In memory

Yesterday I had the sad call from my mum that my grandad had passed away :( he had another operation a couple of weeks ago to remove a tumour from his arm and his heart was weakened by it and caused a fatal heart attack. The kids bless them have took it in their stride and talk about grandad eating all the malteasers in heaven. :) gonna miss him :(

Modeling with packaging

A little while ago we bought some american juice from a website, cybercandy, as well as being covered in bubble wrap there were loads of these packaging peanuts inside too. I'd got these before in a Lush gift box and in there it had a little booklet showing how to use these to make little models. Thought it would keep the kids quiet for a bit so poured them out. :)

Almost 3 hours later (and Mummy and Daddy doing a couple too) these are some of the models we made :) I actually had to tell the kids to put it away for dinner or else they would have carried on! We have the cybercandy robot, a fish in water, a rocket, a horse, a house, a birthday cake and a flower. :) We still have a pile left for tomorrow too to keep them occupied :)

Ohhhh lol, I put the picture of the models on the Cybercandy facebook page and they liked them so much they're sending us some free sweets and using it in their newsletter! :) Kids are very proud of themselves lol.

Feeling very fortunate :)

Today has been a very humbling day leaving me feeling very fortunate for everything I have. my kids drive me mad at times but they are SO sweet and funny and most importantly healthy; Mark may be poorly and hard work sometimes but he is a very thoughtful husband and an amazing father; and while I don't see them very often I have such sweet friends I talk to online :) You might remember I mentioned the washi tape I used on a layout the other day which my friend Lesley had, I came home today to find that she had sent me her roll! Was so touched as obviously I hadn't asked for it and it was a complete surprise and very much apprechiated. :) I was also thrilled as Lesley is organising a retreat for her local crop and I get to go to! I admit when Sarah announced there would be no more retreats for a while my first thought was that I wouldn't be seeing her, Gillian or my new friend Ali again for a while so quite excited about it :)
Speaking of retreats heres more layouts from Sarahs! lol.
This was a class by Jen Naulls, now I have never liked the idea of project life, all the little pictures don't appeal to me, however I LOVE this layout. :) Its perfect for all the little photos from somewhere that don't really need their own layout and its so quick and easy to do. These are all photos from our holiday in Turkey, hope to go back one day :)


This is a class by Helen Eddie and actually was my fave of the weekend. :) the stitching is supposed to be more hexagons that crosses but I started doing mine after 5 shots, 3 glasses of wine and while chatting so I kinda forgot lol. Still like it though :) We used liquid pearls to make the red dots which I love the look of, loved all the layering too :)

Well tomorrow is the last day before half term, yey! So excited about a couple of weeks with the kids at home. Not go much outdoors planned as indoor stuff is pricey and well, its pretty obvious why most outdoor activities are out!! have lots of their friends coming over to play though (on different days) and have a couple of parties and events at pen green too, thinking about it its pretty packed!

Easter crafting

Today was my voluntary day at the kids school. Sadly, the crafting supplies there are slim to none, seriously glue is like gold dust let alone any pretty papers or anything. So today we made easter cards, and I took in most of my punches and some sheets of patterned paper for them to go mad with. :) They LOVED it! They didn't really care about putting the card together they just loved punching out all the butteflies, flowers and other bits. I always love watching kids do crafting as they always think outside the box. one little boy today punched lots of birds wings from my build a bird punch, and used them as raindrops! Never even considered that idea :)
Was really touched too as today was my last day before Easter half term and they had bought me an easter egg, :) Hadn't even considered a thank you gift from them as to be honest I really love doing it. :)
Anyway still sharing layouts form the retreat, lol. Havent done any crating since home so good job I have these to share. This was one for a challenge. We were given 4 sheets of double sided paper and a ribbon. We were allowed to make anything we wanted btu only using the papers, cardstock, mists, paints and adhesive. This was my attempt.

I punched out lots of strips from the pp and used it to make this side of the heart. I was going to do the same on the other side for the edging but ran out of paper and time lol.

This was one I did myself, the photo is another from Turkey. I called it 'come on in the water great' as its my Mum taking the picture and it looks like my Dad is calling her. Shes terrified of water so wouldnt go in granted but I still like the title. lol

Only another 2 days and then its half term! Looking forward to nice lazy days with the kids but keeping everything crossed the weather improves! Think everyone will be tearing their hair out if we're stuck in for the whole 2 and a half weeks!

