Acrylic albums

The latest craze, and not one to be left out I really wanted to have a go, I just didnt have a clue where to start. Thanks to the wonderfully tallented Lemon who posted very clear instructions on how to make one using OHP sheets, (Its a Creative World) and a thread on UKS asking to see everyones examples, I managed to make one of my own. The photos are of our recent escapades with our friends, on a pub walk, down near Wlamer Castle.


The pub - well it was what we had gone for really. It doesnt look much from the outside but the inside was very olde worlde, and the food was varied, hot, tasty and plentiful. I started off following Lemon's instructions to the letter but I didnt have any suitable rub ons so tried doing my own through the printer with CS3, plus a marker pen. I did actually get better as I went on.

We never can agree on the route even with very clear instructions in the book. I used lots of Crate Paper. The arrows were from the shapes in CS3

Once we had our bearings we made a start - across the road, up hill and into the countryside. Except we had actually wanted to promenade along the sea side


Which is where we ended up - getting wet in the sea!

I made a few mistakes along the way, but it was a step learning curve and I am quite pleased with the end result. Foe some unknown reason the holes I punched to bind the whole thing together didnt line up at the end, although they had at the start, so I used a strop of cardstock to make a spine and then sewed two bits of OHP together with my LO inside. This works really well as it makes the OHP pages much thicker.

I still need to bind it together but have to restock on book rings, but it was fun to make, quick and once I got the hang of it, not too hard. So thank you Lemon for a great class.

Hi Ho, Hi ho!

This poor pathetic little man usually can be found climbing up the wall of my porch on his ever continuing quest to reach the roof of the house. Of course this prolonged clamber in all elements can take a toll on your outer wear and equipment so yesterday I bought him down for a little TLC and R&R in base camp.





I sat in the garden in the sunshine on the lawn (where I could make as much mess as I liked with my acrylics without having to worry about carpets or tiles being stained) and gave him a complete new lease of life. Suzanne and Trini eat your heart out!


I really should have used a fine nib paint brush for some of the more intricate parts that some lagers cant reach because then he may have ended up looking less like a painter and decorator and more like a mountaineer. But hey! He is still happily making his way up to higher ground.

Not so much me, as it would seem that while enjoying my laze on the grass I was actually trespassing on the local ant community, and now have a zillion bites on my back and bum to prove I outstayed my welcome.

The value of going to a good crop

I spasmodically attend a crop in Broadstairs. It is run by a lovely lovely lady known on UKS as BernieTuff. For various reasons (illness, weddings, holidays, helping daughters move house - real life) I havn't been for quite a while but this Saturday when I turned up the ladies were as welcoming as ever. I sat next to, and made friends with Vicky who lives not far from me, and knows how to grab a good stash bargin off ebay! And I took the album of Kelly's wedding that I have been working on.

Now when I started this album, I did not realise that so soon after buying bits and bobs, Chatterbox would withdraw the Powder room papers I had chosen. I have been having more and more difficulty sourcing the sheets I need, and even though I bought quite a bit,and am saving every last scrap it is obvious the album is going to need far more than I have. And even I, miserly as I am, am struggling to make LO's with the little I have left, even when gutting every page.

I mentioned my frustration to Bernie, who immediately told me about a little shop on Margate seafront that may be able to help as they only sold Chatterbox papers. Where does Bernie find these places? So yesterday, despite the pouring rain, I sped down to the beach front where I found, squashed between the ice-cream parlours and slot machine arcades, a strange little 'kiss-me-quick-hat' shop selling all sorts of stuff, lighters, postcards, DIY accessories, poster paints, framed pictures, souvenirs, and ...tucked right up the back..racks and racks of CHATTERBOX 12x12 paper!!!

The only problem was that although I could see what I so badly wanted, I couldnt get to it. All the wirling stands and furntiure that usually goes outside was stacked up in front of it.

'Come back in an hour' said the young assistant.

