Tidy, Tidy, Tidy!!

Today I tackled the long put off task of clearing up my crafting area. I love to do all sorts of craft, but in a very short space of time I find that 'stuff' grows on my table and very quickly I don't have enough space to make anything at all. I have been putting the job off for ages, but decided when I got up this morning to do it.
I called the hospital to make sure Laura was OK, they said she was good and her headache has now gone, which is great news.
I then pulled out all my 'stuff' and sorted through it. I was brutal and got rid of stuff that I thought I would not use. I made steady progress throughout the day, at 2pm I got ready to go and see Laura. When Beth and I arrived at the hospital we found a parking space and while walking into the hospital I slipped on some mud and landed heavily on my bum!! Luckily I have sufficient padding to prevent injury, but I was covered in mud, and I mean covered, I had mud on my trousers, knickers, socks, shoes, coat and top so I did a good job!! I was a little surprised at the unexpected trip, so decided to head back home and have a shower. Tom went back to visit with Beth.
Finally after a shower I completed my task of the day and I am now the proud owner of a beautifully clean and clear crafting space ready to be put into use the next spare minute I have!!

Another Fall of Snow.

We have woken this morning to another covering of snow, not too much but enough to let you know its there. The temperature is -2 so it won't shift until the sun warms it up. Other places are reporting up to a 4 inch covering, I am glad we don't have that!

Its been a hectic few days here, Laura was taken ill on Thursday and her GP sent her straight to the hospital. She had a bad headache that had lasted a couple of days plus every time she moved her back ached. She felt sick and shivery. She was admitted into hospital on Thursday afternoon which a diagnosis of meningitis, at that stage they had started the tests to see what type so we had to wait and see. Yesterday afternoon they confirmed that it was viral meningitis (phew) but they ordered a brain scan and some follow up tests to be absolutely certain. She is still in there while they control the pain with drugs. I have just checked and she has had a 'comfortable' night.

It looks like 2010 is going to see our family getting our moneys worth out of the National Health Service yet again. This year I am aiming at getting one whole month without any trips to the hospital for any reason, that's got off to a shaky start!!

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This week I have used all the scraps from the previous few weeks, more sweet nothings papers from Papermania, with mirror card from Papermill and a pink jewel from paperchase!


I really like the result ! Please check out all the others on Di Hickmans blog, the link is in the side bar.

The Weekend has Flown By.

Where did that weekend go??It seems to have been a busy one. We collected a new bed for Beth on Friday evening and spent the rest of the evening putting it together. She has completely gutted her room so there was plenty of room to build it. The new bed has a futon underneath and she was desperate to get it all in place so she could ask Meggie over for Saturday night. It all went according to plan and the sleepover took place. They were really good watched a movie, chatted ate tons of popcorn and generally did girly things.
I took the camera out for a few trips to try to get to know it. I took some shots of Beth blowing bubbles to check out the continuous shooting mode, again I am impressed the above shot was taken with only the light in the room, no flash.


We took the dog over the woods, took the camera again to see if I could get the settings to mimic depth of field, after a bit of a fiddle I worked it out and the holly above is taken on macro zooming in from a distance. The walk in the woods was a little fraught. On the way out we were fine, on the way back we got bogged down in the mud, every way we turned there was loads of mud, just to make things worse Hunny did a runner, she must have caught the scent of something exciting, so we were calling her and trying to find a path we could use. In the end we had to beat a path through some brambles, so this morning I have a leg that is covered in scrapes and battered by the bushes. All this walking is just not good for me!!!

Happiness Blog Award.

I would like to thank Raymonde for giving me this Blog award!! I have really made some fantastic new friends in 'blogland' its great to be able to take a peek into other peoples lives, you get to see another part of the world and life goes on there. For me I really enjoy the inspiration of all sorts out there, crafts, cooking, recycling and home. I love Blogging!!!

Here are the rules
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!
5. I am not such a stickler for rules if you are like me: do as you please with it!!!

So here is my Top Ten! (not necessarily in the right order!)

1. My Family (most of the time!!!)
2. My Camera
3. Going on holiday with friends.
4. Crafting of all types.
5. Supporting the underdog!
6. Crocs (as in shoes!!)
7. Florida
8. My bed when it is raining outside.
9.Snow
10. Halloween!!

I award this to the following people who inspire me ;-

1. Kim Marie - The frog of Faith Blog
2. Jen at Wagwaan?
3. Soo at No I won't shut up!!
4. Sue at I have no idea!
5. Glittery Katie at Glittery Katies Blog!

