New week, new start

New week, new start, no more moaning, time to get on with it. :) Had quite a nice weekend, didnt do much Saturday and went to a party Sunday. My 'work' homestart had a fun day for the kids so took my two along. They had a great time playing with all the craft stuff and games. There was a lady there doing circus tricks and teaching the kids too. Was nice to see them playing together and having fun. Cameron was so tired out from the day he was asleep on the floor by seven. lol.
Havent done any crafting yet, still reading and doing puzzles, lol. Did do this last week though, wasn't going to show it yet as its for an upcoming challenge on UKS, but decided I didnt like it and did another one. lol. So will show this one but won't tell you the rules. :p

Love these flowers. This is the newest Sarahs card kit and had a sheet of these in it. basically a sheet of pop out flowers you twirl up to make 3d ones.

Ironing to do today, then doimg a roast for dinner tonight as kids were so stuffed on party food yesterday they didnt want dinner! lol

Thank god this week is over. Last money post I promise

I said at the start of the week I had a bad feeling this week was going to be rubbish. Oh how right I was! As well as the number of problems we had with Cameorn and school, and my Grandad having scans to see how far the cancer has spread (Wont find out until the end of Febuary!) we got a letter from the benifits office yesterday cancellning marks disability, so we are now £740 a month down. :( We rang around and canceled some luxuries, cut down on what we could and it should be just about manageable, just nothing left for emergencies or treats. :( Mark can't work, all of his drs agree so looks like I'll be looking for a job! He can't deal with the housework either, really he should be on his own for too long as he does stupid things like leaving the oven on, or leaving the door wide open when he goes to the shops. So god knows how we're going to cope. :( We'll manage though I guess. we always do. lol

catch up

Ok, this did start as a post about my determination to catch up with all the bits and bobs I havent done recently, but now its a bit of a rant (yes another one) about modern technology. Ok I'm going to sound about 99 right now but I HATE all this new stuff! Take Marks new Christmas toy for example, I got him a external hard drive. We can store all the kids dvds on there he says, can stream them to the tv wirelessly so we don't have a big box of dvds beside the tv. Great, except sometimes the file isnt recognised, and if the internet drops out halfway through the film stops, and sometimes the sound isnt synced right to whoever is talking!!! He also suggested putting all our photos on there to keep as a back up. Now I'm really anal about my photos on my computer, all are organised into folders based on year taken, and all are titled with month and place of taking. Somewhere between copying from my computer and putting it on this thing half have got lost and the rest have lost all their titles and folders! They're still on my computer than goodness so will try and figure out how to fix it, lol. And these Ipods which download the whole flamming album when I just want one song, I miss cds!
Well back to my original blog post topic, lol. Recently I've been SO tired and drained, I think its been all the rubbish lately has taken it out of me, so a lot of little 'to dos' have fallen by the wayside. One thing on the list is to make notes of ideas to scrapbook about. Usually I just look at a photo and base it on that, but sometimes the kids will do something, or I'll think of something I want them to know should I not be around when they're older and I never remember it when it comes to scrapping as theres no photo to remind me iykwim. One thing I made a note of is how quick the kids grow, I know everyone says it but you really don't get it I think until you have kids of your own. Well it made me think of the photo I took of Cameron when he was 6 months old

Not a happy bunny is he, lol, but it was more the size of the 360 controller I thought of, compared there to here

Much more happy with it now playing with Daddy last week, lol. So much has changed between those two photos, but honestly doesn't seem that long. They grow up so fast! lol.
Well didnt get anything done today, Cameron was off school again so made some blueberry muffins at home with Caitlin as obviously missed the cooking class. Were a bit doughy as Cait was a bit heavy handed with the milk but most have been eaten so cant be that bad, lol. He WILL be going tomorrow though so hopefully will be able to do a lot of the little run around bits I need to do. Fingers crossed!

