Build that ark.....

The Cub camp has been abandoned and the wet ones will be arriving home soon. The poor things were flooded out. Its still raining and now its blowing a gale for good measure. I think they did well to last this long. Washing machine is ready for the buckets of muddy clothes, the grill is ready for a bacon sandwich!!

What an AWFUL day.

Well what a terrible day, it has been raining since early on, and its not stopped, the garden is swamped and the trampoline has turned itself into a swimming pool. I feel really sorry for Carl, he is away at cub camp and its raining there as well, poor things I bet they are really fed up.

We are going away tomorrow for a break to Sunny Skegness, although somehow I think the 'sunny' bit may well be missing. This particular Bank Holiday is always wet. Its the weekend that they have the Herts Show, (Herts swamp show) its usually the week that we go to Whitby (last year we had terrible weather including sleet and freezing rain and had to have the heating on all the time) So I hope this blows over and we get some dry time!

Recently I sent away for a free face mask from Olay, I tried it out and Beth snapped the below photo, I think I could get a part on Scream.Be very afraid!!!

Starting to look like birds.

The baby blue tits seem to be doing well. We think that they only have one parent, its only the mum that is going in and out feeding them. She is on the go all of the time and must be exhausted. We think that we can count 4 of them. I think by the time we get back from holiday next Friday they may well have gone.

I have Scrapped!!

Its been an age since I have scrapped, well at least a few weeks, I have been on a card making binge of late. Anna has challenged us to do a layout celebrating women and our friendships, so I have done a layout starring my long time best friend Madeline.

I have known Madeline since we were both 6, and that's a long long time ago!!. We both went to Brownies together and hit it off straight away. Since that day we have remained friends, although she is a year older than me, and our lives have taken different paths. We have stayed in contact, we holiday together and have never fallen out. Madeline has two children roughly the same ages as my eldest two, her husband John gets on well with Tom, so its perfect. We talk on the phone all the time and we try and meet at least once a month to put the world to rights. I can depend on Madeline!!

See how they grow!!!

Yesterday we had another sneaky peek at the babies and they have grown!! I can now see some feathers and there seem to be far more beaks in there!!

I took the picture of one of the adults when it landed on the washing line, it had started to rain, just a brief shower, and you can see the rain drops!! The adult was pecking the T shirt, not sure what it was hoping to get from it!!

Its been great watching these little birdies!!

Art Challenge - Changes

I can Identify with this prompt!! Its not until something happens that you have to sit up, take note and change. This year I decided to lose weight, its been a long time coming and I have done well, losing just about 3 1/2 stone since January. Anyway life has a way of tripping you up and although I have finally decided to make changes, my health has come into question. I have had a major operation and as a result of that my life has changed.
I am an optimistic person and I am determined to play with what I have been given, I intend to use this enforced change as a positive thing and not something to get me down!!

We're back!

We have just had a very nice weekend at a park resort site, at California Cliffs in Scratby Norfolk. The Caravan was a little tired, and past its best but the site and the facilities were very good and a bargain for £9.50 per person !

We were very lucky with the weather, it was glorious, hot and sunny everyday. We arrived Friday afternoon and had lunch at a pub near the beach. After lunch we went down to the beach, it was so pretty and absolutely deserted.

Once we had got in the caravan and unpacked we went out and let Beth spend her money in the Penny Arcades. She did quite well managed to win some little gifts from the two penny machines!

On Saturday we went to car boot sale in the morning, bought very little, we had a sandwich for lunch and ended up at the Pleasure beach where Beth spent three hours on the rides. the arm band cost £14 but she got her moneys worth. We worked out that if we had to pay for the rides individually she would have spent £35 .

On Saturday evening we went out with Tina and Rod, they have a Chalet on the site next door to where we were. We saw the twins and Dave, they were up to celebrate the twins birthday on Sunday. We sat and chatted to Rod and Tina and the kids went out for a night on the town.

On Sunday we went to the beach again, and left the site early to call in to see Fran, Pete and Rebecca in their new house in Cotton. We had a fantastic afternoon, they have only been moved for a month and they have already made the place their own. Rebecca was a fantastic host, with a lovely lunch and tea. We finally got home and put in the washing around 10pm!!

Baby Birds!!

