All is well

I just haven't got round to blogging again this week -oops! Feeling much brighter now ,with a bit more get up & go,which is a good thing!
Yesterday was a lovely day weather wise, really mild and sunny-it really makes a difference to everything when the sun shines! I actually hung the washing out in the garden to dry for the first time this year- my pleasures are simple!Yesterday also saw a mammoth ironing session after I didn't touch it all week (shame on me!)Funny though,how both the washing bin and ironing basker both seem full again today...
This morning we just did the boring stuff ie Tesco and Costco shoppping.After lunch we had to drop off Holly at her Thinking Day thingy for Brownies.I then popped into town to pick up the girls free Go Go Bones from Smiths, before we all went back to
see Holly and all the Brownies, Rainbows & Guides from this district singing in a concert.It was quite strange ,as there were leaders there who I went to Guides with years ago in my dim & distant past!
I am off to bed now to catch up on sleep, scrapping til 12.30am last night (this morning?!)doesn't do much for me I'm afraid.
Don't really have any pretty pictures to share,so here's a sneak of my Pencil Lines layout for tomorrow :)

Woe is me

Today has been on of those bleurgh days, you know, the sort only women get?!Give me a couple of days and all will be well,but right now I feel like a beached whale !All thoughts of healthy eating seem to have flown out of the window the last couple of weeks.I really need a huge boot up the bum to get myself motivated again :(
We are back in the old school time routine again now...roll on Easter!!
Plans are afoot for a day out with Anna next week (kids permitting!) which I'm looking forward to :)
The kids had pancakes for tea, though admittedly from a packet mix.As the end result was covered in bananas and chocolate sauce I don't think they they were too bothered how they were made!
No photos as I've not used the camera the last couple of days!
I am off to bed to catch up on my much needed beauty sleep!

Back home

..after our night away last night :) The venue was lovely (though the bar prices extortionate!!)with huge grounds and a golf course (we were very tempted to re-enact a few HSM scenes...!!)We spent afternooon wandering round the shops in Reading before heading to the hotel.Typical that we went on a weekend when Reading FC were playing at home...and their stadium is where the park & ride service runs from.So you have to avoid certain times for trying to get home again!Anyway, we made our way safely to the hotel, despite me being a dozy moo and only printing off directions on how to get to Frankie & Bennys from the hotel, and not how to get to the hotel from the M4!! Guess I really am ruled by my stomach after all!As where we were staying was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we decided against F&B's and ate in the bar instead.Not long after that though we both ended up with thumping headaches and I was fast asleep by 10.30!After the rare treat of a McDonalds breakfast (I know, we're so classy !)we were home again by 11am :)the girls were happy with their pressies...and hit of the day were the free paper Krispy Kreme hats we picked up in the Krispy Kreme coffee shop for them,along with a free doughnut each we were given!It really is the simple things that make them happy :)

This is my Pencil Lines LO for this week,using my favourite ever Basic Grey range :)Love the black & white photos with these papers!I turned the sketch clockwise.
I used
Basic Grey Bittersweet papers
Heidi Swapp clock stamp
Amercican Crafts flair badge
AC Puffy thickers
Jenni Bowlin letter stickers
MME overlay
Prima bling
Whilst I'm still not sure about my handwriting on the overlay I love how the rest of this layout turned out.
Now, I know it's a bit obvious that I love Prima bling,but I love it even more now!The clear swirls just didn't show up on this page,and the brown ones didn't match.So I dug out a permanent pen and coloured the clear ones the perfect shade of brown.So now I've realised I can make them any colour I want,I need to hunt out some more clear crystals as I've nearly run out:)

Quick catch up!

Meant to do this yesterday - whoops!
It really feels like spring is starting to spring...lovely blue skies and lots of snowdrops and crocuses growing everywhere :)
Yesterday the girls set about making the gingerbread house that Anna bought (and purposely!) left here on Tuesday.I'm not sure whether to thank her or not,as both Geoff and I were worn out after beating the egg whites to make the icing (no fancy whisks here!)Not the best photo I know!
Today we went into town and took the girls into Costa coffee for a hot chocolate as a treat.
Not much else happening ,looking forward to tomorrow though :)

Girls get together :)

Take four girls,two Mum's,a spot of fresh air and a dash of High School Musical 3 and that sums up our day :) Our visits from Anna ,Izzy & Lilly have settled into a bit of an unspoken routine over the last couple of years...they arrive,me & Anna sit and chat in the kitchen & discuss scrapping stuff,the girls play on the Wii/DS's.After lunch we go to the lakes for some fresh air and a photo shoot and then we come home and the girls put on a show.This time the 'show' was High School Musical 3 (what a surprise!) directed by Em ,starring Lilly as Troy,Izzy as Sharpay ,Holly as Gabriella and Em as Ryan and several others!One day I will remember to get the video camera out rather than taking photos .

