Crafty Catch-Up

What a disaster. I just wrote a nice big entry, loaded some photos pressed the "publish" button and the whole lot just disappeared in a "page not available" message. I could weep!

Now I've got to start again. And this time I'll remember to "save as draft" to be on the safe side!!!

OK. The latest template challenge on the CBC Forum is this one.
I'd really like to challenge anyone reading this blog to have a go at making a card, scrapbook LO, peice of altered art, ATC etc using this template - then add a picture of your creation to your own blog and drop by here to leave a message so I can come and see what you did. So there - that's the gauntlet laid down, are you brave enough to pick it up?

Here's the first card I've done.

I used Making Memories papers from the "Simply Fabulous - Meg" set, with beading, ribbon, a vellum tag and some Prima flowers.

The second card is (probably) going to be the one I give Hubby for our 13th Anniversary on 31st July. I made a little pocket for the front this time so I could put a tag in it - that's the bit with the hearts on. The pocket has ribbon and lace on it - the lace because that's supposed to be the traditional gift for a 13th Anniversary!

The background is a silvery paper, then some dark red Bazzill card and then the main papers are from the Blonde Moments Suet Pudding range.

I made this watch strap last weekend but forgot to show it on here. It caused me loads of hassle as I was using two needles and kept getting tangled up, then I realised that having 5 loops either side of the watch face was way too long so I had to do the whole thing again - much cursing and clenching of teeth I can assure you! Still, when I'd finally finished I was quite pleased with the result so I guess (hhhhmmmm?) it was worth the effort! It's made with aqua and blue Swarovski crystals with some sterling silver beads between.

First Scrapbook Page

I think I mentioned my plan to make a scrapbook as a Christmas gift for my aunt and uncle who became Grandparents for the first time in February.
Their DiL has a serious back condition which meant she was advised not to try and have a baby, much as she loves children and desperately wanted a family. Eventually she and my cousin decided that it was worth the risk to be able to have the baby they so much wanted. She had loads of troubles during her pregnancy and I think my aunt and uncle were too scared of what might happen to get really excited until the very last minute. But the story has a happy ending and little Sam arrived safely - and he is just adorable!

I've not really been able to justify getting into scrapbooking so this little chap has given me the excuse to have a go, but not have to find space in our house for the finished album!
This is my very first scrapbooking effort it's for an 8x8 album - seemed much less daunting than those BIG monster sized books! Up till now I've only done some pages in a Circle Journal - and not many of those - so please be gentle with me........

Ancestors

This is one of my favourites from my collection of old family photos. I'm really luck to have loads of old photos, and also a good batch of really old family certificates - they were a great starting point for my Family History research.

This photo shows one set of Great grandparents with five of their seven children. My paternal grandfather is the handsom young lad 2nd from the right. Great Grandfather was from the Isle of Wight. He left home to join the Royal Navy and later became a Coastguard - eventually settling in Northumberland.

Great Grandmother's family were from Devon and Dorset. Her family moved to the Isle of Wight from Bridport in Dorset but soon after this my Great Great Grandfather Grigg died leaving his wife with two little girls and another baby daughter on the way. My 2x Great grandmother was a dressmaker, I was lucky enough to make contact with a lady on the IOW who, as a very small child actually remembered visiting my GG Grandmother and told me how the house was full of beautiful stitched items and furnishings that she had made.

She very much later remarried and I have more photos of her with her second husband - the identities of this couple were a mystery to our family until I started doing my research and was able to discover who they were. The Family History "network" is a wonderful thing, full of people willing to share their knowledge - I've found so many "cousins" and between us we've been able to answer questions and fill in some gaps.

Going Back to my Roots

Another of my hobbies is genealogy - though it's quite a while since I did any proper research I must admit! As this week seems to have disappeared in a heat haze and I've done nothing to report, I thought I'd share one of the stories from my family history.
My family are mainly from Northumberland on the north east coast of England and for generations they were part of the fishing community of the village on Newbiggin by the Sea.
One of my sets of Great Great Great Grandparents were John and Elizabeth Armstrong, between about 1835 and 1852 they had nine children.
Fishing in those days was hazardous, the small boats they fished from were known as cobles and usually owned by a family, or extended family. The menfolk rowed out and did the fishing, the women cleaned and fixed the nets, helped pull the boats onto the shore, sorted and cleaned the fish then went around the streets of the village and neighbouring villages to sell them. They wore baskets on their backs known as creels, and if they didn't make enough for a ride back on the train then they walked, sometimes several miles. From the photos I've seen, it looked like a very hard life.

This particular family had more than it's fair share of sadness. In 1864 their son John and his wife Ellen (my Great Great Grandparents) died within a few days of each other leaving my Great Grandfather (also John) orphaned at only one year old.
In December 1883 John and Elizabeth's second eldest son, Edward was lost at sea.
In December 1904 three more of the family were drowned - sons George and James, and their grandson Edward, who was George's son. They died during an attempt to rescue the crew of the ship "Anglia" which had run into trouble in Newbiggin bay. Altogether seven fishermen drowned. Of the eight fishermen who had rowed out in the coble "Henry and Jane" (shown left - well it would be if Blogger would let me load my pictures!) to try and help the crew of stricken ship only John Armstrong survived - he was the only one of them who could swim and was another of George's sons.

