Self portrait for Cheryl's photography class

 

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture of me inside the globe,but my printer has run out of ink.

And here’s another one I took of me playing our holiday grand piano.My Dad bought it as a joke for my daughter years ago.It has now weirdly become one of our favourites to get down from the loft.Its so bad taste and kitsch but it always brings a smile when the piano plays away and the snowmen spin around dancing.

I can’t wait for Shimelle’s JYC on Tuesday.I just need to get a new printer and I’m ready.

Here to fight another day

Well I have been having some medical tests this week and received the results this morning.

We had to break the bad news to my son,that he won’t be getting the Bentley he had been hoping for. That my daughter won’t be off on a  hastily booked trip to Disney World,Florida over Christmas.(she knew I’d want to do this)

Even my sister was disappointed to hear she’ll still have to pay me back the money I lent her to buy her new house.

It would seem since I had been sent for urgent tests to hospital,everyone had been imaging the worst.My Mother died of the cancer I was being investigated for and they had  all been thinking about it in their own way.

Tasmin,my daughter had inquired if she could get out of her university exams.My friend in Spain,came to see me and was upset that she’s returning to live in the UK and I wouldn’t be here to go shopping with her.

My Husband had been kept awake with thoughts about getting a cleaner,and cooking and had checked out life insurance for the both of us.

And I was in the process of buying an expensive bathroom suite and I did have a moment when I thought ,shall I just buy them a cheap one.

But its all systems go again now.The tests were all clear and I have just one more investigation in two weeks to endure,and then I’ll be signed off.All good,except I still have the pain in my hip and back ,which I’ve had for over 15 years,that I originally went to the Doctors about.

My sister said I was just like my Dad when we use to go to the hospital with him.He always cracked a joke with his Doctor and I couldn’t resist when the Doctor said at the end

“Do you have any questions?”

I replied,

”I’d just like you to confirm ,what you said before, that sex was out of the question,for good”

He couldn’t stop laughing and told my Husband

“she's putting words in my mouth”

So I’m afraid I think my breakfast in bed with a newspaper and hot water bottle will now be a thing of the past.

But at least I’ll get to use the new bathroom.

Today's Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving over in America.

So I thought I'd think about what I am thankful for.

• that we don't have Thanksgiving and have to invite all the inbreds over for dinner,that I've slaved over
• My Husband who adores me (God knows why?)
• My two children (who tolerate me)
• for getting through the night witout any pit stops to the toilet
• that I have my own hair and teeth.(well not counting the caps)
• My OCD suffering,ball of chaos-Teddy
• My friends
• My beautiful home
• being healthy ( except for my back,neck and hip pain)
• which leads me onto the NHS paying for me to go to a private hospital.
• the internet (what would I do all day?)
• Mc Donalds Mcflurrys.
• and you,thankyou for reading my blog

"I love Thanksgiving turkey...it's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts"-Arnold Schwarzenegger

My last week

Well ,the Around the World blog train was a great thing to be involved with.I loved how different the weather was in each Country.Its mind boggling to think that at the same time we are wrapping up for Winter,someone will be on a beach roasting.

I had a lovely Sunday,at Anna's crop at Southoe.As it was our Christmas party,we didn’t have a kit this month.It took me a while to get my mojo going.

I hate not having my entire stash to go through,but I got there in the end.This is my Nan with Tasmin .I have some journaling  hidden under the journaling card.

The journaling reads-Tasmin with my Dads Mum,who we called Big Nanny.Over the years this got changed to Fat Nanny in London.(now hidden)but Tasmin always remembered her as squidgy fanny Nanny!!!!

Now ,any Americans may not realise is that a fanny is something quite different here in the UK!

This is why the journaling is hidden.

The next layout came together a bit quicker and is of my son Ryan at about 3 years old.

Again this one has hidden journaling on a pull out card.

I finally finished my layout I had started  at the Crafty Stash crop.I’m afraid the light wasn’t very good when I took the picture.

I had been saving the bottom sheet of paper for over a year.It’s a map of Italy,with Naples right in the middle.So it was perfect for a layout about our time in Naples at the beginning of the month.Everything is inked and layered with 3D foam.

And finally here's a treat I bought for myself this week.I had spent a stressful day of tests at hospital and stopped on the way home to buy myself some flowers and I couldn’t resist the vase  as well.

I am looking forward to them opening over the coming week.What do you like to treat yourself with?

Saturday we had a lovely pizza to tuck into before X Factor started.But come Sunday morning I suddenly realised we hadn’t had the garlic bread to go with it???Well here it is -

I think its cooked.Do you?

You can’t smell anything burning in an aga.But as my Husband pointed out the neighbours would have.All the smells go out the chimney.It was that black I couldn’t see it in the oven.

I must admit I have done this several times.Chris just rolls his eyes and says “again!”