I felt very wholesome and domesticated as I managed to whip up a batch of choc chip muffins just before they arrived.I have to say,they are absolutely lovely and I'm quite impressed with myself!Of course Anna and I had to sample one each whilst they were still warm..yum! I don't think Em believed us when we said the mixture only made ten, not the twelve there was space for in the baking tin! Will try and take a photo tomorrow of the remaining ones to prove how nice they look :)
I'll add photos tomorrow as Blogger is so sloooow tonight!

All done...now what?!

This evening I have finally finished reading Breaking Dawn.It toook me longer than the others as it's longer than the others,and I read it more slowly as I knew it was the last one.And I feel a bit lost now! I suppose I could start them over again,but as Em's reading Twilight maybe not! I'm not going to say too much about what I thought of it as I know other people who haven't started reading them yet or haven't got as far as the last one yet.Despite being a bit sceptical, I did get vey sucked in by them (as poor Anna will know,I'm sure I've bored her going on about them for the last two weeks!) Still not sure that I want to watch the film though!

Tomorrow we have the Bowkis clan visiting.Not before we've done a quick tidy up of the house and maybe cooked some choc chip muffins (time permitting!) No doubt High School Musical 3 (a bargain at £8 from Tesco)will be put on at some point,though I'm sure the kids will wander off and leave me & Anna watching it!

I'm still here

I just haven't blogged this week as there doesn't seem to be much going on really :(
On Friday Holly had her postponed assembly which was lovely :) They are all starting to look so grown up though!
Last night we celebrated Valentine's Day with a meal at home once the kids had gone to bed.We don't do the huge pressie thing so I was happy with my box of Lindor chocs...of which I think there may be just one left..whoops! We are going away next weekend though having bagged a bargain thanks to a tip off from someone on UKS before Christmas :)
Today and yesterday have seen me & Em continue to clear out her room.Another two bin bags later and we are getting there.We have also thinned out the mountain of toys on her bed before putting a new duvet on it,her old one was flat as a pancake!
This week is half term and the girls are looking forward to seeing their cousins tomorrow :) On Tuesday we are seeing Anna,Izzy and Lilly :) What's the betting we end up with four girls communicating via the wonder of the DS?! Geoff is off at the end of the week too which will be nice :)
I'll leave you with my Pencil Lines layout for this week.I so wish I could take better photos of them as, as per usual ,it does look much better in real life.I did go very clean and simple this week though,but I like it.

I used
Bazzill Kraft
Making Memories Fa La La papers
Basic Grey florish rub-on
AC foam thickers
MM tiny alphas stickers

Holly spent all the snowy days wearing this coat and looked like a little red bear hurtling down the slopes on the sledge :)

I am not a rain person....

The last couple of days the weather has been gorgeous here,still cold but with lots of sunshine and blue skies.Today is a different matter though,it's been raining heavily all morning and coupled with ice everywhere still ,it's not nice :(The walk to walk school was the worst ever,there's still ice two inches thick on the pavements by the school!
Anyway,with so much snow still lying arounnd we thought we'd see if there was still enough for sledging over at the lakes ,and there was loads:) So we went back over there both Saturday and Sunday with Geoff.I was suprised at how quiet it was, we had the place to ourselves.I'm guessing people either assumed it had all melted or had just had enough of it!Love this photo of Geoff doing a Rocky pose on top of the mound,looks like he's in the middle of nowhere!

This is my Pencil Lines Lo for this week,using,inevitably, snow pictiures from this week
I used
KI memories papers (very old ones!)
Heidi swapp ghost snowflake,glitterd
Papermania letter stickers
MM tiny alphas
Hambly overlay
MM puffy letters
KI ice candy
black & white bazzill

I've had the KI papers for absolutely ages, they were some of the first papers I ever bought and I bought about 3 of each sheet! Needless to say,four years later and I'm still working through them, but they are fab for girly snow photos:)

Bookwise,I am nearing the end of Eclipse.I have been taking a bit longer (like four days instead of two!)with this one as I'm still waiting for Breaking Dawn to arrive.just wondering what to read next(thanks for the suggestion Becky!)as I seem to sleep better when I've spent the evening with my head in a book!

