Sailing in the Fjords

Stunning views of the fjords!!! We are now se real nights into our cruise and have found that the views have been stunning!!! Loads of snow capped mountains so there is only one thing for it, a warming drink or two to help the cold settling in your bones!!!!
The clouds have stayed away and we have had good weather . We have visited amsterdam. Flaam and Bergen tomorrow it's Stavanger. For some reason we are all tired today and are having a lazy afternoon!!!

Sailing in the Fjords

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We're off!!!

We are finally about to leave for our holiday cruise to the Fjords I have been looking forward to this holiday for a while and can't wait to get underway!!! We seem to be super organised, I think it helps not having to worry about the weight limits associated with flying, so you can pack all you need. I think  we have packed what we want and a whole lot more!!!

In preparation Emma and Dan bought over a wet suit for Beth to borrow, the pool on board is not heated at least this way she will be able to go swimming without getting frostbite!!!

The funny thing was that the two of them turned up wearing their wet suits!! It was a very hot evening and they wet melting, I wonder what people would have thought if they had been stopped on the way home!!!

This holiday was booked last year and we are off with Madeline and John. Rod booked a little while after us and managed to keep it a secret from Tina right up until last week!!! We are all just a little excited now. 

So Pringles packed, lemonade packed, passports at the ready, see you all next week !!!

Finally....

I have finally got around to making things with my beads. Hurrah!!!

I felt inspired by my white spotty beads and made a necklace and a pair of ear rings.

I had trouble photographing them because no where seemed to show them as they are in real life.

In the end I took photos on a mirror, this seemed to be a good idea at the time, but it confused my camera and it refused to focus!! Looking at the top photo the reflections are blurred so I can see how my camera got confused!!

I am very pleased with how it has turned out, so pleased that I have made two more sets tonight using some of my less perfect beads. They don't look too bad if they are mixed in with some sparkly beads!!! 

I am going to attempt to photograph them tomorrow night, watch this space....

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!!!!!

At last we seem to have some summery weather, It is currently 27 degrees in my back garden and the sky is bright blue. There is a blackbird singing its soul out perched on a nearby tree. Today we have popped over to Madelines to drop off  her Birthday Present and we came back via Matalan and Argos in St Albans (we know how to live!!) I have also packed my clothes for holiday, cleaned out my wardrobe and made a list of things left to pack. Add to that three loads of washing and you can see just what a jet set life I lead. 

Earlier in the week Beth had her friend Chelsea over and although they are both 'mature' teenagers, the lure of freezing cold water and a paddling pool is hard to resist. This time we have the use of a deep birthing pool, so its even better for bigger children.....

This pool also has an inflatable lid, so hours of fun !! It wasn't until we had filled it up that my neighbour reminded me of the hose pipe ban!!!! I never gave it a second though! So now we have coiled the hose back up and hidden it in case the water board fly over and spot it!! Oh the guilt of it all. :0(

Carl is feeling better and is back at work earning some extra for his road trip to USA. I expect the pool will be unbearable hot and sweaty today. Glad I am not there!

Hurrah, we have water!!!

At last we have water, hot and in the right place!! Its been a long week without a shower and I am pleased its back and working. We had a false start, the gas fitter went yesterday but when we put the shower on it was red hot (good) but pulsating that meant there was an airlock so it couldn't be used. It was finally fixed this morning. We have all showered in a variety of places this week!!!

On Thursday night Carl went out with his mates for a leaving drink, the last thing I said to him jokingly was 'don't get into any fights' Well he took that advice BUT I still got a call from him in the early hours to say 'don't worry but I'm in the Lister, I had a fall and cut my eye' So I set off wishing that I had filled up the car the night before. When I got there the waiting room was empty, something I had never seen before!! Even the receptionist was missing. So I text Carl and Grant opened the door to the treatment room. There was my poor baby having his face looked at. It seems they had been walking home messing around when Carl jumped on Grants back and they both hit the floor. Carl hit his face and cut under his eye. They were cleaning that in preparation to glue it back together, he looked sorry for himself, but he was being brave, it was quite swollen and must have hurt a fair bit. Finally he was sorted out out and we headed for home. They had been up all night and were tired, I was just recovering from the shock of getting the call. It could have been so much worse,

So what is it with hospitals??? I have thought for a long time that real time doesn't exist once you walk into 

A and E. If the place is heaving or if the place is empty there seems to be an unwritten rule that says 'everyone must wait for the longest possible time so that they can fully appreciate the ambiance of the department'. I know that they do a brilliant job but why does everything take so long?? You are booked in, seen by the triage nurse, seen by a Doctor who orders an Xray. Wait two hours for Xray and result. Doctor confirms nothing broken, but stitches are required, wait another two hours while someone manufactures the things required for the procedure. Eventually start to fix the wound and discharge the patient. Its time gone mad!!!!