So I wandered around Margate for an hour. I used to enjoy shopping here, but now the big shopping centre at Westward Cross has opened most of the larger stores have moved out of town leaving a very run down desolate place with many outlets and shops boarded up and empty. The few that do remain are all peeling paint and rather seedy looking tired outlets.

Anyway back to my stash spending spree. When I got back all the papers were fully accessable so like a child in a candy store, I grabbed handfulls. Then I thought that since it was the kind of shop it was, they probably didnt take credit cards, so I riffled through my bag to see how much cash I had. Mmm £10 would net me 28 sheets at 35p each (yes that is all they were charging as they are closing down). I settled for 24 so I had a little left for a sausage roll on the way back to the car park. Imagine how I felt when I went to pay and found that, yes I could have paid by card, and better still, the paper was only 25p a sheet as they were reduced further in the sale!!

I really wanted to run back and grab tons more but was too embarrased to do that. But I fully intend going again before the end of the week to get some of the other rooms and fill up my boots!

So thank you Bernie for the tip off, and it just goes to show the value of going to a good crop.

Hateful Technology

OK that title does not give a clue about what the main news is but it sums up how I feel. I will get to that later.

But the big news

My mum and dad have bought a new car!

On Saturday dad started making noises about a car he had seen locally and was thinking about buying. I told him not to be so daft, he had a perfectly good car,all be it a bit old (a rather tatty, very old Merc he bought 2 years ago) but little did I know he had already been out and done the deed, and this was all just a red herring. It wasn't even that car. So when he turned up on Tuesday in a 5 year old, sparkly blue fl ah looking Merc I was gobsmacked. There is not a mark on it, and the upholstery looks brand new. It has so many gadgets its unreal. Its because after the third holiday in a row where their plane was delayed for god knows how many hours, mum has decided they are not going abroad anymore (insurance was getting difficult because of both them having angina anyway) and now the dog has gone to rainbow bridge they can nip off at the drop of a hat. Of course to tour in Britain they need a decent car. So now until he manages to offload the old Merc he is a two Merc car owner (posh eh?)

Yesterday in the interest of being fit enough to walk round the three theme parks we have booked for in Florida I decided it was time to start regular exercise, so I dragged the bike out of the shed. Of course I would choose the first day of Autumn and with freezing strong head winds I set out on the roads. I refused to allow myself to freewheel, and tried to keep up a reasonably fast speed (for me) but within half a mile I was exhausted and fighting to pass the pain barrier. I managed another half a mile (yes pathetic I know) before my knee finally gave out, and for the rest of the day hobbled round in agony. Mmm maybe I am going to need more than two weeks to get fitter.

And that hateful technology? Well last week the printer run out of black ink and despite being sure I had another I just couldn't find it. I ordered more but my printer refuses to work if one of the inks (whatever colour) is not there so I couldn't scrap, write application forms, print out maps for our holiday etc and was getting really frustrated waiting for the refills to arrive. Desperate I re hunted through the wardrobe and finally found the last cartridge wedged down the back of the shelf. Hurray! And for a whole day I could print. Then last night two other colours gave up the ghost. No probs I did actually have those as refills, so bunged them in. OK? No not OK. Now the printer decided the black it had been more than happy to print out 6 photos and a heap of labels with only ten minutes before was no longer compatible. An hour and a half of coercing, cudgelling and cursing later and it still wasn't having it. So no scrapping last night.

This morning my new refills finally arrived, it accepted the black first go and hopefully all is up and running again. Which is great because I had visions of having to dig out the recipe and start over with a new printer - again!

Producttivity

I have been quite productive this evening. I managed to find a couple of pre-printed photos that were the right size for the wedding album so finished a double LO, then still unable to print photos out I decided to try a trick suggested to me on another forum and use a blank bit of card to represent where I wanted the photo to go. It sort of worked of a fashion so thats another page of my birthday card book finished (once it is all done I will upload it). And my pile of christmas christmas cards is slowly growing.



I also sat and found all the scrapbook shops in Orlando - there arent that many independant ones but there are at least 3 Michaels and 2 Joanns really close to our hotel, and a Wal-mart practically across the road!

