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Xmas and all it's Glory




Christmas has now come and gone. We await the New Year in these 'limbo' days where things are supposed to get done and there is nothing but old films on the tv.


Christmas was lovely, but we did not seem to have time to enjoy it. Christmas Eve was full of going to Church and helping with the Nativity play, then rushing back to get all the jobs done - we didn't finish til midnight. Christmas Day - Church again as I had to do the reading, then rushing back to get the dinner on and lay the table and tidy up and, and, and... The whole of

Christmas Day was about me and Hubby working hard - we were exhausted by the end of it and rightly so. Kind of takes the gloss off of it really and for the first time ever hubby said that maybe one year we could go where someone would do all that for us. I will cling to that for the future!


Not many piccies taken - the light is so bad and the flash is so harsh. I used my tripod though which I am pleased about. It is very cool, especially as it was so cheap.


Other hot news - not only in the past month (well since 16th Nov actually) has Pip cut a tooth, he's now onto his 4th tooth, he started crawling on the 20th Dec and yesterday at my friends he pulled himself up into prime cruising position. Now he's learnt this new skill he's determined to do it everywhere but mostly in his cot (bad bad bad news) and in the bath (dangerously bad news)

and rather charmingly on his little chair that I should not be letting him use, but probably will til he knocks one of those little toothy pegs out.I very much doubt now that I'll ever do any scrapping again til he reaches 4. Happy Days :)

Marja (such a bad influence) has tempted me into trying knitting - she is knitting the cutest things, so I want to knit too. Despite not having knit since I was about 13 I am going to get this new magazine that is out and try - maybe it will stop me from eating choc? seeing as both my hands will be full????????

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Unbelievably Proud



My little boy is now 8. He was one of the mascots for Luton Town FC on Friday night, a very proud moment for all of us. We had a good night, a good weekend and are now all asleep apart from me (I had a nap in the afternoon). I took about 400 photos - I hope I've got a couple of good ones!!

The tree is now up - we always put it up after Sam's birthday so the two events are separate and he doens't feel like his birthday is mixed up with Xmas.
so, lots of tired people in the house, therefore lots of bad tempers and arguements and not a lot of forgiving, but tomorrow is nearly here and hopefully a good nights sleep will make us all happy again! no doubt i will edit this comment out at some point :)

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reindeers & stuff


don't you just love xmas concerts?
it's all good news... no blatant nose picking this year......forgot to sing but smiled a lot.....only told off a couple of times.

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I got my present early



I really don't need anything else.......

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we have a clear favourite

well Marja likes the B&W one with the red hat (yes I will be doing the other hats too, but it is a right royal pain in the bum to do so wasn't going to do it until it was a confirmed favourite).

Went to the town today, something only to be recommended with armed bodyguards and a get away strategy in place at CTU, ideally having Keifer Sutherland carrying my shopping and giving my feet a massage when I'm done. Totally forgot my stuff to tax my car so am going to try to do it online - here's hoping.

Lots to do, little time to do it in!


I have scrapped believe it or not!

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which one should i choose?

it's xmas card time. Frantic Xmas card making is being deployed, child neglect is high, biscuit eating is high, avoidance strategies are being actioned as we speak.

I handmake most of my xmas cards, i thought it would be a labour of love but always ends up being a mad panic. Still, I wouldn't change a thing. Family cards get the phot treatment, I take a chrismassy pic of the boys and print it out and put it on a card. Bit of a no-brainer really. This year is no exception but I am in a quandry as which to choose. So help me out here, which pic is your favourite?