Yuck

So,add to the lovely snow we had a couple of days worth of rain,more snow and sleet and we now have....slush...and lots of it :( Schools were closed again today as come 8.30am we had heavy snow falling which eventually turned into sleet for best part of the day. so yes, I love the snow,but slush? No thank you very much! The snowman is still standing in the back garden,though it seems to be leaning backwards slight;y as if its head will topple off at any minute!

So as both girls were home we did some cooking.This morning I made some banana & chocolate muffins ,putting to good use the three rather squishy bananas that were left in the fruit bowl! This afternoon the girls made cookies.And for tea Em made pizzas,which she should have done in cookery this afternoon at school,so we used up the ingredients here instead.And because she missed it today,I'll need to go out get fresh toppings for next week...

I also managed to get my Pencil Lines Lo done in between the cooking,Wii-ing and ironing.Mainly because I wanted to be able to settle down and read Eclipse this evening rather than scrap ...and without further ado, that is what I am off to do now :)

More snow and more sledging...

the girls have both been off school again today so we've spent more time out in the snow :) We went sledging again yesterday afternoon and again this afternoon.By today though it was a huge mud bath in one area so the girls went down a different part ,narrowly missing the trees several times!Today has been very different from yesterday though,lots of clear blue skies and no more snow :(
From today


We got round to making a snowperson in the garden today...I'm waiting to see how long it takes before its head falls off!

From yesterday...during a blizzard!

I am still totally sucked in by the Twilight books...it's really weird,they have keeping me awake at night thinking about them and I feel like I need to read them all as quick as possible...am currently about 3/4's of the way through New Moon.I think I'll order the fourth one tomorrow so I have it in time for when I finish the third!Never thought I would really bothered about a story about vampires!

Snow!!

We have had loads of the white stuff over night and it is gorgeous! I know lots of people don't like it but that's not the case in this house!

We went sledging at about 9am and the radiators are now covered with mittens and hats drying out!We will be back outside to make a snowman later on :)

Just a couple of photos from this morning :)

One down...

Okay,so I know I said I was going to pace myself,but I wrong ..as I finished Twilight about half an hour ago!I was going to start on New Moon straight away but as it's Monday (boo hiss) tomorrow I suppose I should have an early night.
We have had snow!! Not loads and loads (yet) but it does look lovely out there and I'm hoping we get a load more tomorrow :)I doubt the girls schools will be closed,but I'm not going to complain if they are!
Despite the freezing cold wind this afternoon, we went for a walk down to the lakes.It wasn't the best trip..Holly was reduced to tears twice,once by a stupid man with his dog off its lead (which proceeded to frighten the life out of her and bark at the swans she was trying to feed) and again when she thought the geese were following her to steal the bread -bless.It must have Idiot Sunday down there though as there was a also a boy & his dad down there with a remote control boat...deliberately chasing the swans with it.I do wonder about some people....
This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week :)

I used
October Afternoon Weathervane papers
tree cut from Bella Boulevard paper
Prima bling
Jenni Bowlin stickers
AC puffy thickers
Hambly overlay
Fancy Pants bobble trim
Love Elsie journalling stamp

They're here :)

The books arrived at lunchtime today :) I have started Twilight but have put it down for now, thought I'd better pace myself! Plus,I think it might be a bit unsociable for me to sit with my nose stuck in a book all Saturday afternoon whilst everyone else is home! So having just played a bit of mario cart with holly I'm off to pick it up again as Em is battling with some maths homework!

And here's a peek of my layout for tomorrow night,something I haven't done for ages!

(Im)patiently waiting...

