Puffing Billy

This week's pencil lines sketch, recording another of our days out during our fortnight holiday that I never got round to recording on my blog. Martin and I spent a day out at Tenterton Steam Railway. It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent the time looking at all the old engines before slowly being steam driven all the way along the preserved line, through beautiful english countryside.

The train stops at three stations and at the final one we got off intending taking a little touring trip of Bodium Castle but first we wanted to eat so we went in the only place in the tiny village, a pub. It was packed and we had to sit inside the dingy saloon because the garden (although really big and spacious) didnt have enough tables. The food was really overpriced, was bearly eatable and took nearly an hour to get to our table (and we only had a ploughmans each!). By the time we left the pub we were in no mood to be fleeced for more extortionate amounts to get into what was no more than the castle walls so we walked round the outside for free, and then seeing the large black rain clouds bearing down on us, decided to run for the early train.

Ok so this is where I realised just how unfit and overweight I am.

Anyway back in Tenterton, we hunted the lovely little shops for some reasonably priced jam jars so I try out my bread making machine for its other purpose - jam making.

The train was really good though.

I made one of these

Inspired by something I saw on the Scrapscene site I made a little felt heart. It didnt take more than a few minutes to do and I can see me making lots more felt goodies!

Square foot gardening

NB - Just to note date down somewhere, today I signed on at the job centre (again).

Yesterday I got to read my book all on Square Foot Gardening that I had bought from ebay. I had been told about this method of gardening by my friend in Wales who was trying it (with mixed results) on her very furtile welsh valley garden. I could immediately see the logic of planting just a few of each seed/plant variety in a square foot - after all it was something I had already sort of dabbled with by growing the odd cabbage in the flower bed or by planting each seed in a row in the seed tray to save me having to thin out later. So intriged I sort more info, found the book advertised , bid and won my own copy.

I was hooked from page one and now cant wait to get started so yesterday since Martin was off, I dragged him to B&Q where we found some cheapish skirting board packed just rignt to make 2 sets of the 4ftx4ft containers that you need to grow all your fresh organic goodness in. They didnt take long for him to make (it would have been even quicker if he had remembered to charge his drill/screwdriver) and then as luck would have it, dad phoned to say he had managed to get his hands on some really (dirt) cheap compost. I still need the vermiculite and the peat moss but I am sitting here with lots of little bits of paper trying to work out what wonderful things I am going to be munching on next summer!

System up with the top down

I never got round to putting up here what we did for the rest of the second week of Martin's holiday. To be honest we didnt do alot as on Monday he took delivery (finally after the courier had lost the first one and had to send a second) of his 42" screen telly and once Sky finally got themselves sorted out and give him Sky sports there wasnt a great deal moving him from his armchair as he enjoyed an orgy of cricket, golf and football.

It did give me a chance to do a bit of scrapping, I have made Laura and Wayne a brag book using Shimelle's 12x4 project but I am still awaiting supplies for the finishing touches so cant upload and share just yet.

However it wasnt all fun! LOL

Monday I insisted we DO something so we put the top down on my soft top and mossyed down towards Hastings, new ipod blarring. It didnt last long as by Folkestone the rain had started and we had to put the top back up. At Dymchurch I wanted a comfort stop so we paid a couple of quid to the parking meter, and stopped to look round. I hadn't been here since the kids were young, and Martin could only remember coming when we first started going out, way back in the mid '70's.Our memories were of long flat sandy beaches, safe swimming for the kids, slot machines, bucket and spade shops and a lovely 'wimpy' type cafe. The reality was no beach as a brown murky sea was right up to the defences, tacky dirty shops and a greasy spoon. We were back in the car after 10 mins.

We travelled on and by Rye decided that since neither of us had actually been there (Martin just hadnt been and when my dad took me there were never any parking places) we would take a look round and have a bite to eat. It is a very picturesque place and it has loads of hostelries and tea rooms. Of course we managed to find the least pretty place to eat in but the food was good, hot and plentiful and we were hungry.

Once more on the road, and we headed for or final destination, Hastings. Very kiss me quick hat and candy floss! Very cold! Very expensive!

So again it was a quick look round, buy a bag of doughnuts and back in the car, and home via the country route to get a decent cuppa and munch these very small? squashed ring doughs. A rather dissapointing day out.

The rains came down and the floods came up

So this is August!!

View from the end of my road

World wide web

The 'tnet is old technology now, broadband is in nearly ever home and practically every business premises.

So why is it so hard to change your service provider?

I have been with my present ISP since 2004 with no complains but I have to say it is not one of the cheapest options on the market. So when Sky broadband came to town (literally. We've had to wait for the exchange to get wired up) we worked out that we could downgrade our Sky TV package slightly (cutting out the chanels we never watch), change to their broadband and with the money we saved, hubby could have Sky sports.

But first we needed our MAC number!!!!!

So I phone my ISP - on a premuim rate line - and am on hold for 10 mins. I try another number and another and finally ring sales dept where I am passed to a not very nice person. Not because he was rude, or miserable. In fact he was very pleasant and came across as very helpful. But I just cant stand people who tell lies!!