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oh it's getting busier

not a lot has been going on at home, a few minor catastrophies involving pulled muscles and my general forgetfulness but nothing major (if there was anything major I have forgotten it already or is was so traumatic I have parked it behind that door in my brain that forgets anything more stressful than a fingernail breaking).
I have spent a lot of time putting my better photos into flickr - I am very impressed with this. Most of my pics are private as they feature other children from the football team, but there are some general ones.
I took xmas pics of the boys this morning with their Santa hats on - they were so funny, Sam was horrified that I was letting Pip sit on the dining table. I said 'he's fine, the light is good, let's get on with it'. The pics are cute and will be the basis of my family xmas cards - i will alter them in my adored PS cs and get them printed from either truprint or qoop (an unknown but looks good and you don't have to reupload if you have the pics on your flickr site).
I ordered my new lens, a Canon EFS 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 II USM (or something like that) and as usual despite my prolific research and re-research I doubted myself and my choice as soon as I pressed the confirm button. I basically worry that its zoom won't be long enough, however it will be a good portrait lens. The Tamron 70-300mm lens has gotten good reviews, it's reach will be long enough and it's retailing at £70 which is affordable with xmas present money (money i get not money to spend on kids!) - it will probably be cheaper after xmas too, don't tell husband though - he thinks i am a profligate spender already, but this is the man who wears his clothes for 10 years before he thinks they might be wearing out. Sharon if you are reading this - yes I went to Jessops to try the lens out and no they didn't have it in stock ;)
I wonder sometimes if I overcommit myself - but then there are days when I do nothing at all. This weekend was one of those times when everything happens at once - footie takes all morning, then normally it's tennis but i had to get those sausages cooked for the school party and we were running very late and I had to go help at this KS1 party by 2:30 so we forgot tennis, i was out til 5:30 with the 2 smallest kids helping, then got back to literally 6ft of ironing plus a retype of the Church nativity that i had promised to do last week. Hubby helped with the ironing, although he was reading the paper when I came down after retype saying his back hurt, hmmmmm. I finished the ironing and eventually went to bed. Munch came in our room crying at 1am and a bit later threw up in our bed. Not good. Especially when you have no change of sheets.
This morning was difficult, just so very hard to actually open my eyes (Pip has been up at 5am all week), even though I slept til 8am it's taken til now plus chocolate to get me going. I am far too old for all of this, I love to help it makes me feel useful and like I am not just this paper hungry whore who spends all out spare and not so spare cash on a stupid hobby.
Anyway, rambling is wasting tidying time and my darling hubby is doing the shopping so I'd better find some space in the kitchen for it.

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days of snotty noses and no sleep

Little Pip has had another cold. The poor little mite has been grumpy for a few days without outward shows of anything at all apart from a tiny little tooth peeping through. 4am wakenings were put down to that. But at the weekend, the snot came. and came. Still coming on Monday. He's lots better now and much more obedient in the sleep department I am gald to say.

Friday held a wonder of delights - the school Quiz Night. I had been before with some friends and had a good time. I laughed loads and argued loads too about obscure questions and probable answers. This time I did much the same except with more alcohol. We came 7th out of 23, as I keep saying to anyone who will listen 'none to shabby' - what a total arse I am.
Sadly the after effects of drinking the alcohol hit me hard on Saturday, throwing into disarray many of the normal Saturday things - me going to footie, me looking after Pip whilst the boys go to tennis, the bigger boys going to Luton footie - I awoke from uneasy slumbers after several attempts at normality at around 12:45. Hubby was downstairs in a maelstrom of disorganised activity trying to plan around my absence, he did brilliantly. After 2 horse pill ibuprofen i started to feel normal, vowing to never let a drop of alcohol touch my lips again.

Sunday saw the crop - lovely to get away from the four walls and look at another four walls, actually got something done and more plans on the way.

no photos, just whitterings today.

I have a flickr account though - user name is toniann, there are lots of photos on there.

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avoidance strategies

I have a book full of avoidance strategies for when I know things really need doing. You know like when the house needs tidying or the lawn needs mowing or the ironing doing. The PC is my main avoidance tool, it calls me siren like when I pass the room it is in (and it's not really a room that you pass, more one that you spot). And here I am again, checking blogs, re-reading forum posts and today I am searching for cheap tamagotchi. Tomorrow who knows what I will be searching for.


We had a decents nights sleep last night and Pip is asleep now after much persuasion. I think he's moved on from his morning naps, but sadly for him I am not ready for him to move on from them. So sleep he will!!


We went for a walk on Sunday - probably ill-advised but never-the-less a walk it was. My photos are rubbish but here is one anyway - they posed for this, I so hate poses.

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what to do with a spare afternoon

take cheesy shots of the kids in the house who have not gone to footie. The light was appalling and everywhere was a mess but the lure of the Xmas booties & hat were too great.





Yup that's a baby on the table
I'm off the learn how to do a Gaussian Blur on the background so I can blur out my pigsty of a house.......





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big plans thwarted be sleeping baby

It was a gorgeous morning today - lovely soft blue sky, brilliant autumnal light, Hubby even went and got a Santa hat out of the loft for me as I was planning a Xmas photo of the kids to send in the as yet unmade Xmas cards.

Little Pip had been up since 6:30am so by the time I was ready to think about taking pics he was so screamy and cranky he had to be put to bed. That was 10am and it is now 1:40pm. Methinks one tired little Babba.

