It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas...

...and I'm getting excited already! I've done my covers for my Christmas journal and I'll get some pages ready using the maps from Shimelle's prompts and I'll be ready :o) Well, as long as my scrapping table comes as it's supposed to on Saturday. Only a little table, but mine- just for crafting. One which I don't have to tidy away so that we can have tea.

I've got my box of Christmas stash just waiting to be cut up- can you tell I'm raring to go!!!

E.T.A. Forgot to say that the papers are from My Minds Eye Signature Christmas collection. The Santa in sleigh is chipboard from Heidi Hi Crafts which has been dipped into UTEE and embosing powders using a melt pot and the 2007 is from my stash pile that I coated in the same way but didn't like the colour so finished it off with a dusting of Perfect Pearls.

Shopping trip from hell!

Teacher training today for both children, so it was the ideal time to go off and get new Winter coats for them. They have grown so much since the Summer, and it won't be long 'till I'm the shortest member of the family!

Bobs hates shopping and was completely miffed when he realised that we were going to be buying more than PS2 games. He quickly got what he wanted with only half a glance at what he was buying (must be a male thing), Fifi however couldn't find anything. We trolled from one shop to the next, but nothing was quite right (must be a female thing). Anyway, to cut a very long and boring story short, frustration got the better of both of the little darlings and after much sniping at each other an all out fight broke out in Asda. There was shoving and tears and a lot of 'she said, he said'. So, there was only one thing for it- they got the look!!! I'm sure this 'look' is innate in our family, because all female members above a certain age can do it. No words needed, the 'look' says it all lol. We finished our shopping trip in relative peace Fifi even found some clothes, but the nightmare wasn't over- we got stuck in traffic and it took us two hours to get home.

Christmas shopping is all being done online this year :o)

The picture is of Bobs contemplating the TARDIS in the Dr. Who Exhibition in Cardiff. Totally unrelated to my shopping trip, but we're having Dr. Who withdrawel symptoms in our house at the moment.

Oh no!

Well today was another day of waiting in for a delivery. It was OK though, it was our new table and chairs so I was very excited. No more balancing plates on laps and dinner down your front (well maybe). The delivery time came and went, but I used the time wisely and finished off our team challenge LO. Finally, they came- hooray- or not as the case turned out to be. The first thing I noticed was that it was the wrong table!!! Unbelievable, we'd been waiting for 6 weeks. Ordered early to ensure we got it all well in time for Christmas, and then they send the wrong one. After sorting this out, I began to wonder why I had ordered cream covers on the chairs. With two extremely messy children, cream is not a colour we do in this house. So, I checked the order- Bali Straw. Sounds cream. I must have been having a mad moment when we ordered. That or the price had shocked me so much I wasn't thinking straight. But then Fifi came home. "I thought you'd ordered green covers because we're so messy", she said. Another phone call to the shop ascertained that Bali Straw was in fact green and we had the wrong chairs. You would think that maybe someone somewhere had our table and chairs by mistake, but no. Apparently it has been a complete cock up!

So will we get our table and chairs in time for Christmas- who knows :o(

I'm tempted to invite everyone over for a crop- well they did say we could use this table in the meantime ;o)

So I'm wondering.....

.....do I have enough Christmas stash for Shimelle's journal? This is just the papers and odds and ends I've found. I need more ribbon (on it's way) alphas and then I think I'm ready. Really looking forward to journalling our Christmas this year as it's the first one since we've been married (15 years) where it's just been the four of us. Doing Shimelle's class will give me the push I need, and the inspiration- she has such good ideas.

I'm amazed at how many of us there are doing it, and from all over the world, which just makes it extra special. So, not long to wait now. Can you tell I'm excited lol.

Bobs is playing football for his school today, of course we'd forgotten his boots, so I've just had to dash to the school with them, getting soaked in the process. I just hope they win- they've not had much luck recently :o(

Right, off to decide how to cover my journal.