First off he asked me who I was changing to and if they had given me a date. Thinking he needed this information to change me over, I told him who I wanted to go with but also that I hadnt actually rung them up yet. Then he told me he was looking at my line and (the worst of the whole thing, told me he had no reason to lie as I could easily find this out) said that Sky was not available on my line and that there was no scheduled work from BT on it for at least the next 6 months. Then he proceeded to try and sell me another package which on the surface sounded cheaper than I was already paying but when I checked on the website later was actually £1 more than my current monthly outlay! Luckily I didnt fall for it or I would have been tied into them for another 12 months.

Then 2 more premium rate numbers to sky to find out if they actually could provide me with broadband - yes no problem, so back to my original ISP to try getting a MAC again. Well hopefully I should get one within the next 5 days. Watch this space.

I then tried ordering the Sky package online but that took me round in circles so too fed up to try any more today we decided to phone again tomorrow. Low and behold half an hour ago Sky phone us up trying to sell us a broadband package. Coincidence? I dont think so but at least that bit is now set up even if I still need to phone Sky to change our TV options.

Digi LO's

Two UKS classes and one just a simple play with some curling actions.




Just to show I can still do it LOL

Scrap and turf

Ooooh lots to blog and not really feeling like blogging it, but I do need to get it all down.

So Tuesday, since the Dishwasher repair man was coming out (yet again, he must have rebuilt this piece of white goods trash at least 3 times over, this time it was the rotary water arm which had broken.) on Wednesday and we would have to wait in all day for him , I downloaded directions from Multimap and off we went to Ashford to see where a couple of schools with vacanies were.

Since both of them led us to the outskirts of the celebrated and infamous part of Ashford, Martin decided neither were for me, and we ended up in the outlet centre instead, where we bought trainers for me, and polo shirts for Mart, a few bits in the Papermill and (on the way back via Canterbury) a new game for the Wii (4x4 Monster trucks) and a pair of flip flops (posh ones) for me.

Wednesday was the start of UKS's summer scrap event so while I scrapped, Martin rubbed down the kitchen work top and then played golf..

The first class I did , some cute index cards which were meant to go in a little plastic purse, but without the kit I had to improvise and made my own box.
Wednesday ( I really should have done all this as I went along LOL) I dont remember that we did much but I did scrap a little more. This is more Chatterbox because its another for the wedding album. Honest I am getting there with it.



Thursday was spent making phone calls to Jan to work out what time we were leaving, whose car we would be taking and what to include in the picnic. Yes we were off to the races. It seemed to take all day to make salads, cakes (all home made) and other goodies. We were late for the first two races because Martin drove and forgot there was cricket going on in Canterbury so we got caught in the traffic coming out of the County ground.

Its always a bit of a rushed wirlwind trying to fit everything in at the races. With only 30 mins between each race, and not wanting to put a bet on until we have seen the gee gees parading around the ring, getting to the tote and then to the stands leaves you a little breathless but we really enjoyed it and our little flutters put us even on the night. Then the Queen tribute band (because it was Ladies Day and everyone had dressed up in their hats and finery). What can I say? They were ...... average! LOL!!!

Friday we were nearly at the end of the list of jobs I had made at the beginning of the week. Joking that I was the OFHOLS inspector Martin had been in special measures over his list on monday but had soon cracked on with them. We hired the carpet cleaner from B&Q and, driving the cat insane, I steamed carpets inside while Martin pressure hosed the patio. There was even time for more scrapping!!

Chip, chop, chip, chop, the last mans head!

Are you overly tall? straggly? brown? or even just in my way?

If so that is my criteria for chopping you down...........with my secateurs!

Yesterday - ALL yesterday - both Martin and I were out in the garden attacking the plant life. We hacked down large overgrown plants, trimmed hedges, pulled out weeds and even removed lots of bits of rubble and wood that have been hidden in the undergrowth for years. Now we can get in the shed without fear of being stung to death, see the fish from BOTH sides of the pond and easily find the right sized plant pot when we need it.

We have only done about a third of the garden but I really think we are winning!

We interupt this marriage to bring you the racing season

Martin wanted a BBQ so this morning I started the bread making machine at the unearthly hour of 8 oclock (since the guy delivering next door's newspapers had woken me up at 7 anyway). But then the weather turned so hot and muggy it took me most of the day to get the conservatory spick and span, the food bought and prepared and I never even got as far as doing any house work. Too hot to do much other than sit in the garden drinking water, I had just got up to make the salad when mum and dad turned up.
'We've bought an extra guest, guess who?' she said to me as I pulled my unbrushed and unclean face out of the fridge?
'Well I dont know but for heaven sakes tell me because I need to go and get washed and changed!' I exclaimed.
It turned out to be one of my 'long lost' cousins, whom I have only seen twice in the last 20 years! Both the house and me are a mess and he has 'dropped in' for a visit???!!!
Actually it was really great to see him although he and his wife only stayed for half an hour, despite there obviously being heaps of BBQ food. Mind you he wasnt allowed to go until all the men folk had been out and admired his Morgan sports car, and each of them had had a spin round the block. Stupidly I didnt get a photo op- but this is what it looked like.



As well as eating ourselves silly we also got on the 'net and booked a heap of tickets to go horseracing at Folkestone on Thursday. It is Ladies night and as well as dressing up in our gladrags, taking a picnic and enjoying the horses, there will also be a Queen tribute band.

So a racing themed afternoon all round!

