Another busy day

I seem to go from one thing to another at work and sometimes it all rushes by in a blur. I have had one of those days, not got a lot to show for it but I have not stopped.
Beth and the school Netball team have continued their unbeaten run, 6-1 today. They can't seem to do wrong, not lost a match since starting back last September and that includes the netball tournament. Sadly I got 'detained' at work and didn't get to see it.
The weather has been awful and its forcast to get even worse over the next few days, because its dull I can't take any pictures of my scrapping or cards, so its all adding up to a miserable end of January, not to worry, its nearly February and my birthday!!!

Day Off!!

Hurrah, an extra day off, I have been very productive, I was in town by 8.50am, I had some Argos vouchers to spend which was just as well as my hair drier blew up yesterday and I had spotted some new shelves for the bathroom.

I also splashed out on a new purple bath mat. I have constructed the cupboards (after reading the instructions, radical, I know!!!) I have emptied all the crud out of the old storage, threw away sun lotions from ages ago and re filed everything in my nice sparkly new baskets. I am really pleased with them.

Yesterday was brilliant Deb and Malcolm came around, the time and the wine flew, the kids bounced on the trampoline for hours and hours. I think due to the excess of wine, I got brave and had a go on the trampoline, first time this year!! It is great fun, its even better when you have had a drop or two of wine!!

We managed to get Deb on as well.I think she had a drink to two as well!!

Great Excitement!!

Today we are expecting a visit from our friends Debbie and Malcolm, along with their children Sam and Georgie. Beth has been hyper all day and I have made the most of it by making her work so that everything is ready!!
Carl and I popped into Matalan to buy him a bargain suit in their sale. It was a bargain, £15 for the jacket and £10 for the trousers, of course I didn't really save any money as he needed new shoes and a pair of jogging bottoms, the whole lot came to £49 which isn't bad for a whole suit and shoes.
I am hoping that Deb is bringing along her holiday snaps, I am going to inflict mine on her!!

Message for Erica......

Laura is suffering from no Internet connection. They are with Tiscalli who are absolutely useless and have made lots of promises about sorting it out but they haven't done so. They are trying to get back on line as soon as they can. I'll send your love !!!

Well What a week.

To start with I have no idea where the time has gone, very busy at work with lots going on and loads to do. Then I had Friday off and Tom and I went out for lunch with our friends Rick and Dina to Aroma in Stevenage. That was a very bad day diet wise, in terms of Red or Green day, Friday was definitely a very dark purple or even a black day!!! I am back on the wagon this morning, now preparing slimming World Chips for lunch.
Last night I went to the Great Ashby crop with Mum, Karen, Laura and Sue. I was fully prepared with paper and photos and embellishments, but I forgot to pack any inspiration, so I sat there all evening nosing at what everyone else was doing, drank tea,talked and bought some goodies from the shop. I bought everything back with nothing having been done. I am not sure that crops are any good for me as that seems to be the usual pattern.
This morning has been a rush, got up and did the shopping. While at the shops I got chatting to one of the builders, who told me about the plans to finish the shops, looks like we will have at least another three months of mud and concrete dust with the occasional gas cylinder fire and subsequent neighbourhood evacuation!!! These builders do seem to come from the Barney Bodger company of craftsmen!!
Then is was around to Mum and dads to do some furniture shifting and bed making. I also downloaded some more photos for mum onto her PC.
In the meanwhile Tom was ranting at the kids to get their rooms sorted out as they were both pig styes. Beth was keen to get hers tidy as her friends Sam and Georgie are coming over for lunch tomorrow and she wants to be able to play upstairs. She also wanted me to take her to Matalan to buy a 'new outfit' for the visit tomorrow!!! How exciting.

Saw this on a fellow Bloggers blog.....

What does your name mean?

I put my name in and I am surprised to say quite a lot of it is right!! How odd is that ???