Sparklers

I've started loads of craft projects recently, but none are finished yet so I thought I'd post this photo of Fifi with her sparkler on Bonfire Night. Sparklers, as you can see, make very good wands! I'm hoping to use the photo for a team challenge we've got coming up on UKS, so a layout is soon to follow.

I'm back!- I think.

Well, I know I'm probably jinxing it, but my internet has been on for over a week. It's very slow, so slow I'm imagining some little internet elf or something standing in our exchange and cranking a big handle to wind it up, but it's on and it's wireless!
The house is nearly finished- Hurray! Just a couple more curtains or blinds to make (can't decide which) and a bit more furniture, but that may have to wait a while. Anyway off to the little fabric shop in town for some curtain material and who knows some yarn as well.
Back soon (fingers crossed) and if I've got an hour to spare I'll upload some photos too :o)

Bad Blogger.

Well I've not been very prolific with my blogging have I! Mostly this is due to the fact that our broadband is still playing up and at times we are without it for hours on end. However because the problems are down to the length of line, we've been told that it is this or nothing- back to dial-up and no wireless :( So we're trying to put up with it for now, though it's a massive pain and has only made my desire to move greater than ever. That in turn causes arguements and the stress levels just increase. So, I really don't want to bore you with all of that (although I just have:) )
On a much more postive note, Percy has had her baby and come home- thank goodness for some good news. Fifi got two certificates for Chemistry and Clarinet- what a fabulous daughter I have. She has framed them as she is so proud and she should be, she works so hard. Bobs has had his hair cut!!!!!! Those of you that know him will realise what a big event this is. He wanted to look like Ronaldo, and considering he's an 11 year old Welsh boy and not a 22 year old Portugese footballer, the hairdresser did a good job. I'll post photos soon.

And Finally...

I've finished my mini book, which you can see below. Four days is quite fast for me! I used Daisy D's Autumn Collection papers, felt, embroidery thread, Hambly rub-ons and bazzill all from Scrap Studio September kit and added some extra Bazzill and Seven Gypsies typewriter words. I bound it all with my Bind-it-All which I've had for a while but only been able to use since I've finished my exams.
This is so much easier for me than 12x12 pages at the moment, and I can use up all those little photos I've taken over the years.
Hope you like it.

My First Bind-it-All Album

Mega Offline!

Yes, we have been offline for this long. Our Broadband was cancelled and we are now trying out a service for extra long lines. Keep your fingers crossed that it works.

Well, alot has happened. Well, no it hasn't, but I have taken my Exam. Three essays in three hours! At least it left me no time to faff, which I have a habit of doing. The journey to the exam was a bit fraught as the council decided to dig up a major roundabout. Luckily, I'd left plenty of time but I did feel myself go numb with panic as the traffic came to a standstill and we were stationary for what felt like an age (10 minutes). Anyway, the exam room looked out onto the prom and it was quite nice to calm myself by looking at the waves every now and again. I felt quite sorry for one man who kept going out to the toilet- nerves I thought at first, but then I started to wonder. He was doing a maths paper- did he have equations written where no-one would dare look!? I wonder. No results for a while so there's no point worrying if I've passed or not.

No exciting photos today, but a very moody sky that I got up to this morning.

Craft wise, my Witch is coming on, my sewing machine's been fixed and I've nearly finished an 8x6 album using my Bind-It-All. Photos to follow when they're finished.

Internet Problems!!!

Well, our flippin' internet's been playing up again. It's no surprise seeing as we're miles from the exchange, but still annoying as there is a closer exchange but BT in their wisdom decided to put us on the furthest one!!!!!

However, I'm beginning to think that it's devine intervention, because it does mean that I have to revise. Coincidence that my internet is going off during the day a week before my exams? I think not lol.

