooo keen on that idea but it should be fab when we get there.

I am a TOTAL gadget head but it isn't till you get into an airport and you see everyone on mobile phones, laptops and Blackberrys that I realise how gripped we all are with technology.

OH MY GOODNESS, I wish I could share this with you via a photo, but a completely whacky elderley lady just walked by in a crocheted jump suit - yes A CROCHETED JUMP SUIT, in orange , brown and cream....................... how cool/mad is that, I am totally impressed. Even Alan's eyes popped out ha ha!!

Well I'll soon be packed into a seat like a battery hen, sharing a loo with 300 other people so wish me luck and good weather at the other end!!! And hey OH MY LORD JUMPSUIT WOMAN JUST WALKED PAST AGAIN

Aaaaaand relax, if Heidi Swapp can travel from the US to Bejing with 5 kids then Alan and I can manage it with one ( I hope)

I'll keep you posted on our trip!

Great Idea - Not!

Trust me, like an idiot I decided to apply "St Tropez Tan" today so that I don't blind everyone in Cape Town with my pale legs. I was kinda hoping to lose a stone in weight and look tanned before I get there, but it's not easy to achieve such results in a week!

Anyway last time I applied St Tropez, I looked like I had been "tangoed", it looked like Stevie Wonder had put in on and I spent a week trying to scrub the damn stuff off, I was red raw for days. So after this disaster, I chucked the stuff in the back of the cupboard vowing not to touch in again.

As Julia Roberts says to the shop assistants in "Pretty Woman"- "BIG mistake, HUGE....." yep I should have chucked it out, but the dumb optimist in me decided to give it another go.

Well it has been lurking in that cupboard for a couple of years (oops!) and I think it might have "gone off" , I followed the instructions to the letter, but my legs are GREY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arrggggghhh!

Will I ever learn................erm Nope!!!

I'm Back

OK well I am still totally "cheesed off" about the house thing, but hey ho, that's life, gotta just get on with it and keep looking.

I have had a couple of bits of good news this week, first off I was idly flicking through my latest copy of Quick and Crafty and I am one of the designers listed as a contender for best general designer in Q&C. Aceville hold annual awards for designer, products and shops. OK I know I am not going to win as anyone voting can add a person of their choice but I am still chuffed about it. The lovely Paula Pascual is also nominated in the same category.

The other bit of news I can't really share, but I am being sent something very exciting to play with and I am very happy.

Still loving my Cricut made a card with it the other night but forgot to take a piccie - DOH!!

I am doing some creating today once the little fella is packed off to school and I have dropped the ironing off (la-di-flippin'-da) Wish me some inspiration xx

Gutted............

Well folks the house isn't ours, we didn't win, I am very upset. Was kinda hoping for some good luck, but it wasn't to be. Thanks for your good luck messages, everyone was hoping we'd get it.

Not in the mood to blog today..........................

The Suspense is Killing Me

I think I might take a knock out pill which will make me sleep till Wednesday morning. Alex would have to walk to school and back and sort out his own food etc, but it would save me the stress of tomorrow. Tomorrow is where we find out if we have "won" the wretched house. OK so the house isn't wretched at all, but if I don't convince myself that it is a dump then I'll be heartbroken when we don't get it ("when" - do you notice even more self preservation?). Every time the phone rings tomorrow I am sure I will have a heart attack arrrrrgghhhh!!!!!

PLEASE let's hope it goes in our favour.

Hey ho, as Doris Day once sang "que sera sera" - there'll be others..............

Anyway if you could just keep everything crossed for me that would be super fab and groovy - ta very much xxxx

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.

Ten Years On......

Aww I do miss Diana, I remember I was in bed on a Sunday morning and Alan had to go into work, he called me as he heard the news on the radio. I promptly burst into tears. I loved to see her on TV and in magazines. I was very lucky to have met her when I was 19 - she was beautiful. I also got to meet Paul Burrell in June this year. I know many people thought he was a toerag for writing his books I did and I told him so (oops!) I did tell him that when I read his book I changed my opinion. Talking to him I was so struck by how very devoted he was and still is.

I thought the service today hit all the right notes. By the way if you haven't seen "The Queen" with Helen Mirren in it, you should, it really sheds so much light on the whole story and why the Royal Family chose to stay at Balmoral. At the time I was livid that the family didn't return to London, but it was the best thing for the Princes at the time, and it was awful how the Queen was criticised then.

5 years ago this very day my little boy Alex was born, so we have celebrated today.

"They Tried to Make me Go to rehab - I said no no no.........."

OK I am feeling a little like Amy WINEhouse - me and Mr Chardonnay are more than just good friends right now - hey ho, if it dulls the pain/stress/etc then I think it is OK. Besides a stay in the Priory might just be fun eh?

ANY -HOO , we officially started house hunting in Edinburgh today - OH MY GOD

OK this is how it works. People selling houses up here pick some totally random figure of a price they would like you pay - you then have to make them an offer over that figure, and we are not talking maybe 2 or 3 grand more................we are talking maybe 2 or 3 HUNDRED grand more. They are "sealed bids" so you have no idea whether your bid will be accepted. To me it sounds like a recipe for total heartache and stress and frankly I DO NOT need any more of that right now thanks very much.

So tonight we went to see the most heart breakingly beautiful house which has a guide price we could afford but not offers over. Edinburgh is probably now on a par with London prices, we currently live in a 6 bedroom house in Cheshire and there is NO WAY we can afford that here. OH and just in case you think I am a posh tart............I am not - 2 of the 6 bedrooms are used as offices and most of the rooms still need to be "done up". We were just very lucky to find a house at a very reasonable price which needed a lot of TLC.

