How long since I posted....? Too long.

I've had a bit of bother in my life. Not something I want to go into on here but something which made me wonder if I should be on here at all...

But then I reasoned that if I spend my life worrying and fretting, then i'm not living life as I should be. And that's a waste of the time given me here on earth.

Soooo... with my philosophical hat on i'll just say what will be will be.
And get back to posting again.

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love Truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you Smile.

YES!!!!

There is a God...!

Sorry about Scotland.... but... :-)We have a chance.

*breathes out...*

If I went anywhere this week... I was running - forrest style!

So busy making plans and getting things sorted. Once again my week has run away with me, but i've managed to get slightly ahead on the scrapping front which is good, and makes me feel a little calmer lol! Jazz and Erk and the kids will be visiting soon, and I've loads of stuff to get sorted with the girls re january.. shhh... very secret squirrel stuff going on ;-)

A couple of bits I can post now.

This is a layout I did, just because. The photo is totally blurry and out of focus, but it's a picture I've always loved. Vin was running round the top of the garden like a wild thing, completely excited by the many falling, swirling , leaves and I tried to snap him but the movement created the blur I guess. It was years ago when he was still very small. Those days he was ill a lot, and wasn't often well enough to run about outside, so the fact that he was out there and having so much fun made it a good day. Anyways, poor as it is, I'm happy it's scrapped. I wasn't at all sure about the BG cut out's when I got them in a kit, but I think they look ok on the page. Whether any more will make it onto a layout is anyone's guess... but at least I used some of them :-)

And this one is my mojoholder submission from last night. Dear lil Minnie moo moo (Meemee) scoffing the remains of my ice cream in Matagorda. Funny little dog then got brain freeze, and went crazy... cracking us all up. I swear that mutt would eat anything offered her!

But...oh... look at her sweet face!!

And lastly, my All About Eve layout from last Monday.

This challenge wasLove your Body - not something i'm actually very good at!

Well, what woman is? Under the constant media bombardment of beautiful, slim, young, airbrushed models and actresses, it's easy to feel self conscious and inadequate, and besides - most of us cringe from the idea of blowing our own trumpet and drawing attention to ourselves. I know I do anyway, and many of my friends tell me they feel the same. So when this challenge came up I wasn't keen, but being the trooper I am, I got on with it , and decided to scrap about my height - or lack of it. Even my youngest kid is taller than me now, and while I used to hate being so little, these days I just don't mind that much anymore. In fact I actually quite LIKE being small... and as my darling old Mum used to say... all the best things come in little packages.

Well, she would - she was even smaller than me!!!! Lol!!!

(Journalling reads: So the kids are all taller than me. Tower over me in fact. What do I care? You know what they say... all the best things come in little packages. I love being small.)

(NEARLY!!!) All sold out...whoops!

The american crafts kit from Scrapping Goodies is all ALMOST sold out! But the good news is if you have one coming your way the posting date on site is 17th Nov... so you have something to look forward to this week :-)


Don't forget to check out the massive bargains to be had on 'recycled kits'

Hope to be back later with some scrapped stuff :-) Off to play now.

EDITED TO ADD!


Rach tells me she's got just two of these scrummy kits left in store!! So, if you're very quick you may still be able to grab one before they really are all gone :-)

Also check out the site for some exciting news!

And just to say... well done the boys. Well done Stevie G, and great return, Torres. fabbo work, and we're dead happy to be back in 4th place again :-)

Be happier still when we rise - which we will. Watch this space.

wonderful surprise...

I got the most wonderful surprise today... Someone knocked on our door, and Vinnie answered. I was in the kitchen making hot chocolate, but I faintly heard a female voice asking if Mum was home...

Now, this voice was no ordinary voice. It was a distinctive voice, and the voice of only one person in the world.... I flew up the hall.... and yes! It was my long lost friend Eunice, who I haven't seen for four or five years since we lost contact... I don't know how... just like you do sometimes when life is busy and stuff is going on.

I threw my arms around her and Carlo came running - he'd heard me scream her name, and couldn't believe his ears... we love this girl SO much! She's more than a friend.. she's like a sister to me, and we have such history. It was like a lotto win. Just wonderful.

My God..!! mad group hugs in the hallway, and then she said she had a few hours and we just pulled her in... I can't tell you how happy this has made me. I'm actually choked to bits here writing it out, now that she's gone. I'm so so happy to have found her again it's not real.