Yesterday I popped around to see Mum and dad, they have a blue tit box in the back garden and the blue tits that have set up home have had babies hatch out.

The box is quite low down on a arch which has roses growing over it. We watched the box until the mum flew out and then we took a look, the top photo is what we found. Now sure how many babies there are its hard to count them. But we will be keeping an eye on them and we will be hopefully able to count them when they are a bit bigger.

I tried very hard to catch a shot of mum or dad flying into the box, I stood there for 20 minutes before I finally managed to catch a couple of shots. They are not perfect by any means and a little blurred, but I will try harder!!

Today we are going away for the weekend on our Sun bargain holiday. We are going to California Cliffs Holiday park in great Yarmouth. We plan to spend the day with our Friends Fran and Pete on Sunday. Beth is very excited!!

Gone back to Slimming world.

Tonight is exactly 4 weeks since my op so I have gone back to slimming world. I actually enjoy going and its nice to see everyone again. For the past 4 weeks I have been concentrating on getting better and not thinking about losing weight, but tonight I was pleased to find out that I had lost a pound.
Wendy , just back off of her holiday only put on 1 1/2 lbs and mum lost 5 lbs and won slimmer of the week!!
We also managed a clean sweep with the raffle, with all three of us winning a prize!!!

Emily's Art Challenge!

I am really enjoying this challenge and being off work allows me to keep up with it!! Working is so over rated, I could get used to this!! I decided to start to collect these beautiful beads and i was surprised to receive 6 for my birthday, they were gifts from Mum and dad, Laura and Scott and Shirleen. Added to that I had bought myself one as a treat, so my bracelet is well underway.

My bracelet is a mixture of Troll beads and Dolly Beads, the Dolly's are hand made by my friend Jaq and you can see her shop here - http://www.astringofbeads.co.uk/.

Thanks for this challenge , its keeping me focused!!

Morning !!

Well after a dreadful weekend weather wise, it looks like its going to be another wet day again today. I hope it stops before tomorrow as Beth has a very exciting school trip to the sewage works planned, could be awfully muddy!!

This morning I have made some progress, on checking my wound after my shower I have found that one side has finally given up and healed!! Hurrah. The middle part that was the worse has stopped leaking any kind of fluid, so perhaps under the steristrips that has healed as well. I think that it is down to the anti biotic gel that the doc prescribed late on Friday evening after the result of the swab came back. I am visiting the nurse tomorrow so she will say for sure how that stubborn middle bit is doing, but the sooner it heals the sooner I can get underway with the Radio therapy to make sure all the bad cells have gone.

I am getting used to being at home, I can get all the minor house work stuff done first thing in the morning, I am also able to cook dinner which is a bit of a novelty, usually its rushing around chucking something in the over after work. I am finding that I plan my day by the daytime TV!!

This week is an important one for Carl, he starts his GCSE examinations. He seems to be very laid back about it all, he said that he has revised as much as he can he hopes that will do it.

Craft wise I have been making cards, they are quick and easy so I am well stocked at the moment.I have some photo back for scrapping so I may well start on them today as well.

Shhh don't tell anyone but I went to papermill yesterday and managed to spend £30 again, but they have so much nice stuff in there now its hard not to. They have also started a loyalty scheme if you spend £60 they give you a free box of paper, always very useful!

Right off to be creative.

Skools Out !!!!

I can not believe where the time has gone, Carl has officially left school (he has his GCSE's to do over the next month) It seems less than 5 minutes ago that he was starting secondary school, all fresh and scrubbed wearing his uncomfortable and strange new school uniform. I can still remember the day that he went on the bus for the first time all alone and how worried I was for him. He looked so small but he was so brave to go on his own!

Now he has matured into a responsible (most of the time) youth. He is hard working (most of the time) He still grunts like a normal teenager, but what can you expect ?? At the moment he really enjoys drama and is looking forward to doing his A levels. So its fingers crossed that he gets the results that he needs to enable him to stay on at Nicky B!!!

What a miserable day.

I seem to have got my morning routine down to around 15 minutes by the time I have showered,re-dressed my wound,sorted out all the usual skin creams, plus drying my hair. I am set up for the day. While doing all that the sun was shining, I was thinking that I would get my washing dry as it was blowing well. By the time I got downstairs and hung it out it started to rain. I can't be bothered to get it in, I am sure it will stop sometime soon.