Anyway apart from all that I am fine and dandy and Alex is 5 tomorrow so that will be a nice day.

Taking a Break

Well we 3 are in Edinburgh for a few days, we have spent so much time arranging a funeral and clearing the house that we decided we have to get away and just chill. It is Alex's 5th birthday on Friday so high time we did some fun stuff together.

I have shed a few tears tonight, the last few days of mum's life were spent in this flat in Edinburgh, we waved her off on the train from here, so it was emotional to come back. I miss her so much

My Back Hurts...........

OK bit of a grueller of a day, we headed over to Mum and Dads house to do some more clearing out. Crikey over 40 years of accumulated possessions yikes!! Well today I decided to tackle the loft. Have you ever spent 3 hours bent double in a loft? Put it this way I feel like a twisted old hobgoblin (by the way what is the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin??) My back is killing me.

The loft is filled with some sort of insulation, hopefully it's not harmful, if it is then I am "scoobed" it's shredded paper by the looks of it, makes you sneeze and there are years of accumulated dust up there.

I found loads of cool stuff, including all the pics and stuff I had when I was a camp counsellor in the USA when I was 21 (possibly the coooolest 3 months of my life)

About 300 love letters sent from Mum to Dad when he was in the army..........shall I read them??

My very first ball gown from Uni days, fuchsia pink from Laura Ashley - I sense it could be vintage and worth millions heee heeee.

The weirdest victorian doo-dah, it's a glass dome which covers a "basket" of wax fruit, most of which looks melted and yukky, it belonged to my Grandma , I remember it when I was little. It was in a sorry state then, but I LOVE it- Alan called it a "shed pixie" (tune in tomorrow for a shed pixie definition)

Lots of cheesy 1970's Annuals, Jackie, Look-In, Dr Who etc, retro heaven!!!!

And much much more. I guess it all stems from the fact that Ma and Pa lived in the same house all their married life.

OHH OHHH also, totally changing the subject..........I had a comment today from a real life US writer - hey Candace!! Lord knows how she arrived at my blog, but I am chuffed to pieces (i.e very excited)

ALSO last but not least, those of you who are kind enough to read my stuff know all about what has been happening in the last few months and I am extremely touched and grateful for your lovely comments. It means so much, so I thank you for taking the time to post such nice words xxxxx

I am so uncool

The Mac went back.............I am soooo uncool. I feel like Andy out of Little Britain "don't like it"

I tried to be cool, I WANTED to love it, but it just didn't float my boat. I am not a graphic designer, web designer young hip trendy thing, I am 40, I like making cards and dabbling in digi scrapping. OK so I ain't been doing much of either lately but I really didn't need a MacBook pro. So ,my love affair with Macs was short lived.But there was no real acrimony, Mac I thought you were cool , but I guess you were just too cool for me. The people at the Apple Mac store were gutted, I thought the guy was gonna cry, he loved macs and begged me to reconsider, I nearly caved in but didn't.

So they refunded my money and I am blogging on a new HP laptop, it's lovely and it feels like home..........

I was on UKS this morning and read a thread about a lady who has posted a listing on ebay for Pokeman cards that one of her 6 kids had sneaked into her trolley whilst shopping. The listing is hilarious, but her blog is even funnier. This is probably appearing on blogs all over the place but here is the link - absolutely worth a read
http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/

What Have I Done?

Oh no, I REALLY don't like my MacBook, I have wanted one for so long and I just don't like it. It's not as much fun as I thought it was going to be, I suppose the thrill is in the chase ha ha!

ALSO , although I finally got wirless to work, the "A" on the keyboard is very dodgy. I am dragging my sad self to the Trafford Centre today to see if I can get a refund..............what a berk!

I'll keep you posted. If you see a blonde 40 year old in the Apple Shop shouting.....it'll be me.

The lovely Paula Pascual sent me a card yesterday, I was so chuffed, she is so kind.

I have also had about 3 cards from the fabby Julie Hickey. Julie is such a sweetie, it's weird, when I first started card making she was a great inspiration to me (still is) and now here I am getting handmade cards from her, how cool is that!

PC Versus Mac

In a vain attempt to cheer myself up I bought a MacBook Pro today. I have lusted after one of these for aaaaages. I actually bought a PC laptop 3 weeks ago, the battery konked out yesterday and so it went straight back to John Lewis for a refund. I bunged a bit (actually A LOT) more money to the refund and splashed out.

Well I was sooooo excited, they didn't have a bag big enough to fit the darned thing in so I had to carry it in it's gorgeous mac box, god they do know how to seduce suckers like me. I was terrified I was gonna get mugged getting back to the car, so I dragged poor Alex at break neck speed through the Trafford Centre and locked the doors as soon as we were in!!

So I get it home, open the box, all V stylish I can tell you, and then the heartache began. Seems the little critter is so posh it took a decided dislike to my common wireless router and refused to connect to the t'interweb, aaaarrrggggghhh! FINALLY after hours of trawling the net on my desktop I found an answer and I am able to connect. I have to admit though, it has taken the shine off the whole experience. I am loathe to load on any software in case I have a change of heart.

