Me on Monday .... a weekend of whoosh and you missed it.

Hello to Sian and all the other Monday-ers.   Well it was a weekend of not much, that went in a flash and where it was Sunday night before Saturday morning had sunk in.

I normally write my post on said Sunday evening but I just didn't have the oomph to write it.

So I feel a bit late but it is still Monday so here goes.

Taken in bad light but it's me on Monday :)

It was a Saturday of nice sunshine and getting some laundry done to peg outside. 

It then became a wet and grey Saturday as soon as the washer finished. 

Whilst waiting for the washing machine I did a little more work on my December mini-book.  I really need to get it finished tonight since I need to start filling it tomorrow! 

It was nearly 1pm before I knew, which meant a quick trip to a Christmas Fayre being held by the girl child's dance school. 

It had to be a quick trip because we had hair appointments in Chesterfield (about a 30 minute drive away) at 3pm, but needed to
(a) park - always a nightmare later in the day on Saturdays - and
(b) do some pre-cut shopping.


Parking was threatening to be the predicted nightmare.  Normally we park in an open car park but it was pouring with rain so we headed to the nearest multi-story.  It seemed most of Derbyshire had the same idea as the queue was enormous.

So I turned left with the intention of heading to the original car park ... and spotted that there was on street parking with pay meters and at £3 for 4 hours not to ridiculous a price.   Job done!

Not taken on Saturday - too much rain then!

The girl child perused New Look, trying on several pairs of boots before disappearing from view.  She does this frequently on shopping trips.  She did it once in Tesco's when she was 2 or 3.... turns out she was playing hide and seek in the clothes rails.  Security was stopping anyone with children from leaving (just in case) before I found her - oh the embarrassment of it all.

Anyway New Look was swapped for Primark, from which she never leaves without at least one item.  This time it was a pair of boots, socks, some Christmas baubles for her tree and matching tinsel. I got a table cloth and Christmas runner.  Not bad for a quick look around.

We both looked stunning after the hairdressers .... until we went out into the howling wind and rain.  The umbrella did little to stop us from looking like drowned rats by the time we reached the car.  My hairdresser recently won Midlands Hairdresser of the Year, he is wonderful .... so it was really annoying to get home looking bedraggled.

The evening consisted of lots of TV watching - Strictly, Dr Who, Casualty and I'm a Celebrity - which fitted together without too much clashing.

Sunday involved the usual food shop and then the day just disappeared.  I did some worksheets for using with students today ... but the internet was down at work so I couldn't access them. 

Note to self - take in a back up on a memory stick!

It was also a making mincemeat Sunday ... although my OH takes the credit for that and for the scrummy mince pies.  He's now used half of it for the Christmas puds, which he has steaming on the hob as I type.

 

 

Anyway that was my weekend - hope you had a good one and thanks for popping by

Louise x

Me on Monday ... the very cold weekend one

Hello everyone and a big thank you to Sian for kindly hosting Me On Monday.

Some purchased floral cheer.

 

It was a fairly quiet weekend, with too much time spent on paperwork and not enough spent on housework!  Saturday saw us wake up to a smattering of snow - it was only really present around the edge of the garden and on car windscreens.  I was going to take a photo but there wasn't enough to really show up (and I certainly wasn't venturing out into the biting cold!).

I did have to dash out eventually in order to post some happy mail and stock up on bread and milk.  Somehow we ended up popping into the local church - Saint Mary Magdalene's for a spot of bell ringing.

Not my photo - I didn't have my camera of course - this is from The Dispatch, our local paper.

I was rather traumatised by the 23 steps that were very steep, narrow and spiralled dizzyingly up to the bell ringing area. 

It was worse going down - I had to turn around and almost crawl down... so embarrassing!

But it was very interesting to listen to the above gentleman tell us all about the bells and how they are rung.  They are looking for people to join so that the bells can be rung more frequently.  If it wasn't for the steps up and down I would be tempted.

I watched an old Denzil Washington film whilst the youngest child was at a Guides crafting event and caught up on some 'I'm a celebrity...' that I had missed the night before.

