Maybe I should tidy my desk.

On my to do list tonight is to start the HUGE ironing pile (can't ignore it much longer) and to go through and complete old albums. However since I can't actually GET to my desk right now I might need to tidy it a bit first.

If not theres always the couch! lol. I admit going through the albums should have been done a while ago. I have a bad habit of leaving layouts without journalling or a title then just piling them up in my 'to do' pile, getting bored of said 'to do' pile staring at me and just putting them into albums for attention later. Now have 9 albums so better start it. lol. This is album one and my box of alphas. :)

Marks at the hospital today for his check up so I've shamelessly bribed the kids with sweets and a movie (Alvin and the chipmunks 2) so I can get the housework done

Peace lasting longer than usual. They must be tired. lol
Thanks for all the comments on my list yesterday. :) I did some research into getting a chockywokkydodah cake and have been slightly put off by the reviews of horrible cakes, dirty cafe and mice seen in the kitchen! So decided to change that to
- make a fancy chocolate cake of my own.
I've always loved the ones with the chocolate curls around the edge so going to have a go tomorrow. :) It's my nieces first birthday Thursday (and I've got my second breast clinic appointment :( ) so perfect timing for a huge chocolate cake I think!

blogger driving me mad

Well today I had a HUGE pile of ironing to do, along with the living room floor to sweep and mop and a pile of forms to fill out for Camerons starting school. So of course I ignored all of that, blog hopped and made a list of 'things to do before I'm 30'. :) Which I actually only realised today was in 3 years. 3 years!!!! I thought I had 4, forgot I hadn't had a birthday yet this year. lol. So far on the list is:
- See a west end show
- Have a day where I do nothing but watch dvds and eat junk food.
- Finish the cross stitch height chart I started 6 years ago
- Have a family photo taken
- Go on a BIG family picnic
- Learn how to work my i-pod (no Mark it's NOT easy! lol)
- Get a tattoo
- Have a cake from choccywocky dodah
- Have a big party
- Finish the family recipe book I started for the kids.
- Take Caitlin ice skating
- Visit Ireland
- Stay in a haunted house
- Get to my target weight
- win a contest
- Go on a spa weekend
- Take kids to greece
- Visit Italy
- Take Caitlin to disney on ice
- Eat at one of Jamie Olivers restaurants
- Take the kids camping
SO not TOO much to fit into 3 years. lol. Some are easier than others and all the places I want to visit are probably NOT going to happen but worth a shot. :)
Ok so bucket lists aside blogger is doing my head in. From what I can gather theres been a problem with commenting for a little while now but obviously being away its just starting to annoy me now. lol. SO I am reading all your blogs and trying to post but wont always let me. :(
Ending on a happy note. :) Forgot to mention I found a great craft shop in great yarmouth. Could have spent a small fortune but was very reserved and just got this.

Been after one since I saw Karen use it on the twilight retreat earlier this year so very pleased to have one now. :) Sure it will be on a layout very soon!

What a great week. )

Well that was a great week away! Admittedly the park wasn't too good. we arrived at the caravan to find a pillow in our room covered in blood and hair. Ewww. After complaining (and buying cleaning bits from the shop) we received an apology and £30 to spend in the pub restaurant. good job too as it was So expensive! A meal and drink each came to just under £40. lol. The 'Beach' across the road was just dunes and rocks and the 'bus stop just outside' was around 15 mins walk away. lol. If I had paid full price to go there I'd have been really angry but as it was a cheap deal from 'The Sun' we just got on with it. :)
First full day we had we abandoned the park and went into great yarmouth itself. The beach there was amazing. So clean and the sand was so soft. We were there pretty early so had the whole beach to ourselves which the kids loved and ran around like mad. Caitlin wasn't too fond of the sea though as it was a bit loud so hid behind Daddy.