Mean while we are having a glorious spell of sunny weather, its perfect, bright sunshine and a lovely breeze, it reminds me of summer beach weather. I am looking forward to my cruise next week soooooo much!!!

Indoor Water Feature....

Yesterday Beth said, 'I can hear dripping' so we stopped and listened and sure enough we could hear dripping, we were in the living room and there really shouldn't be the sound of dripping in there!!! So we looked around and finally tracked it down to the central heating system. More precisely the water heating part of it. There was a huge puddle in the bottom of the system and water was starting to run out onto the kitchen floor. So we called the man who services it and he came out and said we needed a new part. He switched off the gas but we still had a tank of hot water so he said he would leave the water on so we could use it . So last night we set up a bit of a Heath Robinson device to drain the water away, involving corrugated plastic and a bread bin!!!!

This morning the bin was full, I had a shower with the last of the hot water and now we are waiting for the bloke to come back and switch it off until the new part arrives.  More expense!!! 

I had a very productive weekend, finished scrapping all my photos of the bulb fields and I had a successful burn up with my beads. I made a set of beads and I am happy with how I am getting better, I can see me making something with them !!

I made a set of white beads with green blue and purple spots, nine in total I am pleased with the colour, shape and the speed with which I was able to make them. Its made such a difference having a graphite bead roller, it helps me keep everything roughly the same size!!! That has made me think that perhaps I could investigate some other shapes, I get on better with the roller than with the brass presses. 

Over the weekend we had a birthday party, the Twins were 28!! I can't believe they are that old, it makes me feel very old when I think back to looking after them as little tiny babies. Where does the time go????

Lots to look forward to, the removal of the internal water feature and our cruise. I can't wait until we are aboard the Opera heading for the Norwegian Fjords. We went last year and it was brilliant, this year we will be with our friends Madeline and John so it will be twice as good!! 

New Beads!!

I was able to get some time at my torch over the weekend, I was fresh from my tuition at Mango beads in Devon and raring to go. I had some lessons on controlling the heat and placing dots. Its a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. Not too hot, not too big !! I think I have found that spot that allows me to make use of my new found skills. I am still drawn to bright colours so I love these orange and white spotty ones, I might just stick with making spotty ones for ever!!!

I have tried to practice dot layering. If you put on a dot melt it in, then put another on top the first dot spreads. Glass doesn't really mix together so there should be clear lines between the colours. The bead on the left (above) is quite reasonable and you can see the yellow dot has been turned into a heart. The next bead was fine until I used ivory in the middle, that tends to spread too much and the spots are not defined. The third bead has the base colour bleeding over the top of the heart. Last bead is better but the colour is not very inspiring.

The lot above are the ones that I made at the weekend. The one on the far right is a demo bead made by Manda at Mango beads, its what I aspire to make!!!!

A few Days Away

I have just come back from a few days in Devon on a Welfare Conference. We drove down on Wednesday  in the driving rain. I took Tom's car as the fuel consumption is much better. In the end the whole round trip was 570 miles.We stayed at Croyde bay holiday village. It was a great mix of vintage holiday chalets and brand spanking new hotel. I ended up in a modern chalet which was nice and comfortable. I loved the look of these old fashioned fifties chalets. Inside they had some photographs from the original holiday camp and you could see the chalets above in their original glory.

The premises backed onto the beach at Croyde bay, it was an easy five minute walk over the dunes to the beach. The down side was the weather, so I ended up just taking the one quick walk to take a look and calling it a day!!

The beach is quite spectacular, the water goes out a long way and comes in a long way quickly!!

We had been there quite a few years ago when I was expecting Beth once I got back in the area it all came flooding back to me. In the summer its just about impossible to drive down there as the congestion is so bad, we didn't have that to contend with this time. 

The conference kept us very busy with workshops and presentations. Each day started after breakfast at 9.30 and went on until 6 - 6.30pm. All meals were included and the catering was very good with a huge variety of food. Last night finished with a Gala dinner. It was nice to be able meet people from other areas and exchange ideas. We headed back today and were lucky not to hit any hold ups on the roads. Its still a long journey and took us over four hours to get back.

Take a look here

Its nice to have something to look forward to!!!

Every year before Christmas I go away with my friends, I call them 'the girls' but as I am the youngest we are not very 'girl' in age!!! Over the past few years we have been to New York, Ypres, Dunkirk and Amsterdam.When the kids were little we stayed closer to home at Centre Parcs.