bleh, moany post, feel free to ignore

Sunday night I told my mum I had a bad feeling about this week. So far I've been proved right, lol. Cameron was ill yesterday with a sore throat and temp so he stayed home, this morning he went to school but not without a few tears, the social services meeting was a COMPLETE waste of time, sister had a big hissy fit at me as I said I wasn't prepared to babysit her kids anymore if it involved contact with mine. OK sounds harsh on the surface but last Saturday I was supposed to be babysitting Lillie. She was supposed to be here at 12pm and my two were so excited! 1pm still no sign so I rang my sister to find out I was no longer needed. I was pissed off she hadn't even told me and Camerons was gutted he wasn't seeing Lillie. Wednesday we were supposed to be going to cooking groups with caitlin and Evie. Another last minute cancellation from sister, though she did txt me this time so improvement I guess. Then Saturday, she begged me to bring the kids round hers as she last saw cameron in July. Again cancelled last minute, two gutted kids. So kinda had enough now. My two see the girls quite often as when my mum has them I take them round, and we go swimming with them every Wednesday, so no harm for them, just sister. Mark discovered another health worry to add to the pile and then Cameron was sent home early from school feeling ill. :( Tomorrow is busy but hopefully better. I've got a cooking class with Caitlin first thing in the morning, volunteer work then town with and drs with Mark. eugh ignore me in tired and cranky, lol.

Nice relaxing days. :)

Yesterday I was supposed to go to my sisters but she had to go to town. The weather was dreadful but wanted the kids to have some fresh air so thought we'd take them to the shops/library on their scooters. Its only a 30 minute round trip walking so didn't think would take too long. Oh how wrong I was, 2 hours and many many puddles later 4 very wet but happy members of the household came home. lol. We'd got lots of books and some chocolate biscuits from the shop so changed into comfy jammies and settled down to a relaxing afternoon reading and playing games with the kids. :) As the day had been so nice we decided to get a Chinese as a treat. We always order a bit more than we need so it usually does Mark for lunch the next day. We ordered it at 5, an hour later it shows up freezing cold. So we complained and they sent out a second order for free! Mark was a very happy bunny, his pile of food was stupidly huge, lol plus plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight :)
All this chilling out seems to have done my mojo the world of good too. lol. Managed 3 layouts last night, can only show you two though as one if for an upcoming challenge on UKS.
This is the first one I did from my new SC kit. I was going to save them up for the retreat but I loved this one so had to use it lol.

I loved this title and thought it went well with most of my photos but picked this one. lol. It doesn't show up too well in this photo but all of the papers used are embossed. I loved how textured the papers were in this kit, I admit I often find it hard to get texture on my layouts without ripping or distressing so this makes it so much easier. lol.

This is the layout I started the other night. Its from a kit I got in a kit swap ages ago and as I'm hosting a new one I thought it would be nice to use up my old one. :) The photo is of Cameron playing on a huge sheet of bubble wrap. I ordered something around Christmas, cant remember what, and he spent ages just jumping about on it. lol

I used up loads of little bits on this layout. There is a whole sheet of rub ons used on the blue paper at the bottom, and lots of diecuts to frame the photo. I love how bright it all is.

Not doing much today. Have to clean the kitchen cupboards but other than that more chilling is needed! I got lots of books yesterday much to marks annoyance as I still have a big pile beside the bed I've not read, not to mention the ones on my kindle lol. but what can I say, I just love books! lol I do read fast which helps, couldnt sleep last night so read one of them then, lol. A few more days of insomnia and I'll be done im sure. lol

More scrapping. :)

Well a little bit anyway, lol. As I enjoyed it the night before I decided to do some more last night. Got all my stuff out, picked a photo, put a layout together, then went to bed. lol. Honestly was 9pm and I couldn't keep my eyes open! its all still on the floor so just needs gluing together then done. lol Won't be doing it tonight though as out for an Italian with my mum and some of her friends from work. Should be nice. :)

Also this came this morning. This months sc kit and I LOVE it! Kinda want to stay home tonight and use it, lol. Its got a textured pink woodgrain paper in which I think might join my 'too pretty to use' pile.