Yesterday Tom and I decided to sort out our joint wardrobe space, we were at the point where we couldn't get anything in without things falling out! Anyway we worked hard for about 2 hours and ended up with 8 black bags of clothes going to the charity shop. Three bags of out and out rubbish (Antique underwear some of which I don't ever remember wearing!!) The result is that we actually have space on the shelves, everything has been hung up and I feel very virtuous! (I have now cleared out three downstairs cupboards and the wardrobe, still have a few more to do)

For this year we have the following planned, double glazing (We are the only people in the world without double glazing or you would think so by the number of sales men who target us) I would like a new bathroom. (I understand that Avocado is coming back 'in' just when we are in a position to dump it!) The conservatory/kitchen floor needs doing the carpet tiles we have at the moment are the pits and with the dog I can't keep them clean. I think we are going to do ceramic tiles with underfloor heating. The biggest problem is that all my scrapping 'stuff' and the PC is in the conservatory, so that is going to be a mega moving job.(will take longer to sort out than my wardrobe did!!)

Today if it stops raining long enough I am going to take a walk down to the shops, I have not done that for a while, its only a mile each way so that should give me a bit of exercise now that I can't swim for a while.

I have good friends!!

Look what was delivered yesterday!! I was surprised to receive this beautiful edible fruit bouquet from the head of HR and the Executive Management Team at work. It WAS a work of art, I say was because it is no more, we ate it last night!! All that was missing was a melted chocolate fountain, I will make sure that they know to get me one of those for next time!! I am becoming a drain on the Constabularys finances, mind you my 'Thank You' card production has gone into over drive!!

Last night we went to Carls leaving Mass at school. It was agreat production, Carl had a big part, they did a review of their five years at Nicholas Breakspear, he took the part of one of the teachers. He was hillarious. I was really shocked at just how good he was. They also made a film of all the years to the sound track of Grease, he again had a staring comic role in that, I hope that he is able to get a copy, it was brilliant.

Beth came with us and she is now excited at the prospect of going there, they looked like they were having serious fun!!

Look at this little Birdie!!

Mum and Dad have a lovely garden and at the bottom of it they have put an old mirror. They have been visited by this little chap (a male Chaffinch) for the past week or so. It seems that he is defending his 'patch' He flies at the mirror and pecks his reflection repeatedly, then he flies behind to look for the other bird. While he is doing this you can get up quite close. I spent a little while yesterday trying to catch him in action. The problem was it was a dull day a bit drizzly, so the light was not good. I did manage some action shots of him, but I am rather pleased with this one of him taking a breather between attacks. It was taken without the aid of a tripod, so I am happy with the results.

He is going to be exhausted, as he shows no signs of giving up!! I expect he has a nest nearby.

Morning All!!

Things are ticking along here, I have been taking things easy as per Doctors instructions. I went for the results of the pathology after the op on Tuesday and I have been refered for further treatment. I need a course of Radio Therapy, which they will start once my wound has healed. At the moment that is taking a little while to do. I am visiting the nurse three times a week and she is changing the wound dressing and steristrips. Yesterday it looks as if it is healed about two thirds of the way across, so that's progress.

I am hoping that I will still be able to go away as planned at the end of the month, but will have to see how that goes. On the plus side I am getting lots of time for craft, I have scrapped every available photograph and I am waiting for two lots to come back from Snapfish. I have even caught up with CJ's and other 'obligations'!!

I think I will be off work for a while yet, so I am getting used to the day time telly, I like homes under the hammer and I am now back into neighbours. Can't wait until I can drive again!!

Off to think of something creative to do!!

This weeks Challenge Card - Nature

One of the advantages of being off work is being able to do craft work when I want to and not only when I can squeeze in a few minutes. This weeks prompt is Nature. I love Sunflowers, there is nothing better than driving through France looking at the fields of beautiful Sunflowers. Last year we went to France at the same time of year, but because all the seasons seem to have changed, we missed the Sunflowers, they had finished blooming and looked sad :0(

We also missed out at home, dad was still recovering from his op and we forgot to plant any. This year we have been far more organised and I already have 8 giant sunflowers and a load of little ones planted out. I go out every day to fight the slugs off my prize crop!

