This afternoon

We had a lovely afternoon round at Theresa's. She had lots of cakes for everyone - including some Weight Watchers ones :o). Tyler was on top form once he'd got used to us all being there and kept us entertained. He's now 19 months old and is quite a little character.

Theresa/birthday girl ;o)

Tyler through the afternoon New puppy - Smokey Tyler had been sitting on Will's lap watching him show us photos on the computer when, the next thing we knew, he was fast asleep. Theresa took him from Will and he didn't even seem to notice. He hadn't had his nap today and I guess it had just got to the point where he couldn't stay awake any longer. Too cute!!

xx

A quick layout

We are going round to Theresa's soon for birthday tea and cake (her birthday was on Wednesday). I've already given her her present but felt that I would like to take something for her. Theresa wants to make a scrapbook album for her son Tyler but hasn't got round to starting yet. I decided to make a quick layout to get the book started and to show her that layouts can be kept simple.

I know, not normal colours for a newborn but I like it ;o) The layout is 8x8 (the size of her album) and was made with goodies from my stash. The colours for the letters were chosen to match the dots round the numbers.

xx

Forest Row

Today, Carol took the children on a bike ride from East Grinstead to Forest Row (Carol walked and the children rode!). Claire and Emily had been invited to join them but decided against it - they know what the ride back up to East Grinstead is like (haha!). However, seeing as Jake and Leah were doing the ride I offered to pick Ali up and take her down to Forest Row to wait for them. Leah has only just turned five and we didn't think she'd make it on the ride back up the hill but by meeting them in Forest Row I could put her bike in my car and she could come home with us.

Claire and Emily came for the ride (and lunch) but took their Nintendo DS's with them for something to do while waiting for the others to arrive.

We didn't have too long to wait You can just make them out coming up the other side of the road in this one ;o)

Carol leading the way with Leah and Jake following.

Once they got there, we were so busy chatting and sorting out food, I didn't take any more photos. We sat at the hotel for about 3 hours before deciding to make a move again. As Ali lives in town, we all went to her house to wait for the bikers to get back. Not tired enough, Jake, Elliott, Michael and Emily then went to the park for an hour while the Mums, Claire and Leah stayed at the house having a cup of tea.

A great afternoon with friends. Now to see what we'll fit in next week before Emily goes back to school on Thursday.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

xx

Thursday already??

Things have become a little busier round here in the past few days. Nothing over the top exciting, just busier!

Monday was a bank holiday for us but started out like a normal Monday where I take Mum to Sainsburys and we do our weekly grocery shop. Claire comes with us to "help me spend less!" I don't know if it works but it's fun having her along.

Emily was invited to go to her friend Emily's house. They hadn't seen each other for a while and were excited to catch up again, so I dropped her off before we went to Sainsburys (she doesn't enjoy grocery shopping!)Afterwards, it was home to unpack and have a bite to eat before heading out again to pick up Mum and meet up with my sister, Kay at Cafe Neros for a coffee and chat. We try to meet up every few weeks and, normally, Kay's daughter Theresa and grandson, Tyler, come too.

Claire had a hot chocolate before heading off with her friend Tom (who stopped for a coffee first), which left Mum, Kay and myself to put the world right and catch up with what's been going on.

Tuesday had been going to be a quiet day until my friend Helena phoned and asked if we fancied going out to Snowhill Garden Centre for a wander around and a coffee. Helena is also from South Africa and we met at the Doctor's surgery not long after she and her family moved here.

Jessie, Helena and Daniel

I hadn't realised that meeting for coffee was going to result in new additions to our family though! ;o) Helena mentioned that they were going to buy a hamster cage because they'd decided it was time to get some pets for the children. They'd seen some dwarf hamsters and had decided to get the cage and set it up before going to get the hamsters the following day. Emily used to have hamsters and I asked her if she still wanted her cage. She did and Helena asked if she'd like to go to the pet shop with them and get another hamster too. So, after getting the sawdust, bedding, food, etc., the cage was dug out from the shed and set up in Emily's room. We went to the pet shop yesterday and, I have to admit, the hamsters are really cute! Helena was getting four - two for her children and two for a friend's. Emily was going to get one but .... there were six little male dwarf hamsters in the cage, if we were taking five of them that would leave one behind. Being the softy I am, I couldn't bear the thought of that little hamster - who was used to having so many around him - suddenly being in the cage on his own. I'm sure you've already worked out that we ended up coming home with two hamsters as well. One is now mine and is called Pickle and Emily's is called Mitchy.

Pickle

Mitchy

Thanks, Graden and Helena, for a fun morning!

And to end off, a birthday card I made for Theresa, whose birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday Theresa!! xx

High School Musical layout

Thought I would just share the layout I've made of our trip to High School Musical (see post below).