Had a nice morning this morning. I admit I'm usually one of those 'I'll play with you in a moment' mums. Unless I've set aside some time to do an activity with the kids I don't often play with them on the spur of the moment iykwim. If I do its usually only for 10 minutes or so before I have to rush off and do the washing or something. Yesterday though I hurt my back, it felt a bit better this morning so I did the cleaning including the floors which obviously put it back to square one. lol. As I result I was stuck lying in bed. Caitlin decided to join me to read books and watch a dvd. Was really nice! I couldn't get up to do anything so all my attention was on just time with her, made me realise I dont do the simple things enough. We go to the park, swimming, childrens centers often, but sometimes they just need some quiet time with Mummy.

Ive actually scrapped, and liked it!

While I have done some scrapping since Christmas, I didn't really like the layouts I'd done. I think i made the mistake of using my 'odd bits' while I didn't really have much mojo. So last night I sat down with a few kits and used those instead. :) Granted I only got one done as poor Cameron was up a lot with sore legs (growing pains we're thinking) but like the one I did. :)

This is me on our 'honeymoon' years ago. A few weeks before we were supposed to be married Mark was very very ill and we were told he wouldn't survive the week; so we cancelled our big wedding and honeymoon and just had a rush job at our local register office. Obviously he pulled through lol but by that point we'd lost thousands. We'd also been trying for a baby for a while, we knew from Marks previous marriage it would be difficult as his illness had caused problems for him, but apparently it had got so bad we had a less than 1% chance of ever conceiving naturally. Obviously this was all a big shock so we decided to blow the last of our savings and have a late honeymoon to get away for a bit and take stock of the past few months. This is me on the balcony of our hotel. If I look a bit green its because I was ill the whole time we were away. I thought I had food poisoning. Mum thought different and the day after we returned I took a pregnancy test and discovered I was pregnant with Cameron. :) To say I was shocked was an understatement! So love this title, as I really had no clue how much my life was already changing when this photo was taken :)

sleepy monday

OK, I admit it, the words I planned to alter over the weekend look the exact same today as they did on Friday. lol. I did do a bit of scrap booking though so that's something :) More importantly, guess where I was last night! Here's a clue :)

Yep I went to see Billy Connolly live! It was amazing, really good seats near the front, so funny. Was quite surreal actually. Ive been watching him on tv as long as I can remember so to see him actually live in front of my just seemed so strange. My mum watched the kids while we went so considering we weren't back until 12 I bet shes shattered this morning bless her. I cant really remember much of what he said as he did his usual thing of starting one story, halfway through starting another and then going back to the first story an hour or so later. lol. One of my favourite jokes I do remember though was this one. I removed the swearing, lol. (if you're religious don't read!)
A couple is on their way to their wedding when they unfortunately crash their car and die. At the pearly gates they see St Peter and ask if its possible to get married in heaven. He tells them to wait there while he goes to find out. 3 Months pass and he returns to tell them yep its fine no problem. 'Sorry St Peter' They reply, 'We've been thinking about it and maybe eternity together is a very long time, is it possible to get divorced in heaven?' St Peter throws down his clipboard in anger 'Look! Its took me 3 months to find a priest in there you want me to go try to find a lawyer?!' lol. Well I found it funny. :)
Lots of ironing to do today, plus taking Cameron to a friends house to play tonight. His first play date with someone from school, god I hope he behaves!

Square toast

One quirk I love about kids is how different forms make things MUCH more appealing. For example, normal pasta, Cameron wont touch, however if its in the shape of a train, then it turns yummy, lol. Its similar to what I call the 'Nannys house effect' where chocolate moose here is horrible, but yummy at Nannys house, carrots here Caitlin will eat a bowl full, but wont touch them at Nannies; oh and they HAVE to be cut into circles, carrot sticks, triangles, anything but circles changes the taste somehow lol.
Now toast, psychologists have probably done a study somewhere to see how you like your toast cut reflects your personality. I did google it to see if they had but only came up with lots of wedding toasts. lol. However in case any psychologists with spare time are reading this this is how toast is cut in our family.
Me - Toast cut in half into two rectangles.
Mark - Doesn't cut it, just one large slice.
Cameron - Cut into four squares.
Caitlin - Cut into four triangles.
Why?! Seriously why does it matter? lol. Ok the adults are not as fussy as the kids, I will eat toast in squares or triangles but the kids, noooooooo, toast HAS to be in those shapes or it will not pass their lips. Suppose it could be worse, Caitlin went through a phase of wanting hers cut into circles with the cookie cutter. Thank god that's over!
Well doing a lot of jobs out the house today. Christmas bits to return, shopping, booking kids birthday party (for April, lol, how prepared am I?) then meeting mum for either a coffee or glass of wine depending how her day has gone. lol. Its Caitlins turn to stay at my mums tonight so will be having a nice night just us and Cameron too. :) Also hoping to do this sometime over the weekend