What Elizabeth Means

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are incredibly wise and perceptive. You have a lot of life experience. You are a natural peacemaker, and you are especially good at helping others get along. But keeping the peace in your own life is not easy. You see things very differently, and it's hard to get you to budge. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

The one advantage........

Of getting up early to take Carl to work is that I seem to be able to get more work done. Last night I started to scrap some of my photos but I couldn't get into it. So I decided to doodle some ATC's. Its relaxing to doodle and colour in the resulting patterns. I have some Sakura Glaze pens which are really good, they are quite liquid and have a lovely sheen, they are very easy to write

with and cover very well. I have made them for a swap on a forum I chat on.

Robbery !!!!!

When Carl got his car, it came with only one key, one key that looks like a regular key, no buttons, no flashing lights, just a regular key. So I think best we get another one so that we don't get stuck. So I phone up the help line and they tell me the name of my 'Local Main Robber' so I can get them to order one for me.
So I make the call,

Me - ' Hello, do you sell replacement keys for a matiz?'

Robber - (rubbing hands together in anticipation) 'Yes madam we do'

Me - 'What do I need to bring with me to order a new key?'

Robber - (sharp intake of breathe in a 'you don't want to go there madam' sort of way) You need to bring a V5 showing that you are the owner of the vehicle, along with three forms of identification including one with a photo!!!!!!!!

Me- 'Well we don't have the V5 yet, as we have only just bought it'

Robber- 'Well I am sorry we can not ORDER the key without it'

Me -'So once I have collected all the required evidence how long will it take to get the key?'

Robber - ' We aim to turn your request around within 48 hours then you will need to book an hour in the work shops for us to program it. '

Me - 'What does that mean?'

Robber - ' The key has a chip in it and it will need to be programmed to match your vehicle'

Me - (warning bells starting to ring) 'How much is the new key going to cost'?

Robber - ' The keys start at £47 plus £47 for programming plus VAT'

Me - 'What else does this key do then as you seem to not realise I only want it to drive the car not to research a cure for cancer?'

Robber - 'I am sorry madam, do you realise that if you lost your single key that it would mean you would have to be towed to our Establishment where we would have to reprogram the whole electrics in the car and it would cost you a fortune'

This all goes to prove my theory that Main dealers are able to charge exactly what they want and they think they can get away with it!!!

A while ago when we had the engine warning light come up on the Zafira the main dealer who diagnosed its fault glibly told me that to make it roadworthy would mean a spend of £1400 !! We took it to our own garage who changed the cam belt,sorted out the oil leak (a cracked sump plug)Adjusted the bushes on the steering (whatever that means)and checked the brakes for a total of £120!!

I think I am in the wrong business!!!

Up bright and early!

Unfortunately I had to take Carl to work for 7.30am, which on a weekend is in the middle of the night!! The only advantage is that he now drives himself there which saves on our petrol! I popped into Asda on the way back as there seems to be a world wide shortage of Comfort easy iron. (none in Tesco and Morrisons) I have now managed to snaffle a couple of bottles, I really hate ironing and with careful washing (not over stuffing the machine) a bit of a shake and a blow on the line I can avoid just about all of the ironing.
Today I plan to do some scrapping, I want to get some of my holiday snaps sorted. There always seems to be something else to do and scrapping takes a back seat.

Weekend Ahead-- Hurrah!!!

Its been one of those really busy horrible weeks at work, I left today knowing that I still hadn't finished everything I had planned for today, which means I'll start next week behind. Best not to let it interfere with my weekend!!

I plan to catch up on some of scrapping from our Florida holiday this weekend, I have loads to do. I have 4 albums empty and waiting for photos!!

A few weeks ago I bought a second hand set of twinkling H20's and I am totally impressed with them. They cover well, they mix well, they are twinkly and now I NEED MORE!!! Lucky my birthday is in February!!I am trying not to buy anything more craft wise though as I have loads of stuff in my cupboards already!!

Happy weekend everyone!!!

2nd weigh in........