So the clouds have come, one kid at tennis then off to watch footie, one kid downstairs on a mission to eat until he explodes, one kid asleep about to get a rude awakening. Gotta say though, mucho better than yesterday - ugh it was a horrid whinging day (and that was just me).

I have decorating plans, well not decorating as such, more corner improvement. I like all the colours we have on the walls here but have never really like how we've put up the pictures and mirrors. I always thought Hubby had staunch views on what was on the walls so never ventured further, however, after a brief conversation with him about it I discovered he could not give two hoots about what I do as long as it's not expensive (this last bit was unspoken but obvious). So me & the Pipster are off to Ikea next week to fufill some dreams.


It's 1999 and Tiddly is 16 weeks and getting his first experience of the pants machine, note his suprised expression. And look at me! don't I look the boss-eyed dream?

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what was I thinking (again)

I went to the gym today, I walked and ran for 25 minutes - my god what must I have looked like? better than sitting down and eating cake I suppose.


Very tired here, tired cranky baby, tired cranky middle kid, super-hyped-up-on-star-wars-lego-pc-game eldest kid and to top it off tired woken-up-at-4:30am-Mummy-who-should-be-in-bed-not-surfing-or-blogging.


I am going to start another footie newsletter (I have created a monster - each issue has to be better than the last) and then call it a day.


But look see what I am going to offer to the footie parents, should they so desire - a framed portrait of their kid in their football kit....

I just thought this was so fab for a little football player - a commemoration of their first year in competitive football and so so cheap (the frame is from Ikea and was £2.50 or so, the prints were 20p each), it will also help with my portraiture under pressure!

And a lovely piece of news is that Marja will be able to use all her pink stash on girly layouts, as she is expecting a little baby girl :)

oh and Sharon may soon have an up and running website for her photography - will keep you posted (all you hundreds of readers ;) )

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a tough day in baby world

Not sure what was wrong with Pip today, whatever it was made him sob really heartily whilst waiting in the queue to pay at Matalan (I may have expensive taste but that doesn't extend to actually buying expensive things!). And it really was sobbing, not crying or whining, but as my friend Ruth would say, big ploppy tears and sad eyes - not a good look on an 8month old.


Things did not improve and it was a long day for both of us. I didn't get much done and I hate days like that, especially when my plans for the previous day were thwarted. Kind of makes me feel a little trapped & tied down. But it's no-one's fault, 99% of the time I get to do what I want so I should just suck it up for the 1% when the kids take the lead.


I keep wanting to take advantage of what little good light is left in the day and take a few xmas piccies (i have xmas bootees and hats and stuff) - I try to send out photos to family who never see us (all my side, none of whom have even asked how Pip is doing since I sent out the birth announcement, perhaps the evil parents have got to them). This will have to be a weekend job as I need the santa hats from the loft and the boys home during the day.


Gym tomorrow followed by ironing and crafting for sure, even if just a few xmas cards.


Hmmm boring boring post, will make up for it tomorrow by gathering some really bad jokes together ;)


the view out of my back window this afternoon

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Oh yes baby, gotta love internet shopping

and so i bought this

in all its French loveliness - it's probably like a Wilkinsons bag for life except I've paid a bunch of cash for it. I'm hoping that the website understood that it was meant to come to good old Blighty - a message pop up stating 'you do realise this is going out of France don't you' or words to that effect never strike a wholly positive note. Thank you for your input ladies :)

In other matters oldest son has scammed a day off school feigning sickness - I even took him to school and stood him outside his class door, but he maintained the sickness bravado so I let him have the benefit of the doubt. He was standing over the toilet this morning complaining of wanting to be sick. Kind of ruined my day though, how inconsiderate of him!! I was going all sorts of places and was also going to gym, have paid for the creche and everything.

Will take a photo of his sick mush later and I'll cast a poll on whether he's a good faker or the real deal ;)

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so, which one would you get

Unknown to her, Marja has unleashed the dormant handbag fetishist in me. I completely love handbags, beyond all comprehension and need. I am loving this one from elisalou what colour combinations would you choose?



I do like the one in the picture, but it's not like I can get it - it's $52 incl shipping,





that's the cost of the TTT Kit












or this darling bag from Lamarelle in France.
What is a girl to do?