The fishermen had a long tradition of not learning to swim as they thought it would only prolong their suffering if they were thrown overboard, they preferred to think that death would come quickly.

Kel's Challenge

Four things about ...Kathy

A ) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Shop Assistant in a Bookshop (I read most of the stock)
2. Nanny
3. Teacher
4. Go-fer in the general office of a Local Government building

B ) Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. 4 Weddings and a Funeral
2. Muriel's Wedding
3 My Fair Lady (I just love the costumes!)
4 Shirley Valentine (when I need a fix of Greece)

C ) Four places you have lived:
1. Northumberland
2. Hertfordshire
3. Lancashire
4. Bedfordshire

D ) Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Desperate Housewives
2. housey stuff like "Location, Location, Location" and "Grand Designs"
3. Silent Witness, and similar
4. Funny stuff like "The Kumarrs at no 42"

E ) Places I have been on holiday:
1. The Maldives
2. Mauritius
3. Greece (loads of times!)
4. Italy

F ) Four websites you visit daily:
1. Carolyn's
2. My Favourite Craft Shopping sites
3. My Favourite Craft Shopping sites
4. My Favourite Craft Shopping sites

G ) Four of my favourite foods:
1. Lasagne
2. Mousaka
3. Stifado
4. Tiramisu

H ) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. With Hubby, somewhere near the Sea
2. With Hubby, somewhere near the Sea
3. With Hubby, somewhere near the Sea
4. With Hubby, somewhere near the Sea

Ok, If you've read this, you can consider yourself tagged - please leave me a message to say you've joined the challenge.

Jane's Challenge

Gone on a blind date -NO
Skipped school - No, far too scared of getting caught!
Seen someone die -No, not actually in the same room.
Snuck out of your parent's house -No - my life wouldn't have been worth living if I'd got caught doing that!
Been in love- Yes
Been dumped - Yes and I didn't like it
Been laid off/fired - No
Quit your job Yes - I loved teaching, but hated all the rest so in the end it felt great to say "I quit"
Been in a fist fight?- No
Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back - Of course, ahh unrequited love *sighs*
Been to Canada -No
Been to Mexico -No, but one day....
Been on the opposite side of the world - Yes, we went all the way round, gained a day in the Cook Islands!
Been to Paris - Yes, Fell in love while I was there, too!
Cried yourself to sleep - More than once :(
Played cops and robbers -Yes
Recently coloured with crayons - No, should I have done?
Sang karaoke -No chance!
Paid for a meal with only coins - Not that I can remember, well maybe the odd sandwich if that counts?
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't -Yes
Made prank phone calls -No
Caught a snowflake on your tongue -Yes
Danced like nobody was watching - All my dancing is bad
Been kissed under the mistletoe -Yes
Watched the sun rise with someone you care about -Yes. Well, if you count those early morning aeroplane flights!
Blown bubbles - yes
Crashed a party - Possibly, but that would be while at college and hard to remember!
Gone roller-skating-Yes I just about lived on my skates as a kid!
Ice-skating -Yes, I fell over and got an enormous bruise on my knee
Crashed a car - No
Swam in the ocean -Yes - the North Sea, the Atlantic, The Pacific, The Indian Ocean, The Med.....
Felt like dying - Yes
Made a bonfire on the beach - Not exactly, someone else made the fire but we sat around one in the Maldives one night watching the lightning in the distance
Drank so much you threw up - No
Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose -No
Knitted ? -Yes
Skinny dipped ? No

Hot Hot Hot

Jeepers but it's hot here today. I put the barometer on the patio table just out of interest, you know... I just went and had a look and it's reading off the scale! Not very scientific, but that made me gasp!

The weather forecast has just been on and they are talking 36 degrees for tomorrow. This is England for goodness sake.......
In the south-east they've got the gritting lorries on standby - not for frosts, but in case the tarmac on the roads starts to melt! It's hotter here than in Tenerife today.

We have no grass any more - just this sort of dead looking straw stuff. I've now been out and put as many of my potted plants as I can into deep seed tray things so that I can let them have enough water.

Hot weather gives a good excuse to indulge in a fave beveridge: I made a big jug of coffee this morning and have been using it to make iced coffee all day - pouring some into a tall glass, adding milk and ice and giving it a whizz - delish!

Kel and Jane, I'll get to your challenges sooooooooonnnnnn

Christmas in July

For Christmas we gave Charlie and Isabelle "A Big Day Out at Thorpe Park".
We did something similar a couple of years ago when we took them to Alton Towers, and had a great time even though the weather on that occasion was horrible. No such bother on Saturday though - we're in the middle of a heatwave and had glorious hot sunshine all day - check out the blue skies on the photos if you think England is always grey and wet!!!
We all had a fab time. I was Chief Photographer and Bag Holder" - or in reality, too chicken to go on the rides! Actually, I just love having them to myself for a while, and they are always so well-behaved when they go out with us. Going on the rides isn't my idea of fun so taking the kids gives Hubby a fantastic excuse to indulge his own liking for the roller coasters and other rides!













