I hit the…

…Traffford Centre with Caroline, Trev and Charlie yesterday.  It was an unexpected trip but Caroline asked me if I wanted to go with them and so I did.  We started our day off in Krispy Kreme.  Once again it was Caroline’s idea and I readily agreed to it :-).   I don’t know though if it was a good idea or a bad idea.  You see we’re all supposed to be on diets of one description or another.  Coffee and a donut though, they do go together well!
Anyway onto the shopping.  I’ve been wanting a storm lantern or something like that to go on my dining table for quite some time now.  I didn’t find one but I did find this fancy glass jar in Laura Ashley. Actually I think it's an apothecary jar.  Only problem is it looks silly on my dining table.  However, I love it in the bathroom filled with shells and a candle.  At Christmas I’ll probably fill it with colourful baubles.  I love it but I still need something for the centre of my dining table!
Today has been absolutely beautiful weather.  Blue skies, crisp ,dry and very cold.  We all went to the park this morning, it’s good to be getting fresh air again.
Later this afternoon George and I took the dogs for a walk. 
I’ve been looking after Nookie, a little Yorkshire Terrier like our dog, for the last 4/5 weeks.  He lives next door to us, his owners went to New Zealand to visit their family out there.  They’ll be back tomorrow morning.  Boy are they in for a shock when they get back to Manchester, after sunny NZ they’re really going to feel this cold weather!  Welcome home J & L, it’ll be good to have you back.

Another scrapbook page…

…this time it’s George William.

He seems to have turned into a “big boy” this last 12 months, he’s still a little treasure though. 
All the scrapbooking elements you see here were freebies. The kit is called Happy Go Lucky from http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ and the layered template is by K. Pertiet at http://www.designerdigitals.com/ .

Kathleen.

Nicholas Robert

Twelve months of Nicholas Robert.  Isn’t he cute?  A similar layout to Charlie’s, this time using the multi photo template the way it was intended to be used and a different page kit.  Next up will be George.
Credits: 2009 template by L Kanady a freebie from http://www.catscrap.com/  Pages and elements are from the August Sampler Freebie at  www. afterfivedesigns.com  Acrylic Alpha  from Help Haiti Kit at http://www.designerdigitals.com/.

I spend a lot…

…of time on the computer playing around with photographs  in the photo editing program Adobe Photoshop Elements.  I make scrapbook layouts, like this one of Charlie.  I print them out at home at 8”x 8” and thoroughly enjoy myself doing it.  There are tons of digital scrapbooking sites on the Net where you can look at galleries full of other people’s designs and find inspiration for your own.  These sites have shops in which you can buy the digital kits you’ll need.  There are also tons of freebies around.  My favourite site at the minute is http://www.designerdigitals.com/
The layout above shows month by month pictures of Charlie in 2009. What a difference there is between the 8 month old baby in January and the 20 month old toddler in December.  That’s what scrapbooking is all about, saving the memories and getting them down on paper for posterity.  Also, when it’s his 18th birthday party won’t these pictures look good plastered all over the place for all his mates to see?  Especially the thumb-sucking ones!
And now for something completely different.  Here’s our new caravan all ready to be towed down to the site in Devon where it will live for the foreseeable future. Trev and William are taking it down there tonight.  That’s Trev and Caroline’s 4x4. Therefore Trev will be doing the driving and Billy will be doing the sleeping, but never the less he’ll be there if he’s needed. Roll on Easter when we will all go down there and use it for the first time.  Can’t wait!
Credits: Sock Monkey Kit by L Grieveson and Spring Trees by K Pertiet at Designer Digitals, 2009 template by Laura  Kanady at Catscrap.com

It’s true...

…the winds of change are always blowing.  (I like that saying).  I used to see George William practically every day but I don’t any more.  He changed schools last summer so my house is no longer on the way home, his mother started college in September as a mature student (she’ll like that mature student bit… not).  I now look after his little brother and little cousin for some of the week.  Seems like we’re all a bit busier and things are a bit different these days for us all really. 

Anyway, I don’t see George every day any more so on Saturday I asked him if he would like to come out for the afternoon with me, just the two of us.  He said yes.  We went to Hebden Bridge for coffee and a mooch around. He brought his camera with him.  It was his “top of the list” Christmas present and he loves it. 

It was still icy on the ground, very cold and started to rain so we weren’t able to go to the park or anything.  We did go to the supermarket on the way home though.  None of this sounds very exciting does it?  But do you know what, we had a lovely time!

