Ooops!

Well i didn't think it had been THIS long since I last blogged but to be honest the past few weeks have been a complete blur, not really what you want when the time I have with Pete home is as precious as it currently is. The main reason for the strange time vacuum i've been in is Pete's board. Building up for the last nine months and culminating in having to physically check that he did actually come home from sea over the past few weeks because he'd been buried under reams of paper and stuck to his laptop. However, all the work was worth it as he passed his board last week. He looks at least five years younger than he has done over the past year just through finally letting go of the stress!

It's funny to think that he's now addressed onboard as Mr Farrell or 'Sir'....sounds so bloody formal doesn't it. I did try it at home for a few days but got bored quite quickly! And now the rush that is Xmas begins. Doesn't help with different kids at different schools as there seems to be no time to breathe! Freya had a concert last night with her choir, another for the district choir and orchestra tonight and her school performance next week aswell as her one for Stagecoach coming up. Emily also has one at school next week (she plays a donkey! LOL) and I'm sure Natasha will have one with the nursery so it's keeping us all really busy. Thank goodness Pete is on leave next weekend.

We had our first parents evening with Emily and the girl is a genius, which we kind of knew already LOL! She's doing work with the year one children and whilst some of the other reception class kids are still practicing their names, she's writing sentences! Although they aren't grammatically correct, they make sense when you read them. Her entry in her school weekend diary after the remembrance service said 'my mummy took me to see the dead soldiers!' which raised a few eyebrows! I can't believe how well she's thriving at school and she has this constant demand to be learning all the time. I guess you just have to encourage it to continue.

Talking of Em, it was her fifth birthday last weekend. She had also been invited to a birthday party down at Tamar Valley Donkey Park in the afternoon so that saved a few pennies on a party! We did however, splash out on a cake and had some family round later in the evening. I just love the cakes at Waitrose and with four kids I don't think it'll be long til I've had everyone in the catalogue.

She loved her cake and her new bike without stabilisers......daddy will finally get a chance to get her out on it this evening if it isn't too dark. I'm hoping he can get her comfortable on it before he returns to sea because i'm useless at that sort of stuff!

I've got the dates for next year now and it's going to be a harder trip than i first thought..... 5 and a half months at sea! With Natasha starting her funded nursery sessions in January that should help me get a little escape time but it's certainly going to be hard, especially with so little contact. I'm still umming and ahhhing about flying out to Dubai where they have an extended port visit about half way through, but the costs involved may prohibit that, plus it would be so difficult to get on a plane to come home with the kids wondering why daddy can't come back with us.

So the house is now getting back to normal and Pete is duty tomorrow night so i'm hoping to get some papers and scissors out. It will be the first time over two months and i'm looking forward to it. Freya wants to make some cards for Xmas too so there will probably be glue and paint everywhere....YIPPEE!

Busy busy busy!

Daddy is finally home! Well, he's actually been home for almost a week now, but there's been hardly any time to do anything in that week! He got back to Plymouth on Tuesday night....I was going to lie to the girls and say he'd be home in the morning as I knew that once they saw him i'd struggle to get them into bed....not great for a school day! However, I had a change of heart and we drove down to Devonport Dockyard and all three girls ran at him as soon as he got off the coach!

Must have been a bit of a culture shock to come home from hot, hot, hot Dubai to wet and windy Cornwall. It looks quite funny that he's walking around with peeling skin! NICE! Wednesday night we went to the Fireworks display at HMS Raleigh and luckily the rain held off. Turns out Natasha isn't as much a fan of the fireworks as the rest of us and kept huddling against Pete when they looked like they were coming straight for us. Friday I had a girls night out, Saturday was the High School Musical stage show in Plymouth with Freya and then yesterday, Pete and a few others home from the boat took part in the Remembrance Day service in Torquay.

It was an early morning to get up there and bloody hell was it windy? However, the boys did us proud and for a bunch of matelots their marching wasn't as bad as we all thought it would be......helped that they were marching along some of the cadets which kind of made them look better!

Despite the weather and the huge black clouds that loomed overhead, the turnout was huge and the rain held off until we were on our way back home. The service was as emotional as expected and the kids were proud to see their dad in his finery. You can't help but love a man in uniform!


First thing most of them did once they'd finished the service and the march along Torquay seafront was get the fags out! LOL

So Pete is now gripped with studying for his board in a couple weeks. It's going to be a pretty stressful time for him but i've every faith that he can do it. Not done any scrapping at all, too much else on. But i'm hoping that I can get the house straight enough to do so guilt free by the weekend.

