Whatever The Weather

Dream House

2010-11-18T22:46:00.001Z

564 Oak

Www.kamalicompany.com Chapman

Adventures in Knitting

2010-04-16T23:54:00.002+01:00

I first learned to knit as a child. My Mum was a knitter, as were my Grandmas. My projects were nothing fancy - when I say I learned to knit, I mean I could cast on, do the knit stitch, do the purl stitch, and cast off. No increases, no decreases, and I as far as I can tell I never even learnt how to switch between knit and purl in the same row! So I made, to my recollection, a scarf or two, and some squares for charity blankets, all in garter or stockinette stitch. And then - nothing. It wasn’t really my thing. Cross-stitch was my preferred type of needlework, and I’ve stuck with that (some very lean periods aside) ever since.

But now I have picked up the knitting needles again. (As if I don’t already have enough craft supplies waiting to be used!) It’s difficult to pin down exactly why. I think it started with blogs. I subscribe to the blogs of a couple of friends who knit, and I kept seeing the lovely items they produced. I saw all the beautiful yarn they were working with - and the colours and blends and resulting patterns are definitely something that appeal to me (in the same way my scrapbook papers do). On its own though, that wasn’t enough.

Then a new social group started up at work - a Craft Guild. A weekly lunchtime meeting for all types of crafters, of course I had to join. My “first” craft these days is definitely scrapbooking, but that’s not exactly suited to a short session or very portable. Card-making is slightly better, but without a pre-prepared kit, still requires a lot of “stuff”! I settled on cross-stitch to take with me. I hadn’t worked on any for a little while, and have plenty of partially completed projects. It’s self-contained and compact, so it works perfectly. The only downside is that, after sewing for an hour in a social setting (chatting definitely allowed!) I really didn’t feel as though I’d made any progress at all. At the same time, several other members were knitting. I started to feel the pull. Then one week, someone was working on some fingerless mittens. I immediately thought “I could really use some of those - and I bet that’s a good beginner’s project” and went home wanting to knit.

Though Carrie I was aware of Ravelry, *the* place to go online for knitters. I promptly signed up, and spent an age browsing the site. I found a pattern for some mittens that I thought I could manage. Then added dozens more patterns for assorted things to my queue or my favourites. All despite not having knitted a stitch in probably more that 15 years! I looked for details of local yarn shops (or lack of), and browsed an online shop or two. I absorbed a ton of jargon, and figured out what most of it meant. Finally, at the weekend I got DH to take me to Hobbycraft to get what I needed to start. I was lucky enough to have inherited my Grandma’s large roll of knitting needles - which have sat in a drawer unused ever since - so all I really had to buy was a single ball of wool, and some tapestry needles for finishing.

Back home, I had to re-learn the actual techniques from scratch. Ravelry wasn’t as much help here, so I found some online tutorials, including some with videos. I cast on using the long-tail method, which is definitely not what I used as a child. Then I started knitting my first mitten. It was going well enough, until I had to switch from knit to purl in the same row. Back to the internet tutorials to find out what to do! Then on a few more rows - and a dropped stitch. Only I didn’t realise until a row later, so I couldn’t just pick it up. I tried frogging back to just before the error, but couldn’t manage to get the stitches back on the needle without unravelling them further. That’s a skill/technique I suspect I will need to master before long but I was impatient, and not very far in, so I frogged the whole thing and started again. Much better.

I completed about half of the first mitten that weekend, then took it with me to my next Craft Guild at work. It was ideal - perfectly portable, simple enough to work on whilst chatting without losing my concentration, and I made visible progress so felt like I’d achieved something. Only one problem - which shows how little I actually know about what I’m doing! The pattern I’m working on has two sections of stockinette stitch. I didn’t know what that meant, but the pattern told me, so it was ok. Except I somehow misread “knit one row purl one row” as “knit one purl one row” and didn’t realise my mistake until I got to the second section and read back to check what to do! So instead of stockinette, I ended up with 1x1 rib. To fix it would have meant essentially starting over, so I decided to live with it and just do the second one to match. That evening, I finished it in short order. I made what is probably a horrible mess of seaming (I was definitely improvising this bit), but it hasn’t fallen apart yet. In the event, I quite like the “modification” I made - the rib on the wrist section gives it a nice grip. After a bit of a break (busy weekend) the second came together quite nicely.

Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves 1
Originally uploaded by jennypitcairn

After this, who knows what next. I really want to knit socks, something about that distinctly appeals to me. But I need to vastly improve my skills and knowledge before I get to that point. So the adventure starts here!

Feeding the Addiction

2010-04-16T23:40:00.002+01:00

aka the Big Stamping & Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace, where DH and I spent the day last Saturday.

This show takes place twice a year, in April and September, and I try to go once a year. It’s an opportunity to see products in the flesh rather than just in online stores, and an excuse to indulge myself a little. Or a lot, as was the case this year. I did set myself a fairly generous budget, but managed to outspend even that, with a little encouragement from DH!

He wondered before we arrived if perhaps it would be quieter this year, given the financial climate, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. It was absolutely heaving with crowds! There are certain stands that get completely mobbed, and of course they’re the ones I was most eager to look at too. Navigating through was tricky, requiring lots of patience, but after those few it got a little easier. I had a rough shopping list of items I was looking out for, and bagged a few of them quickly. Some things were nowhere to be found (certain paper ranges) and other things I hadn’t even considered made their way into my shopping bag.

Martha Stewart punches were on my list, and they were *everywhere*. Last year Nestabilities were the big thing, this year it was definitely Martha, closely followed by Promarkers and Tim Holtz products. In fact I seem to have come home with some of all three, oops!

All in all, my haul was kind of embarrassing in its excess. Hence the post title. Truth is, I’m addicted to looking at pretty papers and embellishments. I’m addicted to looking at other people’s layouts. I’m addicted to thinking about scrapbooking all.the.time. And yes, I’m absolutely definitely addicted to buying scrapbook products. If I’m honest though, I’m not so sure I’m addicted to actually scrapbooking. To the process, that is. I love the results. I love the friends I have made through the hobby. But the doing? Do I really love that as much as the buying, and the having, and the coveting? My craft room would say no - the proportion of completed pages to unused stash is a long long way out of balance.

And yet, I can’t seem to stop buying. Even while I am doing it, I am feeling guilty about spending, but compelled to pick up “just one more” sheet of paper, punch, stamp set, etc. On this trip alone, I bought enough papers to last until next April’s show, at the very least, the way I scrap. And that’s just the paper!

I comfort myself with the thought that a lot of what I bought is tools - punches, stamps, die-cutters. These should last for years to come, so they are an investment. But then I think, well these are non-consumable. Which means I’ll have them for years. If I keep purchasing them at this sort of rate, my craft room will be bursting at the seams pretty soon. At least with consumables like paper, they are consumed!

Oh, and no photos, but just for the record, my final haul included:
Papers from Studio Calico, Prima, Bella Blvd, Fancy Pants, Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey
A couple of background stamps and of small stamp sets
Assorted letter stickers (small and large, cardstock, chipboard and vinyl)
Several Martha Stewart punches
Two Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies
Selection of Kaisercraft pearls
3 packs of Promarkers
Distress Inks
Embellishments including Prima flowers and pebbles
An album and lots of DST (the essentials!)

Something from Almost Nothing

2010-03-19T21:56:00.004Z

No, I'm not talking about my blog, although 'almost nothing' is what it's been for a good while. I came into this year all determined to post regularly, and here we are nearly at the end of March. Oh well, at work I live on an April-March year so let's just assume I meant that, right?

The real topic of the day however is the latest scrapping class from Shimelle. I'm mildly addicted to her classes (even though I've never totally finished one yet) and find them full of inspiration. This particular class, Something from Almost Nothing, is all about using up those huge stashes most of us scrappers have quietly built up. Focusing on a different kind of supply in each prompt, there are lots of fabulous ideas for getting them onto a page.

Prompt 1 is all about metal. At first I didn't think I'd got *that* much. Plenty of brads, sure, but I use them fairly regularly, albeit usually only 2 or 3 at a time. Not much else though. Hmm, how wrong could I be.

Just to show you what we're working with, this is my metal stash.