I have recently gone back to spending far too much time on my butt in front of the PC in the evenings so have decided to get some new books to read.Now I must admit that too much hype tends to put me off things,but I have gone ahead and ordered the first three of the Twilight books (at the bargain price of £7.99 they seemed too good to miss!)Em is also keen to read them so even if I'm not impressed they'll be welcome amongst all her other books!I've deliberately tried to avoid reading anything about the film too ,other than various people saying it's pants compared to the books!So now I am just waiting for the postie to leave them on my doorstep :) ...sooner rather than later!
This week has been a bit of a weird one.As Geoff was off on Monday it kind of felt like a Sunday so it feels like tomorrow and the end of the week has come round pretty quickly.Despite scrapping loads last weekend I really haven't felt the urge to do so since :( I obviously find it easier when I can just work away without having to keep everything away in between!I scrap in the kitchen and sometimes I just don't feel like sitting out there on my own all evening.
Em came home today with two more school certificates,one for 100% attendance and one for the highest effort grades,we're so proud of her!Holly has now started cheerleading classes at school and seems to be really enjoying them :)
A few more photos of our weekend away,Anna with her treasured bag of cheese and a fab group shot (nicked from Anna :) )

And two more layouts :)

48 hrs of bliss....

Bliss is the word that really sums up my weekend :).On Friday afternoon Anna and I loaded up her car (just a little bit ;) )and drove to the Cotswolds to spend the weekend with Kerry,Kerry and Louise.Kerry found us a fab cottage to 'home' us for the weeknd with comfy sofas and huge tables big enough for us all to scrap on.I spent the weekend dining on wonderful homecooked food (cooked by the others I hasten to add, I was in charge of breakfast which meant croissants,toast and cereals!),with a few brownies and lots of Diet Coke chucked in for good measure :)Despite 'threatening' to sit and drink hot choclate all weekend,I actually managed six Lo's without using a single sketch...which believe me is a major miracle for me at the moment!It was lovely just to sit and scrap without having to tidy away before I went to bed.On Saturday we went out to a local village where we bought presents for the kiddies left behind and Anna manged to lose her purse!Luckily some kind person handed it in at the very last shop we asked in and Anna is now under strict instructions to keep her purse in her bag at all times !Friday and Sunday night were spent scrapping into the early hours of the morning :)Sunday morning we went out for the obligatory photo shoot (oh come on,it has to be done!)before returning indoors for spag bol and more scrapping. Come 4 o'clock we were just about packed up and ready to head back home :(

I had a wonderful time and can't wait for the next one!It was such a luxury to be able to switch off from every day life for two days and totally unwind.My scrapping stuff is still sitting untouched so I guess I'd better unpack it all tomorrow!
Don't forget to check out Pencil Lines this week :) I didn't make it this week ,though the LO is all planned out in my head!
Photos are of a couple of my fave layouts that I did this weekend :)

Eeeeeek!!

So as per usual I have left getting ready til the last minute!! Nearly all done now though,but I've probably forgotten something!
I have been pretty grumpy the last couple of days so I am really looking forward to a weekend of chilling,drinking hot chocolate,scrapping and watching Mamma Mia :)
Be back in a couple of days :)

A girl and her picture

Forgot to add a photo of Holly with the painting she did on Sunday so here it is:) Not sure why she was wearing the headscarf,but she did look cute!

Today is one of those days where things have gone a bit wrong.I discoverd that two cheques have cleared from my account...which I wrote back in September!I'd assumed they gone through long ago ,I wasn't sitting here thinking that I'd got away without paying!So I have to go back to the bank tomorrow (couldn't do it today as it was 15 mins before I had to collect Holly) and hope that I'm in time to pay in some more money before they bounce a cheque that I wrote on Saturday (thinking that was still money in there).I could really do without the extra running around!

Then this evening I have made a batch of cookies for a cake sale at school tomorrow...and they are looking a bit odd! Don't know what I've done wrong and I've made them loads of times before without any probs ...but they are definitely not right :( And I am all out of flour so I'll have to make another load tomorrow afternoon and take them straight into school...

I have started to get ready for the weekend though,mystery kit is packed, papers & alphabets chosen....I am getting there slowly!

