Cabin Fever!!!

So I survived my weekend of being a single parent, more importantly he kids survived the weekend too. The dog is walking a fine line between here and the sausage factory... he is being so naughty lately. You let his out in the garden and he spends all his time barking at nothing, you call him in and a few many later he wees all over the kitchen floor!!! We have started to take him out on his lead to make sure that he does his business, to see if that will do any good... if not watch the post box Ham Spam, you could have a playmate being delivered soon!!!

It was really nice having time just me and the boys, but having no car was not fun. Even though I didn't have to go anywhere, t was the knowing I couldn't that made it tough. By Sunday afternoon I think we all had cabin fever and were itching to get out... we couldn't even go to the park as it was tipping it down for most of the day!!!

I had so many good intentions about scrapping this, and scrapping that whilst I had the weekend evenings to myself, but at the end of the day, the lure of a double bed with fresh sheets was far more appealing and I was in bed ridiculously early Friday and Saturday night.... such a light weight these days, although not literally!!!

Last night I did make myself sit down and scrap, and I am so glad I did... I love this LO, one of my faves I have done for ages. You know when you just do something that you really, really like, even though you can't explain why... well this is just one of those LOs. I am loving the puffy thickers from Sarahscards (Sarah if you read this make sure you have some at the next crop, I NEED more), although OMG they are so super sticky!I had to move a couple and they ripped the backing paper, although you can tell, i think I got away with it... just. The pictures were taken on Halloween when I took the kids to the park. Whilst all the others played on the roundabout, Bear discovered the tyres. He tried for ages to balance on them, unsuccessfully, then gave it up as a bad job before trying to leap on to a fast spinning roundabout!!!

The tags were part of a Scarlet Lime kit, which we will be getting only one more of. It's the little bits inside the kit like this that I really like... but so so simple to do. I'm sure we could get an in crop swap thing going where we all use a couple of the stamps we have to create x amount of tags/cards etc, so every member of the swap ends up with gorgeous embellies to use... might see if anyone is up for this... let me know if you read this and are interested :)

I had a little stash spend last night, and hopefully the order will come tomorrow... stuff I absolutely definitely needed to be able to scrap this gorgeous pic.I intended to scrap this one last night but had nothing whatsoever in the stash pile that would do! So tonight I have to catch up with my childminding paperwork so that tomorrow night I can play... so with that I better go and get started.... boooooooo to paperwork!!!

Back in the land of the living!!!

Well, to cut a long story short, back in the land of t'internet!!! Our not so old laptop decided to start burning through power cables like they were going out of fashion. It got to a stage where we could only get the blimmin thing to work if we pressed and held the cable, which meant that you had burnt fingers after a few minutes... not good! So our t'internet time was VERY limited, then one night, about to reply to a message the lappy what bang... literally!!! OMG!!! Just how traumatic is life with no internet connection??? It makes me wonder how we ever managed without it. All's well that ends well though, we now have a desk top all set up and are back in the land of modern technology so it's a happy house again.

So what's been going on since I last blogged?!?! Well good news on Thing 3 front... had a rescan last week and all is good with his heart. All 4 chambers could be clearly seen, and they checked blood flow in and out and that looked good too... such a relief. The sonographer also had a quick peak between the legs and there were still extra bits, so it is certain he is in deed a he.

Last week was half term so a busy week with looked after children here all day. We did various Halloween activities which went down well, but I tell you I was glad when 6 o'clock Friday came and they had all gone home... such an exhausting week! On Sunday i missed the Warrington crop (sob) as we had a Halloween party for Oliver and a few of his friends. We fully expected the adults to leave the children, but most stayed so we had a very full house... but a good time was had by all, and the best part was that 8:00pm we had two sound asleep boys, and a whole evening to ourselves... which of course we made the most of by vegging in front of the TV!

On Sunday night bear started with a few spots on his legs which we thought was the start of chicken pox. A trip to the docs on Monday and we were told it was the pox. However, on Tuesday the red blotches/spots had turned into bruises and he had a fresh new lot of red blotches... not to mention the fact that he looked as though he had done a couple of rounds with Ricky Hatton, his face was so swollen. After an online consultation with a doctor of little brain (but we love her just as she is), a retired GP, and the expert 'Ga' parents, it was established that it wasn't the pox but more likely a viral infection of some kind. Wednesday morning, prepared to have to go into battle with the GP's receptionist (do you need a qualification in arsiness to get this job???), woke Bear up and there was not a mark in sight!!! Well there were a few very pale bruise type marks but everything else had vanished. The swelling in his face went down and now he is completely back to normal.

