Dear Blog..............

I'm totally rubbish at updating you, aren't I? No idea why you are still speaking to me - you must feel soooo neglected? Sorry I've not been by to see you, but I've been so busy. And not with crafting either.... I've worked every Bank Holiday since Easter, had visits from, and made visits to, some lovely friends and family. The lovely American daughter is coming to the end of her visit and is still speaking to us all, so we can't be that bad. "The" licence and all the relevant medical forms are now with the DVLA to make their decision; nothing more we can do now, except wait and see if they think he should have his LGV back, a 7.5 tonne or neither... If it's neither it's going to be a bit of a disaster after all the effort put into jumping through their hoops, and research into how to appeal to the European courts. Fingers crossed it all works out. If he gets his LGV, this months overtime (mine) is going on a spending spree - with me - not spent anything on myself since last September, so it's gonna be mine; all mine! mwhahahahaaaa... Card and papers, and card, and paper, and paper, and..... you get the idea? :-D
Anyway; Speak soon.
Jude.x

I've done it at last.......

........made a scrap page, that is! :-)
Following the advice of Rachel to have a clear out and look for some page maps, I had a tidy up and then trawled through some of my favourite crafters blogs. As soon as I saw the one on Shimelle's blog I knew I wanted to use the sketch. Well..... my take on it!!!
And lets face it - it's not my best page; it's not the best photo - either of Philip and Steff or of the scrap page; it's not the best "take" on a sketch. BUT I SCRAPPED! And I am beginning to feel more positive about doing some more now. I'm not going to look closely at the page (for now) and analyse it because I know things aren't straight, the letters aren't perfect, etc. etc. I am just happy that I have finally got here.
What? You want to see what? Oh! The page? Here it is:

Aren't they sweet? They call each other "Honey", hence the title.

Oh! And they were just about to start making a cheesecake (the most deeeeeelicious cheesecake you could EVER imagine eating) because Philip's Godmother was coming to visit for the day. Been trying to wrestle the recipe out of Steff, but she's a bit coy about sharing. Might have to hide her suitcase, so she can't go home, until she does share. :-)

Thanks for reading.
Back soon. xx

At last!!!

At last I've finally done some crafting - nothing spectacular, but it's a start..... Thanks to the lovely Rachel at "Rewarding Memories" for your comment on my last post. She suggested that I have a good clear-out, which I did; I rediscovered my Project Life journalling cards,  pulled out this years diary, printed off some photo's and this is the result:

I'd put pockets in the diary (I made it because I couldn't find one I liked!) for notes and stuff and the Project Life journalling cards fit, the photo's I just cut down a little bit to fit into the pockets. So, like I said, not strictly crafting as I'd define it, but it is a start. I've found a sketch for a scrap page that I quite fancy having a go at too - just have to decide which photo to use. So thank you so much Rachel - it was the clear out wot dun it!

And now a (rhetorical) question..... How long does it take the DVLA to process a driving licence? In Rodge's case, so far, 6 months, 1 week and 3 days...... so far...... Well, to be fair, it was back in his possession for 2 days in that time. How am I so sure about the length of time? Because 1 week and 3 days ago his JSA stopped. Apparently I am earning and am supposed to keep him now (and the 2 adult sons too apparently) Wish someone would tell me how! 

The licence went off for it's 3 year medical update on the day he was "laid off". It came back briefly sometime in January with a medical form that needed to be completed if he wanted to apply to get his HGV1 back (insulin dependant diabetics now get them back on mainland Europe just by applying) and they will then "consider his case". Now why they couldn't have told us that 6 months, 1 week and 3 days ago when he called and asked............ 

He is unemployed because the DVLA are, apparently, short-staffed. How ironic is that? But even worse, in all that time, all the times he has called, only ONE person has cared and tried to speed the process up! Oh! And I'm sure you know that without physical sight of a driving licence, an employer is no longer allowed to employ you. (He has worn vertebrae so is restricted in the work he can do) 

Please keep your fingers crossed that the licence turns up soon, with the HGV entitlement returned to him - he's rubbish at housework and I'm fed up with chips for tea.... :-)

Back soon with some real crafting. Thanks for reading this far. And if you work at the DVLA in the medical section - pleeeeeeeeease send his licence back with his HGV SOON... lol

Jude.xx

Missing mojo!

