The start of a new me

Well maybe not... that does sound a bit OTT, but it is the start of being better to myself.

I have started soooooo many diets in my time, that to say this diet is going to be the one that works would almost certainly be met with lots of groans, eye rolling and 'yeah rights' from people who know me. So this time I have decided to keep it all low key... as in I am not telling friends and family I am on a 'diet', in fact i'm not even classing this as a diet... it's more a change in how I treat myself. I figure if I take better care of myself I will feel better about myself, and as a result be less likely to comfort eat.

I have made a journal that I will add to each week, on the flap of the front cover there is a reminder of the trigger that made me determined to succeed this time. In the past I have always set my sights on the end goal... which in my case is 27lbs away. I think this is always going to set you up to fail... as even losing a pound, which is good, still leaves you such a long way from the end goal, that it is easy to become demoralised. So this time I am setting myself mini targets that should be able to be achieved... my first target is to lose 6lbs to get a stacking set of cats eye inks. One of my end targets will be to get a BIA... so I have to work blimmin hard if i want to get my hands on one!!!
On the back of the first entry, there is a piccie of my in my undies which is such a horrific sight I will not share it with you... and my start weight and measurements... I knew that tape measure that came out of my christmas cracker would come in to good use!!

I am still eagerly awaiting a delivery from the US of 5 Scarlet Lime kits... they were shipped from San Francisco on the 14the December, but there is still no sign of them at this end:( Also waiting for some stamps from the US and no sign of them either.... all we got today was a flippin 7" record.... boooooooooooo!!!!

Got to go and do a boring food shop after lunch... all 4 of us are going, so there could well be a couple of fallings out along the way...LOL!!!

He came, he went

and he left LOADS of pressies!!!!Because Mum and Dad were staying, we were on the sofa bed in Oliver's room. At 3:10am he crept into our bed and started asking if it was morning yet. Every 10/15 minutes, he would ask, until he finally fell asleep at 6:30am, by which time I though I might as well get up and get showered and hair dried and straightened. Then Harry bear woke up at 7:00, then mum and dad and Rob got up... we all got ready, and who was still asleep snoring his little head off.... Oliver!!! At 8:15am I decided to wake him, and he took a lot of waking!!!

Everybody was pleased with their pressies, but isn't it just typical that the pressie that got the biggest response of excitement from Oliver, was a cheapie that had been given by a friend of my mum's!!! He was pretty impressed that Santa had got him this dragons ship, which is for 'big boys', and took mummy a couple of hours to put together!!!

Harry loved all of his new toys and had bashed and thrown most of them withing minutes of them being opened.... LOL!

Thought I'd include a couple of piccies of the adults too... I think I am looking a bit Santa Claus like in that red cardie... maybe a few too many calories consumed over the festive period!!!

Will be back tomorrow... hopefully with something crafty to show... if I get round to scrapping tonight!!!

Last day of peace!!!

Well today is the last day of my 'peaceful' routine. Peaceful is used loosely as quite often the days are not peaceful at all, but they do run to routine, and Harry has his set sleep and feed times... all this is going to be disrupted at approximately 1:10pm this afternoon, when Oliver breaks up for the Christmas break... closely followed by Rob!!!

Harry's behaviour will change because his dad will be around, which will then throw the timing of his routine out, which will lead to chaos and confusion and a frazzled mummy!!!

Blogging could well fall by the wayside over the next couple of weeks, and I certainly won't get the chance to do much scrapping, if any. Tonight I am going to sit and do... and maybe tomorrow night too, but then that will be it:(

Last night was a good night, the food was good the company was hilarious and the drinks were flowing. I decided to drink JD and coke in a tall glass, and I sooooo enjoyed it, took me right back to being a student and drinking at Henry J. Beans by Clifford's Tower in York... not that I can remember a great deal of the many nights we spent in there!!!

