Shopping instead of cropping

Cropping would definitely have been the cheaper option!

I admit to having a bit of a love hate relationship with Primark...I love some of their clothes but I hate the fact that they hardly ever have anything in above a size 12! Em still came home with a few bargain t-shirts though!I also got Holly some gorgeous ginham tops from Debenhams,she looks like a cute little hilbilly in them!We also went into the Build A Bear shop ,where Holly got herself a Hello Kitty one with some money my Dad gave her.She wants to make new clothes for it during the summer holidays when she's at my mum & dad's :)We also took Em's bear with us to see if they could fix it's broken voice (she recorded her voice for it about six years ago!) ,but sadly tney couldn't :( They did re-stuff for it for her though! And thank heavens for re-sealable food bags...they are a God send when you have a Travel sick child!Say no more!!

This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week,usinga photo that Holly took last week :)

I used

Crate Paper

Scenic Route Sonoma papers (I LOVE them!)

Prima swirls

Basic Grey chipboard letters

Jenni Bowlin ticket

Martha Stewart punch

It's been way too hot the last couple of days and is set to hit the 80's here over the next few days! Last night we had thunder and lightening going on for ages..

Tomorrow I am off to see Anna ,a bit of a rare occurence these days!

How fast..

is this year going?! It seems way too soon to heading towards the end of term,Sports Days,reports and the like.

This week Hollys year had a visit from the Rain Forest Roadshow ,where she got stroke a tarantula (!!) and had her face painted :)Tomorrow she heads off another Brownie adventure,this time to Lemsford Springs,fishing for fresh water shrimp!Sadly I won't be able to go and watch this week though :(

On Tuesday it was Geoff's birthday and after having tea at Frankie & Benny's (yum!) we came home for birthday lemon meringue pie and a photo shoot :)

I also got to eat out again on Tuesday as went out to ther Waffle House for lunch -yum again!

As well as eating lots I've also been out on the bike every evening and it seems to be making a difference :)

I was supposed to be cropping this weekend but have had to change the plan.A certain 12 year old really needs some new summer clothes which means a trip to a decent sized Primark.If we don't go this weekend, it'll near winter when we do ,what with dance festivals,parties and Geoff working all happening over the next couple of weekends.

I am off to finish watching the series finale of Greys...tissues at the ready!

We've had a relaxing day today,just being home :) That said,the girls and I went out for a bike ride this afternoon and I then went out again on my own for a bit this evening.
As it was Fathers Day we left Geoff to have a lie in and the kids gave him their presents when he got up.We don't go mad with presents so they were just small things,a box of M&S Nougat from Em ad a hand painted mug from Holly which she decorated at Brownies for him a couple of weeks ago :) I didn't notice at first,but it has the sweetest note written on the bottom of it :)

Over at Pencil Lines this week, we decided to pay tribute to Fathers Day :)
Our guest this week is the amazing Elodie Touze
For my layout I used
Cosmo Cricket Happy Ever After papers
Doodlebug letter stickers
Prima Voila felt
Angel Kiss blooms
Martha Stewart punch
I have to admit, that after packing all the retreat kits using this paper I was sick of the sight of it! But being double sided,it worked really well for this layout so I'm pleased I found a use for it :)

Picture heavy post!!

Yesterday evening I and a few other mum's stayed to watch Holly's Brownie pack make rafts down at the lakes.And honestly,it was so good! There is no way I would have done what they did at their age!It took them a while to get kitted out as they all had to put on wet suits,waterproofs and life jackets :)Then they were split into groups to make their rafts as well as donning their helmets.The rafts were made from big blue barrels and then they carried all the poles over and were then shown how to tie them all on.Lastly they had to carry their raft into the water...and all try and climb on at once! I'm a bit gutted that it didn't occur to me to take the video camera as well as my normal camera.They were supposed to paddle out to some buoys further out in the lake but lets just say they need to practice their steering skills a bit! Once they'd been guided/dragged back to 'shore' they had to dismantle the rafts before their final treat...jumping off the jetty into the lake!How Holly managed to swim back to shore I will never know as she was probably knackered by that point ,the water was freezing and they still had the helmets on! We finally arrived home over an hour later than expected,even manging to cycle home too :)

Anyway, some photos ....

As well as that ,she also had a great day at the Roald Dahl museum too :) Hopefully we'll try and go there during the holidays as Em has never been and it sounds great.

Operation Bike Ride is going well ...so far! I'd actually forgotten how much I enjoyed riding a bike.I rode down to the lakes yesterday with Holly and this evening we went round the block a few times...I'm building up slowly to going any distance!

Wednesday wonderings

Hmmm, very imaginative title ...not!
All is well here,and the kids are busy :) Today Holly got to go to Em's school for an afternoon PE class with the sixth formers.It seemed a bit pointless her walking there,then walking back to her school and then having to walk back here ,as we are only round the corner from Em's school so I picked her up from there when she finished.Tomorrow she has a swimming test and then on Friday she is off to the Roald Dahl museum on a school trip.Followed by making a raft at the lakes at Brownies in the evening! And then a swimming party on Saturday...oh to be 8 again!
On Tuesday I got some lovely post from Florida,a lovely box of stash,including Martha Stweart punches! Sadly the box had been opened and someone had taken the Prima Rebellious stickers (errr....why??!)Thank you Jenny :)

Holly's runner beans are still growing well and they're starting to get a few blossoms:) And my lillies that my mum gave me are starting to flower.Shame they got blown over in the wind this afternoon and a load of petals fell off!