Honey I found it!!

Just in case you are looking Kelly - I finally found the card I made for your birthday, the original card should I say.

Don't ask me how it got there, but dusting and hoovering the lounge I decided to put all the redundant video's in the attic and bring all the DVD's from upstairs, down and put in the case. As I sorted through the DVD's low and behold, there was your card. Mmmm a strange mystery.


Anyway its a scraplift from Andrea (Geordie Girl) and another magnolia stamp.

Long weekend

Martin has had to work all weekend and the girls have been busy with their own lives, so its been very boring home here on my own. I've not really felt like doing any housework although there are quite a few dust bunny's and balls of cat fur blowing along the hall. I was going to scrap all weekend but yesterday the black ink on my printer run out and I discovered I didn thave any spares so now I cant print out any photos until the replacements arrive. I have ordered from DVDr which seemed a very cheap site.
I also went to 7dayshop where I bought 2 memory cards (not very big ones but they were on a really cheap offer) for my camera plus two lots of rechargable batteries and treated myself to 3 filters. I reckon a known brand of filters, a circular polarised, a uv and a warm filter plus carry case for £18 has got to be a deal not worth missing. So thats me set up for my Florida trip!
So I have spent most of today surfing around the money expert/paidtoshop/pigsback sites hoping to power up my Loyalty points but I did make a few christmas cards and coloured in lots of stamps.




Last year's Papermania papers, magnolia stamp, studio g stamp, All Night Media holly stamp, and lots of sparkly glitter.

And as promised a photo showing the 3D of my summer card

Guests at the wedding

Mmm, dont think my scanner was too keen on this. And sod it, the flower has fallen off the middle of the daisy but I cant be bothered to scan and stitch it all again!

Between other things I am still plugging away at the wedding album. A really simple LO, but I did make the horseshow from scratch using a bit of clip art downloaded from the net as a template. The Good Luck is another studio g stamp.

Back to the Magnolia

While I was waiting for the freezer to arrive I finished this card. Its all 3D decoupage so I will have to take a photo from the side once the camera batteries are charged.

Magnolia girlie stamp, Stampendous border stamp, lots of gauche rather than water colour to give a more matt finish, and some Papermania stickers. The larger butterfly is a black outliner sticker that I bought years ago originally for glass paint but never got round to using.

Studio g stamps

Alongside Magnolia stamps it seems studio g stamps are also very popular this year - I discovered these in the Paper Mill at the start of the year and bought every set they had, well you have to at £1.49 a set don't you? The new release Christmas designs didn't grab me quite so much, mainly because several were close to designs I already own in other makes but I still came out with 5 sets. So this evening I put away my Magnolia's and got out the Studio g to see what I could manage.

I am pleasantly surprised by the versatility of these little stamps, and they are little. But that's good 'little'. A stazon black pad and I could finally get some text on to ribbon (yes I know but I always mess up trying to put ribbon through my printer).

I've also discovered Stazon. Well I say discovered. I was always wary about using it because I know it eventually ruins your stamps and since I am such a messy worker was sure I would have it Staying On everything in sight. So its sat in my box for about 3 years, only seeing the light of day for use on transparencies, but fed up with getting my versafine ink everywhere, and it running when I tried to colour in my Magnolia's with watercolour pencils, I got it out tonight and am suitably impressed. I have done some hybrid work on this card, using Miss Mint's Party Pants kit but playing with hue and saturation in photoshop to gain a more christmassy colour.




Today I had an interview to sign on for the Teaching Supply Agency. An hour filling in forms and very few questions about my ability.Mind they did say they had had an extremely glowing reference from the Nursery!

And tomorrow I get to stay in all day and wait for my new fridge/freezer to arrive. Yes our vouchers for the replacement finally turned up, swiftly followed by a letter saying they had been cancelled, but we sorted that out and went out and chose the new one on Tuesday.

Wow!

Yes Wow! So much has happened over the weekend and all of it has the wow factor, so much so I dont really know where to start. But start I must.