I also got some washing pegged out AND dried, despite it being very ,very cold outside. 

Before I knew it was time for Strictly, Dr Who (I really wasn't expecting that!) and Casualty.  I watched most of Celebrity and then went to bed.

When I woke up on Sunday I thought it was Saturday for a few minutes and was then very disappointed when I realised it wasn't. 

It was a getting the jobs done day, having Sunday Dinner early rather than late, watching an Eddie Murphy film, planning lessons and trying to write a test (and failing) Sunday. 

It was also a buying some Christmas cups Sunday.

There are two more similar to this - the picture was too blurry!

Normally I would have bought identical cups, because cups should match and be coordinated.

But of course cups are fragile, especially when handled by my husband when he doesn't want to be loading the dishwasher.

So we have lots of un-matching cups.  It is my intention to buy 2 or 3 more cups (which will be the same as some of these) but my hope is that by having a mix and match collection it won't be quite so annoying when one of them gets broken....

....or chipped by someone grumpily loading the dishwasher.

I hope you have had a good week and a weekend of note.  I am hoping to have time tonight to get around and visit you all ... but I do have some marking to do that has been hanging like a millstone around my neck for a week.  If I don't see you today I promise I'll be round tomorrow!  We have another big union meeting at work (also one at ACAS) today, it seems to be two steps forward and one step back.  I think today is going to be make or break but I've reached the stage of 'whatever will be will be'....

...which makes me think of Doris Day singing 'Que Cera, Cera' and you can not help but smile with that thought in your head.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by

Louise x

Recording December and day #16

I started to write this post this morning.  I knew clearly what I was going to write and the message I wanted to share.  This dissolved into mist as I actually committed thought to paper.  This is nothing like the post I was meaning to write.



I read a lovely post by Sian, where she shared with us her plans for recording a very special time for her family.

Well it made me wonder whether I should try to complete my own mini-book/album.

The two popular courses to follow seem to be December Daily and Journal Your Christmas.  To be honest I'm not keen on paying for a course because I
am not confident that I would 'use' it.

Although perhaps the fact that I had shelled out cold hard cash would make me more focused and determined to 'keep up'. 

But then this ties into the fact that I don't want to feel pressured into making, recording and completing a Christmas album/journal during such a busy time of year.

On the other hand I can feel time and precious memories slipping away from me. 

I don't want to regret not recording these in some way either! 




I've admired some stampin' up project life cards on Fiona's blog.  And this led to me seeing other goodies to hang my nose over. 

But I am on a stash diet.............and.............

......... I have a rather large American Crafts Christmas papers and feel that perhaps I ought to use these up first!

Somewhere I have an old mini-album from a QVC kit.  So I am going to challenge myself to make this into a Christmas album and use it to document December 2015.

I'll be back to let you know how it is going. 

And now I have written it here I am hopefully little more committed to getting it done!

All about Me... and post #15 half way there!

One recent prompt on the 30 day blogging challenge (which is more for business blogs) was about improving your 'About' page. 

Well I have the short profile on the sidebar but decided to write a little lot more an, give it a proper page all of its own. 

You can find it as a tab just above the post title.

Feel free to visit.  I did go on a bit so you might want to make a cup of tea and go to the bathroom first :)

Writing it also inspired the LAST post I wrote, garnered from looking through old photos ... which I love to do. 

And haven't mentioned on my 'About' page so there is something to add - some random likes and dislikes.

Or I could do a post and link it to the page. 

I'm going to stop there before I have created myself a dozen new things to do - I've got the laundry and pots to sort out before that!

Louise x

Memories From A Photo....

So on Sunday I wrote this post, and included this photo of my brother and I at my Grandparents' house (paternal).
 

 
 
I mentioned that there were quite a few stories/memories contained in just that one photo.
 
Some of them are more anecdotal and some are tied to my emotions.
 
So in no particular order here are some of them...
 
#1  The Caterpillar Ride-On Toy
 

One of my earliest memories is of waking up on Christmas Day and finding this wonderful toy next to my bed. 
 
Although I occasionally wonder if I am making that up or if I insisted on sleeping with it in my room because I don't remember it being wrapped up.
 