The other thing is, I have never really used a mac before, I think I will be buying MACs for DUMMIES as it is quite hilarios to watch..........wish me luck

I Feel Weird

Hmmm I feel weird, kind of a bit lost and unsettled. Life has changed so much in the last 4 months. I keep thinking "oh I must ring Mum and tell her about.................................ah right I remember now, I can't" (sigh)

I think I am doing OK, but really not sure how I feel at the moment. Alan is away and I really don't know what to do with myself.

I spent some time in my craft room today, tidying up and chucking rubbish out. Have brought home lots of Mum's craft stuff, so now I have 2 of everything hey ho!

I've been off work for about 3 weeks now - 3 weeks ago tomorrow, Mum, Alex and I drove up to Edinburgh to start our holiday. Strange, it all feels like I am living someone elses life at the moment ( I wish I bloody was too!)

Doing OK (ish)

Yesterday we said a final goodbye to my mother, it was the funeral. Although there were of course some moments of great sadness, we also celebrated her life. I was surrounded by wonderful, loving friends and family, all with great stories and memories of her.

I managed to write a eulogy and got up to speak at the church, I was dreading making a fool of myself, but I got through it, and got an applause at the end which was just so supportive.

Lots of decisions and things to sort out over the coming weeks and months. I miss her very much, but at the same time I feel blessed to have had such a wonderful mother.

Not feeling Good

I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful little boy, but having lost my brother at 28 , 9 years ago and my Mum and Dad in the last two months, somehow, I feel very alone............on the surface I think I am doing OK., no hysterics and stuff but just shocked and empty. Gosh I miss my Mum.

Thank You

I am so grateful for all your comments. It is a sad time and I am coping (how? I don't know)

This is a time when you know who your friends are and I seem to have lots and I am so blessed.

My Mum was my best friend and we shared lots - she was a card maker too. I sat reading Crafts Beautiful and Quick and Crafty last night, normally I would ring her and talk about the latest designs and stash , so it was quite sad. All I can say is hold your loved ones close and never take life for granted, it is a precious gift, so love one another as much as you can, make every day count. Don't save that outfit for best and never say "i'll do it next year" just go and do it..................

Sam xxx

Devastated

Late last night, we had the worst news ever. My darling, precious mother died suddenly with no warning at home...........2 months after my father died. I can't think of any other words to say

Ahoy there Shipmates!

Our hosts have a new boat, and every year we try to take a trip out, usually to Plockton, for dinner. For a land lubber like me it's a great thrill, the weather wasn't so good yesterday. We get to the boat by way of a little red motor boat , the Loch was VERY choppy and we were soaked by the time we got to the big boat even though it was only moored about 50 yds off shore, take a look - she is gorgeous......


Here is the youngest crew member..... The views were amazing, here's the little boat from the port side ( I think)
Here I am with Alex.....
Returning to the boat, here is the view from Plockton shore..............just gorgeous.

We had dinner in the Plockton hotel and I strode about in my sailing wellies feeling quite the thing.

Not sure what the plan is for the day, it is piddling down with rain, we are supposed to be going to the Highland games in Skye tomorrow, if it is not rained off - fingers crossed.

A Rare Day

Yesterday, I did something I do very rarely, I basically did a whole lot of nothing. I stayed in the house, didn't race from place to another and really for once had nothing to do and nowhere I had to go. I found a new book to read " The Moon's a Balloon" which is David Niven's autobiography, which I am finding hard to put down.

I also played for hours on my laptop, I downloaded some digi kits, installed ACDSEE and generally blog surfed which was fab.

I am astounded and extremely grateful too see how many people are currently reading my blog. I have a view my stats link which lets me see where people are coming from on a map and from which site they found me. It's incredibly flattering to see that some VERY talented people who have their own blogs have seen fit to add mine as a link from their own. I just hope you all stay tuned.

The weather up here today is not brilliant, but as Billy Connolly says "there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes", so we will do what we can. Not sure yet what we will be doing FIL and his friend and my hubby are off to play golf in a while.

The midgies were out with a vengeance yesterday, chewing on Alex, he stayed outside for as long as he could flapping his arms about to ward them off, but I am afraid he is just too young and juicy for them to resist him. He eventually ran in the house whimpering and scratching his head madly, bless him. Judging by the weather today they'll be back..............

On My Hols

Well here we are, safe and sound in Kishorn, almost a year now since I started this blog, so if you look at some of my very first posts you'll see a pic of where we are.

The Sun is shining and the midges aren't out for blood (yet!). It took us five and a half hours to get here from Edinburgh (groan!). It's usually a 4 hour straight run, but there was lots of traffic yesterday.

I have my new laptop with me and I purposely didn't bring any card making stuff, so I am hoping to crack on with some digi stuff and hopefully post some here - time and outings permitting.

Our hosts have a new boat, we haven't seen yet so I am looking forward to a trip out on that, and on Sunday, we are off to the Skye Highland Games, I might get to see some caber tossing and sword dancing, lots of pics to be taken then!

Ah well that's me for today, tune in tomorrow for more Highland News and the latest midgie count!

Penguins

WOW I was really chuffed to see how many people visited my blog yesterday to read the bagelope instructions. There is lady in Canada with a great blog called http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/ check it out. I'll be adding this to my sidebar too.

I also got tagged by Paula Pascual, so I apparently have to add this doo-dah to my blog

I need to tag some other people too, so I am tagging some of the Banana Frog design team members . A very talented bunch of chicks they are too ! Shimelle, Ann, Audrey, Nat and Sam.

So after yesterdays post all I can offer you is Penguins. Yesterday, Mum , Alex and I went to Edinburgh Zoo, the highlight of the day was the Penguins walk. Every day at 2:15pm they open the gate to the penguin enclosure and those that feel like it, toddle out for a little walk, it is soooo cute. 12 of the little souls decided to go for a stroll yesterday so here is a pic.

