Bad Blogger!

Where did the last 6 months go? Honestly - the last time I blogged was my daughter's birthday, and I just did a page about her at 18 and a half!

Funnily enough, not a whole lot has happened or changed since I last updated. In scrapping news, I quit a few of my creative teams back in January. Partly due to other team obligations, but also because I have well and truly lost my 'mojo'. Pages just don't come as easily as they once did. Not to mention TIME. I thought it'd get easier now Jamie is at school full time, but obviously not. I've been trying to keep at it, but it's disheartening enough to make me want to give up altogether. I won't, I couldn't, but the thought has definitely crossed my mind!

Christmas was lovely this year. I cooked for 12 people on the day, and even more on Boxing Day, and at New Years, but I loved every minute of it. I love a full house, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, is a completely different story. It'll just be the kids and I here at home, as my husband is on call at the hospital during the day. We are, however, going to make up for it somewhat on Easter Monday. My in-laws are coming over for a roast, and bringing with them my SIL and her children who are over in London from Ireland this week (the kids here are on Easter break until the 16th).

Even more than the family meal and Easter celebrations, maybe rather pathetically, I am looking forward to the chocolate. I haven't eaten a bite since Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Never fear, I didn't give up my AERO hot chocolate (there's no real chocolate in there, I read the label!), but after Valentine's Day and my SIL's trip to a chocolate factory the week before Lent began, we had a lot more chocolate in the house than usual, that surprisingly hasn't budged yet (yet, she says).
It's been hard, but I do recommend it - I've lost 10lbs now since January (healthier eating all around) and I've been much more aware this year of how easy it is to eat heaps of chocolate even before Easter Day. Perhaps in years past, I didn't think about all the chocolate I ate in the days leading up to Easter, but I definitely felt NOT being able to eat any this year.

That's it for now - it's pushing 10PM my time. May I finish by wishing you a blessed Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ is risen today!

Here we are again

Almost a week! I don't get any readers anyway though, right? LOL.

Anna's birthday was a success. She was very happy with her present (a real dolly that eats and poos and goodness knows what else!) - just what she wanted. She got lots of toys, books, her printed scrapbook of course (I still need to rectify THAT situation, but that's a seperate post!) She was very excited and told everybody that would listen that it was her birthday and she was "TWO!" Her party was very low-key, but she enjoyed herself.

Jamie, on the other hand, was not at all happy with the attention focus on his baby sister. DH came home on Friday, and asked "What day is it today?!?", anticipating, of course, a scream of "ANNA'S BIRTHDAY!" Instead, before anyone could speak up, Jamie shouts, at the top of his lungs, and extremely hurried, "FRIDAY!!" God forbid anybody but him should keep attention for a WHOLE 12 hours! Gotta love him.

Here's a photo or two of the birthday girl. She's getting so big. Love that cheesy grin, and don't you just adore the look of that second photo - "So, what do I DO with all this stuff??".

Speaking of those photos, I made my first digi purchase in a while yesterday afternoon, at Jen Wilson's sale. I came out with three of the "Fresh Intuition" kits I'd be after for a while, Soho Sass, Country Carnivale and Baja Bliss. I think Country Carnivale is going to be perfect to scrap Anna's birthday, since I missed Dani Mogstad's birthday kit during her celebrations on the day of Anna's party.
I may have to go digi shopping again in the near future for these beautiful breast cancer kits. My mother suffered from breast cancer and had a masectomy in her 50s, as did my aunt (who later developed a brain tumour and died) and grandmother, so it is a cause close to my heart. Here's a gorgeous one at SBB that I have my eye on, and SSD and The Digichick's A Common Bond collaboration is just gorgeous.

I am so behind on scrapping too, I have a lot on my 'to do' list (including the new challenges at Digital Design Essentials for October, including 'lifting my favourite scrapper, Jodi Perry. Just to find a layout I haven't 'lifted of hers!). I did manage to get a couple done this evening, for ScrapArtist, from Michelle Coleman's new "Sweet Evangeline" kit, and Holly McCaig, from her "Schtuff" kit. Tell me what you think - I just love these kits. I just love Christmas, so had a lot of fun with Michelle's new one, especially.


Well that's it for now - have a great week!

Just gotta vent

Wow - it doesn't seem like a week ago since I last posted. Time flies!

My eldest daughter got braces on Tuesday evening. Poor thing hasn't eaten a thing since. Not for lack of trying! I know they take some getting used to, but it IS upsetting me, especially since next week is her birthday, and in the meantime Anna's birthday is tomorrow, her party is Saturday, and there's lots of fun stuff in between and afterwards that she feels she won't be able to get the most out of because of the braces. What can I tell her? "It'll only be another two years". Hardly a comfort. I remember it well. I got dh to go and get her some ice cream on Tuesday night, and we stocked up on soup and 'Weetabix' in the meantime until it's less painful and promblematic for her to chew.