To celebrate

Yesterday was the last day at the nursery. At the moment it is running as a creche and we only had 11 children (with four staff, good ratio's LOL) so it was really boring for both the children and the staff. However they still all got together to surprise me with a little sing song, a bunch of flowers a box of chocs and cards made by the children. Even though I have not found the job to my taste or skills they are (in the main) great kids and lovely staff who all wanted me to stay on so although not sorry to be going I found it quite touching.

Anyway to celebrate being unemployed again I have done some digi scraping. Bit of a pain because the pc really does want a complete re-instal, it is running sooooo slow.


This is hubby in the Forest of Dean (note welly boots) which despite floods in Gloucster wasnt too wet. Mainly Miss Mint birthday kit with some home made brushes.

Still sorting

out my life and my scrap room!

Back to work at the nursery today, hopefully for the last week. For a change they let me go in with the wee babes this afternoon, which was very different.

I am also still sorting stash. I have run out of Asda boxes and having already bought 12 thought I better do something about usinding some of the stuff I already have. I am not an altering person but I have some really strong gift boxes that have nothing wrong with them apart from being the wrong colour theme for the room (blue with silver snowflakes). They are perfect for storing my ribbons so I have painted them and hopefully will get some photos up tomorrow.

July break

We have just had a break away for 5 days in flood wrecked Gloustershire. We had been invited to the wedding of two of the people who worked with Martin when he was out on conversion so decided to make a bit of a midweek break of it.
We booked in at the Wyndham Arms in Clearwell for two nights as the couple were having the whole thing at Clearwell Castle and this hotel was in walking distance, meaning we would not have to worry about drink/driving or taxis.
Then we decided that since we had never been to the Forest of Dean we would go down on Monday (wedding on Wednesday) to have a look at some of the tourist sites. So we booked a nights stay in B&B at Symons Yat.
We were a little concerned when reports of the flooding started to come in but not enough to have the sense to phone ahead and make sure our accommodation was still available. To be honest, although not taking anything away from any of the many many poor people effected by the disaster, it obviously wasn't as widespread as the news reports would have us believe. The way it was being reported, the whole of the county was underwater but we drove round most of the Forest of Dean, Monmothshire and the Ross/Wye valley and only saw one flooded road sign, which had actually been left up from the month before when the river had broken its banks locally.

Fast flowing water but no flooding

The heavens opened and continued to rain on us for most of Monday so we didn't actually get to see any of the attractions we wanted to see, but our B&B was brilliant, we were the only ones staying there and so had very personal service, a really comfy self contained room and a fab breakfast with heaps of trimmings. The sun shone for a bit so we did the self drive tour of the Forest and then went off to the Wyndham Arms on the Tuesday.
OK I am sorry if anyone knows anyone from the WA's but Martin reckons it was the worst hotel he has ever stayed in (and he's been in a few while out on conversion for 18 months) so take what you can from that and I shall say no more about it.

The conversion team

The wedding was lovely but very long, there was food and more food and even more food so we were stuffed full and very tired by the end of the day. It finally stopped raining for the fireworks - although I had given up with the camera by then so didnt get any pics of them, and Martin's friends were good company.
On Thursday we had arranged to travel into deepest darkest Wales to stay with my friend and former TA Judy for the night, not realising just how far it was. 3 hours later we arrived at her gaff. 6 years ago her and her son and daughter-in-law bought a cottage, which consisted of little more than 4 walls and a rotting roof intending to do it up. It is really out in the sticks, just this one house, no bus route, no more than a mile long muddy lane to get to it and fields, flora, sheep and a river for company. Sadly circumstances mean the place still hasnt been finished, most of the interior work still needs doing, and I think Martin was a bit taken aback by the 'rough' and 'ready' way we had to live for that one night, but Judy really loves the country life. I take my hat off to her because as a woman the wrong side of 60 she is out in all weathers, chopping her own firewood and dragging it home from the woods, fighting the wild woods for her little veggie plot and living the kind of hard life many of us left behind with the computer/techno revolution.
8 hours to get home because of the amount of accidents on the M20 and the comfort of our own bed makes you wonder why you go away but when I download the few photos I took I know there are going to be lots of good bits to remember and enjoy reminsing about.

Pets

I was a tad worried when Kelly posted on her blog about the 4th wedding she had been to this year - thinking "4 weddings and a funeral" and my premanition was correct, she phoned at the weekend to tell me the her Rabbit had passed on -:( . Coupled with Laura's rat problem I waited for the third thing.

I didnt have to wait tooo long, last night when I got in from work it was to the sad news that my dad's faithful four legged friend had had to be put to sleep. They have had Ben Charlie dog for 12 of his 13 years and dad dotted on him. He had got to the stage where he was overweight, covered in fat lumps and suffering from exthma but he still seemed happy enough and tried to gamble about like a puppy when he was pleased to see visitors. However a tumour on the liver is not something an old dog can fight off and so we wish him well on his journey across rainbow bridge.

This evening Kelly is off to Wales for her FIFTH wedding of the year so I have to go mind her animals tomorrow, and then Monday we are off to the Forest of Dean, the wedding we are going to there being on Wednesday. Then we are going to Wales to see my friend Judy.

Rats!

The kids have seen rats in the garden of their new house!

Gone for good?