Let the refreshing begin :)

We have a few items ending on ebay tonight and I always refresh the page obsessivly to see how they're doing lol. Today has been a looooooong day! Cameron has been pretty much bouncing off the walls, and my couches, so I took him for a walk in the hopes some energy would be burned off. Was a bit of a false hope lol. Took us AGES to walk to the shops and back as the snow was up to my knees in places where it had drifted, bought some sweets for Cam and Caitlin and walked back. Calmed him down for about 20 minutes and he was off again! Roll on warmer weather and I can just send him out to the garden!
Still sharing layouts from the retreat but these are ones I did rather than classes iykiwm.
This is one of my favourite photos of Caitlin from Turkey last year. Most of this is from a sarahs cards kit but I used a little of Lesleys washi tape in the top corner. Trying to find a roll of that somewhere as I loved it :)

Another one using the kit but a much older photo lol. One day in Summer I was having a lie in and woke to find Mark and the kids playing in the front garden. There were two train of thoughts running through my head:
1 - Oh look how much fun they're having. :)
2 - Omg look at the state of Caitlin! lol So wanted the layout to reflect this :) Journaling reads:
When Daddy's in charge:
- Faces will not be washed.
- Hair will not be brushed.
- Proper clothes will not be worn
- Lots of fun will be had!

Last one for now :) This was for a sketch challenge over the weekend. I never usually put photos from different times together as I put layouts in cronological order in my folders, but the phrase went so well with all the photos of Caitlin dressed up I decided to give it a go this time. :)

Well Camerons hoping for a snow day tomorrow but as I've got to return stuff to next and make a trip to the post office I'm hoping all the horrible stuff with be gone! Seriously I do usually love snow but its almost April! Feel like we should watch 'The day after tomorrow' for tips on what to do as obviously thats the next step lol.

bad blogger

Well so much for blogging every day this year, missed 2 this week already!
To be honest I've just been really down lately so not really been good 'blogging company'. Just been bad news after bad news, with grandads health not being the best, Marks health getting worse and Camerons problems with the girl at school escalating to INSANE levels its been feeling very overwhelming and depressing. But not to dwell on that thought I'd share some more retreat work :)
This was ifa's class which involved embossing. I'd tried this before and it went very wrong so was surprised how nice these turned out :) I think I must have had cheap products or else I just did it wrong somehow lol. We stamped the doilies in clear ink then embossed them with coloured powder. Was strangly relaxing watching the powders melt, that might just be me though lol.

My layout is a little different as Ifas had a badge, hanging twine and more stickers. I wasn't a fan of the badge though so used this little picture of sleeping beauty which went well with my title :) I also used this sticker from my goodie as the photo is of Caitlin in my wedding dress so went well too :)

Bit different from a layout this is a card I made as a make and take. I always struggle when doing boys cards but I think this minus the butterfly can be quite a boyish design :)

Well nothing big planned tomorrow, which is good as by the looks of things we're going to be snowed in! Seriously how crazy is this weather!!

Getting organised

Well yesterday and today I have mainly spent getting organised. Having two weekends away this month has made me fall behind a bit. Having a poorly girl at home isn't helping either :( Getting there though, yesterday I finished unpacking my scrapping stuff and putting it away, parceled up some things I'm sending and made a list of everything that needs done. Scary list. Also included a pretty extensive shopping list I dealt with today :)
As well as getting organised I've been snuggling with the poorly one. She broke my heart the other night, she hadn't eaten all day so I asked if she wanted any dinner, she asked for toast. Mark made her a slice and gave it to her only for her to burst into tears. I asked what was wrong and she replied 'I'm hungry but my tummy doesn't want it.' :( Touch wood she hasn't been sick since yesterday and has been askign for food lots (not that we#ve gave it to her lol) so hopefully it's out of her system.

I love this photo I took on my phone today, I think she has the most adorable little nose and this shows it perfectly. :)
Well anybody reading this blog knows how little spare money we have at the moment. Seriously we're skint lol. However after bad news, then worse news I was more in a 'sod it I'll figure out how to pay for it later' kind of mood. My friend Lesley had recently been to a shop called 'Homesense' and bought a LOAD of scrapbooking stuff really cheap including AC albums which I seriously need. We don't have an homesense but do have a TK maxx which is similar so decided to go there before meeting Mum for coffee. Yeah no albums but plenty of other bits :)