These photos are of the Detonator ride which Issy and Hubby went on. Check out Issy's face just as they hit the bottom!



Charlie and Hubby queued for an hour to go on "Rush". There are 2 giant swings but for some reason they were only using one - a bit irritating when the queues are so long for these things.
This ride goes soooo high, the picture on the left is of Charlie and Hubby hanging upside down over our heads! You'll just have to take my word for that as it's not the clearest photo as it was taken into the sun.


The only real downside was that the one ride I did go on - the Rapids; broke down while we were on it and everyone had to be "evacuated"! Our little boat was the last one to be evacuated and we ended up sitting out in the baking sun for an hour - I have the white lines where my sunnies were and the bright red nose to testify to it - despite the sunscreen we'd applied. Still we got some fast-track tickets to use on other rides because of this which meant that the kids were able to beat some of the really long queues later on.

More Photos from Thorpe Park

The Colossus Roller Coaster has 10 loops. Hubby and Charlie really enjoyed this one especially as the fast-track tickets meant they didn't have to queue for 75 minutes!!!!



Three smiley people on the whizzing
teacup ride.





Hubby went solo on Nemesis




The Slammer and Zodiac rides

And another from me....

Fotopic still not working. So here's one from me.

Some Recent Makes

There's a new Card Template Challenge for anyone who'd like to have a try - I'd love to know if you have a go with this one so please don't forget to drop in here and tell me.
I've done a few cards using it already - I thought you might like a look.

These photos are really grotty, sorry! I'll try to
replace them with better ones over the weekend!

Apart from making cards, I also dabble in jewellery making. I usually forget to take photos but here are a couple of things I've done recently they are all made using Swarovski crystals and silver beads and findings.

There was a bracelet to match the earrings but, yep, I forget to do a photo!

Who, How, Where?

A pretty quiet week here in WaffleWorld so I'll do a bit of a roundup here and in the crafty show off posting to follow!!.
Blog News:
I've added a counter to my blog (thanks Jane) which shows where visitors are coming from, it's really interesting to see the countries represented and I'd really like for you to leave a message letting me know who you are, how you came across my blog and where you're located - so please, if you pop in let me know!

Shopping:
Met up with Clare for coffee and lunch at one of the Garden Centres not too far away from here which has the added attraction of a Craft Central Craftshop within...
We both managed to spend a bit of cash which is always a fun way to spend an hour, plus enjoyed a good old gossip over cappuccino and a sandwich and a little browse among the non-crafty stuff too. I still find it so amazing to have made so many friends via a craft forum, and am so lucky in that several of us live near enough for us to meet up regularly just for a coffee or lunch.
I was naughty and ordered a lovely load of 12x12 paper from www.paperarts.com the other day and that yesterday, they have a big selection of papers, worth a look if you need a bit of Retail Therapy of the paper kind. Are you listening Lythan?
The horsey one is earmarked for some sort of project for niece Issy's Christmas present - not ddecided what yet though. I thought I'd put it in the centre especially for Lucy to see :)

Golden Wedding Card & Box

I made this Golden Wedding Anniversary card last week and have now made the box for it. I've even remembered to do some photos before sending it off to my customer - which makes a change!

The Art of Prevarication

So, another weekend been and gone. We spent most of the time going through all the stuff that we've dumped in the front room while we waited to get the loft ready to receive our junk. That excuse for not going through it has now gone, and the one from last weekend when it was "far too hot to sort the loft" sadly also ceased to be valid....
We put quite a lot of things up there then Hubby decided that my idea of getting some shelving up there was actually quite a good one after all, so off we went to Argos to buy some. We've chucked another load of stuff out, sorted other stuff into different boxes and got most of it put away now. Not the most exciting weekend, but it's quite satisfying to get it done. Unfortunately in the way these things work, clearing the room leads us to the next task - which is decorating!
The fireplace in there has been closed over at some point and we're toying with the idea of opening it up again - not for a fire, but just because it will look nicer and give a bit of extra space for some shelves or a little table. Thinking aobut doing that gives us some prevarication time if nothing else ;-)
I bought a wheelbarrow on Sunday. How exciting is that then? This takes away another excuse. This time the "I can't move all that soil and flatten the slope at the back of the garden if I don't have a wheelboarrow" excuse. Oh dear!
In between all that I watched the Wimbledon Men's Final on the pc while making a box for a Golden Wedding Anniversary card I have on order.

50 years of marriage is an amazing acheivement eh?
Our 13th anniversary is on the 31st of this month and I'm still trying to get my head around where the last 13 years have gone. It seems to have flown past, but then in that time we've been all the way round the world, visited many other countries, I've stopped teaching, Hubby's had loads of contracts in the City, Peterborough and Cambridge, we've had several cars, including a ferrari, we've sold our flat, bought a house, and now just bought another one, plus another one that we rent out, we've acquired 5 more nephews and 1 more niece to add to the neice and nephew who were at our wedding, and sadly my lovely, wonderful father and more recently my dear mum have both died. Life has a knack of giving with one hand and taking with the other.

