Lets have a natter

Well it's almost april fools day and no doubt I'll get caught out by something...i can be quite gullible at times if truth be told! Today has been one of those manic days...I told Pete that he was to play mummy all weekend as i've been doing the cyber crop classes on Scrapstars. There have been some great classes on there so far and if you haven't been over there already do have a looky and see. Today i've done a lovely layout based on a class by Angelnorth which was using the craft robo. I had major probs getting the thing to work and when i eventually did it the title was so tattered so i'm not best pleased about it and at one stage i felt like crying! It looks good from a distance though!

The papers and bits i used on the layout, and the following two..were all sent to me in a swap on UKS from the lovely Hilary 78 so a major thank you again. They certainly are bright layouts and the papers that she sent seemed perfect for these 70's photos of me and the other of me and my dad. I love this pic of us together if for nothing else that he is wearing the loudest pink socks ever! I also managed to make a little mini book from a class that wwow did...although i've no idea what i'm going to put in it yet but i think Freya will love it so i'm going to give it to her. I used the Tinkering Ink Perfectly Posh range which is so bright and garish that i can't help but love it! And i still haven't opened my Basic Grey apart from to steal some to give to the lucky recipient of the March Scrap It Challenge. Don't forget that the winner will be announced on the blog tomorrow and a new challenge will go up for the month. Would be nice to see some more entries this month too so tell all your friends and tell them they could win some free stash.

Things have been a little hectic on UKS for me recently. Long story but i am now in a new team called the Yummy Mummys. It's going well and we have a great group of girls involved including two from my old team, Lesley and Liz. Lesley is right on my wavelength and Liz is just a wonderful human being and such a talented scrapper too.

WEll Easter is upon us and i'm getting the urge for a large chocolate egg, bet Pete forgets my egg though....! Freya has gone up north with her dad for the week, Robert has come over to stay for the week and i'm yet to find somewhere where i can ditch the ickle ones who seem to be averse to sleep at the moment!

Finally went round to Sarahs (monroegirl) this week. It was lovely to meet up again now she's back in here home. I love that she's so down to earth and such a friendly person. I also adore her work and it was great to get my mitts on her scrapbooks and see the fine detail that you don't often notice looking at jpegs in galleries.

I also met up briefly with Anna (aka Skippie) who also lives in Plymouth and is wonderfully organising an evening crop on the 18th April. I can't wait to meet other scrappers who i've only come across on UKS. So if you want to come along give Skippie a shout on UKS, the more the merrier and if you haven't scrapped before...why not come along and see what all the fuss is about! Well that's enough for tonight, will be back tomorrow with the name of the winner and the next challenge! Night

Sorry i've been a bit slow

since i came back from Wigan. It's just been so manic. The funeral went well, as far as a funeral can go obviously. It was a lovely service and the wake was brilliant... Pete started off by reading a poem that he'd written about his memories of his dad..it was a humourous look at the past and really set everyone up at the wake to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death and that was so good to see. I met a lot of Pete's family that i hadn't met before and i can honestly say that i haven't laughed so much in ages.

Football was a bigh talking point as they're all Evertonians from that side of the family so there was lots of banter with me being a spurs fan. All good humoured and they relived some great footballing memories. Even the priest made a quip about John having supported the wrong side of Merseyside during the service. It's nice to say that we took John to his last live game when we went up three years ago to watch Everton v Chelsea and Pete also took him to watch his last game in a pub which was the drubbing they did over LIverpool back in September. That's a lovely thought and something that i think Pete is really happy with.

The day after the funeral i came back to Saltash and Pete went up to Scotland which was hard to say goodbye. But he was home again last Friday and is here til Easter Sunday. Manic here at holiday times and have to go and get Natasha up from her nap now so iwill update with some piccies and more news later....

Off to Wigan

Going to be leaving about 3 which isn't ideal as traffic always seems to become horrendous at Bristol which i'll hit at rush hour, oh well at least the sun is shining which makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing. HOping to get up in time for kick off of the spurs game but we shall see. Back on FridayX

Happy Birthday Freya!

Well most of the family came over last night to wish Freya a happy 9th birthday. She had fun, ate too much and now i'm being driving mad by the alernating sounds of a cyberman, bop it and high school musical! Had my emotionally retarded father in tears last night. A man not known to be very 'soft' broke down when he read the journalling i'd done in a layout of my nan...his late mum. She was the most influential woman in my life and i cried the whole way through making the layout. Nice to know thought that some of my family can now see that scrapbooking is about far more than 'farting around with some paper and glue'.

