I have been a reader of Ali Edwards' blog for a few years now. I last chose a word in 2008, which was balance. I find it hard to find balance, and I have been trying very hard, but in the last 3 months I think "juggle" was a more appropriate word for me, especially with 2 kids who have an active after school activity programme, and with me getting a part time job. I am still actively striving for balance, but decided to choose a new word for a new decade.
This year my word is "create". Now I know that this word is used as inspiration on the walls of many a craft room - and I have no problem with that - but this word is not just to do with my creativity in my craft room. I had many words on my shortlist - renew, restart, organise amongst others - but decided that create was the word I kept coming back to. The last few months have seen new beginnings for us - a new house, new job, new school, new friends - a chance to create a new life. So this year I want to create a warm and beautiful home in our new house, I want to create a good impression at work, I want to create new friendships and I want to encourage the kids to create new friendships too. I want to create the time to enjoy our new life, and to create a balance between home and work, and to allow myself time to craft and scrapbook. I also want to create a perfect crafting haven for myself! I also want to create memories, create masterpieces in the kitchen, create a small vegetable patch, and a herb garden. Looking at my list, it looks like I may have to create a few more hours in the day LOL. But I'll be happy if I manage a few of these things, as I see this word as something I can work on for a few years - I'm still working on the balance that I chose 2 years ago...
TTFN xxx
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Friday, 1 January 2010
Happy New Year
A new year, and I thought I would blow the dust off the old blog! Before I start spouting about the new year, I thought I would just do a basic recap of the latter half of 2009...
We bought a house and moved in October - and now live beside the seaside.
I found a temporary job the week before we moved house, and found out just before Christmas that I have been kept on as a permanent member of staff.
The kids both won bronze medals at the Scottish Tang Soo Do championships.
The crafting front has been quiet the past few months, although I do now actually have my own craft room now - more of that to come in future posts ;)
So that was the end of 2009, now for 2010. I've decided to resurrect the blog - and to try and update it on a regular basis. I have a couple of things in the pipeline for this year that I hope will be blogworthy, and would like to keep myself on track by blogging about it.
Ever since my beloved Gran died, just over 2 years ago, I have kept a daily diary. I inherited all her photos, and her diaries - she wrote a couple of lines a day in a week to view slimline diary, and reading them after she died gave lots of little insights into her daily life. So I decided that I would do the same, just jotting down basic info about the day. I have 2 of these diaries completed now, and have just opened my new one to start writing in today. I finished off my 2009 one with a list of memorable things from the year. And looking back, I realise that 2009 was a pretty special year for us, and one in which we were very lucky in many different ways. But sometimes I wish I had blogged a bit more, to record more than just a few lines. So here's to a great 2010, and regular blogging.... Well, I can but hope ;)
TTFN xxx
We bought a house and moved in October - and now live beside the seaside.
I found a temporary job the week before we moved house, and found out just before Christmas that I have been kept on as a permanent member of staff.
The kids both won bronze medals at the Scottish Tang Soo Do championships.
The crafting front has been quiet the past few months, although I do now actually have my own craft room now - more of that to come in future posts ;)
So that was the end of 2009, now for 2010. I've decided to resurrect the blog - and to try and update it on a regular basis. I have a couple of things in the pipeline for this year that I hope will be blogworthy, and would like to keep myself on track by blogging about it.
Ever since my beloved Gran died, just over 2 years ago, I have kept a daily diary. I inherited all her photos, and her diaries - she wrote a couple of lines a day in a week to view slimline diary, and reading them after she died gave lots of little insights into her daily life. So I decided that I would do the same, just jotting down basic info about the day. I have 2 of these diaries completed now, and have just opened my new one to start writing in today. I finished off my 2009 one with a list of memorable things from the year. And looking back, I realise that 2009 was a pretty special year for us, and one in which we were very lucky in many different ways. But sometimes I wish I had blogged a bit more, to record more than just a few lines. So here's to a great 2010, and regular blogging.... Well, I can but hope ;)
TTFN xxx
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Eeeeeee gads..........
............ another couple of months have whizzed by without me even noticing. Not alot of crafting going on here, but certainly a few other things...
