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!