Last year we had a great time in Amsterdam so this year we thought we would try and experience a real German Christmas market. After a bit of research we decided that the best bet would be to book a place that we could fly to from Luton. So I have booked us a long weekend in Hamburg!!

Hamburg looks great there are loads of markets open until 9 and 10pm!! Its in the north of the country which increases the chance of it snowing and making it even more Christmassy!! Its fairly close to the airport so its perfect. Take a look HERE for the low down. I nearly made a terrible mistake last night when booking it, I checked out the flights to Hamburg and then found a lovely hotel in Frankfurt!!! I knew it was a food related name, just got the wrong one, thank goodness I checked it on the map before pushing the button it could have been a disaster!!

Mean while we are looking forward to our cruise later this month, this year will be even better as we are going with friends. I can't wait to go back to Amsterdam which is the first stop on the journey. They have a great shops, one called Blokker and another called Xenos, I now know exactly where they are, so I will be able to go straight there and check out their bargains!!!

Happy Bank Holidays!!!

I have decided that I love three day weekends!! This weekend is one of those Whoopee. Sadly I think the weather forecast is going to ruin any plans for outdoor activities. They are forecasting freezing temperatures overnight and torrential rain during the day, perfect holiday weather. 

I think I will catch up with some of my scrap booking (I have all the pretty tulip photos to do) I also will take some time to make some jewellery. I have plenty of beads, just no inclination to turn them into anything. In fact I have three kilner jars full of mixed beads, I just need to get my finger out!!!

Tom has taken Beth out to the cinema, they were both going stir crazy. Tom has had a really heavy cold and cough, just as he was getting over that Beth came down with the same so she has had a couple of days off of school, Beth has had a bad run at school due to her knee injury and this is not helping . I hope she gets back soon and catches up with her school work!!

On the way out the other evening I was driving along the A414 when I noticed the sun setting. It was really pretty with lots of wispy clouds moving fast across the foreground, it doesn't really show up so well on the photo but it had real depth and a lovely pink colour.

I you all have a lovely weekend off (if you are off) and get the time to play with all the things you want to play with!!!

Something Different.

Today I decided to 'alter' a little footstool that I found in one of the charity shops. I liked the shape but not the colour. It was old fashioned and covered in a dull floral tapestry material. I wanted to jazz it up to fit in with my new furniture. 

I forgot to take a before photo so this is one very similar from Google world.

I prised off the padded bit on the top, the tapestry was attached by staples which were fun to remove .

You can see what I mean about it being a bit dated !

I rubbed the stool down and started the painting process. In the end it took 4 coats to cover up the awful dark colour. Last week I spotted a really pretty floral tea towel in Matalan and I knew straight away it would be perfect for my stool. So after finishing the painting, I covered the top with my pretty tea towel and transformed the stool in a much prettier object!!

I am really pleased with the final object, I have added up the cost and as I was able to use a couple of match pots for the paint, a tea towel for the material and the original box, it came to £3.40 Bargain!!!

This weekend so far has been a wash out, nothing but constant torrential rain. the garden is awash with water and lots of the roads resemble duck ponds. I now realise that the weather can play its part in how you feel. I feel very peed off !!!!

On a very positive note Mum has been going to the Spire Hospital in Bushey for physio. The NHS have not provided very much assistance once she left the Herts and Essex and she has had to muddle through herself. She has a couple of ambitions, one is to be able to get back into bed by herself and the second is to walk with just her sticks and not with the zimmer frame. So after two weeks at Spire they have got things going and they have suggested a home private physio, the lady came around for the first time yesterday. She has decided on a plan of action and hopes that Mum will be a lot more mobile at the end of it. So yesterday for the first time since December 2010 Mum walked using just her walking sticks fantastic progress !!! She even managed a fair distance walking from her chair to the front door and back . We are all very proud of her achievement. 

4 days without the internet????

I have had a terrible week, its been hard to cope with. I have been without the Internet!! It is amazing how much you come to rely on the magic of the web. Beth has not been able to do her research for her home work.  I have lost count of the number of times I have gone to look for something before realising that I couldn't actually look it up. I wanted to upload photos and sort out some photo shop posters, all to no avail!! Last night I phoned Virgin again and they said that it was a fault on my modem having spent three days telling me it was a general fault, they refunded half a months subscription and arranged for an engineer to call tomorrow. As it turned out we received an automated call to say that they had fixed it remotely and did we still need an engineer?? So now its back and life can get back to normal!!!

So what did I do to fill up my Internet free time?? Well made beads of course!!!