That wasn't even what I'm here to vent about. I'm here to vent about that wonderfully brilliant deal I got at PhotoBox. Remember? I got 30% off my entire order and saved myself almost £60. Result! Or so I thought.

I got the package Friday afternoon. Come Tuesday afternoon, just a week after I got the original coupon for 30% off, I get ANOTHER promotional e-mail, but this time, it's for "Buy one get one free" on the 8"x8" size that I print my layouts in. Basically in the space of a week, I could have saved 50% rather than 30%, and saved myself £40 in the process. Not happy.

E-mailed customer service after recieving said promotional e-mail explaining that I wasn't happy, having spent a lot of money on this occasion, and in the past, with their company. There wasn't a mention of the offer before or after I checked out, advising that if I waited a couple of days I could save a significant amount. Disappointed with the service.
They e-mailed back saying basically, they understand my frustration, they aren't aware of upcoming promotions (I'm calling BS on that one, does somebody just think these things up on the spot one day?) and I can still use the promotion code. Tell me something I don't know.
I e-mailed back saying thank you, but that wasn't the result I was hoping for, and I'd appreciate being pointed to their refund policy, to which they answered that I could send my order back and be refunded in full. My thinking was that I could be refunded for the order, and order again using the new promotion code, still saving £20 or so even with the cost of shipping the prints back to them. This is still an option, as I am still waiting to hear from them as to whether they are going to refund me the £38 difference or whatever it is, and avoid hassle and money on both sides (for me, having to send back the prints and reorder, and for them, having to print duplicates and have prints they are just going to dispose of), or have me send back the prints and reorder. Such bad business practice, but it looks like I will be doing the latter later today. It took me a good while to upload the 197 layouts and I sure as hell don't want to do that again. But I guess if that's what it comes down to, that's what I'll do.

Anyway, that's what's getting to me today. I am busy shopping for Anna's family party on Saturday, just have to go last minute food shopping on Saturday morning to get a few things fresh. We don't really have any plans for tomorrow, I might take the little ones somewhere if the weather's nice. I'll post some photos on Friday/Saturday!

Have a great Thursday.

Stressful few days

I have two kids come down with colds, headaches and what not - dh has been working a lot, so I'm on my own. Luckily one of said kids is my almost 18yo, so she's doing OK by herself. I think she has been stressed with recent university applications and such, and working and college, hence the headaches. She spent the day at home today, and just slept on and off (so not like her).

It's really bad timing, because she was actually supposed to get braces fitted this afternoon, but since she was having a hard time standing up (blackouts, dizzyness), and couldn't breathe through her nose because of the cold, we had to put that off. We went on Tuesday morning to have impressions and x-rays taken, and it's not too bad, luckily - just two years with 'train tracks' and a retainer thereafter. The big thing is that she'll be 18 in a couple of weeks, and we need to get them fitted by her birthday for her to qualify for free treatment on the NHS (saving us £3,000!) - so it's all systems go!



I received an e-mail from PhotoBox with an offer code for 30% off! I've been waiting since last October for a sale to print the 200 layouts I've accumulated, because I wasn't prepared to pay over £200 for them. I ended up paying £143, just over, including Courier shipping (they dispatched today and will be here tomorrow!) for the 197 8x8's and 30 4x6's that I had in print credits. I also bought another album and two packs of page refills from The Scrapbook Boutique which was also having a 15% off sale, with only 99p shipping - love that place! Another £18!

I also booked a weekend trip to Paris for the girls and I in a months time, for their birthdays - my eldest is turning 18, and my second daughter will be 16 three weeks later. Neither had any big ideas on what they wanted to do, in terms of a party, or for presents, so, I decided that since I loved the time we spent together without the little ones in Tenerife during the summer, it would be fun to go to Paris together, like we used to do each year before the little ones were born. So, my two girls, my eldest's boyfriend (who's birthday is the week after hers!) and my other daughter's best friend (who shares a birthday with my eldest) leave on the Eurostar early on the Friday morning, and come back on Sunday evening. We are staying extremely close to the Seine and Eiffel Tower, so there are lots of sights to see on the Friday and Sunday, and on Saturday we are planning to do EuroDisney! Here's the hotel we're staying at Les Relais de Paris Eiffel Cambronne - looks nice enough for a two night stay! Can't wait!

OK, that's it for today!

Post-birthday

I had a nice day yesterday - I was just with the little ones most of the day, but Jamie kept coming in to me (like he was reminding himself!), kissing my cheek and telling me "happy birthday", and once or twice, "you're so pretty, mummy". I love my little boy.

I was almost knocked clean over by the thoughtfulness of the DDE girls. Take a look at all the cards they made me!












Phew!! I am so lucky to be able to call these ladies friends.