I am off to wash floors, hoover, make lists, faff, go to Post Office (Marja!), Iron, maybe go to Dunelm, look at the Donna Downey books a bit more (she's the Queen of Mini Albums)

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bloody html




I know little to nothing about html. I can refer to a link and that is about it. I did have instructions onhow to change my Title from here but now I've moved the Beta Blogger they've made things a bit more fancy and I simply cannot work out how to get my banner in my title.

So I've put it here in my post.

It's a photo I took the other week when I went to Rushden, the park is lovely, accessible and picturesque. That is Munch with a stick by the tree - quite appropriate really and sums him up almost completely.

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so can you see the similarities?

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cute, teething or both?



look at this and tell me you are not going 'awwwww'.... either that or you are wondering what the deal is with the one red cheek - no I haven't slapped him (possibly prodded him with a fork to hurry up and finish but no, no slapping), I am pretty certain it's a teething cheek




how about this one then....



I haven't mucked about with this one either - he's sitting in his new highchair -funky or what!
and I am going to scan something in tomorrow and I want you to tell me how spooky it is.....

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How times change (trick or treat variant)



I can remember a time when we used to refuse to answer the door and hide from the doorbell. These things still happen but generally only to door to door double glazing salesmen (why do they knock when they can see us in all our white pvc glory?)
Last night was a bit of a Halloween let down really, Tiddly was out with the Beavers getting bored on a scary walk in our local and very dark at night park & Hubby was out firstly at footie training and then straight to the football match. So it was me, Munch and Pip against the world in terms of general Halloween excitement.
One thing I didn't do, that in retrospect was mean and rotten, was get a pumpkin. Every year since Tiddly was tiny I've carved a pumpkin and put it in the hall. This year I thought - 'oh I shan't bother seeing as Tiddly is out' - what about the two other little people in my house? don't they count? Luckily for me they are generous, forgiving and totally didn't realise I hadn't done a pumpkin (well I'd drop down in a dead faint if Pip mentioned I hadn't done one and that I was a meany seeing as is only 8 months old).
So we saw in Halloween with about 10 door knocking and lots of sweeties given away by the Baby Darth Vader. He feels he misses out on so many things being 3 years younger - it's hard for him to accept that he is still too little for a lot of this stuff.
I made some buttons out of Makins Clay and my Cherry Arte stamps last night - the first ones were rubbish but later ones were getting funkier and funkier as time went on. I will def make more, esp as the imprinting using the stamps is such a good idea. I bought some tiny cookie cutters from Tchibo and they should make some wicked Xmas tree decorations. I might get the boys involved to make a 2006 decoration and we'll keep on doing it each year to see how far we get.

I've discovered a site called Action Central where you can get really deeply cool PS Actions that funk up your photos big time. The first pic os the original and the second has had Urban Acid applied to it - love how it treats the colours of Pip's coat.
I am still very into reading Alicia Paulson esp as she sets up lovely little photoshoots of her home. I'm almost ordering from Cath Kidston every time I read it.

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meet The Vader Brothers

what was I thinking?

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went to the park today

with one happy boy








one a bit sulky boy













a crazy dog and its owners (who I won't post a pic of as I don't have their permission)

had a good time, although I did a lot of shouting which wasn't a good idea as I had a big headache. We got stuck in Bedford on the way back and although I didn't have a clue where I was going I went through a few sidestreets and I found myself back on track (but still in a queue).

and one extremely peachy boy



Had a major scrapping opportunity tonight but watched old CSI episodes instead. Not feeling creative - I'll feel all creative again when I haven't got any time.

A busy weekend is planned with scrapping on Sunday afternoon (incl our footie team live on Sky) along with Church reading on Sun morning and a halloween party Sun evening. Saturday is sports day with U8's footie in the morning and tennis in the afternoon.

I'll be glad when Monday comes and it all calms down again and I will look forward to seeing my boys at the end of a school day and won't want to strangle them for fighting and shouting.

I am keenly awaiting a new camera mag - out in Nov - Digital SLR - am hoping it will transform my purely mediocre photography into little gems of perfection each and every time. I'm too tired to even write a denigrating comment about my rubbish pics - and if it comes to that time it means I need sleep :)

goodnight and adieu (oh I must rem to post about a totally 'need that' bag I am going to order...)

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A Nice Hour Spent

I've just spent a while gazing again at a newly found blog/shop. I am a big sucker for that folksy, laura ashley faded charm style of things - although with 3 little boys the clutter and eclectism of it doesn't suit our househild at the moment. It is something that I am warming to. A lot.

