Nearly the weekend :)

And I am really looking forward to having a lie-in! That said, I have been going to bed early (well,for me anyway!!) so far this week and I'm nearly caught up on all my missed sleep.It's also a bit scary that tomorrow it'll be a week since I went over to Anna's to set up the retreat...who keeps making time go faster?!
The rain forcast the last two days hasn't materialised thankfully and I'm hoping it stays that way over the weekend :)

Yesterday afternoon Holly and I went out into the garden with the camera.I hardly seem to use it these days for some reason!Anyway,I managed to get some photos that I'm really pleased with (and not a wall in sight Lyzzy,you'll be glad to hear!)
This weekend is my dad's birthday and I've been put in charge of icing the cake...hmm,not sure how that one will work out! We are having a small family get-together on Sunday,hence the need for sunshine :)Other than that,we don't have much planned other than sorting stuff out in the garden a bit more and food shopping.
And if you're on Facebook,have you tried changing your language to English Pirate?! Well worth it just for the fact that I now have a 'bottle of messages' instead of an inbox!!

Still tired...

but today it was back into the routine of school run and housework ...shame!
Anyway, I think the retreat went well and lots of people want to come back next year,which was really good to hear!Not surprisingly,I didn't do any scrapping other than a couple of quick stitching samples for a make & take.Hmm, I say quick,but they weren't really and I spent a long time sat on the floor,ending up with dead legs and pin & needles! I also took hardly any photos either.Oh well, I did drink lots of (free) diet coke,meets lots of lovely people and spend lots of money :) This year we had the 3 Jolly Scrappers shop,run by the very lovely Kim & Jo and I think lots of us returned home which gorgeous new goodies!A huge thank you to Kerry for the lift on Friday,to everybody who came and made it such fun and for letting me be first to the pudding counter each mealtime ;)Oh,and also to Anna for letting me help out!Roll on next year!
School clubs start up again tomorrow so Holly is back at Country Dancing,while Em is over the moon as she is going to a preview showing of Hannah Montana the movie with a freind.To say Holly is envious would be putting it mildy! Not doubt I'll end up taking her at some point too :)
Right, I am off for a glass of wine before I head off for an early night.

So tired...

after a weekend at Wyboston with the Scrapping Angels retreat :) My feet ache ,my eyes are ready to close but I'm sure I'll be doing it all again next year!

So just a quick post tonight,with my Pencil Lines layout for this week.

I used

My Little Shoebox papers

Pink Paislee shaped paper

Queen & Co felt

AC puffy thickers

Doodlebug letter stickers

Love Elsie epoxy stickers

KI Memories softies

Maya Road sheer

Prima crystals

Back tomorrow hopefully!

Packing up..

lots of kits!
Last night I headed off to Anna's to spend today getting things ready for the retreat :) I was treated to a yummy Domino's pizza for tea (I'm easily pleased!) before watching Hell's Kitchen.We then left 'to do' notes with my instructions on for today on all the piles of boxes!
I was woken by Peter slamming the front door on his way to work at 6.15am,though I was half asleep and thought my watch said 8.15am at first and nearly got up! After winning the battle to turn off the shower (long story!) ,I was was ready to start packing.Izzy kindly left the tv on for me so I endured the 'delights' of Jeremy Kyle and This Morning, which I haven't watched in ages (and I obviously haven't been missing much either!)
Although I was sort of working, it was nice to have a night away, I feel like I've had a mid-week break :)
Tomorrow I need to catch up on the dreaded housework and make myself lots of lists of stuff I need to get out,tidy up and pack up before the weekend.

Sunny days

..are happy days :) It's still staying dry and warm here which means the girls are spending lots of time outside :)As well as abit more practice on the skateboards,today they've been bouncing around on my (yes,mine!!) space hopper.We got rid of their kiddy sized ones earlier in the week as they were way too small. So now we need to get them another 'full size'one then there'll be two between them.

