Bluuuuuuuuurh, stuff and thoughts

First up is the Document:2010 pages for November. Can't believe I have completed all this - always full of enthusiasm for stuff but then find it difficult to carry through for one reason or another. Anyway, only one month left and here I am!!!





First page still needs the receipts, etc putting in the envelope, but I tidied up for Christmas and can't reach any of them until I move everything back to what is "normal" mode in the dining room. hehehe! The colours on these photo's are rubbish because it's been misty outside for the past couple of days so no sunlight in the house. Have had to use the camera flash which doesn't show the true colours.

Next up are the two "collage" pages. Such an odd month weather-wise.... started off like a lamb - lovely sunshine reflecting the trees on the canal; then the wind blowing trees over the Trans Pennine Trail - HS and I went out and spent a couple of hours making it safe and removing it from the trail. Being "girlies" instead of the "special ones" we aren't allowed to use any tools that have a bigger motor than a sewing machine, so all we had was a land rover, bosaw and some rope. Great fun though. We left PB to cut it down with the chainsaw - knowing how much he enjoys that! :-) BUT! The REALLY bizarre thing is that the following morning PB went up the trail to remove the tree and..... wait for it..... It had been turned round to face the opposite direction! Seriously. It had taken HS and me and hour to manoeuvre it into that position using the land rover and rope, because it WAS really heavy. Normal vehicles aren't allowed on the trail, so who moved it and how the hell did they move it? :-D Like I said - bizarre!
Then came the snow. Oh Boy! The snow. It was the last Tuesday of November. I've already blogged about it so won't bore you with anymore, except to say...... if we had been able to book the weekend away that we wanted, we'd have been stranded in Scarborough by the snow!

And finally my focus page for November was our weekend in Scarborough. Lovely views. Relaxing time. Good to get away and unwind.











Today I took Phil and Steph to Chatsworth, but with the mist/fog, we saw nuffink!! :-( So we moved on to Harwick, which again, I knew would be closed but that we would be able to get closer so may be able to show Steph a bit more than a misty field... :-)



 So here is the new Hall - in the background. We were able to see a bit more than this... I love the windows... I love the inside when we can get in! :-) Especially the Gallery - my desire is to lie on the floor and just look up at the ceiling - one day I will!











And then the Old Hall. So beautiful in the mist. Told Stephanie that she has to come back in the summer when they are open and we can show her some real history. I much prefer Hardwick to Chatsworth. ???? I find it much more powerful. Does that make sense? I know what I mean... Chatsworth is like mutton dressed as lamb in so many ways; like they are trying to be something they know they can't be (even though the Cavendish's probably ARE something they can be!) Don't know what it is.....

And here they are.... The Old Hardwick Hall IS in the background; you can just make it out. If only the two of them had worn boots instead of Converse.... Steph is from Los Angeles and apparently they don't do any walking over there?!! Mmmmm! I'm sure "they" must do. I admit they don't walk around the city (Philip says there are no sidewalks until you reach the retail areas!) but surely they go for walks? They have parks and countryside. They HAVE to walk in them? But aren't they cute? He's hoping to go back out there in March. This is getting serious! Anyone know if it's easier to get a resident visa for the UK or the USA? :-D
And Finally......
It's almost the New Year, and I don't think I have ever been so pleased to see the back of a year. I can't wait for 2011. 2010 has been total crap. We've never had such a bad year. Not even previous years when one of us has been seriously ill, or had a "condition" diagnosed. 2010? Good Riddance. I have learnt several things though which I will take into 2011 as lessons learned and not to be repeated. I am also going to try to take more time for ME! If I want to do something I'm going to do it! I'm NOT going to feel guilty. It's time to move on. Watch this space.........
Speak soon. Happy New Year. Jude.x

Finally!!!

...... in the mood for Christmas... In 9 minutes it will be Christmas Day. I have all my children with me, and   a "borrowed" one from the USA (my littlest baby has his girlfriend visiting); the dogs are sleeping and the puppy isn't trying to open all the presents; and me and the other half are spending our 36th Christmas together. The meat for Christmas lunch is cooked; DH will do the veg in the morning. Life IS sometimes good.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Back soon. xxx

Smiling!