Well thats it, both girls have finally moved out and onwards (although there are still a few bits of Laura's stuff about the place). You would think that Hubby and I would have lots of time to spend with each other with just the two of us here now but I have been so busy cleaning up after the lack of any practical housework during the puppy period, and Martin has been so busy at work. They are loosing an Assistant Manager so top team will consist of only 2 during the holiday period not the usual four, making for long days and tired husbands. He was doing quite well on giving up the weed too but this week has seen him back up to 5/6 a day :(

The nursery are still begging me to stay on, and Kelly is hankering for me to leave work and register as a child minder. Doesn't seem a bad idea but I have looked at the LEA site and it makes no sense to me whatsoever. It seems to send me round in circles.

I have now got the scrap room back into some semblance of order - still quite a few bellies to put into boxes but at least the table is clear and I have scrapped!!! Nothing exciting, only the other sides of some doubles for Kelly's wedding album. I want to get a fair way with it before we go up to the Forest of Dean next week. We are off to a wedding of someone Martin used to be on the Safeway/Morrison conversion team with, then we are going to make a bit of a holiday out of it and go see my old TA and friend in Wales so I would like to take the album with me to show her.

Story of my life!

Ever since I started my teacher training - and the reason I trained for 3-8 year olds and not 5-8's was because ultimately I wanted to be in charge of my own nursery. Not an easy ambition because those of you who have children to educate in Kent will know what a diverse system for pre-school care/education there is in the county, and there are very few proper Nurseries even now. 16 years ago the situation was even worse, but in the final year of my TT the LEA opened 5 state run Nurseries. They opened only a few months too soon for our year group to apply, but it gave us all hope that more would follow.

Sadly this didn't happen and it is only now, following on from Every Child Matters that Children's centres, Nurseries attached to Schools and Surestart centres are springing up.

So last week I applied to a Children's centre attached to a School that was just starting up for the job of Teacher in Charge. On paper I had everything they wanted so I wasn't surprised when the Manageress of the Nursery I am supplying in told me she had received a request for references from them. Excited I rushed home to re-read the advert. I was rather surprised to see the ad stated the interview date was for the very next day. yet I hadn't heard from them. Why ask for references then? Had they printed the wrong date in the ad?

So I waited...and waited..and then concluded that having got my references they hadn't short listed me.

Today I got a hand delivered envelope, containing heaps of info on the Centre plus an invite to an interview ...... on 5Th July!!!!!!!

I have phoned them, (just in case I should ever want to apply to them again and not wanting them to think that I just hadn't bothered turning up) and they told me the Head was meant to put it through my door herself on 4Th July.

Oh oops!!!!!!!

They are meant to be ringing me back. Not that they can do anything about it now.

Do you think heads may roll?

And this just about sums up the story of my life!!

Life changes.

Or at least I have a plan!

The kids have announced that TONIGHT they will deffo be moving into their own house, so that will be a major change. I think they actually mean it this time as last night I took them to Asda and bought them a barrow load of basic goodies to fill the kitchen shelves with. I shall miss having the two of them around. I shant miss having the dog tearing up the house, he is welcome to leave though!

All this means I can finally get the house sorted out. I have made a start in the craft room, removing the hanging pockets from the walls and storing all my bits and bats in those wonderful Asda sorting trays (£1.97 for a compartmented plastic box, fantastic for storage of little things). Nearly all the wire cub storage is fixed together and I intend (eventually) to 'alter' all the storage boxes to the same colour, and make fancy labels for everything, including my albums so I can find everything easily.

Then it will be the great furniture move, some things (like the pc) into the craft room, somethings into the 'guest' bedroom (cant really call it Laura's room any more,) and then a new wardrobe for our room. After which I want to hire a carpet cleaner and get all the carpets cleaned. Alongside spring cleaning the whole house and touching up all the paintwork. So just a small job then.

Someone came round to look at the Nursery for the permenant job yesterday so the other change will be for me to get signed up with a few agencies and to start putting my cv around the local schools.

And one other change - I hope - a new thinner me, as I have started my WW diet AGAIN today. Just off to go get my bowl of cornflakes now.

No job

The Nursery finally got themselves organised enough to tell me they are going to advertise for a permenant position for the job I am covering as supply. I was invited to write in if I wanted to be considered, I would not need to sit a formal interview though.

So after due consideration (30 seconds) I have written and told them I do not want the permenant job. I am now going to get myself signed up on all the supply agency lists and see where that takes me. To the realms of poverty I should think.

On another note, we suddenly realised on Tuesday evening that my car should have been for its MOT, so it had to be rapidly booked in and poor Laura (who is suffering from a heavy cold) would have to take me to work and pick me up. Anyway the sickly car had to have quite a bit (nearly £300) of work done to it so ended up being in the garage for two days.

Luckily we didnt drive it to Westward shopping then. It was Laura's birthday on Tuesday so I took her out to buy her a birthday pressy. She really needs heaps of cloths but refuses to spend her money on anything but the house so I insisted she had an actual present from us. Had we thought of it earlier we could have all chipped in together to get her some GHD's but as it was Smiths were doing a 3 for 2 deal on every book in the shop so we spent a delightful hour choosing books for her. This may not seem a big deal but as a dyslexic she has not really been as into books as I would like, so it was lovely to see her struggling to choose just 3. We could have both spent a fortune in there. As it was she chose a Gary Rhodes cook book (on the basis it was the right size for the kitchen shelf and would look funky) Ronnie Corbet's autobiography and a novel. I restrained myself as I had already ordered Delia Smiths Pudding collection from The Book People at work and am looking forward to the last Harry Potter in a fortnights time.