I have been playing with 'silver' glass. This glass reacts with the base glass to produce some interesting effects . Making beads is like making cakes, you have to experiment a bit and keep a note of what happens. I used silver leaf on top of ivory glass and they reacted  together I then put a bit of silver glass over the top.

To make the glass shine you have to allow it to cool for a while and then gently waft it in the tip of the flame. If you get it right it has a mirror like shine. I am pleased with these few beads. Some time soon I will make them into jewelry and hit the craft fairs!!

I am glad we are heading towards the weekend, it seems to have been a hard week not helped by the torrential rain that we have been enjoying. Every day this week we have been drenched getting from the car to the office. Today we had a presentation outside and that was wet as well. This is what happens when you are in the middle of a drought and hose pipe ban!!!!

Strange Weekend

I had so much that I wanted to do over the weekend and in the end got very little of it sorted out. It went by in a rush of nothingness. I think a lot of it was the aftermath of Carl getting his job and all of that sinking in.

On Saturday I decided that along with all the other stuff I had to do housework wise, I would make him a congratulations card. As always a card for a man is far harder than any card for a woman or child, so I spent a huge amount of time trying to come up with a design that worked for me. I knew that in my stash I had some 'large' card blanks. I also had some school stickers, so I had a bit of a start. In the end I virtually spent the whole day thinking about it all.

Eventually I came up with this :-

I am pleased with the result a combination word art and stickers. Simple but effective! 

I liked it so much that I adapted the design for a couple of other cards. 

I did manage to get another go on my beads. I have been trying to perfect the use of special double helix glass. These glasses are all very expensive so its a bit of a worry using them, I don't want to waste them. So I did some experiments and I will photograph them to record them for a future post.

So here we are with Monday nearly out, work is busy as usual and there is loads to do. The weather is wet and cold and to top it all a tomato has exploded over my nice clean top. Time for bed I think!!!

Good News!!!!

This week has been one of those weeks. It was my first week back after the holidays, Beth was back at school and Carl finally finished his University course. He has submitted all of his work and has been confirmed as a 'Newly Qualified Teacher' Fantastic news and the end of a long three year slog for him. 

As the week went on the news got better. Carl applied for a job at his old Primary school after they advertised a vacancy. There were over 50 applicants for the job and he was one of six short listed.

On Thursday he went for his interview at 8.30 in the morning. He had spent some time preparing for it. He had to carry out a written task and also teach a lesson. He went in on the Wednesday afternoon to make sure that the resources he had chosen to use would work with the systems the school had. After a restless night for both of us thinking/worrying about it he set off.

After the interview he said he felt it had gone as well as he could have hoped for, he felt he had done his best and couldn't have done anymore. So that's all you could hope for. The long wait then started to see if he had been successful. I was in a day long meeting so I kept checking my phone to see if there had been any messages, but with six people to interview it was going to take all day.

Finally at 5.30pm he received a call to say that he had been successful and was now a NQT with a job!!!!

We are thrilled for him and very proud that he has managed to secure a job first time in. 

More Beads!!!

Over the weekend I got time to make a few beads. Before we went away on our mini holiday I managed to buy a new implement, a bead roller. I wasn't sure how I would get on with it, but I am pleased to report that it has worked very well. I needed something to enable me to make beads of the same size time after time. I cracked on and managed just that!! The roller has 4 different sized holes so I was able to make 4 different sized beads. Most of the ones above are the same size but there are a couple a bit bigger when I over did the amount of glass !! All in all I was very happy with a regular bunch of beads and I feel inspired to do more.

I tried to keep a common theme, spotty beads!! I don't know what happened to the blue ones though. They all developed red streaks. I have checked he rods and they are pure blue no red in them at all. I have checked my work surface and that's clear, so its a mystery, perhaps I over heated the blue and got a reaction.

All I have to do now is make them into something, so I need to work harder at making 'sets' of things!!

In more good news Carl is now designated as a 'NQT' Newly qualified teacher. He has handed all his work in and they have signed him off at Uni. We are so proud of him its been a tough few years and he has had to work very hard to get there. I think he will make a great teacher. Well done Carl !!!!

Millions of Tulips.

We left the ship at 10am and boarded our coach to Keukenhof. The coach driver was great took us there via some rural roads.Once in the country we were surrounded by fields and fields of brightly coloured flowers, Tulip and hyacinths mainly. Even from inside the coach you could smell the heady fragrance of the flowers!

The colours were outstanding every direction there were rows and rows of bright colours.

Once inside the gardens there was more formal planting, but it was still impressive looking at so many flowers in one place.

The entrance to the park was heaving with people and Beth said it felt like going into Disney. There was a fountain and a huge music organ playing, it definitely sounded like walking into a Disney Park. Once people started to move away from the main entrance the numbers thinned out and it didn't feel so crowded.