Our Christmas tree is up, so it must be nearly Christmas! Family tradition says that the tree goes up on the weekend that would have been the closest to my sisters birthday and that is plenty soon enough for me. Wanted to share a couple of photographs that made me smile recently: This first one is Santa in his "mufti"......... Yup! Rodge was one of the Santa's for the Canal Trust this year. He secretly loved it, but isn't going to admit it anytime soon, but did ask me if I thought he'd be needed again next year - to right chum after all the effort I put into making that red suit!!! AND everytime he "jokes" about me never wearing that white dress again, the red suit will be the retort.... :-D Isn't he cute:

And...........................
my BFF with her first Grandchild. How jealous am I? Alice was born yesterday - Sunday 19th December 2010. Mum, Dad and baby are all doing well. Grandma as you can see, is more than happy. It's about time she had something to celebrate. She deserves some good news.... life isn't kind to her, but she continues to smile and this is the best smile of all. Enjoy her Judith. Which I know you will xxx


Other news...... my "baby" has his girlfriend over from the States for a month. Her photo's don't do her justice! :-D She's lovely. Well! Like I thought she wasn't going to be? Unfortunately she has come down with the 'flu that is doing the rounds and hasn't been well since she arrived here! She lives in Los Angeles. It's bloody cold here. No wonder she isn't well! And P is like a little Mother Hen running round after her. She just wants to be left alone, i think, but he keeps checking she's OK. Making drinks. Going off to the chemist. Heating up soup...... So sweet. And so typical of him.
Only 5 days 'til the big day and I have so much to do. Crafting has gone out of the window, so must set to today and get some bits done for P's girlfriend and Z that I have planned, and partially done. Also Novembers Document 2010 needs doing, although I have next week off work.
Have a Happy Christmas everyone. Jude.x

Boring snow photos......

...... like every other blog in the UK; but these are my snow photo's! LOL So, here you go.......

The back garden on Wednesday. We had even more snow after I took this! I read somewhere that, with the exception of Scotland, our area was/is the worst affected in the country. Don't know how true that is, but it's now a week later and if we hadn't cleared the path it would still be there. The road outside is like an ice rink, there are no buses running round the village - main roads only, and we still haven't had any post. I know that no post does mean that at least there are no bills but it also means that my rollers haven't arrived either... :-(

This next photo are ice crystals. I took this at work; above these is about 8 inches of snow that is v.e.r.y slowly melting and this is the result. Aren't they pretty? I must look for a small tripod though - out of half a dozen photo's I took this is the only one in focus..... 

And this is the Chesterfield Canal. Frozen solid. Loving the reflections but the boat isn't going to be doing Santa trips again this weekend! Santa's "grotty" in the visitor centre isn't quite the same as meeting Santa on the boat.

And finally Alphie..... after discovering snow for the first time. Very funny! He ran in like that and then tried to catch and eat the snow as it fell off him! Florence? Well, she hates snow almost as much as she hates rain, so refused to go out until we'd cleared the path for her! 

That's all except to ask something of you if you live in the UK... When you make/buy/write your Christmas cards, please make/buy/write and extra one and send it to:

"A Hero", Headley Court Military Hospital, Headley Court, Headley, Epsom,Surrey, KT18 6JN
These guys have been defending our freedom and been injured whilst doing so. Please remember them this Christmas and send them a card as Thanks. My DH also suggests that you cold send one to "A soldier" BFPO, Afghanistan and it would find a soldier currently serving under awful conditions and just remind them that we think of them. (And I use "guys" generically - they could be male or female)
If you are reading this blog from another country please do something similar for a soldier serving in your own military. Thank you. Speak soon. Jude.x

Snowing a bit......

Well! Actually. It's been snowing a lot. Alphie thinks it's great though... I'm just not going to get to work tomorrow without 4x4 help! Still! At least the roads will be quiet once the 4x4 help arrives.... (Thanks guys!)
Here are some Alphie photos!

Thanks for looking, but I wish you'd leave a comment and let me know where you are from?
Jude.x

Photos I meant to share

Forgot to share these - our new office carpet!!!! :-D

Health and Safety out the window for once!