It was a mad mad rush to get ready in time a Oliver threw a spanner in the works by breaking the zip on his coat at school. So on what felt like the coldest day of the year, he has a coat that didn't do up! So off the three of us go to the retail park up the road... battle to find a parking space, get into an argument with a STOOOPID man who thought it was ok to park in a parent and child space with no child.... why are people so inconsiderate with these spaces?!?!? I never park in one of these spaces unless I have Harry with me. Even if I have Oliver I park in a normal space as he can get in and out of the car on his own, and is capable of walking to the shop. You see so many people do it, and it makes my blood boil. They would be the first to complain if their car got damaged by someone with a baby who had been forced to park in a skinny normal space and had hit their car with the door or a baby carrier..... ggggrrrrrrrrr!!!!

After he refused to move and told me to F**** off and went on his jolly way, I went and got the parking attendant and said STOOOPID man got a ticket for £40. That made me feel much better, especially when I saw him in TK Maxx and he glared at me, and I could smile back knowing that he had a nice surprise waiting for him on his windscreen...LOL!!!!

Anyway, back to the hunt for a winter coat.... 5 shops down and not one coat for a boy in the size we needed. So when it looked like Oliver might be coming home in a pink number with a furry hood, Mothercare saved the day and had one in the stock room. So although it is a nice coat, we didn't get a choice... it was that or pink!!!

HSMS

Anita has the most gorgeous puppy which is perfect for today's prompt of 'cute'. We have plenty of cute in our space too, but both my cameras are out of action with depleted batteries. I think it is my fault as I never charge them fully, just charge them for a bit, use them, charge for a bit again... so they are all plugged in and will be left until the lights go out, ready for the festivities that lay ahead. So my piccie today is a cheat. I was sorting pics out on the lappy, renaming and filing ready to saved to CD, and I found this one of Oliver holding Harry was he was a newish baby. I love the piccie of Oliver, Harry looks a bit squashed, but both in my opinion are very cute.

Misinterpretation!!!

Tonight is the mum's night out, which Rob called the Big Mum's night out. I immediately jumped on the fact that he was calling us BIG. It was really funny listening to him trying to dig himself out of a hole, saying he meant it was the big night out for the mums... which of course I knew was what he intended to say... just my wicked streak making him squirm some more...LOL!!!

It was my last day with Reuben yesterday. I am very happy for his mum that she has now finished work, but also little sad that I won't be having the little guy any more. I didn't expect to get so attached to him in the few months I looked after him, but I did. At least I know that I would not be suitable for fostering... it must be awful to have a child live with you, and then to let them go.... don't honestly think I could do that.



HSMS
The prompt for today is 'glow'. I didn't have to get out of the chair to take this piccie. Jaspa basking in the glow of the winter sun. This dog does not know he's born.... he thinks that end of the sofa is his, and if you try to move him to sit there he sulks!!! He also pushes the cushions down and folds the big one in half so that he can get comfy... I keep meaning to get some more cushion innards, as they are really soft and saggy, which is great for being comfy, but not so great when you want them to look tidy!!!

Wriggly Nativity

We went to see Oliver in his nativity play this morning. It was really funny, and he made the first blooper by holding his sign upside down until the teacher turned it round for him. He played an inn keeper, and I think he pulls off the look very well. Reuben sat as good as gold and watched the play, clapping at the right time and entertaining those sat round us with his animal sounds as the animals came on stage. Harry bear on the other hand was a complete nightmare!!! We knew it would be touch and go as to whether he would sit and watch, as the play started at 10:30am, which is when he is normally taking his nap. He was ok for 10 minutes, but then started to whinge. The whinging soon turned into crying, which soon escalated into a mammoth screaming session!!! So a quick escape to the back of the room to rock him about and to avoid the evil stares and tut tuts from some of the other parents!!!

Rob is out on his works do tonight. They are going Daytona racing at Trafford park, then into China town for a meal. So it's me and the boys tonight. Tomorrow is my night out with the mum's from school.... well a carefully selected 13 mums.... we don't want any old riff raff turning up...LOL!!! We are going for a meal at the local pub/restaurant. I still have to learn to walk in my ridiculously high heels... which I suspect may be taken off for the walk home!!!