Mum bought me the Welcome word for christmas. I love the green as it matches my hall so planning to add a bit of bling or some flowers to make it stand out a bit, then paint and alter the photo frame to match. :) Not got a clear image in my head how it will turn out but hopefully will figure it out as I go along. lol

Grrr cant I home school?!

OK I know I can't really, well I could do the teaching part but if I home school will hardly solve the issue. lol. The issue being other kids. :( I'm sure all mums feel the same, all the ones I've spoke to have done anyway lol, but I HATE the idea my childs being left out. Camerons been crying every morning before he goes to school, not just whinging but full on heaving sobs, breaks my heart. Been asking him why and he just says he doesnt want to go to school, which is odd because he used to love it. This morning he wouldnt go and play with anyone saying his best friend wasnt there and he went into school all alone and looking so sad. :( Turns out theres also been another party he wasnt invited to. it wasnt just him there was a load of other boys too but still I think its harsh. For Camerons birthday in April I'm booking a big hall and inviting everyone to make sure nobodys left out, just seems sad to be so selective at this age when really very few of them are going to have select friends. Going to have a word with the teacher tomorrow and see how he is in class as he comes out of school happy enough so might just be a morning thing.
Anyway on a happier note took the kids swimming yesterday. They loved it. :) We've never been in the pool since it was all rebuilt and its pretty good. Caitlin as usual put her armbands on, chuck her in shes off lol. Camerons a bit more careful lol. Was great though as by the end of an hour he was in the deep end 'swimming' with me holding him up lol. Going to make it a weekly thing I think as want Camerons confidence built up before the holiday in May.
Right well off to a mum and baby group with my sister today then off to my grans after Cams school, hopefully a busy but a nice busy day. lol

Getting there and stuff for sale. :)

I think that's going to be the mantra for the week lol.I've said it before and I'll say it again, it never fails to amaze me that despite having frequent 'decluttering' sessions theres always more to chuck next time I do it, even if I've bought nothing new in the meantime!! This week I'm focusing on the kitchen cupboards, and my desk. Marks even getting into it by clearing out a load of his stuff from the desk too. :) As a result it looks loads better already!
I'm being really strict with myself too, getting rid of things I've had for ages but never used or not used as much as I thought I would. One big thing on this is stamps. I'm always getting stamps I think are pretty, but I never stamp! Never got on with it, lol. So I've given all my part used ones to a friend and selling these ones as still in the packet. Anybody want them? Only asking £5 including UK post.

Also selling this. Its been on my shelf for ages as I really like the whole grunge look, but to be honest its just too much work. lol. I did it once but have to do all my inking/painting outside which is just too cold and too much hassle. £6 including UK post.

Well cameron went to school again today. Still a bit subdued about the idea but no tears so thats a big improvement on Friday! Hoping he'll get back into it soon as he's always loved school. Caitlins home as no nursery today but bribed her with some sweets and Tangled on the tv so I can continue with the decluttering. tackling more of the desk today plus a couple of kitchen cupboards. Not looking forward to that one! lol