Cut beautifully round the table legs - so they don't wobble apparently!

AND - I have to lift the drawers if I want to get in the bottom drawer.........
Thanks G - I really did cry, I was laughing so much

And the one day the sky was sort of clear in the last couple of weeks I managed these.......

Relections in the Chesterfield Canal

Thanks for looking. xxx

Weekend away

No crafting this weekend because R and me are in Scarborough. We treated ourselves to an early Xmas present to ourselves, left the kids, dogs and caravan at home, rented an apartment and are spending the weekend in Scarborough. It's cold and wet, but the view from said apartment more than makes up for that! 

View of South Bay at 7am

..... and the Harbour at 7am

And South Bay at about 3pm on Saturday.

The apartment is lovely too. Very clean and modern, with white walls, on "living room", glass basin in the bathroom (!) wooden floors, etc, etc. No room for crafts though, so wouldn't do me for too long - and it'd soon be untidy if my lot lived here... :-D It's just nice to get away for a while and not do anything much. Back soon. xx

New toy!

Look what I got...............  It's an Adana letterpress. I loooove the feel of printed type and hope to be able to include it in future card making and maybe even scrapbooking (although that would be time consuming!) Who knows! I may even eventually become good enough to even make a bit of money from it.... :-)
Got it on ebay - been looking for weeks but all the pretty, totally working ones went waaaaaaaay above my budget, so started looking for ones that needed some work. We got it home about 7 tonight and Matt had most of it working by 9. It doesn't have any rollers at the moment, so that has to be the next purchase, and from there it's getting some different type/fonts to use - the guy I got it from gifted loads of other bits and bobs, including ink; so once I have rollers I will be looking to make some Christmas cards maybe. It's also a bit smaller than I was hoping for, but that just throws up a challenge to me. OK. That's it for now - off to look for rollers for it. Thanks for looking. Please leave a comment if you visit my blog - I'm starting to get a complex about everyone who looks but no-one leaving a comment.... :-(  Jude. xxx

Excellent service

Just a quick post to say that if you are looking for a recommendation for an on-line craft shop then Sarah's Cards is the one to use. I ordered on Saturday night, got an email yesterday to let me know the order was dispatched and it was waiting for me when I got home. But... and here is the bit that I loved..... the order was wrapped in tissue paper and there was a "Happy Thanksgiving" tag and a little chewy lollie in the box too. What service. Sometimes when I order I feel like I am doing them a favour by ordering from them. Sarah's Cards have restored my faith in customer service. Thanks you. xx

Finally finished!

So I am finally up to date with Document:2010 on UkScrappers and "introduced" to me by the brilliant Shimelle on her blog. I did get quite a way behind and thought about not bothering - especially when things were not good, but Shimelle did a 'catch up' hints day on her blog - AND I CAUGHT UP!!! Yay!

Anyway! Here are October's pages:

My "receipt" page doesn't actually have any receipts again - Sainsbug receipts aren't really exciting, are they? And haven't done any other shopping.















I love the collage pages, but these are the last of the photo pages, so need to get some more ordered - been putting it off because of their price, but if I want to complete this project I'll have to go for it!

And it's true - I do love Autumn!

But here are the things I am most proud of..... Shawl and bonnet for the lovely Jennie and Alan's soon to be born baby Alice (unless they change their mind about the name!) It's years since I knitted anything, and if I restarted this once, I pulled it all off the needles and started again about a dozen times; just couldn't get it right. In the end I used a crochet hook to do the first couple of rounds - oh! Yes! It was knitted on circular needles, starting on 4 double-ended needles! Blimey! What was I thinking. But here it is finally..... I hope she likes it, and uses it now! :-D

Now all I have to do is get them in the post before the poor baby is born. And the bonnet? Mmmmm. Well I couldn't find a pattern that I liked, so decided crochet would be OK, since there is some around the edge of the shawl; but then couldn't find a pattern; so this is totally made up as I went along - if it didn't look right, I just pulled out the stitches and tried again.

