I've been tagged - twice!

So while I've not been able to access the www (don't ask, the internet connection was fine but it was something to do with the domain name server or something) I log back on, catch up on all my blog reading and find that I've been tagged. Not once but twice.

So, in order of tagging, Michelle's first:

What scrapbooking lines/products/etc. do you dislike?

As everyone who knows me will verify, I don't like stickers! LOL! Although I must now admit that the life of the sticker nowadays has been transformed and there are actually stickers out there that I buy (but that's just between us). I don't like K & Co or Anna Griffin, sorry all those flowers just remind me of my grandmother's wall paper.

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?

Without a doubt it was a layout about my dad (who died far too early and far too young) and it was based on a letter format. A letter to him from me saying how and why I admire him. It wasn't the most fantastic of layouts artistically but for me was all about the journalling. I cried and cried whilst writing it and ironically enough finished it on Father's Day.

What technique do you use more than any other?

Inking. I love the look of it, feels it adds definition to the edges of things and, well, the layout just doesn't look "finished" until I've inked it, LOL! I'm changing though, I taught a class last weekend and didn't use ANY ink at all.

Ever been published?

No. Almost though, I was going to have one published, about my gorgeous boy, Noah, in a British magazine, sent it over from Canada and the following month the magazine folded. So, nope not made it in to print yet, although I suppose I really should submit if I want to get published...

What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?

I've stopped saving scraps. {Shock, Horror}. No, seriously I found that I had soooo many scraps that it was getting difficult to store them and I also found I never used them. What I do do now though is once I have finished a layout I then set about making a card or two, straightaway, with the left over bits. That way I use them at once and have a stash of cards to send off at a moments notice.

Ever have any scrapbooking-related injuries?

Not that I can recall but I'm sure I've probably sliced myself a couple of time with a craft knife. My friend Jo is a positive danger near a craft knife, she's going to lose a finger one of these days!

Finish the sentance "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money on....."

Books and gadgets I expect. I am a gadget girl after all :)

Give us your best storage or organisational ideal

I store my ribbons on those old fashioned wooden pegs, wrapped around and secured with a pin, they are in turn stored in a clear plastic jar (you know the ones, the type you store sweets or pasta in). So not only practical as I can see the ribbons I have but also pretty too.

You just one a week-long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?

Now I know I should say my husband and 3 children, after all it's very rare to win a holiday for 5, it's usually only for 4. Oh, okay, I'll say my family but I know I would be panicking and worrying the whole trip that the children would end up overboard.

After you've answered the questions, tag six of your scrapbook buddies!

Now we've already discovered that I don't have 6 scrapbooking buddies, at least ones that blog, but I will tag:

1. Natty



2. Cherry



3. Kirsty

*** Edited to add: Woohoo! I have a new scrapbooking/blogging buddy to torture, sorry I mean tag :)   so:

       4.  Chrissie - consider yourself tagged! ***

Guten Tag!

This is just a nod to my husbands
german background, I'm not about to go off and spout more A) because I
can't and B) because this was just a convenient way to lead in to the
fact that I've been tagged by Nat.

Four  jobs you've had in your life:

1. Debenhams, Soft Furnishings
   Department - not really a job but I did my work experience there in the summer before moving on to sixth form.



2. Accountancy firms - I have worked at
   too many accountancy firms to count, starting out as the office
   junior, working my way up to PA to a partner.



3. Self Employed Bookkeeper and
   Management Accountant - I swore never to go back to accountancy after I had left to have the children, but I needed to go
   back to work and this was just an easy way of doing it.



4. The Cutting Garden - yeah, dream job
   working in one of my LSS in Nova Scotia, I taught classes
   but what I loved most was helping people choose paper, embellishments
   etc.