Welcome to the FUNHOUSE!

Finally my new P!nk CD arrived this morning and just having a first listen through I know I'm going to love it. So I'm just getting it put on the iPods now. She's announced some gigs in the UK for next year but as of yet nothing in Plymouth where she has played twice before so i'm really keeping my fingers crossed as Birmingham is out of the question because Pete will be away and it's hard enough to get a sitter but for an overnight it's even harder.

What a weekend....I remembered to put the clocks back, well, most of them....and just before I went to bed on Saturday night, i thought i'd flick on Sky Sports News to catch some reaction for the days matches to find out about Ramos being sacked and Harry Redknapp taking over at Spurs. I literally sat there open mouthed. It was just gone midnight so too late to call anyone so instead I went on a few Spurs forums and ended up chatting online til gone 3 in the morning. Therefore, the extra hour didn't really give me an extra hour at all! Oh well, at least we took our first 3 points of the season on Sunday. COYS!

Sunday was of course Natasha's 3rd birthday and she was was over the moon with her bike, in fact she said 'Wow' as we came down the stairs with it singing Happy Birthday to her. Now I'm waiting for her to start peddaling forwards instead of backwards! My mum was poorly so couldn't come over but Sheree and her brood came so the cousins all ran around like lunatics demolishing everything in their wake.

It was a great evening and I'm still tidying now! Watching Natasha trying to blow out her candles on the cake was hilarious as all she did was manage to keep blowing her fringe.....after half a dozen or so attempts, Freya gave her a helping hand and everyone stuffed themselves stupid! Oh, well, one birthday down, another in two weeks and another two weeks after that.....then Xmas.....oh my god, Xmas....I was trying to forget that one!

Looks like Pete won't be home earlier than I'd thought after all which is a bit of a downer, but only a week to go and he should be here. It's been two months now since he left and you do get to a stage where all you want is to hold him again. From my reckoning he's got a week alongside in a very nice part of the world so in exchange for that, I'd better be getting some goodies brought back.......and not a bloody T shirt this time! I'm hoping I may get a phone call tonight or tomorrow, going off in a sec to work out the time difference just incase i need to glue to the phone to the bedside tonight. Can't wait to just hear his voice.

So now i'm off to spring(?) clean. I'm hoping they announce the BG Designer winner today. The altering work done over there last week was amazing. I especially love the chess set which was altered into an Xmas Advent calender....it really is stunning. Who knows, I may even get some scrapping done tonight!

Counting down

....thought i'd add a song which just about sums up our relationship so I've added a new song to the sidebar and want to dedicate it to my special man. I think that after spending huge periods of time on my own I've got to enjoy my own company sometimes....but not ALL the time. I'm missing Pete like mad at the moment, more so because I know it's less than two weeks til he's home. I know however that probably within about two weeks, i'll be counting down the days to him going to sea again after bemoaning for the 100th time that I can't find something that I've put down, that he keeps moving things, that he leaves a wake of chaos behind him wherever he goes etc etc........no wonder so many forces marriages can't take the strain when they come out and into civvy street! It's kind of nice to be in a relationship where you don't live in each others pockets, because it makes you feel that you want to.....keeps the time we are together a bit more special.....that is of course until the snoring starts!

Put together the bike for Natashas birthday tomorrow (thanks dad) and picked up a cute cake from Waitrose yesterday. My sis and her brood, plus my mum are coming over tomorrow evening for a little birthday tea so will have loads of photos to share then. And Rosie....I tried calling but i think you're screening again! Got Natasha's card and will try and call again tomorrow. Well, i'm off to do a little (and i MEAN little) housework and then veg with a bottle of rose and the X Factor!

Write off!

That's what i've had to do with the past two weeks. I haven't felt good at all and i'm still not right but at least I don't feel just like collapsing on the sofa and doing nothing like I have done. The house is upside down and it's going to take all weekend to get it right again but at least I've got some energy back. The girls are all at nursery and school today which gives me the whole day to start catching up. Then I've got a gym induction at 4.....dreading it to be honest but needs must. I hate gyms and would rather do exercise classes but they don't fit in with the kids so will just have to stick the gym out and get some classes in when Pete is home, which could be sooner rather than later, fingers crossed.

So as i've done nothing.....there isn't really anything to share but a photo of Natasha that I took this week. It's her birthday on Sunday though so no doubt there'll be lots of piccies then.

