Tuesday 26 November 2013

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Sunday 24 November 2013

Busy again

November 24, 2013 0 Comments
Sorry I haven't been on to update my blog, it's been a busy November so far. MP's Dad, Henri has been unwell and sadly died on 4th November, so MP and I made the trip down to London for the funeral on the 7th. 

 Funny, we used to do the trip regularly when we lived down there but not having done it for a while it seemed such a long way away. We stayed in a lovely hotel at Hampton Wick, The White Heart which was just across the bridge from Kingston and 10 minutes from Teddington and whilst the boys went to do funeral prep I went into Kingston and did a bit of shopping.

 When I moved down to Surrey after MP and I got married I was really homesick and didn't know many people or places. Kingston and Guildford became places I would often take myself off to just to pass some time, so it was lovely to go back albeit in not so pleasant circumstances.

 The funeral went well. It was lovely to see so many people, family and friends, turn out to give Henri a send off and MP did everyone proud when he stood up to give an impromptu eulogy. 

 So with this and MP having to go up and down to London most weekends leaving me with Sam, I haven't got much scrapping done. I have however made a serious dent in my Christmas pressie shopping :o)

 My short trip down south did remind me of some things though:

 The traffic is a nightmare down there - you think we have jams here but its constant nose to tail traffic there and cyclists take their life in their hands every journey

 It's several degrees warmer - outside the pub in November, coat optional

 I still love the parakeets - made my day to see (and hear) them flying around

 The North is my home.

 Back soon with an update.
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Wednesday 30 October 2013

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Never too old for magic

October 30, 2013 3 Comments
Just come back from a great couple of days down south with Team B. We drove down Monday, worried about the horrendous weather hitting the UK, to have a great journey with blue skies all the way. We spent the night in Hemel Hempstead, did a bit of shopping and stuffed our faces at an all you can eat Chinese buffet and had an early night ready for the point of our journey. 

 Next day we were up early, breakfasted, packed and on the road to ........













We all had a great time, all the costumes, props and sets we are all so familiar with from the Harry Potter films were there along with butter beer and chocolate frogs. We wandered around for about 2 1/2 hours and could have spent longer. The shop at the end of the tour sold everything Harry Potter and Hogwarts you could imagine, except the one thing I wanted .......... a Muggle baseball cap or key ring (my big black Maine Coon was called Muggle).

175 photographs later, here are a few of my favourites:


The Great Hall



The potions classroom and Professor Snape

Dumbledores office 


The sleeping pictures in Dumbledores office


The Dursley's house where Harry lived under the stairs


The Weasley's joke shop on Diagon Alley 

Then it was time for the drive home. A good time was had by all 
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Sunday 29 September 2013

Having a go

September 29, 2013 3 Comments
It's been a really busy couple of weeks since we got back from holidays. I've been full of a cold and feeling lousy and I have been manning safeguarding single handed, so not a huge amount of time or felt like scrapping.

 This weekend I'm feeling better so I decided to have a go at the Skissedilla sketch challenge #226. I've been following for quite a while but never done one in time to enter, so this month I've gone for it.

 Here is the sketch and here's my entry.




















Thanks for looking.
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Sunday 22 September 2013

Summertime

September 22, 2013 0 Comments
Just back from a lovely break in Montenegro with MP. What a stunning place. 10 days of sun (and temps in the 30's), eating way too much (buffet meals in the hotel) and exploring the beautiful old towns and spectacular coastline.

Took loads of photos so really keen to get on with some scrapping, here's a taster of what we saw .......


Cetijne

Budva

Prevest

Kotor

and what we ate ........

All manner of weird things from the buffet

Fabulous milkshakes and iced coffee

A good old fashioned cheese sandwich

Some strange pastry filled with tomato ketchup

Apple cake to die for

massive slices of pizza - my favourite 


and of course no holiday would be complete without the local cats





 
and chilling ..........
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Monday 15 July 2013

Lovely weekend

July 15, 2013 0 Comments
Just had a lovely long weekend. Had a flexi day on Friday and as it was my Dads birthday we went off to Marks and Spencer's at Warrington to do a bit of well needed shopping. Well I say well needed, for Dad certainly not for me :o) Although I did find a few things I really needed.