I'll add photos of the card and box later - I'd love to hear what you think.

Going back to the Art of Prevarication, yesterday I spent ages cutting down and sticking 2 pizza boxes together to make a storage module (posh eh? ;-) ) for my ever increasing stash of 12x12 paper. Then I covered it all with some plain white paper and decorated the front of it with some scraps of Basic Grey's "Sublime" set that I'd kept "because they'll come in useful one day" - I'm far too mean to cover it all over when I'll only see the front once it's on the shelf!

Reflections and Remembrances

A year ago today I was sitting on the craft room floor sorting out some stuff when the first reports of explosions on the London Underground came on the radio.
My first thought was "Thank God Hubby doesn't work in the City anymore"

Then I thought "Carol's going to Liverpool Street for a course today......." I looked at my watch and thought that she'd probably be there and safe by now, but I decided to text her anyway.

Then I thought of Sue's partner, I knew he worked shifts and hoped he was on the one that meant he'd be safe at home. Sue wasn't around on msn, I sat for a minute not knowing whether to call her or not, in the end I decided that if she was at the nursery, chances were she hadn't heard anything and would prefer to know what was going on. So I rang her - I'll never forget making that call, how do you break news like that to someone? You can feel the fear that you've caused. But at least she was able to contact him and know that he was still safely in his office.

Between my call to her and her getting back to me to say he was safe I had a call that brought both immense shock and massive relief. Carol had been caught up in the explosion on the tube. She had just got out of the tunnel safe and unhurt but had been so close to the explosion that she and her work colleague had seen more destruction and pain than anyone should have to witness. I heard the confusion, the pain and the horror of what she'd seen in her voice.

Two people made a rare journey from Oxford to London to attend a day course and from that moment their lives were changed in ways most of us will never know - just because they were on a tube train on the morning of 7th July 2005.

Carol, You've been so brave over this last year, learning to cope with your experiences and fighting against letting them damage you further. I have the utmost admiration for the way you've dealt with all of this. My thoughts are with you today.

So many individuals with hate in their hearts, who use all sorts of excuses - and I believe they are excuses - to terrorise and make their fellow men suffer. They seem to revel in other people's pain, to want nothing more than to destroy our inherent faith in the basic kindness, goodness and love that lies in the hearts of the rest of us. We can't let them win.

Apple Granny

Off out in a bit to meet Sue for coffee. She's got some paper for me from Sara - I was supposed to meet them on Tuesday but totally mucked up on the date and couldn't go after all, bummer because I've still not made it to the Paper Mill Shop that's in the Galleria now, quite apart from the fact that it could well be the last time Sara is able to meet us before her move over to Australia.
Anyway, it'll be good to meet Sue, and if Patrick's has their yummy Apple Granny in the cakes cabinet then I'll be very very tempted....

I've sorted out my new dies so Sue can have a look at what I've been acquiring lately - it wasn't till I went through the boxes to pick them out (and find the duplicate I bought by mistake which I've promised to Sue) that I realised just how many I've bought recently - I blame it on the CBC forum for letting me know about the bosskutz and the Ellison Thin cuts that I can use either in my QK or in my Sidekick. Just as well really as the recent QK releases have been seriously dull and disappointing. Hasn't stopped me placing an order with Scrapbook Express for a couple more - my excuse is I need them as I'm going to have a go at my first scrapbook. There, it's out in the big wide blogworld so you can all feel free to nag me about it till I actually get started. More on that project later I'm sure.

The rain it raineth...

on the Just and also on the unjust fellow
But mostly on the Just, because
The Unjust steals the Just's umbrella
- Ogden Nash

Today the rain came. We had the thunder yesterday, but no rain worth speaking of. But wow have we had rain this afternoon!!!!! You could almost see the grass (what's left of it) and the plants jumping up to meet it. Hasn't cleared the air though - it's still hot and clammy.

Reading through Lythan's "aaaahhh songs" list reminded me of some more that should have been on mine - how could I forget Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World"?
And di you ever watch that TV series "McCallum"? It starred John Hannah as a brooding pathologist who rode a motorbike. Well the theme music for that was "Cry Me a River" and is just fantastic. I think Julie London was the original singer but Alsion Moyet also made a cover version - fantastic song.
Recently they repeated the series on one of the digi channels, we were soooo disappointed and cross when they didn't use the "right" music.

Remember, remember

Where is everybody?
Is it too hot to blog?

Two of my challenges are still outstanding;
1. I need to hear which songs make you go aaaahhhhh (see Friday Waffle)

2. this is the current template challenge designed by Kate;
I've added the cards I've made so far using this template in a slide show

Meet the Family

Here are my gorgeous nephews; Charlie and Dan and my beautiful niece Issy. I love them to bits.