In here there are: lots of brads, lots of eyelets, random bits of hardware, bookplates, photo corners, photo turns, charms, Chinese coins, an escutcheon, a wire word, metal plaques, clips, tabs, metal-rimmed tags. Oh, and when I say this is my metal stash? What I meant was this is *most* of my metal stash. See that jar of brads near the back? Those are all Basic Grey brads. The muted colours. I have another jar the same, with the bright colours. Plus two more of the divided boxes, one with all my glazed brads, and another with jewelled brads, large brads and shaped brads. Somewhere in my room I also have a stash of bookrings and binding wires.

After that, my attempt to make a dent in the metal seems pretty pitiful:

To be fair, I didn't actually set out to do that. I was actually doing a page that I'd had in my head for a while, and just happened to have read the class prompt the previous day so I had the whole "stash-busting" thing in mind too. In turn that meant that after I'd done my usual - a flat, barely embellished LO - I thought, what else can I add? I pulled out some buttons, and added those. Ok, that's a start. But I wanted more. So out came the eyelets, and as luck would have it, I had colours that almost perfectly matched the dotty pattern in the middle paper, and just the right size too. I can't remember the last time I had to get out my hammer to set eyelets, but I confess it was rather therapeutic! And added, to my mind, just enough extra interest to the page. The fact that I used up 40 eyelets was really just a bonus! (Even if that was just a very tiny dent in that stash.)

More funny stuff

2009-08-26T23:53:00.001+01:00

Just another email forward but some things you want to keep and where the heck do you file them? Blogging them seems to be the best way to go :)

These are things actually said in court, word for word, taken down by court reporters – who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

Q. Are you sexually active?
A. No I just lie there.

Q. What is your date of birth?
A. 15th July
Q. What year?
A. Every year.

Q. What gear were you in at the moment of impact?
A. Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

Q. This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A. Yes
Q. And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A. I forget
Q. You forget. Can you give us an example of something you’ve forgotten?

Q. How old is your son, the one living with you?
A. Thirty-eight or thirty five, I can’t remember which
Q. How long has he lived with you?
A. Forty-five years.

Q. What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that morning?
A. He said, “Where am I Cathy?”
Q. And why did that upset you?
A. My name is Susan.

Q. Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo or the occult?
A. We both do.
Q. Voodoo?
A. We do.
Q. You do?
A. Yes, voodoo.

Q. Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?

Q. The youngest son, the twenty three year old, how old is he?

Q. So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A. Yes
Q. And what were you doing at that time?

Q. She has three children, right?
A. Yes.
Q. How many were boys?
A. None
Q. Were there any girls?

Q. How was your first marriage terminated?
A. By death.
Q. And by whose death was it terminated?

Q. Can you describe the individual?
A. He was about medium height and had a beard.
Q. Was this a male or a female?

Q. Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice, which I sent to your attorney?
A. No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

Q. Doctor how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A. All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

Q. All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A. Oral.

Q. Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A. The autopsy started around 8.30pm.
Q. And Mr Dennington was dead at the time?
A. No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.
Q. Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A. No
Q. Did you check for blood pressure?
A. No
Q. Did you check for breathing?
A. No
Q. So, then is it possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A. No
Q. How can you be so sure, doctor?
A. Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q. But could the patient have been alive, nevertheless?
A. Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.

Funny...

2009-08-24T23:51:00.002+01:00

Random, and probably pretty old by now, but still - funny IMHO:

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again
asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners. Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word
with only one letter altered from a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which
lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people,
that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which
renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit
and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are
running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending
off all these really bad vibes, right? And then like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through
the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action

13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem
smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed
just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that
gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

And, the pick of the lot...

17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an
asshole.

Scrapping Catch-Up

2009-05-30T00:51:00.011+01:00

I haven't posted any crafty stuff here in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't made anything. I've knocked out a reasonable few layouts in fact, and recently I've been enjoying doing some cardmaking again. If I carry on like this I might even build up a bit of a stash of cards so I don't always have to make one to order!

A few of my recent LOs (including one of some photos from my last post - yes I'm even scrapping stuff the same month I take the pics occasionally!).

A heavenly day

2009-04-26T16:20:00.004+01:00

We spent a few hours this afternoon at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, a satellite site of Kew Gardens. It's a fab place - plenty to explore and lots of variety, from the walled garden, manicured lawns, specimen beds, pretty ponds and streams, to deep woodland, a big lake, and rocky valleys. There's even a nature reserve attached that you have to book to visit because they limit the numbers so much - haven't made it there yet.

It's only about 15 minutes drive from home, so it's a favourite place to go for a couple of hours to relax or for a walk (especially with super cheap annual membership!) We were last there about three weeks ago and the bluebells in the woods were just coming into bud, so we were determined to get back while they were in flower. This weekend was the first chance we'd had and we timed it just right - they were absolutely gorgeous. And so many! I took a ton of photos, like these:

The rest are on Flickr if you want a peek.

We took a picnic and strolled around just enjoying the glorious sunshine.

Wonderful scents: warm smell of bark chippings where they'd put down fresh mulch, light but delicious bluebells, headier rhododendrons, the freshness of still new leaves.

At one point, walking a few feet behind Andy, I heard a rustling beside me. I stopped to look, thinking it would be a bird, but no - it was a young rabbit! He stared back at me in shock for a few seconds, then bounded off underneath the bush he'd been nibbling.

We were back near the entrance when Andy spied this handsome fellow and his lady friend and decided to feed them (we had some seed with us).

Of course the ducks over by the nearby picnic tables had to come and pinch some. And when we eventually walked away, a pair of jackdaws joined in the foraging too.

Great times!

A new class from Shimelle

2009-02-13T22:28:00.003Z

Shimelle's new class, Here, There & Everywhere is starting this Sunday and I can't wait. I love her classes, even if I don't keep up with them!

This one is all about places - in Shimelle's own words:

"Here documents the kind of travel you do near home: tiny little everyday journeys and important sights on your hometown landscape. There records the places you have been. Whether they are close or far away, we’ll illustrate your travels so far. Everywhere is something entirely new: we’ll be scrapbooking about the places we dream of going and looking into making the travel of our dreams one step closer to reality."

and should be perfect for me, as I love to travel and dream about travelling.

Sign up on Two Peas in a Bucket or visit Shimelle's blog to read more about it.

See you there!

Going on holiday

2009-02-10T09:00:00.002Z

Andy and I are going on holiday in the first week of March, and I can't wait! We're going to Tunisia with my parents, and I'm so looking forward to escaping this winter weather for a little while. It just seems to be coming round awfully soon.

It will be my first visit to Africa, about time I got to another continent! We'll be touring around, visiting Carthage, and plenty of Roman sites, should be really interesting. Definitely not a lounging around holiday.

Seriously cool!

2009-02-09T09:00:00.001Z

I found this video on good old YouTube the other day, and had to share as I just LOVE it! I dread to think how long it take to make. The song is pretty nice too :)

Cybercropping

2009-02-08T22:00:00.001Z

I took part in the cybercrop on UKS this weekend. I didn't do that much really - I found quite a few of the classes fairly uninspiring to be honest. But I am pleased with 3 the layouts I did do - and it's definitely more than I'd get done on a normal weekend, so it was good to have that push! I've also made a couple of cards for friends' birthdays so a fairly productive weekend in all.

Feeling blah

2009-02-08T21:32:00.004Z

I've been reading lots of blogs lately, but really not had any inclination to post on my own, don't know why. And now, I'm just fed up of being ill. I know I haven't really had it bad, but I've had this ridiculous cough for 2 weeks now and frankly it's just getting tired!

My Circle Journal is home...

2008-10-19T15:15:00.003+01:00

... and it is wonderful!

My fabulous UKS teamies have worked on my CJ for the last 9 months to produce a beautiful record of who they all are - and it is extra special because I've now met some of them. Just need to get together with the other girls now!

Here it is in all its glory (click on the thumbnails to see full-size pics):

Front cover

Rules

My page

Moira

Miranda

Nic

Clare

Gemma

Becs

Kimmie

Maxine

Sign-in

Back Cover

Isn't it great? (despite my poor photography!)

What happens when...

