Been collecting a few conkers!!

This afternoon we went out for a walk around the lakes followed by a conker collecting hunt in Ayot Green. Megan came with us and the girls had a great time, running around and playing. We were very disappointed with the playground at the lakes, it was fine if you were under 5, but over 5's are not catered for at all. I might have to write to the council, it used to be so much better than that!!

So now we have a mega carrier bag full of conkers which will end up sweating in the bag and festering until they stink and rot away!!

I wonder.....

This weeks prompt is 'I wonder' Well after yet another weekend of asking the kids to clear up for themselves and stop arguing, I am wondering if they will EVER grow up and behave!!

Beth's room is still messy but she assures me its tidy, She left her dinner plate on the floor and went to bed!! It drives me nuts!!

Time is flying!!

I can hardly believe that its only 19 days until we go to Florida!! The next couple of weeks are packed with so much stuff its quite worrying. I have a conference in Plymouth to go to, Carl turns 17 and has decided that he wants a get together for his friends, so we have booked Quazar in Hemel Hempstead. So that's another evening written off.
All we are doing at the moment is running from one place to another ferrying the kids around. I feel exhausted and will really need the break, I think the ways things are going I will turn up with a tooth brush and change of underwear can't see me having too much time to pack any more!!!
Tonight I have printed out everything to do with the holiday and put it in a folder for Wendy and Laura, I think that having three copies should be safe enough!!

Art Challenge - Catch up.

I have managed to get behind with the art challenge, so have caught up today. This prompt is beautiful. Beth loves all sorts of shoes and seems to have far more than she really needs, this pair of baseball boots were a bargain, and according to her trendy(at the time this photo was taken!!) She loves them!!

This one was a hard one, to do a card with some drawing , something I am absolutely useless at. I have had to fall back to the old standby of doodling flowers, I seem to be OK with that. In the end I was pleased with how this card turned out!!

Beth does Amy Winehouse - Without the drugs!!

Today Beth decided to become 'Amy Winehouse' I drew the line at letting her do the drugs, but she tried out the heavy eye make up and bright red lippy, no boyfriend either, but we have had a bit of fun with it!!

This weekend I am really going to get some crafting done.I am in a few swaps and need to restock my cards. I have to take Beth to the library to receive her Big wild read challenge medal in the morning, to get the award she had to read 6 books from the library over the summer holiday and do book reports on them all, she easily managed that and enjoyed giving verbal reports to the librarian!!

I am happy!!

Today my layout starring our sponsored child Betewush appeared in Scrapbooking Inspirations, I know because my mum phoned and told me so !!! I haven't got my copy yet! I have read the article and I am pleased with it , although I am not sure about being described as a veteran scrapper!!! (I am knocking on a bit!!)
I have had a busy day at work, I have driven a fair few miles and sat on the M25 for longer that I needed to. I now have a few days off, so I hope to catch up with a few photos, with just over three weeks to my holiday I need to be clear for my holiday pics!!

Been Away.....

I seem to have been too busy to keep up with my blog, doing my arty card should keep me on track but I haven't even done those for the past couple of weeks!!!
Being at work is seriously interfering with my social life, and my time available at home has been limited.

Over the past week have been to a crop with Dougie and Sue in Stevenage, which was a great experience. I took Laura and she made her first ever scrapbook page. The people there were very nice and Dougie's mum kept us supplied with lots of tea, coffee, cake and biscuits.
I hope they do another one soon.
Waves to Dougie and Bubz :)

Tonight is 'visit the secondary school' night for Beth, I really don't need yet another trip over to St Albans, as that's all I seem to be doing at the moment, still she is looking forward to it and whats another trip between friends!!

I've been tagged!!

Thanks Sue for this tag, it made me laugh!!!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)Smokey Zafira
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)Honeycomb choc chip
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)Edav
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)Green Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)Anne Hemel
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)Davel
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")Orange the diet coke
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Leslie Charles
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)
Deisel Minstrels
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )Anne patrick

Made me laugh!!

New Computer!!

Hurrah, I have a new computer, its all fast and shiny and runs Windows Vista! Its gong to take a little while to get used to it, but I am liking it already!
I have been having problems with typing on the old machine, it seems that I may have had a trojan horse virus, which was making the processor work overtime, typing was interfering with the junk it was processing!! Anyway I managed to save my address book and favorites to a disk and tonight I have them all back up and running. Its great having a new toy!!!

Great Photos!

I just want to say a big thank you to Anna for taking these great photos (just a small selection of them!!) I am thrilled with them, I love the one of Sue and I checking out our camera settings!! look at that cheeky look on Beth's face!! Brilliant!

Good News!!

Carl has finished working at the school pool, the season has come to an end, he has earned a load of money and his only extravagance is buying himself a Nintendo Wii. He started back at school last week without finding another job. W had been submitting his CV all over the place, finally on Wednesday he was interviewed for a job at a private health and fitness club, he was pleased to be offered the job!! Today is his first shift so I hope he likes it.
I am hoping to actually get some scrapping done today, I have done the supermarket shopping and Beth is spending the day with Laura, peace at last !!!

Emilys Challenge - Strong- Strength

This weeks prompt is strength. I have struggled a bit with the prompts for the past few weeks and this week was no different !! Anyway I decided to try something different and convert a photo. I am quite pleased with the results. I think hands represent strength, hands holding babies hands are so cute!!