Sack of shit

Thats how i'm feeling right now.....and I know it's only going to get worse. I went to bed at
9 last night but just tossed and turned all night and this morning I can't stop shivering. Freya took Emily to school for me and Natasha is off to nursery at 11am so I'm going to try and get a couple hours shut eye but everytime I cough it feels like my head will explode and my eyes pop out.

I checked the Honor Roll this morning for Bad Girls Top Designer and I haven't made the next round which is no surprise to me. The gallery was amazing and there are some that I thought would definately get picked that didn't so shows what I know LOL! Fingers crossed I'll start to feel a bit better by the end of the weeks as i'm definately going to carry on playing with the next class, they've been really inspirational.

Checked the prompt for todays HSMSHS which is autumnal. I have to drag my arse to pick Emily and Natasha up from school and nursery later and the walk includes a small wooded area so will take the camera with me and see if I can find anything but other than scrapbooking goodies, the only autumnal thing i have in the immediate vicinity is Natasha, I think she'll count as autumnal if all else fails!

Almost forgot

HSMSHS (still trying to get used to an extra 2 letters on the end LOL). Taken at the park a couple weeks back, the reason I'm proud of this photo is that it just represents that I'm thinking about what I capture a little more and this photo of Emily desperately trying to balance on the rope captures that for me. I'm looking more at shapes and odd angles and stuff......hopefully that translates!

Coming down....

.....with flu most likely. I've felt a little rough the past couple of days but as a heavy smoker, I put it down to my thrice yearly lung purge that I always seem to get. However, last night it took a turn for the worst and I now feel that build up in my throat so I'm hoping for an early night tonight, although there's some scrapping that I want to do so I doubt that I'll end up with some rest.

I spent the night finishing my Bad Girls layout. What a palaver, first the fuse blew the lights in the kitchen. The switch box is high on the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen table. After clambering over the table in the dark, I turned the lights back on to find that I'd knocked over my bottle of Coke onto the layout so then had to start from scratch and this was at around 10.30.

I still had scraps of the paper I'd used but not as much as was in the original layout as I had more of the hand cut circle flowers on the original but had to make do with what I had. I did think maybe the coke would dry by the morning and possibly have given it an antiquated look! However, I didn't want to take the chance LOL!

I had this week purchased the Basic Grey file tool kit as I was desperate for one of those little circular files for when you cover chipboard in paper. It's not my forte. I look at layouts where they have paper covered chipboard and the results are stunning, however, mine always look really ragged! I think I managed a better job with the files but still, I'm not entirely happy with my technique for this so i'm hoping an 'expert' can help me out with that one.

Well, Emily and Freya have gone swimming with my mum, leaving me, Natasha and a Snowdonia sized pile of ironing. So that's my afternoon sorted! The sun is still shining and it's a gorgeous day out there but I just can't face it with my chest the way it is. Oh well, maybe the sun will last a little longer.

It's been a hectic, but enjoyable week so far and there's still so much to do over the weekend. One thing that wasn't enjoyable was the amount of sick cleaning I had to do at the start of the week. I'd already not felt too well last Saturday, but then Freya and Natasha came down with some sort of stomach but. Freya moaned and whinged but wasn't sick, Natasha ran around like the loony she is, seemed fine, went to bed, sicked up all over herself and the bed and then went back to sleep. No noise...nothing. Infact, when I saw what had happened and raised her from her slumber to strip off the jammies and bedding, I was met with the most evil look as if to say, 'Bloody hell mum i just want to sleep!'.

I've been working hard on my Bad Girls entry, although i'm getting more and more scared to upload after looking at what's been submitted so far over there. I think i've definately come to the end of the road on it and can't see me making the last class but hey, it's been a great ride. I'm going to finish it all and assemble it tonight whilst I watch the England match.

Thursday morning was Emily's Harvest Festival Service. We shuffled off to church to watch her perform 'Jingle Jangle Scarecrow' and you could see how chuffed she was to see us there watching her. Unfortunately, wherever we sat there were bloody great big columns obstructing our view so I couldn't get any photos of her. Then it was off to town to prepare for the upcoming rush of birthdays. I spied a bike for Emilys next month, and picked up a scooter and a skateboard / scooter to put away for Xmas too. The main thing I had to get was Natashas birthday present which is in two weeks time. She's been trying to get on Emily's bike which is much too big for her, so she now has a Dora the Explorer bike, hiding in her sisters room until the big day. It's such a shame that Pete will miss her birthday.