Edinburgh Zoo is just brilliant, we were able to do a brass rubbing in the rhino house, they have a big pool and two of them were lying in it and it was fascinating to watch them, although a bit whiffy.

At the end of the day Mum and I walked round the corner, there is a papercraft shop 5 mins walk away, I spotted it last time I was here, how cool eh? So we were really excited, but when we got there they were CLOSED,arrrgh, the lady who owns the shop is getting married and so they are closed till next week, bad timing or what? So I stood there with my nose pressed against the glass spying at all the goodies................never mind I'll have to save it till next time.

Bagelopes

I made some bagelopes with my chum Sarah from Sarahs Cards last year as a make and take at the NEC, and I got them published in Simply Cards and Papercraft this year too. I can't claim them as my own idea, I read about them on t'interweb but I thought it might be something good to share. They are easy to make and it's something you can do with children. All you need is a humble envelope and then you can decorate them as you like. I like to do do rubber stamping on mine, if you are going to do the same, make sure you do it BEFORE you make the envelope into a bag! In the example above I used stamps from Banana Frog

Step 1

Take an envelope and either cut or tear off the top flap, you can use decorative scissors if you like.

Step 2

Fold up the bottom of the envelope about 1 inch, crease quite firmly, you can use a bone folder if you like, then open the fold up

Step 3

Fold in the sides of the envelope to the same width as the bottom fold, it's important that you make the folds the same size otherwise you will end up with a "wonkylope" ha ha ha !! Use a bone folder if you like. Then open the folds up.

Step 4

Put your hand in the envelope to "sit" the envelope flat on it's bottom

Step 5

Turn the "bag" upside down and maeke 2 points creasing them firmly.

Put glue on the underside of each flap and stick down, you can put your hand back in the bag and push down on a flat surface to help the sticking process.

Step 6

Hold the bag upright and sharply crease down the folds on either side of the bag to give the bag it's shape

Step 7

Fold down the top of the bag creasing firmly, then you can punch a hole in the top to thread a ribbon through. Ta-Da!! your bagelope is done!

If you make a bagelope I'd love to see your creations, post them on your own blogs and let me know and I'll link to them from here - have fun!!!

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


Gosh I am pooped, it was my last day at work today before I skip off to Scottie-Land.Lot's more packing to do but I am looking forward to it. Actually managed to finish 2 commissions this week , the mojo is back, I hope.

I have been using the gorgeous Banana Frog stamps, at the moment there is a great challenge on the BF Blog, check it out for a chance of winning a voucher for some stash.


I even managed to dig out a digi layout, the picture was taken at about the time I started my blog last year hope you like it.

Laptop Heaven

Well those birthday cheques hit my bank account and pogo-ed straight out of there into the hands of John Lewis. Yep I got the laptop yey!!! It is a yummy HP Pavillion , I REALLY wanted a MACbook but it was out of my budget so I have the HP instead, and it has a webcam. Great feature but I don't know anyone else with a webcam so when I switch it on all I can see is my face looking like I am looking into the back of a spoon, most attractive I don't think, plus I seem to have about 8 chins!

I went to a wedding yesterday, I love a good wedding, the weather stayed fine too! We stopped at a petrol station and I got wolf whistled and the guy behind the counter said how much he liked my perfume, so there is life in the old dog (me) yet. At one point during the disco I realised my camera had gone missing from the table and was franctic, I searched everywhere and ended up stomping up to the DJ to ask him if he could make an announcement, in fact I think I said "some robbing B***** has nicked my camera can you say something" - he actually said "has anyone found a camera". I was gutted, it was a present from my Mum and Dad last year, then at the last minute I saw the camera strap dangling out of Alan's kilt jacket (for he is Scottish) - he put it in there and forgot! I didn't know whether to laugh or smack him one! In the end I laughed.

So it's more work on my commissions today (yikes better get a move on) 2 more days at work then I am off to Edinburgh and the Highlands - cool................................

Decisions, Decisions...................

After receiving some "oh my god jaw droppingly generous" cheques for my birfday yesterday, I have decided to buy my very own laptop. Gawd I am SUCH a geeky gal.

I REALLY fancy an apple macbook , butttttt just a tadly bit mega spenny methinks so not quite sure about it. For the same or even less moola I can get a really HOT Vista laptop which I can load all my current software onto. Can't wait. Most laydees prefer mega expensive jewellry etc for their 40th year, not me, gimme a computer any day. I think a little tripette to John Lewis is in order to stroke the hardware (ooooo-errrrrr!)

All this chat about new laptops is meant as a diversion, I have 2 mag projects to finish before I go away to Sconnie Botland next week on my jols, cue nervous hysterical laughter, better get a move on!!!

How You Doin.....????

Well this was the title of an email sent to me by hubby this morning - apparently Matt Le Blanc (Joey from Friends) is also 40 today, so I am in good company.

Well I have had a great day, balloons and streamers, cards and pressies at work, followed by lunch in Alderley Edge (oh yeah I am posh hee hee!). I got an email from Julie Hickey first thing this morning sending me birthday greetings bless you Julie xx

Got a huge bouquet of flowers sent to Alex's holiday club and he wrote the card (all arranged by Alan of course)

Just waiting for Alan to come home, he has managed to wangle a business trip to France with an overnight stop at home first yey!!