On a good note Cameron is receiving a very special certificate tomorrow. :) The school introduced a new reward system at the start of term called 'The golden book' basically there are 4 steps to get into the golden book and each time you demonstrate a particually good piece of work or behaviour you go up a step and if you get to the top you go in the golden book. Its kind of hard to do as it gets reset every day and its only REALLY good behaviour which earns you a step. Since it was introduced Cameron is the first kid to get into it so he is very proud of himself bless him. :) Very proud Mummy and Daddy too :)

Poorly people

While I'm very glad to be home, not so glad Caitlins way of welcoming me home is to throw up constantly. :( Poor baby gets everything going and there's been a tummy bug going about her school so not too surprised. Marks not too well either as hes coughing and sneezing so very poorly household today!
Have started to unpack my stuff very slowly, had all my stuff organised and sorted before I went but now lots more to find places for! Finally photographed my layouts though :)
This was one I did myself, I got the pink ribbon and flower in the goodie bag when I arrived (very generous as usual). The photos are from just before the kids birthday party last year. Most of the papers are from an old SC kit I hadn't touched, no idea why as it was a beautiful kit!

This was a class by Tracy Gough. I LOVED these papers and embellishments, by Simple stories called snap (I think lol) You got a pack of stickers which were great value as there were loads of different types in amazing bright colours.

This was Louise Stevensons class. I missed this one due to the door drama (see previous post lol) but it was pretty easy to do outside of class. The idea was to doodle on the back page then cut out the little windows so you can see it. Now I don't doodle so as the photo was of Caitlin I planned to bring that part home for her to do. To save time I wanted to cut up the bits needed so only needed to stick it all down when home. Thing is with chatting I got distracted and just kept going and stuck it all down lol, so had to cheat and just doodle through the holes instead. Still like it though :) This wasn't the picture I originally choose but think it goes well as this was a cardboard house I bought for Caitlin a few christmas' ago which she coloured in and drew all over.

We also made this little flower which was SO easy but very cute! All it is is a punched 6 petal flower, with a small slit at the end of each petal and a ribbon threaded though. Will certainly be making more of these :)

Well Caitlins now fell fast asleep on the couch so going to do some more unpacking while shes peaceful. Fingers crossed shes better soon!

Back home

Well back home and absolutely exsaused! I know I said I'd photograph my layouts but this is currently all my stash and that is how it is staying for the moment lol.

The trip home was uneventful, until about 10 minutes from my house when the car suddenly overheated and started beeping at me. I pulled into a service area and phoned the AA but when I tried the car again about 10 minutes later it seemed fine. it has done something like this before and the AA guy who came out then thinks its a fault with the sensor so I decided to risk it and drive home. Luckily it was fine and I had time for a cup of tea before work. :) Also treated myself to a couple of chocolates from the amazing gift Leslie gave to me at the retreat. Just after New year we did this PIF thing on facebook, you put as your status that you will make a homemade gift for the first 5 people to comment on your status and in return they do the same. This is what leslie made for me :) I admit I had a much less grand idea in mind for mine so think I'll need to up my game a bit!

And these are the girls :) Gillian, Leslie, me and Ali :) couldnt have asked for better company over the weekend and hope its not long before we get to do it again. :)

Bittersweet

No photos again lol, did plan on taking some but never got around to it. Today was very bittersweet, we had 2 very fun classes, lots of laughs, drinks, food, but while it was all great fun we were all aware it was for the last time. :( Sarah and Lianne have said its not a case of never, just not right now for another retreat so fingers crossed in a couple of years they will have the time again. :) Bless them though I heard them talking and I think running the shop and everything takes up far too much of their lives for their liking. It must be hard being self employed because obviously at the end of the day the buck stops with you so family holidays, birthdays and the like take a back seat.
Saddness aside I'm very excited to be going home tomorrow. :) Seriously have missed Mark and the kids this time. I usually miss them obviously but was really homesick today, if it wasn't the last one think I'd have gone home early.
Well that turned out a bit sad too! Ok Im going to sleep now as early start tomorrow and only had 8 hours sleep since thursday. Will be brighter tomorrow and have some photos, promise!