The weekends are too short

The worst thing about doing my blog on a Sunday night is that I know it's Monday tomorrow and another weekend has been and gone :( I think the weekend should be three days long ..not two!
Geoff was working today ,so I was treated to breakfast in bed by the girls with the milk in a gravy boat -bless! We went a very windy (but sunny)walk round the lakes after lunch followed by a lovely roast for tea -yum:)
Em's been ploughing on with homework ,whilst Holly decided to paint a canvas that she got from Santa in Milton Keynes.It's one of those ones where the picture is printed on and you paint over it.
This is my Pencil lines layoiut for this week.As per usual,it looks much nicer in real life, the colours of the paper are just gorgeous.
I used
Basic Grey Bittersweet papers
Doodlebug sugar coated alphabet
Basic Grey chipboard letters
Basic Grey buttons
Heidi Swapp heart bling
MM tiny alphas
Fancy Pants bobble trim
heart pin from market stall!
The white paper is stitched on as are the buttons (yes, I'm well aware that it's pretty wonky in places!As you can probably tell, I was a bit stuck for a title for this one too!Couldn't really put winter in the title,as the photo was taken during the mad snow in October...just before Halloween!
This week Holly has yet another party as well as starting cheerleading classes at school :)
I have lots of planning to do for next weekend and need to start packing my stash up so that I can squeeze it all into Anna's car :) No doubt I wil be running round like a headless chicken on Thursday night !

The tale of the mouse

..with no tail!
A few days ago a long black felt like 'thing' appeared in the bathroom.Geoff put it on the windowsill where I found it.I asked both Em and Holly if they knew what it was,nope, no ideas there either.So I asked Geoff and he said it was the cotton/thread stuff which made up the smile on Holly's Mickey Mouse toy.(It's been hanging loose from side of his mouth for a while!)So I put it 'safe' on the drawers next to my bed.Sometime this morning before I was properly awake I vaguely heard a loud crying.Then it stopped,so I went back to sleep (as you do)About an hour later when Geoff brought me up a drink he asked where that 'black stuff' was from the bathroom.Turns out that this morning Holly discoverd that Mickey is now tail-less - hence the loud crying upon discovery of this fact.Now,Mickey is her favourite toy,has been since she was about 18 months old.We bought him for her when she took a shine to Em's one, so she could have her own.Since then she has remained totally loyal to him,and not switched favourite toy on a yearly basis (as Em used to do!)Whilst she doesn't take him literally everywhere,he is always by her side at night and downstairs with her first thing in the morning,she used to gently flap his ears on her cheeks when she was tired and she always reaches out for him when she is upset.And now he is tail-less.On closer inspection(don't ask),it appears it has simply worn away (probably from the frequent practice of being swung or carried around by said tail) that has caused the 'erosion'.So tomorrow I have the job of re-joing the felty tail to the felty stump which is hidden under his thinning red shorts.No doubt he will be lovingly cared for afterwards for several minutes before being swung round by the tail again.....

I beg to differ...

This afternoon I was sorting out lots of bits of paper and drawings of Holly's when I came across this one.She'd copied some of it(the big book of knowledge) from the cover of a book,but it was the bottom that caught me eye.The last couple of days I seem to have spent loads of time thinking...to the point that I've spent too much time wrapped up in my own thoughts and I'm even more fed up/confused than before I started all the thinking ,do you know what I mean?! Maybe I just need to get out more !But there are times when I think too much thinking is not good! But don't you love the way she spelt brainy?!
Anyway,as a result of my tidying ,I have claimed the big pull out drawer in the TV unit as mine,all mine :) It was half of Holly's toys/drawings etc and half full of my scrapbook albums.But as I needed to start filling another album I needed to find a home for the most recently filled one ,which has been propped up in various places around the living room for the past couple of months.The only other cupboards we have downstairs are built in and back on to outside walls so are fairly cold and damp.I've already found a few dead woodlice in a couple of LO's from when the album was propped up in the bay window -yuck,not the best embellishment to compliment the Pink Paislee and Basic Grey! One job I know I must do sometime though is go through my old layouts and stick back on all the flippin' Heidi Swapp letters that have fallen off...sound familiar anyone?!

No scrapping to share as my mojo has taken a walk out the door (yet again!) I need to get my butt into gear though as I am away next weekend and should really spend some of the time scrapping..I'm just looking forward to going away :)

This afternoon Holly started doing Country Dancing after school,I think I was more excited about it than she was! it really takes me back to when I did it at school.I have a photo somewhere of myself at the same age wearing a really delightful white nylon dress (made by muy mum)and straw hat ...not one of my finest moments!!

Huge thanks to Anna for my new banner,I thought it was time for a new one after nearly three years! And as I don't have a clue about how to do things like that I was more than happy to let her get on with it for me :)(And she needs the practice ;) !!)