Summer fun

Yesterday was the Holly's school summer fete (feels a bit strange that it's not both girls fete now!).Following in Em's footsteps from several years back,Holly took part in the Maypole dance display.As the school has a 'no photo' policy (boo hiss),nobody was really sure if we would be allowed to video it or take photos.Apparently though, because a PTA run event,they don't enforce the no photo rule.I can't really see how they'd enforce it anyway,there were loads of people there!As per usual I was armed with both video & normal camera ,so I also ended up being phototgrapher for a couple of other mums who'd not brought their cameras :) Anyway, their dancing was so so good and I was a very proud mum!Once the dancing was over we came home to pack Holly's bags in the car and whisk her off to her Brownie sleepover.Talk about a different experience from last time,no tears ,no sad farewells -phew! Her leader phoned me once at about 9.45pm to let me know all was well :)From what's she told us so far, she had a fab time,including a campfire & sing song with the guides last night :) (Now that takes me back!)I don't think much sleep was had though and she was snoring her head off very early this evening!
I've got loads done today :) Having been woken up by Geoff snoring at about 3.30am, I gave up trying to get back to sleep at about 5.30am and got up! By 7.30 ,I'd done 2hrs of ironing whilst watching a DVD! I've also mowed the back lawn,cleared numerous piles of (other peoples cats) cat poo from the front garden and planted some sweet peas.We also went out and bought a new saddle as I am finally the happy owner of a bike :) One of my very nice neighbours came round yesterday and offered it to me as her husband had just bought her a new one.I might go for a ride round the lakes tomorrow afternoon :)
And finally as this seems like a massive post,this is my Pencil Lines layout this week :)
I used
October Afternoon Cherry Hill papers & stickers
butterflies from John Lewis
Fancy Pants die cut sun
MM journal page
Jenni Bowlin letter stickers
Doodlebug letter stickers
Creative cafe felt trim

Make sure you check out the blog, as we have a new look :)

So maybe

I should change the bit on my blog header that says 'daily ramblings' to twice a week ramblings?!

So today didnt start well, we had a knock on the door at about 8.15am from one of our neighbours telling us that one of our car windows was smashed .Great.Luckily Geoff was off today so he had time to clear up all the glass and sort out the people to fix it etc.The Autoglass guy said it looked like someone had tried to open the window with a screwdriver ,judging by the scratches around the frame.Nice.

In the sfternoon we went to Tescos fod shopping and also to do some recycling.Did you know that you can get Clubcard points for recycling aluminim cans? Now, I like the odd can of Diet Coke (under statement of the year?!) so I have been saving them up...and it was well worth it .No,I'm not going to tell you how many points I got because that will give away how much of an addict I am !

Holly was very excited to come home from school with her outfit for the Country Dancing display at the school fete tomorrow.I took some photos of her as I have a feeling we won't be allowed to tomorrow (boo hiss) She has a busy weekend ahead as tomorrow afternoon she is off on a Brownie sleepover for a night.They are all sleeping in one dorm together so I have a feeling she will be very tired and grumpy when we collect her on Sunday afternoon!

I was supposed to make muffins this evening for the cake stall tomorrow...but I discovered at 9.30pm that I have no chocolate chips...which is strange because I'm sure I bought a couple of bags a few weeks back.They must be with the three tubes tomato puree that have disappeared too...strange!

I am off to dig out the video camera for tomorrow....just in case!

Ta da!!

Whoo,just look at my fancy new blog!! I cannot take any of the credit for it though,Anna has very kindly toiled away for me uploading all the new stuff, designing me three blog headers and let me change my mind several times! So if you're wondering why her own blog hasn't yet been sorted out yet,it's because she's been doing mine instead :) Thank you so much,will re-pay you in Galaxy! The actual blog design is from here.I still need to add and move around some of my blog links,so bear with me!



This morning I went out shopping with my mum & dad :) I came home with a pink sleeping bag for Holly for her brownie sleepover this weekend.some lovely cream and pink stocks (because they were the cheapest flowers on the stall!) and at last some sweet peas to plant in the front garden :)
This afternoon Em went to her first cricket practice:) Although only three girls turned up and she claims to be rubbish at it,I think she enjoyed herself!
This is another layout from May's crop,I still have one more to finish off! The owls from these My Little Shoebox papers were perfect for Holly's Brownie Promise day photos:)

Where did the weekend go?!

Must have been the grey skies and rain that made it go so quickly :( That said,although it looked like it was going to pour down several times today, we had one clap of thunder and at times it went really warm and sunny,totally confusing!
This week must have been exciting because I really can't remember what I did...other than having a haircut on Friday...oh well!
Yesterday Em went off to a bowling birthday party in Stevenage.So while she was there we went and did the food shopping and had a quick pop into the town centre.

After a really bad nights sleep last night I wasn't in the mood to do much today :( And as it looked like we'd get drenched,our planned walk was abandoned and the girls decided they both wanted to scrap.Letting them loose with my button jar maybe wasn't the wisest decision I've ever made...!!
Anyway,this is my Pencil Lines layout for this week,a little reminder for Em of her favourite things at the moment :)
I used
Fancy Pants Kraft Cuts
Fancy Pants journalling page
Pink Paislee papers
Kaisercraft pearls
AC foam thickers
MM tiny alpha stickers

Hot hot hot

But I'm not complaining! I have had a nice day today,getting lots of odd jobs done,in between sunning myself in the garden! This morning I finished off two of the layouts that I did at the crop.I did toy with the idea of making a start on sorting some my papers and stuff out but then decided against dragging them all out into the garden and sorted out some of Holly's clothes out out there instead.



So,this is the first layout that I finished .Love this photo of Holly :) I wasn't sure where to put the date and details and nearly left them off,but knew I'd go back and look at it in a couple of months time and think 'nice layout,where's the details?!'


I am off to bed to try and sleep in this heat (and not end up going back downstairs for a midnight feast like I did last night!)