Friday Waffle

Well this blog is called Kathy's Waffle and waffle is what I'm going to do - in the absence of having anything more interesting to write.
New Blogmates Challenge?
You know when you're listening to the radio and one of those songs comes on - the sort that makes your shoulders relax, a smile come on your face and you just go aaaaaaaahhhhhhh? Well which ones are your aaaaaaaahhhhhhh songs? I'll probably end up coming back to update this list many times but here are seven to start with. Perfect Day - Lou Reed More Than Words - Extreme Fix You - Coldplay Woman - John Lennon Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton Mary - Scissor Sisters Always - Bon Jovi So, put your list on your blog and pass the challenge on then please come and let me know you've joined in with my little game so that I can go and see which are your aahhhh tunes.
New Crafty Challenge
A new card template challenge will be launched today. Kate has made this one, but as it's not been announced yet you'll have to wait to see it - so if you thought coming here would give you a sneaky peek, guess what? You were wrong! However, I've not only seen it, but also have had the chance to play, and so far made THREE cards using the new template nah, nahnenahnah :-)
In the Garden
There are two huge, overgrown buddleia bushes at the front of the house (among other oversized stuff like an enormaous yucka), I spent yesterday morning armed with my secateurs and big, extendable loppers (oooer mrs), the ladders and the empty garden waste bin trying to bring a measure of control to bear. Well the bin is now stuffed to the top, and whilst I can see the bushes are a bit better no-one else will know. I wonder how many fortnight's worth of garden bins it will take to sort this out. And as for the yucka - well I don't actually know where to start with that. Ideas on a postcard, or in the comments bit here, please.
Family Stuff
It was nephew Dan's 6th birthday yesterday. We couldn't get over to see him so we'll pop over there today. Seems only five minutes since we were visiting him just after he'd been brought home from the hospital, a tiny redheaded bundle of babydom. I found an old school photo of his dad at the same age the other week and boy was it scary to see how much Dan is like his dad. The strange thing is, we all thought Charlie was like his dad until Dan came along....
One of the cards I made with the new template is going to be for BIL. I always struggle with bloke cards so getting this done when his birthday isn't till the end of July - well, how smug do i feel? And if you thought I'd fall into the trap of showing it here, well you're wrong again. Later later... ;-)

It was a Challenge.....

Thanks to the Card Challenges we've been doing on the CBC forum (and if you're reading this and haven't visited, then why not????) my card stocks have soared, fantastic stuff eh?! So much so that I've sent Hubby off to work this morning with a nice new batch of cards to replenish the box he has on his desk - something I've been meaning to do for weeks! With the dreaded football still appearing to take over the entire country (those greying St George's flags hanging out of windows are soooo manky, aren't they?) we had a different challenge at CBC yesterday to see what cards we could make while the match was on TV. As long as each card contained 3 eyelets/brads, 3 flowers, a tag and some ribbon or fibres we could use whatever other stuff/techniques we wanted. I only managed 3 but Hazel managed to make TEN!

It's taken me best part of an hour to get the pics of my 3 cards on here - for some reason they just wouldn't load. In the end I've had to split today's posting into little chunks - I don't know if that's why I've finally got the photos to upload, but at least they are there now. if anyone knows what's going on, or if I've been doing something wrong - please let me know!

Crafty Update

Now, let's get craftily up-to-date.
I spent a busy Friday making some more Wedding Congratulations cards for a wedding that takes place on 1st July. I'd already made one for this particular wedding and this customer had passed my details on - suddenly I found myself with orders for FOUR cards for the same wedding! Got these orders done and in the post, along with a jewellery order, so was quite pleased with myself.
My next card orders are for New Baby cards and although wedding cards are nice to do, I'm ready for a change after that lot plus the other few I've done with wedding themes lately!
Then I've orders for a couple of little kiddie birthday cards - not really my forté, especially as they are the dreade BOY variety, but hopefully I'll come up with something.
I've a stack of friends and family birthdays coming up soon, but I've been pretty good and have a little stock of cards in the box ready for those. YAY!

Players are ready.....

Wheyhey, today is the first day of Wimbledon. And after a good few weeks of amazingly good weather, I woke this morning to the sound of rain hammering on the Velux window above my head - well, WHAT a surprise.....not.
So here I am, the draws for the Gents and Women's Singles tournament all printed off and waiting to be followed with my customary eagerness and they've already been on, off and on the courts and it's only 2pm. Forecast is better for tomorrow, they say, but today is going to be one of those seriously annoying ones - I'd just like to say, Please God, don't let Cliff Richard start singing, that would be too cruel.