Those weren't the only tears last night. After everyone left and the ickle ones had gone up to bed i sat Freya down and told her about her grandads death. It was a really hard moment. Especailly as she'd earlier opened her birthday card from 'Nana Rose and Grandad'. She has gone through this before, only a couple of years ago when her uncle died just before Xmas. She used to see him every weekend and she was hit very hard with it so i knew it wasn't going to be easy but i didn't want to keep up the pretence any longer. She'd already spoken to Nana Rose on the phone and said that she thought Nana Rose sounded upset as if she'd been crying.

She asked lots of questions and i answered her honestly. We cuddled, we cried and i made sure she thought about how much better it was that he was now in no pain and how memories are wonderful things to keep in your heart. She's had the day off school today although she seems a bit brighter in herself today but i think she's probably got more tears to shed yet.

Pete went back and saw his dad again yesterday. He took a photo in of the four kids together, folded it up neatly and put it in his hand. That way he'll always have his grandkids near. He's never been a person who can talk very easily about his emotions so i've got no idea how he'll be at the funeral. All i can do is just be there for him. Such a shame that the next day he leaves for Scotland and i leave for Cornwall. Will really worry about him for the next couple of weeks til his next trip home.

Most of the planning for what's going to happen with the kids is now sorted. Just have to teach Freya the route between her school and Emily#s nursery so she can show my mum. She's going to have her work cut out because she doesn't drive so i hope she wears her sensible shoes!

So, going to leave it there til i get back from Wigan when i can have a decent natter. Funerals are hard enough, but there's something about the Catholic church and making every event five hours long! Not the easiest of funerals to attend. Oh well, are any?

And life goes on.....

...sometimes too quickly when your kids are barking mad but that's another story entirely. Pete got u to Wigan safe and sound, even on time which i was amazed with as he'd got the train. He went to see his dad today and is glad he did. He felt he's said all he had to say to him. I'm not looking forward to the journey up on Wednesday. I have done the drive before but Pete was with me so i'll end up somewhere between Liverpool and Manchester no doubt. Just hope that the traffic is kind to me, and the weather.

Didn't get a chance to tell you but Emily is going to be wearing glasses. I took her for a check on Thursday and as i thought she is having problems with her sight. Would you believe thought that it's going to be three months before the eye infirmary recheck it and actually do a prescription for her. I've also heard you have to really kick up to get two pairs of glasses rather than one. Its no fun having four kids, a hubby away and then having to drive to another city everytime they need fixing, which i have been assured is often for 3 year old. She's had several pairs of sunglasses in the past and none have lasted more than an hour of the Emily treatment!

I've kept myself busy the last couple of days, done a few layouts with the fantastic modscraps kit which was starting to gather dust as i'd had it a week! I'm really pleased with the way the DLO i did came together as i was trying to get the pics in sequence just like it was a mini film (thanks to cw18 on UKS who stitched the LO together for me- X). Didn't think i'd be that keen on using the overlays but they are so nice. I've got another LO in mind tonight and then i MUST do Freya's birthday card as i've left it a bit late.

She'll be nine tomorrow. Scares the life out of me especially as puberty seems to have kicked in far too early for my liking. She's already had her party so we've just got some family coming over tomorrow for a little birthday tea and cakes and no doubt she'll want to give a little performance on her keyboard.

Big day of football today, especially down here. Thought we'd finally got over the Chelsea jinx earlier, was calling everyone and anyone at half time and then we drew! What is it about Spurs and dropping goals in the second half. Hopefully we'll do them back at the lane. So that was the lunch time kick off and at 6 it's my home team, Plymouth Argyle V Watford. Good chance to go through to the next round i think so fingers crossed for the Green Army. Had a ticket to go but no babysitter unfortunately as they're all going to be there! Oh well, have to look out for them all on the tele! Thats if the kids will let me get away with watching two games in one day. It's alright when Pete is here as we keep them occupied between us, if it's my game on he does dad duty and if one of his games is on (poor Evertonian) i do the motherly bit - ths usually involves chasing the kids out of the living room althogh now we've got the playroom there's a bigger tele in there for them than we have.