We've had a (temporary, I hope) carpet off-cut "fitted" in our new office space at work...... I laughed so much when I saw it, I cried!!!! Graeme has taken a piece of carpet, cut it up and fitted it around the desk legs! In 7 pieces! At my desk I either sit with one chair leg on the cement floor and the others on the carpet, or all on the carpet and my knee keep hitting the computer CPU!!! The desk opposite me has the chair on the carpet, but whoever sits there still has their feet on the cement floor - which was the whole idea of having the carpet off-cut in the first place.... Oh Grae; you made my day - photo's to follow because it's just too funny not to share with the world!
None of my wonderful men have found jobs yet.... they get more despondent every day I think - the longer it takes the harder it is to keep looking?
Have been making some craft stuff for Judith to try to sell at her Church's craft fair. If it goes OK I'm going to try Folksy and see if I can earn a bit of money to pay for craft stuff for me. Don't expect to be a huge success, but it would be nice to earn some from actually doing something I enjoy!? I've also been trying to find a Letterpress to buy, but the only place to get them is on ebay and they end up going for soooo much money. If only I could find a free one on Freecycle or something! :-D
That's it for now. Speak soon. x

Birthdays, best friends and fires

It was my birthday on Friday.  With things being like they are at home I knew I wouldn't be getting any presents, but I still had a lovely weekend: On Friday Helena came in to work with a lovely bunch of flowers for me. (They are beautiful - photo to follow!)
When I got home Jude, Pete and Mike had arrived. They'd been on holiday near Berwick and were going to spend the night here with us. So we spent Friday night having a good old gossip about people we both know/knew, messing about with crafty stuff and Ju persuading me that if I make some things up she'll put them on a stall at the craft fair at her church and try to sell them for me.
On Saturday we spent the morning gossiping and crafting again (;-D) and then Helena came and picked us up to meet Maggie in town for lunch - they'd been trying to get me out for lunch for ages, but hadn't been able to find a day that suited us all. It was lovely to get three of my very 'bestest friends ever' all together - I love you guys.... and thanks for lunch - Zoe will be very impressed when I suggest we go there next time she's up! lol
It has got VERY cold suddenly. Thought we were going to run out of coal last week, but got a delivery just in time. I love getting up in the morning, chucking coal on the fire and turning it up to let it roar away for a while. Just a shame I have to go out after that, but it does set me up for the day!
OK. That's it for now. Will post photos later in the week. Jude.x

More crafting and some fun

Part of Maggies retirement present was a voucher for a "triple Whammy" at Magna in Rotherham. She finally booked a day and Helena and I went with her (obviously!) Basically she was harnessed and attached to a rope and then: Attached to a line a projected a hundred feet horizontally, attached to a rope and projected 100 feet vertically and attached to a rope and allowed to project herself 100 feet vertically!!! LOL She loved it. If you get a chance and have good health - you so have to go! :-)

This is Magna. (Maggie abseiled from the (inside) roof of this building.) It's a great place if you have children - probably between 5 and 11. Any younger and they don't "get" it, and older and they'll be bored, but of course it depends on the child. Not the Triple Whammy obvs - What Magna is about IS children....There are several sections such as earth, fire, water, wind. Each is an interactive explanation of the Elements. For example, in wind you can make music with wind blowing over the top of some tubes filled with liquid. I think adults probably get more out of it than the kids, but it it fun. It's in an old steel works - hence the Elements references.

Isn't this just the cutest thing??? I am a real "Bah! Humbug" until Christmas Eve normally, but this Santa sign is for the canal Trust boat for their Santa trips and I just love Santa's face. I'm going to have a go at cutting some on the Cricut for the windows of the boat, and maybe even a gnome or elf too. :-) 

Forgot to post this. It's from when we went away a few weeks ago - both dogs wanted to sit up with Rodge, so they did! We think Floss was just letting Alphie know that she'd let him up, but just remember who's boss and who's place this actually is...... But don't they look cute?

And finally some cards I made for no particular reason other than being in the mood to craft and wanted to make the most of it:

And why won't photo's go where I want them to go? There is always so much white space..... :-( 

Anyway! Two happy posts in a week, maybe things are looking up here! LOL Thanks for dropping by - do leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Back soon. xxx

Happier!!!