So I thought I would blog since I am sipping a nice glass of fizzy - it's "Wine O'Clock"!

No doubt I will feel like crap in the morning................... hey ho, it'll be worth it. Now I just have to decide whether to buy a laptop or a digital SLR with my birthday money decisions , decisions

Got a joke for you - very daft but I laughed my socks off

Man walks into a chippy with a fish under his arm. He says to the bloke behind the counter "do you do fish cakes" , "yes" he says "good he says pointing to the fish, can you make him one, it's his birthday......."

hahahahahahahahhaahahahah..........................................

"And I'm gonna be forty............"

Oh Lordy, this is my last day of being in my 30's I can't believe I am actually going to be 40 tomorrow - how depressing! Well the only saving grace is that apparently "60 is the new 40" so I reckon that makes "40 the new 20", if I kid myself long enough it might even be true.

I am in work tomorrow and have instructed my colleagues to make a huge fuss of me (or else!!!) We are having a team meeting then off to the pub for lunch so that will be nice.

We have a new whiz kid student working with us on our website at work and he is soooooooo scarily clever, he told be about a great website that helps with creating colour schemes, it is FAB - check it out here

http://www.siteprocentral.com/html_color_code.html

I picked up the latest copy of Simply Cards and Papercraft on Sunday and a lovely lady had written a letter saying how inspired she was by my article on "bagelopes" which was published a couple of months ago. How nice is that? I was really chuffed!!!

Loadsa Stash

Ooohhhh been feeling a bit panicky as I have about 4 Christmas commissions to do ( I know it is only July) and no "new" Christmas stash.

Well I went to Crab Apple Crafts in Frodsham yesterday and the situation has been remedied, they have Christmas Stash in abundance I spent a small fortune on Basic Grey, Dovecraft and Creative Imaginations such lovely stuff so I am very chuffed! Now I just need to get playing. I feel my creativity has kinda returned I found it really hard to create stuff over the last few months, not surprisingly, but I am enjoying the process again.

I thought I would share a DIGI layout with you, it's a pic of Alex looking at our neighbours chickens - bless!!!

Sales Madness

Thanks to those of you who got in touch about the DIGI training - I think my post was removed from UKS (oops I think it was against the rules, sorry UKS)

Anyway for those of you who are interested, watch this space, I will post more details here, or you can leave a comment to register interest.

Well , I had a very busy day yesterday, it was the NEXT sale and I don't usually go, because I don't fancy fighting for bargains. Anyway I decided I would go because Alex needed some clothes for his hols and boy was I glad I did! WOW! I even managed to get some stuff for myself, including some gorgeous pink shoes with bows and diamantes for a wedding next week for a tenner!!!

I then had to go to John Lewis as I needed a "fascinator" one of those feather things to stick on your head instead of a hat, but they had a sale on and I got a lovely hat instead.

I hope everyone managed to get to their holiday destinations, yesterday was the big day for travelling, what a washout. Some clown decided to start roadworks in Cheadle near John Lewis on the busiest day of the year, it took us 20 mins to get out of the car park!

Anyway we rounded off the day with going to my friend's 40th Party, the weather stayed dry and it was fab. It's a big week for me next week, it's my 40th (arrrrggghhh!)

Would You Be Interested?

I have an idea for a new venture, I am an IT trainer by day and I train people on Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro(Versions 7 and XI)

I know lots of people would like to get into DIGI scrapping but don't know where to start. So I am thinking of starting some one to one classes that you can do in your own home with me talking you through the process "live". All you would need would be a broadband internet connection and your phone - I have access to a system which allows me to broadcast my screen over to you whilst I talk you through the basics of creating DIGI scrap pages.

So now I need to know if anyone would be interested? I would charge a fee for the classes since I need to pay for the software that allows you to see my screen. Please send me a comment if you would be interested.

Aaaaaaand Relax.............

Can't believe it, a full day at work, small child tucked up in bed and me having finished a project ON TIME - yep ON TIME, obv I can't share it but I am very pleased with it.

Ohhhhh the lovely Julie Hickey (twas her who got me interested in this card making malarky) has just launched her blog - Good on you Jules take a peek at her first posts here.

Finally got some pics of my weekend in Edinburgh so thought I would show you some of the Botanical Gardens, I am quite chuffed with them, although I don't think the likes of Kirsty Wiseman need quake in her Crocs just yet - I ain't no threat....

The gates are made from these amazing metal flowers

A purty flower.......

More Purty Flowers (ain't I just the botanist?)

My favourite role...................guarding the picnic with my bottom (no one will dare touch it!!)

VB in LA

So my pal T popped over tonight and we had a glass of Vino and watched Victoria Beckham in LA (or whatever it is called)

Now I don't quite get her, I have seen her being interviewed on Parky and she was fab, but what's with all the pouting? So the programme starts and first of all T and I were like "what the................... ???" , and "oh my God she is awful" and other things I can't write cos my Mummy reads this (waves to Mum).

Then it dawned on us............it's a "p*** take" she was totally hamming it up (and God do I love her hair), also there was a kind of disclaimer about some scenes being "dramatised" at the outset. The bit where her new PA arrived and she is around the pool in stillettos and being so horrid was so believable at first then it was like "oooooooohhhhhh NOW I GET IT"

Hee hee good on her! Can't wait till next week

What a Party!!

OH my word, we had the party on Saturday night and it was FAN-TASTIC!

The weather was great, no rain and clear skies all night and we all had a jolly time. We had spent a lot of time organising and planning the "do" with Alan away working it was tricky but well worth it.