Pencil Lines has gone live with a great sketch,one of my favourites I think,and perfect for all the round papers that are out at the moment!


I used

My Little Shoebox papers
KI Memories Sheer Delights
Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies
AC Sprinkles thickers coloured with a Sharpie pen
My Little Shoebox tiny letter stickers
My Little Shoebox die cuts
Prima swirl
Bazzill dotted swiss
Creative Imaginations Holey cardstock
I cut out the middle of the circle paper and the middle (the black polka dots) is the KI Memories Sheer Delight.
Tomorrow evening I am going over to Anna's to do retreat preparations, which means I get to see all the kits,before I head back home again on Tuesday afternoon .I'm looking forward to unpacking the boxes and packing the goody bags !
Still on my 'to do' list are finding my apron and tidying out my tote....hmm,last minute job methinks!!

Making progress

After the rubbish weather of the last two days ,we have spent today getting on with stuff that had to wait for a dry day :) Geoff ,along with a little help from Holly,has painted the shed and also the fence panels.Whilst I have mowed the front grass and dug & weeded three of the four borders in the front garden.Tomorrow Geoff is heading off to the tip with a pile of stuff that we sorted out the other day.I will admit to taking a few things back off the dumping pile though...like the castle shaped sand bucket that was mine was a kid...why do I find it sdo hard to let go of stuff like that? That said ,it was actually my mum & dad that kept it and gave it to the kids to use last year! So maybe that's where I get it from?!

Whilst in Asda today we spotted skateboards...and ended up coming home one each for the girls...what have we let ourselves in for?! Holly has already had her first accident falling off and scraping her elbow,no doubt it will get worse!Other bargains bought included funky Camp Rock raincoats for Holly,Izzy & Lilly at the bargain price of...£5 each!

The girls have spent the last couple of days seeing friends,though I can't believe the holidays are almost over and they'll be back to school next week :( Still , only five weeks and they're off again!

I am panicking slightly at the huge list (in my head!) of things that I need to do before next weekend! Eeek!

We're back:)

Well,we were back yesterday but I didn't get round to blogging then.

So,cue some photos of the girls new love...

Meet Nando (named after the Liverpool player Torres!)

After being a little wary at first (Em more so than Holly),both girls came round very quickly though neither of them are keen on being licked (totally with them on that score!) We had tears when it was time to come home...

The weather stayed nice the whole time we were up there and the sun shone here today too:) I mowed the grass and we got lots of sorting out done in the garden this afternoon,shame I still have the weeding and the digging to do!

Enjoying the sunshine:)

We are away for a few days visiting Geoff's family ,and luckily for us we are missing miserable weather at home! Today the weather has been beautiful,sunshine and blue skies all day :)
The girls are currently on a sleep over at their Aunty's which means a lie in for us tomorrow!That said,we had one this morning too - bliss :)

We will be going home with a car loaded with the kids eggs ,they never get this many as they don't usually see so much family at Easter!
The girls are coping really well at being around dogs all the time here (three at one point today!),but are not succeeding in their requests for us to get one too...
As I'm not on my PC I can't add my Pencil Lines layout but I'm sure you know where to find it!I used some very old scanned photos of Holly that I found earlier in the week :)
I used Scenic Route Sonoma & Loveline papers ,Creative imaginations holey cardtsock and AC puffy thickers .
I'll be back soon with some photos!

The Very Wet Egg Hunt!

Today we attempted the yearly egg hunt at my mum & dad's with my sister and her girls :) It nearly didn't happen as well as it throwing it down with rain,both Em and Holly were fsat asleep come 2pm! They are both full of cold ,so Em went back to bed ,whilst Holly fell asleep on Geoff in the recliner.I would have taken a photo,but she was doing that scary eyes-half-open type sleeping,and I didn't want to wake her!Anyway, we eventually made it round there in the rain.Mum & I ventured out and hid the eggs around the garden ,getting soaked in the process.Most of my photos are rubbish as the camera was covered in rain spots but here's one of Holly in her ears!