I actually went to school with Eunie's younger brother; and tho she was initially friends with my Mum who worked with her, the real reason we are so close is that Eunice and Jen, my sister, became best friends. Those two were inseperable - incredibly close, and I was always with them, like a younger sister to them both, and I loved them dearly.

Eunice married a US Airforce man, and when they were stationed in Germany on the base, Jen and I would travel out there all the time to see them. We used to have some wild times, and oh, the memories I've got... just hysterical. Clarence took me to Trier, Cologne, Rudisheim, and so many other beautiful places, and taught me so much, but drove so many times over the border into Luxembourg where we should meet our train (which we always missed due to us girls being drunk and disorderly) that he got fined eventually for running a red light and refused to ever drive us anywhere again...

After her and Clarence divorced, (something I mourn to this day), Eunice once again settled in England, and we just carried on - our gang - Eunice, Queen Wah (JenJen)Mosh, Gilly, Di, me, Spam-pauline, et al... and we had some fantastic times, just being young and mad, and if I'm honest, probably quite naughty. But it was when we lost Jen that it all fell apart.

Me and Eunie stayed friends of course, but she'd moved to Ireland, and we wrote, but never phoned much coz she lived in the sticks... and stuff. Her girlie - who was my babysitter, grew up, and so did my kids...and though we made all these promises... still we lost touch.

But today, she came back. And I swear, I will never lose her again.

I know that tonight I'll dream of all the mad, fun old days, the holidays... parties, trips to Europe on coaches, ... the dancing, and carrying on, and singing... amazing that tomorrow's Poppy day, and one of our fave drunken sing-a-long songs was always the green Fields of France; The late night talking shit and telling lies - as Simone always put it... The times we tied people's feet to the door, nights in the Mean Fiddler, the 'Ferier' in the days we played hard in Funkyrola, and the dreaded Rotunda; and all the nights here, with a carry out and the kids... Ah....rare old times.

I never expected today to be a good day... but finding my mate made it so. We laughed til we cried today and I can't wait to see her again. We're going out to Ireland in the Spring, and she's coming here soon after.

If you've a mate you haven't heard from for a while, get on that phone... don't be me. Don't ever risk losing someone you love. It can happen in the blink of an eye. Not everyone gets the chnce to find them again.


MOJOHOLDER this week:
Entitled Hat Trick, as she's the 3rd baby in the family Lol!

A lift from Nura Kief... such a talented girlie!

Ok... think I'm gonna re-take up knitting..... so with that in mind, I was bargain hunting...

Now that's what I CALL a BALL of wool!! Lol!
And here we have it with a normal sized ball, for comparison.... see why I snapped it up for 50p, eh?
And while bargain hunting with Vin - he does love 'thrift' shops coz that's where Kurt shopped... ;-) I found this lil beaut for the princely sum of 99p!

And after a quick play... Viola!! My new button tin lol!

I've been trying to post this for hours... but X factor is on... me and jazz were laughing today - I have finally become one of those people I used to laugh at... someone I would have talked about in mocking terms... Someone who watches X factor, and KNOWS thier NAMES! And you know what? It's great fun - I LOVE the X Factor! Lol Lol Lol!

Er..... 8 - nil????

Tonight's footie - UEFA Champions League - Group A - Liverpool v Besiktas - Anfield - 8 - nil...


Yeah.. you heard me right...

8 - nil!!

Oh....WHOOPS....! I can't seem to stop saying it..... :-D :-D :-D

Hey - hat-trick boy!!!! And go Stevie G, and old Crouchy too! And Babel I guess.. Aw...why not... Go all the boys!
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Can't imagine emine being very happy with me tho....... ;-)

better late than not at all...

2 quickie layouts from the weekend:

Sollo and Izzy last year on Halloween.
The 4th of Nov is a bit late for halloween layouts maybe, but at least these sweet pic's are scrapped now.




And Mattie flashing a grin and showing of those two cute lil front teeth and just look at the Luscious Laffs :-)



I want them!

Crikey - tagged again!!

This time from Sandie - thanks hon :-)

1. I am stickles mad and own dozens of different colours (own, but not necessarily use, you understand..)
2. I was once a very good darts player and have met many world champions. John Lowe was my fave.
3. I can't bear to put my head under water in the pool or sea. I'm probably the only person in the world who swims almost upright lol!
4. I'm a junk shop junkie - just love rummaging!
5. I love olives and pickles with breadsticks - any kind will do!
6. My ex bought me two woolly mice for my 19th birthday. (live animals, not knitted ones !)
7. I love the Sea.