So I hope you will all join in and thank you ladies for inspiring me with alarming regularity!!!!

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This weeks card includes circles, Arggggghhhhh I don't have fun working with circles!! Anyway I have had a go and the results are not too bad!

I haven't stuck to it exactly, I used two circles and to make them stand out I chalked the edges with blue chalk ink. All the papers used are from Papermania, sweet Nothings range, so they all go together nicely. The paper dots are really useful shame I can't remember where I got them from!!!

Please take a look at Di's blog and see all the other versions.

The New Camera.

After what seems like an age, the new camera has arrived. I have been wanting it to arrive so that I can get my mitts on it and try it out! I was pleased to find it waiting when I got home tonight. It looks like a Fuji, its sounds like a Fuji but its far weightier than my last Fuji!
It has far more knobs and buttons and a manual zoom lens and it took me absolutely ages to work out how to get the neck strap on. (How sad is that!!)
I think although there is a load of news things to learn I will have fun trying it out.
Tonight by the time the battery had charged it was dark. I loaded the new card and was surprised to find that the card capacity was a whopping 1240 photos in the finest setting, 600 if I choose to shoot in Raw. I think even I am going to have to push it to use that many photos!!

I snapped off these piccies of Beth, it was dark using only the light in the room I think that these first shots have come out well. I didn't use a tripod so I am pleased with the sharpness.

There is so much that I have to play with, can't wait to get outside and give it a go!!

The Last Snowman.

At last the snow has moved on, there is not a speck left apart from the remnants of the snowman that the girls made in the back car park. I must say that although its pretty, for the first time in my life I was beginning to find it tedious. I think the problem is that we can just about cope with snow for a couple of days, any longer than that and we have to go back to work and operate 'normally'. Its then it starts to get difficult when you have to drive and get around. The only problem is that they are forecasting more snow country wide Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so more of the same to follow.


I am hopeful that Beth will actually get a whole week at school!!
We have had a nice weekend, I have made a few cards, I seem to have quite a few friends who are due to hit some big birthdays in the next few months, so I have been practicing my 40 and 50 cards!! I have even dusted off my Craft Robo and used that again, I feel inspired to use it more !! I really must try and sort out my craft stuff, its taking over and I can't find anything!!

I am still waiting on the delivery of my camera, When I ordered it, it was in stock, I was just a little surprised to receive an email on Tuesday to say they were expecting more stock 'soon' . I contacted them back for a moan and the said sorry, it was sent out on Thursday so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a delivery tomorrow.

We are also considering buying an energy monitor, I think it would be good to see what eats up the electricity and be able to see it in real time. I am in the middle research!!

Dad is doing well, Mum and dad came around for lunch today which was lovely. I even tried out an experimental Strawberry pudding on them!! I now know that I need to add more liquid if I make it again, it was quite solid and rubbery!!!

Home Again.

Dad is home from hospital. He came home yesterday. He saw the consultant in the morning and he said that as he had not had any further pain there was unlikely to be a problem. He has had a bypass so it would be very unlikely to a problem with that. The consultant said that in his experience it was unlikely that Dad would have a recurrence. Dad was happy with that and eager to get home with changed medication.

We on the other hand were not too happy, we were worried that he had essentially come home with no idea what had happened and if it would happen again. My Brother and I decided to talk to the consultant as we were concerned, he said that dad simply didn't want to be there, they were relatively happy that he could go home and they couldn't prevent him from leaving.

So it all feels a bit strange at the moment, I am glad he is home but I wish we knew that he had been treated for the cause. At the end of the day it is his choice.

Card for Di Hickmans Blog!

This week Di sent us a template to work on, I found this one quite easy but had trouble deciding on 3 'words' for the greeting!!


I finally decided to use the last of my Papermania Sweet Nothings papers, along with a few embellishments that had been hanging around on my desk!
Pop over to Di's blog and check out all the other designers!

Its Nearly Gone.....

Today the temperature has finally crawled above zero for longer than an hour and the snow has started to leave, its still so pretty, I snapped this shot on the way home from work, I think its pretty good considering its taken on my IPhone!!!

I have been in to visit dad, he is OK, they don't seem to be able to make up their minds what to do with him, yesterday it was wait for paperwork from Papworth and arrange an angio gram. Today the consultant wants to try a treadmill test and if that's OK, he will be sent home and will have to wait for an out patient appointment for the angio. They have changed a fair few of his medicines and they have some other drugs up their sleeves so we will have to wait and see.

