Call This A Break From Work? Waste of 2 Weeks If You Ask Me

I said in my last post that I had ended up in hospital Tuesday night followed by having an emergency operation Wednesday lunch time.  Well here we are 4 days later and it is the middle of the night.  To be honest for 2 weeks prior to the op I felt like I had flu with a mild headache that went with over the counter painkillers.  Well let me tell you, 4 days later I feel like poo (that is the polite version folks lol).  I can't believe I had 'poison' inside me and now it has supposedly gone, I feel far worse.  To real add insult to injury I have to go the the nurses at my GP practice every day Monday to Friday and sit at home and wait for the District nurses at weekend and bank holidays.

Easter Bank Holiday weekend we are have visitors coming and I have to wait for the District Nurse who could arrive any time between 8am and 6pm.  Both Nurses have been super lovely and called me around 30 minutes before they arrived in order for me to take some painkillers as it hurts to pack the wound.

Saturday was just after 10am and yesterday was 1.30pm.  All plans that had been made for the Easter weekend are not happening now as we had visitors coming for the weekend and if we don't leave the house by around 10am with Bank Holiday traffic and more busier places when we get there, there really is little point in going.  So how do I now entertain an extra 3 adults and 2 children when I am practically housebound?  I don't want to cancel as with our busy schedules this is probably the only time we can all meet until the end of August.

Royal Wedding weekend we were going to have a few days in Wales, sadly this has now been cancelled.  The days out with friends next week are also unlikely to happen.  

I also missed the Solihull Crop yesterday and achieved nothing while I sat and waited for the nurse apart from tidy the kitchen.  Then the District Nurse was not happy with the wound so I spent a couple of hours at the hospital.  Antibiotics have been changed and I sit and wait today for my Nurses appointment.  All I can say is that I have wasted the majority of my 2 1/2 weeks leave!

Having said that I did manage to get some scrapping done on Saturday.  Some how I managed to complete 8 LO's.  All were made using Studio Calico kits; October & November 2010 and February 2011.  Really got to use these kits up.  They come with so much stash and I still have 2 unopened boxes and the other 5 I have just seem to have just been slightly dented!  Then there are the 7 unopened Sarah's Cards and Scrapagogo kits plus 13 half used!!!  And don't start me on the non kit papers, at aroound 28" high there are many many papers.  Where did this stash mountain come from???

I have the basic Studio Calico kit each month and usually buy the add on papers only and pick up a few of the embellishments from the UK.  I also stock up on cardstock, page protectors and mists and ink as they are cheaper then you can buy in the UK and p&p is one set price for the whole kit & extras.  I'm saving money, right?  Well that how I justify it!

However, in February there were no add on papers left so I managed to get all of them in the UK along with purchasing all of the boy and girl fine & Dandy range by Minds Mind Eye.  

This weekend, I have used a mix of my 'move around the page for hours' designs and sketches from Kirsty Wiseman's on-line Wednesday Crops and Pencil Lines.

Did I say I've been having trouble sleeping???  Well excuse the early hour and I'll be back later with some more scrapping as I need to do something to pass the time and what better thing to do?

Day Out In Stratford Upon Avon

Last Monday we had a day out in Stratford Upon Avon.  It was a lovely sunny day considering it was the first day of the Easter holidays.  School holidays, don't they equal rain?

We started at Mary Arden's Farm:

We then hopped on the Stratford tour bus which took us in to Stratford, a lovely drive around the town:

And then dropped us at Elizabeth Arden's cottage:

Have ordered some photos which will be here later today hopefully and with any luck I can have some scrapping time this weekend.  Sadly after my little unexpected trip in to hospital late Tuesday and an operation on Wednesday I have to sit in and wait for the district nurses over the weekend.  Sadly all those plans of photo opportunities to scrap for the holidays are not going to happen.


Off now to try and get some sleep, enjoy your weekend x

The Little Ford

Friday night we went to see friends and to the delight of Liam and Freya we passed a ford.  As usual they had to get out of the car and stand on the bridge as we drove through.  I have warned them that one of these days we will go through very quick and splash them!

It was so lovely to go out and have a bright sun in the sky and lots of daylight and know its going to stay light for quite some time.  Spring really is here now.