- Mark got his promotion :)
- Jemma and Tom are now both orange belts in Tang Soo Do, and both came home with cups from a recent competition - bring on the Scottish Champs in September :)
- both sets of parents have visited in the last month
- external hard drive has been returned, with almost all of the photos on it, the only major file missing is all the photos from Glasgow, which I am pretty bummed about :( But, hey, it just means we have to go again to re capture ;)
- been looking at houses, almost bought one, but fell through, so staying put for now and actively looking :)
Yesterday was the Freedom of Forres parade - RAF Kinloss is 75 years old this year, and to celebrate the base was given the Freedom of Forres :) The weather was beautiful, but felt for the poor lads in their heavy wool uniforms, and the Pipe band major with a huge furry busby thing on his head. It was great to see the whole town and beyond line the main street and applaud our servicemen, we don't seem to openly appreciate our armed forces in the UK, which is a shame as they sacrifice alot, some of them pay the ultimate sacrifice :( I wish we had the US mentality sometimes, they really do appreciate their guys ;) But as a military wife, it was so nice to hear other people applauding, brought a lump to my throat. Then we sat in Grant Park on the slopes, and watched the Red Arrows do a 25 minute display right over our heads :) They were fantastic. I took the camera, but my little bridge camera probably wasn't the ideal camera to take, still not enough zoom, so when I upload I'll probably have photos of lots of blue skies with tiny dots in it LOL.
TTFN
xxxxx
Sunday, 19 April 2009
What a week...
Easter Sunday was spent at a Christening. Eva was adorable and so happy - even when she got wet LOL. The party after was great fun, and included water fights and BBQs and lots and lots of beer....
Monday, the kids were back at school - yay - but meant I got to see 7.30am again - boo. I started back at Pilates, so felt very virtuous as exercise had been ticked off my list for the week :)
The week continued on as normal, at 100 miles an hour with various after school activities and such like. Then Thursday night our external hard drive decided it had had enough - it is less than a year old. It has all our photos on it. The last time we backed up was September 08. Lessons learned the hard way. We have arranged for the hard drive to go to a data recovery service, and hoping the money we are paying results in us getting the majority, if not all, our data back. Something we could do without right now, but like I said a lesson learned the hardway. Backing up is not an option.
Yesterday was Jemma's birthday party - we had planned to take 4 of her friends ice skating, but then found out on Tuesday that the ice rink was closed this week for curling....so a hasty rearrangement was made - same time and place, just a different activity - we took the girls swimming instead! The girls had great fun, the worst part for me was the getting dressed after - I thought that my 10 yr old was slow, but when you have 5.... We took Jemma and Tom to McD's for tea after, and then it was back home to let Jemma open her presents before she headed off to the church hall for a Guide sleepover. She is walking to the Scout camp site today to pitch tents, and light a fire to cook lunch on, before attempting the low ropes course there. She is going to be taking her Promise there this afternoon aswell, becoming a fully fledged guide. Then we are off to a BBQ with the Scout group. It is a lovely sunny day outside, let's hope it stays that way!
So, no photos to share, and not alot of crafting going on - I have done a DLO this week, but it is for Mark's military album, so I can't share or else I'd have to kill you and shred you LOL. Off to take Mark a coffee in bed, and try to persuade Tom that he needs to have some breakfast...
TTFN
xxx
Monday, the kids were back at school - yay - but meant I got to see 7.30am again - boo. I started back at Pilates, so felt very virtuous as exercise had been ticked off my list for the week :)
The week continued on as normal, at 100 miles an hour with various after school activities and such like. Then Thursday night our external hard drive decided it had had enough - it is less than a year old. It has all our photos on it. The last time we backed up was September 08. Lessons learned the hard way. We have arranged for the hard drive to go to a data recovery service, and hoping the money we are paying results in us getting the majority, if not all, our data back. Something we could do without right now, but like I said a lesson learned the hardway. Backing up is not an option.
Yesterday was Jemma's birthday party - we had planned to take 4 of her friends ice skating, but then found out on Tuesday that the ice rink was closed this week for curling....so a hasty rearrangement was made - same time and place, just a different activity - we took the girls swimming instead! The girls had great fun, the worst part for me was the getting dressed after - I thought that my 10 yr old was slow, but when you have 5.... We took Jemma and Tom to McD's for tea after, and then it was back home to let Jemma open her presents before she headed off to the church hall for a Guide sleepover. She is walking to the Scout camp site today to pitch tents, and light a fire to cook lunch on, before attempting the low ropes course there. She is going to be taking her Promise there this afternoon aswell, becoming a fully fledged guide. Then we are off to a BBQ with the Scout group. It is a lovely sunny day outside, let's hope it stays that way!
