2 pages!!!

I had quite a productive night round Jenny's yesterday as I managed to almost complete two pages, finishing them off this afternoon. I used papers for the first page that Jenny and Ed gave me for Christmas, they are from the Holiday range, I have been longing to do these photos since last christmas!

Jennyand I have subscibed to scrappingangels page kit and this was the first kit we received, the papers are from the cherryArte range and are very pink, not my most favourite of colours, butt they do go nicely with my little granddaughter!

Fruitcake

This is a christmas page I finished today, the picture is of Ian and his mum taken in 1955. I had seen a similar layout on ukscrappers by josieanne and have adapted it to suit my photo. The papers are Basic Grey Fruitcake which I had for christmas, having drooled over them long enough I decided I must actually use them! My aim now is to use more of my papers before I get any more.

I love my teddies.



I spend far too long playing games on the computer.



I have lots of cross stitch kits.



I would like my husband to do the garden!

These are the finished pages of my "I confess" book, I hope to add to them later on but I am pleased I have actually finished a project.

I have been quite busy today, the children came round this morning and we played a few games, they each beat me at matching pairs and Alex taught me how to do a few things on the computer.
I am now going to do some more scrapbooking and hope to show the finished result tomorrow.

Finally!

At last! I get there in the end, this project was for last weekend but as usual I take a lot longer, I'm quite pleased though as this is the first one I have ever done. The photos have been re-arranged several times, papers have been pulled off and new ones put on, embellishments are now languishing in the bin, but I HAVE FINISHED!

I then went off to make cauliflower cheese for tea only to have 2 slugs fall out of the cauliflower, I now cant eat that so will have to rethink tea, thank goodness for my brave son who came to the rescue and got rid of the slugs for me, he does occasionally have some use!! He will have me making bacon sandwiches and hot chocolate all weekend for that! Andrew has been known to phone me from his bedroom to ask for a drink, the little darling!

Another page

Have spent most of the day, apart from work and looking after the children, getting ready for the crop tonight, only to decide at the last moment not to go! Both Jenny and I didn't fancy going out in the cold so I thought I had better do a page at home instead. Why is it that I can have all the enthusiasm but no inspiration, I keep changing my mind about papers, layout, embellishments etc. Anyway here is the finished page very simply done, held by my idiot son!!

Collecting things

My daughter has always collected to excess, whether it was Bryan Adams records,( I am sure it was because of her his record stayed at number 1 for so long), cross stitch kits, craft material, workout dvds and so on. Looking at my teddies I think I know where she gets it from!

These teddies are my pride and joy, I have some very expensive ones in my collection but my favourite is Ian's old teddy, whenever we went round his parents house Tricky was always there for the children to play with, now he sits on the special shelf along with my Stieff bears

I confess!

Have started my "I confess" mini book and here is one of my photos, a small section of my unopened cross stitch kits, I didn't dare let Ian see all of them! Watch out everyone you might be getting these for Christmas.

Have had fun thinking of other confessions but think I had better keep the rest to myself!

Apart from that I have had a good weekend, playing too long on the computer (oops another confession) or as I like to think of it, keeping in touch with my boys.

The children came round this morning and had a nice game of football in my hall again. Alex has just phoned me to say he has made me a love card which is very sweet. David, Peter and Mum have all phoned me so I am up to date with all the news. I am now going to tidy up my mess and go and watch 24, bye xx p. s. have written my first entry in my book journal, will try and go to the library this week and get some more books.

stormy weather

It has been a very blustery day today, went down to the sea to take a few photos but they dont do the waves justice.

It's still nice living by the sea whatever the weather, even when you nearly get blown away!
The children are coming round for tea in a minute, have made stew and dumplings as comfort food seems appropriate at the moment, not good for the diet though. Had a takeaway last night as well, oh well there's always another day!

Ordinary day!

Not much to write about today as I haven't done much. Jenny and I went to the shops this morning and then I went to school and tried to help the children learn to skip, I had a go but they said I was too big, we oldies never have any fun!
Have finished watching Battlestar Gallactica which I thoroughly enjoyed and have now started the latest 24 which has hooked me already, watched 3 episodes since last night!
Finished knitting my scarf and have picked up my cross stitch again, that's almost finished now so feel quite pleased with myself!

Football!

Have had a nice day today until the spurs game, now there is deep depression in the house!
The children came round for the morning and were enjoying themselves until Alex tripped into the door frame and got an enormous bump on his head, he was very brave though and soon recovered when I gave him some football cards!
Jamie put on the charm and managed to stay for lunch and the spurs game although he nearly went home when he made fun of my singing!
Have looked at shimelles website and have decided to do her free class this weekend in the hope that it might encourage me to do more, she has some very good ideas.
Had to make some cakes quickly to feed Jamie and Andrew, this recipe always goes down well.

Chocolate brownies
100 gm butter
2 tbs milk
100 gm choc drops
175 gm sort light brown sugar
1 med egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 gm plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50 gm flaked almonds if liked

180 deg tin 7 by 9 greased

Melt butter, milk and half choc drops in microwave for 1 min.
Add sugar, egg and van essence
Sieve in flour, baking powder and salt
Stir until smooth then mix in drops and almonds if used
bake for 18 - 20 mins until set but slightly soft

Alex's tree

Having struggled with this scrapbook page last night I was determined to get it finished. I have decided to use my embellishments instead of storing them away.
Have cleaned the house, been to work and made the dinner, off to Jenny's later for some babysitting while they go out for a meal, we have sausage casserole, yum!!

