4 Cats and an awful lot of mess

Hi. August is disappearing at a great rate of knots, the curlews seem to have gone and the swifts seem to be dwindling in numbers, which means they are heading off soon for warmer climates and autumn/winter is on its way.

On a cheerier note ........

MP and I had more visitors last week/weekend. His little brother (not the littlest thats Tom) came for a visit all the way from Chicargi (Chicago USA) bringing his new lady friend Lesley with him.

Dan and Lesley

Having spent a week in Scotland they stopped off with us Friday night before heading back to London on Saturday morning. They arrived slightly later than planned thanks to Tom's satnav which took them to the middle of the Trough of Bowland! Having arrived we went to Frankie and Benny's for dinner, watched some Top Gear (seems they are fans but it's about 2 seasons behind in the US) then retired for the night.

Saturday I was up bright and early for trip to Art From The Heart with my UKS buddy Kathb. Nice run up, glorious weather and the top off the jeep, so sun burnt neck but worth it. Arrived at an industrial estate on the edge of Harrogate and parked up. AfTH was on the first floor of what could only be described as a modern mill, with dark staircases and corridors. Inside the shop however was a stark contrast to the outside, colourful, bright and full of incredible treasures. Sadly the new Tim Holtz stuff wasn't in but we still managed to spend our pocket money. I bought some paper mache heart to alter, paper, buttons and a wooden mini book to alter.

Lunch on the way back, well it would be rude not to as Kath likes to say, of a brie and bacon toast and chips at a nice pub on the Skipton road.

Sunday MP and I were going to go out for a walk, inspired by the short walk at Rivington Barn the previous Saturday but alas this was not to be. MP's clutch cable on this bike needed replacing and after getting a new one made (trip to Blackburn), spending hours replacing it (coz he didn't tie string to the old one before removing so the new one would slip straight back in) he found out it was too long (the man who made it did it the same length as the old one, not taking into account it had stretched). So Sunday consisted of a bit of scrapping, altering my album and a long siesta on the couch with the boys.

And before you know it, it's Monday again and time to go off to work ............

I know I've said this before ...... but where has the month gone? Seems only 5 minutes since I updated this blog but it isnt! I guess it has been a busy month and August looks to be as busy again. So a round up of July is called for ...........

The Monday after the Warrington crop. MP dropped me off at work, at the usual ungodly hour and carried on to his work driving my car. At 8am I get a call from MP to say that some numpty had hit my car in the carpark! The numpty in question (male) had gone down the drivers side whilst trying to get into the space next door and damaged from the bumper along to the middle of the passenger door, including the wheel arch and alloy wheel. So followed the obligatory calls to the insurance company, the underwriters and the car hire people and off went my car two days later on the back of a transporter for fixing.

So I get a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 sporty thing in black, and I have to say it looks pretty nice ..... till you get inside. Oh my God, who chose the nasty grey plastic!!! It's supposed to look silver and flash but it just looks cheap and nasty, shame on you Vauxhall. Then there's the back window. How on earth are you supposed to see out of it! Maybe they rely on the fact most people don't look in their rear view mirrors!!

Still, at least I had wheels, which meant that on Saturday 11th July I was able to travel to Warrington to a lovely village hall in Great Sankey for the Srapagogo Colour Me Happy class day. What a great day this turned out to be. I did feel as if my head was going to explode mid morning but then I have only been to one other day of organised classes and forgotten what it's like. We did 5 different classes over the day (pics to be posted later as not finished any of them yet) and tried a variety of different methods. Big thanks to Lorraine and the other Scrapagogo girls for a well organised, informative and fun day out.

16th July MP and I went to Harrogate to the Great Yorkshire show. Great day out, the sun was shining and I have the sun burn to prove it. Watched some displays, wandered round the stalls selling everything you could think of, ate ice cream and fell in love with some ferrets.

The highlight was the food hall. Wandering around we I saw a familiar name and galloped over. When I worked at St Peter's hospital in Chertsey (2000 - 2004) they used to rent out little stalls in main entrance to different people to sell things. Now some of it was naff, plastic goods, clothes etc but sometimes it was nice, handbags and one stall that used to come every couple of months sold samosas, curry sauces and the most fantastic lime pickle. Now before I left to move back up norf, I stocked up on sauces and pickle as sadly they didn't do mail order so imagine my joy to see Anila's stand at the Great North show and to find out that they now do mail order, have a website and some local stockists. So again I stocked up and I will definitely be buying from them on a regular basis. If you fancy a treat, follow the link on Anila's name, you won't be disappointed.

Friday 24th July saw MP and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and this year I remembered, even bought him a suitably amusing card - which sums up our relationship

and for what must be the second time in 10 years of marriage (he was a lot better pre wedding but then aren't they all) MP bought me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers

The 24th also saw my car arrive home safely all fixed and looking perfect. Although the man was not happy about having to deliver it to the house at 5.30am and the arrival of my best friends, The Copes, Susan, Danny, Jenna and Marc for a visit. Sadly, Lauren the eldest of the 3 monsters couldn't come as she is busy working between years at Uni, but it was great to see them after 10 months. It has become an annual thing for them to visit around the time of our anniversary, and I think they come just to laugh oh and check we are still together as they were at the Big day itself.

On the Saturday, with the forecast of a nice sunny day, we planned a BBQ. My mum and dad came over, MP did a stirling job of keeping the food coming and the rest of us a stirling job of eating it.

The Copes (minus Marc, who was bored and went in)

Mum

The last bit of chicken no one could eat

Catching up on the news

Couldn't believe how grown up my God daughter Jenna is. She's 15 now and a real young lady, just wish she'd wear more clothes though, she'll catch her death of cold!

Jenna - Pretty in Pink

Sunday we hit the Trafford Centre where we shopped till we dropped, literally. I was soo good, only buying the new Greenday CD, Marc bought a Liverpool football shirt and Jenna the some lovely electric blue shoes, which made Susan and I all nostalgic about the 80's, although I think she was taking the micky about my electric blue eye liner!!

I took the Monday off work and the Copes left for the long journey back to Scotland, the cats could all come out of hiding and the end of a lovely few days.