Some summing up

Its been a pretty crazy couple of months around here.  The children went on school holidays and a couple of weeks later we had a new little boy in the family.  Baby T is my Great Nephew and he is now 5 weeks old.  He and his Mum and Dad moved the week he was born and they are now sadly nearly 3 hours away so the poor little sausage gets the life squeezed out of him when he visits as we take turns to hold him.

He has been down visiting this week and so we helped out by having Harvey, their lovely Staffordshire Bull Terrier for a doggy sleepover.

Between baby-watching and doggy sitting, we've not achieved much this week I can tell you!  We just about managed to fit in a quick snuggle with my other Great Nephew, Baby E who arrived in the world last week (you might remember from this post.)  He is now a whopping 4lbs and 10oz!  Even Management managed to get a snuggle of this one!

Two babies in a week is almost more than Miss Bella can handle.  Throw Harvey the dog into the mix and we have been a little... erm... overexcited to say the least.

She has found the slightly longer days at preschool really hard to adjust to with all this extra excitement going on.  At the end of the week it was all too much for her... bless!

I was really glad to get back to a routine again and part of that routine is the monthly Artful Angels crop.  This month we were visited by Handmade Treasures with her lovely displays of ribbons and buttons that looked like a lovely sweetshop.  I admit, I broke my stash diet here but only a little bit.  I used some of the stuff on Thursday when my friend came over for a scrappy play date and I managed to catch up on a few projects.

So we are now 2 weeks into the school term and I have no plans to visit or be visited by any babies or dogs this week, or to go to or host any crops.  I've also decided that as I didn't get off to a very good start with all this going on, I am not going to try to catch up or continue with LSNED this year.  I have too much to keep me occupied to be going backwards.  I can start exercising again this week and my new course starts in about 10 days time so I need to get as much done as I can before then.  Look at all these lovely books!

My routine will be a little different from now on that it was before the summer holidays but I really hope it will take me forward as I have really stalled in the last year or so with all the goings on and I can really feel the difference in my mood.  I thought if I shared my resolutions here then I might be more accountable to actually continuing with them.  So:

I want to get back to my running and hopefully start to attend the regular Park Runs held locally.
I want to make real progress with my weight loss and head towards losing another 2 stone.
I want to engage more with the children in the precious times that we have together now.
I want to get back to enjoying cooking by planning ahead and researching my Slimming World recipe books.
I want to stay in control of the house in terms of the housework, the de-cluttering and the decorating.
I want to make positive progress with my shoulder injury.
I want to keep on track with my coursework and start to look for outlets for my work.
I want to make progress on my unfinished projects and keep adding to my haul of finished layouts.
I want to make progress with my photo workflow.
I want to be calm and happy and feeling like I am moving forward.

Feel free to nag me, if you got this far you deserve it! ;-)

Bye for now
xx

Ready for September

Well that was August.  Over in a flurry of showers and the occasional sunny moment.  September will bring a few changes here at Castle Johnson with Bella at preschool for 3 days and me going back to studying with the Open University.  I will also be going back to the gym to test the progress on my shoulder (or not) and I'm hopeful that by the end of the month, I will be the lightest that I have been for many years and dipping under the next stone mark at Slimming World.

Of course I will be recording this journey with Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday.  You don't have to be a scrapbooker or a crafter of any sort to join in with this particular class because this is about the lessons we learn everyday and recording them in whichever way suits us individually.

I've mentioned before about my album, saved from last year, so here it is.  This is a bare chipboard album covered with Pink Paisley "Old School" papers and random bits from my stash.

This is the inside cover and I've cut all my pages to size and hole punched them ready to go.  I plan to do a lot of journalling this year.

This morning I finally finished my owls.  These will be the date markers with a little white number on their smart tummies, and I think I will add them to a label shape for the journalling.

Louis would like to show you his book that he made too.  We used the papers that come with Scrapbook Magazine (which I dislike intensely but are perfect for the children) and glued them back to back.  Then we cut them to size (6x4 so we can easily add photos where needed) and he rounded all the corners.  Then he cut the title element and wrote it out (several times as he wasn't happy with it) and made his own owl and a little flag.  He got very excited about we put it all together and almost combusted when I showed him how to insert the pin into the foam tape of the title!

He's got lots of different papers in his book and the spare bits are in a bag.  He has punched some shapes ready to decorate his pages and made a little pocket for these and his gems that he wants to use.  I tell you this kid is a chip off the old block!

September also sees a return of the Artful Angels crops and I am so excited because I get to take my new bag.  Look at this beauty!!!