Crop night

Have had a very busy day today, seem to have been on the go all day. Jenny came round in the morning and we had a nice time sorting out photos and papers for tonights crop, I always enjoy that. Then it was off to work, the weather was very blustery and the children kept asking me when they could go in, I felt just the same, couldn't wait to get out of the cold. Rushed home from work to have lunch and do the ironing then it was off to collect the children. Alex came out of school with a big beam on his face waving a piece of paper, he had an invitation to the top table tomorrow for lunch at school, something handed out to 8 children who have behaved the best, he told me it was the best week of his life!
The children came round for tea and I had to watch them perform several dances and give marks, they did a very good job and managed a 40 for one dance which pleased Alex even more!
Jenny and I went off to our crop armed with papers and photos and full of enthusiasm only to find inspiration had gone and we struggled all evening trying to complete a page, oh well, that's life!

Christmas Day at Jenny and Ed's

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Have been getting ready for crop tomorrow and came across these photos of a typical christmas day in the ........... household, thought they would do very nicely!!

Sudoku Champ

Phone rang this morning at an extremely early hour causing me to leap out of bed in a panic, with just cause as it happens as it was Jenny to tell me our scrapbook kits had to be bought a.s.a.p. We got the last two so I will forgive her the phonecall.
Got my lowest score on sudoku yesterday, 297, I was 11th when I did it so I was very pleased, today I got over 350 so not so good, wasn't long ago I was happy to get it under 1000!!
Reading a very good book at the moment by Michael Ridpath, called On the edge. He hasn't written many books so I am pleased when I find another one of his, can recommend it to those who like thrillers.
Marks out of 10 - 8

First of Many!

Have done my first scrapbook page of the new year, cant let Jenny get too ahead of me!!
The picture was taken of Alex last year in the snow just after Christmas.

Now all I need is to do the 500 or so other pictures I have!

Keeping Busy

Too tired to write anything yesterday, had the grandchildren round! They were very good and ate all their tea, Alex wanted to watch the singing, Jamie football and Becca wanted to play on the computer, got let off lightly as it was too dark to play football in the garden.
Went to the garden centre and was forced by Jenny to buy a tote and another scrapbook album, now i just need to get organised and do some pages!!
Today I have got the house tidy, been to work and played on the computer. I'm hoping the walk to work is doing me some good but I know the shortbread biscuit isn't!

Supernan

Have had a very busy day today. Did our weekly shop at Asdas this morning, kept it down to £60 which was good. Back at school for lunch, glad to see Alex looked happy, sneaked a little peak at him doing his brain gym, he was concentrating very hard!
After lunch Ian and I decided to set up my new printer/scanner, as usual it involved a lot of moving things around, dusting and moans! Still it is all done now and although I have lost a lot of space on my desk I am very pleased with it
Oh yes I got 330 on sudoku this morning which I was pleased with as the mouse was sticking so it could have been quicker!
New recipe for tonight -Hot coronation chicken - from Rosemary Conley recipe

4 skinless chicken breasts
2 medium onions
garlic
1-2 tbsp korma powder
1 veg stock cube dissolved in 150ml boiling water
1 tbsp plain flour
300 ml milk
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp fat free fromage frais
1 tbsp mango chutney
50g seedless grapes
salt and pepper

1 Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and dry fry for 6-7 mins until they change colour. Remove from pan and set aside.
2 Add onion and garlic and cook gently until soft. Sprinkle curry powder over and add 2 tbsp of stock. Mix well, then add flour and cook out for 1 min. Gradually add remaining stock and milk, stirring continuously to prevent lumps.
3 Return chicken to the pan and add parsley. Simmer gently 10 mins to cook chicken. Remove from heat, stir in fromage frais, chutney and grapes, and serve with rice.

Normality

Nice to be back to normal, have taken down all the decorations and tidied up. Ian and I went for a nice walk down to the sea in an effort to get fit, I do a lot of walking but Ian doesn't so it was for his benefit really.
This morning I went shopping with Jenny, got a few bargains in Marks, a nice jumper for Ian and some wrapping paper.
I have been trying to eat sensibly and so far have been good, looked in on Andrew and saw him sitting at his computer desk with a tin of sweets beside him, very tempting but I resisted.

Happy New Year

I feel very pleased with myself, actually saw the new year in, usually I fall asleep!!
Had a nice time round Jenny and Ed's, was feeling kind so let them win a couple of games then thought they were getting too smug so won Test the Nation (with Ian's help)
Today we took Mum and Peter back, it seems to have gone so quickly, had a good journey only took 4hrs!!!
I'm too tired to do much today but am determined to get organised with everything, especially diet.
Was nice to get an email from Maureen Pierpoint who we haven't seen for a very long time, I was very fond of her 3 boys and I'm glad they are all doing well.
Finished another book (2 weeks it took me)
Barbara Vine - The Brimstone Wedding - it was described as a compelling mystery but I wouldn't go that far , marks out of 10 - 5