Hers is just before Halloween which we make a big fuss of in the house. Well, me and the kids do anyway, this will be the third on the trot that Pete has missed. We have more Halloween decorations than Xmas ones I think! I couldn't resist picking this tealight holder up Waitrose last night. It's gorgeous, in a spooky kind of way! We're having a little Halloween bash the following day but this year at my sisters in her new house. I'll still end up decorating the house though!

Thursday evening (not Tuesday as i thought!), Emily had a friends birthday party to attend. She rushed home from School to get changed and pick up her present (thanks Sarah, the Ben 10 thing I bought went down a treat) and write out her card. As we got to the car to set off, I grabbed my camera. My girls rarely look like little girls, more like scruffy, filth covered monsters.....so I just had to capture a few pics of Emily looking almost angelic....to top it all off, she actually stared right at the camera....a rarity to be honest.

I finally got to pay a visit to Totally Crafty in Plymouth. BAD IDEA! We used to have a craft shop in Saltash but it closed many moons ago, not that it was a scrappers delight anyway. I have always bought my supplies online but having been a good girl and bought nothing but my kits really for the past 12 months, I thought I could trust myself to have a beakers inside. It's much bigger than I thought it would be and I've got to say it was nice to look around. I bought a few titbits but then spied some papers which caught my eye. Now i'm in no ways a papermania girl but I've got to say that these Xmas bits really caught my eye. The papers aren't the thickest in the world, but i'm a sucker for hot pinks teamed with browns and green. They should make me some great cards. I loved that they did some transparency sheets aswell, so I'm going to be getting my Xmas cards done before the month is out.

Well, I was going to do the HSMS prompt today which would have been self portrait day, however, the new site is now up and running as HSMSHS (yup confusing!) and for a change it is pet portraits and although our bunny Toffee, is currently running around in the run in the garden, I'm up to my eyes in it to be honest as I've only got half an hour til i have to take Freya to stagecoach so will have to add that in later!

It's such a gorgeous day here today. The sun is baking hot so the heating has been turned off and all the doors and windows reopened. We started the day with some scrummy pancakes and fruit, smoothered in maple syrup. I do love a nice pancake stack, unfortunately my ass doesn't! I still have a ton of batter mix left over so I guess it'll be the same tomorrow morning. Driving over Tamar Bridge just now, all the yachts are out and loads are moored up for pub lunches. If it stays like this tomorrow, I think that's what we'll be doing. Nothing like sitting by the sea with a steak and ale pie, a half of cider and watching the boats go up and down the Tamar.

BLOODY HELL!

Honestly that's all I could think when I checked out the Honour List for the Bad Girls Top Designer. I thought I was really fortunate to get through last week but thought I was definately a gonner this week. I know people who do these things often say, 'Wow I didn't think I'd get through' when they really have an inkling, but I can honestly say, that to get through to the last 50 is a big big shock. I've mentioned before that I think most of the entrants on there (and this is most certainly true now) are on Design Teams or teach and things. And then theres little ol' me. No DT, never been published and here I am on Class Five!

It's certainly been a confidence boost, especially after I've only recently been scrapping again. So knowing the next cut will be about half again, I've pulled my finger out my arse and started this weeks class. This week class is presented by Heidi Sonboul and is concerned with Colour Psychology. Very interesting and develops a little further from the brieft mention about colour in the first class. I've chosen my photo, papers and some of my embellishments and now i'm covered in paint and am tinkering with all the elements getting the balance and stuff the way I want it.

So today I've been busy scrapping, tomorrow it's more the same and then I've got to take Emily to a birthday party after school. It's a friend of hers birthday..... a boy......what do you buy for boys cos I have absolutely NO idea! I'm useless with the male species, even my nephew tends to get money of gift vouchers! This week luckily is a little quieter than last week, or at least it hopes to be. Oh and I haven't quite given up the smoking yet, that's going to be as soon as I've organised my gym induction.....any bloody excuse eh?

Going Straight

I'm still not quite ready for my close up (Mr Demille) but last night I showed off a radical new hair style. I didn't go to the hairdressers on Friday after all as I really needed to catch up on some sleep but that's been rebooked for this Friday instead. No, instead, I wrestled for the first time with hair straightners. My fringe just would not do anything but stick straight up in the air in a weird 'There's Something About Mary' moment and I remembered that I'd bought a pair of hair straightners a couple years ago that were hidden around the house somewhere so i'd use them. Then i decided to try my hair straight.