And here's a photo of our Easter tree.Which as you can see,really is just a branch in a vase!

Early Easter :)

Yesterday we had a early visit from the Easter Bunny aka Anna who came with bulging carriers of Easter cakes,crackers and gifts for the kids :) I'd completely forgotten about my Easter decs until I saw Kerry H mention her tree,so I hastily asked my Mum for a branch from her garden yesterday morning! So it was done in time for our guests ,and just as well as we are away at Easter anyway!

As per usual Holly and Izzy were happy enough to play around in front of the camera :) The fab thing about them though is that they really don't take much prompting and even grabbed their own props like the hula hoop! We thought we'd put the old armchair to good use too before it goes to the tip,can't beat a piece of council house garden chic eh?!

It's that time of year when we are gearing up for the retreat in a couple of weeks (yikes!),so there are lots of 'must do's ' whizzing round in my head at the moment! The classes are looking fab this year aand I'm really looking forward to catching up with Kerry and Louise (and the infamous pudding counter !!) I need to hunt out my faithful Scrapping Angels apron which is never to be found when I need it!

Spring is springing!

Well, it has been for the last few days anyway!

Friday afternoon was really warm and the girls spent the afternoon playing with their cousins in my mum & dad's garden...lots of digging was done!

On Saturday Em and I went out in the hope of doing a bit of girly shopping, but we didn't really find much to be honest! I wasn't really in the mood either as I was still full of cold and feeling miserable!The only busy shop was Primark...no surprise there! Walking round,I was so envious of all the girls wearing their trendy skinny jeans...I remember mine the first time round! I distinctly remember being dragged across the living room floor by my Mum whilst she tried to yank a pair of jeans off me that I'd asked her to take in ...they were too tight around my ankles! Sadly ,I am no longer young enough or skinny enough (not that I ever was,but it's amazing what a long black cardy covered!) to wear skinny jeans this time round,boo hoo :(

Yesterday we decided to be vultures and go and see if we could get Geoff a bargain chair in the Land of Leather sell off.His armchair was absolutley wrecked , he was practically sitting on the floor it was so low! Anyway, we found a bargain recliner which is what he has been after for ages.It worked out far cheaper to drive home with the chair and then Geoff drive back to pick us up than pay out for delivery so that's what we did :) So the girls and I had an unexpected lunch out and a wander round Lakeside too.We braved the huge Primark which makes the one in Stevenage look tiny! And Holly is now saving for a Hello Kitty toy from the Build a Bear Factory after spotting them and falling in love!

This is my Pencil Lines layout from last night.I used another old photo which I love as it shows how blonde Holly used to be!

I used

Little Yellow Bicycle paper

KI Lace cardstock

Scenic Route chipboard word

Prima crystal corner

Felt flowers from John Lewis

The girls have plenty to keep them amused this week :) Today Holly went to a friends and is off to another one tomorrow ,whilst Em has one of her friends here.Then on Wednesday we're expecting the Bowkis' ladies,which is fab as we weren't expecting to see them for ages yet :)

Right ,I am off to try catch up on the sleep that seems to be evading me at the moment! Three nights of still being awake at 2.30am is enough now...

Bits and bobs

Yesterday I got some cute new 'bits' ,having seen the lists on Laura's blog, when I was blog hopping a few weeks ago (as you do!) Watch out for them on a layout soon :)

And this is the layout I did a couple of weeks back using an old scanned photo of the girls when they were small :) I still haven't checked the date on the original so I'll add it to the layout when I get round to it! Oh and it's not that wonly in real life,i'm just rubbish at getting decent photos!

Not much else going on here really, just looking forward to Friday and the beginning of the holidays :)

It's official...

I am rubbish at blogging! I seem to start the week okay,but as routine sets in,life gets boring mid week and I have nothing to share!