I am also nearly there with the craft room. I need to buy some Tuff boxes for my rubber stamps but my 12x12 cropper hopper's turned up so its just a case of tidying it all away now.

This is getting silly!

Another interview today, a job share, I had to do a sample 10 min pe lesson and then an interview

Lesson - went really well, both Head and class teacher said how good it had been and what a good teacher I was

Interview - I felt it went really well, in the feed back the Head agreed

Experience - "You are very good, have all the experience and attributes we need"

But.... they didnt give me the job because the job share teacher thought she would get on better with the other candidate!

What frame?

This week my photo course module was all about framing your subject, using natural frames. Yep, sounds easy enough but ....


when you live here and your main outlook is this

then there really isnt much in the way of natural frames.

In a postive frame '(ha ha) of mind I set out in search of that perfect subject to take though - despite the rain.
I tried taking the brook through the wooden fencing
but decide the banks made a better frame.

Of course the rubbish laying in the bottom of the water doesnt make it that wonderful a shot so I tried further afield.I couldnt get the angle right on the church spire and kept having to miss all the interesting bits in order to get the trees in as the frame

The church yard should have yeilded better results but when I finally found a frame to take the cross, the composition meant it ended up too low down


and I actually prefered it without the frame.



In desperation I tried macro and taking the shot through my key ring - but reckon I could make a better job of it in photoshop with a black vingrette.
So ...I have given up for this week and look forward to next weeks module.

Not off on me hols.

Well it seems that our mate cant get the same weeks holiday as us and Martin cant change his to meet the weeks our mate can have so our week on the canal ways of Yorkshire are off for this year. We may manage a long weekend in gay Paree instead, we will see. A bit of a disappointment as I was already on that boat meandering along the waters.

This week has been so long - I am just so unhappy working at the Nursery. Don't get me wrong the people and children are lovely but there is just too much internal politics which seem to trying to involve me. Plus I am so physically exhausted - in some ways teaching is so much easier, but for the pittance I am being paid it just isn't worth it. Anyway my psoriasis has flared again, so after a chat with hubby I have decided NOT to take up a permenant contract if/when it is offered.

As well as that I have an interview for a part time teaching job which although a little further away than I want to travel, great. Please let me get through the interview this time.

Father's Day

We had the kids round for a BBQ - which their father had to cook!

I was very tired as the white monster puppy had been up since half five and t Laura and Wayne had taken us to Zizzi's for dinner the previous evening, but not until 9.30 so we didnt get to bed much before 12.

And then I managed to throw the glass bowl of strawberries and raspberries (my first crop) all over the patio so only ice cream for desert.

I bought my dad chocolate - the fruit and nut kind. Turns out he cant eat the nut one with his one tooth but that will teach him not to say 'nothing' when asked what he would like for father's day.

Here's the card I made him - design from Its a Creative World site but I made my own paper in photoshop

Painting with light

That's the title of the photography course I have been
doing online and this week we had to find different angles or zoom in to take our pics. At first I was very confuddled over what was expected and I am still not sure I have got it right but I did manage a bit of painting with light ....look at this!



Taken by hanging the camera by its strap over the edge of the pond wall, amazed at how the light caught the inside of the lily. And by using macro and portrait mode I was able to get in close and create a short depth of field.

Monday I really was fed up with working at the nursery - the people for the most are great but the lady I work with most of the time can be a right old moaner which can get you down after a while, plus I am used to running my own classroom, not being the class skivvy which is what I ended up being Monday..cleaning, making the snacks, serving dinner..not exactly what I spent 5 years training for. So I came home Tuesday and hit the 'net for something better. There still isnt much going but I did find 5 jobs to apply for, and this morning I got a message to say one of the schools phoned with an appointment for an informal look round. Yes I know most schools do like you to look round but to actually phone YOU to make the appointment. So fingers crossed it at least means they are interested.

Something for the weekend?

Due to some huge mix up with stock ordering Martin had to work stock Friday night so Saturday left me at a bit of a dead end as he was snoring in bed not to be disturbed. Since my computer is in the bedroom I couldn't get online, couldn't print out stuff for my scrapping and couldn't do any housework because of the noise. So Kelly and Ollie took pitty on me and invited me over to Sittingbourne for a cup of tea and a trip to B&Q. They were buying stuff to fit in a bathroom suite as they only have a shower and my baby sooo misses her baths!

I got to be the 'list' holder as it was a pretty long list, paint, tiles, plumbing gear, screws (I reckon you need a degree in screws to buy the correct ones) or and cat flea stuff! By the way hon your cat's fleas bit me several times.

By the time I got home, via a trip to see my parents and get my instructions for this week - yes I am dog sitting again while they are on a break to Norfolk for a few days, so I have to be shown how to water the plants and feed the hound for the umpteenth billion time - it was past 3 o'clock and Martin was just waking up. Just as well as I had a splitting head ache and ended up crawling into the bed he had just left and falling asleep. This didn't get shot of the headache and so I had to go to my bessie mate's BBQ still suffering. Still its amazing how good a cure 3 pints of cider can be.

We finally got round to discussing holidays, and because I can't find any narrow boats operating in parts of Ireland we haven't already visited we have now opted to take one out on the Yorkshire Dales and up into the Pennines. Its sometime since we holidayed in England so will be somewhat different but I am looking forward to booking something and going now. Some of the photos on the net look stunning and to be honest on a canal barge it really doesn't matter what the weather is like.