So backtracking a bit to catch up with what's been happening (not much, but what's new? - and don't say "microchip technology" because that's actually not so new anymore, really is it, now?)
Our loft is now insulated, and boarded and ready to receive all our junk, the Christmas stuff, the old paperwork, the skidlids and all those other boxes of stuff you don't want to see every day but don't want to get rid of! So next weekend I guess we'll be back into "sorting" mode, ruthlessly discarding the bits we REALLY don't need to keep and putting the rest up in the loft at last. This of course will lead to the time when we have to do some decorating as the room currently disguised as a great big walk-in cupboard is actually designated as the No 1 Guest Room! See how one job leads seamlessly to another?
Yesterday I got the ladders out and hacked a few more braches off one of the trees that's been allowed to do it's own thing. They empty the garden rubbish bin on Wednesday and it would be a waste to put it out without it being packed to the very top! At least that particular tree looks loads better now. Which one will be next to face my little pruning saw.....

Lythan's difficult challenge

Lythan wants our early memories and boy is that a tough one!
My head isn't so much like a sieve as a colander.I'm never really sure whether I actually remember something, or I've just seen the photo!
I grew up in a little seaside village in the North east of England and most of my early remembrances seem to be to do with the sea - going rock-pooling with one of my Grandads for instance. We must have spent hours and hours crouched over the pools looking for crabs, sea anemones and starfish.
When I was teaching, I'd tell the little ones how my mum used to meet me out of school and we'd go straight down to the beach - for children living about as far away from the coast as possible here in England, who saw the sea maybe once a year if they were lucky this sounded like heaven and their little eyes would open wide in awe!

I've always been stubborn and my mum was never able to "shift" me once I'd dug my heels in. She could just bribe my brother with a matchbox car or something to get him to do what she wanted, but that never worked with me. My aunt however, could do no wrong and it was she who dealt with the stuff my mum couldn't get me to do.
I've never been a happy bunny about getting my hair cut so it was my aunt who would take me all the way from our little village to Newcastle on the bus - which took an hour or so - to the children's hairdresser at Fenwicks (I think) in the hope that they'd be better able to cope with my tantrums. My aunt has always maintained that I never had tantrums when I was with her - which only served to wind my mum up, of course. I aslo remember the hated frilly dresses we had to go to Newcastle to buy for special occasions like Easter. I was a shorts and T-shirrt kind of little girl , not the frilly-frock sort that my mum must have wanted. Tradition had it that you HAD to have something new to wear for Easter Sunday or it would be bad luck so the hated ritual went on every year! I'm sure I remember throwing tantrums in Fenwicks and the other big Newcastle shops! Horrible child I was

Until we got a puppy when I was about 14 I was absolutely terrified of dogs. I don't actually remember this, but my mum told me that when I was a baby a big alsation stuck it's head right into my pram, it didn't hurt me, but she reckoned that's where my fear came from. I was so scared that if I was eating chocolate and saw a dog coming towards me I'd throw the chocolate away in case it came up to me - because dogs like chocolate, don't they?I'm still a bit nervous but I'd prefer a dog to a cat any day - they are just nasty creatures (oooooooh I can feel the wrath and the hate-vibes coming in from all those cat lovers already :)

And now for my answers

1. A bald-chested, blue budgie called Sparky
2. Pooh, with an awful lot of Piglet in the mix
3. Probably get shot down in flames by hubby for this, but I'm going for the Aston
4. Salt and Vinegar - currently loving the Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar ones fromMarks & Spencer's Hand cooked range...
5. A long, long sail around the Aegean, visiting as many of the Greek islands as possible
6. Coffee
7. Probably Spring - as long as it's a nice warm Spring!
8. Yes, in France, 1999

9. Snake
10. Backgammon & Scrabble, fave is Backgammon. I abhor Monopoly
11. Yep, I got a daily sudoku calendar - but I'm still in May with that!
12. hard one this. Gerbera, Snowdrops, Sweetpea - but tomorrow the list would be different
13. coffee cream, or maybe a praline
14. 10-15 I think, but I didn't go and count properly
15. I've counted 20, but I might have to have a recount

OK, so over to you. The questions are in the previous posting in case you missed them

Questions, questions

Okay, Come on Blogmates - You've been tagged!
It's time for another list of random, nosy questions! - so anyone who reads this please join in and answer my questions.
Please leave a message here so that I can go and read your answers. And don't forget to pass on the tag.

1 What was your first pet and what was it's name?
2 which WtP character are you? Pooh, Piglet? Eyeore? Or one of the others?
3 Aston Martin or Ferrari?
4 Favourite crisps (potato chips) flavour?
5 Money no object sailing trip - where would you go?
6 Tea? coffee? or juice?
7 What's your favourite season?
8 Have you ever seen an eclipse?
9.Would you rather hold a snake or a spider?
10.Which do you play? And which is your favourite? Chess, Monopoly, Backgammon, Scrabble
11. Do you do Sudoku?
12. 3 favourite flowers?
13. What's you favourite in a box of chocs?
14. How many handbags? none, 1-5, 5-10, 10-15 or more than that?
15. How many different countries have you visited?

Nothin' much

Not much to report.
At long last the guys came on Thursday to insulate the loft. This meant hubby spent Saturday putting some boarding down and I reverted to the role of Chief Go-fer. Between handing planks and tools up to him I managed to make a card for an order. I'd planned a sort of "Happy 2nd Birthday to Our Little Princess" theme but couldn't quite get it to fit, so went for this instead:

I'm quite pleased because I actually used the QK tiara and wand that have been languishing in the die box since I bought them thinking "Oh wow aren't they cute, I'll used them loads....."