Sarahs cards day 2

Day two :) Still no photos of layouts lol. I did try and take some but the crop room has no natural light so they just turned out washed. Did manage some more though including some great classes.
This afternoon was a bit dramatic! One of the girls leslie has a bad back and after twisting the wrnog way was in a lot of pain :( She decided a nice hot bath would help so I walked her back to her room, only to find her doorhandle on the floor along with some tools. Random. So I walked down to reception to report it. There was a huge queue so as Leslie was standing in pain I went to the front to ask for help. 'Excuse me there is a queue!' the snotty guy who moaned at me at check in snapped 'I don't care my friend can't get in her room there's no doorhandle' I replied. The woman waiting behind me burst out laughing, her poor hubby looked more like 'why are we staying here?'. Anyway he said he'd send someone up so I went back up to find a guy trying to pry her door open with a screwdriver. He said he'd be a while so we went into traceys room which luckily was right next to Leslies to wait. After a few moments I went to check on progress to see two guys, leaning on a crowbar ripping the frame off the door! they finally got in and managed to fix it. At which point we thought 'Photos!' I managed to take one without the guy noticing too much. lol. crazy scrapping ladies.

Sarahs cards day one :)

Yep I'm on a retreat again :) However no more for the rest of the year :( and sadly this is the last Sarahs cards one!! Really sad to hear that but it must be a lot of organising and with running the shop and having families Sarah and Leanne decided they just can't do it anymore. gutted but understandable. Just makes me more determined to enjoy this one :)
Had one class tonight but need to add a title so won't share it just yet. Started a couple of my own layouts but won't share those either lol. Will share the mess though!

Love being in a room full of stash, its great fun to see what other people have and what it looks like in real life, never looks the same online iykwim. Having a great laugh with the usual suspects and I won the raffle! ok so everyone did but thats not the point, still a thrill to win :)
Right well want to get on and finish this layout before bed, will blog more tomorrow lol

Blogging from iPad

I'm attempting to blog from marks iPad, so far not going too well lol. I was thinking of taking this rather than my NetBook over weekend but I just can't figure out how to put photos on here! Plus it keeps signing me out of things and driving me mad. It probably isn't supposed to but I admit I'm not exactly technology savvy do think I'll just stick with what I know. :)
I'm starting to look more forward to the weekend now. It's been a hell of a week so could do with the break. Marks had a hard week and my grandad had another surgery too. He's doing well again after it but this is his forth in two years so we have to wonder how many more he can take :( Also Cameron was assaulted at school the other day, and yes I mean assaulted.
There's a girl in his class I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, she's well known for violence and inappropriate behaviour and we've spoke to his teacher in the past after she punched Cameron in the ear. This time she pushed him over, lay on top of him and tried to strangle him. Mark and my Mum are raging and out for blood. I'm a bit more resigned about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, I obviously don't want Cameron to be hurt but the little girl in question has special needs. I've worked with enough kids to know sometimes asking them to control their behaviour is like asking a fish to fly. His teacher is really supportive of the situation and does her best to keep difficult situations from happening but she can't be everywhere at once. If I'm honest I can't really see a solution so I'm just trying to keep my mum and mark calm lol. Cameron bless him is actually more mature about the whole thi than my mum is, he understands that people are all different and he can only control how he reacts to situations.
On a happier note Cameron passed his first grading at karate tonight :) he still loves it so we dipped into the food budget and ordered him his karate kit :) he's so proud of himself!
I'd post a photo but like I said no idea how! Off to charge my NetBook. Lol

No photos

No photos today, not really done much. Took Caitlin to get her hair done and to her dance lesson, the hubby and me watched Lost on Lovefilm. I've been spending most of my time either cleaning or looking into stuff at disneyland. I found a great website. DLRP that has loads of insider tips and reviews :) SO excited about going!!!

Busy week

This week is full of little errands and running about like a looney. I usually prefer these weeks as it makes time pass quickly but not so much this week. This weekend I'm going away with some friends again and I'm looking forward to it and dreading it in equal measure. Really its a further expence I can do without, accomdation is paid for but petrol isn't nor is food on the last day, also the car is acting iffy so I'm worried about the drive down there, plus Cameron has been particually challenging the past few days so bit worried about Mark and my mum handling him. That all said, sure I'll enjoy myself once there :)
Anyway today was getting Camerons hair cut and shopping. He seriously needed it done, I don't think i realised how badly until all of it was all over the floor! We tried to get an appointment for caitlin and Cameron at the same time but no luck so need to rush to get hers doe tomorrow before her dance lesson. Shopping was fun though :) Like I said money is tight at the moment so i was a very happy bunny to get there just as all the meat, bread and veg was being finally reduced for the day :) 8 huge bags of shopping came to only £22.60! Love it :)
Just the one layout today, still from MB lol. This is Cameron at his birthday last year, back then was when he first started doing his daft smile when I took photos, either sucking both his lips in or grinning like a wolf. When he opened his Sonic t-shirt though he was so pleased with it he did this adorable smile, so we called it his sonic smile :)

So tomorrow is Marks drs, clinic for blood tests, housework, caitlins hair appointment then dancing. Thank goodness for slow cooker dinners!