As I had hoped to persuade Kelly to take me to Hobbycraft but had ended up at B&Q I talked Martin in to rushing over there after golf on Sunday. He wasn't too keen but couldn't think up an excuse. I bet he wish he had as I ended up spending £85 but what bargains. I got a whole alpha die set (upper, lower case, numbers and punctuation,) 6 other smaller dies, a heap of felt squares (which I have since discovered can be cut in the die machine) loads of ribbon and the hugest bottle of PVA glue.

An extra zero

Have you visited Its a Creative World yet? You really must, the girls are providing a wealth of interesting, beautiful, thrifty and practical projects that are described in fantastic detail. And tomorrow they promise TWO exciting offers to celebrate their first week anniversary!

Today I finally got a response to the interview I went to 11 days ago. As I guessed from the lack of news I didnt get the job but to rub salt in the wound the letter apologised for not ringing me but the telephone number on my application form came up as unknown. Reasonable excuse on the face of it as when I checked I had accidently leaned on the keyboard and put a zero in front of the phone number, but ....

ALL local calls round here are 6 not 7 digits, and start with 27 so it was pretty obvious what the correct number should have been and would have been worth trying.

I dont have a common name, they had my addy, how long would it have taken to open the local phone book?

Both my referees could have given a contact number, they also had my work number

why wait 10 days to write and then send the letter second class?

AND WORST OF ALL my correct phone number, addy and email was on the CV I had also sent them!!!!!

Missing e

This hound is growing at a rate of knots! 14 weeks old already and look at the size of him.

One of the girls at the nursery where I am supplying is getting married in July. I overheard her talking to another member of staff, asking where she could get stamps of the letters L and N for her wedding stationary, so I chipped in, offering to lend her some of my alpha's. When I turned up with a small pile of alpha stamps yesterday she asked why I had so many, so I explained about my little scrapping hobby. Since she had shown such an interest I took in my half finished 12x12 album of my daughter's wedding plus the nearly finished mini album of Helen's wedding. The whole staff were really impressed, one even suggested I did it professionally and another said they would be bringing in all their photos for me to scrap LOL

As a staff, as we have to cover looking after the children all day we dont get together all in one go at any time during the day so I left the bag with my work in for anyone to go enjoy. I was over the moon that they were all so interested but sadly when I got home tonight I discovered that the letter stickers on the front of the mini album were peeling off and the 'e' in Helen had disappeared entirely. I dont have another so it looks like I am going to have to replace the whole title! That will teach me to get the diamond glaze out earlier. In the meantime a photo of my newly dyed and highlighted barnet - not a very flattering photo (taken by Laura) and my hair is a bit in need of a brush but at least it shows the colours.

Mini Album

I have finally made a start and I am quiet pleased with the result. The mini book instructions can be found at Craft TV weekly
The papers so far are from a small freebie digi kit,(Country Velvet Back Pack )
Created by Marcee Duggar one of the weekly freebies from The Digital Scrapbook Place, which I printed out (finally now the printer is happy again). I then heat embossed some of the flower stems with silver as the wedding colour theme was blue and silver. The flower is a sizzlet which I then hand painted so it matches the brides bouquet.
I run a neat little action I found online on the photo which scrolls the corner of the photo
It is all straight but scan isnt.

Tilt and Turn

Kelly (my eldest daughter) moaned at me yesterday because I had not linked her blog on mine. I admit I am pretty lax at putting blog links up, but over this week intend to rectify this. To make up I shall upload some of the shots I took of her and her new(ish) hubby as I tried to get to grips with this weeks module of the photo course. Tilt and Turn. MMmmm not sure I have the hang of it yet.



I want to make a mini brag book for Kelly's best mate of the wedding event, but am having the worlds most awful job matching those lovely bridesmaids dresses and flowers with a range of patterned paper. Having spent a few too many hours yesterday looking at both 'real' paper and digi kits in the hope of a perfect match I attempted to print out my own using my new copy of Photoshop CS3 but the printer is having its own hissy fit, demanding new ink in all 6 colours!

I know a secret

and it starts in June. You can read all about it and sign up here

And I have finally finished another LO -


its a scraplift of a LO that Vanessa Matthews published in the Feb 2007 SI mag as a lesson on beading techniques. I would have included the beading but just as I opened my bead box my cat jumped on it, and I still have to find all the beads yet. I was beginning to get the feeling this LO wasnt to be. Still I am pleased with the result. Guess what? Its another for the wedding album, this time featuring my other Daughter and her fella, still using the Chatterbox powder room papers, prima flowers, Bazille buttons, home made chipboard heart using MM template, and clear stamps from The Paper Mill (Studio g)

We have a winner!

I am stunned because my bottle photo has been chosen as one of the top 5 photos for this week's module on Cheryl's photography course. Wow!

I have had a headache all day and managed to fall asleep until 1.30 this afternoon. So much for all the things I was going to do on my day off.

And the bride

The bride looked rather special too. (And looking at that photo I have just realised how like Prince Charles her dad looks!!)