So the blog is Pozy gets Cozy and her shop is linked into her blog. Her name is Alicia Paulson. Check out her links - a huge list and very wonderful. I am so digging her felted flowers and am currently begging friends for old jumpers as we don't wear them here in Sunny Beds!!

I may get my material down and just start doing stuff - maybe for the Church Xmas market, maybe just for me....

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heart attack city

seriously sick pc last night and most of today. My impatient self decided to not wait for a frozen Windows to sort itself out, oh no - that would mean far too much sitting and waiting. Instead I decided on the 'unplug from mains' option - usually the domain of the male impatitents.

Rebooted to find a sick pc with an 'mountable_boot_volume' and big blue screens.

Woke up to find that this remained when booting up (I secretly hoped a night cooling down would fix it - as in 'computer heal thyself'). But no. Panic. Ten thousand photos down the tubes.

Texts, phone calls and general calling in of favours and asking big favours ended up with me having a fixed pc with a few niggly things not working (like internet) but enough for me to start BACKING UP my files. Learn to say 'YES' to backing up.

thanks to Rob & George, may you never find my blog and how stupid I am.

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Sharon came with her new camera.......




original

I would put in the B&W conversion (using jinky art's conversion that was free with scrapbook answers but blogspot is being stubborn).

Last day of freedom today - tomorrow the boys are home from school as well as all of next week. Nothing big planned, maybe visiting buddies, maybe buddies visiting us, probably forgetting to take Ruth to lunch on Thursday...you know the usual.

Need to play with my TTT kit too - have plans for the funky halloween postcard things (well I will spill - going to make a Halloween book with them either to put past Halloween japes in or maybe me and the boys will make up a scarey story and put it into the book)

Isn't Sharon a dream, not only does she let me loose on the camera (I'd trust no-one with my new camera) but she also takes sweet shots of the boy.

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my hair








here it is! it is a bit longer now.



I must add that my hairdryer broke that morning and it's not normally as frizzy looking.



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new stuff

the nice thing about reading scrappers blogs (by which I mean celebrity scrappers blogs like Stacy Juliam CZ, Ali E & Donna D) is that you get a heads up on what new products and trends are out there.
I know there are shops and sites that detail the papers and stuff in great depth, but patterned paper isn't my big thing. Every time I read CS's books again I know I have found my spiritual scrapping home.
So without further ado here are some 'wants' from recent celebrity blogs:-

  • photo diary book
  • QK storage - I wonder if Ikea do a version of this?
  • BearyPatch Add A Patch Gadget - This is what I have been waiting for!! should be at the top of the list really.
  • I am liking the new QK Vixen font - perhaps to go on a Xmas list? maybe but not before 2 new camera lenses!

not much I know, but I am beginning to understand my needs in terms of crafting and am not all about the latest trend in paper that I won't use or tons of Prima that just doesn't go with having 3 boys.

Read today in CZ's blog that she is giving blogging up - I only scanned it quickly so I wasn't sure if she was just taking a break or giving it up for good. From the comments section it looks like she is giving up for good. Sad but we can't force her to blog if she doesn't want to. I'll certainly miss her, she's top of my blog list.

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dirt & tiny teeth

i always wonder about kids teeth, especially milk teeth and how on some kids they look like they have loads of dolphin teeth. Other kids when they have a mix of milk teeth & second teeth look funny - kind of symbolic of the whole flux of change (bad grammar as flux is change isn't it?) they go through.

here's an example of gappy dolphin teeth - he's definitely outgrowing these teeth as he is his pants and swim trunks!

although he is freckly - most of the dots on his face is dirt........kind of sums him up really :)

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affinity

you know I had just got Pip up from his nap, you know the nap where I put him down to nap awake and he fusses a bit and then goes to sleep (officially known as a textbook nap) and I decided to feed him lying in bed. It's a hard life being a mum, putting baby to nap for a few hours, lying in bed feeding baby etc etc (don't worry I do stuff, my day ramps up at 3pm when bedlam ensues and carries on until 8pm).
So there I was happily feeding him and he stops and looks up at me. He really examines my face, I see his eyes looking at my eyes then my nose then my mouth. He reaches out and puts his hand in my mouth and feels my teeth, grins a bit and continues fiddling. Then he has a last look at me and smiles.
I have to say that even though he is the most adorable, precious little jewel in all christendom, when he just looks at me like that with that knowing smile my heart just bursts open.
It makes all the hard stuff worthwhile.
Other stuff that makes me a smug mum:-