So last week...on the Tuesday I decided that as the weather was far too nice to stay in,I would grab my camera and go out take photos of 'spring like' things! On the first attempt I got half way into town before discovering that my batteries were flat - typical! So I headed back home after popping into my Mum & Dad's for a quick natter.I then pottered about the house,attacked a pile of ironing whilst watching a chick flick I hadn't yet watched (In Her Shoes) before heading off out again.And too be honest ,most of my photos were pants! But then I always feel a bit daft if I'm out on my own ,taking photos of stuff ,in case people wonder what on earth I'm doing!I stopped by the library and renewed the books I still haven't read and got a couple of new ones.I'm averaging a book a week at the moment.Though I did read a whole one yesterday...which makes it sound like I have nothing to do but sit around reading,which really isn't the case!I'm just a fast reader :)

At the weekend Em had a friend over for a sleepover which lasted til after lunch yesterday and then she headed off to her friends to do some home work.Holly had fun too as they did her make up for her and let her stay in with them for a bit watching HSM 3 :)

This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week :)
I used

Jenni Bowlin paper

Lots of doodlebug alphabet stickers!

My Little Shoebox stickers

Prima swirls

Red Nose stickers and joke book!

This evening we had Hollys consultation at school and have brought all her books home for a good look at :) Just have to remember to take them all back again tomorrow!

The girls break up for Easter on Friday - woohoo! Not sure what we're doing over the break yet,fingers crossed we get some sunshine!

The world is my oyster...

well sort of! I have the whole day to myself, no plans,no 'must do's ' (well,there are,but I'm ignoring them!!) and the girls are both at after school clubs til after 4 o'clock.But my purse is empty...hmmm.....any suggestions?!

How could I forget!

This other sweet little Mothers Day present that Holly made me at Brownies :) Me on one side,her on the other :) Though I can assure you I don't own a red skirt...or blue tights!

Where to begin....

Whoops, huge catch up needed ! I hadn't meant to leave it so long,but life gets in the way sometimes...

So, last Tuesday I went over to Anna's but I think the world and his wife are aware of that ! We had a lovely day just chilling with the added bonuses of croissants and Galaxy Cookie Crumble chocolate.We also had a giggle looking through lots of old photos and spotting toys and clothes that Izzy and Holly both had as they're the same age :)

I can't remember much else that happened until Friday when we went over for Peter's 40th birthday party :) It was lovely to see Karen again and finally catch up with Annie who I haven't seen since last April ! Holly was a bit thrown by the noise at first (she doesn't do 'loud',bless her!) but by the time the second band came on she was much happier.Sadly we headed home before Peter's singing but I'm hoping Kevin videoed it so we can see it sometime :)

Saturday morning I woke up way before everyone else for some reason,and by the time Holly got up (she's usually the first !)I'd cleaned the cooker,got the washing machine on and tidied up a bit.It was quite nice actually as it was so bright and sunny .In the afternoon I cut the grass in the front and back gardens so they're looking much better. Now,if I could stop the neighbourhood cats pooing all over them that would be even better !

As today was Mothers Day I decided I was going to have a 'day off'...I still changed the beds and got two lots of washing washed and dried though!The girls got me a Momiji doll each and also some lovely purple tulips yesterday ( I had no intention of going food shoping anywhere today!)

We went for a walk round the lakes this morning as the weather is still so lovely :) This afternoon my mum & dad popped round for tea & cake and were treated to another of the girls 'shows' (this time with the aid of a fan used as a wind machine!!) That was followed by a roast dinner for tea - yum!

Last but not least,this is my Pencil Lines layout this week.I used some old photos of Holly when she'd had her face painted at a party a couple of years ago.




Papers are Scenic Route Surprise
Love Elsie rainbow ribbon and rainbow softie
Bazzill Just the Edge
Cuttlebug butterflies
AC Puffy Thickers
Bazzill Kraft

Please excuse the awful photo :( I just cannot get decent ones of my LO's at the moment.