My sister is four years younger than me and I'm not sure if I am 3 or 4 in that photo.  But I do seem to remember adults suggesting that she could inherit the toy when I grew too old for it.
 
My mental response was along the lines of 'over my dead body'... but I was too well brought up to protest the fact.  I do remember insisting on using it when I was probably far too big - probably to prevent it being passed to said sister. 

We are now the sort of sisters who would share our last bean, so I do feel guilty.  But she had got MY bedroom when she was born and that takes a lot of forgiving!

You rested your feet on the front 'axel' and bounced up and down.  This made the caterpillar flex and contract and so you moved forward (or backwards if you got the timing wrong!)



#2 The silver and white Christmas tree

 
At the time I honestly thought that this white (with bits of silver) Christmas tree was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. 
 
I seem to remember us having a silver tree (rather like tinsel).  Compared to todays thick, luxurious and realistic trees these seem so, so ... sad.  But that tree came out for years and years and I loved it.

 

 

And talking of years and years..
 
 
 
#3 The carpet
 
You may be shaking your head in wonder now and wondering how a carpet can be an important memory.
 
Perhaps the fact that the carpet was bought by my grandparents at about the same time as my brother was born... and they still had it over 30 years later. 
 
It was worn through in places, probably where we as children had danced up and down to 'The Monster Mash' and 'March of the Mods'.  Where we had twirled and tumbled and done 'shows' for the adults.
 
It ended its life as a method to stop weeds at the bottom of our very (then) overgrown garden.
 
 
#4 Texaco Tanker
 
I remember riding on this down our garden path.  If you made an 'aaa' sound the vibrations of traveling along the path made your voice sound funny.
 
 

 

 
I also remember falling out and fighting with my brother to be able to play with this.
 
 
My mum still has the orange jeep and trailer - I think it was a Tonka toy.
 
 
#5 The recliner chair
 
This had a big handle on the side that allowed you to recline the chair. 
 

I am not sure if this is the recliner chair or not,
it used to get moved around.

 
Of course there were either 3 of us (and 5 if my cousin's were also visiting) so you can imagine the fall-outs we had. 
 
And yes sometimes it WAS falling out of it - or being dragged off it.
 
But it reclined!!!!!  

I think my Nana used to set her kitchen timer and we would each have a 'turn'. 

We usually got bored and climbed off long before our turn was up. 
 
Isn't that always the way with children?

There are other stories that spring to mind - but I shall save those for another 'Memories from a photo...' post.
 
Feel free to join in - and add a link to your blog if you wish.  If you do add a link I will visit and leave a comment.

See you soon

Louise x

Me on Monday ... the unwinding weekend

A big cheery wave to Sian and all my fellow Monday friends!  And bowing my head in prayer and sorrow with France.  I hope none of you have been directly impacted by this horrible event (other than to be as outraged and upset as most of us are)

Friday night saw the arrival of an email calling an emergency union meeting on Monday after work...but no explanation why. 

Not the best start to a weekend!  Emails then bounced around for the next few hours until a little more information was given which eased our minds.  Watching Children in Need helped take my mind of it too. 

Some of us found it quite annoying that we were being kept in the dark about things that involved us.  Thankfully it has been cleared up a little... although there are some difficult decision that will need to be made tonight. 

And I will be in a meeting with a parent - but have put my views on paper (*well email*) to be shared. 

I need to add that I am OVER being stressed by the emails and enjoyed the vast majority of the weekend, because you have proved yourselves to be a kind, warm-hearted and caring bunch of people that I now consider to be friends.

My darling husband volunteered to collect our sons at about 10.30pm.  They had been on a school trip to the Rugby Championships Cup between Leicester Tigers and Stade France.

 

I also got a second attack of the sneezy-coughs Friday night into Saturday.  I am not 'properly ill' but seem to have an annoying cold that flairs up for a day and then disappears again.  And annoyingly those flair up days seem to be weekend ones!

We did the usual Saturday shop - and couldn't resist these

 

 

 

In the afternoon my Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law popped around for a visit.  My Mum brought these (she's an amazing cook).  The cake is strictly for the children (unless no one is looking!)