2008-07-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

...you leave your PC unattended?

Icon War!!

Great days out

2008-07-15T09:00:00.001+01:00

We had the week before last off work, and had a great time both at home and on day trips out and about. We were really lucky with the weather - it has been rubbish since but we had glorious sunshine.

We visited Whipsnade Zoo, where we loved seeing the animals in such spacious enclosures. Some of our favourites:

the lemurs

the sleeping lions

the rhinos

the peacocks wandering around freely

The next day we went to the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2. It was really interesting, and many of the items are amazingly beautiful. When you realise that everything there is well over 3000 years old it is even more astonishing. After the exhibition we went for dinner at a latin restuarant (mmm, enchiladas!), and finished it off with a couple of cocktails. Then it was on to the cinema to see the latest Narnia film - good fun, especially after a couple of drinks! After that we gave ourselves a bit of a treat, given that it was so hot we skipped the tube and instead we took the Thames Clipper back to London Bridge.

We also spent a day on the coast - starting off at Eastbourne.

We even had a go on the penny arcades, an essential part of a trip to the seaside in my opinion. Then we referred to the Good Pub Guide to find somewhere for lunch, and ended up in this gorgeous little village called East Dean.

I could quite happily have sat there for the rest of the day to be honest! But we didn't, we went on to Beachy Head for a brisk - and windy - walk along the cliffs.

And to top it all off, we drove home via the Long Man of Wilmington. Unfortunately there is nowhere convenient to stop, so we only got a fleeting glimpse, but at least we can tick him off the list now ;)

Wordle

2008-07-14T09:00:00.000+01:00

My brother recently blogged about a site I hadn't come across - Wordle.net I've yet to have a proper play but I can see that, aside from being lots of fun, this could be a really great tool for scrapbookers. This is an example of what someone has created:

Cool huh?

The pace of life

2008-07-13T15:30:00.002+01:00

Next prompt from My Freedom is back on the topic of time: "How do you prefer the pace of life? Do you wish things would speed up or slow down?"

I definitely wish things would slow down. Like most people, I find time seems to pass by quicker and quicker the older I get. Working full time, it becomes difficult sometimes to schedule in all the things I want to do in my own time. We manage to stay on top of the small things most of the time, but the big tasks stay undone, despite our good intentions, because time slips away from us so easily. We mean to see our friends more often, particularly those who live further away. But that means committing whole weekends, which are pretty much the only time we have to do things at home, so we don't do too well at that either. We have long-term plans for the future, but however realistic the timescales we set seem when we set them, in reality the targets dates we have in mind always seem to be too soon. So slow is how I would like things to be. I want time to savour life, to not always be thinking "where did that week/month/year go?".

Poetry

2008-07-13T12:45:00.001+01:00

The My Freedom prompt for day 4 takes a slight change in direction, and asks "Have you ever been inspired by the words of a poem?"

I have a long history of reading poetry, mainly brought about by going to elocution lessons for more than 10 years. I read all manner of poems in exams, festivals and competitions.

Since then I haven't read nearly so many, although I have written one or two of my own.

The poem I have probably been most inspired by is one by an unknown writer, the friend of a friend from 6th form college. I hope I still have a copy of it somewhere! I saw it on my friend's bedroom wall, and immediately asked for a copy, as it struck a chord with me. As a teenager I was really introspective and this really seemed to sum up how I felt. For years I re-read it whenever I was feeling particularly down, and it reassured me that I wasn't alone.

Hmm, can't actually find it anywhere, so I'll have to dig deeper and revisit this if I ever find it.

While I was looking I came across this one of mine that I wrote years ago - seems rather appropriate for this class!

This is my freedom:
I dream of being beautiful
Of being rich
Of being famous
Of having laws waived for me alone
And of being talented at many many things.
I dream of my life being a success
Of having only friends, never enemies
Of being able to go anywhere
To cross borders and boundaries without restriction.
I dream of loving freely
And of being loved in return.
I dream of all things possible
And no-one can stop me
Nor even know what I dream of.
This is my freedom.

Tagged 2

2008-07-13T10:30:00.000+01:00

I was also tagged by the lovely Tash - sorry I took so long!!

What was happening 10 years ago? I had just finished my degree, and was looking for work so I could stay in Newcastle. I was about to move into a flat with my good friend (and later bridesmaid) Gill who was also staying on after graduation.

5 things to do today - my Scrap Your Day pages for June; pay my lottery money (work syndicate); send in a government statistical return; help my drunk husband home; feed the cats.

Snacks I like - Chocolate. Pringles, mini cheddars, dry roasted peanuts. Chocolate. Cheese and biscuits. Kiwi fruit, strawberries, apples, raspberries, blueberries. Chocolate.

What I would do if I was a millionaire - pay off the mortgage, give up work, and start a family. And possibly move to New Zealand!

Places I have lived - Grimsby, Newcastle, Mitcham (south London/Surrey), Crawley.

Now for the 5 that I pass this on to - Clare, Becs, Nic, Gemma, Roger.

Loving Etsy

2008-07-13T09:00:00.002+01:00

I discovered Etsy fairly recently - which probably makes me very behind the times! - and I adore it. There are just so many wonderful things in there, I could easily spend an absolute fortune.

I think it is perfect for things like new baby gifts - something a little bit different to the usual. We got a blanket, onesie and burp cloth set for my friends Anna & Andy's little boy, and they loved it.

Having been using my SLR camera a lot recently, I decided I needed a better strap for it, the standard one is a little bit uncomfortable after a while. So Etsy to the rescue - and I have ordered this gorgeous thing:

There are also lots of shops with scrummy scrapping bits, although I haven't taken the plunge and bought any yet.

Some of my favourite sellers:
Boody Babies
The Funky Bag Lady
Every Jot and Title
Laura Baillie Designs

Travel necessities?

2008-07-12T14:30:00.001+01:00

Day 3 of My Freedom asks "What's in your suitcase? What are your necessities for travel?"

After the essential paperwork (tickets, passport etc, you know the drill) my highest priority is my camera. I've always loved taking photos - which help support my dreadful memory among other things! - and since I started scrapbooking I'm even more addicted.

After that, it's pretty much sensible stuff. I do my best to pack light, but it never quite seems to work out!

A selection of clothes to suit the climate, and shoes to suit the terrain. I always need a cover-up even if we go somewhere hot, as I do feel the cold in the evenings.
Regular toiletries, and maybe a little makeup - mascara, eyeshadow, and lipgloss.
Plenty of suncream if it's going to be sunny - I burn far too easily.
A notebook, for keeping a record of what we've done.
Books, as many as I can fit in. I can happily go through an entire book in a 3 hour flight.

That's all I can think of right now - are there any of those things that you'd leave out? What about other essentials for you that I haven't mentioned?

Just one day...

2008-07-12T13:30:00.002+01:00

Day 2's blog prompt from My Freedom asks "If you could travel in time for just one day, where would you go and what would you do?"

I guess I'd like to witness something pretty momentous, either a natural event or historical. Having recently seen the Tutankhamun exhibition reminds me of the amazing cultures that have existed in the world for so long. But maybe I wouldn't go to Egypt.

In fact I think I'd go to China. To Xian, in approximately 210BC. I'd go see the astonishing Terracotta Army, in its entirety, newly completed and installed.

(Image by robbik).

My Freedom

2008-07-12T09:27:00.000+01:00

I've signed up to another of Shimelle's classes. Admittedly I haven't done much with the last one yet, but I've got lots of ideas from it, and a full album planned when I can find the time to take all the photos I need. I did find it inspiring, so I had no hesitation in signing up for My Freedom. For added fun we are getting a blog prompt each day, so I have something to talk about regularly for the next few weeks!

Day 1 involved taking photos related to the first two topics, time and travel. Like this one:
Every day I go to work I walk across London Bridge along with hundreds of other people.

Tagged 1

2008-07-12T09:00:00.002+01:00

I was tagged ages ago by my lovely teamies Clare and Fae. So...

1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? And why?
Yikes, I haven't a clue! Depends if I wanted a realistic portrayal I guess. If not, someone totally gorgeous, like Keira Knightley or Katie Holmes. But more likely, I'd choose someone like Sarah Parrish - I like how she comes across.