The fabulous Lunch Lady Jan made it for me especially to fit my trimmer which won't fit in my rolling tote.  It is exactly what I wanted - pockets on the outside for my keys and purse and long straps to make it easier on my shoulder.

She chose the fabrics herself and I think she knows me well enough that she got it spot on, literally!  Pink polka dots and a pink and aqua tea cup fabric!  (She knows I love tea!)  She also made it extra sturdy by using a special backing.  I love it!

Louis took some photos of me "wearing" it but I looked awful so I ended up just holding it out so you can see all its gorgeousness.  I am very lucky to have such a talented and wonderful friend and I am planning a little something to say thank you in return.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a cup of tea to drink.

Bye for now

xx

Learn Something New Everyday

Can you believe it is almost September?  I found a leaf this morning that was scarlet, so beautiful, and I knew  Autumn was suddenly saying hello.  September always brings Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday class and last year I got very organised with making my own album, cutting all the pages to size etc.  For some reason, I never even completed day 1.  I made mental notes about what I was learning and most of it related to the exercise programmes that I was trying to achieve.  In the end, I took the photos that related to my lessons and this weekend I made a double page layout with those instead of the album.

I printed my journalling in a list and then cut it into strips.

I'm happy that they overlap the photos which is something I wouldn't normally do, because the journalling is the most important thing here.  

Of course, the end of September was when my Step-Mum died suddenly but this wasn't  about that at all and I didn't want to make a big thing of it here.  I made a note in relation to 29th which might sound a bit harsh on its own but I intend to do another page that preceeds this one with the story of that evening - I was on my way to the gym when I got the phone call.

I used Echo Park Paper's This and That Graceful collection because the pinks and reds were a great match for my red vest and pink iPod cover.

I can tell you that I have lost NO weight since then due to hovering around the same half stone mark but I have carried on with Slimming World because I knew if I stopped I would start gaining!  My shoulders are still causing me great problems so I have had to suspend my gym membership.  The next step is another MRI looking at a different area but I am going back to the gym in September regardless to work on the bits I can.  Although I am sad that the summer holidays are almost over, I am quietly looking forward to the changes that it will bring and I will have much to record for LSNED this year!

I haven't wasted the album from last year though.  I have changed the date to 2012 and got my basket of supplies ready and I am busy making owls to use for my journalling.  I'll share my preparations in another post very soon.  What are you looking forward to about September?  Anyone else joining us for LSNED this year?

Bye for now
xx

Having a ball!

I am sat here perched on a gym ball at my desk instead of lounging on my sofa.  I am currently running the risk of not being to able to use my right arm at all and ending up having surgery so I am desperately trying to do anything I can to repair the damage.  Sitting on the ball means I am working my core and not slouching, so that's all good.  Except that every time I move, the rubber squeaks against the laminate flooring and makes constant farting noises.  I keep having to call out "It was the ball!"  The massage I had the other day was very nice except that we have discovered that I can't lay on my front for long enough for her to do her work.  The bottom of my back seizes up and I can't get off the couch because my spine is not used to being in properly straight, the natural curvature of my back goes the wrong way and curls under - another reason the ball is king.  Basically I think I am just getting old!  The massage possibly caused all my remaining viral toxins to come out though because I went from feeling better to feeling like I had been kicked down my back by a horse.  And my glands are STILL swollen and my throat is still sore.  All of this is not conducive to going to the gym or getting on top of my crafting projects, I can tell you!

One thing I have managed to do though, is to re cover the pizza box.  This time I just used straight PVA and plain book papers but then swiped over it with Distress Inks.  This gave me more of the look I was going for.

I heat embossed a little label made from an XCut die and attached it with a pearly brad.  Its not the neatest box on the block but I'm halfway through my next box and I am already much more pleased with it.

You can see the edges here have lifted a bit but these bits are mostly hidden once it is on the shelf.

Its quite a tight fit in the good old Expedit and I will have to chop the tops off of any pieces that have the barcode strip but this doesn't bother me.  I have a larger box in construction which will overhang the shelf but there is a gap at the back so it will actually line up okay and I can put the larger PP in there if the branding strips bother me.

You may have also noticed that I have started to fiddle with the blog design.  Its not going well and I can't get any of the header's to attach so I have given up for now.  I've also been thinking about why I started the blog in the first place and that I have neglected my "journey" a bit on here.  I am going to have to remedy that very soon but for now I must walk around and do some more of my exercises or my physioterrorist might sit me on the naughty step.  I should be so lucky! ;-)

Bye for now
xx