Me & Vernon Kay

I had one of those 'just before you wake up in the morning' dreams the other day - you know, one of those very vivid and clear sort of dreams where you feel quite shaken by it for a few hours, as it was soooooo real. Anyhoo, this dream was about Vernon Kay trying to entice me into a torrid affair with him as he wanted me to run off and be with him. I don't mind telling you that in dreamworld, I was sorely tempted. I have spent the last few days saying to Mark 'well, Vernon wouldn't have said this', and 'Vernon would have let me do that', and Oliver refused to let me watch Family Fortunes. Ha ha.

Moving on from la la land, life is ticking along nicely. I made a disaster cake at the weekend. A simple Victoria sandwich which I have cooked many times before seemed to be a runny batter, not a gloopy cake mixture before it went into the oven, so, giving absolutely no thought to the balance of ingredients, I thought it would be a good idea to bung in more flour until it was 'cakey'. Well, it tastes like shite, and is, unsurprisingly twice the size of a normal cake. Looking at it, I have to wonder what the hell goes through my mind when I'm baking. Not the recipe obviously.

Feeling quite guilty at the thought of Mark having to endure this cake from hell for an entire week, I made a bakewell tart yesterday instead. I have never baked this before, and cannot be arsed to bake pastry blind, so it was definitely a suck-it-and-see sort of tart. The pastry was edible but the filling seemed terribly uncooked. We all, with trepidation, had a sliver for supper, and since we have all made it through the night Mark has happily gone off with some for lunch. Phew. Will use the Victoria sponge (and I use the term 'sponge' loosely here) as a door stop.

Whilst out doing the weekly food shop on Friday, Oliver said he wanted to gather together his own ingredients to make a meal by himself. Weeping inside at the potential damage to my carefully constructed shopping list, I said OK. He proudly came back ten minutes later with cress and a bag of lentils. Yum. He is so very sweet. We put back the lentils as I already have a half hundredweight at home, and decided on minestrone soup. Don't ask.

Just had the latest Cyber Crop over on UKS. I didn't really take part this time, but did do the 'pre-crop' challenge - 'Home is where the heart is':

Also have done this week's SLYMI - scrap a thank you. I have scrapped my thanks to my sister in law, Kim. Not a brilliant photo, sorry Kim, but it is the only one I have of you!

Journalling reads:

'Kim, you have such a strong and confident opinion on home education that the first time you wheeled out your soap box to preach to us about it, we were hooked.

Impressed and excited by your beliefs, we took the decision to keep Oliver out of school. For this alone, you have my deepest gratitude.

You are a constant source of support and inspiration to me, and your presence in our lives is a very welcome one.

It is wonderful to see Oliver developing into a bright, confident and gregarious child, a million miles from the shy toddler who would have been thrown to the wolves at the school gates. Thank you.'

not even

...a visit to the Dentist this morning can dim my enthusiasm for life right now.

I have (I believe) finally secured the hours I want at work and will no longer need to work on Saturday evenings hurrah! I am up to date with SLYMI, I have two layouts in the very last edition of Scrapbook Inspirations which is out this week, I have a few nights off from work now, I am keeping the weight off I lost in the summer and some, Mark and I have been getting on better than ever for some time now and Oliver and I are gently plodding through the Autumn days with good humour and bits of educational stuff on the go. This is, of course, not a comprehensive list of the highs in my life, but it is a quick resume of edited highlights.

I am to be referred on to some CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) sessions which will help me to 'unlearn' some of the my negative thoughts which have caused me unecessary angst over the course of my life. It is not counselling as I have known it in the past - this will help with altering the way I think, which will, in turn, alter the way I feel. Not rocket science, but thus far overlooked.

I have done a couple of layouts since my last post - week 38 SLYMI - scrap a lesson learnt. Here is Oliver during two half hour sessions on the dry ski slope at Warmwell recently:

and here is week 45 - scrap something you want to remember. I have scrapped a lovely pic of Oliver with his toddler curls. I showed it to him with some pride, as I like this one, and he reacted with such appalled horror and embarrassment I am left wondering why the hell I am bothering to document his life at all.

