Tuesday, 14 September 2010

Towels

Nothing exciting going on here, I've spent the day catching up on the dreaded housework. I'm sure I must have done at least 4 loads of towels - my family have a habit of letting wet towels accumulate in their rooms until there are none in the airing cupboard!
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Well, we have towels again now!
xx

Monday, 13 September 2010

Monday

We had a pretty laid back weekend this week, I work for a couple of hours on a Saturday and Sunday helping a lady who's had a stroke. I had never done this sort of work before but I quite enjoy it and I know she appreciates me going in to see her. I generally get home again between 10.30am and 11am and carry on with the rest of my day.
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This Saturday it included a quick trip into town to get some fruit and veg from the fruit and veg guy who sets up a stall locally on a Thursday and Saturday. The Navel oranges he had this week are wonderful (sweet and juicy) and although the peaches were too, they've gone off quite quickly. I find I'm using more fruit at the moment with trying to eat healthily and sometimes need to stock up again during the week.
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My next stop was to see my sister's new flat. Boy did that make me realise how unfit I am!! She has SIX (fairly short) flights of steps to walk up to get to the flat - now you know how I found out how unfit I am ;o). She hasn't moved in yet but is busy painting and moving things in and hopes to be in this weekend. I look forward to seeing it once she's in :o).
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In the afternoon Jon and I popped in to see his sister who had an op on her thumb on Friday. She's home and her husband has taken this week off to look after her. Unfortunately, he then goes away on business for a few days and that's when she may need help.
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In the evening it was time to have dinner and curl up with Emily to watch X-Factor. I believe the quilt ended up over our knees as it was quite chilly in the evening.
On Sunday the sun was catching the leaves on the Acer out the back. I don't know that this photo does it justice but it looked so pretty with the turning leaves highlighted by the sun. Sunday was more relaxed still and after work Emily and I went to Nero's for a coffee and then did a bit of shopping before coming home to watch Whip It in the afternoon. I really didn't know if I was going to enjoy this movie but it was better than I expected :o) Monday is our (Mum's and my) day for doing the weekly shop at Sainsburys. Fortunately we have a Starbucks in Sainsburys so after we've finished shopping we head for a coffee. Today we bumped into Craig's Nan and Aunt on our way to the check out and we had a coffee together. They're great fun and an hour flies by before we know it. I took this photo of our mugs as my photo for today for my tag book.
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Back to the theme of shopping and I know I'm not the only one who feels this but do you? It gets me that you go shopping, have to walk around the shop putting everything you need into the trolley, unpack it at the check out for it to be scanned and paid for, repack it to take it home and once home have to unpack it again to put it away! Maybe one of these days I should go back to doing my shopping online and have it delivered to me so all I have to do is unpack it at home - thing is, I'd miss my weekly coffee at Starbucks ;o)
After lunch today I decided to try out Mel's recipe for Yoghurt Cake. It was simple to make and turned out beautifully. I used Toffee yoghurt as I thought it was the flavour the whole family would probably like. Emily wasn't sure about trying it when she got home from school because she didn't like the idea of yoghurt in a cake. With a bit of persuasion she said she'd try and she really enjoyed it :o). Thanks for the recipe Mel!
xx

Saturday, 11 September 2010

Hanging on

Jon's trying to hang on to Summer for as long as possible. He loves sitting outside but it was pouring down today and even the big garden umbrella wasn't going to keep him out of it, so he sat on the table so he would be under cover ;o) As Autumn and then Winter set in, he'll add more layers of clothing and eventually a hat and scarf but he'll still continue to sit outside!
xx

Friday, 10 September 2010

A couple more layouts

Claire and I spent a very enjoyable morning with our friends Helena and Graden today. We went to a local garden centre for breakfast (I refrained from having a cooked breakfast and had toast instead, so I could still point it) and sat chatting for ages. We also popped in to Hobby Craft, which is in grounds of the garden centre. I hadn't intended buying anything but came home with some wool and a baby pattern ;o).
Graden, Helena and Claire
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This afternoon was spent completing a couple more layouts. I used the wonderful template that I won on Amy's blog a little while ago and did hybrid layouts. I love that I can just switch off the writing and borders to print the photos the sizes I need and then turn them on again to print the background page. Thank you Amy, this template has been great!
I used the template to do a layout of Claire's first scan and decided to keep the same layout for the other two scans as well. In the one above (the second scan), the journalling reads :
"Your second scan was on 06 May 2010, which was also the day to go and vote in the general elections. We voted first and then picked Craig up from home (he had a day off work) and headed to the hospital for your appointment. I don't think Craig was quite sure of what to expect but a big smile came over his face when he saw his little baby on the monitor. It's amazing how much the baby has grown since the first scan three weeks ago. It was so exciting to see it's little body and see the heart beating. It certainly makes it all seem more real now. Love that little baby scan!" The journalling on the layout for the third scan reads:
"Your third and final scan was on 02 July 2010 while Aunty Norma was still here from South Africa. We were so excited to see if we could find out what you are having but, at your appointment, they couldn't see because the feet were in the way. You were sent away to have something sweet to eat and told to do a few star jumps before going back again to see if it had made a difference. It had, you're having a little GIRL!!! So exciting. I know this little girl is going to be loved by everyone and now we can start buying pink things :)
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Yay, for simple layouts - great fun!
xx