Eastenders has nothing on my family

Seriously sometimes I feel like I'm in a soap and nobody told me. Honestly its like one drama after another sometimes. Friday was a perfect example, Here was my day:
5am - Up playing with Caitlin who decided it was morning and wouldn't go back to sleep.
6:30am - Caitlin goes back to sleep
7am - Wake up a very tired and pissed of Caitlin for nursery, Wake an even more pissed off Cameron whos a little shell shocked at going back to school after the holidays.
7-8:30 - Deal with Cameron crying about everything from there being too much cereal in his bowl to the fact his best friend isnt in the same group as him at school.
9:am - Pour a strong coffee down my throat and drag a still crying Cameron to school. Home to do quick housework.
9:30 - Off to social services meeting RE sister. Grab a kitkat for brekkie.
10-12:30 - Meeting went not too bad. More information about new years came up, namely that he'd battered her so hard he'd perforated her eardrum. Explains why she wouldnt see me the next day. End result was that Nicolas got to continue to go to groups, and its going to be put to the courts that the girls are removed while she gets the help, then returned later. Not sure how I feel about this at the moment to be honest.
12:30 - talk to gran about grandads appointment. We found out he had cancer just before christmas but they didnt know what type. Were supposed to find out that morning which obviously has had everyone worried sick. Nope, no information yet going to be another two weeks (AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!)
1pm - Meet mum for Coffee to go over this morning, starving by this point on having caffeine shakes but nowhere seems to sell bloody sandwiches!
3pm - Drop mum at home, collect cam from school then go home to make dinner.
4:30 - just as dinners coming out of the oven, get a frantic call from mum. Social worker has rung her saying some evidence has come up and the girls have to go see a dr in northampton that night to be examined. So dinner abandoned, run off to mums to deal with 3 hyped up girls, their scared nanny and very angry mummy and her partner.
5pm-9pm - Go to see specialist dr with the girls. Wasnt actually as bad as I thought little darlings took it all in their stride. All tests/interviews came back fine. Big sigh of relief.
9pm - Home to reheated dinner and a glass of wine.
See why I say my life is like Eastenders! This week brings more meetings, volunteer work and taking my sister and youngest nice to mother and baby groups. So plan for today is chilling!
Another plan for today is to tackle this:

One of my new years resolutions is to scrap more, but over Christmas my desk is just been a dumping ground for anything without a home, probably gonna take a while but got to at least start sorting this mess! lol Hope every ones having a great weekend :)

Too many hobbies

As problems go, its a pretty nice one to have, but I seriously have too many hobbies. lol. I promised myself in the new year I'd do more crafting, but I also want to read more, play computer games, cross stitch and jigsaws, oh and puzzles from the magazines I get each week. With kids and housework, theres just not enough time in the day! lol.
Still havent managed any scrapping, been reading lots lately; but these are some more I found on my desk.



Short post today as to be honest my mind is elsewhere. Have a few things going on tomorrow which can either go really well, or really bad. FX for at least some good news! lol

Woops. lol

Well I haven't managed any scrapping yet, I did plan and cut a layout, but not stuck anything down yet, lol. However while tidying my desk I found a big pile of layouts I forgot I'd done! Now theres a good chance some of these are gonna be scrap lifted as they're from my sc kit, but as I did them back in November I've no idea which ones are or who did them first. Sorry!!
Been trying to use up the really old photos I've got still waiting to be scrapped, so this one from two years ago now needed to be done. It was around Christmas at my mums so obviously loads of photos were being taken. Cameron was getting a bit bored if you can't tell. lol

This one I know was scrap lifted but cant remember who did it. I loved the way they'd used all the rub ons on the one page though for journalling prompts. Its quite a simple page but I really like it :)

I think everyones got these, and the title pretty much sums it up 'Bad photos but great memories' I took these the first time the kids were playing on kinnectimals, they were having so much fun but unfortunately were in front of a large window so they came up really dark. I still wanted to document it though so used the photos anyway. lol.

Love this photo of Caitlin, we bought this dora doll offline and was amazed how big it was since I was expecting a normal sized doll and it was huge!

Thought this big flower went well with this as obviously huge like the doll. lol. It was a bit plain however I blinged it up. lol.