I spent Friday morning at the hairdressers, followed by a hair raising dash round The Trafford Centre, I bought the most gorgeous blinging top covered from top to bottom in sequins then I had to find a pair of silver wedges to go with. I was like Anneka in "Challenge Anneka" dashing into shops shouting "do you have silver wedges in a size 6". I did find some thank god!!!

Then I scooted round Costco, bought 4 MASSIVE pizzas that were duly troughed (not by me) at the party and about 900 tons of salad that were not troughed at the party!

The big day dawned clear and sunny and we got cracking with our preparations, Alan put a gazebo up and our mate brought a glitter ball and spotlight, it was sooooo cool. The barbie was going with 2 of our dearest mates flipping burgers for us. Said mates brought a case of champagne with them and I was like Patsy out of Ab Fab all night in my silver wedges and glass of champagne.

We had a terrific night, surrounded by our lovely friends . Aren't friends just fab?? I know that sounds sooo obvious but it was great just to see loads of sets of friends from different times in our lives all partying together, the last time that happened was when I got married! They all mucked in and helped and brought gifts (v nice indeed!)

I will post pics when I get some with me on (not sure if some of the people in the pics I currently have would object to being published).

My Mummy was a trooper - she baby sat for us - if not for her we couldn't have gone ahead, so good on ya Mum xxx

So, this weekend it's off to Edinburgh for another 40th, then another 40th the weekend after and then the weekend after that it's a wedding for heaven's sake!!

Not Funny

RIGHT! THAT'S IT!!!!

I have officially HAD IT with the weather so please, El Nina, El Ninja - whatever you are called, just PACK IT IN - bring on the Sun.

It's my party on Saturday and it had better clear up asap. I am making ice like a demon and the wine is stacked up, actually I am so stressed I'll probably drink it before Saturday.

OH and I am so glad I dyed my left hand black, NOT! Sports day is flipping cancelled (can't think why..............she ponders)

Anyway gonna get my hair done and shop for my party outfit tomorrow , so I am going to party anyway!!!!

It Could Only Happen to Me

Gosh sometimes even I wonder at my own blonde-ness. After the craft knife incident I have been playing it safe, but with little success.

It is sports day this week at the little fellas school, if the rain stops that is!! So I get a letter from school, as you do, like every few days we get something in his school bag, that has some impossible request that is needed in 48 hours! Well he is apparently on the "black" team and needs a black t-shirt for Thursday. Have you any idea how hard it is to find a plain black t-shirt for a nearly five year old? Well I'll tell you - IMPOSSIBLE!!! I mean do these teachers with amazing brain waves like this actually have kids??

So I came up with the fab idea of dying a white t-shirt black, so I toddled off to Woolies and got some of that black dye in a wee tin. Now these dye tins are flipping lethal, this tin is full of black powdered dye and you have to pierce the damn thing, errrrr the capacity for a major dye incident is fairly high so I reckon to avoid accidents you should just be naked to do it (I wasn't!)

Never mind, I managed this task without incident, then I was up to my elbows in rubber gloves swishing the t-shirt around the dye bath for 10 mins. HA HAAAA I think, I pulled that off without getting covered in dye - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr I DON'T THINK SO. I pulled off one of my gloves and my left hand was like totally dyed black - there was a hole in the pigging glove. My skin is red raw from trying to scrub it off, my nails are a mess and to cap it all the bloody t-shirt looks dark navy not black. Everyone in work is saying "eeewwww what's that on your hand?".

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

Guess How Much.?.............Go On!!!

Grrrr I hate the "guess how much?" game. I am like that woman in the office on the Catherine Tate Show. Alan went IKEA shopping on Saturday for stuff for our party next weekend ,je is totally stressed already.You know how someone always cries at a party? Well it'll be me probably, cos I will be all stressed and strung out.

Anyway back to the plot. Paper plates or plastic for our party? Nope I think hubby reckons he is a "cut above" so he refuses point blank to have "artificial plates" arrrrggghh!! SO instead of being able to bung all the plates in a bin bag and forget about 'em he's bought "real ones" from IKEA.

So he goes "go on , guess how much", and I say "ohhhh I don't really know just tell me" and he goes "ooohhh go on guess how much" and I say "arrggggh I don't know - like a quid or summat?" and he says triumphantly "19p each". 19p, 19p??? You can't even buy a bag of crisps for that, how amazing is that 19p for a plate?

Then he pulls out some potpourri and says "go on guess how much" and we start over again - turns out it is 29p per bag! Mind you I haven't the heart to tell him that it smells like 29p's worth (cross betwixt bog cleaner and cheap perfume if you ask me).

Yesterday I was in Tescos ( I know I hate Tescos,but we had no choice) and I was looking for mint sauce, there were 3 teenagers looking for the very same condiment and the girl says "flippin eck, mint sauce for 3P" I goggled in amazement and sure enough they sell jars of mint sauce for 3p! One of her male friends said "eeeeeewww ya scruff that'll be mingin'" in a big loud voice and I nearly wet myself laughing....................you had to be there I suppose.

Back home I settled down to watch the concert for Diana, boy did I get choked up and teary hearing all the "Diana and Me" stories and seeing her on all the film clips reminded me of how much I miss being able to see her on the TV doing her engagements, I can't believe she would have been 46 yesterday, I wonder what she'd have looked like............

What A Night!!

Oh golly, did I have a good night last night!!! One of my very dear friends is a TV producer and he invited a group of Uni friends to attend a ball in a castle in the Cotswolds last night.