So, no photos to share, and not alot of crafting going on - I have done a DLO this week, but it is for Mark's military album, so I can't share or else I'd have to kill you and shred you LOL. Off to take Mark a coffee in bed, and try to persuade Tom that he needs to have some breakfast...
TTFN
xxx
Friday, 10 April 2009
Jo, you were right...
...there was no Simple at Borders :( I'll just have to make do with the May CK that came last week ;)
Monster VS Aliens was brilliant, the kids loved it - lots of laughing out loud moments! It was made better by the Ben & Jerry's fudge sundae I had too...
Today I have been mostly shopping - first it was a trip to the manic Asda's to do the weekly shop. Mark took the kids (and a tin of polish) to Cooper Park, so I didn't have the "joy" of them coming round Asda's too... I met them in town, and we went to Jimmy Chungs for a chinese buffet - and I am still stuffed now LOL. Tom was very adventurous, trying lots of stuff - Jemma had mostly prawn crackers and Chicken Maryland.... We then found a nice little figurine to give as a Christening gift on Sunday in one of the gift shops. All in all a successful trip :)
Mark decided to wash the car when we got home, and 3 and a half hours later it was gleaming inside and out... I am wondering how much bird poo will be on it in the morning though....
Tomorrow we are hoping to go for a walk at Culbin, weather permitting, and the plan is to picnic on the beach with hot chicken and fresh bread from Tesco's LOL. We'll see how that turns out...
I leave you with my LO for the weekly challenge my UKS team are setting in a few weeks time. I won't give away any of the criteria, so not to spoil the surprise, but I enjoyed doing this LO - it has a few more things on it than I usually put on pages, I really am a simple girl at heart (no comments please!)
Monster VS Aliens was brilliant, the kids loved it - lots of laughing out loud moments! It was made better by the Ben & Jerry's fudge sundae I had too...
Today I have been mostly shopping - first it was a trip to the manic Asda's to do the weekly shop. Mark took the kids (and a tin of polish) to Cooper Park, so I didn't have the "joy" of them coming round Asda's too... I met them in town, and we went to Jimmy Chungs for a chinese buffet - and I am still stuffed now LOL. Tom was very adventurous, trying lots of stuff - Jemma had mostly prawn crackers and Chicken Maryland.... We then found a nice little figurine to give as a Christening gift on Sunday in one of the gift shops. All in all a successful trip :)
Mark decided to wash the car when we got home, and 3 and a half hours later it was gleaming inside and out... I am wondering how much bird poo will be on it in the morning though....
Tomorrow we are hoping to go for a walk at Culbin, weather permitting, and the plan is to picnic on the beach with hot chicken and fresh bread from Tesco's LOL. We'll see how that turns out...
I leave you with my LO for the weekly challenge my UKS team are setting in a few weeks time. I won't give away any of the criteria, so not to spoil the surprise, but I enjoyed doing this LO - it has a few more things on it than I usually put on pages, I really am a simple girl at heart (no comments please!)
Hoping you all have a good Easter weekend, with lots of sunshine and chocolate :)
TTFN
xxx
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Favourite LOs of the year so far...
I know, 2 posts in 2 days, it's a flood after a drought LOL
I thought I would share 2 of my favourite LOs that I have done so far this year. I did them whilst on my scrapping weekend with the girls from Fraserburgh. I was inspired by an article in the March/April issue of Simple Scrapbooks (so sad that this has stopped being published, it is my favourite magazine) all about scrapping babies. I haven't really done any scrapping of the kids as babies. And not any LOs as tiny babies. I thought it was about time that I scrapped their birth stories, and also about how they came about their names. So inspired by the ideas and the LOs in the mag, I came up with these 2 LOs (I did do 4 altogether, a birth story and name story for each child, but these 2 are my favourites!)
This LO tells the story of how Tom got his middle name - he was born on St Patrick's Day, so we gave him Patrick as a middle name. The LO is a lift of a LO by Wendy Smedley in the mag.