Tonight when I went in one of the men had gone for his angio, the other three including dad were all sitting together chatting, so that was nice!! I don't really know what I want the outcome to be tomorrow, on the one hand it would be good to have the angio and have it done with , on the other it would be good if they felt he was OK with medication. Its so difficult.

Another Day.

Today Dad has been seen by the Doctors, who have agreed that he needs to have an Angio gram to try and pin point the problem, they don't want to go ahead until they have the information about the bypass from Mr Ng at Papworth. It looks like he is going to be there for a little while. I think its better he stays and then he will be sorted. It has been all change in his bay its now all men and he said that they are all friendly so that helps the time pass.


I have finally decided to buy a new camera, I have considered it long and hard, I have always had Fuji cameras and I really like the way they feel and the quality of the photos I get from them. I have been researching a new camera since last year trying to decide if I want to make the jump to a DSLR. So after much comparison and soul searching I have decided to buy the new Fuji S200EXR. Its fairly similar to my present camera in looks, but it is described as being as close to a DSLR without actually being a DSLR!! Perfect. It has absolutely rave reviews on all the sites that sell and review cameras.I received a bonus at work last summer and I have kept that money safe in anticipation, I hope I have made the right decision!

Its started to melt away.

Much to Beth's disgust the snow has started to melt, for the first time in ages the temperature is above freezing, in fact its 2.2 degrees C. So the snow is fairly running away. All the icicles have done a runner as well, so hopefully back to school tomorrow.
We went in to see Dad last night, he seems OK, fed up and miserable to be back there again, but OK. He is now waiting on the decision on what to do, which can't happen until Monday morning. I am very hopeful that they will be able to fix things up again. So more finger crossing is in order!! (I know that a lot of you have said prayers as well and they are always most welcome!)


Hunny loves the snow, you can't keep her in when the girls are out playing, she seems to think that its her duty to demolish any snow men that they attempt to build, I am amazed that her feet don't get frozen, but she will stay out there for hours at a time!!
In the time its taken me to do this post the temperature has dropped again and its now snowing, so much for global warming!!!!

Up and Down Times.

We are barely over one problem when another one hits, early yesterday morning dad had pains in his chest and is presently in hospital. The test results are back and he has had another heart attack. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they can sort out the problem again. He feels fine this morning.
We are not sure at the moment what the treatment will be, its likely that he will have to have another angiogram to make a diagnosis, fingers crossed.
While we were in the hospital, mum had a bit of a funny turn and started to get blurred vision in her eye. She only has one working eye, that must have been very scary. We ended up in the 'eye casualty' where we stayed for the whole of the day. Carl came and sat with one of them while I sat with the other, Keith also came over and helped out. Dad was eventually found a bed in time for Lunch and Mum and I left the hospital at 4pm with some drugs and a follow up appointment to keep an eye on her.
This morning both seem to be OK, so fingers crossed.
The weather is still unbelievable it is nearly 1pm and its still -2 degrees!! The snow is not moving and there is more forecast. I can't remember it ever being like this before! I spotted the icicle outside my neighbours house. There are lots of icicles around!!


I think I will have to go out in search of more icicles, except my feet are sore form excessive use of my new boots!!!

Card for Di Hickmans Blog.

I have been making cards for Di's Blog for some time now, unfortunately towards the end of last year, there was so much going on that i found it hard to fulfil all my commitments, so I am going to try really hard this year to keep on top of it.Every month Di sends me 4 card diagrams and I make them into real life cards. The only rule is that it is based on the design she sends, although you can turn it anyway you like.This one I copied as it was.

Below is my card, all the papers are by Papermania, Sweet nothings collection. The ribbon by Paper mania, I printed the greeting on the PC, I used chalk ink on the edges. It was really quick to do and easy when you have a design to follow, give it a go!

SNOW!!!!!

Today we have had a ton of snow, the forecast was snow, lots of it and it was very true, we got loads!! The whole place looks beautiful . I spotted these berries on the way around to see mum and dad and take them a paper.

This is looking into the road - snowy!

This was in the car park at work. I like the way the green sign looks so bright against the monochrome back ground.

The trees have been stunning, they look like they have glace icing on all the branches!

The snow has stopped falling for the time being but its now below zero so its going to be very icy out there.