 

 

 

 

 

At about the same time as we were expecting everyone to turn up my son announced he was meeting a friend.  The heavens choose that point to open and so he asked if they could come here.  (I can't believe he thought he needed to ask!)

 

He straightened the games room a bit - and I suggested he vacuum the settee (since the cat sneaks on there when no one is watching). 

 

Turns out there was a missing 'girl' in front of the friend bit.  If I had know I would have put on a better top and redone my hair.  She stayed for tea but we let them have the dining room (complete with drying washing) and we ate in the lounge. 

 

 

At one point we were going out the front door and in through the back to avoid keep walking through the room they were in (extensions do that to room layouts).  As it got colder, wetter and darker he had to put up with my husband going through to cook tea.

 

Sunday was a really lazy day.  Actually it wasn't, I did quite a bit of school prep and admin work but it feels like I'm lazing because I sit in the lounge using a laptop.

 

We enjoyed being able to watch the whole of a Grand Prix.  Good grief Lewis, stop being so sulky!

 

*loved Alonso's deckchair protest on Saturday though*

 

We had Sunday lunch this week (normally we eat it in the early evening so it's 'just' a Sunday roast).  With the dark afternoons *never mind evenings* it felt like the evening went on forever - quite welcome actually on a Sunday.

Then, as usual, it was Countryfile, the Strictly Results show and Antiques Roadshow before heading off to bed.

Hope yours was a stress-free weekend, and wishing you a wonderful week too,

thank you so much for visiting me

Louise x

Under construction ... oh and day #12 of the 30 days (lets ignore that I am almost a week behind)

I have decided to do an in depth 'about me' page - which you may have read about in my last post. 
 
It started out quite boringly - but as I have been writing it silly little memories have emerged from the hidden, dusty corners of my mind.
 

I am making brief mention of some of these, and have semi-decided (as in it seems a good idea now but I may change my mind) to take some of these memories from childhood and turn them into their own posts.
 
I discovered Sian and her Storytelling Sundays just as they came to an end.  I think this may be a similar type of post. 



I remember the dress (loved the smocked 'apron') which my Mum had made and the ride on caterpillar was one of my favourite toys ever.  You bounced up and down on it to make it 'go'.  There are other stories in this photo too that I hope to share at some point.



It won't be about an special object (although possibly it will start from a photo) and it won't be as regular as once a week ... I've already discovered I can't blog to schedule!

See you soon (I hope) with one of those stories

Louise x



When life gets in the way ...

Or the best laid plans of mice and men. 

So much for my grand decision to blog every other day or so ... it's just been one of those weeks.  So much so that I've only just got round to visiting most blogs tonight - I had about 40 unread posts on my bloglovin list!

So this is technically day 10 and today's prompt was about polishing your 'about me' page.  This is aimed at businesses and at first glance might seem another one to 'pass' on. 

However if you are anything like me ...

(I heard that 'I hope not' at the back!)

... you'll be nosey about your fellow bloggers.

Just what do they do, other than blogging and crafting.  How old are they?  What else have they ever done?  Have they got children, dogs, cats?  What is their favourite flavour of crisps?

So I AM going to update my blog and make a proper 'about me' page. 

I just need to decide what to put on it - I don't want it to be the worlds most boring CV.   And since it is half past eight on a Friday night I'm not going to start updating it now. 

But I would appreciate some (polite) suggestions of things I could include.

I'm going to try and be back before Me on Monday - but this time I am not making any plans ....

Thanks for popping by

Leave a comment if you have time

Louise x

Me on Monday - the getting further behind on blogging weekend

A huge hello to Sian and all the other Monday-ers - be they bloggers, commenters or just readers.   And hopefully you are all getting over those nasty colds that seem to have laid a lot of you low last weekend (the lovely host of this meme included).

Well it was a weekend of rugby letters, lazing (for me anyway, my darling hubby had quite a busy time), last minute visitors, mundane tasks and getting tired/bored of daily blogging!