Tonight was second weigh in night, I am pleased to report that I lost 6 lbs, Mum lost 3 pound and Laura lost 1/2 lb. Brilliant!! Will have to wait until tomorrow to see what Dad and Scotty have lost. So my weight loss is now 11lbs in the right direction!!
Today I had another check up at the hospital, blood tests and a scan. I had to fast for the blood test and slosh down two pints of water for the scan, there was a queue at the blood place, but my friend Sue was there with her dad, along with loads of other people that I knew including my ex neighbours dad and a couple of mums from school!! The wait was around 30 minutes which to be fair went quite fast because of the people I had to chat to. So after my bloods it was on for the scan, by now I needed the toilet, but I also needed a full bladder for the procedure, unfortunately they were running around 90 minutes late!!! Eventually I was seen and the radiographer said that everything looks OK, so fingers crossed that she is right and that will be it for another 6 months. Onwards and upwards!!!

More Cards....For a change!!!

I really enjoy making cards, I think its because they small and quick, you can use up lots of scraps of paper and ribbon. For Christmas I received a copy of the Heidi Swapp 'love your handwriting book' I had been after it for a while. So the first card is one of the exercises in the book.

The last two have been made out of scraps!!

Been doing a bit of stamping.

This weekend I finally managed to get a few minutes to make some cards. I love the Magnolias stamps, I really enjoy all the colouring in, my favorite is painting because you can do a bit of shading and make them look individual.
I like to sit down at my craft table and paint a whole batch of them and then make them into cards at the next session. I wish there were more 'male' types of designs, I really struggle making male cards. I have just bought a set of twinkling H2O's, they are fantastic strong colours, I have got some pastel sparkling ones from the Works and they compliment them beautifully!! Its like being back at school doing colouring in for grown ups!!

Hit the Road Carl!!!

Today we went with Carl to collect his new and first car.A very exciting milestone in his life. He has been keen to get his own set of Wheels for a while now. So after a lot of looking and wondering about what to get, (I wanted him to have a military tank, that way he would come off better in any accidents) We finally settled on a little 800cc Daewoo Matiz, in Kermit green. When I say we, the main part of our input was around getting a small car to keep the insurance costs to a minimum. He is the highest risk driver according to the insurance companies being both 17 and male. The other bonus with a small car is that it won't do 100 mph.
Carl has funded the whole purchase with money he has saved from his life guarding at the school pool over the last three summers. He has now got a job at the local University pool which will pay the ongoing costs.

Its hard to believe that my baby is now in the driving seat!!
I hope Kermit gets him safely through the next couple of years.

We have booked our Summer Holiday!!

We have been talking about booking our holiday since we got back from America in October, Our original holiday friends, Rick and Dina are not able to do a summer holiday (we are hoping to go with them in October half term) Wendy and Ian are concentrating on doing up their house. So we went ahead and booked a couple of weeks at Wassenaar in Holland. It looks like a brilliant site, with a theme park and a huge water park which we have free use of.
Although we are going with Canvas Holidays again, we have decided to go in a caravan which will hopefully help with the noise problems we suffered in France in 2006!!
Fingers crossed that Deb and Dangerous Malc get booked up in the morning!!
Today has been a day spent sorting out car insurance, computers and the house. Its been a long day where its feels like I have achieved a lot but actually have little to show for it. So perhaps I better get off of here and do something more useful instead!!!

The planet is a whole lot lighter!!

We,(as in my family and I ) have all decided to get back on the weight loss band wagon. Wednesday was our first weigh in and we are pleased to announce that the weight lost by mum,dad,Laura,Scott and myself amounts to the grand total of 30 lbs!!!! So now the whole planet is 30 lbs lighter and it feels a whole lot better for that !!!

A little Toot toot for me !!!

At the end of December I decided to submit a card to a challenge blog in the USA run by a lady called Di Hickman. She was looking for some new people to submit designs on a monthly basis, well although I never made it into the design team (Well done Nets who did!!) I have been asked to do a guest spot for the blog, so I am pretty pleased about that !!

