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February Scrapping






can't post my scraplift LO as that is *secret* and I also need to photograph my oddly sized mini album (7.25 x 7) which I have actually got 5 finished LO's in (and as they are >6x6 they count as 'proper'LO's!! woohoo!!!) Will take photos later and post.

Munch has a temp of 38.8 - here we go again, but at least he'll sleep (he'd win any sleeping contests hands down that kid)

Church accounts to check, so I mustn't dawdle....

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Someone Stop Me!










I have bought all these stamps from AMLT and Scrapgal, even though I have been banned from spending and told in no uncertain terms that I must wait. But wait I could not and I will take the consequences like the rebel that I am.
I can think of so many uses for them - in layouts, journalling, date books, cards esp bday cards, to make mini-notebooks, for helping to categorise my photos (like Ali E) blah blah blah. I wanted them and I got them enough said.

For the two people who read my blog (thank you Sharon (& Darren)& Jackie) you will be pleased to know that I actually slept last night, as did Pip. I went to bed at 9pm (and read a book til Hubby came up and swiped the book and switched the light off without a word just a glare). I went and brought a sleepy Husband up at 1am as he was on duty on the sofa apparently, then Pip woke at 2:30am but he went back to sleep after a quick feed, he then woke again at 5:15am and I brought him downstairs and watched something on the tv - it was so long ago now I forgot what it was. Pip went back to sleep and I stared at the tv, but as I'd had about 2 sackloads of sleep I was ok.

I have written a list of things I need to do today (I will mark the unachievable ones out - this is how high I set the bar daily)
  • sick letter for Munch to take to school (he was off yesterday)
  • Print Sam project title pages (done)
  • Check Church Accounts (unachievable and really don't want to do them)
  • Scraplift LO
  • Take dry cleaning to cleaners (unachievable they close at noon)
  • Butchers (unachievable I don't want to ring them today)
  • Post office (Judi card & pressie/Next returns)
  • Book Stamperama Tickets (not sure why as I have just bought every stamp onthe planet)
  • Do Pip's Thank You's (half achievable - will design & print during day and write out tonight & post tomorrow)
  • New House card to make
  • Plus all the normal stuff - hoover, tidy, clean bathrooms, prepare dinner, take kids to Sam's footie practise, do bedtime stuff as Hubby is at footie tonight.

It's now 1:45pm as I write this - how much do you think I'll get done? I reckon I'll do none of it and will veg out by the tv eating biscuits!!

Oh yes - this is the hat!

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No sleep, no really, NO sleep

I had 3 hours sleep last night when I needed 8, this is the worst I can ever remember even with the other two.
Tiddly used to take about an hour to get to sleep and I had to sit next to his cot til he drfited off and then when he woke in the night I used to go put his dummy back in.
Munch used to wake every 2-3 hours and didn't have a dummy, but he would just snuggle up and go back to sleep ifyou brought him into bed with you.
Pip, from 18 weeks he slept through and I had been luxuriating in this wonderfulness until the end of November last year. Since then I think we've had 2 weeks of sleeping through and varying degrees of waking up that range from once and going back to sleep with a back rub to last night - slept for 3 hours then woke up 10 minutes after I went to bed, then 5 minutes after I put him back after taking him downstairs at 12:30am, 1:30am. I gave up the ghost at 3:30am and just got a blanket and sat in my chair and watched old X-Files on FX. I must have fallen asleep around 4am and woke at 6:30am when Steve was getting up. I am grouchy and miserable and fed up with this.
I know kids sleep problems are the oldest and most boring story in the book but it's spoiling his and my life at the moment and hearing that raspy cry just brings out so many emotions I am not sure where I am :(
I did scrap this weekend though so am feeling good about that, need to do a secret challenge with my UKS team, I am due to post one and had forgotten, so really need to do that today as I have some ideas for once.

One day when I am sane I will post all my recent scrapping work,.

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these were my flowers for Valentines, they are still going strong

and this is my poorly little Pip, two weeks ill and a viral rash to boot, he is as fed up of snotty noses as I am.

This is where I have spent most of my week with Pip, can you see my shape outlined permanently into the cushions?
you can see my knitting as well! I finally finished it (although it is completely different to here). Heavens only knows who it will fit, but I am hoping that blocking it will cure a multitude of sins (will post a pic tomorrow)

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And now the party






A very busy day but a wonderful way to mark his first year :)

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A Year Ago Today - 17th Feb

At 12:05am little Pip made his suprise appearance into the world, all blue and quiet. So many people cared for him that night, all keeping him safe and warm until he was ready to come home.