Got played

Well I have a very unhappy little boy upstairs. He woke up at stupid hours of the morning and made sure everyone else was awake by making daft noises. After ignoring him for about an hour we all got up only for him to suddenly be sturck down by stomach ache. I did suspect he was putting it on but after telling him he can't have breakfast if poorly, or chocolate cake after dinner, and him being fine with it I thoguht better safe than sorry and sent him back to bed. Should have trusted my instincts though as the second I had took Caitlin out the door he made a miraculous recovery! When I got back i sent him back to bed so a MAJOR tantrum later he going to school for the afternoon session. I think partly he was tired as he got up so early so a nap will do him good.
Anyway onto some more MB layouts :) Almost finished my Mums book but probably won't get any crafting done other than that as off on another retreat this weekend and need to pack for that :)
This layout used up lots of bits I've had for ages, the photo is from a while ago, I'd just finished building Caitlins bed and took a photo of her in it, she decided she wanted to take one of me and daddy so she did :) The flower I got in a homemade flower swap last year sometime, and rhe little loveheart charm was from when I first started crafting :) I picked the title 'The course of true love never did run smooth' as I did this for a challenge asking you to use a shakespear quote, and thought it fit quite well with me and Mark lol.

I love this photo of Cameron, he has a habit of when hes thinking he sticks his tongue out or sucks his bottom lip. very cute but leads to a lot of red marks around his mouth! The 5 was from his 5th birthday badge.

Well Camerons now moaning he's hungry so lunch then school it is!

Becoming a Mummy :)

With it being mothers day, I thought I would do a blog post all about my journey to become a Mummy :)
Well Mark and I got together in May 2005, we moved pretty fast lol, moving in together after only 2 months and deciding to try for a baby after only 5 months. Yes sounds fast to start trying but we already knew with mark illness conciving might be an issue. Seven months later we got married with no baby bump in sight. Sadly Marks health got worse and almost a year after we started drs agreed to do tests. Mine all came back fine but Mark's sadly came back saying there was a less than 1% chance of us ever having a baby naturally. :( With such poor results most methods to help us would be no good, IVF was an option but after much thinking we decided against it and looked into adoption. Some time later we had our first meeting with the social worker and all seemed to go well. :) Feeling a bit more positive and very drained we decided to blow the last of our savings on a late honeymoon. Because Mark had been so ill we'd had to cancel our original honeymoon in Greece so in late August we went on a last minute trip, it was a nightmare. I was ill the whole time with food poisoning, I stood on an urchin (SO sore!!!) and because of the heat Mark couldn't go into the sun so we spent most of the time inside. We came back feeling more drained than when we went! On our first day back I woke up and went for a shower, seeing a pregnancy test on the side I thought 'may as well' and gave it a shot. Yeah it wasn't food poisoning it was morning sickness :) Two little lines appeared so quickly! I ran in and shook Mark away shoving the test in his face, 'Why are you waving the tv remote at me?!' was his reply!
'It's not a tv remote its a pregnancy test and it's positive!'
'Well what does that mean?' *sigh* he's never been at his best in the morning lol.
After Mark cottoning on and jumping out of bed, trying to put my trousers on and falling on the floor in the process I rang my Mum. Always being the voice of reason she was excited but reminded us sometimes tests give a false positive. Typically, it was the last one in the house so we rushed up town to get some more. However someone up there was having a joke with us that day as it was a Sunday and we were still on greece time, so it wasn't 10am but 9am and nothing was even close to opened. Mark suggested we wait and we went to Mcdonalds for breakfast bumping into one of his mates on the way. Hand on heart I have NO idea what we talked about as my mind was a million miles away, lol. Getting to 10am I lost my patience and decided we had to go to asda. Got there, got some tests (yey!) but the toilets were out of order!!!!! We ran to another mcdonalds across the road and Mark got an empty coke cup which I then took to the toilet (I still laugh when I remember that womans face lol) 3 positive tests later we let ourselves believe it was real and pretty much danced around the dining room, lol. On April 29th after a NIGHTMARE of a birth where I nearly died my baby boy was born :)
Obviously with Cameron being such a miracle we assumed he would be our one and only and while a bit sad we were ok with that :) Obviously you all know that's not what happened though lol.
When Cameron was about 3 months old my Mum took him on his first overnight stay to give us a break. He suffered from colic and night terrors so was a pretty demanding baby. Anyway we settled down with a takeaway to watch a film I'd picked, Fracture. Now I don't know if you've seen that but it's dreadful, so as I picked the film and it was rubbish mark picked what we did instead........
About a month later I was feeling ill, Cameron has just got over a bug so I assumed it was that, my mum however (see voice of reason) pointed out I was only ill until about 11am so could it be morning sickness? Well I thought she was being daft but to placate her I took a test one morning. Unlike before when I was sitting waiting with baited breath I took the test, put it on the side and went and woke Cameron, changed, dressed and fed him. Wasn't until I went back into the bathroom to get a clean towel I saw it, 2 lines!!!
Telling Mark and my Mum and everyone was so funny, everyone just laughed. It was a shock, particualy so close but we were happy about it :) We'd barely had time to fully come to terms with it though when I started bleeding :( As I was in a lot of pain my dr sent me for an emergency scan where we were told I had been pregnant with twins but had lost one. Apprently the damage done when Cameron was born was pretty extencive and obviously hadn't had time to fully heal. We were told to prepare ourselves to lose the other and sent home. Caitlin however started as she continues to made her own rules and was born perfectly healthy :)
Both our babies are little miracles and we are so lucky to have them :)