Fellow Blogger NZJane made the little dress - I added the little silver flowers to match the pink and silver colour theme. Jane is such a cleverclogs, her stuff is fab though sometimes she doesn't seem to realise how admired her work is.

I'm not sure where Sunday went, it sort of just disappeared. All I remember doing was making some earrings from silver and swarovski crytal beads and wandering into town at some point to post a belated Birthday card for another fellow Blogster Debbie. Happy Birthday for yesterday Debs. Do you want to see the card I sent?

And that was the weekend over.

I'm hoping that today the postie will bring a parcel of goodies I ordered last week. I might need a bit of help and guidance on a project I have in mind for a Christmas gift - so watch this space, OK?

And the answer is:

Please welcome Kathy's New Bag.
With thanks to CBC members, and to Sara and Janine for their help and support during my dithering.

Question for today

Should I go out today and buy the lovely new handbag I saw in town on Wednesday?

Taking up the challenge...

20 Things About Me

1. I'm stuck on this already
2. er...I love Leonidas Belgian Chocolates
3. I'm really shy, I'm useless at making small talk, but then tend to waffle on far too much when I'm nervous
4. My musical tastes are wide, from rock to the classics
5. I'm a terrible hoarder "I'll keep this piece of tat, it'll come in useful one day"
6. I hate football
7. ...but I love tennis, especially watching Wimbledon (wwohoo, not long to wait, now)
8. I've been around the world - and we didn't back-pack!
9. I've been up in a glider and it was magical - even though I nearly bottled out on the day I was due to go up!
10. I've been round Silverstone GP circuit in a car driven by a pro-driver. Terrifyingly fast, but VERY exciting.
11. I've driven a ferrari; we used to have a 308 - I only drove it because hubby was in plaster and couldn't. Far too scary for me
12. My hubby bought me a GameBoy for Christmas and I'm soooo addicted!
13. I can never decide on my favourite colour
14. I'll never stop missing my mum and dad
15. I love my new house - well, except the bathroom which is horrible
16. I adore Greece and especially the Peloponnese and also the islands. I've been to: Aegina, Hydra, Poros, Kalymnos, Telendos, Kos, Rhodes, Crete, Kefalonia, Symi, Skopelos, Alonissos, Andros, Tinos, Samos, Santorini and Lesvos, I think I've missed some off the list though
17. Travel is one of our favourite things. Not just overseas - we like to have weekend breaks here in the UK too.
18. I've always been fairly creative, I can't remember a time when I wasn't dabbling in some crafty thing or other. I like sewing and cardmaking among other things
19. I'm not a great fan of spiders, or creepy crawlies of any kind really.....
20. ....but on holiday in Morocco I did have a snake put round my shoulders......I have no immediate need of experiencing it again - but would rather that than have a spider on my hand!

OK, so if you've managed to get to the end of this list, guess what? it's your turn now....

Just for Janine!

The links thing, with thanks due to Debs (aka Buttercup) from the Crafts by Carolyn forum.

(In Blogger) What you need to do is
type the words that you want to be a hyperlink ie Northumberland photos,
select them
click on the little hyperlink button at the top of the post editing panel
when the pop up box appears, type or paste in the URL you want the link to go to ie the http link to your gallery
click OK

Monday prevarication

Another warm and sunny day - if a bit on the humid side.

I've loads to do, I really must get started on that card order - if only inspiration would strike. If any of you have any going spare, please send it my way, will you?

In order to put off the moment when I really do have to do some of the stuff on my list, I've just spent the last hour resizing and uploading some of my photos Northumberland photos from our recent trip. I hope you'll find time to take a look.

(with BIG thanks to Debs for telling me how to make the link thing work!)

Lofty

Hubby and my Cuz have worked so hard today, clearling the loft ready for the new insulation. Not the best of days to be in a loft, it's been baking hot all day, but at least it's ll ready for the work to be done on Thursday. You wouldn't believe how filthy everything was, thank goodness we had the foressight to cover the landing, stairs and hall with dustsheets. They had to make two trips to the dump - this is all other people's rubbish that has just been left up there, how can people not clear their houses properly when they move on? grrrrr.


I managed to keep out of the way of the really dirty work and stuck to the clearing up and providing plenty of food and cold drinks for two mucky, hot, hungry and thirsty men. Having the two showers working now proved very useful today!

I thought I'd post the latest card template challenge on here too, just in case any non-forum people stumble across my blog and want to play!

And here are the cards I've made so far using the template

I'm not a great football fan, but thought Father's Day and the World Cup could come trogether pretty well with this template!

