I am still around :)

I know I'm not posting regularly and I do apologise for that. I've been keeping busy recently with the decluttering I mentioned in previous posts. I had been going to order a skip for the rubbish but after seeing how much the cost of hiring one has gone up, I changed my mind.  As a result, I have been doing trips to the tip with rubbish, trips to the charity shops and in between those, getting on with sorting out more stuff! Nearly all the kitchen cupboards have been cleared - anything that was past it's best before date has been thrown out and anything that hasn't been used for ages (and isn't likely to be used any time soon) has also had its marching orders. Each time I make a trip to the tip and throw the bags into the huge skips it's like another weight has been lifted off my shoulders. However, coming up this week is my craft area!! I know I'm not good at getting rid of craft stuff but, realistically, I also know I have a lot of stuff I'm not likely to use which was bought years ago when I first started scrapbooking. I'm not looking forward to this part of the decluttering but it's got to be done!!

I did, however, manage to take some photos of the beautiful Miss Alice. I have too many to share but the ones below are some of my favourites and every post needs photos :)

And one to make you smile :).  As I came down the stairs yesterday I spotted Mac sitting in the bay window like this - he's such a funny cat and has such personality!  Too cute.

Have a great week and I'll be back when I can.
xx

Update for the week

It's been a fairly busy week with Emily being on half term, Claire on maternity leave, Jon's birthday, some ebay selling and an exciting purchase for me ;)

 Let's start at the beginning though. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was Alyssa's 1st birthday on Monday and then it was Jon's ?? birthday on Tuesday. Claire and I went to the South African shop in Redhill and got Jon some Castle beers, biltong, peri peri spice and a couple of other bits as part of his present. (As usual when we go to the South African shop, we also bought some curry powder, chocolate, crisps, etc., etc. ;o)  It's fatal!!  )  Jon had arranged to work from home that day, so didn't have his usual commute to work, which made it a more relaxing day for him. In the evening Jon, Emily and I went to our favourite Indian restaurant for dinner but by the time we got home we were all so full, Jon decided against doing his birthday cake. We made up for it on Wednesday though and he blew out his candles when he got home from work.

 Wednesday was also the day we had to wait in for the delivery of the pram, car seat and cot mattress. It was due anytime between 8am and 6pm but fortunately got to us just after lunch.  Claire unpacked everything and set up the pram - she says she needs the practice so she knows what she's doing once Alice is here ;o)

 We did wonder if the neighbours curtains were twitching when we went out to try fitting the car seat in my car - again to make sure we know what we're doing for bringing Alice home from the hospital. Luckily it's fairly straight forward so I don't think we'll have any trouble.  I can't believe it's only 16 days till due date - eek!! ;o)

 As I mentioned at the top of the post, Emily has been on half term this week. We've enjoyed not having to get up at 6am (or earlier in her case) and having a chance to relax a bit. She was finishing off some homework this afternoon but I think she's about done now.

 She's also been playing her guitar a bit and on Tuesday went to a band practice with some of her friends. By the sounds of it they didn't do a lot of practicing that day but they had a great time hanging out together.

 This is my exciting purchase :o)  :o)      I put my 400D and 40D on ebay as well as one of my zoom lenses, in the hope that I would raise enough money to be able to go and buy this one. I got nearly enough to cover it and Jon said to go ahead. Why did I need this camera when the others were doing a good job?? This one has video as well as a better spec for photos. I'm thinking that the video is going to come in very handy once Alice is here and I'll be able to post little bits here on the blog too :o)  I'm still working my way around the camera but, so far, it seems pretty straight forward. I'm waiting for a better spec SDHC card to arrive so I can shoot the video and after that I'll have to get Emily to come and give me some lessons in video editing and posting. So glad she knows what to do :o)

And this little man is just the cuddliest, most affectionate cat! He comes and curls up next to me on the sofa in the evenings and is happiest being stroked and cuddled (but don't pick him up!). He was curled up right against me in this photo but when I called his name he looked up and I got this shot. Sweet boy!

I'm now off to watch X Factor. Hopefully I'll get to post more regularly but we've got a lot of little bits to do before baby arrives so please bear with me.

Have a wonderful weekend.
xx

Mac

This evening Mac was having a mad few minutes and had us all in stitches. Emily suggested getting it on video so I grabbed my iPhone and this was the result. Hope you enjoy it :o) (Big thanks to Emily who edited the video and put it on to YouTube for me)