The happy couple are wonderful youngsters, with the most fantastic personalities both of them. So I was saddened to discover that after the wonderful time we had had at the church the reception was frought with family rows and the poor bride ended up in tears a few times.
Still the actual ceremony was magical. The brides little babe walked ahead of the 4 bridesmaids in his own 'car' baby walker (he is not yet a year old bless), and looked so cute. Sadly not allowed to take flash photography in the church I didnt get a shot of him.
It all took place in a small village church so it was really cosy, and something I really liked, the bride and groom stood facing each other - sideways on to the congregation so we saw their faces all through the proceedings. Much better than spending your time waiting to see if the groom has removed the price label from the bottom of his shoes as you stare at the couples backs.
And then that bit you all dread happening at your wedding, the vicar getting your names wrong. And this vicar did!!! He had accidently filled in his scripts with the groom's middle name and asked if someone called John would marry Helen (grooms name is Alan). Obviously this caused some confusion and then bouts of laughter as we all realised what the poor master of the church had done, but five minutes later he asked Helen if she would repeat her vows to 'John'. To peals of laughter the poor bloke walked away and did a few stretching excersizes while Alan and Helen offered to go out and come back in to start all over. Wonderful stuff!!

Didn't she look geogeous?

Blogger in the family

It would seem my eldest daughter has started a blog of her own, prompted by the fact I forgot to tell her about my interview and she had to read about it on my blog. She says its to remind her of things and also so that her and I can put things on it and then it wont matter so much if we forget to grab a phone and tell each other stuff.

So no pressure on me to keep my blog up to date then LOL

Well actually I have been a bit lax in blogging of late so I guess it wont hurt to have another reason to get on here typing.

Yesterday Wayne finally managed to install a new computer for my dad. His last one (a Time machine) was over five years old and in all that time dad had never done a defrag or a complete virus scan or a reset. He had installed/uninstalled/installed numerous times numerous bits of dodgy software, (I alone had reinstalled zonearlarm 4 times for him because he kept taking it off saying it 'messed up his computer'. Of course then he wondered why it had got to the stage where booting it up took nearly an hour????!!!! I had attempted to reset to factory settings for him but Time, who no longer exist, had given him a blank disc instead of a restore with files on it. Research showed this was a common Time scam as you had to pay an extra £60 to them to get another disc. So we had to assign his pc to the techno playground in the sky and he now has a shiny all singing all dancing Dell machine. With very strict instructions (which I am sure he will ignore) on how to keep it shiny all singing all dancing.

Today Kelly's bessie mate is getting married and Kelly is the Maid of Honour so Mum Dad and I are off to the church to bless the happy couple with a few handfuls of paper roses and a few tears. Sorry but looks like more wedding photos to share with you all. Tee Hee. Oh come on there's nothing like a good wedding.

So what was the outcome?

Well I thought the interview went ok. I answered all the questions, there were lots of smiles on both sides and nods and scribbled notes on pads. There were things I could have said but forgot and things I might have said different but then there always is afterwards.

So did I get the job?

Who knows? I certainly dont. Because here it is - half past nine and no one from the school has phoned to say if I was successful or not.

This is something that has never happened before, and something I have never heard of happening. So I am somewhat flummoxed but moving on.

One green bottle hanging on the wall

I have has such a rotten cold, I have felt so miserable and tired with it and struggled in to work for little reward. I was also really fed up with this weeks assignment for the photography course as I really didnt understand what I was supposed to be doing. Anyway I finally uploaded this photo and Cheryll thinks it 'rocks', with light, colour and focal point being 'spot on'. Of course its such a shame I have no idea what I actually did to get this photo other than point and click! I'm just glad I got something as I was just getting soooooo grumpy about the whole thing. And I have an interview for Friday so fingers crossed and lots of good vibes for me please.

Photography

I am signed up for an on line photography course. Hopefully it will get me thinking more about how and when to use my camera.

The first module has been a bit of fun as we have had to take silhoette photos against the light. Easiest done outside but eversince we were given our coursework it has done nort but rain. So there have been some rather inventive photos and some people on the course have been getting up very early (too early in my opinion) to take sunrise photos!!

Anyway here are my attemptsTaken through the bedroom window about an hour before sunset when there was finally a break in the weather.


Shot looking up through my wisteria


Across the back of the gardens - I just liked all the telegraph poles and wires.

A few more wedding album LO's

I used a DC class as inspiration for these two but couldnt do the class as it stood as it needed clear packing case tape which I havent been able to get hold of. So instead I used some brushes and photoshop to make some home made rub ons for all the doodly type flourishes.

This week another interview and again I am told I am 'brilliant' but dont have enough Nursery experience - so why interview me I ask myself. After all they can read a CV?? Anyway I havent had chance to feel that miserable about it as I have had a splitting headache for 4 days and all I have done really is sleep.

On the other hand our new member, Bailey, is not doing as much sleeping as I thought he would but he is really good, almost house trained, only chewing his toys and went off to have his injections as good as gold. I am dog sitting today though as Wayne is enjoying another trip to the hospital thinking he may have broken his fingers again playing cricket yesterday.

A scanner, a scanner ..

I finally have a scanner!!!

*big cheesey grin*

Wow, we have been out spending money, a new Epson photoscanner for me, and lots of goodies from the PaperMill (they have some great scrapping deals on at the moment) plus another controller and game to go with hubby's birthday present (a Wii from all of us) so he can play lots of games while I scrap, and a pair of shoes for him.

Don't you just love wet bank holidays!!! Anyway finally I can upload some of my wedding album LO's and DC classes.