It was just an ordinary day today.

I’ve had a cold, not been sleeping too well, the snow’s still with us.  You know, that kind of ordinary.  Then  I had a Royal Mail Special Delivery and things got less ordinary.  When the postman knocked at my door with a parcel in his hand my first thought was that Caroline had ordered something and had had it delivered to my home because there’s always a good chance that I will be in to receive the delivery.

Well, Caroline had ordered something but it was for me not her!  The lovely little box above was in an outer box marked FRAGILE.  I had no idea what could be inside, but was pleasantly surprised to find…

…these wonderful little cupcakes!  How pretty do they look?  What a sweet, unexpected, different kind of gift that brightened my day no end.  They taste good too!  Thank you, daughter.

Kathleen.

Cabin Fever...

...I was beginning to think I was coming down with it.  Do not travel unless your journey is vital.  That's what we keep hearing on the weather news bulletins.  But just how long can a person stay in the house without going round the bend?  Thankfully I'm not going to find out because Caroline came to my rescue and suggested we go to the Trafford Centre today.  Was our journey vital?  No not really, but we needed to see if there were any sale bargains left in the shops!  So off we went.

There was plenty of snow around for certain.  I've never seen this car park with so few cars in it.  Which was good because it meant that the Centre would be a pleasure to shop in.

We started off in Starbucks and after that Charlie got to ride in one the little cars you can hire.  He's never done that before.  He loved it at first then the novelty wore off and he wanted "out". 

We had lunch in Barburrito which is upstairs in the Orient.  That was a first for me and it was good too.

On to the important stuff... the bargains.  In Marks and Spencer I got 2 sweaters, a blouse, two tops, a pair of grey velour leisure pants and a jacket.  The jacket on its own at full price should have been £59, it was £5! (Caroline got one too). I paid £27 for the lot!  So, yes, we got some bargains!  Caroline did OK too and we came home two very happy little shoppers.  Cabin fever a thing of the past.

Kathleen.

Widespread disruption ...

...that's what they call it.  The workers in this family all set off this morning and got to work... eventually.  William set off at 6.00am and got there at 8.40am, Victoria's journey took 1hr 30 mins and Caroline was on the road for 1hr 45 mins.  Each of those  journeys should have taken no more than 30 minutes on a normal day.   What made it worse for William and Victoria was being told to go home minutes after getting there!  Caroline's day was a short one too and she was allowed to come home earlier than usual.  It made sense because this is what the roads look like around here once you get off the main roads.

I took these pics from my livingroom window.  Our neighbours were out shovelling away the snow for the umpteenth time again this afternoon.  In the top picture you can see how they have kindly made a path on the drive for us.  My car is still covered in snow although Billy has shifted the white stuff off that several times. The problem is at the top of the hill where it's flat, the road looks like the gardens do here.  Few people have been out shovelling up there.  So far the gritters have been round regularly, heaven help us when they run out of grit which is supposed to happen soon! It still looks pretty though, eh?

These pictures of...

... my Mother and Dad were taken on one of our long ago family holidays in Ireland.  The beach would've been one of the resorts on Dublin's coast.  Black Rock Sands, Portmarnock or Bray maybe. Those are the ones that I remember going to.  

Looks like the day started off well.  Paddling in the sea.

Sitting close together on the sand, their arms around each other.  What a beautiful picture, a lovely memory.

Then something went wrong.  I wonder what it was?  Or, maybe it was the other way around and the day started off not too good. Then it got better and ended on a happy note.  We'll never know but I love these pictures which ever way it was.

Happy New Year!

2010 is finally here and things are getting back to normal. Things like George and Charlie battling it out Star Wars fashion in the living room.

 

Charlie just needed a few pointers but he soon got the hang of it.

 That's little boys for you, they just know how to fight don't they?

I had Nicholas for company this morning while his mother went off to college. I love this picture I took of him today. I love it when his smile is so big that he shows all his little pearly whites!  I should have had George's company too but he got an invite to stay over last night at his cousins house and that was an offer there was absolutely no chance of him refusing.

This afternoon Caroline rang to see if I'd like to go to the library with her and Charlie, so I did.  Charlie loves books, he also loves computers. Really I think it's keyboards, he's not too fussed about the computer itself at all but the keyboard makes him really happy!

So, yes the New Year is finally here and if only this snow would go away things could really get back to normal.