I have had straight hair before but always when it's been really short, something I only used to do when I hadn't been to the hairdressers in a while and had 16 inch long hair but with 10inches of split ends. So i'd walk in and just say, 'cut the lot off' and deal with having straight hair for a couple months before going wild and curly again. Well last night it was long AND straight and everyone seemed to like it. So now I'm having a dilema as to whether or not I should stick with it for a while (although I doubt I'll be doing an hour of straightening every day so I'll stick with the hat most days) or to have a new perm.....decisions, decisions.....especially as Pete really likes me with curly hair, but then he's never seen it straight and long.....bloody hell I sound like such a GIRL!!!!!

So I've uploaded my Bad Girls entry for Class Four. This was a major rush job. I'd dug out the papers and embellies that I was going to use on Friday but not had a chance to work on it since then. I'd printed out my photos too. However, Friday night was party night next door and then I was out on the beer (with my new straight hair) last night and as I had a wonderful lie in this morning at my mums, I didn't get home til gone 1 with nothing done on it! Panic stations! Well, I'd bought the girls back some of those dummy lollies with the silly mouths on and took some photos of them. So at the last minute I decided to print some of these off as the colours seemed to work well with the papers. It was gone 2ish by the time I actually started, so I was really pleased that I managed to finish it, be happy with it, photo it and get it uploaded with an hour to spare before deadline. I really must try to start it earlier though!

The top paper is from Autumn Leaves as are the buttons. The pale pink paper used for the embellishment on the right was of the photo block (the little circular one) is Fancy Pants I believe, however, these were just some paper scraps I had laying around so don't quote me on that. A bit of Doodlebug bling, some junkitz letter stickers backed with more Autumn Leaves paper and some hand journalling. Oh and the big layered flower on the left is a Prima Flower from one of the last few Bad Girls kits. I love these and I just added a button on top and a bit of bling on top of that.

Do you think I added enough butons??????!!!!!! Just thought after last weeks uncluttered and simple layout I could go a little mental! Well the girls are all in the shit at the moment through not doing as they're told and wrecking the front room. The last straw came when i found writing on the wall and the guilty party was obviously passing the buck.......lets face it Emily, Freya is too old to be writing on the wall and Natasha can't co-ordinate felt tip kisses! So banishing the girls upstairs gave me the opportunity to get on with the layout and also calm myself down as it's the first major blow up I've had for a couple weeks. If I just keep looking at the photos of them then I'll just think nice thoughts right?

Well that's the plan anyway! I had a great night last night even though it didn't quite go to plan. After cancelling my night out last week, I was expecting it just to be me and Roz out for a boogie. However, just before we left, Liam called to say he'd be there so I was expecting an uncrowded threesome. Then some of the other guys I used to work with turned up. And then I met up with two ex school chums, one of whom was my first crush at Primary School! I must admit, I'm a right one for reminiscing of the past, ex teachers, pupils, jolly and not so jolly scrapes that I used to find myself in! I also bumped into another two old friends both out with seperate parties of friends. On the down side, I felt ill from the moment I jumped into the cab to get there. Probably something I'd eaten, or rather hadn't as I haven't really been eating much apart from the odd bit of crap off the kids plates or rubbish snack food on the go. Think it finally caught up with me. So this weeks aim is to eat much better. I've promised myself not to buy any more ciggies after the last 23 I have in the house at the moment (which will onlyprobably last me through til tomorrow morning anyway if truth be told). With the savings on that I'm back at the gym next week.......and if I don't lose at least a stone before Xmas I need a good whacking!

Her Space My Space

Well as I've neglected the photo side of things for a while, I decided to try to get back into doing the daily prompt on her space my space. The prompt today is 'Landmark'. Well, not able to go out shooting tonight so i've had to pull something from the archive.



This is the Statue of Atlas, outside the Rockerfella Centre in New York. I was really pleased how this photo came out, especially with a bog standard point and shoot and also because I really didn't have a clue at this stage how to use a camera at all! Another reminder of my honeymoon means I'll probably spend the night wallowing in self pity about Pete being away ....... only about a month to go though.

Absolutely thrilled to find I'm through to class 4 over on Bad Girls, especially seeing as it's down to about 90 girls now. This weeks class is concerned with creating unity, harmony, balance and texture through the use of embellishments. I think this is the hardest, or at least the most in depth class so far so it remains to be seen how I'll fair at this challenge, especially as i have a pretty hectic weekend coming up.


