Got a proper blog at last!

At last, after months of struggling with another blog provider and not getting on with it (or getting it at all really) I have started this one up & I like it! It vaguely resembles a proper blog & that's gotta be a good thing dontcha think?! Have pasted and copied below the last few entries on my old blog to make it all seem a little more interesting (?!)


my first cyber crop

I am loving this cyber crop. For those NOT in the know, it is an online scrapbooking ‘crop’ where basically you sign up prior to the start date, get put into a team and when the cc starts, you can take part in challenges & classes related to the cc theme. Since signing up to UKScrappers, I have missed the Harry Potter CC and the Alice in Wonderland CC. BOTH of which I SO wish I had taken part in. This one has been a bit different, running over 3 consecutive weekends which has given more time to do layouts, pop in and out of forums and I have loved every minute of it. Mark has even given me the space/time to get on with it which has been great. (should I mention the tolerance to get on with it too, since he likens my scrapbooking to trainspotting……!)

First posted on old blog 21st October 2007


Tae Kwon Do or Judo?

Taking Oliver off to TKD in a minute - this will be his second session, he loved the first on Monday, but then I took him to Judo on Wednesday, which seemed to suit him better & he reckons Judo is the one he wants to take up. I would prefer that too, I think, but Mark insists (and I know he’s right) that Oliver gives the TKD another shot to be sure….
So, at stupid o’clock on this cold Saturday morning, gotta drive to the other side of town to sit in a draughty sports hall in the quest to better my son’s life…
THEN I have to pop back into Sainsburys to collect my frozen food which both of us left in a bag on the floor at the checkout AFTER paying for it yesterday. Duh. This afternoon I NEED to do some scrapping to get moving on the album I’m putting together for Mum & Dad’s 40th Wedding Anniversary. It’s next Saturday & I haven’t started it yet!!

First posted on old blog 19th January 2008


Definately Judo….and too little time & too much to scrap

TKD is not really what I had in mind for Oliver - not enough contact & too much yelling at this age, so think Judo is the thing. Going again tonight.
It’s Mum & Dad’s 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday. We (me & my two brothers & all respective offspring) trollied off to have our pic taken last Sunday which was all horribly embarrassing, but seeing the pics on Monday - they have come out well. My portion is setting me back £115, but I will have some really decent photos to scrap at last….
Also have started an album for them which must be finished by Saturday night! Only done about a third of it. Got the Exeter Scrapaholics crop on Saturday (my first one there) so can finish it there as a last resort. (Would rather not though).
Took Oliver to the Free Range Learning group in Exeter today (usually go every Weds) and he played with a new boy, Ash who seems OK, and another slightly older boy called Marley? who I haven’t seen before. Today’s game seemed to be running around the park waving sticks and shouting alot. Being male really I suppose. There are some parents there who definately just let their kids ‘be’, which is a very laid back ‘home-ed’ ethos, but these kids are yelling and shouting and crying their way through the day and it’s just bloody annoying sometimes! Still believe that you can allow a child to express themselves within reasonable social boundaries. Also believe that there are times you should say to your kid - ‘OK, enough now’ and that’s that…..
AND FINALLY….have applied to be on the Scrapbook Sisters Design Team for 2008, and I am seemingly in the final 9! That’s very gratifying, but after taking a look at the other finalists names - I recognise at least 2 of them from being published in Scrapbook Inspirations mag, (Audrey Tan & Pam Thorburn) so I don’t really hold out much hope!! Still, I am in good company, I think both of these ladies do great work, and at least my name has been ‘mentioned’ in a scrapping circle!

First posted on old blog 23rd January 2008


‘Mum, you should just eat more less’

As Oliver says, I suppose if I feel fat, I should eat more less. Or try for a poo - that was his other suggestion. And right back at you there mum. Clearly this is the crap information I impart to him when he has tummyache……
My Mum & Dad’s Ruby (40th) wedding anniversary meal tomorrow - very low key, but looking forward to a meal out. The pics we had done are very good & we have had one large one done of all of us & then 3 separate ones underneath of the kids. Pretty sure M&D will love it. Finished their album tonight, I am pleased with it – just hope they will be too…

First posted on old blog 26th January 2008



I got in!

Very exciting email last Thursday night - after giving up hope of getting into the Scrapbook Sisters Design Team, I had an email to say I’d got in! I am so chuffed you wouldn’t believe! Having no experience of being published, or of being on a design team, I feel that they have taken a chance on me & I so appreciate that - I saw the list of who else was up for choice, and they are very good….
Anyway, kits go out next week sometime & think it’s just possible I may pop with excitement before then……

3rd February 2008



Hospital, tummyache & toothache

What a week. Oliver has had a cold for about a week which developed suddenly into a cough for a day & Tues night (well Weds morning) when we checked on him before we went to bed, his breathing was very laboured & rapid. Took him to A&E where it was discovered his oxygen levels were low 90% & he had an oxygen mask on for a couple of hours, then a nebuliser & then steroid medicine. He was admitted to the children’s ward at 5am where we then woke up at 7.30am. Felt right spaced out. It is frightening how Oliver seems to go from having a cold to being hospitalised in such a short space of time. He was discharged Weds at around 8pm. There are some really ill kids in there (unsurprisingly) and what is quite strange is that it felt perfectly acceptable to brazenly ask other parents what their kid is in with, even if they are clearly disabled/terminally ill. In any other environment you wouldn’t dream of it. It also makes you very ashamed (well me ashamed) of my lucky life and my taking that for granted.
Friday I ended up taking off sick from the Bank due to wisdom teeth cutting through and a very sore throat, and in the evening I suddenly felt sick and was awake all through the night with ‘will I won’t I be sick’ syndrome. Had to get up Sat morn and go with friends to a chocolate egg making workshop, which I HAD been really looking forward too, and in the end was really good - but stomach cramps/ill feeling made it hard going and I spent all Saturday afternoon in bed, trying to summon up the wherewithall to get into the hospital for my evening shift at 5pm. I did it - and the stomach cramps disappeared late Sat night. Woke up Sun morn feeling perfectly well, apart from the nagging toothace around the left side of my face which I can’t decide is caused by the wisdom teeth or by toothache in it’s own right! So I have had to gird my loins and ring the dentist (terrified of the dentist) and so I am off there at 11. There is something sick about a person scared of the dentist having to voluntarily ring and pay a visit there…. I live in terror he will have to perform a root filling. I am ‘hoping’ he will put me on the waiting list at the hospital to have my wisdom teeth out under general anaesthetic as I think they are impacted….
Anyway, too much blither. Oliver is well on the mend and that makes me feel better…

First posted on old blog 17th March 2008



Bloody Drama Queen

What a drama Queen! Basically there is nothing wrong with my teeth!! Big hoorays all round! There are some gaps around the bottom of them apparently which need extra super cleaning and care as they cause aggro and can undermine the teeth & my wisdoms at the bottom are horizontally impacted and so near the nerve in the jaw that I probably will never need them touched! The upper one is through, and may need to come out as it rubs and cuts my cheek/gum sometimes (my idea not the dentists) and there is not one on the other upper side! And only £15.70 for the privilege!
Oliver is lots better now. Missed Judo again last week - he has coughed so MUCH over the last week or so. Poor bugger has been kept in for ages & is sleeping late because he is just not tired!

First posted on old blog 23rd March 2008