The journaling is hidden behind the main photo and reads as follows:

On Saturday, 23 August 2008 Emily and I went to see High School Musical. Our journey from East Grinstead to Hammersmith was not one I had done before and I’d looked up on the internet for our route. We went from East Grinstead to Clapham Junction, Clapham Junction to Barnes and then caught the Route 33 bus to Hammersmith. Fortunately, we didn’t have any problems, thanks to the people who offered us help when asked. Once in Hammersmith we had lunch at McDonalds and then walked round the shops till it was time to go to the Hammersmith Apollo Our first attempt was an hour early – thanks to me reading my watch wrong ;oD. Second attempt we could go in and find our seats. We were in the second row in the Circle and had a great view. The show was brilliant! Very energetic, colourful, loud and just feel good fun! I was able to follow the story and sing along to the songs in my head – thanks to the number of times I’ve seen the movie at home. We came out with big smiles on our faces and I’m sure it’s a day we will remember for a long time to come.

xx

Friday and Saturday

Can't believe it's Sunday already, the days are going so quickly. Only a week and a half before Emily goes back to school!

On Friday Mum had to go to the Doctor's for a fasting blood test. Her appointment was for 10.20am and she knew that by the time she finished she'd be ready for something to eat. We agreed to meet up at Caffe Nero. Mum and I got there first and then Claire and Emily walked into town to join us. I was using my old camera (Canon PowerShot A80) which is a lot lighter than my current one (Canon EOS 400D). I wanted to take a lighter camera to London on Saturday but haven't used it for such a long time, I needed to play a little. A few photos from FridayMum and Emily

Emily

Claire and me

On Saturday, Emily and I were up bright and early to get ready for our trip up to London. I've never been to Hammersmith before, so I'd done my research on the internet to work out a route we should take. We left home at 10.15am leaving ourselves plenty of time in case we got lost along the way ;oD.

The first leg of our journey was from East Grinstead to Clapham Junction. There we had to change trains - we asked one of the guards for help because the internet had said we were going to have to get a bus for part of the journey. He told us a different train to take so we wouldn't have to worry about that section. Huge relief! Emily took this photo of us on the train from Clapham Junction to Barnes.

Self portrait no 1

From Barnes we had to find the Route 33 bus which would take us to Hammersmith. Again, we asked some more very helpful people and they pointed us in the right direction. The bus was jam packed and we ended up standing 3/4 of the way but, we were nearly there and we were enjoying our little adventure. The bus dropped us at Hammersmith Bus Depot right across from the Broadway shopping centre where we could go and get some lunch.

Just off the bus

Not knowing our way around, we settled for eating at McDonalds. It was good to know we had made it and could now relax. After lunch, we wandered around the shops before making our way to our destination. What, you ask, were we going to do???? We were off to see High School Musical!! Emily and Henry loved the movie when we were in Chicago a couple of years ago.When I saw that the show was coming here, I thought it would be one Emily would like to see. I bought the tickets ages ago and we'd been looking forward to going for a few months ... now it was time!

Tickets Hammersmith Apollo

When these photos were taken, I couldn't believe how quiet it was around the theatre. I expected it to be much busier for a matinee. Well ........ it would have been if I'd read my watch correctly!! We were an hour earlier than we needed to be! So, back into town we went to kill another hour before going back again.

Our seats were in the second row upstairs in the Circle. Fantastic. While we sat waiting for the show to start, we took Self Portrait no. 2 ;oD (not terribly flattering {lol!!} but we had to show we really were doing all this!)The musical finally started and, I have to admit, I was very impressed. There were a few lapses into British accents instead of American, but overall it was great! Very energetic, colourful, loud and just feel good fun! I might add, at this point, that I know the movie very well after the number of times it's been played in our household. I could follow it all - and sing the songs in my head - as the show went on.

We had a great time!

Our trip home was uneventful. Each time we got to the bus stop/station, the bus/train was due to arrive/leave and we just made it. We got home around 7pm. It was a long day but one we'll remember for a long time.

xx

Today!!!

Today isn't even half way through yet and it's been weird!!! I woke at 6.15am and came downstairs to sort out the washing for ironing. Decided to have a cup of Rooibos tea and thought I'd read for a little while. Ended up reading till I finished the book! So, still sitting around in my pj's at 9.20am when the phone rings. It was the dog parlour reminding me that the dogs were due in at 8.45am!! I had totally forgotten - even though I'd told the girls yesterday that I had to take them today. Jumped into some clothes and off we went. Got home and decided to have my shower before I did anything else. Poured shampoo into my hand and then proceeded to wash my face ... with the shampoo!!! I couldn't believe it! I'd wondered why my face was lathering up so well (hehe!!). Things calmed down a bit after that though a phone call from Hugh did mean that my hair was virtually dry by the time I'd finished - not good! - so I had to blowdry it quickly before it went totally flat. Once make up was done and the washing was on I went to finish off a layout I'd started. It's the pre-class assignment for Cathy Zielske's class which I'm going to be taking (starts beginning of October). Looking forward to that one, I love her work - her layouts are simple but stunning. My type of scrapbooking. Seeing as I don't have any other photos to share, I'll show you the layout I've done.