I was supposed to be going out for my birthday last weekend but that had to be postponed as I wasn't really up to it, but I'm going out this Saturday instead, plus I've just received an invite for my neighbours 50th on Friday so really I have to get cracking on this assignment tonight. If nothing else I'm going to get all the bits together that I want to use.


I've been toying with the idea of a new hair do for ages now. The grey is getting a little out of hand which is prompting me to consider going blonde again. I tried really dark brown but the grey is more obvious. I feel like a complete change and wondered about having a fringe for the first time in about 15 years! Unsure what it would look like I sat in front of the mirror last night, trying desperately to fold the approximately 14 inches of hair at the front of my head to get an idea as to whether or not it would suit me. Didn't work.....either i couldn't see because my hand was in the way or I was having to peer over the top of my glasses to get the angle right. Most sensible people would have probably put their contacts in and undergripped their hair to weigh up the pros and cons of a drastic new hairstyle.....oh no, not me.....grabbed a pair of craft scissors and just lopped off the front of my hair!


My confidence was dented this morning ever so slightly when Emily, in all her 4 year old innocence, came into the bathroom, looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face and said, 'What's wrong with your hair mum?'. Ummmmmmm. A fringe would hide my exceedingly crooked hairline, however, when you don't have a natural fringe fall, a double crown, and a cow's lick on one side of your hair.....it's going to need some taming. I guess that's why I've always stuck with curly and unruly.....Pete always says he likes my hair best when it looks like i've been dragged through a hedge backwards......says it's that post sex 'ruffled' look or something!?

So anyhow, I have booked a hair appointment for Friday lunch time. I know what will happen, it happens about every three years. I walk into a salon, they ask me 'what do you want done' and I just say, ' blank canvas, do what you want as long as it's not straight!'. I could be pink with a mullet this time on Saturday night.

A week is a looooong time!

It's been one of those weeks where there seems to have been a whirlwind around me and yet I've remained pretty calm the whole time. Best laid plans fell by the wayside and still I managed not to throw a paddy about anything. The kids probably are loving the new calm mummy that they've found and all without the aid of any drugs! I don't even know how I'm managing it at the moment!


So before I tell you about my week, here is the next layout I've done for Bad Girls. I didn't do as planned and do it at the beginning of the week but started and finished it last night. This morning when i came down though I realised that where I had initially put the dymo tape which was leading off the middle of the journal paper and overlapping the photo slightly, just didn't work. Usually I'm not one for messing round with a layout, once it's done it's done. But I've noticed on the last two that in the cold light of day there are things that I would change and when viewed with a fresh pair of eyes (or rather foggy ones the morning after) you can see how something would work better.

So this morning I did what I never do and changed it. I'm pleased because the layout now seems to flow much better than it had done. I have scrapped this picture before, but the class for this was to make sure that the photo stood out and this is one of the better photos that I've taken. I used a Hambly transparency frame on the photo which looks lovely but is a right pig to try and photo. Get enough light to take the photo without the flash and you just get so much reflection that it makes it almost impossible to do. In the end I ended up taking it in a darker room and then had to adjust the light levels in PSE.

I've uploaded to the Bad Girls gallery but there are so many gorgeous layouts there this week that I doubt very much that I'll get through this next round. The best thing for me though is that I'm back scrapping and enjoying it. I can't wait for the next class to go live tomorrow as even if i don't get through, there is a seperate gallery for 'expelled pupils' so I can still play along and upload my layouts and I'll definately be doing that if I get kicked out the competition.

So anyway, to my week! Firstly some more photos from the park last sunday as I promised I would upload some more so my mother in law can see how big these grandaughters of hers are getting! I had mentioned the 'ghost' photo in my last post. Well this is what Freya was driving herself dizzy on last sunday.

The idea was to try a longer exposure to get her 'spinning' in the photo. The first attempt seemed to get her doing that but she's missing her head!

And as for my third attempt........heres the ghost of Freya!
I was a bit more successful getting Emily on the rocker though despite very noticeable camera shake on the background. Although I'm not as self concious carrying my DSLR around these days I'm not at the stage yet where I could quite happily carry around my tripod aswell!

I was aiming to get all scrappy on Tuesday night, however a phone call from best bud Liam put stop to that. He was 'popping round' for a quick coffee on his way back from seeing someone and ended up leaving at gone midnight. It was a nice catch up though, just yapping and watching tattoo shows! My new addiction is London Ink and Miami Ink. Some of the artwork these guys do is amazing, puts tattooing into a completely new perspective.