Friday Martin had his day off - which was meant to be used to clear out the garden shed as we had mice squatting that needed evicting. But as we sat chatting over our breakfast coffee I asked him what he had planned for his week off at half term.

"Weeeelll what I really want to do you wont" he said "But I'd like to go on holiday somewhere exotic, not Europe"

"So why do you think I wont want to do that?"

And that was enough to send us off to the Travel agency, to return with arm loads of books for far flung holidays.

God the choice was overwhelming, we had to narrow it down so I suggested that since just this once we wouldnt be going with our friends, and our friends were adamant they didnt want to go to America, and since the dollar was so weak against the pound maybe USA was where we should be going.

Of course we hadnt bought any brochers home for that so back to the Travel Agency for more armloads of books.

Eventually, by taking out all the places too far to go to in 7 days, or those that were too hot, needed injections, or we plain didnt fancy we settled on Florida. We quite fancied the Keys but alas, back at the Travel Agency every where below Orlando was booked up or way over our budget. Martin then left me in the TA while he nipped into work to see if he could change his week in the hope we would be able to get a better deal. Well yes we could but still not down at the Keys, so that is for next time LOL

So I can hardly believe it but in three weeks time we will be down in Florida and swimming with dolphins!!!!!!!!



Of course there will also be a little bit of shopping going on since Michaels is only 3 mins drive from our hotel!!!

If that wasnt wow enough, on Saturday and Sunday (and all though the night) Laura's fella Wayne, and the cricket team he plays for, were involved in a marathon cricket match to raise money for Pilgrims hospice and to beat the World record for the longest game. Laura was catering and Wayne was doing the gruelling game.




I dont think they quite knew what they had let themselves in for, but they started with great enthusiasm, and 35 hours later ended in high spirits although bone weary with exhaustion. I think the most sleep any of them had was about an hour. Laura didnt stop either, having to supply heaps of food, endless cups of tea AND run the bar with only the other three girls who help out. The four of them were relentless and refused to go rest while the lads were playing.

So well done lads, and lasses. And I know they have raised heaps of money for the cause.

Quick christmas card

Just playing with my new studio g stamps as Kelly and I took a trip out to spend money on stash in order to celebrate her passing (with flying colours) her first accountancy exam. It wont be long before my clever baby is a fully qualified accountant. We liked the christmas greeting background stamp but it had sold out so I know this is a very tatty card, it is just an experiment but by combining all the words from the various sets of those lovely little stamps together on one block I managed to make a background stamp of my own. Next time I think I will use a coloured embossing ink because it was difficult to line up the words when I couldnt really see where I had stamped, but we live and learn.

Martin finally phoned up sky this evening about my (lack of) broadband. He then passed the tech over to me because Martin is computer illiterate. Trouble was a) the bloke had a scottish accent, the one accent in the world I cant get an ear for, and b) I have moved the computer into the crafting room and the phone no longer reaches the computer. So lots of 'can you repeat that' and 'hold on I'll write that down and get back to you in a sec' before he ended up giving me a ticket to Tier 3. T3 are going to work on the problem and get back within 3/5 working days.

Oddly enough once off the phone and rebooted I could get on the internet and its been super fast all evening. We will see.

Bikes, garden, cat bbq, hols, cards and ...other bits

Bikes

We have been saying we would do this for ages - we kept putting it off because Jan didnt have a bike and although she kept saying she would go out and buy one she never did.

Last weekend Laura (who no longer wants her bike since she moved out and now has a dog to walk) let Jan have her bike. No excuse!

So yesterday Jan, Trevor Martin and I rode along the promenade from Whitstable to Herne Bay. (about 3.5 miles each way) It was a beautiful sunny day and the way was packed with people but they were lovely at moving and letting us ride past. Then we stopped at The Bandstand - which has been converted into a bandstand come pub, had a drink or two and listened to the brass band.

Coming home was hard work - the wind was against us, and we had forgotten that three out of the four of us are pushing the wrong side of 50 and although Martin has played 2 rounds of golf this weekend and Jan had spent 3 hours on a horse this morning none of us can say we are fit.