Our kingdom we made. :)

On this holiday it was so obvious how much bigger the kids have got. On one hand I hate it as they're getting too big! On the other it's nice to be able to do more things with them. Mark loved showing Cameron how to play pool. Cameron took it so seriously and was thrilled when he potted a ball. :)

Obviously a trip to the beach isnt the same without a trip to the fair. We went to the pleasure beach and had a great time. :) If you go great yarmouth it's well worth it, a wristband and it entertains the kids for the whole day. Wasn't too bad a price either, only £50 for the lot of us. :) I didnt get many photos as obviously I was on the rides too but did get a picture of the kids with their ice creams. The cones were all dipped in different colour sugar which pleased Cameron no end as he could have blue. lol. Caitlin went for pink. Typical girl. lol



We also went to the sea life center which Caitlin really enjoyed. It surprised me as normally Camerons interested in the facts and figures of everything while Caitlin can't wait to move on. here it was different, caitlin asking lots of questions and wanting to see everything. particularly the catfish for some reason :s. We bought them both some pirate gear as a souvenir which they still love playing with. lol

Bowling, strike first time. lol

My fave picture of the week. :)

Well remember how I said I hated the kids growing up. Well on the last night that was so evident. Normally caitlins my baby, MY baby! I usually joke there was no point cutting the cord when she was born as she's never far away enough. lol. However on the last night she didnt want to dance with me and danced with some other girls. :( While the shows were on she wouldnt sit with us either and sat at the front with the girls. Ok so I could see her the whole time and she was fine but it didnt stop my heart being in my mouth. 'What if she fell, what if the girls were mean to her?' Seriously HOW do parents deal with this?! I tried bribing her with sweets and fizzy drinks to sit with us but nope. It reminded me of when I was a kid and went to summer camp. My mum tried EVERYTHING to get me to come home but I was fine. She wasn't lol. Funny how things turn out. lol

Need coffee!!!

Or at least I'm going to! It's currently 2am and I'm blogging on my iPhone. Can't sleep tonight for some reason :s Camerons not helping, this is the second night in a row he's come screaming out of his room saying a lady is in there, and he's now in there chatting away and laughing at nothing!!! It's funny really as during bingo the other night I mentioned to Lisa that Camerons room is a but strange, lots of 'orbs' often show up on photographs in there :s I'm not sure if I believe there's really a ghost there. Don't get me wrong I'm a strong believer in ghosts and the paranormal, I just think it's much more likly cams dreaming and his room has dust floating about in some pictures. Lol. Well gonna try again to get to sleep as getting hungry now and I'm not eating at 2am!!

double layout

I don't often do double layouts but when I saw these pictures I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. lol. The photos are both from when we did a sponsored walk with the kids for a children's charity. It was called 'The big toddle' and my two raised over £50. Proud mummy. :) Anyway, they had a magic show after the walk and Cameron helped do some of the tricks. Obviously Caitlin then wanted to do one too.
Now I love my daughter, don't get me wrong she's my princess, but she certainly takes after my grandad when it comes to attitude. Oe story always told about my grandad is when he was younger he was a rugby player. One game he hurt his leg, carried on playing. Wasn't until later they found out his leg was broken. lol. He says 'Well I wanted to finish the game, it's just a leg' Thats Caitlin all over, lol. She will do things when she wants, in her own time, and god help anyone who gets in her way. I'm just lucky shes a sweet kid and makes good choices otherwise I'd probably have tore my hair out by now. lol.
Anyway, back to the magic show, so as I said Cameron (whos much more laid back) had done the tricks as told and had fun, so up goes Caitlin. The man tells her he's going to draw a picture of her and then she has to pull the silk ribbon off the lid of a box. She turns to me with this look on her face which says 'Is he actually telling me what to do?!' (hence the title, lol) Then shouts at the man 'You didn't say please!' Everyone was in fits of laughter. lol.

Close up of the face. :) I think I'm going to take up drinking when she turns 13. lol

The other side of the layout is this photo of Mark and Cameron looking sympathetically at the magician. So the title. 'Sorry mate you've no chance' seemed fitting. lol.

I need to go around the letters with black pen, but as I've been needing to get one for weeks and havent got around to it yet thoguht I'd blog them now.
Well nearly all ready for the holiday next week. Got to go and try and get Caitlin something to help with travel sickness today. Not fond of the idea of giving her pills if I can help it but if its got to be done got to be done bless her. They're at a dads group thing at kingswood childrens center today so its so quiet without them!