She can't NOT pull a face!

Wednesday was mine and Pete's birthday. After school we went to waitrose to pick up some nibbly goodies and a tiny little cake. My dad and stepmum came around and we ate and played for a bit. Once they'd gone we lit the cake and the girls took great delight on blowing out my ONE candle. Emily asked why I hadn't put 33 candles on there but after explaining that it would melt the cake she was happy that I hadn't! I then relit the candle and asked the girls to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Daddy. Again, they sang and blew out the candles. I said to Freya, 'right i'm just going upstairs for 10 minutes', came up and cried for the first time since the day he sailed. Generally, day to day, I get by. I do this by deliberately NOT thinking about him. Even when I talk about him to the kids, I don't attach any other emotion to him in my head, other than him being their dad. But little cry over and I'm back to 'get on with it'. One month gone, another to go.....

I can't remember what i did on Thursday (see, another year older and the senility is setting in already!) and Friday was pretty much a wasted day as I haven't been feeling too good, so took the opportunity of the girls being out to grab some shut eye.

Yesterday we popped round to see my sister for the first time since her moving day and she done so well to get the house looking more and more like a home. The biggest job for her is the garden which needs a LOT of work, especially as a load of trees needed to be cut down. At least the last couple of weekends she's had the chance to get out there whilst the weather has been so good.
So whilst the girls are out playing, I'm off to catch up on some housework and get ready for the week ahead. Enjoy what's left of the weekend and I'll catch up again soon. x

I made class 3!

So chuffed to have got through to the next round at Bad Girls, about 40 people were cut out this time round so I know I'm lucky to have made it through especially when you have a look at what everyone has created in the gallery. There are quite a lot of entrants who are on DT's so the competition is very fierce and I think I'll probably get cut on the next round but I've learnt so many things about balancing pages in the first three classes that I'll be carrying on regardless.

Class three is by Sri Sams and is all about the use of white space and the less is more approach. More great tips about tying a layout together so do check the classes out if you haven't already, don't forget it doesn't cost a penny.

The girls all had a great time at the park on Sunday afternoon. I grabbed my camera and made the most of some nice natural sunlight which has been a bit of a rarity lately. Our local park has really undergone a miraculous make-over in the past 12 months. Before there was just a crappy slide and 2 swings and they were even so far away from each other...down one path, out one gate, around another! One thing about living in a fast growing town is that the kids facilities don't seem to keep up with the pace of development.


Finally though we do have a decent park with a football and basketball court to one side and a tennis court to the other. The park itself has some great little features and the girls really love it so I don't have to go for a seven mile drive now into Plymouth just for a few hours in the park.


I took a ton of photos so I'll share more tomorrow as I know family will want to see a few more but just didn't want to overload everything..........can't wait to show you my photo of a ghost whizzing around the park......(lets just say I overdid it a bit too much with an excessively long exposure!).


This bucket swing has to be the girls favourite though. Especially Natasha as at one stage she laid back and was on the verge of drifting off to sleep.......truly, when that girl is tired she can sleep just about anywhere. I managed to get a few pics of all the girls in the same spot. This doesn't happen very often as usually they are all chasing each other, running away from each other or just off doing other things. As for a posed 'together' shot, well you can see my problem.....can never get them to look in the right direction!

I love these little flowers which are dotted around there. You can speak into one at one end of the park and have a conversation with someone at the other end of the park, although trying to get the girls to synchonise when they talk and when they listen is another thing entirely. Oh, and don't ask me what's going on with the sky in this photo, I swear i haven't done anything to it, but the colour is really wierd......
So following on from the park we went to Burger King and stuffed ourselves with half a cow, literally in Freya's case. Not knowing quite how big an XL Bacon double cheeseburger was we ordered one each.....they were almost as big as our heads. Freya finished her meal, then ate about a quarter of my burger, finished off a few of my fries, Emilys fries and then Natashas drink. Bloody hell that girl can eat.

I didn't get round to scrapping last night, I'd bought the latest expansion pack for Sims 2 and once I'd installed it, the temptation was just too much. So tonight i'm going to work on my layout for class three and get it uploaded in plenty of time as it's going to be a busy week. It's my birthday tomorrow, which I share with Pete. I just wish I could say happy birthday to him, especially considering that it's his 40th. So to cheer myself up and make sure I don't mope around, I am off for a boozy night out on Saturday, my first in god knows how long and I'm really looking forward to it. Anyway, have a great day everyone and i'll be back tomorrow with some more photos and hopefully my layout.