Not much planned for today - we went to Mass this morning, and I'm just cooking lunch now. I realised yesterday that I've been working a few months ahead of myself with my Digital Artist Magazine CT layouts. I've done the December ones, but the ones due in three days time? Nope! LOL. I don't have many Halloween photos, because my kids have never really trick or treated, or dressed up in any way, shape or form for Halloween - except my 15 year old who has been into it the last few years with her cousin and my SIL, who is American. I don't think Halloween is bad, or anything like that, and I would actually like to dress up the little ones into something sweet (and I still may do this year) but there is just nobody else that I know of here in England that makes a big thing of it (oh, and my dad and the inlaws would about call child services if they thought I was 'celebrating' it). So I guess a couple of layouts are on the cards in the next few days!

Something else I need to do in the next few days is organize my almost-18-year-old driving lessons! She's had her permit for a few months now (they can drive here at 17) but she was busy with college and exams, so we never got around to booking them. DH was also supposed to take her out for a bit of practice, but that didn't happen either. Busy busy busy. I am so scared for her to start, but for all the wrong reasons (now, my fifteen year old on the other hand, scares me for the RIGHT reasons). She is SO cautious. Even when she's in the car with me, her dad, or anybody, she jumps as we pass side roads where there's a car waiting to pull out, or if we don't brake early enough in a queue of traffic. You should have seen her on the go-karts at the beach. She was driving around like she was on a country lane! I know it's something she will get used to, and I'm lucky that she is cautious enough to notice these things. I guess we'll have to see how she goes. I have a feeling she'll be like me, and pass first time (unlike DH, who took four or five times!)


I did scrap again yesterday, in the midst of the all the loving from Jamie. I've always loved this imperfect photo of Anna that I took on fathers day, and these papers by DaniB - and these lyrics seemed to match so perfectly.

And lastly, have you seen the new Digichick Dezine? The kit this month is divine (have a look inside for my LO with it). Have fun!

One more day..!

I turn the big 3-9 tomorrow! One more year of the thirties left!
My only saving grace is I'm waiting for Danni, a good friend of mine, Danni, to have her baby boy - Levi James. She is in labour as we speak, little girls Ali and Lucy waiting patiently (!) at home. Send your good thoughts and ELV's her way!


I downloaded one of Holly's new kits French Country yesterday afternoon and couldn't wait to use it - here's the page I created with a photo my 15yo took at arms length at the wedding we went to back in July of herself, her sister and her sister's boyfriend. They get along very well together. It's love, just in different forms.


I also scrapped this evening - three days in a row! I bought this kit, Space Boy by Shabby Princess, specifically with these pictures (there are more!) and one from Jamie's birthday party in mind. Neither have anything to do with Space (I think the game was Winnie the Pooh!) but are those colours not PERFECT?? Love them!

How sad is it that I have no plans at all for tomorrow. My 15yo has Theatre Train in the morning and my 17yo is working until 6pm, as is dh, who is working the entire weekend, so I guess celebrations will have to wait. I may go on a shopping splurge (I haven't decided on online or offline yet ... but I do have to make a trip to the post office and new boots sounds SO appealing..)

Funny (horrifying!) story from today - my fifteen year old brought home a few friends this evening, and they got changed and headed off to the cinema. A few hours later, somehow, she managed to come back with about 7 extra people. They all marched upstairs to her room (and how she fit them all in, I don't know, the room barely fits her sister and herself) and were up there 10 minutes or so when I had to go up and get the laundry basket (I am SCARED to go up there with so many teens - scared!) and I overheard a conversation about TAMPONS. There were a couple of boys in this group! I resisted the urge to rescue them. But it doesn't stop there...the next thing I heard:
"But you can't have sex when you have a tampon in, right?"
Dropped. to. the. floor.
This is from almost-16-year-olds. Says a lot about the sex/PSH education in this country. She's staying the night at one girls house tonight, so at least I get the night off from that type of conversation. I think my dh might have a heart attack.

So that's it for tonight - two hours to go until the last year of my thirties - they've been good to be so far! Here's hoping!

I scrapped!


I couldn't wait any longer to use Gina's new stuff! You can see the credits here. I took these photos on Fathers Day back in June - I bought the little ones colouring books from the Disney store the day before, and of course, Jamie had to draw in Anna's - it's just more fun to take your sister's, you know?!
I also scrapped a new page with Holly's new stuff...I'll post tomorrow! I still have to sleep on it to make sure I like it!

I logged on to another board I frequent, for Jamie's age group this evening, to discover a lady's husband died. This is the third (including Steve Irwin, admittedly) husband and father I have heard of dying in tragic circumstances in the past couple of weeks. Each time I hear I feel a pang in my chest. I feel like bursting into tears for them, and their kids. I cannot imagine the sorrow and fear and uncertainty they experience after something like that happens. I just cannot fathom. Things can change dramatically in an instant.

Take good care of yourselves, your husbands and your kids. And say a prayer for those ladies that have lost their loved ones, and the children left behind.