What's a Girl to do ???

Well I have arrived a a point where I don't have anymore photos to scrap, I am up to date and photo free. (I am not counting all the ancient but not vintage photos where the photography is so poor that the subject is a dot on the horizon)
Luckily I have a couple of holidays coming up at the end of the month and i should be able to replenish my stock.
Today I am going to concentrate on stocking up my card supply. I have not made any for a few months and I am running short, I have a load of scraps to use, so best I get started!
Incidentally its bank holiday Monday and guess what??? Its raining.

Emily's Challenge.

Having been in hospital I have got behind in the challenge. Last weeks prompt of 'my bedroom' reminded me just how much I love my bedroom and how important it is to me, especially since coming home I realise just how important my own bed is! My room is pink,gingham and girly with hearts on the wall.I have tried to reflect all of that in my card!

Up Bright and Early

This morning I was up at 7am had my shower and was downstairs starting my scrapping. So far I have done three pages including the one below which is based on this weeks Pencil Lines sketch. I must pop over there and link to them.

I feel a bit better today although I didn't have a very good night last night!! (kept waking)

I plan to borrow some photos from mum and scan them in, so that will be my project for the afternoon!

Feeling Fed Up....

Today I was at the surgery for 8.40am to see the nurse. She took a look at the wound and said that it was not healing, half had healed but the other half hadn't and in her opinion it would be around a month before it was anyway near being healed. She felt the staples had been taken out too soon. i agree the nurse went for it and unclipped them until the doc at the hospital stopped her and told her to do alternate ones.
I go back next Tuesday for the steristrips to be replaced, but they have arranged or the district nurse to come out on Sunday to deal.
Soon the plus side I am not in any pain and there is no infection. On the minus side this looks like being a long haul.

Today I received an unusual present from Jaffers, she has paid for workers in Grenada to continue to produce cocoa for the rest of the world, ensuring a fair price is paid to the ladies producing the goods. Far better for me than a bar of chocolate, and its giving something back !! Thanks Jaffers!!

Told Off !!

This morning mum phoned me to tell me off. At forty something you can still get told off by your mother!! It seems that I have failed to add her hand crafted card to my blog. This was an oversight on my part, the only ones I have added were the ones made by online friends, not once thinking about mums card. So later on I am going to take a photo of it and put it on line!!

Don't smack me mother!!

Today Tom is off work so we are going to pop into town to bank a cheque, then have a look at some shower cubicles and then I want to pop into the Galleria to buy some shorts for Beth and take a look in Papermill, or should the priority be the other way around ?? I may have to have several hours in bed after that lot!!

More Beautiful Flowers

I have been so lucky, all my friends have rallied around and they have all been very generous with gifts. Yesterday I received a beautiful bouquet of very fragrant flowers from Fran, Pete and Rebecca. I am so pleased with them, my house is like a florists at the moment!

Cheryls Online Photography Course

I have signed up for Cheryls online photography course, Sounded ok until one of the assignments was to do a self portrait and to include a piece of paper with your name on. (so that we couldn't slip in another previously taken photo from several years ago!!)For the portfolio we have to submit 2 photos we are pleased with and 2 we are disappointed with.

Anyway I have done my self portrait, I think I look like Courtney Cox, what do you think ??

Morning !!

Well today I have had to get up extra early as Tom started work at 7am and I needed him to change my dressing before he went, so I was up showered and dressing changed by 6.30am which is the middle of the night!
I had a strange day yesterday, I was very tired in the evening and went to bed around 8pm, only to find that I couldn't sleep, so after reading for a bit I got up and went down and had a cup of tea. When I went back I did sleep OK. It helps being able to sleep on my side again without too much pain. For some reason I can sleep pain free on my left but if I sleep on my right it causes pain after about 30 minutes.
I seem to be able to keep on top of all the washing and the house is tidy, I can potter around dusting and putting stuff away. Yesterday I even did some scrapping and card making which was nice, I had a lot of thank you cards to do!!
Today Madeline is coming over for lunch , which she is bringing. I am looking forward to that.
Dad has taken Beth to school today, they have gone as she wanted to go on the walking bus. I think its the fluorescent jacket that's the attraction!