Four movies you would watch over and over:

1. While You Were Sleeping



2. Pride & Prejudice



3. Bridget Jones Diary (but not the second movie - boring!)



4. Love Actually

Four places you have lived:

1. Plymouth, Devon (born and bred)



2. Cambridgeshire (don't remember exactly where as I was very young)



3. Swindon, Wiltshire (a place to visit other places from!)



4. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (beautiful but not for me)

 Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. Medium



2. Ghost Whisperer (got in to this in Canada but don't think it's made it's way over here yet)



3. Charmed



4. Deal or No Deal (sad I know but I like it)

 Four places you have been on holiday:

1. Maine, USA



2. Bermuda



3. Barcelona, Spain



4. Ontario, Canada

Four websites I visit daily:

1. UKScrappers



2. Various blogs: Shimelle , Michelle , Ali Edwards , Cathy Zielske , Kirsty , Jane , Heidi Swapp & Nat (I know cheating slightly to group them together but hey!)



3. Kindred Creations (a Canadian online scrapbooking community)



4. And according to my web history CBeebies but this is probably the children!

Four of my favourite foods:

1. Crispy peking duck



2. Roast with all the trimmings



3. Skors ice cream



4. Tiger butter

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In my new house (hopefully on track for middle of February)



2. At ScrapManic, cropping, chatting, cropping



3. In bed with a good book, a hot cup of coffee and quiet



4. On the beach in Bermuda

Four bloggers I am tagging:

1. Michelle



2. Kirsty



3. And sadly that's it, I can't
   think of a third or fourth as I don't really "know" any other bloggers!
   Billy no mates - that's obviously me!

New Glasses

So, I've got new glasses. I pick them up and, obviously, start wearing them.

The girls arive home from school and just suddenly stop and stare at me. "What have you got on?" they both ask. It takes me a while to realise they are refering to my glasses, as I can't see them myself I forget that they are different!

And the verdict? Harriet: "You look like a geek! You don't look like my mummy. I don't like them!"

Oh well, I do and Richard does, so they're staying.

I'm a Gadget Girl

And I won't apologise for it, even though it drives Richard up the wall.

I can't help it. They just draw me like a magnet.

So, the situation is that I currently have an iPod mini (pink, of course) and a HP iPAQ, both bought shortly before leaving Canada. Within days of our container arriving and subsequent set up of our pc I tried connecting them to no avail. Both dead, completely, not working. Problem. I have no idea where either of the receipts are for them and how am I to go about fixing them?

iPod were great and apparently the problem I was having was a universal thing, this error has been popping up all over the place and it seems as if everyone was having the same problem. They sent a nice UPS man over to collect it and have it sent to Brussels (or some such other place beginning with a B) but it seems as if it was not repairable so I got a completely new one in it's place, delivered again by the nice UPS man. I do use my iPod but not as often as I thought I would do and to be honest I don't need that many songs on a mobile device as I really only listen to a select few pieces of music at any one time, then get bored and listen to some other select pieces of music.

Next on the list then is my iPAQ. This was an impulse buy if ever there was one. I should have researched more. The main problem is the lack of memory, a measly 25mb, too poor. You put one or 2 files on it and it complains there is no memory! Also I want to use it as an alarm notifier for appointments and such (I am notoriously scatterbrained but really don't want to be) but if I set an alarm the alarm doesn't sound until I turn the machine on, which could be a few days later - duh, then it's too late!

And so to my solution and subsequent new gadget acquisition -  the Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager which will do the job of both of the gadgets above plus a few more that I would like to have eg. store photographs (I was beginning to get attracted by the iPhoto thingy). Luckily I have hunted around and got a very good, and much better price, here.

Now, I'm hopping around waiting for it to be delivered. Patience is not one of my virtues.

This is a Cool Guy!

Noah got a V.Smile Pocket handheld thingy for Christmas and for the first time yesterday I plugged it in to the television. Noah was so amazed to see it on the large screen.

He turned around to me and said "Thanks, ... I'm a cool guy!". Like he knew it did that and he made it happen!