WOYW um, thursday. lol

Ok, well I did actually start this post yesterday but then I started scrapping and didnt finish it. But at least it's a good reason not to finish it! lol. Ended up doing 3 and 1/2 layouts so feel like my mojo is comming back a bit. :) Also played a game of online bingo with some great ladies, so a good night really. Anyway, what was on my desk was a Button layout I decided to do. :) For my layouts I never buy buttons I just use one's I've cut off my kids old clothes. I also cut shapes and flowers from the material. I thought it was worth documenting that rather than throw their clothes away, I wanted to keep a bit of them always. :) There will be an 's' on the end,once I find one. lol

Yesterday we also boguth some food for when we go away next week. One of the big excitements of going away when I was young was that my mum would buy lots of nice food we wern't usually allowed. So obviously we did the same thing. :) Lots of chocolate biscuits, crisps, sweets and pastrys. lol. Oh and some wine for mummy. :) One thing we got which I was excited about was these.

I know its sad but when we were little these were SO expencive (or maybe we were just poor, lol) we were only allowed them on holiday, and it was the only time we got name brand cerial. So while my kids eat shreddies and cherrios all the time, it really takes me back to my childhood. :) Think im more excited than they are! lol

My garden :)

Ok so my garden is now prety much finished! Needs a few more baskets put up but I'm not too fussed about that. So this is it before:

And this is now!

This is the adults bit. Got the furniture from focus, bargain at £150 for the set! Got the pillows from tx maxx. i LOVE the big squishy striped one. I now dont want to leave them outside so when not in use they live in our bedroom. Husband thinks I'm slightly mad but hey ho. lol. The plants are lavender (smells so good) and a big butterfly bush. :) Obviously when it grows ill need to move it but for the moment its staying there. The red candle holder was Marks first fathers day gift so wanted that to go somewhere special, while the blue ceramic pot my mum bought us for our first wedding anniversery. I love how things which have just lived in the garage for years now have a home. :)

This is my 'outdoor scrapbook' lol. You know how you have an image in your head for something but it doesnt usually turn out like that, this seems to be going really well! This trellis is actually from my sisters house but she kindly let me steal it, lol. So I tied some pots of herbs on it with garden wire and some small candle laterns. See my idea is that usually when we're away I collect lots of little things. Painted glass pots, plaques etc and this is where I'm going to hang them. :) That way its like a scrapbook of where we've been, but weather proof. lol. The little picnic table I boguht off a friend for £10, bargain. Its in desperate need of some paint but that just means I can do what i want to it. :)

This is the kids side. Honestly, rain, sun, freezing winds they are out here. I love how I can just let them play and not worry :) I LOVE MY GARDEN!!!!!!

I have done some scrapbooking but my mojo seems to have died. :( Not got much to do tomorrow so plan to have a scrapping day. :)

On the list today!

On the to do list today! Well its actually an easier day than I originally planned. I had planned to finish digging out the front garden but Mark had to go to his drs appointment earlier than we thought. And no way am I trying to do it with two hyper kids. lol. So thats been moved to tomorrow. So today we have:
- Sort out the HUGE pile of washing in my bedroom.
- Plant the plants I boguht the other day (thanks to my mum for giving me the ceramic pots)

- Hoover bedrooms and stairs.
- Tidy my desk! (might get some scrapping done then too!)

- Try and get the smell of smoke out of Marks leather compputer chair. We bought it second hand and by god does it stink. Explains why it was such a bargain really. Been advised to clean it with baby shampoo so going to give that a shot.
- Start packing and making lists for the holiday next week! I'm so excited about this. We're just going to Haven, gt yarmouth for a few days but will be a nice break. We got it on one of the deals from The Sun so was really cheap. I think I'm so excited as the kids have never stayed in a caravan before (well Cameron did but he was only 6 months, lol, dont think he'll remember) and I loved it when i was young. We couldnt afford fancy holidays so all ours were 'British holidays' and I loved them. :) Apprently we're getting a heatwave too so bonus!

Last on the list is -Catch up with friends blogs. I'm now shamefully behind. lol

Tired but happy :)

The past two days have been a mad rush of shopping, cleaning, visits to the tip and sorting things out. But I'm at the point now where I'm starting to see a difference. :) Caitlins old bed is being collected this weekend (sold it to my sister :) ) garden is looking good and the garage is looking a lot more empty WOOOHOOO!!!! Also have the plastic weed sheet stuff for the front garden so once its level (hopefully sometime next week) I'll get that done :)I love it when I can step back and say 'it's done' and it STAYS done if you know what I mean, unlike the dishes or ironing. lol.
Anyway while we were shopping yesterday i found these in poundland. Bargain! they also had glitter thickers but I've got too many of those already.