God does my bottom hurt now But no one was put off and we ARE going to do it again.

__________________

Square foot garden part 1


This is the start of my Square foot gardening - there are two of these and this is what they looked like last wednesday


This is what they look like today, already the lettuces in two squares are coming through - note to self use an indelible pen or pencil on the plant tags as I cant remember which is carrots and which broccoli - plus in there too is strawberries, on gooseberry bush and loads of cabbage plants.

Cat

Did I mention that my poor little puss cat Pumpkin had to go to the vets last week, yes well he has had a bit of a sleeper thingie in his eye for a few weeks but it wasnt bothering him and I guessed he just wasnt washing properly first thing in the morning, but when Wayne and Laura came over last Tuesday he suddenly had a very watery eye and made out he couldnt open it. So Laura booked me an appointment and came with me to help me deal with him. He hated the ordeal as the vet's she used has a surgery on a very busy road with large floor-to-ceiling windows in the waiting room. So Mr-I-am-terrified-of cars-and-large-dogs had to sit for some time waiting his turn.

Of course the vet could find nothing wrong with the faker but sharged me £33 anyway for some conjunctivitis cream 'just in case'. Now anyone who has had to attempt to put eye drops into a cat's eyes, on their own with no one to hold the blighter down will appreciate that this has been a very long 5 days of appying the lotion!!!

Hols

Mum and dad are away on their holidays. They flew out to Portugal on Saturday. At 12 noon on Saturday I got a phone call, they had been delayed for 4.5 hours at Gatwick. They eventually got to their hotel at 2 in the morning, 12 hours after their plane was due to leave England and 16 hours after they left home. I hope the rest of the holiday goes better for them.

Cards

I have been busy using my new Magnolia stamps to start my christmas cards. Everyone is going mad over these stamps and they are not easy to get hold of but my lovely on-line pall Andrea did a bulk order for a few of us girls and we managed to get them very quickly from source. Thank you Andrea, they are fabby. So much so that when I showed them to Kelly she promptly ordered 4 and got into a little bit of strife from Ollie for spending her cash! Oops!

Other stuff

Last week I felt brave enough to phone up and try to get signed on to a supply agency. They have finally phoned back today to give me an interview date in ....10 days time. Good job I am not desperate! No wonder schools say they cant get supply staff. Not only that I have to pay £41 for the priveledge of being CRB checked (again!!)

Sky BB

I spent over a year waiting for Sky broadband to be available in my area - it seemed too good a deal to pass up. And when finally it was available from my exchange we spent hours (literally hours) on the phone and the net trying to sort it all out. Financially for what we were already paying for both Sky TV and our old ISP we had worked out that for a few pennies more we could cut down on all the channels we dont bother with (children's MTV etc) add Sky Sport (for Martin) and still get unlimited bb.

Sky Sports was there virtually as we put the phone down after ordering, broadband involves MAC codes and activation dates and postie bringing hardware so I didnt go live until the 28th (ok admittedly it wasnt all plain sailing as BT knocked our phone line out when they changed over) but I was soon up and running and surfing away to my hearts content. It was super fast compared to my other ISP.

Until 7.30 pm - when the speed dropped out to nothing and I couldnt get on line. OK I thought but I cant do any ringing round until the morning. By the morning however I was back up and running and able to surf to my hearts content......until 7.30 again when the same thing happened. And it happened again last night.

Martin says he can feel a phone call coming on.

Still at least (since Martin refuses to change the telly off the golfing channel) I was 'forced' into my craft room where I started to look through some of the Design Collective classes I have not yet done.

I started these classes with such gusto, I was workin gon Kelly's wedding album and it was great to have something each week that I could use to motivate the LO's, but as the months went by (I'm a slow scrapper) firstly I got a little bored of doing every LO using the same PP (much as I love the Chatterbox papers) and the classes seemed to convert into the style of the album less and less. So they tended to get filed until I could use them doing something else. I just wanted to get the wedding album done. Then last month I needed my spends to buy stash for Laura's mini book so I didnt subscribe to August's classes. I must admit even though I hadnt been doing them, I missed getting the email through my inbox.