  • when Munch or Tiddly come and sit next to me on the couch and snuggle into that perfect snug. Where they fit just right but can also see Dr Who too.
  • when they tell me they love my dinners (I am no cook let me tell you)
  • when you can see what you have tried to teach them is working - whether it is a phrase, moral conduct, hanging things up without asking.
  • when you see their real personality shine through and its so different to me or hubby - I always think 'Wow'
  • when someone tells me my kids have behaved when I wasn't there (Tids got a special sticker at Beavers last night for his good behaviour on a walk for snow leopards at the local zoo- only 4 of them in total got them)
  • when they come out of school smiling 'cos they are happy to see me

You see this is my job, my vocation now and I try really hard to do it right. But I do scream and shout, I do get upset with them, I get cross with them, sometimes I don't understand them. At the end of the day they forgive me my faults and love me back. There's nothing like that feeling, nothing in the world.

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shhhh, he''s asleep

baby was put to bed about 15 minutes ago awake, and after some fussing he's now asleep. What a result! No baby of mine has ever done that before. They've cried and cried until they were so distressed they were sick or nearly convulsed. Pippy has broken the mould, bless him.
This should be a time when I do housework and scrap but I had a crap night and feel ill, I have laryngitis (a bonus for many pple now i cannot speak) and every step tires me out. So I think I am going to slob out and go back to bed.

But not before enlightening you and reminding myself about
this. I am purposefully editing my pictures (all 10,000 of them) so I can upload onto flickr and hence onto moo.com so I can order 100 of those totally cute photos. Apparently they are 1/3 the size of business cards. Excellent for tags at Xmas and for scrapping.Although it costs about £11 I am a total sucker for this type of thing and I will use them all esp if I can make xmas tags and cards out of them.



and seeing as beta blogger is making it so easy to add pics I am revisiting my archives and adding the odd old pic.


This is Tiddly on his Christening Day - Aug 1999



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Design, design, design

I visit Print & Pattern every day. And every day there is a wonderful new post with the most thrilling things. It's almost as good as being in the shops themselves looking at all the wonderful things. I especially enjoy the stationery being the sad bad paper freak that I am. I would have a hundred million notebooks if I could, all of them different and I would never write in them, just keep them nice for looking at!
I totally loved the sunny style things - the stamps and the felt birds & xmas trees -I went to the site
here but as I don't read Japanese all I could do was look.
Basic Grey are producing new lines for Xmas here
here. I love BG stuff, the paper quality is outstanding. I still have a lot of last years Xmas line, so am not sure about buying more - maybe I will get the 6x6 pads which will be more useful to me from a scrapping perspective. How interesting you cry!
Scrapbook Answers is ceasing with the Nov issue. It's a shame as I like the mag and it is full of useful tips and tricks. I can't say it beats simple scrapbooks because the style isn't the same, I resubbed in July but have yet to see an issue :(

so here is my tidy room and a desk that even I am no longer ashamed of.... I realise now that I should either have bought a wireless webcam or one with a bigger cable as it doesn't stretch far enough!

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meet the spare room



here's the tidy bit of our spare room (note it being above ground level oh and see the American Crafts Albums - 1 for each boy & 1 for family/me/hubby)
This is where I have the pc and spend time researching rubbish and reading UKS!!!






now meet the untidy bit

oh the shame of it! the rest of the room is like this but the cam cable is stuck (by falling debris and the like)

Am due to start scrubbing in the kitchen soon - it is a place of horror - i may well do before and after pics. I plan to do the whole house this week - to keep myself out of trouble and stop me from snacking. I am going back to the gym and am determined to be slimmer at Xmas. I have an assessment on Friday with a great lady who used to be a WW leader but is now a trainer at the gym - she's really motivational and someone i can relate to (i.e she's a mum of 3 boys and is in her 40's).
Nothing is more scary than a woman with a plan & some determination.......

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first born





I am getting quite the dab hand at photographing mini-footballers. Mind you I am lucky that the subject matter is so unutterably gorgeous (I may be a bit biased here). This child breaks my heart every day with those eyes.




I yearn with a deep deep desire for a longer zoom lens now along with the desire for a portrait lens and a tripod and a proper flash. May as well round it up to £1000 eh?!! I have promised these things to myself if I ever manage to get paid work again. Ha! work! paid! never!




Tiddly is at home today after claiming illness this morning - he's been a bit under the weather all weekend so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Had a rough night with Pips, but he seems ok now, thankfully. Lots of household work to do today - we may have guests on Sunday and I'm going all Kim & Aggie on myself.