Creative party :)

Today Caitlin had a friends party to go to, I think the Mum must make cakes as there werelots of cake making activities with lots of professional looking things to use. Caitlin had her face painted in rainbows and made this cake :) Well, this was the first, there were another 2 after this lol.

There were also sweet trees, pictures to colour and really impressive favours too.
There was also a huge mile stone today, cameron tooth fell out! Well I say fell, it was hanging by a thread, so I asked to see it, one simple twist and it was out! Camerons face was so funny! Don't think he could have looked more surprised if I'd pulled a rabbit out of his mouth lol.
Still working on my mums book! doubt will be finished by tomorrow but probably won't see her until next week so oh well.

Back to layouts.

Well today was book day at the kids school, in the past they've just had to go dressed up as a charecter from a book which is easy enough. This time however we were told on Monday it was to be a bug. A bug! Apprently the theme was 'catch the reading bug' Now I don't know about you, but we have loads of dress up clothes in our house, princess' fairys, drs, and batman and other heroes thanks to Carin who gave Camron a huge bag of boys dress up :) however no bugs. I don't think I was the only one either as lots of other parents complained and they said it could either be a bug or a book carecter. So Caitlin happily went as repunzel and Cameron went as....Cameron. lol. He didn't want to get any of his outfits muddy, bless him. :) I said if anybody asks him just say you're going as 'Cameorn playing in the garden' :)
Anyway more MB layouts to share :) I love this photo of Cameron and Caitlin, shes giving him a hug and I don't think he's too thrilled with it lol. Love the colour of the cardstock here so kept the rest really simple. I like simple :) (make all the jokes about that you like, lol)

This is a really old picture again. I think it was 2 years ago we had a REALLY bad winter, so we went and got the kids hot water bottles, blankets and a pillow to keep warm in the living room. They loved them :) Sadly the blankets and cushions have gone in the bin now but the hot water bottles are still about.

Not fond of this one. I love the paper and the pictures but I don't like the mist. It is red but against the yellow looks more muddy than bright. Ah well live and learn!

Right well got to go do some of my mums book. Done one page. With mothers day sunday thats a little less than I'd like!