What was amazing was the number of people taking photographs. There must be millions and millions of photos of Tulips in existence simply from that one day. I took over 300 in the space of three days!! 

Everywhere I looked there were people with fantastic cameras promoting feelings of camera envy in my head. My camera felt very inferior in comparison, but in the end it didn't matter I stood my ground, I waited until  the back ground was clear and I snapped away!! 

The hyacinths were fabulous, the scent was on the breeze all day. 

Then onto the Tulips. We learnt that the tulips grow so well in the area because of the system of polders and canals. To reclaim the land canals were built to allow the land to drain. The land that is left is rich from the silt that had been at the bottom of the drained lakes. Because its not too far from the sea, there is a lot of sand blown in which mixes with the silt which results in the perfect mix for growing tulips!

So with so many tulips on display I became a bit confused about exactly which sort I liked. I have narrowed it down to 'pink' ones. That doesn't really help too much because there are many many shades of pink. 

Then the next problem is pink ones are lovely,

 but look how gorgeous they look when you add in yellows and reds!!! 

Then there are the special ones with frilly bits ....

And the most Delicious raspberry ripple ice cream shades.....

But I think I really love pretty pale pink. They are all beautiful!!

Trip to Amsterdam!!!!

We have just had a very pleasant few days travelling to Amsterdam to visit the bulb fields. I had been in two minds about booking the trip but I am so pleased that I did. It was a great trip and I restrained myself, only took 300 photos!!!

We drove up to Newcastle and arrived early in the pouring rain. The port of Tyne was right next to an 'outlet' centre and it was at this point in the rain that we realised that Beth didn't have a rain coat. Every time we visit Amsterdam it rains so we decided to buy her a coat before we set off, just to be on the safe side. 

Once we pulled into the port, Tom dropped us off and then parked the car. Beth was in her wheelchair as too much walking has an effect on her knee. We wanted her to be able to get around once we were on the ship. 

The staff at DFDS were very helpful and they helped us get through passport control and onto the ship. We were met by another man who took us up to our cabin. A brilliant service which continued all through the trip.

Leaving Newcastle we could see some of the old dock areas that were being demolished and regenerated. There were lots of these dock areas where they used to work on the ships.

A little further on there were some new buildings and the place was starting to look cared for again.

These made us laugh from the ship it looked as if there were bodies hanging over the rail. on closer look they were diving outfits!!!

Although we have been on quite a few cruises and sea trips we don't usually have a cabin with a window. (We are too cheap!!) this time we had no choice as all the inside cabins had gone. So this was the view from our window, one of the life boats!! We were on deck 11 so we had great views across the ocean.

On the first night we went to a presentation about the wild life in the area, although we didn't see any, there are  porpoises, dolphins and whales all around in the North Sea!!

We had a beautiful sunset that first night and the sea was very calm. We had a good night in the cabin and slept reasonably well considering it was a strange bed!

After breakfast the following morning we headed off to the bulb fields.

If that was Easter, we have had it!!!

Well that long weekend has gone by in a flash, plenty of rain and miserable weather. On the plus side Beth did get some nice Easter Eggs. The whole of the weekend was fairly uneventful but it was nice to be able to chill out and do very little. 

Today we are preparing for our little jaunt to the Dutch bulb fields so just need to pop out and get some Euros and that will be it. Beth had physio on the knee and she is looking at at least another month in a brace, she is making progress but its slow. Today they started to work on getting her onto one crutch so she is going to try that and see how she goes.

So just a bit of packing to do plus checking the car over for the journey. We are taking a wheelchair for Beth as we may well have a bit of walking to do and because of the crutches lots of walking makes her hands ache!!!

New Beads!!

Well the weather this Bank Holiday has been as we have come to expect - wet!! Here we are with four days off faced with a hose pipe ban and it has been steadily raining and being generally miserable. I have had a good time crafting caught up with my scrap booking, enjoyed digging around the family tree and yesterday had a go at a few beads.

I am particularly happy with these for a couple of reasons.

1. They are just about the same size.

2. There has been a great reaction between the glasses.

I might be able to make these into something nice, so I am thrilled!!!

This afternoon I went over to Van Hages Garden Centre to support my friends son, Sam, who was putting in a spell  as a garden gnome riding a snail!!! He is a very talented young man and he has passed the audition for a place with The National Youth Theatre. (400 out of over 5,000 applicants countrywide!) He is raising money to help cover some of the costs associated with the training.

His costume is great and a couple of his friends turned up to rattle a bucket for him. Good Luck Sam!!