RIP John Farrell

A sad news day today. My Father In Law unfortunatly passed away this morning. He only retired in October and we'd been up to Wigan to see the family only a few weeks before. Only a few weeks after retiring he started having shakes and losing mobility so went to hospital to be checked out. Turns out he had 5 brain tumours, not the news he was expecting the week before Xmas.

We went up at Christmas and New Year with the kids so that they got a last chance to see their grandad whilst he was still 'with it'. The past few weeks have been really hard for my mother in law, Rose, as she's been to and from hospitals, hospices, homecare arrangements, back to hospital and finally back at home, which is where he wanted to be. He passed away at home this morning.

It's been a really hard few weeks, especially being so far away from everyone. Pete has just caught a train up to be with his mum and the rest of the family. I don't think it's fair on the kids to be there now so i'll be driving up with Robert (my step son) on WEdnesday for the funeral on Thursday. The two littlest ones don't understand and Freya doesn'tknow yet. She's at her dads over the weekend and then it's her birthday on Monday so i'm going to leave it til Tuesday to tell her. She's a very sensitive girl and i don't want her birthday to be overshadowed and her not enjoy herself. Maybe that's wrong but it's the decision i've taken.

My thoughts go out to anyone with loved ones that are ill. I'm just grateful to have known the man who my darling husband takes after soooo much. I'm grateful that he died peacefully and in the place he wanted to be. And i hope his beloved Everton win their next game, just for him. RIP John Farrell, your grandkids will miss you so much.Natasha with nanny and grandad, September 2006

DO YOU WANT SOME OF THIS?

Just a sneaky peak of what you could be winning in the March Scrap It Challenge! Some papers from the new BG Scarlet's Letter, some bazzill.....I'm not a shop or anything like that so this comes out of my own pocket but i'm a generous sort....so have you had a go yet? Oh and did i tell you there's more? Well you'll have to wait to see the rest won't you!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Oh yes I’ve been mega busy. With everything going on recently I forgot that it was only a couple of weeks to go until the mega cyber crop on Scrapstars which I not only need to prepare for all those wonderful classes and things, but also because I’m supposed to have written two of the classes! Almost had a mini cardiac last night when I realised so I’ve managed to get one class written today and now I’m writing another involving a canvas!

I LURVE Cyber Crops, not least because I don’t have to leave the house and travel miles to get there (no local crops here unfortunately). I get to crop all day, stay in my nightclothes til at least 6pm and have Pete run around rustling me up a sandwich and keeping the kids from running off with my scissors! Have you ever done one? Do come and have a look on Scrapstars cos it’s going to be great fun. It all kicks off on Monday the 19th March when there’ll be daily challenges. Then on the 24th there’s a day of classes devoted to digi scrapping and photography. I’ll be doing all that as it’s something I haven’t had the courage or direction to delve into yet.

It all culminates in a weekend crop on the 31st March and 1st April when there will be no less than 17 classes…yes that’s right at least SEVENTEEN! Don’t panic though, you don’t have to do everything, why not check out the supply lists which are going up as I type and see what takes your pick! Of course you have to do my classes though!

So yesterday and today have been a bit manic….was trying to scrap around the virgin media engineer yesterday whilst our V+ box was installed. I was with sky but my sky+ box went kaput and they wanted me to pay to have it looked at so I told them to ram it…I’m a woman of principles! Anyway, I’m really pleased with it. All this tele on demand service where there’s whole series on the box that you can put on whenever you want….i was going off tele but seeing a whole series of Little Britain on there I’m having to be prised away.

Freya had her first Orchestra practice today. Dropped her off, took Emily to Tesco with me and by the time I picked her up again they were playing ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings!’. Not bad for two hours effort.

I have to take Emily to the eye doctor tomorrow. She has been screwing her eyes up to look at the tele for a while now so I thought I’d better get it checked out. For a start I’m as blind as a bat, I can’t even focus on my hand if it’s more than 6 inches from my face! Secondly, Emily had very poorly eyes when she was little. It started off being diagnosed as conjuctivitus which was still there a month later, which was OBVIOUSLY my fault, as I OBVIOUSLY wasn’t putting the cream in her eyes properly! Upshot was, she started getting really hard lumps, red angry things in her eyelids, top and bottom and a big warty type growth on the underside of one of her upper lids. It was a horrible time. She was like this for around a year with different creams, lotions and potions being tried and no definite diagnosis. As one cream ran out, the eye infirmary decided that the best thing to do was to put her under and actually cut the growth away under her eyelid, I would just have to wait for an appointment. In the meantime, we weren’t using any creams or anything and I noticed it started to improve after a few weeks so I told them to hold off the surgery and see what happens and lo and behold after about three months, all that was left was a scar on one of her upper lids where one of the lumps had gone down.