This weekend I am a single parent family. Rob has packed up and gone off to the back of beyond... somewhere near the Isle of Skye for his friends wedding. He is djing at the reception tomorrow night, so the car was rammed full with speakers/light/decks/records and all the other thingamabobs that probably have technical names. He got there this afternoon after an almost 9 hour journey... which is the reason why I declined my invitation, not that I would have squeezed in the car anyhow! A 9 hour journey is NOT my idea of fun, no no no no no!!!

So tomorrow I plan to run the boys ragged at the park so that they go to bed nice and early so I can get some scrapping done. I have been playing this week with the November Sarahs card kit which is divine. 3 LOs down and 1 almost done, and lots left over to possibly make a couple of cards. I can share with you the LOs I did with the last kit using the Itsy Bitsy Spider papers from Piggy Tales.

I know I keep saying it, and it's not just because I am lucky enough to be on the DT, but these kits are seriously good. I have not had one yet that I haven't really loved... and I am fussy. Really worth looking into if you want to sub to a kit.

The last LO was done for the Rough Draft blog. It was my own design and Jemma made a fab sketch from it which has now gone live. The DT interpretations are fantastic, and all so different. Why not play along, if you leave a link to your work you could win a RAK, now that can't be a bad thing can it. I'm trying to scrap some of the older photos I have still stored away... I can't see me ever being 'up to date' with all the pics I want to scrap, but I figure there will be a time when the boys won't want their pics taken, so i will have plenty to fall back on... just need to record the memories and dates that go with them!!!

Right off to do something useful before it is time to go to bed. Better not have too late a night as I can't prod Rob to get up with the boys in the morning!!!

It's a boy thing!!!

Yesterday we had our 20 week scan (even though I am actually 21 weeks). All seems to be ok with the baby, but I have to go back next week to be rescanned as they couldn't get a clear picture of the 4 chambers of the heart. Even though they said they were sure everything was fine, and that it was because baby was in an awkward position and would not move no matter how many times they poked, prodded or got me to change position, there is still a part of me that is scared that there is something wrong and they just aren't telling me! I tell you, the paranoia that sets in during pregnancy is something people never warn you about!!!

Good news is that baby is a boy *big smile*

So many people have offered sympathy when they have been told we are having another boy, and my mum couldn't disguise her disappointment at another grandson, but Rob and I both secretly wanted another blue.... and so did Oliver because girls smell! We have already been asked if we'll 'try again' for a girl... when the neighbour asked this,I said if we did 'try again' it would be for a baby, and we would be happy with what ever it was. That said, there definitely will not be anymore after this one. I can't go through the stress and worry of it all again, and to be honest I don't think my poor body could cope with another pregnancy.

So at the weekend when I go to mum's, I will be able to buy a few bits and bobs for the little guy, and hopefully find some yummy wool to knit a few cardigans for the early days... I say this like he needs them, he doesn't, I just like knitting little things.

So here is the latest pic of Thing 3...

I have been really busy on the scrap front lately too... some things I can't share as of yet because they are DT work. However I can share the sarahscards work that has already 'gone live'. This kit was yummy to work with, but to be honest, all of the kits have been yummy to work with, and I have to say the November kit I received this week is to die for... seriously my favourite yet. If you don't already sub, look out for the single purchase if/when it comes available... you will need it trust me!
Don't forget that sketch #2 is up over on the rough draft blog... it's a fab sketch and the DT interpretations are stunning. I am planning to have a go tonight when the boys are asleep... don't forget to share your LOs by leaving a link to your work so we can add you to the slide show.

Late night scrapping...

a child that woke 5 times in the night, and an early start can only mean one thing... I feel like poop today!

Rob had his Saturday night bottle of wine last night and watched Rocky 5 (very sad) and I got on with some scrapping. I actually did 2 whole LOs last night... shock horror!!! One was using the delicious November kit from Sarahscards, all yummy greens, yellows, black and white. If you aren't a subber and you get the chance to buy the kit as a one off, you will not be disappointed.

The second LO was done just for me, no DT kit, no sketch, just me and a random choice of papers that appealed last night. The topic of the LO was inspired by a LO by Anam, and means another page in the new baby's album. I used a sound button on the LO which has a recording of the baby's heartbeat on... something I think he will like to listen to when he is older. We didn't hire a doppler with Oliver or Harry, but this time round I seem to be even more worried about something going wrong so we hired one at 14 weeks... it has been a god send, on those days when you really don't feel pregnant, have no movement and panic starts to set in.