That was the week that was

Woohoo another lovely warm and sunny day, gosh that must be about 10 in a row, wow!
Unfortunately my hayfever has been particularly bad the last couple of days and has sent me running indoors to nice dark rooms while my poor eyes settle down and stop watering like crazy.
Anyway, it's Friday and what have I done this week? Not a lot to be honest. Sue came round for coffee on Tuesday, I gave her the guided tour of the house then we sat in the garden and had a damn good natter. My SA kit arrived while she was here and we oohed and ahhed over the lovely paper in there - but only one piece of ribbon? We were shocked.
I made the mistake of doing some digging on Wednesday morning. I had some plants that really needed planting, but as usual I went hell for leather at it and ended up red faced, boiling hot and dripping so much I hardly needed to water in the new plants. Ok so you didn't really need or want to hear that. Found out just how useful and refreshing a downstairs shower can be though. Two days later and I'm still aching like mad which is a good enough excuse not to do any more digging I suppose.
Crafty wise, I still have the same batch of cards to make for an order that I had 2 weeks ago - I really need a good kicking to get them done, don't I?
I'm involved with a Circle Journal thing at the moment - the first time any of those involved have tried one of these and although I was really really worried about joining in, I must say I'm loving it. I can't go into any more detail because we're trying to keep our pages secret until the journals get back to their owners, but I can say it's great fun - a real challenge, sometimes very scary, but such a change from the other stuff I do that I'm already thinking "ooooh I hope we can do this again soon" which is pretty scary to someone as lazy as me.
I've got jewellery to make, sewing to do and loads of other stuff, but that flippin' CJ is just mesmerizing...

Normal Service has Been Resumed

Woohoo
We have our house back!
I waved MIL off this morning for her trip back to the airport and home. Obviously I won't rest completely easy till I know the plane has landed her safely back home, but at least the first leg is over.
Apaarently the England Football Team is flying out from Luton later today too so all I can say is they'd better watch out for a mad woman with yellow hair....

Best quote of the weekend:
When asked if she had her sister's new phone number in her mobile as we didn't have it
"Oh no, I only keep peoples' mobile numbers in there, because when I'm at home I can ring their ordinary phone numbers, can't I?"


nuff said?

Castlemania 1

OK so MIL has gone out for the day with her sister who now lives near us (you've no idea how much pleasure this gives me!), so I thought I'd dig out some of the photos from previous trips up to my home county, and show you just some of the fantastic castles we have in Northumberland. I love castles - probably because I grew up so close to so many of them!


These three are of Dunstanburgh Castle, the first is the view from just outside Craster village taken as you make the long walk towards it

Eventually you reach the gates!





Alternatively you can approach from the village of Embleton
on other side - it's just as long a walk.
This is the view from the beautiful Embleton Beach




Two photos of Bamburgh Castle, one from the beach
and the other taken inside the castle grounds.

Castlemania 2

One of my favourite photos of Lindisfarne Castle. We were in Northumberland because Hubby had been working for Enron and when that all went Pear-Shaped we found ourselves with some spare time! It was nearly Christmas so not much around in the way of a new contract so off we went for a little extra holiday! We were so lucky with the weather that week - it was freezing cold every day, but the sun shone all the time and the light was just amazing. This photo was taken just as the sun was starting to go down and we were about to get back in the car for the drive back across the causeway.

Prudhoe Castle dominates the little town. There's a fantastic approach to the castle through various stone arches before you reach the castle precinct.

On the right is Etal Castle, not a great picture but it's all I could find without going through the photo boxes. Etal itself is a picture postcard pretty village worth a visit if you're ever in the vicinity

Alnwick Castle - is it the most famous of the Northumbrian castles? It appears in the Harry Potter films and probably loads of other films and TV stuff too for all I know.

What I DO know is that we've failed miserably every time we've tried to get in there for one reason or another, so it's still on the "to-do" list.

Belsay (pron Bel-sa) is a lovely castle in the grounds of Belsay Hall - a wonderful place to visit, with fantastic gardens to wander through on the way to the castle. We were there in the Springtime - you can see all the snowdrops in the grass if you look closely.

Timing!

I blame Carol.

Yesterday I was due to pick MIL up from the airport, her flight was due in at 11.55 I needed to be there by about 12.10 so I didn't have to overstay my welcome in the "drop off/pick up" area.
I had an email from Carol and she mentioned something which started me off on a rant of a reply. I glanced at my watch and thought "bum, it's quarter to and I'm going to be late..." (actually it wasn't "bum" but you can imagine, I'm sure)
I grab jacket, keys and dash out of the house, completely forgetting my circle journal package which is already late getting in the post (sorry Kel), jump in the car and head for the delight that is Luton Airport, and the wonderful (not) prospect of a few days with MIL for company.
Every set of traffic lights is on red. There are roadworks in Hitchin and I'm stuck in a queue which was literally a mile long. Good run up the 507, but just as I reach the 30 mile limit I get stuck behind a really slow truck. I'm soooooo late.
But, what's this? No sign of MIL - but its 25 past, surely she must be through by now? I ring Hubby "Can you check the flight's on time because I'm here and there's no sign of her"
"Why are you there already?"
I look at my watch again and the penny begins to drop
he continues " The plane's not even due to arrive for another 30 minutes......"

Great. Fab. What a pillock