People would always comment about her eye when we were out and about and I feel really bad that there is a huge period of her life as a toddler where I have very few pictures of her because of how bad her eye looked. I really regret that now but I always kept thinking it would go so much quicker than it did. I’m making up for it now though!

Well a good time was had by all yesterday at the Megabowl. I always thought that nothing could be worse than a car full of toddlers until I was faced with a car full of prepubescent girls (and Robert). No wonder boys tend to be scared of girls at that age because Rob had this bewildered look on his face, which by the time we’d got to destination B had turned to sheer panic, never seen anyone get out of the car so fast!

They stuffed themselves silly, giggled at how utterly terrible they were at bowling and screamed as only they could scream as they piled onto a rollercoaster simulater made for two but packed with five of them all laying down on top of one another! Ah well, kids eh?

Haven’t done much scrapping the last couple of days what with everything else going on. My network adapter went last night so I had to go to PC World to get a new one today and also came out with six pack of MR MEN cdroms! I don’t know how it happens really! Off to do some scrapping so my teamies don’t think I’m slacking but thought I’d spoil you with some pics from yesterday. Freya is the one with the dark hair right in the middle of the main picture.

Told you i don't do STRAIGHT

Well i gave up with the straightners last night and juzzzed it up and low and behold it's curly again (although it did take a mountain sized ball of mousse). Had a lovely meal out last night and was going to go for a bit of silly dancing afterwards but i couldn't waddle let alone boogie after my three courses so we hopped in a cab where we made our way back to my mums flat (where we were staying for the night) switched on MOTD and watched that with a bottle of bubbly. Maybe not very exciting but seeing all these nubile 15 year olds queuing up outside the clubs to get it i decided that i wasn't really after an inferior complex and what is better than my man, watching football (only when spurs haven't lost though, luckily they're playing today) and a nice bottle of bubbly which Pete had sent me on Valentines day so i'd lovingly saved it so we could share it together.

It's Freyas birthday Party at Megabowl today, she's not 9 til the 12th but Pete will be back in Scotland and i really didn't want to take Emily and Natasha through fear that Emily may start trying to roll Natasha into the pins and i may lose her. So i have to pack 5 kids, me and my mum in the farrellmobile and meet another 4 when i get there. I'm quite looking forward to it although after completeing a CJ entry yesterday i'm itching to do some scrapping. Oh well, Freya has a new music folder so i'm sure i can do something to 'jazz' that up later tonight. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Are you doing the Scrap It challenge?

MARCH SCRAP IT CHALLENGE

Well, wanted to do something that would make the site a little more exciting. Not that I have enough to do already but we’re going to launch a monthly challenge! Sound interesting - well that’s the purpose! Our team, the scrapwitches on UKS are having an in house challenge where we swap photos and get one of our team to scrap one of our own photos. I think it’ll be interesting to see how other people scrap a photo that isn’t theirs. So I was thinking how interesting it would be to see how different people would scrap the SAME photograph. So here’s the challenge should you choose to accept it…….

SCRAP IT CHALLENGE

YOU HAVE UNTIL 25TH OF MARCH TO SCRAP THE FOLLOWING PHOTO.



RIGHT CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SAVE IT THEN USE THAT PHOTO AS THE BASIS FOR A LAYOUT. YOU MAY ALTER THE PHOTO IN ANY WAY, IE CROP IT, CHANGE THE COLOURING ETC. LAYOUT SHOULD BE 6X6 OR OVER. SEND YOUR ENTRY TO terriefarrell@hotmail.co.uk . Only one entry per person. File sizes should be no more than 1MB in size and need to be received by the end of 25th March. Please title your email ‘March Scrap It Challenge’. The winner, will be announced on the 1st April here on the site and will receive a goody bag (and no it’s not an April fools joke!). The goody bag will be put together by myself and I may even give you a sneaky peak of what you’ll get later in the month, just to get the creative juices flowing. Then, on the first of every month there will be a new photo for you to scrap. Sound good? Flippin hope so!