I found this picture today, whilst I was doing a Circle Journal. It's of me as a Student Nurse, sitting in my room in the Nurses Home, Christmas 1989. This building has now been knocked down, as most Nurses Homes have been, but it was a fabulous place to live. Right by the hospital, and only a minute from the social club :) There used to be a tunnel from the home to the hospital and most days in winter we would use this to get to and from work, never having to face the cold and snowy weather. Ahhhh, lovely memories.

(Well, except for the hair- what was I thinking!)

Back to School

Finally Bobs was able to go back to school today. Despite his worries that he was too weak, he managed the whole day and played football at break!

I did my little stint at the charity shop today, which gets more bizarre as the weeks go by! Luckily, the ladies I work with are lovely, but some of the other shifts seem to be manned by evil versions of the Sheriff of Nottingham!!! Apparently they have taken a dislike to another one of the volunteers and are making it their personal mission to get rid of them. For goodness sake, we work in a charity shop not Amstrad.

I've had 3 kits through today, but I have forced myself to have a quick look and then put them away. I really have to revise and having all that lovely stuff to play with is too much of a temptation!

OK, so I've not blogged for a couple of days, so I thought I'd give you a laugh (God, I'm going to regret this!!!). This is a photo of me dressed as a viking for a town carnival. I was only supposed to be dropping the children off at their Youth Club, but got roped in- literally. (yes, the dress was miles too small)

Stig Logic

Firstly, I'm happy to report that Bobs is on the mend. No sickness or anything else (if you know what I mean) since yesterday. He's started to eat small bits of food and drinking, though he is insisting that water tastes 'sour' unless it's refridgerated. He's lost a lot of weight, and he didn't have much to spare, but hopefully he'll start putting it back on soon.

Now on to the strange workings of my brain (yes, it works, but in mysterious ways!). I used to subscribe to a monthly scrapbooking kit. It was always lovely and very exciting to receive it every month from the postie. After a while though I started to feel a bit guilty about the amount of money going on stash, so I stopped the kit and persuaded myself that I could get my own stuff and be a bit more prudent (oh who was I kidding). Of course I kept looking at the kit, just to see what it was like and this months, after days of trying to tell myself it wasn't, was lush. Never mind, I thought I'll just get some of the papers, which I did and here they are in the picture. Just my sort of thing, and I threw in a few Halloween extras for good measure. Job done- I was sorted- wasn't I? No, no, no. The papers were so much nicer in real life that I just had to have the kit! Now, when the shopping bug takes hold of me, it takes hold in a very bad way. I typed in the web address of the site and......NO..... the site was down. Panic took hold, exhaserbated by my worry for Bobs and the up coming exams, I was nearly beside myself. Why had I thought it would be so easy to quit my kit habit? Hours went by (OK half an hour) until finally the site was up again. Yes there were some kits left- I was happy again!

But what about the guilt about all the money spent on kits? Well as my lovely friend Percy says, we don't drink (well I do) or smoke, so it's OK. Anyway, as I keep telling Mr. Stig, if we hadn't moved to this house, of his choosing, I would still be working. It's the price you pay for being married to me Mr. Stig :-) and I know you just love it!

(The papers, stickers and chipboard letters are from Daisy D's Autumn range.)

Still Poorly

My poor little man is still ill. He was doing well yesterday until we had to go and collect Fifi from school and he was sick again. That at least was the only time and he's been drinking water to keep him hydrated. I relented yesterday and bought him his favourite luminouse blue sports drink. He needs some kind of carbs and electrolytes and he absolutely refuses to drink the usual electrolyte replacements. Anyway, it's staying down, so for now I'm happy. (OK, spoke too soon again!!!)

My revision has been non-existant because of Bobs being ill, but I am really going to have to work out a way of filtering out the sound of Cartoon Network and get on with it. It's just over two weeks to the exam so time is running out! If only the exam was on children's TV, then I'd be fine.

This picture was taken this morning. I have loads like this as I often get up to the site of plane exhausts streaking across the sky and they fascinate me. I wonder where everyone is going or coming back from, and what they will or have been doing whilst they're there.