Planning

Did the bills this morning, we are so poor!! lol. We are about -£700 for the next couple of months, luckily my amazing granny is lending us the money to tide us by and we'll pay her back over my and june. We booked Disney last June and money was SO much better back then, will be worth it though :) To cheer me up on the money front a bit I planned our meals for Disney this afternoon. :) Took me almost 3 hours, reading reviews, menus, locations and prices but sorted it down to this:
Day one - Beaver creek, buffet at sequoia lodge hotel. This is the first time we'll eat here despite staying there 3 times in the past but its got great reviews.
Day two - Buffalo bills wild west rodeo :) Camerons special birthday trest. We were going to have lunch at Cafe Mickey as I don't think the kids will eat much of the food at buffalo bills, but its got dreadful reviews lately so thinking Annettes american diner instead.
Day three - Walts, resturant on main street in Disneyland. Never been there but supposed to be really nice inside.
Day four - La grange, steak house buffet next to billy bobs.
Day five - Cape cod, buffet (sense a theme here? lol) in newport bay hotel. Never been in here so looking forward to seeing what the more upmarket hotels are like inside.
Day six - Princess pavilion! I'm most looking forward to this, less for the food, which I doubt the kids will eat as its fine dining french stuff, and more for Caitlins face when all the princess' come out. I will cry, I know that, I cry at the adverts, I cry when I think about it, so I'll probably need to be sedated if I'm honest lol.
Day seven - Silver spur steakhouse, this is in frontierland. Was a bit gutted when i found out that our fave place, the lucky nugget saloon had shut but this is supposed to be nice too :) We all love our local harvester which serves the same kind of food so hopefully will like this.
Day eight, our final day and not covered by our meal plan so probably mcdonalds or the earl of sandwhich shop. :)
God that's a long holiday! We were originally only going for 5 days, to cover Cameron and Caitlins birthdays, but the eurostar didn't run on the days we wanted to go or come back, so this was the shortest time span we could go for. We won't be doing it again in a hurry though and as its for so long we can really relax and take our time and see everything. I'm hoping to take more pictures this time too as with all the running about last time I didn't take many at all.
Anyway off Disney now, had to share the easter egg my loving hubby bought for us :)

Lol! Its one of the massive fancy ones from asda which are usually £10. WAY too much IMO, however as it was smashed to hell was only £1! Much better :) It gets smashed to eat anyway so didnt make much difference to me :) So Mark put it in the trolley and paid for it with his pocket money lol. The four of us have been snacking on it since Tuesday and thats whats still left! Its a huge amount of chocolate.
I still have a lot of layouts to share but thought I'd do just the one today. :) Was really pleased with this one, I love all the papers and they all go together well. I was going to call it Cool dudes but for some random reason my alphas didn't have any o's. I dont means I used them, I mean there were none to start with :s very odd.

Well think I've gone on enough for one evening. Will finish with Caitlins quote of the day, she ran downstairs this afternoon will all her fake rings and everything on shouting 'I'm a call girl!' Um, no you are not young lady!! After asking turns out she meant 'cool' but can't say it lol. She'd not been told shes a beautiful girl, MUCH less likely to get social services calling me if she says it at school!

So cold!

Now I know it's wednesday, and I usually do a Whats on your workdesk wednesday, but I'm doing my Mums mothers day minibook at the moment, and while she doesn't look at my blog I know it will be sods law if I share how it's going that will be the day she decides to look lol. Luckily I still have many layouts form Meadowbarn to share. :)
This was the first one I did when I got there and I did it as a double layout. We went to a theme park called Twin lakes last year with Pen green. Unknown to us they had built a HUGE water area. There were loads of water guns, waterfalls and all sorts of ways to get soaked. Kids had a great time :)

This is a really simple layout. i was planning on doing more to it but I put this down as it was and quite liked it :) It's a really old photo of Caitlin at Great Yarmouth, must be 3 years ago now. She was on one of those mini rides you get in arcades that cost like £2 for just over a minute but kids love them lol. Cameron was in the photo but he wasn't enjoying it quite as much so I cut him out.

He was much happier in these photos at his birthday last year :) Look at the little smily face I made with some thickers, arn't I clever :)

Still feeling rough today, had to go shopping though so at least thats done. Think the kids ate for pretty much the entire weekend as needed so much! Off to get a cup of tea and take some more cold/flu pills I think :)

Meadowbarn cold.

Well today I've been pretty much laid up with the Meadowbarn cold as it's now known lol. Almost everyone who went away this weekend to the Meadowbarn cottage has got this cold, bah. Hopefully everyone will feel better soon :)
well over the weekend, along with lots of eating, drinking and laughing I managed 22 layouts :) Mojo came along with me obviously! This one was actually the last one I did on Sunday night, by that time I was getting tired so super simple one before I chilled out in front of the fire :)

This is one of Mark and Lillie, though they're not blood related (shes my sisters daughter) they are SO alike! I think they even look alike in this picture. :)

This is another simple one but I really like it. I took my old Sarahs Cards kits with me and managed to use one of them up, this was with the last scraps of the kit and I'm really pleased with it. I love this photo too, Mark took it last Summer when he and my dad took the kids to the park in front of my Mums house. If memory served me and Mum were chilling with Martinis while the men took the kids lol.