{Not gonna tag anyone else as everyone I know's done this one already :-) but if you fancy a go - you're tagged! }

Some people have asked where all the baby pictures are, so here are a few I took one day in the late afternoon, with the sun just falling through the window. I'm no photographer as anyone will tell you, but these were actually taken by me with the camera in my right hand, while she's sleeping in my left arm!!

And considering that I couldn't see a thing - I think they turned out pretty well... lol :-)

They're just as they came out of the camera btw - no lighting or touching up, so I might get some improvement if I have a play in PSE.

Me and her Mum are chuffed with them as they are, anyway. See what you think?

Last weeks mojo...

I missed mojo last night. Not like me, but couldn't be helped this week. I was simply too busy, what with being away in Spain, and having to cope with the halloween party at work on my first day back... Then I've been training the new girl all week, and got called in yesterday as the manager and deputy had to go out on assessments and needed me there to hold the fort. Blimey, i'm shattered, and had no time to scrap at all.

This is last weeks tho:

I had a bit of fun with that...

And some silliness from work on Wednesday night:


These were taken with the cruddy works camera coz i forgot mine.... It was on charge after downloading all my holiday pics and i walked out the door without it Der!!

Ready to Rock! And some Great News!

Home again - and raring to go!
The trip to Lanzarote was short, but sweet. We had a great time and seeing the kids was fab, especially as Ruben had his birthday while we were out there. Yep, the little dude was 3 last Friday and we had a party in the garden to celebrate.

Actually it was a week for birthdays, because Mattie turned 1 the day before we left! It's impossible to think she's one already but there you go - doesn't seem five minutes since I was announcing her birth on here!


Here's the little scamp. She's just started walking so we bought her a lil buggy and a dolly, but she was all over the place on the laminate floor! Bless!! She absolutely loved it when everyone sang Happy Birthday, and we only had to sing it about nine times before she got fed up and set of for another waltz round the shiny floor.... Bambi on Ice springs to mind... ;-)

Such a pretty little poppet, she had a lovely party and had us all in pleats trying to sing along to the birthday songs :-)

And this is Rubie on his birthday - not very excited as you can see!

And blowing his candles out. After this he proceeded to scoff the mini Thomas train off the cake...! Well, it was his cake I s'pose :-)



The baby is just too adorable for words... but she can yell!! Last words Jazz said to me as I was leaving was "don't leave me with her Mum!!" Lol! And I could still hear her crying in my head as we flew home. Poor little scrap is collicky and I can remember too well the evenings spent walking Vinnie up and down the hall in the dark trying to get him to settle, when he was tiny. Hopefully won't last too long, because it's terrible to have a crying baby and no way of making things better.

She's going to be beautiful tho and at the moment still has very blue eyes. Looks like her hair will go fair too, like Ruben's, so with her dark complexion she'll be stunning. Well, I would say that - I'm her nan! lol!



I have some scrapping news too - but mostly it's a bit old now. I just have been so so busy and no time to post on here at all. I even had to work yesterday... and everyone in the world knows I don't DO Fridays!

1st piece of news - I won a place on Scrapping Goodies DT! I am SO excited to be joing Rach and her fab team.

The other girl picked with me was Marja Lindstrom, who is a fantastic scrapper and has the most gorgeous baby pics to work with :-).

Other team members are Rachel Pine - kit club owner, Rachel Millington, aka Taniwha, who I am just totally in awe of, and Ally, who's on a short break at the mo.

Do check out Rach's kits as they're fantastic value for money and beautifully designed and put together. I can't wait to get my mitts on december's kit and see what I can do with it, but in the meantime don't forget to check out the gallery there and see what the other amazing scrappers are currently offering up inspiration wise!

Here's a piccy of November's kit - American Crafts, and also check out the recycled kits on site as Rach has some amazing offers on part kits from previous months. You will not believe the bargains on offer there! Whoops.. bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. The pic on the site is better.


And finally, I won something! Yeah ME!!!!! Never been heard of I know, but I did. I won a gorgeous chipboard mini book by Magistical Memoreis on Scrapajack.

My book is a tall pumpkin and it's blooming gorgeous and just look what Cheryl Mezzetti did with it...

seriously can't imagine mine being that gorgoeus when I'm finished with it... but it's something to aspire to anyway .

Off to scrap now! Happy weekend everyone :-)