Snowed Under

That's the trouble with being off of work for a week or two when you get back you are snowed under with work, 275 emails plus 19 messages on the answerphone in the office and 6 on my works mobile. I felt like turning around and walking straight back out. I couldn't as I had a parade of people booked in for appointments in the office.
I finally got home at 6.15 pm just in time to take Beth to her Drama class and to hit Tesco's.
I hope tomorrow will be better.
Today my package from 7dayshop finally arrived, I received a digital photo frame from Tom for Christmas, only problem, there was no memory with it, so I ordered a bargain priced storage card but because of the Christmas holidays it has take a while to arrive. I am off to have a play!!

I can't believe it........

I have to go back to work today, after two weeks off doing nothing I have to go and get back into the swing of things. :0(
Wish me luck.

Day - 5 - 365/6 Challenge

Day 5 of the 365/6 Challenge - Close up - I now have more and more wrinkles!! So this photo is good as it takes a few of them away!! I have been out today to buy wrinkle and black eye cream, I may have left it a touch too late to hold back time !!!

Its all gone.

Well there is was, Christmas 2007, all gone and packed away in the loft, tree has been recycled down the dump,the car is now full of pine needles and the living room seems huge once again. I can once again see the TV from 'my' seat on the sofa, all indications that its finished for another year.
This afternoon I have finally cleared the kitchen and conservatory and have washed the floor, its a bonus having ceramic tiles they don't actually look dirty but once you wash them they look fantastic!!
I have nearly cleared my craft table and tonight I intend to do a bit of stamping and I may well make a start on my holiday scrap booking.I have at least a million shots to scrap!
Beth is spending the afternoon at Laura's, Carl got up late and now has an essay to do, Tom is snoozing pre work on the sofa, can't believe that I will be back at work on Monday as if it never even happened!!

365 - Day 2.

The prompt is- 'Going to make a change' Well I hope that going back to slimming World is the change that I am making and I hope that this time it will be permanent!!
As part of that change I am going to keep a pictorial record of how I am doing so hopefully over the year we will see a difference!

365 Challenge.

Day one, ' A day without laughter is a day wasted' or so Charlie Chaplin said, so here is picture one taken in the early hours of new Years Day, while we were celebrating with Madeline and John.(and the rest of the family)
I have started my journal but thats going to be kept to myself !!!

I have gone back...

Tonight I have started back at Slimming world, so I am eating my last supper and passing any remaining chocolates on to my precious children. The plus side of returning is that I met up with some people that I hadn't seen for ages and we were welcomed with open arms. I have not put on all the weight I lost last year, so I am still ahead of the game. I won the raffle and now have a melon to start off my eating plan. I am going to see if I can tie in my weight loss (hopefully ) with Anna's 365 challenge. I am not expecting to be able to actually stick to a photo a day but I am aiming at one a week, which will keep me happy!!
This afternoon I went out for a hot chocolate with Sue D and her girls, we then went over to Stevenage as Beth wanted some Sylvanians and I wanted to go to Dunelm Mills. Sue Copied me and bought a new Duvet. I was a good girl and had her back home for 5.30pm so she could have her girls in bed by 6!!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Last night we went around to our friends Madeline and John, this years gathering was a fancy dress party, organised by Carl and Grace. We had great fun getting dressed up and putting on the make up!!
John was great dressed as a clown complete with over sized shoes and curly hair. Madeline was Mother Superior in a very fetching nuns outfit. Grace was Superwoman. Beth was a tag team wrestler, Carl was a 'dead' Scout, I was a murder scene complete with knife sticking out of my chest. Tom was splendid as a Geisha girl, with an Elvis wig which we put on back to front, to make it more authentic !!!
I discovered a new drink, Amaretto, very nice, sweet and moreish.
Happy New year 2008!!!!