Kid Free Day

Friday was the only day I will have from now until the end of the month that is kid free.  We are now on a 18 day break from school then will go back for 3 days and then a long double bank holiday weekend.  Tried to make the most of Friday but didn't get as much done as I would have liked.  These are the LO's I completed:

This one is based on the Sunday Sketch Challenge over at the Studio Calico Blog:

This is based on the 4 x 6 Love course over at 2 peas:

I've been sorting through some older photos that I have not scrapped as I am getting a little bored of scrapping the same ones all the while.  I feel it will freshen up older albums as the pages are stored in date order as this is adding different papers and styles to the albums.

Bromsgrove Crop

Was a little bit of a strange crop last week.  I managed to scrap all day for an event that has not yet happened.....strange for me in that I scrapped without photos, something I don't normally do.

I completed the cover for our Summer holidays which incorporates my Brothers wedding:

Apart from the cover, lots of laughter I didn't do much else apart from cut pieces of patterned paper up into the small protector pages.  Will be back soon with yesterdays LO's, far far too sunny to sit inside and photograph them today!

A Week Of Ups & Downs

Its been a funny old week here.  A great weekend with lots of ups and then some very sad events; a lovely funny caring member of our family was tragically taken away from us way too soon.  What occurred last Sunday afternoon was a real shock to our family and one that will stay with us for a long while.  

Last Sunday started with some great 'ups'.  For Mothers Day I was treated to a day out at Attingham Park, nr Shrewsbury.  

Photo courtesy of National Trust; sadly it wasn't this sunny when we visited!

The Estate is owned by The National Trust.  I can honestly say it was probably the best investment for family days out I could ever have made when we became members.  There are some truly stunning properties which give rise to great photo opportunities as well as lots of adventures.  

I was a little apprehensive when we joined last year about whether the children at 7 & 8 would enjoy going to the houses.  All of the properties we have visited have had activities for children to do; dress up, games, spotting things in the houses.  Liam and Freya really treasure their times at the properties and eagerly ask where we are going next.  They enjoy looking round the houses and are asking questions about the history of the properties and are finding out how different life was before the internet, tv and game consoles.  They seem to appreciate their lifestyle much more now they realise how different children's lives used to be.  Both of them agree it was very unfair that children had to work.

There are beautiful grounds with walks through the deer park and stunning estate.  The weather was a little drizzly when we arrived and due to me still being on crutches, most of the time now just one, we didn't manage much walking.

The property is fabulous and we all enjoyed looking around the inside of the house.  They had a lovely room where the kids could dress up and have afternoon tea.  Liam says he is getting a 'too big for dress up' but Freya just loves it!

I've ordered the prints and hope they are here tomorrow for me to scrap over the weekend.  After a little dress up we went to the tea room for a cream tea.  It was truly delicious and very reasonably priced.

Whilst we were eating the weather picked up but sadly we were unable to take many pictures as we had to go down to South Wales.  

Attingham Park have some lovely activities planned for over the Easter break including trailer rides around the deer park and we are hoping to go back for another visit.

Promise to be back over the weekend to show you what I did at Bromsgrove Crop on Saturday plus with a bit of luck the LO's I do tomorrow.  I'm off work now until 26 April; 19 whole days but sadly only 1 child free day which is tomorrow.  This is one of the two downsides to working term time; kids under your feet.  The other downside you ask.....they don't pay you :0(

Sunday Scrapping

Happy Mothers Day everyone! I hope you are all being treated to a day of rest & relaxation and being pampered pampered pampered!  Today I was greeted with these two additions to my Pandora bracelet:

From Freya, a little girl charm

And from Liam a little boy charm:

You really should have seen them on Thursday when they went in the shop and asked the lady behind the counter for them.  They were so grown up, explaining what they wanted and handing over the money.  They then walked out of the shop holding their bags tight and so so proud of themselves.

Well on to some scrapping.  This is what kept me busy last Sunday.  First I covered the album for my Document 2011 with 'Stella & Rose' from My Minds Eye.  These papers were part of the March Studio Calico kit but I have since ordered some more this week as I just love the mix of colours.

I also made these 5 LO's:

These were all made using this month's Sarah's Cards Kit which is October Afternoons 'Modern Homemaker'.  I have added a few extra pieces of pp to the kit as I already had the range in my stash.

I'll be back in the week to show you the LO's I completed yesterday at Bromsgrove Crop.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.

This Year I Will.....March Review

Well what can I say except this month just seemed to come and go very quickly!