Class Two - DONE!

Managed not to have to run around this morning finishing off my layout for class 2 at Bad Girls. In fact, I was done by midnight and only had to do the photos this morning to upload and that's completed and over in the gallery. The principles of the class were concerned with mixing patterns and using colour from your photos as the basis.

It was pretty obvious that the colours to pick out would be pink and blue for Freya's dress and her eyes. The background of the photos were a sort of beige which i thought would also lend a little neutral to the quite dominant shades of pink and blue. The ledger paper I found also had a blue trim....BONUS!

So then it was onto picking out the papers and bloody hell was THAT hard work. Going through six pizza boxes of random papers was not my idea of fun initially. Especially as I kept getting sidetracked and thinking 'Oh, I forgot I had these' and 'Ah, I could use these on...'. I was lucky enough to find some scraps I could use too. Most of the stash is from previous Bad Girls kits although I think the little heart on a chain came from something the kids had, probably a Bratz doll or something!


I have promised myself that I will start the next class earlier though. Class Three goes live tomorrow at 6pm UK time, so the aim is to have a good housework tidy today and tomorrow daytime and then get busy with the class tomorrow night once the kids are in bed. After having an about an eight month break from scrapping I've realised that I've become a rather slow and dithery scrapper but like all things I guess with a little more practice I'll be up to speed again.

It's been a beautiful weekend down here in Cornwall. The sun has been shining and making everyone feel happy again. Today promises more of the same by the looks of it so i'm going to take the little ones down the park this afternoon to let off some steam. This time I'll take my camera and try and get some much needed new photos as I've sadly not only neglected scrapping but also the camera lately.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

A mized bag

It's been an up and down week. Mostly up to be honest but today i've been seething with Freya. Let's just say that I'm close to burning down her bedroom before condemning it. You would have thought that the girl had already hit 14. It's been a struggle with her for a while and after months of idle threats on my part, she has now been banned from everything. So today, instead of the planned Stagecoach and sleeping at her nans, she's had to stay in. She is also now having to sleep in with Natasha and Emily. If she can't look after her bloody bedroom then she won't have it! Cruel, maybe......but if you knew me then you'd know i'm not a hard or stern mother...but there comes a time when it's either that or just ignore her and as it is literally becomming a health hazard in there, I've plumped for the former.

With Emily at School now, the house has been so different. I've managed to catch up on a lot of stuff that generally gets neglected and feel so much more relaxed. I've also grabbed myself a couple of early nights which have helped. The football however is making me bloody miserable! Just hoping for a win tomorrow.

Well I made it through to the next round of the Bad Girls designer. However, it's no big whoop as the vast majority did! The new class was posted on Tuesday. This class by Emilie Ahern is all about mixing patterns. There is some more great hints in class about the best way to mix patterned papers. Again i've left things a little late and have only just started.....well, i've printed out my photos! So in a few minutes i'm going to start my layout. Better go get busy.

Well I didn't get my butt into gear with this layout til last night and even then, after an hour and a half of staring, moving, readjusting, pulling everything out and putting everything away again.....I still hadn't gotten very far with it.


Well, it's my entry for the 1st class over at the Bad Girls Designer 2008 which has to be uploaded by 6pm today which meant in effect that I would need to get it completed this morning. Not the easiest thing to do on a Sunday when all the kids are running around like lunatics and I'm trying to wrestle prima bling out of the hands of my two year old. I did however, manage to refrain from stabbing them all with the vast array of sharp instruments immediately at my disposal; and as Gordon Ramsey would say.......DONE!

If you haven't gotten over to do the classes yet, registration has finished for the competition itself, but the classes are still live and free to all. If the next class (which goes up tomorrow) is anything like this one then I'm sure you'll enjoy it and learn something new. Class 1 was by Cari Fennell and was focused on layering.


It's certainly something that I've been doing more of lately, really inspired by the galleries over on the forum. Most of the stuff on the layouts has come from previous Bad Girls kits. I just love the chipboard tree on this.

Yesterday was spent trying to catch up on housework and the like. Although truthfully I didn't get very far. I did get a call from Pete though who was alongside for a few hours to fix a defect with the boat. With them now off again, it'll be another 8 weeks before I hear from him and sometimes it's easier that way.

Well, I'm off to pop some tablets for my stress induced migraine and sort some stash for tomorrows class. I may even have a play around after the girls go to bed tonight if I I've managed to at least clear the playroom out today.