I just realised about 20 minutes ago that I hadn't had breakfast yet. However, seeing as it was 11.30am, I had an apple and will wait for lunch.

Really hoping this afternoon is better than this morning.

xx

PS> Stayed the same at Weight Watchers last night, I know why and it's going to happen every 4 weeks so I'll have to live with it. Hoping for a good loss next week.

PPS> Playing with the background for my blog. What do you think, this one for a change or did you find the old one easier to read?

Let's get rid of the garage photos!!!

We've finally done something where I've taken some photos so I can post and move the garage photos from the top of the blog :o)

This morning I was quite proud of myself - I learnt two new things ;o). First of all, Photoshop Elements keeps telling me I should back up my photos and I keep telling it to remind me next time because I didn't know how to do it. Today I decided it was time for me to learn!! I've always just asked Jon to do a back up for me and not bothered with what's involved. However, with my new computer (well 3 months old!) it basically does it all for me. All I had to do was put in the DVDs (yes, it took 4 DVDs to get all my photos backed up!), verify that they'd been done properly and then insert the next one for it to continue. Fantastic!!! However, I then realised I needed to put what was on them on the DVD and I couldn't find a permanent pen. So .... I learnt how to print labels on my printer. I have a Canon Pixma IP4500 (which I think is great!) which has a special tray to put the DVDs on and then prints directly on to them. I was so bad I didn't even know for sure where the tray was supposed to go. However, with a bit of research on the net, I found out all I needed to know and managed to print them out. I love it when I learn something new that makes my life easier!! :oD

To prove the above, here's a photo

For lunch, the girls and I met up with my "Thursday coffee morning" friends. We try to go out for a lunch with the children once during the holidays and we like to go to Prezzos. The food is delicious and today was no exception - though I had wondered if I would feel like I was missing out because I was watching my points, but I didn't. I had Spaghetti Napoletana and it was lovely. I had my camera with me and took a few photos. They haven't turned out brilliantly because I had to use the flash inside.

Lesley, Carol and Carol Sarah, Cathy and Karen

Pam Emma and Claire

Emily and me

I didn't get a photo of the boys table but Elliott, Michael, Stuart and Andrew were all there as well.

A quick trip round the shops after lunch and then home to drop Claire off before heading to the park to meet Carol, Elliott, Emma, Emma's boyfriend Anthony, Jake and Leah (Carol had been to pick Jake and Leah up from Alison's). Not long after we got to the park, Emily's friend Rebecca arrived and I think she was quite pleased to have a girl her own age there. More photos.

Emily, Rebecca and ElliottJake Rebecca and Emily Leah was about ready to go home by now

After Carol left with Leah, Emma and Anthony; Jake, Emily and Elliott had their own little game of cricket until we at around 6pm. A busier, more fun filled day than we've had recently. I hope the long post will make up for the lack of posts the past few days ;o) and if you're still reading, well done, thanks for persevering!!

xx

What we've been up to today

I wasn't expecting today to be quite as busy as it was! I got up this morning having decided to get all the ironing done. This took me a couple of hours so I finished just before lunch time. We had lunch and then Jon said he was going to make a start on going through the boxes in the garage. This is what the garage had looked like in February this year and Jon had managed to sort it out a bit so we had a little patch of clear floor in the centre (to make it easier to get to the boxes around the sides).

Anyway, he started pulling boxes out and then asked me to come and check through and see what we wanted to keep and what we should take to a charity shop or throw out. We stuck at it all afternoon and have accumulated a pile of boxes to go to the tip... Piles of scrapbooking and sewing stuff that I wanted to bring into the house (though I have absolutely no idea where it's all going to go!) ... More piles including CDs, books, more material, Jon's badges from marathons/fun runs he ran in South Africa, videos of the children when they were younger which we need to get put onto DVDs ... And for a short while, the garage was looking like this!

It does have a few more boxes around the sides again but not nearly as many as there were to begin with. We've been in this house just over 8 months but today it felt like we could have just moved in - unpacking boxes is not my favourite pass time. I think tomorrow I may have to make a start on trying to organise my scrapbooking stuff again (and finding a bit more space somewhere?????)

We worked out how often we've moved since we married 21 years ago - 17 times!! I honestly hope this is our last one for a long time!!!!!! I also think I should do a scrapbook page listing all the places we've stayed! Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! xx