2. You are spending a whole month on a desert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?

Clare said "Most favourite - can I only pick one???" and I agree LOL. But I'm going to go with Rupert Penry-Jones for today. Tomorrow might be a different answer! Mainly because he is totally delicious and has a nice laugh, I can imagine us having fun and I'd definitely never tire of looking at him.

Least favourite - well I tend to blank people I don't like out of my mind so this is nearly as tough. Any dumb Botoxed blonde who'd bore me senseless I think - make your own mind up who that could mean!

3. What are your three favourite crafting products?
Clear stamps, patterned paper, rubons.

4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?
Wow, these are pretty deep questions huh. I might have to think about this one a bit more.

5. What are the last three books that you read?
John le Carre - Our Game
Phil Rickman - The Fabric of Sin
Carmen Posadas - The Last Resort

6. QVC or Create & Craft?
Neither thanks.

7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?
DCWV without a doubt, love their Far East line especially.

8. What is your claim to fame?
Haven't got one that I'm aware of. I know Gareth Southgate's dad, does that count?

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 more people, so this goes out to Tash, Karen, Deb, and Kirsti. Can't quite make 5!

So far behind!

2008-07-11T22:13:00.002+01:00

Wow I have lots to catch up on, this could take some time LOL.

More blog candy

2008-05-22T20:56:00.001+01:00

Carla is giving away the most amazing blog candy here - go take a look at her gorgeous work and leave a comment while you're there :)

Truly gorgeous blog candy

2008-05-19T20:22:00.001+01:00

Take a look here and win some Hanglar & Stanglar stamped images. Could only be better if they came coloured by Heidi!

Happenings

2008-05-14T18:14:00.004+01:00

Life has been quite busy recently, with one thing or another.

Two of my friends had babies on successive days, so pleased for them both. We're hoping to get to visit one soon, but the other is in the States so that could be a long time coming!

The biggest event was my little brother Stewart getting married. The whole day was beautiful - nice weather, stunning bride, lovely church, fun speeches and everything went really smoothly. I did a reading during the service, and I was glad it was short - I was soooo emotional and nearly couldn't do it! If I'd looked at anyone, particularly them, I'd have burst into tears I think, but I got through it ok. It was great to catch up with some family I hadn't seen for ages too, including my Uncle Stephen who I hadn't seen since my wedding four years ago! (He lives in New York, it's not just that we're completely rubbish LOL). I took loads of photos, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Back to scrapping for a mo, instead of a card I made them an exploding box, with photos, quotes and a hidden message. It got a good reception, and I was very happy with it. Pictures of that are here.

Stewart and Helen flew off to Mexico for their honeymoon from Gatwick on the Tuesday, so they came to stay with us on Monday (and leave their car in our drive!). We had some bubbly in the fridge, and they brought another bottle with them, so we had a very pleasant evening ;)

The same weekend, my department at work moved offices. We've been in 'temporary' accommodation for the last 2 1/2 years, but now we're in our permanent home. I really like it so far, it is much better than where we were. I've got boards around my desk which I can decorate too, so I very happily printed a few pics off to put up. When I am feeling fed up I will just look at this one (from our honeymoon) and imagine I'm there...

Where is the year going?

2008-05-14T17:55:00.008+01:00

Can anyone tell me? I knew it had been a while since I'd posted, but over a month?! Can hardly believe it. Funny to note that last time I posted it had just been snowing, when recently we've had such glorious weather.

I've had a great month craft-wise. First I signed up to a class by Shimelle, all about home. I've only done one LO from it so far, but I have good intentions to work on the rest!

Then I did a couple of LOs just because...

And then there was a cybercrop on UKS and I got 4 LO classes done, as well as a couple of cards and minibooks.

With all that, and my most recent LO, I've just about filled my current album, and I'm well ahead of my target for the year of one LO a fortnight.

Loads of other things have happened but I think that's another post!

Didn't last long

2008-04-08T22:08:00.003+01:00

The snow has all gone. There were a few traces left this morning but after a lovely sunny day it has completely vanished.

I managed to get myself off the computer and into the craft room yesterday, and made a new baby card. It's fairly simple, but quite bright and funky :) (click for a closer look)

Snow!

2008-04-06T13:22:00.005+01:00

In April, can you believe it! It's the most snow I've seen for years. Looks so pretty.

The cats have worn themselves out, Bailey in particular loved it :) Monty was a bit more reluctant to go out but he seemed to have fun when he did go out. Made me laugh as he was clearing a path for himself with his front paws!

We went for a little drive just to look at the snow, and I took a bit of video from the car. It's not that great but gives you a pretty good idea of what it's like.

Making money from the web

2008-03-17T23:41:00.002Z

I've recently been interested in how I can recoup some of the time I spend online in the form of cold hard cash, and it's surprising how much you can get if you really try.

A couple of really good sites I'm signed up to are GreasyPalm and PureProfile.

GreasyPalm is a cashback site - if you shop online you'll be able to earn something by using this site. Essentially you enter the shop you want (if they're a partner - includes things like Amazon) via the GreasyPalm site, and you get a certain % of what you spend back. There are also sign-up offers, simple click offers, and competitions. They'll pay out in cash by BACS transfer or in Amazon vouchers. Well worth a look - see the link below if you want to try.

PureProfile is a survey site. It also lets you earn money for clicking on links or searching for items. Again this pays out cash. If you want to give it a go, tell them I sent you by clicking on the link :)

PureProfile

Good scrapping day

2008-03-15T19:14:00.001Z

I had my monthly crop today, and had a really good day. Did some work on a CJ - couldn't finish it as I needed to print some bits but it is looking good :) Chose papers for three LOs and started on one of them, and did one complete LO. This has been on my to-do list for a little while now, and it came together really easily. (Sorry for rubbish photo, no daylight by the time I got to the camera).

How High?

CASE means...

2008-03-14T22:52:00.006Z

to "Copy And Steal Entirely" - mainly used in reference to cards (like scraplifting for scrapbooking).

I've done a bit of this recently, as I needed to make some cards and I've had no inspiration for a while. Whenever I come across something on a blog or elsewhere that inspires me, be it a card layout, technique, colour combination etc, I save it to an "Inspiration" folder on my PC. So when I wanted to come up with some cards I browsed through and chose a few that I liked at the time.

These are what I came up with - this is the first card I cased (I haven't saved this one properly and darned if I can remember where it came from - I will find out and give proper credit when I can!).

My version used just 2 papers from DCWV. I faux-stitched borders using my piercing tool and black pen. I masked off all but the empty square and stamped a swirl from Autumn Leaves using turquoise VersaColor (after stamping off first to reduce the intensity of the colour). Then I added a blossom with a brad centre, and the sentiment from My Favorite Things.

My second card was taken from this fab creation by the very talented Beate.

My starting point was also a hedgehog, although it honestly wasn't planned that way! I used a Penny Black Stickeroo for my main image - love these, so cute and great quality - on white card with a red Bazzill mat. The patterned papers came from a card making kit from Sarah's Cards, I think they are American Crafts. I edged the paper on the right with red ink to make it stand out better. Added 3 white blooms with red brad centres on the left and done!

A New Look...

2008-03-12T21:10:00.004Z

I had my hair cut at the weekend for the first time in absolutely ages. I normally have it cut to about shoulder length, but it had reached half-way down my back, so that gives you an idea how long I'd left it. In the meantime the hairdresser I used shut down so I had to find a new one!

Finally took the plunge anyway, and went from this...
to this...!
I think it's probably the shortest I've ever had it, as an adult at any rate. Rather pleased with it - and it's a lot easier to look after :)

Getting behind

2008-03-02T17:51:00.007Z

Where is this year going? I can hardly believe that February has been and gone since I posted last.

Not sure what I've done with the month exactly. Had a couple of days off work, which is always a bonus :) One on my own, when I mainly scrapped, and one with Andy last week. We went on a drive down to the coast for some fresh sea air and a long walk, had a lovely pub lunch then spent a couple of hours in the Military Aviation Museum at RAF Tangmere. Much better than being in the office!