The Lo is quite a touchy feely one as I used some velvet paper and velvet thickers. The red pp behind the photo is actually a plastic bag from a past Scarlet Lime kit so feels really shiny and cool to the touch in contrast to the velvet. The decorative edge paper is by Pink Paislee and can be bought from Sarah, it is yummy and I think I am going to need some more. The red hearts wrapped around the sound button are Bazzill decorative edges, and I love using these... they're not something I thought I would use a lot, but they are really versatile.... go on, pop some in your basket, you know you need them too.

Sketch 1 is up!

Over at Rough Draft sketch 1 has gone live. I am on the Odd team (and yes it has already been pointed out that this is probably for a reason!) and this sketch was given to us (although I will be doing the even teams sketches too as they look fab too) I love how versatile it is and will very likely be using it again. For this weeks LO I turned it on its head but stayed pretty true to the sketch as in where all the elements were placed. I LOVED scrapping in pink for a change, such a refreshing change. The photos are of Harry and Freya when we went to the little park across from our house to collect leaves for our autumn collages. There was one puddle in the par and they found it, and stamped and jumped until most of the puddle had been soaked up by their jeans! I didn't stop them, as I think it is important to let children do things like this... and I can't imagine it's something I would have been allowed to do as a child.

So get yourself over to the blog and join in with us... don't forget to leave a link to your work so we can see your interpretation.

We went into Stockport this morning to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I have done most of it already, but there was a weekend deal on the DS Lite that Oliver has asked for so we went and got that, and of course more bits and bobs fell into the trolley. I feel good that it is all under control though... I HATE shopping really near to Christmas when everybody just seems to get a bit more rude and pushy than normal. Just need to get Bear a kitchen now, we have narrowed it down to 2 possibles, but as they are in Argos we will need to buy them both to then choose which we like the best, then take one back. A kitchen seems a good idea now, but I'm sure when there are 100s of pieces of plastic food scattered all about I will wonder what we were thinking!!!

My friend Jen, is celebrating her first weekend on mat leave by going to the luxurious angels retreat in Crewe... I'm not at all jealous... really I'm not... honestly! So I am assuming she will be far too exhausted and scrapped out to be online tonight to distract me, so I am planning to get busy scrapping. I also have to do 3 cj entries... for a cj which is almost as old as Harry!!! How bad is that... but to be fair it is my fault, I keep meaning to get them done, then they get buried under other stuff and forgotten about for a few more months... well this weekend they will be done!!!

Better go and take a couple of photos whilst we still have a bit or light, all be it murky light.

Yey!!!

I made it on to the Rough Draft DT!!! I am so pleased to be a part of this new venture, and as I already have the first sketch in my mits I can tell you it's a good one. This blog is defo one to watch and of course to play along with... there is a RAK up for grabs and all you have to do is leave a comment. Well, what are you waiting for?!?!?

So huge congratulation to the rest of the DT, and a big thanks to Zoe and Jems for giving me the chance to be a part of it.

So I though I better actually do some scrapping, so that I feel I have something to blog... and last night I sat 1 eye on Tess of the Durbervilles, and the other switching between the pooter and the LO, and did this.

The photos were taken on Friday when Harry decided to fall asleep in the dog's bed of all places! Now Jaspa was booked in for a hair cut on the Saturday so his bed was in dire need of a wash, and it smelt pretty rank. So after I lifted bear into his cot and he finished his sleep in the comfort of a feather pillow and duvet, his bedding and his clothes had to be washed as he smelt bleuuuurgh!!!

After school today we got busy with some leaves and glue!!! You wouldn't believe how much mess four 4 year olds and a couple of 1 year olds can make with a spot of glue... I'm sure I'll be peeling it from unexpected places for weeks!!! Harry loves doing crafty things, which I am really pleased about as Oliver shows very little interest at all.... which is very disappointing to a mummy who is an art teacher!

Not sure if I'll get any scrapping done tonight... Harry was up partying in the early hours and only settled in our bed, which meant this mummy spent an uncomfortable night with a child's size 6 digging into her back whilst clinging for dear life to the very edge of the bed! So it may well be an early night

What's this... 2 posts in 2 days!!!

Tongues out to those of you (ower Paul) who have moaned at me for my non blogging spell, betcha didn't expect 2 posts in as many days did ya!!!

A dear friend of mine, Jems, has set up a new sketch blog with her friend Zoe. Rough Draft looks like it's going to be a good one to kick start the mojo when it is lacking. They are looking for DT members at the moment, and all you have to do to be in with a chance is create a LO based on this fabby sketch. I had a play last night and did this LO of the Bear's freckles piccie. I rotated the sketch and only used one photo instead of two, but I have to say I am pleased with the end result.

So what are you waiting for??? Get scrapping, and email your LOs by 1st October to be in with a chance.