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