Speaking of scrapping I'm still going well, I've not done quite as many LOs as in January I don't think but I'm still keeping up with my target of 2 a month. One was a double too - and one I'm really pleased with as I had the idea whilst at work, drew a sketch and wrote the journalling in my lunch hour, then had to take the photos! It came out almost exactly as I had envisioned it too.

Mementos of Life:
In Full Flow:
As well as LOs for me I've done a couple of cards and I made my first exploding box. And then there is the CJ - my UKS teammates and I are starting a Circle Journal, so I had to make and decorate my journal ready to send on, and do the entry. So I have been fairly productive in fact.

Exploding Box closed:
Inside Exploding Box:
My reading has slowed down too - I've got into the habit of doing the cryptic crossword on the train home - but I've still got through several books since I last posted. Hopefully I haven't forgotten any but I'm sure there are more than this!

Ones I have read are -

I Choose To Live - Sabine Dardenne
Devil's Tango - Herve Jubert
The Power of Three - Laura Lippman
An Unfinished Life - Mark Spragg
Mind's Eye - Paul McAuley

Just taken some blueberry muffins out of the oven so must go eat one while they're still warm... I'll be back, a bit sooner this time.

Terry Pratchett

2008-01-24T22:46:00.000Z

I just read my first Terry Pratchett book (Reaper Man). It's odd that I've never read any before (that I can remember), but for some reason I've always had it in my head that it wouldn't be my kind of thing. But last time we were at the library I thought, why not give it a go anyway. And what do you know - I liked it. A lot. So I may well be going back to the beginning and trying to work my way through the Discworld series now!

I've read a few books that I haven't mentioned yet in fact:
Property of Blood - Magdalen Nabb
Dark Harbour - David Hosp
The Anubis Slayings - Paul Doherty.

Umm, I think that's all for now.

I've also been scrapping quite a lot recently, which I'm really happy about. I have already done 2 LOs of our holiday at Christmas, and one random pic from ages ago. Hopefully I can keep going like this. Although I went to make a few cards last night, and it really wasn't working for me. I managed one which I am pleased with, but even that took me a loooong time.

Speaking of scrapping stuff, the journalling jars I made for my parents got a better reception than I expected. They both seemed to think it was a really nice idea. I gather Mum has started on hers, but Dad might need a bit more prodding. But if anything I thought Mum would be more resistant to it, so all good really :)

Here are my recent LOs:

My turn...

2008-01-11T21:21:00.000Z

To be ill that is. Not as bad as Andy was thankfully, something entirely different in fact. But it seems to be just about gone again now, which is a relief.

I finished my 3rd book of the year earlier in the week, must check what it was!

This weekend we're seeing my family for a belated Christmas get-together. We're all going to Stewart's, so it will be a bit different, but it will be good to see them all.

Books

2008-01-04T22:34:00.000Z

Finished another book today - Dead Sky (Tami Hoag)
Time for some more from the library!

Sick Husband

2008-01-03T22:28:00.000Z

Poor Andy has been ill since New Year's Eve, and has barely left his bed for three days :(
He has a horrid cough/flu type bug, and has been running a fever too. Not good, just hope he doesn't give it to me!

Finished my first book of the year yesterday: 30 Days of Night (novelization of the film). A vampire story so not my usual style, but I enjoyed it. It was pretty gruesome in places though, so I doubt I'd be able to watch the film!

I'm keeping up to date with my photo-a-day for the 365 Day challenge, but the last two are definitely not for public consumption.

I also finished a LO last night. I started this one ages ago, but had been struggling with how to finish it off. Scared of all the white space! But in the end I didn't add much to it, kept it simple.

Christmas in Austria

2008-01-02T21:02:00.000Z

For the first time in my life, I didn't spend Christmas at home with my parents this year. Instead we decided to go away - and thought we'd see if we could have a real white Christmas. So off we went to Austria for a week.

We weren't interested in skiing, just some walking and generally relaxing, and that's what we got. We stayed just outside a town called St Wolfgang, on the banks of Lake Wolfgang. It was very pretty, with a beautiful Advent market. Lots of gluhwein! When we arrived there was some snow on the ground and lots of frost, although that gradually diminished over the week. Being by the lake means its a bit warmer apparently, although it was cold enough for me. The weather was actually gorgeous almost the whole time we were there, with plenty of sunshine and crisp days.

We took a day trip to Salzburg - where we did shopping, Cathedral and Castle. We didn't have time for Sachertorte :( We visited the other towns around the lake, Strobl and St Gilgen, and took a couple of trips up to the Postalm, the nearest skiing area. There was plenty of snow there! Evenings were generally spent quietly in the hotel, mostly chatting with other guests, although we did venture out on Boxing Day to a local operatta which made a nice change.

A few of my favourite photos:

View across the lake

Advent Market

Salzburg Dom (Cathedral)

Sun and Snow

365 Days

2008-01-01T18:39:00.000Z

In a rather optimistic way I have set myself lots of targets for 2008, in the hope that at least some of them will be achieved. I'm not going to go into detail here, but amongst them I have signed up for 365 Days, a scrapping challenge blog to take a photo and keep notes for journalling every day during 2008. It does involve some actual scrapping as well, but as I have already decided on my own targets for that I may leave out that part or just incorporate it where I can.

My photo for today is of the cats. Earlier today Scott, Catherine and I were laughing at the funny positions they were getting into whilst in their beds, and this afternoon I spotted that they were in almost identical poses and had to capture it.

Tagged!

2007-12-18T15:54:00.000Z

I've been tagged by my fellow Pink Glitter Gal Clare :)

1 - If you could have $100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose?
Hmm, that's an easy one to start - definitely paper. I am totally addicted to all the gorgeous papers out there!

2 -If you had to choose between using only stamps or ribbons, which would you choose?
Hmm, this one is a bit more difficult, as I love them both. But I think I'd have to go with stamps.

3 - If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year…which would you do?
Layouts. No contest. Although I haven't done that many yet I really want to spend more time on layouts this year. And if it comes to it you can always buy cards, you can't buy a LO!

4 - Would you rather own a scrap booking store or have your own scrapping room at home?
Don't think I could cope with a store. I already have a very lovely scrapping room, and I'm happy with that - if I could change one thing it would be to make it bigger.

5 - What is your CURRENT card making or scrapping style?
I'm not sure that I really know what my style is. Neat is the closest I can come up with. I find it hard to do wonky lines and distressed looks without it just looking rubbish, and I'm deeply envious of anyone who succeeds at that style!

Going on a diet...

2007-12-17T15:48:00.000Z

...stash diet that is!

In the relatively short time I've been cardmaking and particularly scrapping I seem to have amassed an awful lot of stash. At the rate I create I've probably got enough patterned paper to keep me going for several years.

I'm not alone in this: several others on UKS are going on a stash diet in 2008, and I've decided to join them. We each have to come up with our own rules, and with thanks to Cheryl, mine are:

Stash Diet Rules for 2008

Monthly budget of £20 to cover everything
including, but not limited to........

US basic kit incl. postage (currently LRS but might change)
Kit add-ons
Patterned Paper
Cardstock
Card blanks (& envelopes) - shouldn’t ever need any of these!
Embellishments
Rubber Stamps
Ink Pads
Paints
Magazines - off the shelf
Photo processing (if specifically for scrapping - mixed lots not included)
Stash for swaps
New plates for BigShot
Dies for BigShot

Excludes:

Adhesive
Printer ink
Photo paper
Crop fees
Show admissions
Magazine subs (max 2)
Postage on RAKs etc
Items bought specifically for making presents (e.g. Bind It All Wires)

This money can be rolled, so if I only spend £15 one month I have £25 available for the next.

I can also take a ‘loan’ of up to £10 from the next monthly kitty.

Extra funds made available by

Birthday, Anniversary, Christmas money (100% permitted)
Lottery wins – a girl can live in hope (100% permitted, maximum of £100)
Selling unloved stash/tools (100% permitted, after deduction of postage to send to buyer)
Selling cards (price paid by customer, less the money already earned for making them)

Scrapping a LO dependant on size
up to and including 8x8 = £3.00 (DLO = £4.50)
up to 12x12 = £5.00 (DLO = £7.50)

Making a card = £1.00
Making an ATC = £0.50
Altering an item (dependent on size) = £2.00-£5.00
Making a mini-book - £5.00

New and improved

2007-12-17T13:01:00.000Z

I decided I really didn't like blog.co.uk, so I've moved here. Already finding it much easier! Hopefully it will inspire me to post more often too.