Finished a layout too. :) Id made chocolate cornflakes cakes with Caitlin before but this was the first time she was really involved in it and loved eating the chocolate right out of the bowl. lol

Early night tonight. then more tip tomorrow. You'd think I wouldnt have anything left in the house considering how often I go there!

WOYWW

On my desk this week is a big pile of felt. lol. Today hasn't started too well as I've lost my ipod, the kids were up at 5:30 and Camerons in full on 'But whyyyyyyyy!' mode. So decided to sit down with a cup of fresh coffee (forgot how yummy that is) and cut out some shapes for the layout I'm doing. Nothing more relaxing that cutting and hacking things up when you're tense lol.

One thing I'm cheery about though is Mark is FINALLY sorting out the old consoles in the garage. Its been a sore topic since he moved in really as he has boxes upon boxes of things he NEVER uses but really just liked to have. Ive made my peace that the warhammer is here for the duration but managed to convince him hes never going to play with his old spectrums and similar again. So hes going to sort them out and either give them to his brother or tip them. Woo hoo!! Bit more space in the garage. :) I was considering getting rid of more of the mege drive and snes games but as the kids are starting to get into playing them might have to keep them a while longer. lol

Click here for Ebay 3d flower die!

I knew things were going too well. lol. Well today I'm in a sulk. Usually happens a couple of times a month so this is one sulk for May used up. :) Last night Mark heard that Focus is going into liquidation so were selling off all their stock cheap. I got very excited at this news as below is the table and chair set I want for the garden.

Now when I say I want it, read 'I want it, I want it, I WANT IT! in typical toddler mode. Now we can't afford it, obviously, very skint atm (sad face) but at a rumored 80% off I'd be ok just sticking it on the credit card. :) So we were up at 6:30 to get kids ready and dropped off at nursery for 8am to rush over to focus for when it opened. :) Only to find they had NO stock of any garden sets as all were pre-ordered before the liqudation even happened! GUTTED! So now back to saving for the cheaper set from Asda which isnt as nice. :(
On a happier note we were at the town yesterday paying bills when we popped into Tk Maxx and found LOADS of making memories kits for £2! I was very restrained (the lack of cash in my purse helped lol) and only bought one. But with a stamp, lace, and glittered, die cut and stiched papers its a bargain and a half. :)

Back to the being poor theme and we decided to ebay loads of bits over the weekend. Hubby has his own account where most things are sold because I dont know what half of it is (warhammer and comuter stuff) while clothes and craft things go on mine. :) After much consideration I found a die I thought I'd better sell as I bought it but never used it. lol (yes only one die and marks selling a big box of stuff. oh well. lol) Its the Sizzix 3d flowers die here

And can be found by clicking the title of this post :)

Feeling good. :)

Im on top of the housework, have managed some scrapping and just had a chocolate chip muffin with melted center. Life is good. :) lol.
This is the layout I managed last night,its the second page of the one I did the other day, once together it reads 'Meeting new friends, who are much bigger is real life!' I used a number 4 as thats Gordons number (Gordons the train at the bottom for those of you who do not have a Thomas obsessed child. lol)

This was the layout I did for my gran. :) Turned out well in the end. Amazed how pretty it looks just by putting it in a frame!

Quick post tonight, lol. Busy day so going to chill out and watch Glee. :)

Doing well so far. :)

My keeping on top of things resolution is doing well so far. :) Managing to stay on top of most things thoguh it is annoying how 'Sort washing' is on the list EVERY day. Dont know how 4 people go through a load of washing each day! Also been making menus which has helped with shopping and the daily 'what do you want for dinner? No dont look in 5 minutes because that means an hour just go look now' rows I have with my hubby. lol
However one thing I have fell behind with is visiting my granny. I usually go every tuesday but with Caitlins birthday this week then both kids getting poorly I havent been down. Unfortunatly with my sister moving and extra shifts my mum and sister havent been down either so shes in a big sulk with us. So this is my plan for tonight. :)

Friends dvd, headphones so can't hear kids and Sarahs cards march kit. :) I'm going to make her a layout of all the kids for her newly decorated room. She loves my scrapbooking (though she still has some potato printing I did as a toddler so I dont take it as TOO much of a complement. lol) so hoping she'll like this and might cheer her up a bit. :) Actually found this kit in my tote upstairs. Dont remember reciving it which is bad because its really, really pretty. Got to start scrapping again, too much pretty paper being neglected!