Pencil lines

Here's my layout for this week:)

I used Making Memories,October Afternoon and Crate papers

AC Flair badge

My Little Shoebox mini letter stickers

AC letter stickers

Kaiser pearls

Maya Road sheer birds

Prima crystals

bazzill Just the Edge

The weather was lovely yesterday so we made the most of it :) Geoff was working so in the morning we went down to the lakes to feed the ducks and swans...but for some reason,they didn't want to be fed! The swans ate a bit of bread but really weren't interested in much :( After lunch we walked down to the library to pick up a book Em ordered last week adn then walked home with Geoff when he finished work.Once home the girls amused themselves 'airlifting' a teddy bear up and down from Em's window via a couple of skipping ropes and a plastic shopping basket!The funnny thing is, I remember doing exactly the same thing at that age.

I missed the crop again yesterday ,but I did manage to do a layout on Saturday night ,just for the hell of it,using some old papers :)I just need to add the date ,once I've found the original photo and then it will be finished :)

Tomorrow I'm going to Anna's for one last week day get together before she starts work :( Typical, I finally get my hours sorted so that I don't have to take a day off each time we meet up and she goes and gets a job...so inconsiderate (rolls eyes)... She knows I'm only joking really!

Something funny for the money!

Or in other words...Red Nose Day! As I said yesterday ,Holly wasn't allowed to colour her hair so she went wearing a very old hairband that i made for em about four or five years ago! I wired three red noses on to an alice band,though one seems to disappeared somewhere over the years!That ,along with her odd socks was her lot!

The talent show went well and Holly and her friends are through to the next round...although Holly still came out in tears...feeling sorry for the ones who didn't go through!

Em went in non-uniform and with red streaks though ,every time we do this,I forget beforehand what a pain coloured hairsprasy is to use! I've promised Holly I'll do her hair on Sunday...maybe!

oh dear...

I'm a bit rubbish at blogging these days!
Life is plodding along fairly uneventfully at the moment so there's not much to share I'm afraid!
Tuesday was spent catching up on stuff around the house.This included a pile of Brownie badges to be sewn on and toys to be mended.So whilst doing that I finally got round to starting to watch my DVDs of the first series of Greys Anatomy.I started watching it from series 2 and have been meaning watching the first series for ages.So,I'm two and a half episodes down!
Tomorrow Holly's school have a talent contest on as part of Red Nose Day.Holly is doing a dance routine with two of her friends..I'm not too sure how she'll do,so keeping my fingers crossed for her.They're not allowed to colour their hair this year (how miserable is that?!) but are wearing odd socks instead....hmm,okay then!Em's school letter had said 'not excessive' hair colour ,so I'll give her a squirt of red hairspray even though her tutor's told them they can't...make up your minds!Her hair is so dark though,it'll hardly be bright red!
My poor camera is feeling very unloved and unused at the moment too, though I did take a couple of photos today,so hopefully I'll add one to this post in the morning.Pictureless posts don't feel right!*photo added of my tiny daffodils by the front door!*

Roll on summer...

Okay,so I've had enough of the cold weather and I'd like a bit of warmth and sunshine please! Saying that, we were forcast sleet,snow and hail earlier this week and it never arrived so I suppose I should be thankful for that! It was windy enough to get the washing dry outside this morning though before the rain came down this afternoon!

This afternoon we went to the library and I am now stocked up on books to read for the next couple of weeks :) To be honest,they didn't seem to have much there,so I think I need to have a nose in Smiths and then go back and order them from the library!

Here's my Pencil Lines layout for this week :) I love Scenic Route papers but they always seem the hardest to get a decent photo of! And I couldn't think of a title hence the absence of one!

I used
Scenic Route Sonoma papers & buttons
Prima journalling page
Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies & ghost heart
My Little Shoe Box mini alpha stickers
MM clip
Fancy Pants bobble trim
October Afternoon flower
The ghost bits on it don't show very well in the full size photo!




On Friday Holly dressed up twice for World Book day, as the princess from the Princess and the Pea,and as Lola for Brownies in the evening :)