Congratulations to my friend Linda's son Ben Whishaw for winning the best Actor Emmy award in New York yesterday.
This is the series he won the award for.
Check out his new film Bright Star in the cinemas now.
Imagine seeing your son up there on the big screen.It was very surreal for his Mums friends,imagine what its like for her.
She found the series he won the award for very hard to watch as his character has the same name,and it was a very harrowing subject.

BLOG AROUND THE WORLD

Welcome to my blog all the “Around the World “bloggers and all my old friends.And big thanks to Helena for setting this all up and for Heather for linking me in the blog train.

I’m afraid I haven’t been very good on the blogging front this week.I have curiously lost my mojo,.My mind is elsewhere dealing with some health issues ,so I hope my blog won’t be too much of a disappointment to the new readers.

Well here goes.

I admit it I am nosey.I love to walk my dog at that time of night ,when the curtains are still open and the lights are on.You can have a good peak into peoples life's.

Every month when I receive my copy Of Creating keepsakes ,the first page I always go to is the creative space section.I love to look at peoples scrap space/rooms.This lady has the best scrap space in the World I think.In fact the best house,its like something out of cribs.She's one lucky lady and she is also immensely talented as a scrapper.

I am also,very lucky to have plenty of room to scrap in.I have a summer scrap room,which is in my conservatory just of my kitchen.Its great to have all the doors and windows open and the light is amazing.

When we had the kitchen put in I bought a dresser cupboard to match for the conservatory to store all my scrap stash.Its great as it has plenty of space and I can just shut the doors and everything looks tidy.

The only problem has been that it can get too hot in the summer and its now too cold to work in, now winters is on its way.I work standing up mostly at this desk area.I love the big magnetic white board.Its all in it infancy and I hope to have it covered in inspiration crap soon.

We are currently in the process of converting some bedrooms into an ensuite and a winter scrapbook room for me.As soon as the plumber puts the pipes in,my husband will be building the new walls.The new wall will be where the new wood is laying on the floor. I am going to keep it simple with Ikea furniture and a wall covered with various pictures/drawing and layouts.

So at the moment I am mainly working next to my snugly Aga in the kitchen.I have been in the process of putting together my Journal your Christmas album for Shimelles new class coming up in December.

I am proud to announce its all ready up to the 31st December.I am glad I got a head start,so that the journaling will become the important bit in December.

Now I can’t go without a picture taken out of my kitchen window.Anyone who lives in the UK will know its been a tad windy this week.I live on a slight hill and we get the full impact of any winds.I struggled to put out this washing on Wednesday.

Now this blog was my first attempt at using live writer.So far I have found it very easy,so fingers crossed It will be easy to put on my blog.

So I’ll say adios now,thank you for popping in and I’ll pass you over to Tracey at http://tracyscraftycorner.blogspot.com/ hopefully in a sunny Durban ,South Africa.

Smile -

sunshine is good for your teeth

-Author unknown

I admit it,I am not the best at making comments on peoples blogs.But there is one persons blog I read avidly and I sometimes write her a comment or if I feel she needs a bit more encouragment I've sent her an email.

I think she is an awesome scrapper and photographer and if I had just a smidgen of her talent I would be proud.Her name is Corinne Delis and she lives in Holland.Which is very unfortunate for me as she runs some amazing looking classes.So I live in hope that one day ,someone will recruit her over here for a retreat.

In August she posted a layout that just made me cry.It really struck a cord with me.I told her I was thinking of scraplifting the idea and did so the very next day.Its one of my favourite layouts and I was thrilled to get an email from Corinne asking for a link to my page and she left a comment on my Flickr site.It meant so much to me,as I really hold her in high esteem.

Now anyone who knows me ,knows that I hate to be kissed or cuddled.I hate anything demonstrative.It comes from a childhood devoid of any affection and I now can only show affection to my dog!!!!

So this was quite a hard layout for me to journal on.But I was determined to do it.So that one day my children will realise that the hard bitch,really did care.It was funny ,because I always leave my layouts out for them to see and comment on.This too date has been the only one my children haven't commented on.

See a bit of me has rubbed off on them and they keep themselves in check.Sad.
However my husband sent me a text that day to say to the best Mum in the world.Ahh.

Plus the scrap lift went on and my friend Hilary was inspired and she made a layout as well.

Walberswick

Walberswick
Originally uploaded by buzzy boy

Photo I am most proud of.

Well,I have had a perfect day.

I promised myself a day doing only things I wanted to today.

So I do what I always do -write myself a list of things to do,which I cross off as the day goes on.

There was to be no guilt involved today,even though Hubby is still banging around upstairs building a new wall.

I was determined to finish a layout I had started last week.And here's the finished article.

My top tip for completing layouts is to go through your entire stash and pull out everything you think could work.I then pop this pile into a basket,which is easily movable.

Now this works for me as I have a manageable amount of stash.Now I realise there will be a few ladies who would be there for a week looking through their stash.

No names mentioned,but I hear Hilary likes shopping!

I then play around with everything and build the layout up.I then leave it a day or two and then have another look through the basket and make any alterations.