Well we're poor again, ugh, came home and our ESA wasn't in the bank, plus even though we were told the bedroom tax wouldn't start until October it starts in April. To be honest though whenever I've spoke to anyone at the council they've giving me different advice so don't think anyone fully knows whats going on :s Well we'll make do, :) always do :) Cameron bless him is so understanding about money. He came home from school and its book wee, now I really don't agree with this but what they do is take the kids in and let them choose a book to buy, then send home a letter to the parents saying what they picked and asking for the money. The book Cameron picked out was £5 from there, but looking online I can get it for £1.35 new on ebay. So told him we wouldnt get it now but might later. He was fine with it but I can see lots of other kids being a bit miffed. He did make me laugh though, came out of school all excited:
Cameron - Mummy! Theres a library at Danesholme where you can borrow books and it doesnt cost you a penny!
Me - Yes I know you go there.
Cameron - No Mummy I've not its in Danesholme!
Me - Cameron, you know that building you go each week to get books?
Cameron - Yeah
Me - And you go for art classes in half term?
Cameron - Yeah
Me - And Daddy takes you in when Mummy is at the shop?
Cameron - Yeah
Me - THATS danesholme library.
Cameron - Oh, *quiet pause* I've been there!
Got to love them.

Home again

Well after an early start this morning got home about lunchtime. I havent even started unpacking my stash yet but thought I'd share with you a Punch I bought at the weekend :)

Ok I know we're super poor but I worked out yesterday I've spent £47 on stash over the past year so thought sod it, and spent the money I made selling exsisting stash on a new punch :) At least I know I'll use it loads as I borrowed Lisas for pretty much the whole weekend lol.
Quick post as tired and feel like I'm fighting off a cold, hope an early night may nip it in the bud :)

Pick your precious

Well this month on pick your precious I'm doing something a little different. Being away on a retreat theres not much here to pick so I had to think about it, then I thought, well my friends are precious to me so that counts I'm sure!

Some people might find it strange, I don't see them very often at all, I've only met some of them once or even twice but yes I class them my friends :) We often speak online and if I have a problem I know I can post there and get some support and advice and really thats what a friend is about. We share good times and bad and they're all a cracking laugh :)
It started when Mark got sick, I lost all my friends as they found it hard to understand what it was like caring for him. They would expect me to still go out whenever or have them round as much which I just couldn't do. I was really isolated and depressed until I stumbled on UK scrappers. There you can talk on the main board or you can make little mini groups about specific topic, Lisa (at the back in the black top) made a group called 'twilight addicts' for anyone who loved the twilight films. Having watched it and loved it i decided to join. Was a small decision with very big consequences lol. The girls on there were so lovely and even though it wasn't 'going out' I would log on each morning with a cup of coffee and sit and have a chat. I felt more like a person again, not talking to only babies or poorly hubbys all the time. It gave me somewhere to go when I needed to vent, or the many nights when Mark was in hospital and I was up with a crying child and feeling very alone.
Well after talking for ages online we decided to do a retreat a couple of years ago. I admit it was a bit daunting going to stay in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, what if they hated me, what if we didn't get on? But it was amazing, we all had a similar sense of humour and had a great time. Sadly I missed last years but am very glad I managed it this year :) Besides doing loads of layouts I've had a wonderful time, laughing, gossiping and socilising :)
The internet may cause a lot of problems but if it wasn't for the world wide web I never would have met such a lovely, funny, kind, group of people :)

Day two

Well today has been a lovely day of doing very, very little except for scrapping lol. Did go for a nice walk around the barn, Its such a beautiful place.





managed 12 layouts, a card and a box today :) Might photograph and blog some tomorrow lol

retreat day one :)

Well today is Meadow barn day one :) But first very proud Mummy :) I knew Cameron was going to be star of the week for defending his friend, but this morning when I dropped Caitlin off her teacher called me over and said she was the star of the week too! Very proud Mummy. Was gutted I couldn't be there but Mark and my Mum went so that was ok.


Having a great time with the girls :) Trip down was uneventful and the barn we are staying in is beautiful and we're all busy scrapping and gossiping. :) Remember I made the chocolate spoons as gifts? Well this is what the other girls did :) Granted some were too busy but there are pressed flower tags, a scrapping badge, a box of mints, decopatch paperweight and a keyring :) What talented friends I have :)

Managed 5 layouts so far, go me!