Feeling happier than last time I posted, but of course, it's my blog and if I want to rant and rave...... Been doing loads of crafting...... especially scrapbook pages for the "Document 2010" on UKS. I had got really behind because I ran out of printer ink, which is so blasted expensive! Anyway, I think I found a fairly cheap source of compatibles (don't ever go for the cheapest because they always turn out to be rubbish!). So I have been printing photos like mad and making scrapbook pages..... here's a small taster; I'm not going to put them all up! :-)



If you look carefully at the green page you can see that the word "May" is embossed. Iused Cuttlebug folders to do that (with my rolling pin 'cos I was too lazy to find all the plates for the Wizard! {shrugs} The red one is the focus page for June. I used the Cricut to cut out the word twice, glued them together - slighty off-centre, and them small foam pads to add them to the page.

Then collage pages for August and September.... I love texture, so when I go for walks - either for work or for me - I am always on the look-out for texture in nature. That's what this page is about. Septembers collage shows Jennies wedding. Had a real problem deciding on Septembers focus because I was sure it was going to be the wedding but then Philip came back with photos from LA..........

...... and suddenly there was competition for September. Sorry Jen and Al. Phil and Steph won!
That's it for now. May post some more later, but need to go and get ready for work. Thanks for looking. Please leave a comment to say you've visited?  Jude.x

I stink at blogging!!

So it's been EON'S since I last blogged. Had stuff going on that wasn't so good, but lots of good stuff too. Did I tell you we had a new puppy? Youngest Mr D named him (knew it was a mistake as soon as Rodge asked him......) Alpharius!! What! What sort of name is that Pip? Another mistake because, of course Pip gave me the explanation! Anyway, we're calling him Alphie. He's now about 12 weeks old.

 Look at that little face........

Dog on the sofa!!!! What's that all about? Rodge is what it's all about..... "He's cold/lonely/missing his mum........" Yeh! We have the excuses all ready! :-D
Anyway - he's been taking up a lot of time - mostly house training. He has cheered us up - well - maybe it's Florence's reaction to him that cheered us up. She tolerates him for so long; plays with him, but doesn't like sharing her toys for too long and when she's had enough we get this.........................

"It's my squeeky bone and when I say you aren't having it anymore, YOU AREN'T HAVING IT, RIGHT!" She put it in the bucket!!! hehehe
Then we have finally made a start on the kitchen, and got the new worktops in - soooo puuuuurdy.....


Obviously a work very much in progress but it's so much easier to work in than when we had it fitted when we moved here. We had B&Q design it because they'd done our last one and that had been great, but this had never been right. And I love the new bit on the other side - so useful for putting all those bits when cooking (guess I've no excuse not to cook now? :-D)






All the tiles will be off soon because I have some little 2 inch "mosaic" style ones and a couple of the Ikea splashbacks. The artex on the walls (seriously - who puts artex on walls? I mean - IN A KITCHEN?) is mostly coming off; I discovered that I can "sort" of plaster and if I practice a bit more where it won't be seen, I'm going to love this kitchen when it's finished!
I should add that the saying "couldn't swing a cat in the room" doesn't apply here - because you'd have trouble bending down to pick the blasted cat up!!! It's a small kitchen......

And then me and Pip went down to Eastleigh for a friends daughters (well, Pips friend) wedding. Yup! Another one (see March for the first!) J looked soooo happy. A is a lovely guy.

No, she hasn't worn sunglasses to her wedding - they are those reactalight ones.... :-D Ju and Pete are probably my best friends ever. I love them to bits. Ju was so stressed, but it was a beautiful day. J blossomed. Her dress was made by a little old lady that she knew and has a story attached that I won't repeat..............

And then the following day................... I took Pip to Heathrow and he flew to Los Angeles for three weeks!!!! Not only has he never been on a plane before he's never been away from home before on his own, due to his health issues. Soooo proud of you Pip.
Hope to have some crafting to show next time.
That's it for now. Except to say... If you do read this please leave a comment. I know people are looking and it would be great if you let me know what you think......
xx