And wonder of wonders I can re-post everything from my previous location with the proper date so it's all archived on here properly, this makes me happy :)

Nearly Christmas!

2007-12-16T11:03:00.000Z

I can't believe where this year has gone.

Book update:
Gone (Lisa Gardner)
Tower of Silence (Sarah Rayne)Very atmospheric
The Hunting Season (Elizabeth Rigbey)
The Pale Blue Eye (Louis Bayard)
The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

Apparently I am Fennel

2007-12-05T19:55:00.000Z

Just a bit random, LOL

Your Score: Fennel

You scored 50% intoxication, 25% hotness, 75% complexity, and 0% craziness!

You are Fennel!

You're a cool cat. Crisp, clean, fresh, and extremely complicated. You're like quantum physics or modern jazz. Think Niels Bohr meets Ornette Coleman. You may look normal now, but once you sprout, you look kind of, uh, funny.

Wake up kitty

2007-11-29T21:46:00.001Z

This is sooo funny, anyone who cats will recognise this...

(grr, can't get this to work, will have to come back to it!)

Busy busy

2007-11-29T21:28:00.000Z

Lots on at the moment, mainly work unfortunately. Haven't been getting home until 8pm or so most days, so not much time for anything else beyond eating and sleeping!

I've got a long list of finished books somewhere that I ought to post, I also took some back to the library without making a note, duh.

I passed my driving theory test last weekend I was pretty confident about the multiple choice questions, but more nervous about the hazard perception bit. I was too stingy to buy the DVD as well as the book, so the only practice I'd had was the mock test I did with my instructor weeks ago. It all worked out ok though, I got full marks on the multiple choice, and 62/75 on the hazard perception - you have to get 44 on that bit to pass so I was comfortably clear.

Andy gave me £50 to treat myself with as a reward, and the weird thing is I'm having a hard time spending it. I picked up a CD later that day, but I still have over £40 left. There are lots of things I'd like, but it's difficult to narrow it down, and nothing has really jumped out and said "Buy me now" yet. I'll inevitably end up with scrapping supplies of some form or another but what?

My personality!

2007-11-29T21:21:00.000Z

My personalDNA Report

Lists

2007-10-27T21:41:00.000+01:00

This is a "for reference" post, with lists of things which come in sets (mainly scrapping stuff) that I like and which items in the set I have. I'll add it to as my collections grow...

Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers

Sunshine Yellow
Hazelnut
Raspberry
Silver

Colorbox Queue Inks

Chalk - Misty Meadow
Chalk - Pumpkin Patch
Chalk - Chocolates & Blueberries
Chalk - Primary Elements
Chalk - Rose Petals

Versacolor Ink Cubes

11 - Canary
21 - Green
24 - Opera Pink
25 - Cardinal
26 - Boysenberry
35 - Lilac
42 - Lime
53 - Cocoa
57 - Old Rose
63 - Split Pea
64 - Khaki
69 - Bamboo
80 - White
94 - Bronze
101 - Camellia
131 - Narcissus
133 - Seashell
136 - Baby Blue
151- Sand Beige
152 - Ash Rose
155 - Paprika
156 - Raspberry
157 - Amethyst
159 - Mountain Lake
161 - Green Tea
182 - Bisque
183 - Cement
185 - Polar Blue
187 - Sage

Stickles Glitter Glue

Icicle
Diamond
Frosted Lace
Platinum
Gold
Golden Rod
Yellow
Orange Peel
Fruit Punch
Candy Cane
Xmas Red
Eucalyptus
Aqua
Green
Turquoise
Dark Blue

A picture at last

2007-10-25T22:36:00.000+01:00

I figured I really ought to sort out posting a few piccies as previously promised, so here's one to start with:

This is my most recent LO, which I did at my crop last Saturday. It was the only thing I did, so it's a good job I like it! It's the story of a pretty unsuccessful attempt at making fire...

New toy

2007-10-25T21:23:00.000+01:00

I got a crop-a-dile, courtesy of my brother, how cool is that!

Busy bee

2007-10-15T13:27:00.000+01:00

I've been really busy at work recently. It's budget time, and the report deadlines seem to be coming around so quickly. As seems to be usual I am a bit stuck as I'm waiting for higher-level decisions to be made, although I've got plenty to be doing in the meantime! I just hope the decisions are made in time...

I've finished a couple of books that I can remember, and I'm sure there must be some more that I've forgotten to record, oops:

The Last Spymaster (Gayle Lynds)
Darkness, Take My Hand (Dennis Lehane)

Scrapping has been good - I did 3 LOs over the weekend, despite being pretty busy with other things. They were all using bits from my Mystery Kit for UKS - we weren't allowed to use anything other than what was in it except limited basics, so it was quite a challenge. I stuck to ordinary LOs, but based on previous CCs some people will have done rather more fancy things with it!

I have my monthly crop next weekend, and I should have plenty to do as I haven't done any of the classes from last weekend yet, and I have kits for three of them.

We had a trip to IKEA on Saturday. After we kitted out my scrap room there were a few things that I wished I'd got more of, so it was already on the cards. Then Andy decided he wants to turn our stairs into a bit of a gallery for New Zealand photos, and wanted several more frames the same as one we got there. After the horrors of Purley Way last time, we decided to go to Lakeside instead, and given that it was Saturday didn't leave the house until 4pm. It took just under an hour to get there - less than Croydon last time and much less stressful! - and the store was really quiet. Perfect So we'll definitely do that in future if we want to go again. We found everything we wanted except one thing, plus a few extras, and still spent less than we had expected.

Speed reading

2007-10-03T15:18:00.000+01:00

Two more books finished in the last 24 hours :)

The Little Lady Agency (Hester Browne) Absolutely delightful! Maybe a bit predictable, but a really pleasurable read, lots of fun and great characters.

The Coma (Alex Garland) I picked this up to start on the train to work this morning - by the time the train pulled in I'd read it and a paper! I knew it was short, but not that short - half the pages were blank, and half the rest illustrations. A quirky little story, nice exploration of the nature of consciousness.

I made lime jelly last night - another UKS challenge. Andy was cooking dinner, and when I started pottering around in the kitchen asked "are you making something again?!" I admit it's not really fair that he has to cook all the time, I'm just so out of practice, so I tried to make out that I was doing it "just to do something", that I might work up to doing a proper meal that way. I think I got away with it too - luckily he was asleep on the sofa by the time it had set, as I think me taking a photo of it and immediately uploading it might have given the game away

Bad blogger

2007-10-01T14:23:00.000+01:00

Had three days at home and not managed to post a thing, how poor is that!

Friday was Andy's birthday, so we both took the day off work. He got up really early (as usual), and went off to the post office to collect all the parcels waiting there for us. We'd been out for drinks the previous night, and I hadn't had a chance to wrap his pressies, so I jumped out of bed when he'd gone to sort it out. I think he was very surprised to find me up when he got back! (I'm usually up a couple of hours later than him at the weekends).

I made him open his straight away, he seemed quite pleased although there wasn't much that was a surprise. He knew I was getting him Crocs - he chose the colour - and the DVDs we'd ordered together (we were sucked in by the HMV sale and bought LOTS!). So the only unexpected bit was two ties - something he needed but not the most exciting present ever!

Then of course there were all the parcels he'd been to collect. Most of them were for me - my kits for the CyberCrop on UKS, and my monthly Little Red Scrapbook kit from the US. There was some seriously yummy stuff, but I haven't really played with any of it yet. He got a couple of bits too, and some more cards in that day's post.

We'd been thinking about going out somewhere for the day, but he struggled to make up his mind what he wanted to do, and in the end the weather was so miserable we just stayed in and had a quiet day. For the first time in what must have been months I actually cooked something - well baked in fact. I made a lemon drizzle cake for his birthday. That was the excuse anyway - but it was really prompted by a challenge on UKS for the CC! Not that I told him that It was very yummy though - and I even put candles on for him!!