HSMS

Really difficult one today... must check if it was set by Anita again!!! The prompt is 'win', and I have to admit that my piccie is a cheat as it was taken a couple of weeks ago. It is Harry playing Jenga with his building blocks. Most babies would knock block towers down, but Harry, who is normally like a bull in a china shop doesn't. He takes them down block by block... he is really quite good at it, but he also has to give himself a clap after each block is removed, so demolishing a whole tower can take some time!!!

More late night scrapping...

Last night I finished 2 LOs... one based on a sketch by Anam. I'm not sure whether I am loving it enough to submit it though, I like it, I like the colours and the papers, but there is something not quite right about it.... I think it might be that there is no journaling on it, and I do like to journal...LOL!!!The second one is for Carolinezcrafts, and is a Christmas LO using non traditional colours. I didn't think i'd like this challenge but actually I think it all works quite well. I have had the papers for an age, originally buying them for a team challenge when we were all going to scrap our UKS team members... yet another thing we never got round to doing!!!

HSMS

The prompt today is 'glass', and rather than taking a piccie of our drinking glasses... which almost everyone I know has a set of (you know the ones from Ikea that have lines around them, are sooooooooo cheap and don't break very easily), instead I opted to use this little glass tablet. I bought this for Rob when we got the keys to this house. It's only a little thing and it kind of gets lost on the shelf with all the other stuff on there. I spent quite a bit of money on it back then, but now you can pick them up everywhere for not very many pennies. This was really hard to get a decent picture of, as either the key didn't show well, or the writing didn't show... this is the best I managed!!!

Monkey business

There's been a bit of monkey business going on in this house today!!! Harry and Reuben helped me to make monkey muffins this morning. At first there was only one wooden spoon being used, but then that lead to squabbles, so they had a spoon each. That was all very well until Reuben took the spoon off Harry, so Harry kicked the bowl and went to bite Reuben!!! Oh the traumas of baking with little ones!!!Anyway, monkey muffins baked to perfection, and sampled by both boys after lunch... not many crumbs so they must be good!

Had a visitor this morning... a 9 month old girl called Freya. She will be my first customer in my new venture as a childminder. She is so adorable, and I think judging by how she was this morning she will give Harry a run for his money. Wonder if having a little pink in the house will stop me from feeling so broody!!!

HSMS

Today's prompt is 'drawers'. I used my craft drawers for a prompt a while back so didn't want to do that again. The boys both have wooden advent calenders. Oliver's is a house that you open the doors on, and Harry has a train with 2 carriages each containing 6 drawers on either side. This is drawer number 17, the one we opened today to find a chocolate Santa.

Crop Day

Today was the last Cheadle crop of 2007 and we went out on a high... celebrating with a chip shop lunch!!! I got 1 and 3/4 LOs done, which is not bad going for me, and my stash shopping came to less than £4... which is probably the least amount I have ever spent on a stash shop!!!

I did this LO of Harry in his Elmer Fudd hat.

A really bad attempt at HSMS this week... I am just not getting the hang of this self portrait milarky, which shows as this is out of focus, but is the best of a very bad lot!!! I really should find the tripod and stop trying to hold the camera out at arms length!!!

Right off to entertain thing 1 with a few games of animal snap before bed.

Will catch up tomorrow with a proper post.

awwwwwwww!!!

My baby has been fitted for his first pair of proper shoes. I can' believe this time has come round so quickly:( We went to Clarks yesterday as his pram shoes were scuffed to bits now he is crawling and pulling himself almost up. He had his photo taken by the girl that served us, and managed to clear the bottom rack of a sale rail whilst we weren't looking!!! You have to have eyes in the back of your head with this one... which is something I'm not used to. Oliver was such a well behaved baby and toddler, quite happy to sit and play with cars. Harry on the other hand is in to EVERYTHING... and usually the things he shouldn't be into. Yesterday he climbed up at the Christmas tree barricade and pulled off the decorations he could reach, then bit one of the lights in half, before starting to crunch on the glass!!! I am so amazed that he didn't cut his mouth or get electrocuted as the lights were on at the time!!! Not only is he a little monkey, he's also a thief!!! This morning on the school run, he managed to swipe a pink hat from somewhere. I only noticed he had it when I got him out of his pushchair... so somewhere there is a poor little girl with a cold head!!!
These tales of stunt puppy Harry lead me to today's HSMS prompt of 'puddle'. One of Harry's favourite party tricks at the moment is to empty the dog's water bowl... he can get to it faster than the speed of light, and silently too. The first you know that he's there is when you hear the clink of the metal bowl, by which time it's too late!!! We are trying to teach Harry to leave the bowl alone, but if he carries on tipping it I'll have to get a large hamster bottle for Jaspa...LOL!!!