The younger-by-one-minute son came home with a letter about a trip to watch a rugby match at Leicester on Friday.  His enthusiasm was overwhelming, so the forms were filled in and money found there and then, ready for Monday morning :)

Saturday morning and I was awake at the usual 5am - I'm sure a psychiatrist could explain what my mind is doing to me.  To add insult to injury it was still dark too. 

On a plus I took those extra hours (and a few more besides) to complete a double layout for a guest design team spot.  I just need to get some decent sunlight for a good photo - they need it in a few days - arggghhh!! 

My husband and the younger-by-one-minute son had taken a last minute decision to go to Donnington Park for the Winter Race.  They had a good time, despite the wet weather in the morning.

Whilst they were watching cars whizz around a track, by 11am I was ready to go back to bed!  Instead I slouched around watching TV for a while.  Eventually I prodded the youngest one off her iPhone and we went shopping for the Christmas Shoebox appeal.

I've just realised that it sounds as if she was sitting on the phone, but I think she was just on Oovoo or whatever the latest app is. 

Just before we left home my sister phoned and asked if it was OK to pop around.  I love visits from my sister and my daughter loves them even more, so it was decided that she would meet us in our local town.  We were also accompanied by some blue sky and glimpses of sun!

Several shops, two full bags and a couple of hours later we arrived home to a much needed cup of tea.  And a long catch-up chat.

I wrote my 8th blog post from the 30 day challenge, which I then couldn't publish until the following morning. 

Sunday morning I tried writing the next 30 day challenge post, but it felt forced.  So I have decided to aim for blogging every two or three days and spending time thinking about the content.  Writing a post just to 'claim' the publish isn't me.  Yes I admit it I'm lazy!

We did the food and consumables shop and on the way home spotted that it was an open day at a very new 'Nottingham Heritage Vehicles Museum' in Hucknall.  We revisited our childhood memories of travelling on buses in Nottingham and the surrounding county.

Unfortunately I only had my phone, with its really poor quality camera, so I'll use a 'flyer' photo instead.

I spent a few afternoon hours marking and planning work for today. Then did a few household chores.  It was a strictly vote-off watching, blog reading evening.  Whilst the rain set in again,  although some hardy souls managed to set off fireworks in it.

I hope you had some good fun over the weekend, or at least saw the sun for some of it. 

My aim is to have thought of something worth blogging about by Wednesday (or I could join in with 'what's on your work desk' - but since it is also the dining room table the answer is placemats and a table cloth!)

I'll be round to visit you and leave a comment as soon as I can.  If I don't leave a comment it may be because I feel like that cold might have got to my door ... quick break out the vitamin C and hot honey and lemon drink now!

Louise x

Old pages and the learning curve - the TWO PAGES MEME

A while ago I wrote a post about two old layouts.  I thought it might be about time for a follow up post.  

Now this was supposed to be published on Saturday, as my day #8 out of 30.  But my OH was hogging this laptop, which had all the photos on that I needed for the post. 

So lets just pretend I hit 'publish' last night and not today, OK?

Scrapbooking has changed incredibly in the years that I have been doing it.   My early pages were never 'good' even by the standards of the day, but we all did the 'plonked down' photos, the cut into shape photos and the random stickers across the page layouts (didn't we? *looks desperately around for someone nodding in agreement*)  Those with a little more artistic flair were aware of the rule of thirds and 'triangles' of focus.



If I dig out old sketches and inspiration pages I tore from magazines, the style of them is very different to what we see today.  Using paint on a layout was very daring, and ink was only for stamping.  The very idea of texture paste, mists or gelato's - unheard of!

You can see that I am making 'my excuses' in advance :)  As I already said, some of my early pages are cringe worthy.

So much so that I have resorted to re-doing (re-scrapping?) some of them.  However this causes the album to lose some of its 'flow'. 

The whole layout looks so different, with its newer papers and more structured composition.  I debate over leaving my old aka dreadful layouts, because that was where I was on my journey in scrapping, with redoing them so that I enjoy the pages more. 

Perhaps one day I will come to a decision regarding this.

In the meantime I am going to share a few more of those layouts that torment my decision making abilities (or lack thereof).