• Kiss and cuddle my little babies at least once every day.  CHECK
• Find something to smile about each day.  CHECK
• Have a minimum of 30 minutes every day of ME time, no children, no TV, no computer, no telephone, just ME.  As selfish as this may sound, it needs to be done for my own health, both physically & mentally.  Week off unpaid from work, hospital tests, tonsillitis; really didn't go to plan this month.
• Make Fridays (my day off) part housework/errand - frees the weekend to spend time with Liam & Freya - and part 'me' time.  Too much of the housework/errand stuff last year!  Total fail, see above.
• Go for a walk every day, even if it is only for 5 minutes, I will go outside and walk to clear my head and think about life.  Been on crutches all month, Big fail
• Eat 5 portions of fruit & veg a day. Most days I ate my greens
• Have a wonderful Summer holiday; a 3 1/2 week tour of Europe to include my Brother's Wedding in Lithuania.  Changed the itinerary slightly which has been down to me taking 2 weeks off unpaid, needed to make some savings and felt it would be better to enjoy fully the cities we went to and leave out a couple which we plan on doing next spring.
• Get organised; 2010 was really not a good year and this year I will get back to the place where I am in control of what is happening and not depending upon others, who quite frankly let me & my children down.  Do you really want me to answer this one?
• Choose carefully those people I let into our lives.  On track for happiness!
• Start organising presents for Christmas - Its going to be a stress free one this year unlike the mayhem of 2010!  Again not done anything this month, want to get our holiday paid for first.
• Have a professional family photo shoot.  Didn't manage to get my photo done with Kirsty due to time constraints so back to the drawing board we go.
• Do something new every month. With all that has happened this month I've not tried anything new so will need to catch up later in the year.This has been the last thing on my mind this month
• Finish decorating my scrap space & bedroom. No new progress made
• Decorate Liam's room.  Not started
• Decorate the lounge.  No new progress
• Decorate the hall stairs & landing.  Not started
• Finish the roof on my garage, laundrette and downstairs toilet.  Not started and getting very wet, well we have to paddle in the launderette and toilet when it rains; and there has been a lot of rain.
• New laundrette cupboards.  Not started, but the rain helped to get one of the old ones down!
• Decorate down stairs toilet.  Not started
• Sort out the plumbing.  Not started
• New window in bathroom and landing.  Not started
• Find a baby sitter so I can go to Bromsgrove Crop on a Saturday.  Achieved!!!
• Attend a retreat.  Booked and first instalment paid
• Complete 12 LO's a month.  Completed 24 this month!!!!!
• Complete 12 Granny Squares or stripes a month.  Only 1 round of my super large Granny Square Blanket done
• Catch up on unfinished scrapping projects from 2010; JYC 2010, Document 2010, LSNED 2010 & Liam & Freyas Year In The Life Of albums.  Didn't catch up on any projects that need completion
• Complete a family scrapbook for 2011; something on the lines of Document 2011.  January, February and March are fully completed except 1 photo which has now been ordered
• Complete Liam's and Freya's '2011 Year In The Life Of' mini albums. Not started 
• Use more scrap stash than I buy.  Although I have done 24 pages this month I am still ending the month with more stash than I had at the beginning of the month.  I blame CHA Winter 2011 as it really isn't me who keeps buying stash
• Finish all the crochet projects I have started before I begin anything new.  I ordered yarn but not done anything with it yet, but only because my pattern hasn't arrived yet
• Knit myself a pom pom scarf.  Not started
• Take time to rediscover cross stitch.  None done this month 
• Bake lots and lots of yummy things.  Baked 60 cakes and 228 cookies!  
• Win the lottery (got to have one thing that won't happen on the list).  Fail, can't even managed £10

My Month In Numbers - March 2011

1.....Birthday

2.....crops attended


4.....family fun days out

6.....National Trust Properties visited

7....coffee & lunch dates with great friends

8.....hospital appointments


13.....blog posts

14.....days at work

18...LO's made

31.....days on crutches - novelty has really worn off now!

38.....see #1, enough said


48.....red nose cookies baked for Freya's Brownies Red Nose Day Bake sale.  


And did you know that in order to get 48 red smarties you need 15 tubes!!!!  So apologies to anyone who went to my local shop after me on the 17th and wanted smarties as I cleared the shelves. 

57.....very long hours spent in hospital


61.....days old; 2 baby bunnies

94.....the number of brown smarties you get in 15 tubes.  

180.....cookies made (quite a few had crushed smarties in them, most of which were brown).  This is in addition the the 48 red nose cookies.