The rest of the weekend just seemed to disappear. I had my driving lesson on Saturday - mainly driving at higher speeds/on the dual carriageway. We went almost as far as Brighton and back, and it went ok, although I was a bit tense afterwards. Yesterday I did nothing until mid-afternoon, when we did a bit of de-cluttering upstairs. We cleared out a few crates that had been hanging around since we moved in, and sorted out all the clothes in the holiday/winter wardrobe in the spare room. Threw a few bits away, and there's a large bag to go to a charity shop and quite a bit more space! We're making progress gradually, and one day it might actually be as tidy as we'd like.

Finished another book too: Codex (Lev Grossman) This was intriguing, albeit rather silly some of the time. The game plot seemed a bit underused/underdeveloped at times, and the relationships a bit strange. I enjoyed the *technical* parts about old books, and definitely learned some new stuff there. Overall reasonably fun, but probably not a lot more to it than that.

Done!

2007-09-26T21:46:00.000+01:00

Hurrah, I got Andy's card finished. It didn't take me as long as I often take, and I'm really pleased with it. It's a bit of a change of style for me too - nothing drastic but not quite my normal clean graphic look - and I like!

Wednesday Wobbles

2007-09-26T14:08:00.000+01:00

Lots of things to catch up on!

Books first. Recently I've finished -
Thorn (Vena Cork) Went backwards here - I'd previously read a later one in this series without realising it was a series. I really enjoyed this, it pulls you along nicely. Lots of twists and turns, I had an inkling about "whodunnit" early on but then allowed myself to be hoodwinked!
The Sixth Lamentation (William Brodrick) Fantastic first book. The characters were extremely well drawn, and it covered some very complex moral dilemmas and made me think. I occasionally thought it seemed unnecessarily complicated, but it all came together well in the end.
The Sign of the Cross (Chris Kuzneski) Another derivative of The Da Vinci Code (has one book ever been emulated by so many before?!) but a fairly good one as they go. Requires a serious suspension of disbelief, but an exciting, multi-stranded chase around the world. Good fun.

I've been almost totally failing at "flying" recently - I seem to be sooo tired all the time at the moment. Thankfully Andy is being very good, so the house doesn't look too bad. And I did manage to do 5 loads of washing at the weekend!!

And I've been relatively creative too. I needed a card for a friend due to have a baby, but didn't know the sex, so made one for each possibility. I also did a card for an Autumn challenge on UKS, and I have someone in mind for that. Having also finished a LO one evening, that makes it a pretty good week for me. Just hope I can keep it up. Most critically I need to make a birthday card for Andy - it's his 51st (!!) on Friday, and as we're out tomorrow night I really need to get it done tonight. Help!

Over on UKS there's a CyberCrop coming up. I've signed up and have bought myself several class kits. I'm looking forward to lots of lovely new stash! I figure that way I will at least attempt those classes if no others. And I like getting kits with bits in that challenge me to try new things - if I choose everything I buy it all ends up looking rather samey. I've also signed up to do an ATC swap - which involves producing 12 ATCs in not many more days, yikes! Thankfully they can all be much the same, so I'm going to aim to come up with one design I'm happy with, then just vary it slightly for each.

I've been doing more stash organisation too. I love Really Useful Boxes! My scrap room is due to be featured on this blog soon, so keep your eyes peeled

I'll post piccies of my recent cards and LOs soon, all being well.

Journalling Jars

2007-09-19T10:57:00.000+01:00

I've been following this thread on UKS about journaling jars, and am really intrigued by the idea. I'm seriously thinking about doing some for my parents. In a way I know so little about them. I'm not sure whether they'd answer all of the questions, but I think they'd have a go at some at the least. My mum is seriously into genealogy - means my family tree is all researched for me! - and likes producing journals (printed & bound books with pics and text) of her holidays, so I think she'd be quite interested. Dad I'm not so sure about.

So my next mission is to find some suitable jars and books, alter them, and think seriously about what questions I want to include!

FlyLady

2007-09-19T10:47:00.000+01:00

In an effort to keep my house in slightly better condition - so I’m not embarrassed by someone turning up unexpectedly, and don’t have to spend all day cleaning ready for visitors - I’ve been looking into a system by FlyLady. I haven’t quite done things “properly”, but I quite like the idea of it, and I’m picking up the elements that appeal and will hopefully work for me.

Essentially she encourages you to have routines, and to do little and often. You build up a control journal, where you keep details of all your routines. These include your morning routine (mine includes feeding the cats, eating breakfast and picking up letters to post, for example), and your before bed routine. I have a home from work routine too. The house is divided up into zones, and each week you focus your energies on a different zone - that way the whole house gets done, eventually! You have to thoroughly declutter the house before you get into deep cleaning, so that could keep me going for quite some time. Once that’s done she suggests a detailed list for deep cleaning of each room. But both decluttering and deep cleaning are only generally done in 15 minute bursts, so it’s manageable. To keep things ticking over in the rest of the house, you’re supposed to spend an hour once a week on tasks like hoovering and dusting. An hour total, that is, known as “Home Blessing Hour”. A bit American for me!

I’m achieving mixed results so far. I’ve come up with my routines, and am managing to complete at least part of them every day. Just making the bed every morning makes a difference. I still have my general to-do list, but I’m trying to assign tasks to specific days where I can. The hourly clean hasn’t worked too well yet - I can only really fit it in at the weekend, and events have tended to wipe out my available time recently. One thing I really need is to cut down my PC time. I can easily spend a couple of hours on it in an evening, and although some of that time is part of my routine, and some is productive, there are definitely better things I could be doing with some of it. But in general I do feel a bit more in control of things - I at least know what I’m supposed to be doing even if I don’t always get it done.

Along side all that, I’ve decided to set myself targets for scrapping and cardmaking. I’m aiming to complete 1 LO and 1 card a week - although I need to do 5 cards a week until Christmas if I’m going to make all of them too - which might not sound like much but is fairly ambitious for me, as I’m a slow scrapper. Having my monthly crop will help, and I have a CJ entry to do each month, but beyond that I really need to try spend time in the craft room rather than at the PC in the evenings!

Current Books

2007-09-12T21:02:00.000+01:00

Thought I'd try keep my book list up to date again - probably without reviews this time unless something really stands out.

Recently read:
Black Fly Season - Giles Deacon
Salem Falls - Jodie Picoult

Currently reading:
Minority Report (collection of short stories) - Philip K Dick
The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld
The Sixth Lamentation - William Brodrick

Prevarication

2007-09-12T11:49:00.000+01:00

Well as usual I've managed to go over a year without updating, impressive huh! I honestly don't know how anyone manages to write a daily entry. I'd be quite pleased if I could manage one a month frankly.

I love following blogs though. Recently I've been adding more and more to my feed, mainly scrapping/card-making related. I spend most of my time on a scrapping forum these days, and blogging is so fashionable its unreal I'm vaguely considering actually telling someone this is here, bit scary though! I've been pretty cautious in what I've written about work, but you do hear horror stories about bosses catching people up to no good on their blogs. I really can't be bothered to carry on not naming people either, it's too much like hard work.

If I do publicise this I guess I'll start putting crafty stuff on too. Not that that would be much, my creative output is minimal to say the least. And I already seem to have about a million different places I post pictures, none of which are ever actually up to date.

But even though I produce so little, scrapping etc seems to be pretty much all I want to think about these days. Work is a definite hindrance! The next couple of months are going to be REALLY busy, and I'm trying to gear myself up for it, but I just don't feel at all ready. I've got 17 reminders of things I need to do popping up at the moment, but instead of clearing them I'm here resurrecting my blog. Hmm, way to go!

Hello and Goodbye

2006-06-23T21:06:00.000+01:00

The car left us yesterday. Our lovely convertible, and just in the middle of a sunny stretch too, it was very sad. We'd had it a couple of years or so though, and we always said when we bought our house we might not be able to afford to keep it. We could - just - but decided that now we have "responsibilities" we really ought to be sensible and save some money anyway.