Well as usual im running late. Money came out of my account this morning and I'm currently on the phone to the bank trying to find out where it went. Typically the guy I'm talking to doesn't know much english and is reading from a script, shoot me now. lol

Back to normal, well kinda, lol

Well Caitlin's back to nursery tomorrow, and Cameron's off to school again Wednesday and I'm back to 'work' too so things are starting to get back to normal after the Christmas break. I do love Christmas but after all the hype its nice to calm down and get things organised again. Hardest part is always finding places for all the new stuff! lol. I've sorted out pretty much all the toys, its getting harder now as the toys seem to be getting bigger as the kids get bigger. lol, so just sorting out the adults gifts and housework today. The kids have loads of crafty gifts for Christmas so think I might get some of those out and leave them to it. :)
Typically as I had a lot planned I woke up this morning full of the cold. Been feeling a little rough lately but all stuffed up and yuck this morning. Bleh, so a big cup of coffee needed. :) on that note, look what santa brought me! (and yes that is my to do list on the bottom corner. lol)

This is my Keep cup. :) Its actually one of my favourite gifts even though I think it was one of the cheapest. lol. I admit I'm a huge coffee addict. I love going to costa and wondering about the house with a cup during the day, so this is ideal. :) I can use it for takeaways and it saves a disposable cup, and it keeps my coffee warm for longer and its less likely to spill. Both are big issues any mother will be familiar with! lol. Cant wait to take it on the Sarah's cards retreat as I go through stupid amounts of disposable cups while there. lol.
Staying on the gifts theme here's another gift santa (and by santa I mean of course mark, lol) brought. :) Ive wanted one of these types of frames for ages, and some people may remember me making a paper one ages ago. safe to say this one is nicer. lol. This is due to go up today but still not sure where. lol.

And of course Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without craft gifts! Admittedly I picked most of it out myself but Mark got me the stickers by himself. :) With his problems obviously he struggles with choosing gifts but bless him he did well this year. :)

Look, new dies! Just need to start scrapping again to use them. lol. Also love these felt embellishments, the snowflakes are so cute and quite detailed considering how small they are. :)

I would say I'm hoping to scrap tonight but to be honest since I haven't scrapped in so long my desk has just become a dumping ground for letters, forms and anything else with needs a home over the past month, so got to start sorting that first! lol

New year :)

New year, new start as they always say. Well i was hoping for one but that got shot in the foot lol. 1 hour my sister lasted into 2012 before getting into trouble, chucking a hairbrush at her bfs nose and getting arrested. *sigh* oh well obviously starting as she means to go on! So woke up to a txt from the bf at 3 saying he was in hospital getting his nose sorted, went to police but couldn't get any info so home again to try and get some sleep. Just lucky really the girls weren't there. We also found out a few days before Christmas my grandad has cancer in his arm. But as we wont know details of that until the 6th, we're trying to stay positive.
OK so that's all the bad news out of the way! All things considered it was actually a really good Christmas/new year.
The Friday before Christmas I took Caitlin to see Cinderella at our local theatre. She did NOT like the ugly sisters but other than that enjoyed it. If I'm honest there were a few too many smutty joke for my liking but obviously they went right over Caitlin's head, lol.

Christmas morning went as expected lol. Lots of squealing, paper flying everywhere and very happy kids. :) Cameron was in such a frenzy and loving every gift that when he unwrapped his car track which was in a plain white box, he screamed 'look, Santa's got me a box!' lol.

Caitlin was a little calmer than him, but I love the differences in them. Cameron will just unwrap everything madly without fully looking at anything until its all unwrapped, while Caitlin will unwrap one, want to play, and actually need encouraging to open the next gift, lol.

After gifts were opened we went to my mums for breakfast and gifts from Granny. Grandad didnt feel up to coming up which was understandable but obviously sad. The kids were already flagging by this point so we brought them home to play with thier toys. :) Was the first time Ive not had dinner at my mums house for chrismtas which I thought would be weird but to be honest it was really nice it just being the four of us.

I didnt bother with a big roast dinner and just made a little buffet instead which went down well, and we played with the kids new toys and games. We got caitlin the Doggy doo game she wanted. Oh my god what a gorss game. The dog doesnt just poop it makes really discusting noises while its doing it! The kids (and daddy) found it very funny though so thats the main thing. :)

Well hope everyone had a great christmas and new year :) Will be blogging more now things are getting back to normal. Well, hopefully normal, you never know whats around the corner do you! lol