A year later and here we are with a little boy full of snotty life, chasing his big brothers, always looking for his Mummy, always playing with the washing machine and the catflap in the corner (and we wonder why he is ill this week?)

Life could not have turned out better even if we had planned it (except perhaps for a little more sleep)

Love you Pip xxx

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busy with tiny snotty nose

Poor little Pip is really suffering with his first proper full blown cold. I've had some horrendous nights with him, poor little guy, and now he has developed this awful hacking cough. Basically I've had a 20lb baby stuck to my hip for a week. I'd cry too though if I felt as bad as he does. And yeah he's a bit small for an 11 month & 363 day old bab isn't he?

I have rediscovered fontgarden not that I ever lost it, but I haven't had time to mess about with fonts for a while, but I have a sketch challenge LO to finish for Sunday and was trying to find a font for a title. Well I was trying to find a title and couldn't think of one, I was also trying to think of some journalling and couldn't think of anything either, so I thought 'hmmm fontgarden always had really cool quotes to display its fonts, I should look there', so whilst I didn't find a quote I could use for baby journalling, I did find piles of deeply cool fonts. Like this one...


I also like the name of it, slightly unsavoury but almost edgy too.


Anyway it got me out of a hole title wise and font wise, so I am off to hand cut the skizzed font title for my LO and write a bit of journalling.


I have also done some other craft, I've done 2 'ME' journal pages, I've done about 4 baby Pip journal pages, I've made 10 mini albums using Candice Palmers instructions (you must do this it's so easy you could do it in your sleep if you are lucky enough to get some sleep)



I will try and post pics of all my achievements this week, half term week, this week of nintendo ds and Stars Wars Lego on the PC, this week of 'can i have something to eat yet', this week of going beyond play fighting and 'someones going to get hurt', this week of 'can we watch 'Cars/Spongebob/Thunderbirds/other kid movie we've seen a trillion times already'' this week of seeing the bags CZ has knitted and ordering circular needles from ebay.

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just found these

they are from October and Sharon took them















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A Year Ago Today - 9th Feb 06

my waters broke. I was 31 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child. I was almost hysterical with worry, but did not go into labour. I was admitted to hospital and was put on antibiotics. I was very grateful for friends & family who rallied round helping Hubby & visiting me & bringing such wonderful things like shower gel, magazines & yummy food, the bedside tv and just being able to rest. I had my temp taken and blood pressure checked every 2-3 hours - they were looking forsigns of infection that sometimes follows your waters breaking early.

I was in hospital for 5 days, I went in on a Thursday and went home on the Tuesday (weekends in hospital are the most dreadful times, each hour lasts a lifetime). I was like a leaky fawcet (sounds better than a dripping tap), every time I moved I leaked a little more, but they gave me a scan and told me I had plenty of fluid around the baby and that it replenishes itself. I can remember my Consultant telling me as I packed my bag to go home not to go into town and buy lots of premmie clothes, that the likelihood would be the baby would not come early!

another 8 days my little Bab

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I keep meaning to start things, do things, finish things. All sorts of things, like sort out the boys room - it's sort of been done but not with any 'polish' it looks ok but not 'good enough', I keep meaning to put all my washing away but always find it in my room on the toy box that is so in the way of the wardrobe we can only open one door to get stuff out - but if we moved it elsewhere it would be even more in the way. Luckily it doesn't take a lot of effort to get a pair of joggers and a t-shirt out tof the wardrobe :).
I think my whole world needs a good spring clean, concentrating with one room at a time, but I flit from one thing to another without ever really finishing anything off. I should accept that this is me and this is what I am like, but to me it never feels like it is me, it feels like a bit of me and the rest of me will be along in a minute but she got a bit distracted along the way.
The internet steals time, the time that I should be using to better purpose, the time I could be utilising to clean, sort, create, make etc I end up following one link after another and 2 hours have gone and the baby has woken up.
It's nearly a year since my waters broke at 31 weeks and my world turned upside down as well as those closest to me. It seems like forever and also like yesterday. It must have been a year since I had to phone a friend to pick me up on the way to school because I was in so much pain I could not put one foot infront of the other, Munch was running up the road and I was screaming at him to stop, a year since my laboured efforts at walking up the Moorlands hill to Kindy made everyone feel sorry for me, a year since I was still doing Tuesday night crops, a year since I was complaining that this pregnancy was draining my life force (always being one to overdramatise).. But overall this year has finished so much better than it started and despite the pain, the desperate worrying, the watching scraps of life struggling to make each hour in the NICU, I would still do it all over again.