Too funny.

The Great White Sharpie - Myth or Legend?

So I was reading Natty's blog when she suddenly mentions a white Sharpie! A white Sharpie? Could this be just an urban legend or was it in fact based on truth - I decided to find out...

Well I searched high, I searched low, I delved in to parts of cyberspace in which you should never go alone, oh, ok, I logged on to www.sharpie.com but, but, but.... THIS is what I found!

YES, YES, YES, there is a great white Sharpie. It's a paint style of pen and I expect it will be hard to find one in it's natural habitat (Staples or perhaps Office World) but I am going to make it my life's mission to hunt one down (humanely naturally) and it will take pride of place in my ever growing Sharpie collection.

Thanks Natty!

Interesting post today

Two pieces of interesting post today, well actually three on further reflection.

One was interesting not because of what it was but more due to the absurdity of it's travels. It was a piece of post redirected from our last home in Canada. The absurd thing is that it was originally sent from the UK. It took over 2 months to make the journey and was a list of houses for sale in the area we are looking to buy and was dated 1st November 2005. Not particularly interesting to you, I know, but it struck a cord with me.

I also received a letter from Hi-Ti with the 2 samples of my own images I requested they print for me to look at and compare. I am very impressed with the customer service, they have been really helpful and I'm almost 100% confident I am going to buy one of these. I just need to wait until we move in to our new house before I can do it. I don't currently have room for it in this house so it seems silly to buy it and just let it sit in it's box. I'm tempted though...

And lastly my order from Scrapbook Express arrived. Wow, was it fast! It only took a week from ordering it to it arriving on my doorstep. It wasn't anything majorly exciting, mainly assorted collections of different coloured Junkitz photo anchors (Girl/Boy/Friends/Salsa/Mom) and some Nunn Design decorative details (Snowflakes/Word Dangles/Seashell) all in silver. But the main reason for placing the order was that I wanted some of the KI Memories rub-on decorative icons, in particular these! And of course you can't just place such a tiny order when you are buying from the States, can you now? The other items just 'fell' in to my basket. To be honest I've been looking for some different coloured photo anchors for ages and was really pleased to be able to find some. They are delicious colours, the photos on the web do not do them justice, in particular the salsa are yummy.

Now to find some time (and space) and use them.

And now for something completely different ...

The girls went back to school today!!!!!!!!!!!

Now don't take me wrong, oh actually do, I am HAPPY they are back at school. There, I said it! And I won't feel bad. It means I get a little more space and I don't mean that in the meaningful, deep way, I mean it literally. This rental house is so small and with Richard working from home and using the kitchen table to work off, which translates in to "taking up the whole of the kitchen and making me feel terrible if I enter it even to make a coffee", we are all restricted to living life in the one other room downstairs which is the lounge. And this is not large by any stretch of the imagination and currently contains all of the furniture which usually lives in two rooms, not one.

So, three lively children and one stretched-to-the-limit adult all in one space does not a happy home make!

Now for pre-school to restart... {insert wink here}

An (almost) non post

I had this whole post going on but decided against it and hit the delete button. It was sounding a little sad and depressing and it wasn't how I intended the post to go so...

In summary, it was about the episode of Dr.Who I watched last night. The one entitled "Father's Day" where Rose goes back in time and saves her father's life. This episode produced much introspection.  Could I? Should I? Would I, go back in time, if possible, and try to see if I could have prevented my dad dying?

My conclusion was probably 'no', but the temptation to see him again would be huge. And not least for him to see my children, 2 of which he has never seen.

So, there you go. You can see it's a subject that could come across as quite sad but I don't mean it to. I love my dad, still,  and will feel the hole left by him forever however I have so many great, happy memories of him and will have these forever too. But I do firmly believe that things happen, good and bad, when they do for a reason and that the timing is as it's meant to be.

Happy New Year to one and all!

That's it really. Just wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR