Scabs Scribblings

Recent scrapping

2010-05-10T11:28:00.005+01:00

I seem to have done quite a bit of scrapping recently, so here are the most recent of my creations. The first two are from Sandie's March and April classes at the North Swindon Craft Club crop and the last one is inspired by a sketch from Anna Bowkis' Pencil Lines sketchbook, which I did at the Abbeymeads Scrappers crop on Saturday.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-05-10T11:12:00.000+01:00

As ususal I seem to have been too busy to get around to blogging. What with rehearsals for our big show coming up at the beginning of June, and lots of other enjoyable events happening, I just don't seem to have had any time to sit down at the computer & tell you what I've been up to. However, this morning I took a picture of a layout that I had just finished and I decided that it was about time I caught up.

So here is a quick run-down of why I haven't blogged since Easter!

Easter Saturday at the Organic Farm shop was great fun (if a little damp). Here is Sam making a bird box to be put up in the farm's woodland. We hope to go back to try and find it soon!

And here are Anthony & the boys on the egg hunt trail in the absolutely pouring rain. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that every egg had a question on it and we then had to find a matching rabbit to get the answer which we had to write down - very difficult when your piece of paper is so wet!

The weekend after Easter was Anthony's birthday and my parents kindly had the boys so that Anthony & I could go away for the weekend. We found a great deal in the Radio Times so Friday morning we headed off to Dorset to stay in Corfe Castle at Mortons House Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel and just a minute's walk from the castle itself.

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend, as the weather was glorious. We walked some of the coastal path from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door and even paddled in the sea (which was freezing cold - so much so that it hurt!) Visiting Durdle Door is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I'm very glad we did it without the boys as it was a hard walk. To be honest I wasn't at all sure I was going to make it, especially as we made the mad decision to walk down the 100 odd steps to the beach. That was fine but then we had to climb back up again! It was worth it though, as it was as beautiful as I imagined and I felt great having achieved it. We rewarded ourselves with huge ice creams when we got back to Lulworth. I paid for it over the next few days though as my calf muscles aren't used to it!

We spent the rest of the weekend looking around Corfe Castle and Corfe village, spending lots of money in the Ginger Pop shop and the National Trust shop (thanks to Liz in the Corfe Castle visitors centre for persuading my husband that joining the National Trust would be a good idea!), taking a trip on the Swanage railway (catching the steam train and even getting to change the signals in Corfe), eating lots of gorgeous food and then on the journey home we visited the Tolpuddle Martyr's tree and the Cerne Abbas giant. It was a wonderful weekend and we were so chilled out it felt like we had been away for ages!

The second half of the Easter holidays wasn't quite so good as I went down with a dreadful viral bug and spent 3 days in bed with a raging temperature & losing half a stone in the process. On top of which, Anthony got stuck in Germany due to the volcanic ash cloud!

Fortunately by the weekend I was feeling better, so was able to join in with the trip to Swindon Town v Walsall that we had organised for my sister's birthday as she supports Walsall. Its the first time we have managed to get to the football as a family & the boys loved it, so much so that we have been again since and I'm taking them to the play-off match on Friday night as a treat!

We've had a new sofa delivered and bought a new flat screen TV, so after 3 years the lounge is finally beginning to look like we want it to. Now all we need to do is find some oak furniture that matches our bookcases and it will be done.

Bank holiday Monday saw the 10th birthday of Geocaching, so we attended the event at Lydiard Park organised by the Lyford Locators. We missed the downpour as we were a bit late getting there and then the sun came out, so although we were a bit chilly, it was a great event. Here is the group photo, although its not everyone that came as a few turned up later. The boys had a great time playing football while I managed to grab all the caches in the park that we hadn't done & we all shared a lovely picnic at the end of the afternoon.

If you have stuck with me this far you are now up to date, apart from all the scrapping that I have done recently, which I will post separately!

A GOOD Friday

2010-04-02T16:34:00.003+01:00

This is what we had for breakfast this morning.

I tried out a new recipe this year (combination of Lakeland's ingredients list and River Cottage method) and they were so successful that I have got another batch in the oven as I type.

These are much more the consistency of the shop bought variety (mine are usually much more stodgy & crispy on top) and are very moreish, especially when spread with lots of butter!

I have to say I am very pleased with them!

After breakfast we had a great morning at North Swindon Baptist Church. Fraser's sermon on sin was very challenging but really good and as a result of some of challenging things he said, one of the ladies from the bible study group I attend gave her life to Jesus and became a Christian. What a great start to Easter!
The service was followed by an indoor picnic as the weather was too awful to go to Lydiard Park as planned and it was lovely to be able to spend time chatting while relaxing over a meal with friends.

Looking forward to the rest of the weekend we are going to the Organic Farm Shop for an egg hunt and other activities tomorrow, then we have lunch with Anthony's family Sunday and on Monday we are off to Gloucstershire to visit my parents for our annual orchard egg hunt. Hopefully pictures to follow.

Wherever you are have a blessed Easter and enjoy one or two of those chocolate eggs, but remember Easter is a celebration because of what Jesus has done and not because its a long weekend and chocolate eggs are yummy!

It was worth it! (And no this isn't a l'oreal advert)

2010-03-23T09:50:00.002Z

Well all the pain & hassle of the dieting that I have been doing for the past 5 weeks has been worth it, as on Saturday 13th March I finally managed to get into my bridesmaid dress for my sister's civil partnership.

I must admit that sitting down was a little painful as the boning in the bodice stabbed me in the stomach, and by the evening reception I really had had enough - couldn't breathe (and therefore couldn't dance), couldn't eat (not even a cupcake & you can see how gorgeous they were - all handmade by my amazing mum!) and couldn't wait to get it off!

Although I wasn't looking forward to wearing it (because of the colour) I don't think I looked too bad, even if I do say so myself. But what do you think -and be honest!

As promised

2010-03-23T09:34:00.000Z

Well as promised in a previous post here is the LO that I did at PaperArts.

I still haven't finished the other one as it involves a lot more fiddly work than this one. Am hoping that I might get it done this weekend, if I get half an hour to myself.

I might even take it to the North Swindon crop this Friday & see if I can get it finished there after we have completed Sandie's class. In which case I will try and post both LO's over the weekend.

2010-03-11T21:48:00.000Z

I know I promised pics of the LO's I started at PaperArts, but the preparations for this coming weekend have started to take over.

I HAVE completed one of the LO's and I have taken a picture of it, I just haven't got around to posting it on here. And I probably wont get the chance now as I am off to Gloucestershire tomorrow lunchtime. More about why when I have returned.

But I just wanted to let you know I am still here and I haven't forgotten! lol

World Book Day

2010-03-04T12:45:00.001Z

Don't you just love it when teachers decide that asking the kids to come to school dressed up is a good idea? Benjamin came home with a letter from school saying that they were going to be dressing up for World Book Day and that they had to come as a book character.

Fortunately they gave us plenty of notice (for a change) so for once I had time to get something sorted. Benjamin had already decided that he wanted to be Pinocchio, which threw me into panic mode immediately. However a quick google search later and a picture of Disney's Pinocchio in hand and I was a little less stressed. We had most of the things that we needed already - good choice Ben!

The only things we needed were a bow tie, panama hat & feather. Thankfully a friend's husband Roy came to Kate's fancy dress party a couple of weeks ago wearing exactly the hat we needed (yes it fits Ben just as well as it did Roy!) and once I'd done a quick trip to Hobbycraft for embellishments, it was sorted. Oh and I did buy him a nose - after all Pinocchio wouldn't be the same without his long nose now would he?

So here is Ben ready to go to school this morning. What do you think?

Birthday cropping

2010-03-02T20:00:00.030Z

It seems to have become a bit of an annual thing that a group of us travel to PaperArts in Stroud to crop & chat for Emma's birthday. We were a week early this year as we are all so busy next week, but that didn't matter.

Armed with lots of yummy goodies (weightwatchers of course) we set off after the school run for a fun day out. Although we didn't actually start cropping until well after 11 o'clock (we were too busy looking at all Fiona's gorgeous stash & doing lots of shopping), we all got around to doing something eventually and Emma even finished a LO using a piece of paper that she had just bought - unheard of!

We shared a bottle of bubbly (sadly not alcoholic - fewer calories that way) at lunchtime and I think everyone apart from me managed to complete at least one LO in the time we had. See that's what happens when I travel light - I don't have the bits & pieces I need to finish things off! LOL But I did cut out a gingerbread house which took ages and made a mini book to hide behind it. Plus I only have the journalling to do on another LO, so when they are finished I will try & get around to posting them on here. Goodness knows when that will be though!

So here we are toasting Emma's birthday - hope you have a good day my friend and at least we managed to celebrate even if it was early!

Unusual layout

2010-02-22T15:08:00.003Z

Now you are probably thinking that it doesn't look unusal at all! Well it's not the LO as such that is unusual, but more the fact that I did it in the first place!

You see, this was based on a Page Maps sketch and done in response to a page call. Now I wouldn't normally even consider entering something like that, as I don't think my scrapping is good enough, but I liked the sketch & had just the right photos for it, so I decided to have a go!

I wasn't selected, but then I never thought I would be. But it made me do the LO and use photos that I probably wouldn't have bothered scrapping if it hadn't been for the challenge. I'm really pleased with how it turned out & I hope you like it too!

Nothing changes

2010-02-22T14:57:00.002Z

Well as you can see (that is if any of you are still out there reading this after so long) it has been well over a year since I last posted.

Nothing at all in 2009 and that was all due to my health! I started the year with a very scary chest / throat infection that stopped me breathing altogether, and ended it taking myself off to hospital with a suspected blood clot on my lungs. Fortunately, that one turned out to be not so serious as we first thought, but it was very stressful, especially as I was on my own (Anthony was working away abroad).

2010 started the same way with me feeling poorly on New Years Eve & it turning into yet another chest infection that laid me low for a good 4 weeks.

But here I am, feeling healthier and hoping to start blogging again. Now I'm not promising that it will be weekly or anything like that, but I do hope that more of my scrapbook layouts will end up on here and since I have a new camera to play with, hopefully lots of pics too.

So fed up!

2008-08-21T19:24:00.003+01:00

I am sooooo fed up of being poorly. Haven't felt myself for a while now, but its got to the stage where I am in bed yet again, with suspected tonsilitis (3rd bout this year). I know its because I haven't been looking after myself properly, but that's because I haven't had the energy to do stuff so its been a vicious circle.

Anyway, apart from that its been a few weeks of catching up with friends, a bit of scrapbooking, and a lovely child free long weekend (they went to stay with my parents for a mini holiday).

We went out for dinner with the in-laws to celebrate their wedding anniversary, didn't get up until 9.30 Sat morning (how nice was that!?) had a shopping trip and coffee in Starbucks - bliss to not have to worry about the boys - went to a couple of BBQ's at friends houses and although we were going to go to the cinema , we decided we couldn't be bothered so bought a DVD (National Treasure - great film!) and some popcorn & had a cozy night in for two. All in all a fantastically relaxing weekend.

Looking forward to a long family bank holiday weekend. No firm plans as much will depend on the weather, apart from Sunday lunch with some good friends so I just hope I am feeling better, especially as Anthony has the day off tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Balloon fun

2008-08-08T22:05:00.004+01:00

As the boys haven't been here much this week I thought it would be nice to do something fun with them, so I decided to take them to the Bristol balloon fiesta yesterday.

Wasn't too sure it was a going to be good idea on my own, as I was already tired, but they were beautifully behaved and had a great time. So much so that they have asked if we can go back.

We wandered around the craft fayre (where the boys tried on baseball caps made of recyled beer & coke cans), stroked owls, ate candy floss and tried to go on the old fashioned carousel (which has been a dream of Ben's for ages) but it was so loud it made both of them cry! Not so good.

The boys also had fun on a huge bouncy slide - I was very proud of Sam as it was such a long way down!!

We didn't stay for the mass launch as it would have meant leaving Bristol in the rush hour, but we did see balloons inflate and deflate and watched a paraglider display and the parachute team jump.

All in all a great day out, and best of all it was free apart from the £7 to park the car. Definately something to add to our summer holiday activity list for next year!

Shock!

2008-07-31T15:00:00.001+01:00

What a nightmare day yesterday!

Sam was at the childminder, so I took Ben to Walmart to do the shopping. He asked if we could have nachos for lunch and since Sam can't eat the salsa (due to his tomato allergy) I readily agreed. Walmart didn't have everything we needed shopping-wise, so we had to go to Sainsburys too, and by the time we got home for lunch it was getting on a bit.

I chucked half a bag of tortillas on a plate, poured over half a jar of salsa, grated some cheese, repeated all that & shoved it under the grill. A few minutes later Ben & I were enjoying our lunch & he was really happy.

That was until I took another bite. I cruched down on something hard and thought "ooh, that's a bit odd" so went over to the sink to spit it out (didn't want Ben to see me spitting food out onto my plate!) Well good job I did, because I didn't just spit the food out, but a mouthful of blood too!!

This is what I found in my mouthful of lunch - no not the 10p piece, the piece of glass! Talk about going into shock. If you have never cut your tongue, then you wont know how much it bleeds, and how scary it is! I was in a total state, made much worse by the thought that it could have been Ben and not me & what would have happened if he had not bitten it, but tried to swallow it? And I couldn't get it to stop bleeding, so I'm trying to ring Anthony and tell him what has happened, with a hanky stuffed in my mouth, and he can't understand a word I am saying and by this time I am crying too, which isn't helping.

Anyway, by the time he got home, it had finally stopped bleeding (about 15 minutes later) and although there were lots of damaged taste buds, it didn't look like it needed stitching, so we didn't bother to go up to A & E. Took me most of the rest of the afternoon to calm down though!

Took the offending article back to Walmart this morning, having spoken to the duty manager yesterday, and the best they could come up with in the way of compensation was a double refund of the value of the products (tortillas & salsa). "We can't do anything else until we have sent it off to Asda House and they will deal with it". Pathetic or what? Let me tell you if I haven't had some sort of a response within 2 weeks there will be hell to pay!

10 Years - Can you believe it?

2008-07-25T21:05:00.006+01:00

Yes, amazingly 4th July was our 10th wedding anniversary. Given the struggles we have been through, I thought it would be nice if we did something special, so I arranged for us to renew our vows & have a lunch party to celebrate.

The ceremony was held in Savernake forest (we had one of our first dates here) and fortunately for us, given the weather the rest of the month, we had a lovely day. This is where the ceremony took place.

We were very fortunate to be surrounded by many of our friends and family and thankful to Mike, Emma and David for making the ceremony so special. Here are some of the photos of it - I hope you like them.

After the ceremony we all went back to Chiseldon House for Pimms on the terrace, where I discovered I had lost my enagement and eternity rings!! Having taken my rings off when we had our wedding rings blessed (and put them in my jacket pocket), they managed to fall out when we squatted down for the photo above, not that I knew that at the time. Well it wouldn't be me without some sort of drama would it?? :o)

So after discovering they were missing and frantically hunting in the car, my parents, Anthony's parents and my sister rushed back to the forest on a ring hunt. Thankfully my mother-in-law managed to find them, so the day wasn't ruined after all!

They managed to get back just in time for a delicious lunch to be served and we spent a very enjoyable few hours eating and chatting.

Sadly most people had to leave to pick up children around 2.30pm, so the party couldn't go on as long as we would have liked, but it was a wonderful day and has given us some very special memories.

Happy anniversary darling!!

Sorry Graeme!!

2008-07-20T21:08:00.011+01:00

Although this will give you something to read Graeme, it looks like you will have to learn to be a bit more patient for updates! I never seem to have the time to do this on a regular basis, so assume that I am going to become a once a month blogger and if you get more posts than that it will be a bonus!! :o))

To be fair to myself though, its hardly surprising that I haven't been on here. Just after my last post, a friend (and our vicar) was taken seriously ill (via a night on my sofa) and has been in hospital ever since. As our main vicar is also off work on long term sick leave, that left me dealing with a lot of very stressed brides and grooms, as its my job to arrange their banns and people to help at their weddings. Since they could not reach a vicar at all, most of them were in major panic mode! I thought arranging my own wedding was stressful enough, but trying to sort out around 10-15 a month has been doing my head in!!

Anyway, other than that here are some of the highlights of the past 7 weeks:

Benjamin started tennis lessons at the Delta centre, and is enjoying them so much that we bought him a racket for his birthday (more of that later).

I volunteered to be a complimentary therapist for the Prospect Hospice carers day. As a result I have been asked to go in on a regular basis and treat both carers and patients. I have to do some basic training, but then should be going in every fortnight. It's quite scary really as all through my aromatherapy training we had it drummed into us that cancer was something that we were not allowed to treat, and now here I am helping out with patients!

Lots of exciting things have been happening at the boys schools:

I went into Orchid Vale to help Ben make pizza faces

Benjamin took part in his first ever art exhibition, and we were allowed to buy the framed artwork. It was a self-portrait collage of his favourite things, and contained amongst other things football, golf, tennis, formula 1, pasta, guinea pigs and Starbucks. I'm not sure what that says about my 6 year old son!

Sam (&I) went on a nursery trip to Bristol Zoo - the first time that most of the children had done a full day. Apart from having the last bite of his cake stolen out of his hand by a very large (& I have to say scary) crow he had a great day, and it was nice to be able to spend some one on one time with him doing something different!

Both boys have had their school sports days (at the same time on the same day - oh the joy of 2 different schools!). However thanks to a bit of help from my mum, we managed both, although as Ben only ran in 2 races (skipping and the relay) I sadly didnt get to see him compete, but as mum took some photos for me there is something for me to scrap! And even though we didn't get to Ben's school until late, I still managed to get dragged into the mum's race. You'll be as surprised as I was when you hear that I managed a respectable 2nd out of 7. And yes there is photographic evidence thanks to Mrs Emma McCarthy, and no I am not posting it on this blog!!!

Ben has also taken part in his first musical performance with the Orchid Vale choir. They sang songs from musicals and classics from the Beatles, Abba and ELO. Everything from memory and with actions for some of the songs too. They were brilliant and it was great so see such a big choir!

As for me, I sang in my choir show at the Wyvern theatre. It was a great (if tiring) day (full rehearsal and 2 back to back performances) made all the better for having a real west end star (and ex Kentwood singer) guesting with us to do Les Mis for our finale. We have also done a couple of other smaller concerts, but have now got a bit of a quieter period over the summer which is nice, as it gives me a few more weekends with the family.

I have also done a bit more scrapping of late, but can never be bothered to scan & upload my layouts, so sadly wont be able to show you any. Apart from that it has been the usual manic rushing around that the end of the school summer term brings, several trips to the dentist for fillings (and a near heart attack at the bill!), quite a bit of massage work, oh and planning a 6th birthday party of course.

We were so fortunate with the weather for Ben's birthday. What on earth I would have done with seven 6 year olds had it been raining I don't know. As it was, they mostly played out in the garden, and then we sent them off to do a treasure hunt around the close. They loved it! We did of course also play the usual games of pass the parcel, musical chairs & musical statues and fortunately this was enough to keep the girls amused (first time Ben has invited girls to his party!) But I think this will be the last year we party at home - I don't think I can cope with 8 seven year olds in the house!!

We've also been geocaching. A great event was organised down in Bradford On Avon last weekend, so we took ourselves along with a picnic and joined in the fun. We managed 5 different sorts of caches in one day, including the very special Wombles cache, from which Ben managed to bag himself a Bungo backpack. If you have no idea what on earth I am on about check out this website.

Well I think that's pretty much us up to date - apart from the most important event of the last month, which was our 10th wedding anniversary. But I am too tired to do that justice tonight, so will post again with the pics from our very special day.

PS - Hope that was long enough to give you something to get stuck into Graeme! :o)

Oops!

2008-06-04T20:32:00.007+01:00

What a bad blogger I am, not a single post in May! In my defense, I have to say that it was a very stressful month for us with school appeals (it was turned down) and then trying to make plans for having the boys in different schools come September.

So here is a quick rundown of the month:

School appeal for Sam turned down (and we have since had to make the decision whether to move Ben or not as a space came up at Sam's school - we decided not to, but it was a heartbreaking decision!)

Bank holiday Monday spent at Swindon & Cricklade railway in the company of friends. The kids loved riding on the train. So much so that we went up and back a couple of times!

Best of all it was free to get into the Beer festival with a train ticket. Well it had to be done, especially as it was real ale at silly prices for half a pint! Thanks for asking us to come David!!

Celia's scrapbooking day - I actually managed to finish 4 LOs at one crop. Can you believe it? Sadly I cant post any pics of them, because I didn't take any, and I cant be bothered to scan them now.

Several Kentwood concerts at Calne and Haydon Wick.

Almost £1000 spent on repairs to my new car -aaarrrgggghhh!

Mum, Dad and I did a mad booze run to France (in my spare car, the day before someone was coming to buy it, and yes I did tell him I was going to add to the mileage by driving it to Calais!) We got 41 cases of wine in the car and 3 crates of beer as well as several other loose bottles of various things. Here is where we had lunch - its a truckers stop, but the food was fabulous.

I took five Year 1 kids around @Bristol on a school trip. I was so knackered by the time we got back to Swindon, and sooooo fed up of counting to 5!!!

We were very honoured to be asked by David & Lizzie to be Godparents to baby Isaac. Well I say Godparents, but its really only honorary since he wasn't christened, only dedicated. Never mind, as far as we are concerned he's our Godson and here we are on his special day.

As a gift I made the cake, but due to choir being early that Sunday, I didn't get to see it being cut. Luckily for me, by the time choir had finished, the rest of the family had returned to David & Lizzie's for tea, so I got a piece in the end!

And to finish the month, we spent half term week on a narrowboat. And no prizes for guessing that we got wet! In fact it was so bad that we spent Bank holiday Monday afternoon moored to the bank wondering which boat was going to crash into the lock next! But it was such a relaxing holiday - I totally forgot about the outside world, and all that mattered was where we were going to moor that evening. The kids loved it too. Anthony didn't!

Here are some of the many pics I took over the week:

There I think that's me pretty much up to date. I'll try and be a better blogger this month!

When did he grow up so fast?

2008-04-18T16:20:00.003+01:00

This morning Benjamin came into our room and said "Mummy and Daddy you don't have to worry, I have emptied the dishwasher."

That's the second time this week, and when he did it on Wednesday (because Anthony was away in France and it's normally his job), not only did he empty it, but he laid the table for breakfast and put away everything he could reach!

Then as if that wasn't enough, he then said "Mummy, I think you deserve breakfast in bed", which made me laugh as Anthony was still dozing next to me and I was just thinking "I wish I didn't have to get up"!

But Ben didn't need him, he just went back downstairs and returned with a bowl, a beaker, carton of orange juice and milk (both the open carton and the new one in case the other one had gone off) on a tray and Samuel brought the cereal. They hadn't poured any of it out because "then it would spill" so they just brought "everything you need for breakfast in bed, apart from a cup of tea"

They are 5 and 3 for goodness sake - I felt very special I can tell you!

Happy Birthday Darling

2008-04-09T21:37:00.002+01:00

Yet another of my schemes fell into place today. I'm getting rather good at this surprise lark if I do say so myself!

A while back I made Anthony use his Hilton Honours points to book us a night in the London Docklands Hilton but didn't tell him why. Goodness knows what he thought we were doing, but he certainly didn't guess what it was!

We travelled down on Tuesday and after witnessing a 3 car pile up in the fast lane of the M4 and in trying to avoid the Congestion Charge it took us 3 hours. Aaaarrrgh.
But never mind, when we finally arrived we were given a room with a balcony and this view, which kind of made up for it.

After a swim in the most bizzare pool I have ever been in (it was tiny and had bloody great pillars in the middle of it, plus it was freezing!) and a dip in the spa pool just to warm up, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner, which we had in the hotel. It was ok, but nothing overly exciting, although the view across the river to Canary Wharf was fab. Wish we had caught the free ferry across the Thames to there now, but at the time we didn't know how nice it was!

The next morning after a glass of champagne in bed, I gave Anthony his birthday present (and no it wasn't that!!) You can see it here. Not that it was his real present, but it was a good clue as to why we were in London!

After a 3 course breakfast (which would have been 5 courses if I could have eaten any more) we caught the courtesy bus to the nearest tube station and headed for Greenwich. We wanted to do the geocache at the Observatory, and here I am standing on the Meridian Line (which for interest if any of you care isn't at W 000 00.000!) It was an amazing place, and the park is gorgeous too. Somewhere we definately want to visit again, as we were in a bit of a rush and didn't have long enough for a good look around.

After heading back to the train and crossing back over the Thames again (frustratingly the tube doesn't go to Greenwich, you have to catch the DLR but to do that you have to go North of the Thames!) we caught the tube at Canary Wharf. Never expected a business area to be so vibrant and full of places to eat / drink and socialise. If we ever stay in the Docklands Hilton again, this is where we will be going for dinner!

Finally got off the tube at North Greenwich just in time. Our tickets to Anthony's real birthday present were timed for entry between 11.00 and 11.30am and we only just made it. Sadly I can't post any photos of where we went as no photography was allowed but this is what we went to see.

It was amazing, and some of the things we saw were unbelievable. How could they make such beautiful things that long ago?! I can thoroughly recommend it!

After lunch on Entertainment Avenue (for those who have never been to the O2 arena, it has a huge array of restaurants around the outside of the arena space) we walked along the Thames Path grabbing a few geocaches along the way. Some of the local artwork was the focus of these caches, and we probably wouldn't have seen these otherwise. If you saw the BBC coverage of the Olympic torch relay, you might recognise one of the sculptures!

By the time we had circumnavigated the O2 my feet were sore and we were weary. But thanks to the priviledges of Hilton Honours we hadn't checked out of the hotel, so after yet another tube trip we were able to go back to our room, change shoes and then pack up the car for the journey home.

All in all a very enjoyable and successful surprise! So pleased you liked it love.
Happy Birthday.

April Showers!

2008-04-06T22:00:00.000+01:00

Why is it that we have to wait until Spring to wake up to a morning like this?

And why, oh why did it have to be a Sunday when we were rushing around to get ready for church and preparing to have friends over for lunch?

I want my snow in December or January when it's supposed to be winter, not in April when I am all geared up for Spring!

Oh well at least the boys enjoyed it!

Amazingly, by the time they all got back from church, it had nearly all melted as it was such a gorgeous day. Ben and Sam were a little sad as it meant that they couldn't build a snowman, but it was great as we had our friends the Harrises over for lunch and it meant that they boys could run off some energy outside.

It was so nice to spend some quality hours with our friends, rather than hurried chats over very quick cups of coffee. I think by the time they finally left it was 6.00pm. Such a chilled out day - it was a great end to the weekend. We must do it more often!

Happy Birthday Mum! / Tea for two

2008-03-31T20:22:00.001+01:00

Today is Mum's 60th birthday, and as it was a big one I decided to do something special to celebrate, so I organised for us to have tea at the Ritz!

I had to book it over a year ago as they book a long time in advance and it is always full, so it was amazing that I managed to keep it a secret!

I have to say a big "thanks" to Dad, both for keeping her in the country and for chauffering us to London and also a huge thanks to Anthony for cooking lunch & looking after the kids.

As I live in trousers most of the time I had no idea what on earth I was going to wear for such a special occasion, so thanks also need to go to Shan Williams (a Colour Me Beautiful consultant and friend of mine) for her suggestion of my 40's inspired outfit.

I bagged myself a handbag on e-bay and had my hair done by Cornelius in a 40's style. Do you like it? Opinion so far has been very divided!

After lunch and a glass of champagne, we headed off to London, and as we were driving down Park Lane, Mum finally started guessing where we might be going. She thought we might have been having a make-over day, or maybe going to see a radio show being recorded, and as we drove past the front of the Ritz, she jokingly said " Oh are we having tea at the Ritz then?" Her face when I turned around and said we were was a picture!

So here are the pics of our teatime treat (and if anyone can tell me how to get 2 next to each other so the column isn't so long I would be grateful!)

So glad you enjoyed your special day Mum!

Typical holiday weekend!

2008-03-28T09:46:00.004Z

Well that was a pretty typical bank holiday weekend in our family. Yes, we had a nightmare!

Sam got chicken pox as you can see from this LO that I did at Celia's CM crop on Tuesday night.

Apologies that it didn't stitch properly, but you get the idea (and of course it has been made a little more appropriate for the internet by use of a strategically placed die cut button which isnt there in real life!)

And then on Easter Sunday at my parents house we were hunting for eggs in the orchard, and the boys had already found all theirs. In fact I was the only one who was still hunting and mum & dad were giving me directions in the form of "warmer" "colder" etc. So there I was, concentrating on looking for a small cream egg in an acre of fruit trees, dimly aware that Ben was playing fetch the stick with Kai, my sisters dog.

Next thing I know I'm on my knees having been smacked in the side of the head by a stick. Never had a head injury before and made me feel very odd I can tell you, although I didn't get knocked out. Felt very sleepy for the rest of the day, but knowing that you shouldn't sleep, I tried desperately to stay awake - not easy when we had been in church at 6.30am for the dawn communion service!

When I did get to bed I didn't sleep well, but apart from a headache (which was to be expected) I thought I was OK. That was until we tried to come home on Monday morning. Travelling in the car made me feel so sick and wobbly that I rang the out of hours clinic who basically told me I should be in A & E.

So we dropped the kids at the in-laws (where we were supposed to be having lunch)and spent the next couple of hours sitting around in A & E (Anthony starving as by this time its 1.00pm). Seemed I hadn't fractured anything, but needed to rest - like I had a choice!

Its amazing how much damage one stick can do as it took until yesterday for me to stop feeling like I was living in treacle and I still have a headache! My head injury leaftet tells me that "post concussion syndrome" can last for anything up to several months. It had better not that's all I can say!

Anyway this week has been a little better, and like I say I did manage to get to Celia's crop. Was working on something secret which I can't post (some of you have seen them & know what I am talking about) but here is another LO that I got finished. No matter how hard we try, we can't persuade the boys that this game is called "draughts", they insist on calling it "giraffes" and now it has stuck!

Just so glad I am feeling better, as have a busy weekend coming up and then something very special next week. Will post again when I can tell you about it!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Thanks!

2008-03-21T10:11:00.004Z

What do you do when your hubby turns to you late on Maundy Thursday and says "Oops, I haven't got my Mum & Dad an Easter card!"?

Send him out to Asda to get one? Well no, not this time, as he had an op on Tuesday and hasn't been out of the house since.

Battle through the crowds on Easter Saturday, knowing that you are only going to be able to get whatever is left whether he likes it or not? No chance! :o)

No, you turn to Karen's blog, print off her Easter project instructions and set about making your own! Here is my version of her design.

Thanks so much for getting us out of a hole Karen!

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend. We are off to church for a morning of children's activities and then looking forward to fish and chips for tea. Well it is Good Friday!

Mothering Sunday

2008-03-03T10:44:00.004Z

Well, actually for me it turned into Mothering Weekend!

I spent Saturday at a Scrapaholics roadshow, and for once I actually got stuff finished! I did this LO of Sam from a Pencil Lines sketch, made 2 cards and did a class, which I haven't finished but that is due to starting it with one lot of photos and then deciding that I had some others that went with the papers better, so I will actually get 2 double LO's from it when I finish them. Just need to get some cardstock from PaperArts when I go past tomorrow on my way to a Quiet Day.

After a quick visit to my friend Kate who had baby Layla on Thursday, I came home to find that Anthony had cooked dinner for the kids (and done enough for me), 3 loads of washing, dusted and hoovered the lounge and kitchen, taken the kids to the library and into town shopping and spent the afternoon doing painting with them (and making me Mothering Sunday cards in the process). Thank you darling for doing all that for me - you know how much I appreciate it!

Sunday morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed with crocuses on my tray that Anthony had picked from the garden, tea in my new china mug that Ben had chosen from the Mothers Day gifts on sale at school, and presents from both the boys - a gorgeous bronze scarf from Sam and 3 bars of my favourite chocolates from Ben.

After church where the boys & I took part in a Mothering Sunday drama (both spoke their lines beautifully - another proud Mummy moment) and I got 2 gorgeous bunches of flowers, we had lunch at Blunsdon House hotel with Anthony's parents, aunt and gran. So I didn't have to cook or wash up either. I felt very spoilt all weekend!

My flowers were so pretty, I decided to make something with them, so here is my dinner table arrangement. We'll try not to set it on fire like we did with the Old Man's Beard arrangement that we had last week! The candle had burnt down so far it caught fire on Friday night while I was making pudding!

I hope that you all had a lovely Mothering Sunday whatever you were doing.

Fed up!

2008-02-27T15:54:00.004Z

Oh I am soooooo fed up. I feel like I have been permenantly ill since Christmas. I am now on my second lot of antibiotics this month for throat infections and it is seriously beginning to get me down.

I don't have any energy and the house is beginning to look like a total tip! So much for my plan to be more organised and effective with the housework this year. That lasted all of about 2 weeks until I started feeling poorly and now I can't remember the last time I did any housework. Aaaarrrrggggghhhh!

Anyway, enough of the moaning.Though you might like to hear about our half term and see the latest picture I took of Samuel.

The topic at nursery for last half term was Bears and so just before the half term holiday they had a teddy bears picnic and had to go dressed up as a famous bear. I'm not any good at creating home made costumes, but even I was quite pleased with this one! Took me ages to find the tights though - but in the end after a Google search I came across SkinnySams who do free delivery and have the most amazing range!

Half term was very quiet here as the boys went on holiday to Granan and Granda for a few days. Since it co-incided with me feeling rough, it was great, as it meant I got to have a lie-in!

Thursday they came home with Aunties Mel & Judi and we all went to a local pub for a geocaching event. Managed to grab a few local caches and nudged that total a little closer to 100!

Then Friday was our weekend away with church. We had our very first ever group trip to Lindors, which turned out to be the most amazing hotel.

As well as teaching sessions, we swam, played table tennis, spent ages wandering around the beautiful grounds, ate far too much lovely food and spent some very sociable evenings over a couple of bottles of wine.

The kids had a great time, and keep saying "thankyou for taking us to that lovely hotel Mummy!" which pretty much tells you how successful a weekend it was. So much so that we have decided we can't wait for the next church weekend (which probably wont be for another 18 months) and we are planning to book the same weekend next year.

Mystery solved!

2008-02-02T21:06:00.000Z

Ever since I was little, I have loved doing jigsaws.

When I was a little girl, I had one for Christmas every year, and I would spend hours of the Christmas holidays putting them together. I even made Mum & Dad give me an old cardboard wall planner to use as a jigsaw board so that when they got fed up of having the jigsaw on the table, I could move it to my bedroom.

For many years now I haven't had a jigsaw for Christmas, which was probably a good thing as they are addictive and not really a good idea with having small children. But mine are old enough to know not to touch now, and this year mum & dad bought me a jigsaw for Christmas just like they used to.

Only one problem, this was a Mystery puzzle which meant that it came in a plain white box - that's right, NO PICTURE!! Thanks Mum - not!!

I started it at their house on Boxing Day and when we left a couple of days later, all I had managed was the outside edges and a wall of a red house. I packed it up and brought it home and thought I would probably never finish it. I've only ever been beaten by one jigsaw in my life, Baked Beans - no plate, no nothing, just beans. I never even got the edge pieces to go together!

Well, the mystery is solved. With a little help from Ben and Sam, who both managed to put in several pieces that I couldn't get to fit, the picture is complete.

So here you go Mum, this is what my present actually looked like!!

Strictly Link

2008-01-29T11:29:00.000Z

After Karen's comment on my last post saying she would love to go to one of the shows, I thought I'd post the link for tickets to next year's show at Wembley, just in case anyone is desperate to go.

Wembley tickets are here or you can book for Newcastle or Glasgow here.

Don't blame me if you are tempted, but I will just point out that if you book before the end of Feb you get the tickets at this years prices!!

Strictly Blogging

2008-01-28T21:30:00.000Z

Yes I know I've been a bad blogger and not posted for ages, but I've been too busy and/or knackered to even think about it most days!

However I had to post after this weekend because Saturday was just fab.

Having dropped the boys off with the in-laws Anthony and I headed off to Wembley. After a fabulous lunch in the Arena restaurant, we spent a fabulous afternoon watching the Stricly Come Dancing Live tour.

It featured celebs from all the 5 series competing against each other just like they do on the TV show, but there were also some amazing group and professional dances. The highlights for me being Vincent and Flavia's Argentine Tango and the group Dirty Dancing medley which finished with Darren Gough doing the famous lift brilliantly. He & Lilia also won the live competition that day and quite rightly so. Given that he was the winner of the TV show over 3 years ago, he is just amazing. At times during the group ballroom dances he looked like a professional.

It was such a fantastic experience seeing the live tour (even from so far back in the arena) that as soon as we got home we booked again for next years tour and this time managed to get 3rd row seats! Now that's something to look forward to after Christmas!

Tagged!

2008-01-06T21:57:00.000Z

I've been tagged! Thanks Mary - or not!!

The rules of the game:

Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.

Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Right, so now I have to think of 7 random things that you might want to know about me! Hmmm....... this might take a while!

I was born in Gloucester.
I have a famous cousin whose real name was Archie Leach.
I was a Bishop's chorister when I was younger.
I own a villa in Portugal with my parents, sister and aunt as we shared our inheritance when my Nanna died. Its here if you want to take a look (or fancy booking a holiday!)
I have medals for Ballroom and Latin American dancing and have had a private lesson with Erin Boag.
I'm on a CD, recorded with the choir I sing with - Kentwood.
I couldn't think of a 7th!

Well there we go, now you all know a lot of useless information about me!

Now, who can I tag? Well it won't be 7 people, as most of the people I know have already been tagged, but here goes - Babs, Graeme, Mel, Mike (who may or may not cope with it!) and Karen. Sorry guys!

New Year - New Me?

2008-01-04T20:52:00.000Z

Hmmmmn, well not really, but it sounds good for the New Year doesn't it?

Since my last blog back in October, life has been a bit of a rollercoaster of nightmares and lovely moments.

Many, many trips to the hospital and lots of injections and tablets later, Anthony is nearing the end of his 3 months treatment for DVT. However, his blood thickness has not stabilised, so chances are he may have to continue treatment for a while.

Both our boys played Joseph in their respective nativity plays before Christmas, with Ben doing his first singing solo - looks like he's going to take after his mum! We were so proud of both of them and got some great photos.

Plans for a nice family Christmas were made, the first in our new home, with our woodburner and limestone fireplace which was installed the week before Christmas. Sadly the whole family (extended too) were ill over the festive period and we spent Boxing Day evening in Gloucster Royal hosptial as Anthony's eye had swollen so badly it looked worse than Ricky Hatton after his fight! They treated him for Conjunctivitis, but I have never seen a case that bad. A pretty typical Christmas for the Mazzotta / Scrivin families!

We went to a geocache bash run by my sister just before New Year and Ben and I spent a lovely day in London at the Museum of Childhood (they had been studying toys at school before Christmas) this week.

So here we are in the New Year, looking forward to the boys going back to school and with me hoping that I am going to get myself organised this year and as a result less stressed and on time for things! I guess that is kind of a new years resolution so we will see if I stick to it!

For those of you who have got this far, Happy New Year and I hope that 2008 is a year of contentment, health and achievement for you.

Half Term Headache

2007-10-23T20:23:00.000+01:00

Well I thought I had this half term all planned out. Ben has some exciting things on, with swimming lessons and the Set Sail club at North Swindon Baptist Church and we are visiting friends in Surrey later in the week.

However all the plans have been thrown into turmoil after Anthony complained of pain in his calf on Saturday morning. After a quick look at his leg I insisted he call the out of hours clinic, and thank God that I did, as he has 2 clots in his veins. Yes, sadly my hubby has DVT. If it hadn't been for my massage training, I would not have recognised the symptoms, and the consequences of that don't bear thinking about!

So we have spent a good part of the last few days in the Great Western hospital, and I am adminstering Heparin injections nightly until he can get to see the anti-coagulation team (hopefully tommorow) and get some Warfarin. Apparently 3 months of treatment should be enough!

There probably is other news, but to be honest I can't think of any at the moment. Will try and post again soon with something more positive, but for now please just pray for us all!

Another Proud Mummy Moment

2007-10-17T22:54:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know my posts are like buses - none for ages and then two come along at once, but I just had to blog.

We had Benjamin's parents evening yesterday and his class teacher gave us a list of targets for the year (3 levels in each subject - must, should and could be able to do). Benjamin is already achieving should in reading and writing and could in both numeracy and science. But my proud mummy moment came when his teacher told us that he had already achieved the goals in numeracy for the end of year 1 and was going to be given year 2 maths to do. We're only at half term today!

She also asked us if it was ok for her to put Ben on the gifted and talented register for numeracy (and possibly science later). Is it OK? Does she need to ask - would you say "no"?? I was so chuffed I wanted to shout it to the world!

Ben was with us at the parents evening, and he was so proud of himself when she told us how good his work has been!

Sometimes I love being a mum so much!!

OK, OK .......

2007-10-16T16:30:00.000+01:00

so I know I haven't blogged for a while, but I do have a good excuse - I've been in Portugal! For those of you who want to catch up on what I've been doing since my last post, sit back 'cause you are in for a long one now!!

Firstly, before I disappeared off to sunnier skies, I went on my first "quiet day". This was thanks to an article I read in Woman Alive magazine a few months back. It was talking about the Quiet Garden trust and how they organise away days. The idea is that people open up their gardens (and homes) for you to go and spend a day in (mostly) silence and spend time thinking, praying, reading, drawing or whatever takes your fancy.

One of the gardens featured in the article happened to be in Bisley near Stroud, so I booked to go. To be honest I was a bit worried about it since the thought of spending a whole day in silence was a bit alien! Well I needn't have worried, as it was the most amazing day. I have never felt so peaceful in my life. And I am not good at just sitting and being, but I spent the whole morning not actually doing anything - normally that would make me very antsy, but not this time. I then chose to spend the afternoon sewing, something I havent made time for in several years! I have to say that by the time the day ended (with the most gorgeous tea & cake!) I felt as if I had been on another planet for the day, where time had no meaning, I was so chilled.

It was such a fantastic experience that I have booked to go again in December - a week before Christmas, just what I need to cope with all the stress of the festive season. If you have a quiet garden near you, I thoroughly recommend finding the time to go and experience it for yourself.

After a manic week catching up with old friends, meeting family for an early birthday lunch, working, a lot of cooking and spontaneous entertaining we headed off for Portugal to meet up with my parents who were already out at our villa. We haven't had an autumn / winter holiday since we went to Africa in 2000 and let me tell you, being in 32 degrees instead of here in the rain was absolute bliss!

We had a fantastic week, especially since we celebrated both my parents wedding anniversary and my birthday while we were there.

For mum & dad's anniversary we went to a gorgeous hotel / restaurant for lunch - Monte do Casal. Well I say lunch, it was more like the whole day really as we didn't finish until gone 3.00pm! It really was as amazing as it looks! Somewhere I would love to stay at some point in the future - maybe a wedding anniversary weekend??!!

Apart from the stunning food, and beautiful setting, we were treated to the most wonderful guitar music while we ate, from a guy who managed to sing in Portugese, Italian and English! A great day to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. And given that we were there for such a long time, the kids were amazingly behaved too!

We managed to grab several Portugese geocaches on holiday, including one at a Roman Villa, and one near a restored windmill on the top of a mountain. I love the fact that geocaching takes you to places you would never otherwise see!

The kids had a whale of a time at the villa - between the table football game and the pool we struggled to get them away from the place!

But we did manage a little bit of sightseeing, with a day trip to Tavira, a visit to a local pottery shop in Moncarapacho and a morning on the beach near Quateira.

Oh yes, nearly forgot my birthday! Anthony and I went out to a local restaurant (O Graciano) for dinner while Mum & Dad babysat the boys. We had been advised what to eat before we went as they serve several local specialites. So we ate home made soft cheese and marrow jam - gorgeous and then gorged ourselves with steak on a stone. The partially cooked steak arrived on a sizzling hot piece of granite & we then sliced off mouthfuls and finished cooking them ourselves. It was amazing! And yes, they did make us put those dreadful lobster bibs on!!

Apart from that we spent every afternoon in the pool and the rest of the time lazing around eating far too much food and drinking an awful lot of Vinho Verde and White Port & tonic. Now that's what I call a holiday!

When we got back to the UK we discovered that even with the postal strike we had a mountain of mail to deal with, so it took me a while to get to a large hardbacked envelope. I couldn't believe it when I opened it to find my exam certificate already. Yes, I passed those flippin' exams so I'm now a fully qualified aromatherapist - hoorah!!!!!

There - told you it was going to be a long one! Hope you haven't all fallen asleep yet! Promise the next one will be a bit sooner.

Phew!

2007-09-26T17:16:00.000+01:00

Am I glad that is over! The exams that is.

Passed the practical exam, though whether I did well or scraped through, I have no idea. Just have to wait around for 6 weeks now to find out whether my multiple guesses were correct and whether my huge file of paperwork for my case studies was good for anything other than shredding!

But at least I have my life back now - well until the results anyway! Woo hoo!!!

Countdown - aaaarrrggghhhh!

2007-09-19T14:42:00.001+01:00

Well that's it. I finally handed in my aromatherapy case studies at 12.30 today, having spent the morning typing up the last one, and then driving them to Cirencester. Its only taken me 9 months to get them finished!

Now its countdown to the exams - 1 week today and it will all be over. I can't wait!

I am soooooo sick of studying and not having time to do anything else properly. Just have to hope that I pass now. At least I will know if I have passed the practical, as we can't sit the theory paper if we don't pass, and its the same day!

So wish me luck & think of me next wednesday, I will be panicking like mad!

Hurrah, 50 at last!

2007-09-15T19:45:00.000+01:00

No not my age you cheeky blighters! Our 50th geocache!

We went to visit Mel & Judi while Anthony was still in the US (supposedly working but busy grabbing Caches instead!). Because he had managed to bag 4, if we could grab two more, the Swindon Scabs would have made it to the big 5-0. That is of course if he hadn't beaten us to it (well you never know with the time difference!)

As Mel hates to lose a race, we went to lunch at Hillers via The Salford Series #2. After a quick find, and a not so quick lunch, off we went to #3, traipsing across a beetroot field in the process - stupid farmer not having kept the public footpath free of planting! Grabbed the cache and then I rang Anthony to see if we had won the race. Since he was in a bagel bar having breakfast, we managed it easily!

Thanks to Hilliers fantastic farm shop, we treated ourselves to a cream tea, and after a trip to the allotment to pick veggies, we headed home having made it to 50 caches. It seems to have taken us rather a long time. Maybe the next 50 will be a bit quicker!

Where did the time go?

2007-09-14T21:08:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it, my baby has started school. When did he grow up so fast? How can he be at school already?

I know he's only gone into the nursery class, but sending him off wearing his school uniform it feels just the same! He looks so grown up, and he acts it too.

With him being an August birthday he is one of the youngest in the class, but you'd never know it! He went straight in on the first morning, sat down to play with the playdoh and that was it. He was too busy talking to Mrs Shore, to even notice whether I was there or not. I could have left but its not fair to go without saying goodbye, so I told him I'd be back at 11.30 to pick him up. We had a bit of a lower lip quiver, but then it was back to playdoh!

On Thursday (his second day) he came home with a couple of pieces of artwork - a lovely messy painting, and a piece he had done on the computer!! He told me that he had been working on his own and then the teacher had come to help. How the hell does he know how to work a computer??? I wouldn't know where to start to create what he had done!! Next thing I know he'll be asking to do it at home - then what do I do?!!

Birthday celebrations

2007-09-13T21:28:00.000+01:00

No, not anyone in the family, but Orchid Vale (Ben's school) and Swindon Scrapaholics.

Friday was the school's first birthday, so they decided to celebrate by having a small party.

We were treated to a video of the school's year - the kids looked like they loved every minute of being in school, and the best part of the whole year according to Mrs Kalynka (the head) - playing in the snow. The whole school went out to play and then came back in for hot chocolate. How great is that?

After the video, the school choir gave a lovely performance of some very difficult African songs. Being my son, Benjamin is part of the choir, but I was surprised to see that some of his friends were missing. When I asked my friend Emma why her son Jack wasn't singing, she said that the whole choir hadn't taken part, only those specifically chosen by Miss England (deputy head, choir mistress and Ben's class teacher). Proud mummy moment number 2 of the week!

After the singing we all went outside to the story chair, next to which a very deep hole had been dug - big enough for one of the nursery children to fall into! Into this hole the caretaker, a child from each class and Mrs Kalynka put a time capsule containing work from each class. The idea is that it will be dug up in 10 years time for the next generation of pupils to see what life was like at school then.

We all traipsed back to the school hall for birthday cake & drinks, but had to wait while the local papers took pictures as we had some "celebrities" come to cut the cake - 2 Swindon Town footballers, who have children in the school.

As well as the celebrations, a new piece of artwork was unveiled in the reception area. Every child that was in the school at the end of the first school year made a mosaic tile and they were all put together to create this glorious piece of artwork.
Benjamin's tile is the one on the top row surrounded buy turquoise tiles.

It was a nice afternoon, and a lovely way to celebrate the school being a year old, especially for those children who had been there from the start.

Saturday was another day of 1st birthday celebrations, this time for Swindon Scrapaholics. There were lots of challenges, some gorgeous stash to stroke (and well let's be honest to buy!) from Scrapajack and of course cake to be eaten!

I had a great morning sat next to Jools (thanks for all the inspiration) and I actually managed to get a LO finished, thereby completing Sandie's sketch challenge. And here it is - the first layout I have completed in a very long time! Just a shame I couldn't stay for the whole day - those jacket potatoes smelt wonderful as I was leaving!

Proud Mummy Moment

2007-09-10T22:21:00.000+01:00

Getting Benjamin to tell me anything about his day at school is like getting blood out of a stone, but since he went up to Bumblebees (Year 1) he seems a bit more willing to talk about it, e.g I actually found out that they not only did PE today, but played Traffic Lights!

However my proud Mummy moment came on Tuesday (only his second day back at school). When I went to pick him up after school he flew at me and said (with the most excited expression I have ever seen on his face)"Guess what Mummy?" Well I had no idea what on earth could have gotten him so worked up so I just said "I don't know sweetheart, tell me".

His next words bowled me over. "I'm on the school council" came his reply.

I didn't know what to do with myself. I can tell you that I was so proud of him I felt I would burst and I wanted to shout it to the world. It may not seem like much to most people, but given that he isn't at the school we would have orignally chosen for him, I am so thrilled that something like this has happened. And best of all, he was elected by having the most votes from his classmates - 16 in total, which means that over half the class voted for him! He has a fellow councillor from his class called Megan and he has already told me that he is happy to be working with her!

Will I always feel this proud of his achievements? If so, the feeling beats anything I have ever achieved for myself!!

Busy busy busy!

2007-09-08T18:23:00.000+01:00

Well it has been chaotic in the Mazzotta household.

Since I last blogged we have celebrated Samuel's 3rd birthday, spent a lovely day at the Swindon Forest Festival, had a trip to Bourton on the Water, Benjamin has gone back to school, Anthony has gone to America for work (and is still there!), Orchid Vale (Ben's school ) has celebrated its 1st birthday and I have been to Scrapaholics.

Blimey, just reading that list makes me realise why I am soooo tired!!

Samuel's birthday was lovely. We had a party at home, but unfortunately some of his friends couldn't make it. Never mind, for the few who came, we had bubble fun, pass the parcel, a treasure hunt around the garden, and most popular of all a game of cricket with his new play set. Plus of course the most important bit - a Thomas the Tank Engine cake (and yes it was homemade!)

We have never been to the Forest Festival before, even though this was its 9th year. I wish we had, as it was a wonderful day out. There were lots of traditional woodcrafts, great fun and games for the kids (and adults too if I am honest) - anyone for a game of Frisbee golf? - some scrummy food and great music, as well as lots of information about living ethically & healthily. I loved it!

Bourton on the Water was a great day out. It was the boys designated "Auntie" weekend, as my sister and her partner have so many nieces and nephews (and live too far away to visit often) that they have designated alternate months to visit each family! We decided to meet at Bourton as is about half way, plus there was a geocache event going on that weekend so we knew there would be some new caches to grab.
We started off by visiting Birdland which the kids loved, especially the lunatic penguin who swam on his side whenever anyone came near and flapped his flipper so hard he soaked everyone! They also loved the flamingos and Ben was very chuffed to be able to tell me that they are pink because they eat pink prawns! How does he learn this stuff??

After lunch at a riverside pub (not a particularly good one it has to be said) we headed for the Motor Museum so that the boys could see Brum. Yes he really does live here, and this really is the museum that he goes home to in the programmes. On the way we managed to retrieve Brum's Cache even though there were loads of other people on the river path.

After a few more caches, an organic ice cream at Lower Slaughter mill and a paddle in the very cold river we headed home.

I think that's probably enough for now. Apologies for the length of the post, but to be honest it is mainly for Anthony's benefit so that he can keep up to date with what we have been doing while he is on the other side of the atlantic. We love you and miss you!! xxx

Back to school excitement to follow soon.

Bank Holiday Weekend As It Should Be!

2007-08-31T20:59:00.001+01:00

What a great weekend we had!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early (no change there!) and went swimming at our local JJB (by bike I might add!) Ben is really becoming confident in the water now (after being terrified for such a long time) and managed to swim a whole length by himself (with armbands). The boys were both so good that we decided a treat at Starbucks was in order after our swim. So much for all the calories I had worked off riding to the pool & swimming!

Saturday afternoon we went 10-pin bowling. I had promised Ben that we would go some time in the holidays, but I had done nothing about it. Then out of the blue the bowling alley send him a letter saying they have made him a member of the Bowlclub and sending him some money off vouchers. Two games of bowling for £5 each is too good a bargain to miss, so I booked up and we finally got there! We came home to home made pizza for dinner - I've never tried pizza dough before, but it was a breeze using the breadmaker! By making Sam's with Nomato sauce he was able to have a pizza too.

Sunday morning dawned bright and very early. My sister & her partner were joining us for the Npower Festival of the Future at the Science Museum in Wroughton, but had got her times muddled up and arrived on our doorstep at 8.15am. Judi nearly killed her when I said they didnt have to be here until 9.15am (they had left my parents at around 7.30am and Judi doesn't do mornings!!) After several cups of strong coffee & packing a picnic, we set off and arrived to find that it was already quite busy. We managed to locate the Geocaching stand and grabbed the co-ordinates of the new cache that had been published especially for the day. After a morning caching, we enjoyed our picnic lunch whilst watching Robocop strutting his stuff around the site! After ice creams and a lot of Geocoin spotting we headed home, stopping to grab another cache on the way.

Monday was spent celebrating our friend David's 30th birthday, with an excellent party at St Francis vicarage - thanks to Beth for allowing the use of her garden. We had some lovely food (thanks to Mike and Anthony for cooking) and rather a lot of Pimms was consumed. Even though we had the boys with us, we didn't leave until 10.00pm! Yes, we were the last to leave and yes, we had had even more to drink by then, which probably contributed to the hysterical laughter while reading Adrian Plass' cracking book "Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation - An A-Z of the Christian Life". I can thoroughly recommend this book if you need a laugh.

All in all a lovely weekend and amazingly for a UK bank holiday - no rain!!

Not quite the weekend I expected!

2007-08-20T21:30:00.000+01:00

Well what a difference a few hours makes! Just a few hours after my last post, I was in bed shivering and feeling extremely sick, and when I woke up Saturday morning I was in agony. My back has never hurt that much before (something wrong with my kidneys I think) and my stomach would not stop cramping. Knew what it was as hubby had the bug on Tuesday, but that didn't help much, knowing that we were supposed to be going to London!

Did manage to get myself organised enough to crawl into the car & fell out the other end into the hotel & went to bed. Not how I envisaged spending our Saturday in London! Woke up mid afternoon feeling a little better & after soaking in a lavender bath I managed to get ready to go out. So bloody typical that we were having dinner in an amazing restaurant and I didn't fancy anything! Managed a steak and a mouthful of Tiramisu for pudding (plus a glass of champagne it has to be said - well the bubbles help with a bad stomach!) and then it was off to the theatre.

What can I say, Joseph was AMAZING!!! Lee was brilliant which made all those weekends of voting worthwhile! Oh, and for most of it he is wearing an extremely short loincloth, which made for a most enjoyable evening!

Felt much better by the time the show had ended so we walked about half way back to the hotel & then grabbed a cab as it was raining. Had a drink in the very ornate lounge bar & went to bed. Slept really well (unusual for me in a hotel) and didn't wake up until 9.00am. Bliss!!!

After the latest breakfast I have ever eaten we set off to do some of the local geocaches. Can't believe how many there are in London, but hardly any are to find treasure, most of them are to find a landmark or some piece of information.

We managed to do 5, taking in several pubs (and no we didn't stop for a drink), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament, the Cenotaph, Great Scotland Yard, Horseguards, Downing Street and New Scotland Yard, before we realised that if we didn't get back to the hotel we were never going to make it back to Swindon for my Kentwood rehearsal.

Amazingly the hotel only charged us £12 parking for 24 hours, and given its location, we will definately be staying there again. You could walk to Covent Garden easily if it wasn't raining!

Not quite the romantic anniversary weekend away I anticipated! Oh well, at least it gives us an excuse to go again soon!!

Life in General

2007-08-17T13:09:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted for ages, but nothing terribly exciting has been happening & I have had my head down working hard on my aromatherapy case studies.

Life has ticked along for the past couple of weeks. Appointments with the taxman, case study clients, trips to the osteopath, taking care of the boys, a very expensive MOT (over £500!), choir and dancing.

We did have a lovely family day out to Caldicot castle last Friday, well worth a visit if you want a nice break from the school holidays!

The boys loved the Alice In Wonderland trail where they had to find all the characters from the story. We climbed the towers and down to the dungeons and I was pleasantly surprised how interested the boys were in everyting.

We had a picnic lunch in the courtyard, under the shade of a gorgeous tree. Everyone else was out in the scorching sun (yes, amazingly we had wonderful weather for our day trip!)
After lunch we played draughts on a giant size board and ate welshcakes in the castle tearooms, before going out to the parkland to feed the ducks on the lake & find a couple of well hidden geocaches. After a fish & chip supper when we got home, the boys literally fell into bed. They were exhausted!

Looking forward to this weekend, life gets much more exciting. We are off to London in the morning (without the boys) to go and see Joseph at the Adelphi theatre. It seems like ages ago that I booked the tickets, and I can't wait. Plus we get a lie in on Sunday morning - luxury. Who knows, we might even manage breakfast in bed!

Feelin' low

2007-08-06T20:39:00.000+01:00

Don't ask me why 'cause I don't know the answer.

Have been suffering with a strange throat / mouth problem for a few days, but when I went to the doctors, the nurse just told me I had ulcers (& therefore must be run down) but that there was no infection, so there was nothing she could do. Oh, and if it didn't clear up to go and see the dentist (!) as it would probably mean that there was something wrong with my gums.

I know I am run down and tired, but that's normal! Having a mouth that permenantly feels as though I have been eating sloes does not! I don't have the energy to do anything much, but I have soooo much to do - isn't that always the way?

Did manage to spend most of the day in the park with the boys today, but I am paying for it now, as I am practically asleep at my desk. However, they had a great time, and it made for an easy bedtime, as they were both knackered!!

Was going to try and prepare my tax return info tonight (have appointment at the tax office on Wednesday), but don't have the necessary mental capacity, so am going to give up on that idea, make myself a cup of tea and go and watch Rosemary & Thyme instead. And after that I am going to bed.

Gutted!

2007-07-25T10:45:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know I should be thankful that our home isn't flooded and that we have power and water, but that doesn't stop me being totally gutted about missing G4 on Saturday.

After a very scary journey to PaperArts on Saturday morning (2 hours to get from Swindon to Stroud, a good hour and a half of which was from Blunsdon Hill to Cricklade) we decided that trying to get to Milton Keynes with a 5 and 2 year old in the car was pure lunacy. Particularly when the road to Oxford was closed and therefore we would have had to go via Cirencester and the A40, necessitating another trip down Blunsdon Hill!

To be honest I'm not sure what I am more gutted about. Missing my last ever G4 concert or the fact that Benjamin didn't get to see them, which I had promised he would. I HATE breaking promises to my children!! We did try and make up for it in a small way, by watching my DVD of their concert at the Royal Albert Hall together with a large bowl of popcorn (thanks for the idea Jools) and to be fair, Ben didn't make any fuss about not going. Having read the reviews of the people who were there, I know we made the right decision, as they all got soaked, cold and very muddy! Seems like an awful waste of £100 but then if we had got stuck and had to spend the night somewhere, it would have been even more expensive!

As for getting "Buck Naked with Jools" at PaperArts, I can now reveal that it involved naked (i.e. blank) chipboard and we were supposed to paint it and then use different techniques to decorate it for the title of a LO. However, after driving through the floods, I was so badly shaken that I couldn't actually do anything much, and just sat around feeling faint, and eating chocolate cake to make me feel better (well that's my excuse anyway!)

I did finally manage to finish off my pirate LO from a previous crop, and make a start on a LO of Ben on a trampoline (thanks for the inspiration Cherry & Jools) so the day wasn't a total washout! Had it not been for Jools showing us her class in the car (while stuck in the flood traffic jam) and then telling us that we were going to get a full pack of chipboard we would have given up and gone home. But having already paid for the class, there was no way we were going to miss out on chipboard!!

Will get around to doing the class LO at some future point, but need to take some pics to go with the All Aboard papers that I chose before I can do it. Need some boats, or a lighthouse or similar, so feel a trip coming on if we get a nice day in the summer hols (how much chance there is of that, I'm not sure!)

I'm Back!

2007-07-20T11:38:00.001+01:00

Was it really only 6 days ago that I was sitting in the sun sipping an iced tea?

I'm sat here listening to the rain pounding on my skylight and the thunder rumbling and wondering what on earth our autumn and winter are going to be like if this is summer!

Italy was wonderful. Glorious weather, stunning food and best of all the kids were great, so it actually felt like a holiday! I managed to take over 100 pics in 6 days - thank goodness we are digi! Here are just a few to give you a taste of our holiday.

It has been a busy week since we got home. Ben had sports day (thank goodness it wasn't today!) and managed a very respectable 2nd in the relay and 4th in the skipping (I didn't even know he could skip :o) ). Unfortunately for me they also had a parents race, which was not the gentle jog I anticipated but a full on competitive sprint - not something I am usually willing to do! But I didn't disgrace myself, and actually managed 3rd place (and no that wasn't out of 3!!)

Samuel had a teddy bear's picnic to meet all his nursery classmates and get familiar with the classroom. He had a great time doing playdoh, threading,
colouring, playing with the farm & having his face painted like a teddy. I don't think I have any worries about whether he will enjoy it or not!

And what a mad weekend we have in front of us! I am getting "buck naked with Jools" at Paperarts - no I'm not exactly sure what it means either, but I promise you it is scrapping related! And Benjamin has not 1 but 2 birthday parties to attend while I am there.

Then I am rushing home and we are heading to Milton Keynes to see the wonderful G4 at Proms In The Park (part of Benjamin's birthday present). Please, please let it have stopped raining by then, otherwise the boys first experience of a prom concert is not going to be a fun one! At least we don't have to worry about carrying too much, as we have opted to have the expensive but very scrummy picnics that are provided at the concert. So all we have to worry about is the obligatory bottle of champagne (although to be honest I think a flask of coffee might be a better bet) and some chairs. It can't be any wetter than the last night of the the proms concert in Hyde Park in 2005 - can it?????

Think Sunday might have to be a lazy morning (if we can get away with it) as we won't be home until gone midnight. But I can't rest too much as we have choir rehersal in the afternoon, and since we haven't had one for ages, there are no excuses for not going!!

Celebration week

2007-07-05T13:54:00.000+01:00

This has been a lovely week, with lots to celebrate.

On Wednesday Benjamin came home with his first ever school report, and it was brilliant! Am I a proud mummy or what?! I was so pleased with him that we let him choose his reward. His choice - to go to the local pub for dinner on Saturday! That's my boy!!
However on Thursday we met friends for coffee at Starbucks and walked back to the car past Pizza Hut. The resulting conversation went something like this:
Ben "Mummy I can still change my mind can't I?" (I'm panicking thinking he has decided he wants different friends at his birthday party on the Friday!)
Me "Um, what about sweetheart?"
Ben "I can choose somewhere else to eat, can't I?"
Me - with relief! "Yes of course - where do you want to go now?"
Ben - jumping up and down with excitement "PIZZA HUT PLEASE"

Friday was Ben's 5th birthday and we celebrated with a party at home for 5 of his friends. With the weather as it has been I was a little concerned about keeping them all amused, but I needn't have worried as the rain stayed away long enough for a long game of Stick In The Mud in the garden (thanks Mike!) With Pass the Parcel, and a treasure hunt around the house, plus the excitement of Ben's new bubble machine, they were more than happy for a couple of hours.

Saturday Benjamin and Samuel had an invitation to a birthday party, but when we got there, Sam decided that he couldn't cope with being the only small one in a group of 28 5 year olds, so opted to come to the pub for lunch with us instead. Benjamin stayed and had a great time!
Dinner at Pizza Hut as promised and another late night for the boys.

We had a lazy Sunday morning watching Finding Nemo and eating popcorn waiting for my sister and her partner to visit for "Auntie Weekend". They bought lots of presents for Ben and spent the rest of the morning playing in the garden with the boys while I made us all a roast dinner.

After watching the Grand Prix we decided that we would go out geocaching, as the rain had been very minimal all day. As soon as we left the house it started pouring and didn't stop until after we got back an hour and a half later. It has been a very long time since I have been this wet. But at least we did find the cache!

And then yesterday we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. As some of you know, for us that is a major achievement. Anthony took the day off work as we should have been going to Ben's Sports Day (cancelled due to the rain) so we spent a quiet day doing all sorts of things. I had a beautiful watch for my present, but as Anthony had bought it so long ago (Feb in fact) the battery had run down, so we took it up to Old Town to have a new one fitted and while we were waiting went to The Old Bank for coffee and the most scrummy chocolate muffins. I can recommend it, especially with little ones!
After lunch Anthony took Sam off to visit family and I got to spend the afternoon enjoying the company of Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. Sadly not quite all to myself as 4 other people walked in just as the film was about to start, but it was lovely being in an almost empty cinema. Am I the only one who cried when Will died??

We couldn't go out for dinner, so shared a bottle of champagne with our pasta supper instead, and we are going to celebrate properly in Italy.

Its lovely to have so much to be thankful for and celebrate. Just wish the weather could turn a little more celebratory to match!

What a weekend!