The house is full of sounds of children bickering, only a few days left and it's back to school for them on Monday. Tom has an ear infection, so he is a bit grotty but the antibiotics are starting to kick in now, so he should be back to normal in a day or so. We are off to watch Monsters VS Aliens this afternoon at the cinema in Inverness, I am sure I can pop into Borders after to see if they have the last issue of Simple Scrapbooks ;)
TTFN
xxx
I thought I would share 2 of my favourite LOs that I have done so far this year. I did them whilst on my scrapping weekend with the girls from Fraserburgh. I was inspired by an article in the March/April issue of Simple Scrapbooks (so sad that this has stopped being published, it is my favourite magazine) all about scrapping babies. I haven't really done any scrapping of the kids as babies. And not any LOs as tiny babies. I thought it was about time that I scrapped their birth stories, and also about how they came about their names. So inspired by the ideas and the LOs in the mag, I came up with these 2 LOs (I did do 4 altogether, a birth story and name story for each child, but these 2 are my favourites!)
This LO tells the story of how Tom got his middle name - he was born on St Patrick's Day, so we gave him Patrick as a middle name. The LO is a lift of a LO by Wendy Smedley in the mag.
This LO tells Jemma's birth story, and is a scraplift of a LO by Stephanie Howell - the little flower on the right hand side is a tab which is attached to an A4 piece of paper on which I typed out the whole of her story.
This is one of the cards I have made over the past few days, and is a cardlift of Tiets' card here.
The image is a Sugar Nellie stamp I bought last year, and I stamped it and coloured it in and then didn't know what to do with it... The papers are all scraps from K&Co, Sassafrass Lass and Dovecraft.
I have always admired the way that some people can put so many different papers onto one card, but I have always thought it could be a bit OTT, and as I used to sell cards, the cost of it was always in the back of my mind. But I don't sell my cards anymore, and it's taken me a few years to get over the burn out caused by making cards on demand, and now I am enjoying the process again and revelling in making cards to send to friends and family. I still find it easier to lift someone else's design though....
The house is full of sounds of children bickering, only a few days left and it's back to school for them on Monday. Tom has an ear infection, so he is a bit grotty but the antibiotics are starting to kick in now, so he should be back to normal in a day or so. We are off to watch Monsters VS Aliens this afternoon at the cinema in Inverness, I am sure I can pop into Borders after to see if they have the last issue of Simple Scrapbooks ;)
TTFN
xxx
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Erm, I am still here, honest...
.... I never promised to be a regular blogger, but I didn't think I would be this rubbish....
So, what's been happening at Chez Yoo since October....
So, what's been happening at Chez Yoo since October....
- Mark came back from the sand pit in one piece
- Christmas - a quiet family one
- New Year - another quiet family one LOL
- We spent a weekend in Applecross on the West Coast of Scotland, a la Monty (well not quite, we did stay in a cottage next to the sea but it did have electricity and running water LOL )
- I spent a weekend in a big country house with 7 other crafty girls (plus one adorable baby) scrapping my heart out
- We went to Glasgow for a few days for sledging, Dr Who, Science and IKEA
- Tom got his Lil Dragon black belt, and Jemma has decided after a year of watching, that she wants to get in on the act... now where did I put those oriental script papers....
2008's final LO count was 101, and so far in 2009 I have done 42 LOs, and my target is 100 LOs for the year. I have been trying to scrap on a regular basis, and have also returned to doing a bit of card making, inspired by Tiets and Marlene from the Sugar Nellie DT - infact I have been doing a spot of cardlifting, makes a change to scraplifting LOL. I have purchased some promarkers, although the jury is still out as to whether I like them or not, I may have to get a few more colours, as my palette is quite limited ;)
My Library of Memories is looking good, although I still haven't set up the system completely - the photo side of it is still half finished, but I am happy with the photos as they are for now. I am pleased with the album side though, and have added a 5th album, which will be home to LOs of Mark during his military career. I love mixing the sizes in the 3 ring albums :)
I finished my New Zealand albums - 2 12x12 albums, 80 pages in total :) We love to look through them, I am glad I persevered and saw it through.
I have a plan to start my next holiday album - our trip to Disneyland Paris in October 2006. I have been inspired by an album in the Simple Scrapbooks book "Albums in an evening" where I saw a disney album which showed the favourite photos/moments from the trip. I think thats the way to go for me, and I hope to do a similar thing. I have a spare 8x8 album (after emptying it into the LOM ) earmarked for it.
So that's me, and where I am at right now, still here, still crafting, still taking photos and still spending on stash!!! I would say that I'll be a regular blogger from now on, but knowing me it'll be October again before I do another post....
TTFN
xxx
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