HSMS

Today's prompt is 'teddy bear'. We actually don't have that many bears in the house as I am not that keen on them to be honest. I don't mind the boys having one or two soft animals, but I just see bears as being dust collectors. In this house they always ended up being put on the top of the wardrobe so that they were not cluttering the bedrooms up, then when you went to move them you almost died off dust inhalation!!!! Not good....LOL!!!

So the bear I have photographed today is a little pot bear. He still gathers dust, but as he is only about an inch tall, it doesn't take long to clean him. He was bought for me by an ex boyfriend when I passed my PGCE course. He is quite cute, an although the ex wasn't... the bear can stay.

I hate Royal Mail at the moment.... yesterday I got not one but two parcels delivered to me. What's the problem I hear you say... well, the problem is that I was the sender of the parcels!!! I wrote very clearly on the back of the parcels sender address, and very clearly on the front the to address, and they post them to me!?!?!? Then I get a parcel that was for me, and it was soaked through... and yesterday was a lovely dry day.... so what exactly they get up to in the sorting offices is beyond me. So now I have to re pack one of the two parcels, as the packaging was mashed up, and trundle off to the PO again to re-send. GGGRRRRRRRRR!!!! *shaking my fist at RM*

On a positive note though, I did get two parcels of stash arrive today. One is full of goodies ordered from Papermaze, and the other was the December Scrapagogo kit. The gogo kit is lovely, but as I already have the papers I have decided to sell it on the UKS marketplace. So if you want it let me know and I can get it packed off to you ready for all those Christmas projects:)

A-Z journal

Last night I got the covers done of my A-z Journal for the It's a Creative World challenge. I finally decided that my A-Z was going to be about the things we love in 2008. Nice and open theme, meaning I won't get bored half way through the year... I know what I am like!!!

I am looking forward to this project... it's the first long term project I have committed myself to, and I am determined that I will complete on time for each prompt. I am going to add random pages made up from scraps of all different pp and card... in the style of Emily Falconbridge. I just love her mini books and art journals, and I could really do with using up some of the scraps I have... to make way for new stash of course...LOL!!!

HSMS

The prompt for today is a little easier than yesterday's... cheers Kirsty. I knew as soon as I saw the word was 'laces' that I would take a piccie of my most comfortable shoes... I have a passion for Art Company shoes... they are just sooooo gorgeous, when I win the lottery I am going to have hundreds of pairs!!!

I bought these shoes in Truro about 3 years ago and they are still going strong... I love them.

Does anyone else always refer to those plastic bits on the end of laces as flooglebinders, after watching Cocktail years ago??? Rob always takes the mess when I call them that... pah!!!

I scrapped!!!

Last night I actually got round to doing some scrapping!!! It had to be a quick LO as I didn't sit down until gone 9:00pm, but I am quite pleased with it. I also cut into a Hambly overlay that I have been coveting for far too long, although I only used a section so still have some left to stroke! Journalling reads, 'This is Una, my very own stash buying conscience doll. Given to me by good friend Jen, who knows I am weak when it comes to beautiful new stash!'
Just realised that the tile with the word 'and' on has fallen off... I have restuck it to the LO, but can't be bothered to take another photo...LOL!!!

We got Oliver's school photo yesterday... I haven't had chance to scan it yet so I can share it with you... not even sure if I want to share it really, it's not a great photo! Lord knows what he was doing with his mouth, but the way he is sitting, the state of his hair and the strange thing his mouth is doing, all combine to make him look like he has special needs...LOL!!! Cruel I know, but wait until you see the picture. Rob and I were laughing about it last night... let's put it this way... it most definitely WILL NOT be going out on display!!!