Poppy taught herself a new game during the wee hours of the morning. She sat her furry arse on my chest and purred in my face until I stroked her. If I then stopped stroking her, she licked my face until I resumed the stroking. Ahhh, lovely I hear you say. Actually, not so. The purring was at the level of a battery operated screwdriver at least, and the licking was what I would liken to being attacked with a sheet of sandpaper. I was afraid to look in the mirror this morning lest my face be covered with angry red lesions.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Bonfire-less Night

Felt like the Goddess of Fire earlier this week, as I chopped up tree branches and built me a bonfire in the dirtbowl, but in my joy it did not occur to me to cover up my twiggy offering and come last night, there was no way on earth the sodden mass was going to spark to life. So it was an evening indoors scoffing sausages and roasties and ooing and aahing out of the rain splattered windows at the other suckers braving the wind and rain. Not all bad then.

Feeling a tad guilty as I was talking to Linda last week about being over-sensitive to negativity/other people's bad behaviour and it seems she fell victim to the uber-sensitivity to OTB (other people's behaviour) at a Specials Gig. Sorry Linda! Chill girl, I may need you as a sounding board at the next crop ha ha.

Here are the pumpkin cakes I made from a recipe on Hilary's blog, but other than that - no more creativity right now....

And Poppy:

Are there more trees

...around now than there used to be? Everywhere seems to be knee-deep in Autumnal shades of leaves and the trees are not even bare yet...

Went a-scrappin' yesterday. Had a great time & managed 2 whole layouts. When I showed Mark he said, very nice, and what did I do for the rest of the day. Funny. It's a long process being a creative genius ha ha.

This:

My Guitar Hero (after the DS game Oliver is playing), a layout just because I wanted to, and this:

Week 44 of SLYMI - scrap something which scares you. Well, my list of choices stretched pretty far here, but settled for this one, which is actually a fear that I cannot run away from, and how I handle it will determine how much confidence my son will face the world with....

Scary thought indeed.

Mark is giving the pigeons a bath - don't ask - and he has been in filling up buckets with water and dettol and now the whole house pongs of it and reminds me of school and puke. Lovely.

Oliver went to a Halloween party last night, and I bravely girded my loins and threw myself into staying there and joining in, and, I have to say - it was surprisingly enjoyable. Perhaps being sociable and joining in has something going for it after all lol.

half term upon us once more...

A couple of layouts:

Week 42 SLYMI: scrap yourself 'right now'

and week 43: scrap with flowers.

Just one more outstanding and I am up to date with this, which is satisfying.

Little else noteworthy, although I have found out that Scrapbook Inspirations mag is no longer profitable to produce so the next issue will be the last. Shame, as the only other UK one is Scrapbook Magazine, which I have never really liked. I have two layouts due to go into the last SI issue, so I suppose that's something.

Excited as I am going to the Exeter Scrapaholix club crop on Saturday which I LOVE - a rare treat, a whole day scrapping with like-minded bods, drinking coffee, listening to music and chitty chatting the hours away. Jolly dee. After Christmas I will hopefully be giving up my Saturday shift at work, and so can attend every month.

It is half term this week, so the world and his wife will be at every turn with their squawky badly behaved brats, so am keeping a low profile ha ha.

Feeling Autumnal

Have nearly caught up with SLYMI, here are weeks 39 (scrap using your own handwriting)

I have taken the neat little bow idea from a tip on Jill's blog, who copied it from Linda originally. It's nice to share.

and week 41 (scrap a birthday)

What a face. Anyone who knows me could pick me out easily in this photo. Haven't changed much over the years, sulky piece.

Just had a weekend away in Dorset, on a lovely site set in woodland where all the leaves were tumbling down and squirrels were squirreling their nuts away. Whilst there we took a trip out to a National Trust place: Kingston Lacy, which was seemed very French Chateau to me, and Oliver got to try skiing on a dry slope. (not at Kingston Lacy). Lovely weekend in lovely company. I seem to manage long weekends away no trouble, it seems to be the hot country thing which freaks me out. Mental case.

My scales are showing that I am 3lbs lighter than when I stopped going to Rosemary's skinny club, so think the batteries must be shagged. Cannot see how I weigh less with the amount of nosh I have been consuming lately. Mind you, am still doing the DVDs & cross training, and my trouser belt is still as loose, so maybe my metabolism is working harder or something....? Or maybe my batteries are just shagged and I am kidding myself lol.

And finally, snaps for the cat lovers: Poppy the naughty kitten:

Lucky she didn't get trodden on, or thrown out with the recyled rubbish lol.