2007-06-24T18:34:00.000+01:00

This has been a weekend of real contrasts.

Friday evening was brilliant, as I was taking part in the Faithscrappers cybercrop. I had pre-arranged that after making dinner (chicken & chips) I was unavailable for the rest of the evening, and when I finally crawled into bed at 2.06am, I had completed 1 class LO, 2 challenges (a LO and a card) and taken part in the bible quiz, the mystery kit challenge and had a great time, munching on crisps and chocs sent by my swap partner and drinking cocktails.

Here are the layouts I created:

I then spent the rest of the night getting up and down to the kids, while Anthony slept on oblivious! When they got up Saturday morning they were HIDEOUS!!

We decided to go out for a bike ride and got back just before the heavens opened (yet again). Anthony went off to Falmouth for his bowling tournament and after making the kids risotto for lunch (which amazingly they liked!) I dropped them off at the in-laws to spend the night, so that I could go back to the cybercrop.

By the time I got back and logged into the forum to see what was happening I was beginning to feel a bit rough. The classes that had been posted were all a little bit challenging (painting cardstock, inking dominoes and a fat book) and by 3.00pm I was feeling decidedly poorly. How typical is that - the house to myself, a cybercrop happening and I am feeling too ill to do anything!

Luckily there was a non-scrapping challenge that I thought I could manage, so I made myself an aromatherapy steam inhalation, had a hot honey & lemon and sat on the sofa feeling sorry for myself with my bible & concordance to hand. The challenge was to do a word study on sheep and shepherd and then write a psalm or prayer. You can see the prayer I wrote on the Faithscrappers forum here.

After that I just vegged on the sofa re-reading Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix (as the film comes out in a couple of weeks time). Just about summoned enough energy to chuck a pizza in the oven for dinner and after Dr Who I went to bed.

Today has been a bad day. I had very little sleep and woke up at 6.30 (again typical - no hubby or kids to worry about and instead of having a sleep-in I am wide awake even earlier than normal!) I treated myself to breakfast in bed, in the vain attempt to stave off my nerves. Today was exam day (dancing exams that is not aromatherapy ones) and I always get ridiculously nervous.

Having arrived at the studio, I took some Rescue Remedy, but I don't think it did much good. The Foxtrot went ok, although I could feel my nerves making me tremble a little, and then it was Tango time. It started ok, but right in front of the examiner I slipped after stepping sideways too far. We managed to carry on, but by the time we got to the other end of the room I was shaking so much we had to stop.

We took a break before the Latin dances so that I could compose myself, and then went back in to tackle the Samba and Jive. The Samba went ok, which I was surprised about as I don't really like it (certain parts of me are too big to do much justice to the bounce action required!!!) and then came the Jive. Now I love this dance and I thought it would be fine, but I missed a step and we had to stop and start again. What a disaster!!

I'm gutted because I feel like I have let myself down. I know I can do all those dances and the nerves just get the better of me every time. Now I have the agonising wait for the results. Why can't they just tell us there and then??

Had lunch with the in-laws and then took Ben to a birthday party. How do you explain why he is going to the party of someone he knows has the same birthday as him, but his party is a week earlier? :o)

And to round the weekend off nicely, as well as me still feeling grotty, the kids are now both complaining of sore thoats which means they are probably going to come down with this bug too.
Not what I need this week, as I have a manic week.

Oh well, not long 'til our holiday!

Sometimes being a mum is so hard

2007-06-21T21:42:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I hate being a mum! I had to take Sam to the hospital today for a blood test.

He has terrible eczema and we think he is allergic to certain foods, but can't quite pinpoint what.
So we had arranged for him to have some allergy tests done. Now I just assumed that they would be skin prick tests like we had done for Ben, but oh no, they decide to do RAST tests (whatever they are) instead. All I know is that meant Sam had to provide enough blood for at least 5 samples.

Now normally they would put anaesthetic cream on for children, but since they do the blood test in the inner elbow (as for adults) and Sam has eczema there, he had to make do with a cold spray.

I have never heard him make the noise he made when they inserted the needle before. He was sat on my lap facing me, supposedly having a cuddle, and he cried through the whole thing. I expected him to scream when the needle went in, but he didn't, he just made this awful noise (like animals do when they are in pain) that ripped at my heart. And it didn't stop. He was so bruised where they had tried to get his vein to stand up, that he cried for a good 5 minutes after we got back to the car, because he said he "didn't like his arm any more as it hurts Mummy"

I know it is important to find out about his allergies, but to watch your son in pain like that and know that it is partly your fault for letting it happen is soooooo hard!!

Catching Up

2007-06-13T21:23:00.000+01:00

You see, I told you I wouldn't be able to keep it up to date! :o)

So what have I been doing since my last post? Mmm, let me see:

- I got to visit the gardens of Highgrove House with my mum's art group. It was beautiful, a bit mad (does anyone that hasn't been there know what a Stumpery is?) and very inspiring. Sadly no photos were allowed, so I can't show you what we saw, but I did buy a guide book, so I may scan some pics to do a LO with.

- I went to Paperarts for the regular Friday night crop. Didn't get much done as usual, but then I had a good excuse this time. Just before I left home to drive to the crop, I managed to slice a very deep gash in my right thumb (on my ice lolly mould - don't ask!) So I just spent the evening drinking tea, munching on cake and fish & chips and catching up with everyone. Oh and I spent more money on yet another set of Rhonna Farrer stamps. I think I have the beginnings of an addiction!

- Hubby and I went to see a local show called "A Family Affair". Basically mum, dad and 2 teenagers who all sing (or have sung) with Kentwood. They are hugely talented and put on their own show (and made a CD) to raise money for the Prospect Hospice. It was an amazing evening, with a very varied range of music, and more than once I was moved to tears, especially by Chris and Clarry's duets (that's mum and dad).

- we had an induction evening for Sam starting at St Francis nursery last night. Can't believe that he will be off to "school" in September, where has the time gone? Just such a pain that he and Ben will be at different schools.

Apart from that it has been life as usual - Kentwood lessons / rehearsals (we are opening the garden season at The Stables theatre in Milton Keynes on Friday for Cleo Laine & John Dankworth), dancing lessons (last set of pre-bronze exams coming up in a couple of weeks time), trying to keep the new house tidy & clean (oh how I miss my cleaner!) and running around after the kids (I have had more than the usual number on several days this week!)

Oh and mustn't forget the exciting news. Having spent the last few months glued to our TV on a Saturday night, we were very pleased to see that the rest of the viewing public thought as we did, and voted Lee as the winner (we missed seeing the final live). Since we have been voting for him from the beginning, I have booked tickets to Joseph for our wedding anniversary. We have been married 9 years this year, and I am reliably informed that the modern day present for 9 years is a watch. Since Anthony already has a very flash kinetic one, he doesn't need another, so I decided to take him to "watch" Joseph instead! I pushed the boat out and we are staying in London for the night (something we haven't done before) so I am really looking forward to that. Just have to be careful though, as the hotel is opposite New Scotland Yard!!

Blimey, I've just read through what I've written, & I don't half go on! Note to self - must try to blog more regularly, or not write so much! :o))

A change of image

2007-05-30T12:27:00.000+01:00

Well I've been playing around with the new templates on here and I've changed the look of my blog. It's not so obviously me, but I thought it went better with the picture of the boys. What do you think?

A bad week

2007-05-26T18:13:00.000+01:00

Well, can't say this has been a particularly good week for me. :o(

I spent Sunday in bed with a chest / throat infection feeling really rough, when I should have been in Cambridgeshire singing with Kentwood.

Then on Tuesday hubby & I were supposed to be going to see G4 in Bournemouth. Unfortunately MIL had to go into hospital and couldn't have the boys, and I was still feeling pretty groggy so I wasn't going to go. However, thanks must go to my friend Julie for giving me a bed for the night & coming with me to the show. Without her I wouldn't have gone as I wouldn't have been safe driving so far home that late at night as tired as I was. In the end we didn't get to bed until after 1.00 o'clock anyway, as we were catching up on the last 6 years! The show was quite emotional (G4 are splitting up on 31st August) and it showed, as they weren't as polished as we have come to expect. Still gorgeous though! :o)

Wednesday would have been my dancing lesson, but it got cancelled as my teacher had hurt his back & as I had a headache anyway we decided to call it off. Trouble is my exam is only 1 month away & to be honest I need as much practice as I can get!

And on top of all that, I have spent pretty much every spare minute this week typing up the case studies for my aromatherapy exams. I have been getting really stressed about it, as I have basically run out of time to complete them before the exam. Anyway, I went to the revision day at college today, and have been told that I can defer to the September exam rather than the June one. You would think that would make me feel better as now I have 4 months to prepare rather than 4 weeks, but acutally I just feel like a bit of a failure. Plus it means I have to work all through the summer holidays! Aaarggghh.

And I want to go and see Pirates III, but that's just not going to happen.

Apologies for being so depressing. Going to drown my sorrows in a couple of bottles of beer & a curry tonight and try to enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend. Have fun whatever you are doing this weekend.

Here I am!

2007-05-20T21:01:00.001+01:00

Well that's it, I've finally taken the plunge & created a blog.

Am I mad? Probably. Will I keep it up to date? Not in a million years! But everyone else is doing it, so I thought I might as well.

And now you are all thinking "why the hell has she called it 'Scabs Scribblings' ?"
A couple of reasons why it seemed appropriate:
- Scabs is our team name for geocaching and is made up from all our initials
- my maiden name is Scrivin, which means writer and because of that
- Scribble is my family nickname, and well deserved as some of you already know!

It might not look very interesting for a while, as I don't really have any idea what I am doing, so it will be a miracle if I can get pictures and the like on here. But you never know, I might learn something new by doing this and that is always a good thing. Just don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed! LOL