HSMS

The prompt for today is 'moonlight'. Went outside to see if I could see the moon, but she's not out today. Then I looked around the living room, and there on the floor under the tree was a broken Christmas tree decoration, which happened to be a moon and a star. Harry keeps breaking through the barricades to get to the tree, and strips the bottom few branches of decorations at least 4 times a day! The ornament isn't broken broken... it just needs a bit sticking back on. Anyway after that little story, I didn't actually take a piccie of the decoration as I didn't want to take yet another Christmas tree decoration! So off I went in search of moonlight... and I found one of Oliver's old books, which has now been handed down to Harry bear. It is of bear in the big blue house, and has a spinning lunar in it. For those of you who don't know the programme, bear goes into the loft at the end of every day to talk to his friend Lunar... the moon, they sing a song together and that marks the end of the programme. The song used to make me cry when I was pregnant with Harry... crikey I must have been hormonal...LOL!!! When you spin lunar she lights up. On one side she is awake, and on the other she is asleep. So here you have it... the moonlight in our space today.

Frosty

The prompt over at HSMS today is 'frosty'. We have no frost in our space today as the sun is shining and all is lovely. So I had to have a bit of a think about what to do. This decoration was bought for me years ago by Jonathan, my first head of department. I guess it is a Christmas decoration, but I love it so much that it sits on one of my shelves all year. It is really heavy so I don't think the branches on our artificial tree would be strong enough to hold it anyway!

The glass is really thick and has a cracked effect... like you get when it is frosty.

My two nights in on my own this week were not very productive at all!!! I got a LO done for the Scrapfairies gallery, and made a squash book. Notice I said made and NOT decorated!!! It seems that scrapping just cannot be done with the distraction of a laptop within arms reach...LOL!!!

Still I am not complaining as Saturday night was a fabby 'girls night in' with my very good friends.

Anyone for pizza?

Elf yourself!!!

Thanks Jen for the link... this is sooooooo funny, I love it.

We've gone all ELF like

Self Portrait Saturday

eeeek!!! that time of the week again... I really hate this part of HSMS!!! Today's shot has been taken like this to hide the mahoosive spot on my chin....LOL!!! To be fair it isn't that big... it's just I haven't done a great cover up job!I have been in the loft all day sorting baby clothes and toys and other baby parafenalia. Two big bin bags full of clothes have gone to the charity shop, leaving 6 boxes of baby clothes on the 'to keep' pile... just in case!

We have set up all of the hot wheels things that Oliver got last Christmas, so the loft really is a boys toys room now. It looks pretty good, and although I am fed up at not having had the chance to do anything fun today, I feel good that the job I have been putting off for weeks.

Rob is out again tonight, so I plan to finish a LO I started last night. I am using the stash for the January Scrapfairies gallery. The papers are lovely, but they are not what I usually work with, so they are proving quite a challenge!!! Still I'm up for a challenge:)

My Christmas mini book

I made this mini book to hold this years Christmas photos... for some reason I don't like doing LOs of christmas or birthday celebrations, so this seemed a better idea. I completed the book using gorgeous papers, chipboard, stickles and gems all from Scrapfairies. The class has gone live and all the piccies can be seen HERE. really please with the way it turned out... I just need to remember to take photos to put in it now!!!

Meet Una

My lovely team mate, crop buddy and friend Jen sent me a lovely gift this morning. Meet Una, apparently she is my stash buying conscience...LOL!!! You ask her a question and she gives you one of 4 answers... yes, definitely yes, no, definitely no. I asked her straight away if I should buy a bind it all, and she gave me a double nod... I think she is going to be my best friend...LOL!!!Thank you Miss Jen, I love her, and she has pride of place on the third shelf... which is the best shelf:)

To end the week of prompts beginning with the letter c, we have 'celebrate'. Kirsty took a piccie of the celebration sweets, we too have a tin of these upstairs waiting to be dived into... usually as we all hunt for the maltesers first!!! Although Christmas is always a time to celebrate, this year will be extra special as it is Harry Bear's first Christmas. He was born exactly 2 weeks after Christmas, so we have had a long wait.... but on the upside he will be really into the paper and boxes!