Then yesterday the brilliant news that Heather is to join the DC team, lovely Heather who always comes and reads my blog and has nominated me for a blogger award for being cool. Heather's work is awesome, and I couldn't wait to sign up for this months classes.

And whilst I couldnt get on line, I dug out all those DC emails that I hadnt used and did actually get half way through one of Suzanne Torrs brilliant contributions. Not yet finished so watch this space.

And watch this space because if I cant get online I can at least get to the computer and I decided its time I opened up PS and learnt a bit more about it. Yesterday I discovered how to make repeating patterns so I could be loading up a few freebies once Sky let me back on.

First ever mini book

Two first's here: First time I have made a complete mini book from scratch, and first time I have photographed rather than scanned LO's so please bear with me. This book has been nearly 18 months in the making as that is how long Laura and Wayne have been building their first house together and how long it has taken to gather the photos together.



Wayne doesnt really 'do' photography and hates having his photo's taken so I had to be a bit discreet about taking these and also try not to annoy him turning up on site YET AGAIN with my camera. I know that in 15 years time they are going to thank me for it and wish that more photos had been taken but there you go.
Having taken the photos Laura wanted a 'coffee table' book to show all her visitors about how her new home came about. This is the result, based on the mini book Shimelle demo's on the Fiskars site. Lots of Crate paper Katie and most of the other embellies made from scratch myself as it was difficult to find appropriate 'bellies.


I also used Stamps Away stamps (from Clevercuts) to make the journalling labels which Laura can fill in herself.

Walking, paddling, laughing

Note to readers, these photo's have quite a bit of detail so you do really need to click on them and enlarge them to see the full beauty of the water.

Yesterday, because Martin had had to work all Bank Holiday, and because finally our friend Trevor had managed to get some time off work, we all (Trevor, Jan and Martin and I) decided we would go on another of our 'pub walks'. We have been slowly wading our way (or should I say walking and drinking our way) through the book, Circular Pub Walks in Kent. Of course we found this hard enough when the book was new and up to date, as we often lost our way but the walks are becoming more and more like a mystery tour since the book was published in 1995 and many of the landmarks are slowly disappearing. For instance yesterday's walk included the instruction 'past the white railings' which still exist but are a lovely shade of rust now, or the 'row of small trees to your right' are now 25 foot tall or have been cut down to make way for a small housing estate. Many of the pubs have changed hands and no longer offer the book's suggested menu, or they have shut down altogether, but of course this all adds to the excitement of the outing.

Anyway yesterday's choice of venue was The Zetland Arms on the beach at Kingsdown (just outside Deal). For once it was a beautiful sunny day and as we pulled up outside the pub Trevor couldn't resist looking over the railings at the sea, and inevitably ending up wet!


Inside the pub was all olde worlde and the food was cheap but tasty with quite a varied menu. Shame the waitress managed to pour half of Jan's tomoato juice down Jan's jeans!

Trevor didn't want to do the walk in the book but wanted to just stroll along the beach, we, on the other hand insisted that we had to do the walk to be able to tick it off in the book. So with Trev muttering we started off up the 'gentle' slope.



At the top the walk swung us inland, so another comflab and it was agreed we would walk back
towards the sea. Of course the decission was made easier when Jan and I spied the ice-cream van. And Trevor was even happier when, sated on our ice-lollies, we all had sticks to play a violent game of sticks (Trevor's summer version of 'conkers'). Of course Trevor won and we all ended up with broken and slintered lolly sticks.

And a day by the sea is not complete unless you do this:






Which invariably ends with this
:

And yes, it was Martin's fault as he shouted at me to look at him just as that large wave snuck up behind, and yes, I was very wet!

All in all a great day out!

Look forward to Saturday as we have managed to get Jan a bike and we are 'supposed' to be going on a bike ride. LOL

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.