The ball was the culmination of a TV show called American Princess, the final was filmed there. The judges of the show included Paul Burrell , Diana's butler and I got to chat with him about Diana and I can't tell you how thrilled I was. As a huge fan of Diana it was just amazing to talk to him and he is such a lovely guy.

I even got my picture taken with him! He was wearing a kilt, made from his own design of tartan and he explained what the pattern meant, he also showed me his Royal Victorian Medal he was awarded as recognition of his services to Diana.

Well I am still cockahoop about the whole experience, you'll just have to wait for me to come back down to Earth!!!

Back Home

Wow what a weekend, lots of jolly sightseeing in Edinburgh and even a trip to the beach (yep the beach) yesterday. OK so it was breezy and overcast but at least it didn't rain. Alex ran around like a maddie with no shoes and socks, the sea was freezing but he loved it - check out the action shot!

I just love Edinburgh, it's nice to be in a city with so much history and lots of little independent shops, its so refreshing not seeing the same-old shops like you do in other cities. Can't wait to spend more time up there in the SUmmer pottering and seeing some of the Fringe Festival.

Thought you might like to see more shots I took in the city - very arty eh?

Hoots Mon!

Well me and the little fella finally made it up to Edinburgh to spend the weekend with Alan, he has a flat here. If you have just tuned in, the Currie clan are set to re-locate to Sconnie Botland from Cheshire in 2008. Quite franky je is a bit "boo-frickin-hoo" about the whole deal, but I am sure I will love it

The upshot is, Alan has a rented flat in Edinburgh and this is the first time I have seen it and it is GORGEOUS, all Victorian and lovely stripped doors etc, i.e what we should be doing with our own house but haven't managed to do so far. It's quite a small place and I am typing this in a very clever computer room which is actually a cupboard about 6ft from the cooker - genius use of space methinks!

We have just been to Hard Rock Cafe and were waited on by a very over enthusiastic young "dude" from the States............anyway hubby and a glass of Chardonnay await so gotta go .......

Flippin 'eck

Phew (collapses into a heap!) that's another working week over with, I normally work 3 days but this week I worked 4 and boy did it suck.

I am KNACKERED (I am also such a laydeeee hee hee)

Got home to my very first kit from ModScraps which is from the Love Elsie range- Toby. - yey!

I just love getting those pizza boxes in the post. Thank goodness our postie has twigged that he can leave packages like this behind the planter next to the front door otherwise I would have been faced with a traipse to the post office that closes for pick up half past sodding two ( I told you I was a laydeee) I mean what's all that about? Most of the world shops on-line but it closes in the middle of the flippin' day (DOH!)

Off to Edinburgh tomoz, hoots mon! Hubby is working up there and has his own flat for a few months and I have yet to see it. We are off to the Hard Rock Cafe for scoff and a thimbleful of wine (yeah right!) tomorrow night so that should be larvelly.

It's Been A Funny Old Day............

Do you remember that from the end of the "Open All Hours" episodes, I just loved Ronnie Barker and his Arkwright Character.

Well today has been a funny old day, it started with some nice stuff and somewhere in the middle someone was rather mean. I came home feeling a bit sorry for myself and found that someone very talented (who really inspired me to get into card making) had sent me the most beautiful card with a lovely message inside. I have been a fan of this lovely lady for ages and it just totally made my day................xxxx

We seem to have "acquired" a puddy tat, now this kitty lives round the corner but has started to look a little thin and poorly so I have been feeding her and she is such a star. Alan is mega allergic to all things "fur" so she is only allowed "little" visits, but she is very cute and mee-ows all the time, I wish we could really adopt her. I have some pics I need to post, will try to find them and post soon.

What Next - Paint Your Baby Blue?

So I am work today boo-hiss, don't usually work on a Monday so totally had that Monday morning feeling. Anyway I love to surf UKS on my lunch break and it's offline for a server move -arrrrgggghh!! So what to do? I headed over to the BBC website to have a mooch and brace yourself..................another rant from Sam.....

Some berk from Unicef now says that giving babies pureed food is "unnatural" and not necessary, for goodness sake not a week goes by without some "expert" changing the rules about baby feeding. Less than 5 years ago when my son was born we were advised to wean after 16 weeks - now it is 6 months. I give up - what are parents to do???

OK rant over (it was only a mini rant really)

Oh I am so glad that Opera Singing fella won "Britains Got Talent" he is so shy and humble and boy what talent. I really liked Conny but she is so little she's got lots of time to grow and get some more experience.

Tonight I am determined to get crafting again, despite my finger, I have re-bandaged it and it looks like a HUGE cartoon finger!!

What a Berk!

After my creative lag of late I decided to do some "playing" yesterday, so I take the little fella and myself upstairs to my craft room and ended up in casualty!!!

Yep!! I slipped with a craft knife, my brand new cutterpede retractable (meant to be safer) knife, and cut across the knuckle of my middle finger on the right hand. It took me a grand total of being in the room for 2 mins, boy do I feel stupid - added to that I have done it before, making Anita Mundt's "Happy Flowers" with chipboard. The split second before I did it I thought "uh-oh I don't think I am doing this in a safe way - remember last time......................"

Blimey, now I just have to wear rubber gloves to keep the dressing dry, as I have had to have steri strips over the cut.

Anyway, I forgot to mention I went to see George Michael in Manchester on Friday night in the City of Manchester Stadium. He was really good, but it rained alllll night (luckily we had posh tickets in the stand). He sang loads of the Wham stuff and his own and it was brillo.