Oliver bought this decoration for Harry to put on the tree. There were others that were much nicer but he was adamant that this was the one he wanted. I just don't know where my kids get their stubborn streaks from!!!

Rob is out djing tonight and tomorrow, so I am going to take full advantage of having the house to myself... I have Lost on dvd, so I can catch up before the next series starts, and I am going to start using the lovely goodies from Sam at Scrapfairies. If you haven't been to the shop for a while you really need to go and check out the yummy new chipboard.

Christmas Card

Card is the prompt over at HSMS today, and I have the perfect photo. Well, actually that is a lie... the photo is a really bad one, as it was taken about half an hour ago in the dim light. Just how can you get a good photo in artificial light???? This afternoon Oliver brought home his cards from nursery. He painted a Christmas angel a while ago and we could pay for it to be scanned and made into Christmas cards. I will take a better photo tomorrow because this one is pants...LOL!!!

HSMS

Didn't get around to doing yesterday's prompt of 'chilly' partly due to time, and partly due to not knowing what to photograph. It was only when I asked Oliver to find something chilly, and he pointed me in the direction of this snowman decoration. He actually asked me if the snowman was chilly or warm as it had a scarf on, how sweet.

Today's prompt is 'Christmas', I have copied Kirsty's idea, although my bauble is not as shiny as hers...LOL!!! This is one of the few baubles I have left inherited from my mum when I first moved out. It get put at the back of the tree while the new decorations get pride of place at the front! I would say that give it another 2 years, all minging hand me down decorations will be gone!!!

Santa baby

Here is the photo of my babies with Santa. It makes me laugh looking at Harry's face... he looks a little concerned about sitting on a strange, hairy man's knee... LOL!!! This morning I made a Christmas decoration with Reuben. Obviously I did all the cutting, but he did the painting and added the glitter... he loved it. Oliver was so envious when he got home that I have promised we will make more at the weekend... somehow I think Oliver will make more mess than Reuben did!Had a little shopping spree this afternoon. I had to go and get a pair of white tights for Oliver for his nativity dress rehearsal tomorrow. He is the inn keeper, although we are not sure what kind of inn he is keeping wearing white tights!!! This could well be the first gay nativity... LOL!

Anyway, thought I would have a quick mooch in a few shops to see if I could pick a top up for the mum's night out in a couple of weeks. I got a lovely top, but then needed some shoes too. I found a lovely pair of silly high shoes, tried them on and they fit like they were made for me. The price said £45 reduced to £20, then when I got to the till they scanned at £5. I paid the girl quick and hot footed it out of the shop in case there was a mistake!!!

Tried the shoes and top on with my jeans when I got back and OMG I so tower above Rob... good job he's not coming on the girls night out then!!!

It's official

Christmas is on the way!!! Our tree is up, the advent calenders are causing mini arguments between a 4 year old and a 38 year old... I kid you not!!!

We went to mum's for the weekend and had a great time. A bit of shopping, a visit to see Santa.... and YEY!!! we got a photo with Oliver NOT crying... the first one. A piccie will follow once I have scanned it. Isn't it typical though, he asked Santa for the one thing that we have not got him... so I will have to nip out and get something of the pirates of the Caribbean variety!!!

I have had a creative weekend.... finished the doodle class which can be found under weekly classes over at Carolinez Crafts. And finished my Christmas mini book for Scrapfairies, which will be up soon. I am hoping to do a little me time scrapping tonight, although I suspect that Rob is going to insist we sort the boxes in the loft.... boooooooo!!!!

Anyway, a little HSMS catch up. Friday's prompt was 'soft' and I took a piccie of a soft puppy ear in Harry's favourite touchy feely book, that's not my puppy. On Saturday I had my hair cut... it's a bit shorter at the back so I took a piccie of it for self portrait Saturday.

Today's prompt is 'cozy', and I took a piccie of my cozy slippers. I love these slippers as they keep my feet toasty warm and are really easy to walk in. I don't know if it is just me, but I trip up all over the place in normal slippers!!! These have sucker things on the bottom too so no more slip sliding on the laminate.