OK scanner is fantastic - my ability to stitch is now a bit rusty, hence the blur. This is my attempt at Karen Miller's class from the DC - lots of fun stitching, hand made heart and HS chipboard letters. The paper is Chatterbox Powder room which I wanted to use through out but I am having difficulty sourcing it so now I have some similar stuff from the Paper Mill for the next efforts. I know I have already used this photo in a digi LO but this is the version I am putting in the paper album.

Partieeee! ..... and a puppy.

Well after all the hard work the BBQ went off really well, despite the cold overcast day. We did have waaaaaay too much food though and the chocie fondue didn't work, but no one seemed to care.

Kelly actually arrived quite early so was around to give me a hand. I had been to Iceland on Thursday so only had to go get beer and salad stuff early Sat morning. Then it was simply a case of slicing, dicing and a little bit of cooking (I made a fabbie raspberry pavlova).

It was really great meeting up with people we hadnt seen for 16 years and finding we still had things in common. One couple have even invited us up to their son's birthday party this coming weekend so hey, things on the social side could be looking up.

One sad bit though was when Martin's brother and wife turned up and we discovered that in January their adopted son had come home to tell them he had testicle cancer. We found it hard to reason why it had taken them 5 months to tell us though, from a family that is supposed to be so close.

There were also about 6 people who said they were coming who didnt turn up which was a dissappointment, but apart from that it was a good day.

There was an awful lot to clear up afterwards though, made even harder by our surprise lodger. OK, yes I am a soft touch but the kids have been knocking themselves out this past week trying to get the house finished this weekend in order to provide a home for the puppy they had bought. BUT it just didnt happen. Hold ups with plumbers and electricians, kitchen units that were wrong or not delivered, all meant that there was just no way they could move in just yet. There is at least another two weeks work.

So a sheepish Laura came to us Friday night asking if she could keep the puppy shut in the dinning room/kitchen/conservatory while the cat has the run of the rest of the house. Which meant a total re-arrange of furniture, and cleaning all the floor, keeping the cat away at least until Wednesday when the puppy has his first injections and early mornings to give the little scrap his morning meal. But how could I say no to this? Meet our new family member .. Bailey the Golden Retriever.

50th birthday bash

Martin will be 50 on Thursday. About three weeks ago I suggested he have a BBQ this Saturdayto celebrate, he could ask whoever he wanted. He was in ectasy as we scoured the net and phone and got in touch with people he hadnt talked to for 16 years.

As a bloke though he did all his invites really casually over the mobile and didnt confirm who exactly was coming so I made him a whole batch of invites and got him to send them out. Of course he doesnt have a vast social circle so I wasnt expecting many to be coming. Many of those he did invite are partnerless so again the blokey chap response, not proper RSVP's but a quick text or phone message. Hopeless, I still had no idea of numbers.

This morning, my only day off this week, I finally sat him down and made a guest list. Turns out 32 people have agreed to come with 6 more not yet replied!!!!!! Not only that but two guys I have never met are coming down from Wales on Friday and will need putting up for two nights!!!!!!!!

So panic stations ensue - of course Martin is still being really laid back, 'Oh yes we can do the clearing up and cleaning later in the week' 'I'll mow the lawn near the day' etc. Flip! What are guys like???

So I had to set about clearing and cleaning the conservatory and then move most of my craft stuff from the spare room into our room so that Martin could get the single beds out of the attic and put them up. Of course we dont have any bedding so I am going to have to borrow that from my mum, and we dont have enough chairs for the garden so Martin must make a trip to B&Q to buy some cheap garden furniture, and we will have to have paper plates and stuff because I dont have enough crockery.

Blokes! Who'd have 'em. He seems to think everything is just going to magically be sorted on its own. Looks like I have some exhausting evenings ahead of me getting everything sorted. And there was me thinking he only had two mates LOL

More from UKS CC

This class was by Shimelle and is so quick and simple but brilliant for the wedding photos. I have done this as a digi but I have also done a double page spread as a paper version to put into the album. Sadly STILL no scanners at PC World. Curry's had just the one I want, and on offer, on the shelf. But not in stock apparently - and the assistant I asked had to be the most unhelpful I have ever come across. These places no longer keep stock 'out the back' but on the shelves below the ones on show. So when I could plainly see there were none there I was pretty sure they were not in stock. Hubby asked the assistant anyway who looked, muttered 'none in stock' and walked over to where their own make, at a quarter the price, and obviously far inferior to the one I wanted was. 'I want a higher dpi spec than that one' I said, so he just walked off!!

Still I never learn, last time I went in the same self store they had just moved into the new premises and when I asked where a certain item was located I was told 'I've just put them out somewhere but blowed if I can remember where' and he walked off too.

So back to the cybercrop. I got into a bit of a strope when one of the class threads got a bit nasty because the class designer (the lovely Jean) had omitted to upload a template. I wont go into details but suffice to say I got on my high horse a bit and really went off in one on her thread so Jean if you are reading this - I sincerely apologise. However despite the hype and all the other things I dont like about the UKS cybercrop there are some fab classes over there this time round. I havnt bothered with anything else, as I cant accept the way things are done and the unfairness of alot of it, the fighting for points and the time spans so I have just done a few classes at my own leisure. If you do get chance pop over and take a look at them, some great designers, lovely ideas and some new techniques.