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so do I think that whole birthday thing is me?

well, some of it is -
You are more than a big ball of energy - you are a big ball of hyper. ummm not really, I am comfortable with my inner couch potato backside although I always have a lot of things on the go

You are always on the go, but you don't have a type a personality. well I def don't have a type A personality, again I identify too much with my inner couch potato to be ALWAYS on the go but I do get very restless.

Instead of channeling your energy into work, you instead go for fun and adventure. so if they mean I am easily distracted by non-work things then yes, 100%

Witty and verbal, you can have an interesting conversation with anyone. I am occasionally funny and very verbose, but I cannot have a conversation with a stranger easily, I am too old now to want to try hard with people, although I will do small talk.


Your strength: Your larger than life imagination oh yeah that is true


Your weakness: You tend to be pretty scattered 100% alhtough I wish I were cool and controlled

Your power color: Lime spooky but I love that colour


Your power symbol: Lightening bolt hmm yeah whatever


Your power month: March will tell you next month

Sadly for me I also did this for my kids and hubby - my hubby's one was spookily accurate.

Off to scrap now - have 30 mins to finish some stuff off - will photograph tomorrow and post, I am pleased with my little self.

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oh I should be watching 24 but......




Your Birthdate: September 3



You are more than a big ball of energy - you are a big ball of hyper.

You are always on the go, but you don't have a type a personality.

Instead of channeling your energy into work, you instead go for fun and adventure.

Witty and verbal, you can have an interesting conversation with anyone.



Your strength: Your larger than life imagination



Your weakness: You tend to be pretty scattered



Your power color: Lime



Your power symbol: Lightening bolt



Your power month: March

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Day 2 and I am behind!

30 minutes away from the end of Day 2 of the 28 days workshop.


Each day we should be taking photos of things around us - Day 1 was our Pantry (or my fridge) and Day 2 is your mailbox (or my front door)

as an added bonus you get to see Pip with is toy of choice - the washing machine door, with his 2nd choice, the tumble dryer door, close by.

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cool stuff

deeply deeply cool site photojojo - pretty much anything you can do with a photo and some.



and OMG I am so going to ikea to get a box to decorate like this one made & uploaded by Maria Cartolina on Flickr - look through her photos and she makes all sorts of extremely cool stuff - I'm thinking she's Brazilian or in South America somewhere - I wonder if she ships international?

It's Day 2 of 28 days on big picture and I have taken a photo of my fridge and my front door (as I don't have a mailbox). I have found a journal to transform - may go and do that in a minute and take a pic later.

Went to gym today - pounded the 'streets' for 7 mins til I needed to pee and then post-pee I got back on and pounded for another 24 mins (obv I was running/walking otherwise I'd be typing this from A&E).

Friday today! yippee!! end of week!!! the week from hell no less!! things can only get better. Huge footie match tomorrow, Tiddly is goalie against the top of the table team - I will go on that pitch and frighten those little suckers if they give him a hard time - this team is from the 'bad' part of town and their defense look like they are a year older than the rest of the side, it's going to be a rough match, esp as they are all 7 & 8 year olds!

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scrapping stuff

this is an awesomely simple layout - am def going to do this, not read her whole blog but looks like she has something to do with fontwerks (yes she does she's one of their designers) not got any fontwerks stuff, but will be getting some - their stuff rocks!


i signed up to the 28 Days class on the big picture - the first task is to decorate your journal and take a picture of your pantry. I will be firstly panicking that I don't have a journal and then cobbling together something using an old something or other, and I will be taking a picture of my fridge which is the closest I can get to a pantry. I hope it's clean.



I did actually scrap during January, just not much.
I completed the above LO in a day (you'd never guess would you?),
I have to finish one more and reprint the pic so it is bigger.
I started a 2007 journal for all the boys just to note stuff down - need to finish the decoration but am majorly influenced by Donna D here and will lift this.
I made 2 exploding boxes, one for me and one for Sharon for her birthday (don't worry I got her some other stuff too I am not that tight)
I contemplated much and didn't even start a ton of stuff, but what's the rush? as long as I have the photos I will have the time one day.
Anso has some top stuff on her blog and I have discovered the funniest knitter eva! alright I didn't discover her, CZ found her and I am so glad she did.