After shopping we just had to go and have a birthday lunch. They have built a Frankie and Benny's near by and Dad likes the food there so we had to indulge and then the drive back to his house with the air conditioning on full blast to save us from the summer heat.

Friday evening saw MP and I spending 3 hours putting together the new BBQ. Ours disintegrated when we moved it to clean the front of the house, so in the hope we will get a summer and a chance to use it this year, we forked out on a new one.

Saturday morning was another scorcher.  A nice walk with Sam at Hardcastle Craggs, a spot of shopping for supplies in Tod and back home to do some much needed cleaning in anticipation of my friends The Copes coming to visit.

A nice afternoon sat out in the sun catching up and Dad arrived just in time for the food.

The Copes chilling

Dad supervising MP

I had a go at making Sangria, which seemed to go down well and even found time to rustle up a quick birthday cheesecake for my Dad.

Leftovers

The Copes left early Sunday to miss the heat and MP, Sam and I had a lazy day, with a long siesta. 

So the weekend went all too quickly but it was really nice to see Susan, Danny and Marc and to actually do something for a change.

Back soon with another update.
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Monday 8 July 2013

Disgustingly absent .....

July 08, 2013 1 Comments
I've been meaning for ages to update my blog, time and daft facebook games got the better of me, so finally I sit myself down (way too hot to be outside) and do some catching up ..........

 January
We had some good weather and we had some bad weather, there were pyjama days and working from home days. MP had his post cataract check up done (both eyes done in December) and we saw Princess Anne driving through the town we live in.
I started doing project life so took pictures of anything that moved (and didn't). Oh and went a bit blonder.
The road to our house.

February
Quiet month. 
Got a new job, so no redundancy for me. As of 1st April will be part of the adults and children's safeguarding team. Can't wait.
Went to Scotland, sadly for the funeral of my friends mum, May McGhee. Lovely to see everyone but not in circumstances like that.

Early morning view from the Lakeside Hotel, Cumnock

March
Glorious start to spring, sat out drinking coffee and playing with Sam. A Birthday ice cream at Hollingworth Lake. Fabulous presents including a mini sewing machine and some Greenday Converse pumps.
Then more snow and this time really bad. Not due to volume but high winds and extreme drifting.
Booked a holiday for later in the year - Montenegro.
The first crocus's and wey hey the curlews are back - Spring is here.

Yum Yum

April
Started new job and off to a conference in York, think I could get used to this! Got the train for the first time in ages (expenses) - must go back this summer and have a better look around.
Moved desks! Much better view of who's coming now.
Weather improving.
Finally decorated the last of our spare bedrooms (only been 6 years since we moved in).
World Book Night - got Damage by Josephine hart.

The York 'Eye'

May 
MP's brother Tom came to visit. He had corporate tickets for Manchester United v Chelsea at Old Trafford and kindly took my Dad along for a treat.
Hair went darker again.
Got stuck for hours on the M62 (good view of the air ambulance though) coming back from a meeting in Dewsbury.
Had a bad fire on the moors behind the house.
Made friends with a chicken and the first lambs and calves of the year.

Sam teaching Tom how to play frisbee

June
Some lovely weather and nice walks with Sam.
Father's day lunch at the Millstone at Mellor - wonderful food.
An x-ray of my arm following a fall in the snow (yes I left it a while).
A trip to Manchester to the theatre.

Me and my Dad x

So we are finally up to date on what I've been up to. Again, there's no crafting pics here but rest assured Project Life has been keeping my busy. I am up to date, fair enough I'm not doing the weekly spreads like some folk but rather monthly, but it still takes some doing.

It has served to get me scrapping again, something that had tailed off towards the end of 2012, and I am finally making a dent in all the Studio Calico kits lying around.

I've also been busy decorating some canvas's to go into the newly finished bedroom, so my hands have not been idle.

Next post (hopefully before Christmas) will display some of the fruits of my labour. So till then x
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