Before I left for home we received an email from the maintenance department at work, asking us not to use the rock salt on the roads and paths as they are running out, it struck me as very odd, just what are we saving it for?? Perhaps they want to be able to say that come August we have a full supply!! Surely the point of having rock salt is because we need it??? Should I be surprised?? no, the email came from the same man who previously sent one saying that we were all using too much hand soap due to the risk of swine flu, he had done some investigation and found that you only need to use 'two pumps' to get your hands spotlessly clean!! This of course had earned him the nick name of 'two pumps' . I feel we may have to develop that and refer to him now as 'salt free two pumps'!!!!! Power to the people!!

The Missing Links!!

As the result of a question posed by one of my regular readers, where is Tom?? I have decided to nick a few photos off of Laura's face book just to Prove that he is still alive and kicking, in fact on new years eve he won the nurse Nancy award for services to caring and we gave him this very fetching hat complete with Betty Boop photo and blown up rubber gloves!!

John won the snorer award, so here is he wearing his hat.

Here is a photo of Madeline and I, a couple of old birds on New Years Eve!!

I promise to make an effort to include more of Tom in my posts!!!

Back to work tomorrow, which will be a strain after a nice long weekend or two. The weather is very cold its minus 4 at the moment and Beth is praying for snow, so that her return to school is delayed!! Tomorrow we are having a new tumble dryer delivered and in removing the old one from the cupboard we seem to have trashed the kitchen, at least they are taking the old dryer away with them. Tom and Beth also have all the decorations to take down tomorrow, the house 'might' look very different when I get home tomorrow afternoon!!

I have an award!!

I have been blogging for some time now, last year I introduced my friend Raymonde to Blogger and since then she has taken off and now has a very nice blog where she records her day to day life, her beliefs and her gorgeous family via her fabulous photographs. Raymonde has passed this award to me with the idea being to tell a little back ground about yourself that you previously may only have touched on!
So I am going to do just that and of course I will pass on the award to one of my 'online' friends, this lady has a busy and responsible 'day job', but she produces the most fabulous greeting cards. (I think I'll mention to her that its my birthday next month and see if she'll send me one of her creations ;0)!!)
So I am awarding Kreative Blogger award to Jane - Brodders Please go and take a look at her blog, you won't fail to be inspired!!

So back to me, what to share???
1. I have lived in the same house for 22 years, it was a traumatic move so I don't intend to ever move again!!
2. My parents virtually live at the end of my garden!
3. I love Florida and will be visiting again this year.
4. I love all things crafty, but I am unable to crochet, I have tried but I simply don't get it!!
5. I would like a new camera, but so far I have spent around a year weighing up the pros and cons of all available models and still can't decide!
6. I am very proud of all of my kids for what they have done and what they will do in the future!
7. I am hoping that this will be a year of positive changes for me!!

Thanks Raymonde (check out her blog) I hope the award carries on!!

Happy New Year and NEVER buy Horseraddish Crisps!!

Well here it is January the first, first day of a new new decade, 2010. It doesn't seem 10 years since there was all the hype surrounding the year 2000 and how the whole world was going to crash in on itself and all the computers would be unable to cope with the date starting with a 2 instead of a 1!! It soon became clear that this would not be an issue and I can't believe that there was so much worry about it. Last night we spent some time with our 'old' friends Madeline and John. We spend just about every new year with them or they with us. Its the best part of the New year Celebration!!!

This year Beth and I decided to make hats for an Academy award ceremony, we picked something that people had achieved or something that represented them. It took us all afternoon to make them! Carl was awarded an award for services to glitter, for carrying home some glittery baubles down the front of his boxers!!! (I was surprised to find so much Glitter there!!)

Laura is in training to become a mad cat lady, so she won that award!!

Grace on the other hand is forever joining groups on face book, so she won the most groups joined on face book award, including such gems as 'support ugly animals' 'look after blind fish' and ' Daniel Pescheddar is fit' !!!

Beth is the perfect 'Little Mummy' She loves babies, in particular she loves the girls next door, Phoebe and Olivia, added to that she loves Bobbie and one day I hope she makes the perfect real mummy!!

Early on in the evening we had a lovely Chinese, with a lovely pudding afterwards! While we were waiting for the Chinese to arrive, Madeline shared some crisps and nibbles with us, all I can say is never be tempted to try out HORSERADISH crisps, they are absolutely FOUL!!! There were plenty of them left over!

At midnight we headed out to the garden and sent off our massive firework, It was one of those multi shot types with loads of bangs and pops. There were loads in the neighbourhood. We also spotted for the first time some Chinese lanterns , the ones where you light a small candle inside and the heat lifts the lantern and they float away on the breeze, we will have to try those next year!

So Happy New year to everyone!!