So this is a definite 'ouch' page.  At least these photos are square(ish) - unlike the surrounding pages!  But they are also 'trimmed' with purple outline stickers.  And that paper - it was a poundland pack, that came with those dreadful stickers and die-cuts. 

And what I have learnt, in the (almost) decade since I made this page, is that the embellishments SHOULD have gone in the same diagonal as the photos, then it would have 'worked'. 

*Well aside from the fact that the paper and embellishments are dreadful.*

Now, for me, this page works so much better - even if I did cut out the photo *hangs head in a mixture of shame and mortified embarrassment*.  And the style is quite geometric (basic?) but at least it pleases my eye.
 
Apologies for the over enthusiastic punching of starts - but they make a better photo outline than those stickers I was so fond of.
 
Infact, if I recall correctly, I used the stickers as it was cheaper than using some of my very precious paper hoard to matt the photos on. 
 
I was a SAHM at the time and my OH was on quite a low wage so I had very little money to spend on scrapbook stash.  Also the reason for the dreadful poundland papers - 8 or 10 papers AND embellishments for a £1 was amazing to me then.  The words 'false economy' spring to mind now... but usually I only had that pound or two to spend, so it had to go as far as possible.
 
And for some strange and masochistic reason I don't seem able to leave you without sharing some of those dreadful 'cut round the photos' layouts.  Hold onto your hats (or cover your eyes with it - you are about to receive some serious GBH of the eyeballs!)
 

 
This delightful layout includes outline stickers, a stamped See-D's (remember them on QVC - go on who else got some!) image that I have coloured in and MORE purple edge stickers.  At least my daughter looks cute!
 

 
 


And this delightful pair that I have actually redone once because the paper they were on was hideous - like I didn't choose something just as bad!
 
 

 

 

 

One other thing that I learnt from these pages was NOT to buy papers that looked 'ready embellished'.  I can never use papers with images etc (like the above one) without either covering up the image I bought it for, or ending up with my photos plonked haphazardly around the page!

 

 

Have a super Sunday *tomorrow* ;)

 

Louise x

 

ps - don't worry about finding something 'nice' to say about the layouts - I fully acknowledge how hideous they are - feel free to just have a good laugh at them.

 



Day 7 of the 30 day challenge

Having been a mix of busy and under the weather I've only had time to skim read the last few prompts for the 30 days of blogging challenge. 

As it is designed for businesses to promote themselves I don't feel too guilty about this (and why should I feel guilty about it anyway?) as some of the prompts don't seem relevant to me.

I am also 2 days late with my 7th post, but Wednesday and Thursday have seen me planning lessons and marking until 9.30pm (or later) and I just haven't had the energy or enthusiasm to blog.  I don't consider I have 'failed', my 30 days will just take a little longer to complete. 

Wednesday also saw me accompany the older-by-one-minute son to the Post 16 open evening at his school.  He has no idea what he would like to do next, so I am just encouraging him to take a mix of subjects that he enjoys and perhaps one or two that are 'academic'.  We are keeping his options open. 

It seems that now I have to worry about what post-16 qualifications they take, because this will affect what 'quality' of university they will get into. 

My heart says 'let them do what they enjoy and are interested in' but my head worries whether this will get them into university and more importantly will they get a 'good' job at the end of it?

But I have to accept that it is their life and that my children (who are becoming young men) need to follow their own path through it.  So I shall do my worrying in the background and support them in whatever their choices are.

For the younger-by-one-minute son this choice is to do a BTEC Level 3, because his interest is in computers, 3D design and programming.  My mother is convinced this will leave him unemployable - she is very 'old school' when it comes to A-levels and doesn't appreciate how education has changed since I was at school *yes I know it was a very long time ago* :)


And I thought I just had to worry about them passing their GCSE's!


It sometimes feels as though we get over one of life's hurdles and another pops up to take its place.  But without the down's we wouldn't have the ups to enjoy.

I hope to be back to blogging daily (for the remaining 23 days of the challenge anyway) and am planning on joining in with a few photography/scrapbook memes.

See you there

Louise x