Finishing jobs

Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. - Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests itself:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the rubbish bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my cheque book off the table, and see that there is only one cheque left. My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye: they need to be watered.
I place the coke down on the work surface, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the work top, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone has left it on the kitchen table.
I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the lounge where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
The car isn't washed.
The bills aren't paid.
There is a warm can of coke sitting on the work surface.
The flowers don't have enough water.
There is still only one cheque in my chequebook.
I can't find the TV remote.
I can't find my glasses and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
I read this joke a while ago and apart from the fct it was originally about retirment it could have been wrote by me. lol. I never used to be like this. Before I had my kids I was SO organised. Always on time and had everything done early. However then Cameron and his short attention span came along and changed all that. Id start the dishes in the kitchen while he played on his boucner. I'd probably have just enough time to wash them before he started wailing and I'd need to leave the wet dishes and move into the bedroom where I would start sorting washing (collected earleir then left in the room) while he played with toys on the floor. I'd manage to sort it before he'd get bored but not have enough time to put it away. You can see the pattern there. lol. Admittidly now they can play alone (for longer than before anyway) without my intervention but I just cant get out of the habit of leaving things half done and starting new jobs.
So, today will be a 'finish and start again' day. All the half finished jobs, such as the ironing waiting to be hung up and the pile of clothes waiting to go to the chairty shop, will all be finished. Then tomorrow morning I will do what I used to do, make a to do list that morning and stick to it untill its done.
Taking bets on how long this will last btw. ;)
But in the sprit of good starts heres a layout I finished this morning which has been unfinished for the past week.

Scraplifted from 'Across the miles' By claire on the sc team. :)

Are we back to normality yet?

As my hubby always tells me I'm a creature of habit. So this month has completely messed up my system. lol. We've had bank holidays, birthdays, parties and my sister moving house. All happy events of course but very unsettling to my simple mind. :s As a result theres not much point in my doing a WOYWW as it looks the same as last week. lol. So instead a recap of my fun filled week. :)
On friday 29th, while most of the uk was celebrating the royal wedding I was busy celebrating the birth of my bestest boy. :) Love the bed head as he opens his new Mobigo game. lol

We were planning to take him to a local farm for the day but it was much colder than we thought so ended up going to see Rio at the cinema then home for pizza. Was actually a really good film. Didn't have much hope for it from the ads but enjoyed it. Cameron was in fits at the dog who had the fruit hat.
As Camerons birthday was the Friday, and Caitlins the following Tuesday we had a joint party on the sunday. Was a busy weekend as my sister moved house on the saturday so was helping her too. lol.
Had plenty of games planned for the older kids but what could entertain the baby? I know! A paddling pool full of balloons! 3 hours she was in there crawling about. lol Think my sister might be doing this in the future. lol

Opening gifts :)

Her very own Mobigo. This was actually a last minute gift we bought that morning in order to stop the HUGE rows over Camerons. lol

Playing pin the tail on the donkey. We thought the kids were all just really good at this as they all got really close. Mollie admitted later they could see out of the mask. cheaters! lol.

Playing the Pinata. This was so funny. I was surprised at how into it the kids got, seriously smashing the boat and crying when their turn was up! Took a little while as the boat was really sturdy but with a bit of adult help they managed it. lol

Mad scramble for sweets.

The cake. I was THRILLED with this cake. Was so much bigger than I expected and was very yummy too. The kids loved it and were so surprised to see their favourite characters on it.


Caitlin was quick to claim Timmy. Cameron was even quicker to claim Thomas and while I do have a picture of him eating it his face was smeared with black icing and it not an attractive photo so will just keep that one saved for now. lol

You'd think that would be it for parties but no. lol. As Caitlins birthday was on Tuesday we took her to nursery where they had a little party for her, then to cheeky monkees afterwards. She had a good time dispite being poorly with an ear infection bless her, so been relaxing pretty much since. Back to housework for me! Quite looking forward to it. lol