It all happened a bit faster than I'd anticipated though, we had a test drive in one car because it was a new release, but quite frankly it was a bit pokey and nasty compared to what we were used to! Then A saw a special deal so we went to have a look, they only had a couple left so it was quick decision time. We initially said no, as they weren't going to give us quite as much for ours as we hoped, but then we realised we wouldn't get anything comparable for the price any time soon.

Of course it does all mean that we now have a swishy brand new car to play with again. We picked it up after work yesterday, and very nice it is too. I particularly like the 6-CD player, which is pretty funky. Now I just have to learn to drive - A wouldn't let me anywhere near the last car!!

Paltry efforts - and an update

2006-06-10T22:36:00.000+01:00

Hmm, glad to see I kept that up well then. Life has been a bit hectic over the last few months, hardly an excuse but it's my usual one. I almost forgot this was even here to be honest.

Yesterday I randomly discovered my brother's blog, which has been going for about a year. And I've definitely been on his website during that time, how did I manage to miss that? So I had a year's reading to catch up on. The main thing that struck me was how much fuller his life seems than mine. How depressing does that sound!

At the mo I'm busy revising for an exam on Monday, yuck. I've been off work all week but I still haven't done as much as I would have liked, it is so dull! And there are way too many distractions in the house / it's too hot. Excuses all the way again, at the end of the day I'm just not confident I'm going to pass. At all. I really want to, to get the qualification and get it out of the way once and for all, but when it comes down to doing the work, I just can't seem to motivate myself. Tomorrow I really have to think about nothing else, with the knowledge that by Monday lunchtime I can forget about it all again. Am I really that impatient to do other things that I can't cope with 36 hours of concerted concentration? A sad indictment if so...

I'm supposed to be training for the Great North Run too, but that's been on hold for the last couple of weeks, as I've been back and forth to the doc's and on various medications, and haven't really felt up to running. I wasn't exactly improving quickly either, so when I get myself sorted I'll basically be starting from scratch. And now I've found yet another problem for the doc - anyone would think I'm a hypochondriac, but I swear I'm not! - I think I have, or am developing, a frozen shoulder. Basically the movement in my left shoulder is restricted, and if say I try to raise it above horizontal it hurts. Not excessively, but it's getting more awkward. It's affecting my sleep too as I like to lie on my side with my arm cushioning my head, but as my left arm won't go that high I can only lie on my right side. Supposedly this condition affects mainly middle-aged people, and here I am not even 30. Does that mean my body is like that of a middle-aged person, or am I just exceptional?

Other topics I really should mention if this is going to be a proper update, but I need to go to bed so I'm fresh for more revision tomorrow so they're only going to be mentioned in passing for now (and judging on my past performance maybe ever) -
- selling our lovely car
- being a homeowner
- my cardmaking obsession
- how my job is going

That's all the major topics I can think of at any rate.

Beddy-byes calling, think A is already asleep on the sofa as usual...

Books

2005-10-27T23:39:00.000+01:00

Have decided I really must try to keep a record of what I read, I get through so many books. So I'm going to make a note on here fairly regularly if I remember (or at least until I find a decent book forum to discuss it on).

Currently reading:
Liars And Saints - Maile Meloy
The Last Temptation - Val McDermid

5 most recent books:
The Time-Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
I loved this, it made me cry. A wonderful love story told via a really unusual concept.
Mobius Dick - can't remember the author
Interesting. It made me think, and I loved how he tied it all up at the end with some fantastic biting commentary on the state of the world today. It was a bit hard going at times though, and I definitely think it helps to know a little bit about philosophy and physics if you're going to get much out of it.
Fire Point - John Smolens
Not too much to say about this, I enjoyed the relationships in it, and wanted to know how they turned out. Nice characterisation.
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
I ran out of time to finish this, as someone else had reserved it , which was hugely annoying. I was enjoying it up to that point, which was probably about half way through. Will have to pick it up again at some point.
Wishful Thinking - Jemma Harvey
A nice easy read, but with some important things to say about love. Very nicely packaged, I loved the different women and the relationships between them, I was really rooting for them. Superior fluff, and a very promising debut.

Lunchtime Leisure

2005-08-26T15:10:00.000+01:00

I spent the most blissful lunch hour in the church immediately next to my office. They've had a music festival running all month, and today was a cellist & pianist, so I decided to make the effort to go (as I played both instruments in a former life). It was lovely.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2005-08-25T12:39:00.000+01:00

So much for our chain consisting of only two parties. Turns out the place they're buying isn't really vacant at all, but the seller of that one is buying a new build, which won't be ready until December. The builders want everyone in the chain to exchange within 28 days - but there are lots of delays on surveys from our lender at the moment, so there's no chance of that. It means our sellers may lose their property, which might make things difficult for us unless it happens soon and they find somewhere else. We may end up having to hold them to their offer of moving into rented accommodation.

I've now got some real work to be doing too, but it's been a bit of a funny day, as O didn't come in, C is on leave, and D & P have been in meetings all morning.

Progress

2005-08-24T13:41:00.000+01:00

Things are moving in terms of our house purchase much more swiftly than expected. A phoned the agents to arrange a second visit, only to be told the sellers have found a place. What's more, it's vacant, so there is no chain, just us and them. All we're waiting for now is the ok on the mortgage, then the survey. If their survey is okay (I'm assuming they'll have no mortgage problems given that they've already got one) we could be moving in a matter of weeks. Which means I've got an awful lot of sorting and packing to do.

title_20493

2005-08-23T22:41:00.000+01:00

Why does every blog have to have a title? What if I can't sum up my day or whatever in a few words? Will no-one ever find it without a title? And is that such a bad thing?
So, new job. It's okay. It's really impossible to tell after a day. You never really do anything on your first day in a job like this. In fact it'll probably take months before I'm not asking questions every day.
My line manager, P, seems lovely. She's not completely sure of her own job either, as she's only recently been promoted herself, which in some ways helps, and in others (namely she doesn't know as much about my services as I would have liked, so she can't always answer things either) makes things more difficult. The main thing is we'll get on though I think.

Not sure about the others in the office yet. C I think I'll be fine with - she's quite new too, but has only moved from elsewhere in the organisation. My assistant (how scary is that!) is leaving in a couple of weeks, so that doesn't really count. D it's difficult to tell, we didn't speak much, and I don't think he's really my sort, but time will play its part I'm sure. The other woman, G, is on leave until next week, so that's still a mystery.

Generally everything seems a little bit more human than my previous place. And I get to have my name on my office door, which makes me feel extremely important!

I like being in the City too, all those tall buildings and all that history. I think I'll really enjoy starting the day with a walk across the Thames. As long as I don't get too irritated by all the crowds.

New Beginnings

2005-08-22T19:52:00.000+01:00

I start a new job tomorrow after over 5 years at the last place, and I'm feeling, well, not much actually. I should be excited or nervous or something, it's a big deal right?, but I really can't be bothered. Too much else going on, or something like that.
No doubt I'll wake up in a panic tomorrow and start rushing around doing all the things I should have done today, like making sure I've got something decent to wear, and making sure I've got my bank details with me so they can actually pay me, which let's face it would be quite nice, all things considered.

Today's been a bit of a weird one really. We were with our mortgage advisor for nearly 2 hours sorting out our application this morning. Not good news. I think we might be poor for a while. And we'll almost definitely have to get rid of the car and get something a bit less flash. I'll miss it now, but if he'd listened to me when I objected at the time it'd be okay because (1) I couldn't miss what I'd never had and (2) we'd be much better off in any case. But then I came home and ran all the numbers again, and it doesn't look so dire after all and we might be able to cope. All very confusing!

Then I arsed around doing bugger all, played a few games and so on, and just when it started raining really heavily I had to go out to the doctor's. It's only a few minutes walk, but it seems like a lot more when you're half-drowned within seconds of leaving the shelter of home. By the time I got there my jeans had wicked up all the rain from the rivers in the street and were sodden to nearly the tops of my thighs. Delightful. When I walked in the room you could tell the doc saw an apparently fit and healthy young woman, and was prepared for something really minor, until I said those words "I found a lump". That made him sit up and pay attention. In the event it was minor of course, just my (undiagnosed) hereditary lumpiness striking again. To be fair it's only for the third time, and the last lot were about 6 years ago, so I shouldn't complain.