Maybe you’d like to see how other people would scrap one of YOUR photos. If you’d be interested in donating a photo for the challenge then email the same address with the subject header ‘Scrap It’.

Right, go tell your friends to have a go and try and win this goody bag.

AND THE WINNER IS.......

The draw has been done (by Robert as Freya is too excited to see her cousin) the draw was verified (by me under the influence of Tobelerone) and i can now confirm that the lady recieving a free copy of Scrapbook magazine issue 21 is........

JANE! Congratulations Jane, if you email me at terriefarrell@hotmail.co.uk with your address, i'll get it sent off to you tomorrow. Goodnight everyone!

Well here’s the pic you’ve all NOT been waiting for LOL. This is me with my new short hair cut which I really don’t think Pete approves of, I don’t think it’s the length that bothers him, it’s just …..well a bit strange seeing me with straight hair! Quality of the pic isn’t good as I had to try and do it myself on timer. The one Pete took was awful as I looked like my face was rather lopsided. Like I said, I really don’t like my picture being taken so I feel really embarrassed actually ‘posing’ for a photo.

It’s going to be a bit of a madhouse this weekend. Rob is on his way over and later tonight Freya’s cousin Paige is coming down from Kingsbridge. She’s staying for the weekend and I know they’re both really looking forward to seeing each other as they really miss each other. Tomorrow night me and Pete are going out for a meal (our first night out since September!) and my mum will babysit the FIVE kids in the house. She’s got her Prozac ready. Thing is, we’re not coming home either…..leaving mum here overnight so we can have a night to ourselves staying at hers! LOVE IT! So I may not get to update much this weekend, but I have a few ideas in the pipeline for next week so keep your eyes peeled. Freya has just gone with Pete to pick up Robert so as soon as she comes back I’ll get her to pick a name from the bowl for the Scrapbook Magazine free copy….I’ll post the lucky recipients name later this evening!

What a glorious day1

How wonderful this morning was. I had a delivery whilst I was out saving the world yesterday and I was gutted because I knew it would be my modscraps kit but there I was 9am prompt at the sorting office and when I got home I delicately cut the tape around the edges….oh what a lovely kit inside, so much nicer than the photo of it…oh there’s the mag…lets have a look at that then before I go through the box and OMG, I’ve won the draw for last month for layouts produced from their January Appasionata kit! OK it's randomly drawn so hardly because of my obvious good looks and talent but hey – free stash and it was in the pizza box too, some SEI papers, tags and alpha stickers and very lush it is too!

Other news, all my hair is gone….i don’t do things by halves me, if it’s really long I have it all cut off, if it’s straight I go curly! So this morning I left with long curly hair and came home with short straight hair. I must add though it’s straight because it was blow-dried straight. Unfortunately my hair has a natural wave to it (see curly wurly below for evidence!) so I know that it’ll never be the same after I left the hairdressers so into Tesco to get a pair of straightners (it’s only going to be straight til it’s in good enough condition for me to ruin it with another perm!). I have diffusers, hair dryers, tongs, styling brush, volumiser attachment but have obviously never needed straightners. I don’t even have a Tesco extra but there were about 10 different types! Well as I won’t need them that long then I went for a £20 pair. Not the most expensive and not the cheapest. But they have heat settings, How do you know what heat to set it on? Any ideas I’d love to know just incase I burn all my hair off and have to have a Britney after all!

As for a pic of new hair style…will wait til I have my war paint on…cooking a lovely roast lamb at the moment, too sweaty at the moment and I’m wearing a lime green t-shirt which matches Natasha’s snot perfectly!

Only two people so far with comments on the free SI Mag post, think I may have to postpone the draw until I at least have 5 People on there. If you know a friend, tell them to shift their butt over here and post that they want it and if there’s at least 5 on there tomorrow when Freya comes home from school, she can draw it then!

Free Issue 21 of Scrapbook Magazine

WEll Scrapbook Magazine have managed to mess up my subscription and have delivered me 2 copies of Issue 21 (even though i got issue 22 last week!) So have decided that YOU can have a copy, just leave a comment on this post and i'll get Freya to put all the names in a hat (well actually probably more like a saucepan) and pull one out at random. Winner gets copy sent out.