I have already pulled out some stash ready for a project I will be starting.I am off to Naples soon and I have some Italy related papers that are perfect and have been sitting in my stash for ages.

So these and some travel embellishments are sitting in their own basket ready for when I return ,hopefully with my camera full of pictures.

I am such a super organised person,very annoying I know.But it keeps my life totally stress free.

I wrote a post on Shimelles "Journal your Christmas" forum about preparing for the class in December.I was pleased and some what surprised to find there are loads of anal people out there like me I've had 94 replies!

Since that post I have been busy shopping for Christmas stash.I bought some great etsy bits from the States-embellishments, and these fab numbers

Good job I bought them early as some went missing in the post and had to be resent.

I decided on the same size album as a friends journal I admired an American Crafts D ring

So up to today I had a pizza box full of old and new Christmas related stash.I was inspired to start putting my album together by this fab lady.So along with quick peeps at last years prompts from Shimelle,I have put together the start of the first 4 days of December.I have been making embellishments for the pages and jotted down some notes of what I'd like to include on the pages.

I am hoping this planning will make the class as stress free as possible.We all know time flies when you are doing one of Shimelles classes.You get a bit sidetracked!!!!

So all in all I had a perfect day.Made even better by my Hubby being home and buying me my favourite cake to have with my lunch.Mmmm

Today's prompt from Shimelle was to think about blogging a list of things.
So here's a photograph of 10 of my favourite vistas of my house.
Well lucky for me I already had all the material I needed for today.
Whilst my Husband was busy demolishing my home yesterday.I took time to record some of my favourite parts of the house.It was mainly to remind me that all the hard work will be worth it in the end.
We have begun already to forget the cost, time planning and all the sheer hard work that we have put into each and every part of our house.
I sometime wish I could just be laid back about designing each room,but its all in the details for me.
Luckily for me I have a husband who couldn't care less what I choose and he's always happy to put my ideas into reality.
He says he always LOVES what I come up with.
So I am blessed to have a home we are proud of and one that I feel truly reflects me.

Well my Husband has been busy today.He's still banging away upstairs.
(I haven't had time to check out Shimelles prompt for today,so I maybe again back later.)

He's knocked down the wall between our spare room and tiny main bathroom.They are going to become an ensuite for our room and a winter scrapbook room for me.I currently keep my stash in the conservatory,but the papers get a bit damp and curly out there in the Winter.So I'll sit upstairs in the Winter.These are the last two rooms to be completed in the house.I can't believe the end is finally near.I say finally near but i would think we still have months of upheaval to look forward to.Chris is amazing at getting things done quickly.But it goes out of our hands when the plasterer and plumber get involved.

Plus I have to choose some tiles and I cant find any I like.I HATE tiles.I HATE the way the grout goes over time.We have tried everything recommended,but it always goes manky.

Here's the handy man taking a rest on his throne.

And this is what he's been up to today!!!!!

Even more amazing is,I didn't have to get my whip out at all.I have made his task much easier by buying him a massive slide into the skip.You can just see the top of it at the window.This has cut his workload down massively.I know what your thinking,aren't I kind.Well I must dash there's dinner to burn. No rest for the wicked.

Well,as I am sure you are aware I am taking part in Shimelles latest project,blogging for scrapbookers.Her classes are superb and a bargain price.High praise from me!!!
Well the class kicked off today and I am determined to keep up with it.It will be a test run for her Christmas Journal.
I joined up to try and improve my blogging skills.Which were zero.I must admit my Husband feels like I have left him for another man.I am now spending hours sat on the computer.But I believe that once I know what I am doing,blogging will be dead easy.
Todays prompt said to take a picture linked to this blogging lark,so here's me sat reading the first prompt.
I must admit the sky-plus is filling up with unwatched programmes and I'm even dreaming about blogging so lets hope I will soon be a blogging queen.

My Husband is off this week to start working on our new ensuite.There is dust everywhere already.Our old bathroom is now off limits and the skip arrives tomorrow.But the end to refurbishing this house is nearly insight.Plus he may get a chance to returf the garden as well,if the weather holds out.I will crack my whip extra hard this week.Of course I will be far too busy blogging to help him.

Check out my friends son Ben in his latest film-Bright Star .

It comes out on the 6th November

He is a very talented actor and his Mum has told me he's up for a Best Actor Emmy for his part in the BBCs serial "Criminal Justice."

I made this layout for his Mum from a Crafty Stash crop kit.The star seemed very appropriate.The picture is from his Cannes Film Festival premiere.I loved the technique we used to make this star.Its just a load of punched circles arranged in a star template.

Ben is going to New York soon to begin rehearsals for a play he's doing with Kate Winslet.We heard he'd won the part ,whilst sat on a beach in Spain.I have my fingers crossed that hopefully I maybe going with his Mum to New York for the premiere.

I have told her to ensure in the future he gets to work with my all time favorite Ewan Mcgregor

swoon..........................