Not quite constantly in tears but I am in the middle of a mini breakdown. I have them every now and again…you see the way I’ve suffered on and off with depression for about 9 years now and the way that I cope is to keep myself busy, sometimes too busy. Every now and again it catches up with me, usually while Pete is away, but sometimes when he’s home. I don’t like to take medication…I’ve tried…a few times I’ve tried and it just doesn’t seem to work for me. I probably sound like a right scary monster, but I’m not. It’s just that every now and again I need to STOP and take a breather for a couple of days, not plan anything, rip up my ‘to do’ lists and take stock. So that’s what I’ve been doing the last few days. I’ve got a busy time ahead and the last thing I want to do is get to the point where I have a full breakdown cos, believe me, that AIN’T pretty!

We enjoyed a lovely day at Crealy in Exeter on Wednesday and it was our first real outing since Natasha could walk properly and it was lovely to see her interact with animals, go mad in the wooden fort, play in the sand area etc.
She found some baby goats and it was magical watching her feed them. If you haven’t been Crealy I really would recommend it. It’s best for kids under the age of around 10 in my opinion as it’s not got loads of rides but there is so much for them to do we always go when it opens and leave when it closes and the kids still want to stay longer. Plus if your child is under 92cms it’s FREE…and if they’re over that but under 1m then the entrance fee gives you unlimited entry for the season which runs til the end of December! Its definitely better for the smaller ones compared to Woodlands which I’ve also been too a couple of times. Ididn't get too many pics as i spent most of the time behind the video camera but here are a few, i love the ones of emily on the dinosaur climing wall, when she got to the top she just jumped back givng me a mini heart attack and the laughed her head off, wish i'd caught THAT on the camcorder!

The last few days i've kind of chilled out with the kids, Freya was back at school yesterday and Emily goes back to nursery tomorrow so the manicness of the past week should ease off slightly. I also have my first Plymouth crop to go to tomorrow night which i'm looking forward to. Signed up for a couple of the kits for the UKS cyber crop...one from rebeccas scrapbooking stash which looks very interesting, a shrink plastic kit from 3djean which is something i've never done before, the hearts team mystery kit...which i must say is absolutely superb but can't say anymore than that because i'll be shot..all i can say is that 'A Trip Down Memory Lane really pulled out the stops on that one and lastly...i've preordered the kit from artbase.

Unfortunatley i wasnt' quick enough on the mark to get them all but i have such a mountain of stash that i really need to get through it all. I've also had my monthly kit from Jenni Bowlin which i like better than the last one...and my most fabby purchase this week was a mountain of new CI goodies from Craft Obsessions. I've got to say a big thank you to Dave because when on their website they say that they give a personal service, boy are they telling the truth! I've had a load of Autumn leaves stamps on preorder for ages and had been waiting on them coming in and when I called Dave to let him know my card details we were talking about the gorgeous Love Struck collection from CI.


to come in next month as i am LOVING that. The pics were taken from the CI website and work is by their DT.He said that he'd had more of it in and called me the next day with item numbers for CI's website so i could view all these things and....well i had to have most of it..just waiting for some more of the 'Caution - Girl!' range

Last but not least - Prize for the April scrap it challenge........not many entries recieved so far so all i can say is get one done and email it to me cos there's a good chance you'll win....ummmmm.....well camera isn't up to it tonight but will post piccie tomorrow but it involves a flip or a flop but not a flip flop! Surely that's not TOO cryptic! For pic of what you'll get check back tomorrow evening...ps also added some pics to older posts that i hadn't gotten round to doing yet plus a big big BIG hug and kiss to Liz for brightening up my afternoon by giving me a surprise phone call. X