Changes.....
Well I have been reflecting on my creative output of late and I have to say I have not been particularly active - given recent circumstances I am not surprised but that said I am determined to get going again. I have finally added some of my stuff on a slide show since there wasn't a fat lot on here before. Since most of my work gets published I kind of felt I shouldn't post it on my blog (DOH!!!) so I have now resolved to put my stuff on here once it has been published.

I have been buying loads of goodies lately and I am looking forward to getting cracking with them, but for now, here are some pics of cards that appeared in last months Quick and Crafty Mag using my all time fave - Scenic Route......

Sad......

After 6 years of cancer and a 6 week stay in a hospice, my wonderful Dad passed away today, not much else to say ......

Big Brother...............................I just don't get it

OK first off I don't want to offend anyone by what I am about to write, so if you are a fan of Big Brother, look away now.....................

I HATE BIG BROTHER, I just don't see the point, it's a waste of life, but loads of my friends just go mad for it every year when it is on - WHY?

It's what ? 15 weeks of watching complete strangers who are desperate to become celebs but have no talent behave like nutters in a house, it's just awful. Think of all the things you could be doing with the time spent watching this garbage, I know it's like TV Heroin, once you start watching it's addictive.

Mostly I hate it because it seems to have this "hold" over popular culture, TV like this dumbs us down. There are thousands of young kids who are mesmerized thinking they too can become rich and famous for doing nothing - rather than doing something worthwhile like becoming a vet or a poet or a plumber.............and that's why I hate it, because it robs us of our imagination and makes us worship people who have done nothing spectacular. There are millions of people out there that we should be in awe of for the things they do on a daily basis, not these numbskulls who want 15mins of fame

Well I brace myself for the hate mail - I know I know, what I have written is not very popular so I suppose I'll have to take it on the chin!! Mind you I don't think many people read this anywhere so I suppose I am fairly safe (I'll be out of hiding in 15 weeks..................)

Brmmmm.................Brrrmmmm

Oh I am very excited, I am a VERY lucky girl. I am getting a new car - yey!!!

When I was pregnant with the little fella I had a really nice black Ford Puma which went like s*** off a shovel, but I realised I had to be a sensible chick and there was no way I could get a baby seat into the back of a Puma in a hurry. Soooooo I got a nice little (BORING) A-Class Merc, which has lots of room and is safe blah frickin blah.............................

So being the totally spoilt brat, high maintenance wifey that I am I have been whining about having a new car for yonks and hubby finally caved in and agreed it was a good idea. Well after I picked myself off the floor I started my quest for the new motor. I have switched my reading habits from all my papercrafting/scrapbooking mags to "What Car" and I have been glued to the Autotrader website. I still haven't the foggiest what BHP means but I have finally got a new car which I pick up at the weekend.

We drove to go and see it in Sheffield yesterday, now getting to Sheffield from Cheshire ain't no mean feat, you have to drive over the Woodhead pass which is pretty hairy in a sissy little A-Class and we under estimated the time it would take to get there. Actually our sat-nav was deffo on drugs 'cos it told us it would take 1 hour...........................yeah right try 1 hour 40 mins, which ain't so bad when you are not in a hurry but it sucks when you are trying to reach a place that shuts at 4pm. The air was blue - I was soooooooooooooo stressed, but we got there and loved the car and the deal is done. I will soon be in proud possession of a lovely shiny 4X4 - a Honda CRV and I am very happy.

Is Noah Coming?

Oh my lord, global warming, more like global drowning, what the heck is all this flipping rain about? So it gets very warm a few weeks ago and I dashed out to the shops flinging colin credit card hither and thither to buy sarongs for work (since it was so boiling) and now look what has happened! I would have been better off buying a sou'wester! But blow me I am wearing that white linen skirt and pale pink ballet shoes, even if I have to wade from my car into the office!

I finally took the plunge and changed my mobile phone from BT Mobile to Vodaphone cos (a)BT seemed to have been charging me half the national debt of Chile to make a teeny amount of necessary calls and (b)The choice of new phones for the total gadget freaky geeky I am were PANTS.

So I got myself a nice new shiny Sony Ericcsson summat or other, the guy in the shop said "oooh and it comes with a memory card included free" - Crikey, he opens this "flap" on the side of the phone which is about the size of a baby's fingernail and pulls out something the size of a molecule which I goggled at and then mentally made a note never to touch it, cos if I drop that on the floor I ain't never gonna find it EVER!!!

I settled down for a nights TV viewing tonight. which for me is a rarity, and stumbled on a programme on Channel 4 about "embarrassing illnesses", well I do have a streak of the morbid about me and I am not squeamish at all so I think it might be worth a whirl. How wrong could I be? Suffice to say I am glad I wasn't eating. This bloke comes on saying he had piles, so this young doc gets him to remove his strides to have a quick butchers at them. At this point I am thinking "surely they ain't gonna show some geezers piles on colour TV......................" WRONG!!!!! OH MY GOD, this guy had piles like a bunch of grapes and the doc then proceeds to show photos of some other poor individuals bottoms with even worse piles. Now I can watch all sorts of gore normally, but I must say I have never changed channels so rapido in my life! So my TV viewing is over for tonight!

Got my sub copy of Quick and Crafty mag today and my latest project is in it, I still get a real buzz seeing stuff in print, I am very lucky that they like my stuff and I get chance to see it in print - such a nice feeling

Anyway, think I might venture back onto the couch for some "pile free" TV