Just can't craft! :-( Apologies to those of you who keep popping by, but I have no idea what to make..... My mojo has gone AWOL! I sit at my desk and have no idea what I want to do, let alone how to do it.
Even had a couple of weeks off work (use it or lose it was the message regarding my annual leave....) but still no mojo! I have tried all the usual - looking online at "page maps"; blog hopping; books from both my shelves and the library. If anyone has any ideas then please help........? x
Here are some photos though - still carry the camera everywhere...

Pancakes...... mmmm! Love pancakes, and it HAS to be lemon and sugar. No other way.!













Silly Alphie..... we discovered he likes bubbles. LOL. Here he is dunking his head trying to catch some! So cute - but the water had ben in there all winter, and now he's a smelly cute dog.

And finally...... This lovely little lady is back. My baby is happy - but excuse the big hole in the wall behind them - the kitchen is STILL an on-going project:-)

Provocraft cutting off their noses?

Wow! Provocraft have successfully stopped (I think) a third party selling a programme that allows the Cricut to cut any font, and make your own design.... now they are going after the makers of SCAL.... C'mon Provocraft! You are a big company? Be the bigger person here - work WITH these people, eh? It all seems to have kicked off on the Cricut forum again  - gotta loves those people... they all have this great machine, but insult each other like there's no tomorrow!  Won't be there for long - til Monday morning their local time I guess, but here's the link at the moment.... Cricut forum_
Anyway! My point here is - PC make your programme compatible with my Mac and I wouldn't need SCAL. But more importantly... if we are breaking your "rules" by using these programmes, and all these women are so indignant about other people using them, why the f*** are you using Spellbinders, quikcutz, sizzix, etc dies in your f***ing cuttlebugs. Oh! Is that a different thing? Or doesn't it apply to dies? Or did you just not think about it? Downloading a music album from the internet without paying for it IS stealing, using a third party programme on a computer (which is what the Cricut is) is NOT.
OK Rant over, I just wish these people would engage their brains before they opened their mouths... :-D
Speak soon.
xxx

Some photo's

Thought I'd just share some of what I've been up to this week......

Signs of Spring at last. These have been out for a couple of weeks and the shoots you can see coming through are all up and flowering now.

I just want to sing the Monty Python "Lumberjack" song ever time I see Paul in the Chainsaw PPE; and here he is posing for me - even let me sing a little bit to him! :-) 

And who, exactly, does do all the work around here? Looks like "Weez" here...?

And here's my lumberjack again.

Blue crocuses.... Again, they are all flowering now. Have I said - I love crocuses? (Mmmmmm? Maybe this time last year when I "did" the yellow ones to death! LOL. x

Aw! Alphie. Plum tuckered out? As usual. He often sleeps like this - or further up with all legs straight out, as though he is standing - or has been taxidermied (is that even a word?) and fallen over! He looks this scruffy within 15 minutes of having a bath or brush. Don't hink he's growing much until we see photo's like this when he's obviously not fitting on Rodge's lap as easily as he did.

That's all for now. Working this weekend so won't be doing any scrapping again. :-(
Speak soon. Thanks for looking.
Jude.x

Rubbish at crafting.......

..... because I've become a bit obsessed with my Family Tree! It's going fairly well considering I can't afford to actually use anything but the Free to view sites at the moment. My Granny was married to a soldier before she married Grandad and I think I've "found" him...... It's very sad because it seems that, if I'm following it right, her first husband died 8 months after they married on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. How sad must that have been for her?
I can't wait until I can afford to pay for some more information because there are certainly some stories out there - like Granny's family seemingly moving all around the South of England before finally ending up in Manchester. One side of the family have always (and still do) lived in the same town. The other side is a bit mixed but never very far away, other than Granny.
I'm loving the research and crafting is taking a back seat, so if you're here looking for pretty stuff - Sorry! Normal service will resume when I get withdrawal symptoms from missing the card, glue and pretties! :-) Thanks for dropping by. Back soon.
Jude.x