Toot! Toot!

I know, I know, very American of me but I am now finally able to tell people that I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of the Best of British Scrapbooking contest!

I have been in complete shock over it and just completely amazed to have been selected. My scrapbooking buddies will know that I've never been overly confident about my scrapbooking abilities and so I nearly didn't even enter the contest. It was a last minute decision and I didn't tell anyone - not even Richard!!! So you can imagine his face when he walked in to the living room a couple of weeks ago to find me jumping up and down on my chair, woohooing (is this a word?) and looking very excited.

I'm still completely gobsmacked and keep thinking that they must have made a mistake and that they actually meant to give me the wooden spoon as the worst submission LOL!

I'm even more surprised when I see what fantastic company I'm in and am in awe of some of the other winners, who I 'know' through UK Scrappers, as they do some amazing work.

Anyway, this is my 5 minutes of scrapbooking fame and I'm going to enjoy it!

We're in

The house that is :)

Lots still more to do, like unpack all my scrapbooking stash along with about 40 other boxes or so but we do have beds, we do have most of our furniture and we are slowly getting there.

We don't have internet access though :(

How am I posting this you then may ask? I'm being very naughty and I've picked up a wireless signal from somewhere in our vicinity and I'm precariously catching up on emails and such surfing their wave {Jools runs and hides her head in shame - insert embarrassed smilie here - I'm on Richard's laptop Nat so don't have access to my lovely stash of smilies!}

So, just popping on quickly to let everyone know that I should be up and running proper by Tuesday next week.

Keep well everyone - I am!

Discrimination

Why is it that all the major scrapbooking contests are only for residents of the US and Canada? Oh, but let's not forget to exclude Quebec, last time I looked (and was living in Canada) Quebec was still part of Canada (we know they don't want to be


- but they are!).

Don't they value a LO for the LO itself, never mind if a different language is used? Don't countries outside of the States and Canada contribute to keeping the scrapbooking market in the US going? Don't we for the most part have to import all our products from the US? Can't they acknowledge the world wide spread of scrapbooking and open up their doors for all countries? Or is it because if they do that they will have to accept that there are some amazing scrapbookers out there that aren't American - and you know what? They are pretty darn good, even better sometimes


!

OK, off my soap box now. And no, before anyone asks, I am not anti-American, just anti-exclusion.

{1}

Only one more sleep before we complete on our house. And I'm not even remotely excited.

I know why but even so I did think that at this point I would start to feel just a little bit excited. But nope, not one little bit. I'm obviously feeling something because I didn't sleep a wink last night but I think that's more about the logistics of the move going round and round in my mind.

Oh well, just one more sleep and maybe once the keys are in my hand I'll start to feel a little excitement?

Scrap watch (Part II)

It's growing!

My chosen classes

Well, it seemed as if every UK Scrapper was sitting poised with multiple windows open on Wednesday evening waiting to book their chosen classes for the next ScrapManic weekend. I was one of them.

I was very tempted to just not book anything and see what was left at the end and just do those classes, a little bit on the wild side for me but I thought it would be fun to see what I would end up with and almost definitely would end up doing something outside of the box.

Sadly the control freak in me, yes unfortunately I am, just couldn't do it and so I found myself, along with 49 others, fingers poised, windows open and watching the clock count down (or should that be up?) to 8:00pm, when we were officially allowed to book our classes.

Some people, not naming names but check THIS blog out, got so excited they booked days in advance (only pulling your leg Jules


).

So, what did I book - and why?

Doodle Your Heart Out by Ali. Well doodling seems to be just such an 'in' thing at the moment and I have very mixed thoughts about it. I've seen some LO's that look amazing and others that, well quite honestly look like my 3 year old did them. I should probably run and hide after that last comment but I won't, it's just my opinion. So the class will be little experiment and foray in to the whole doodling phenomenon.

Stuck On You by Debbie. I've always enjoyed Debbie's classes in the past so I'm sure that this will be a great class. Not sure about the whole 'baking tray' thing but it's definitely out of my comfort zone so that's a good thing, isn't it?

Gilding the Lily by Kirsty. Taken mostly because I like Kirsty but on the plus side I do love a bit of glitter and sparkle so gilding should be fun. And of course I've never done a board book before so that should be fun too.

So they's me choices and happy I am with them too.

{2}

2 more sleeps until we move. I'm feeling relatively relaxed about the move but that's because I know we don't have to rush to get it all done in one day. We have just under 2 weeks left on the rental of this house so we can pretty much move at our own pace. I know I will want it all done pretty quickly but because I know we aren't working to a tight deadline, I'm relaxed, chilled and just looking forward to finally having our own place again.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Space



• Getting my kitchen table back to myself



• The girls having their own rooms again



• Chest of drawers (in the plural)



• Being able to access the garden



• Unpacking my scrapbooking stash (oh, how I've missed you)



• The children's toys (oh, how they've missed you)



• Our bird (our engagement present and one and only 'ornament' if you could even call it that, it's more of a sculpture really)



• The ability to be able to at least try and find some quiet space (the opportunity of finding one room where there is currently no-one else in it are increased exponentially)



• Being able to invite people round for a coffee and not feel awful about how the house looks (which will actually probably be exactly the same in the new house - we have a 'lived in' home)



• Decorating

There are more but mostly just variations on the word SPACE. That's what I'm really looking forward to. It probably seems as if the house is huge, it isn't, but when you there are 5 of you living in a tiny house, forced to spend all your time in the living room as Richard is working off the kitchen table, and you've got furniture meant for a 5 bedroom house crammed in to a small 3 bedroom house, you get the picture. Space is a premium.

Roll on Monday...

ScrapManic 5

In the time honoured tradition of my family - Only 16 sleeps to go!

I am so looking forward to this weekend away, on many different levels. I have actually been looking forward to this weekend for probably around 8 or 9 months. I know, I know this seems an impossibly long time to look forward to one weekend but there is a history here.

Whilst we were still living in Nova Scotia, the house was on the market and we were hopeful (!) of a quick sale, I convinced myself (I'm very good at this) that we would be back in the UK by the beginning of September. Wishful thinking this turns out to be. Anyway, so the ScrapManic weekend, to be held at the end of October, was announced I was like "hey, I can go to that, we'll definitely be back in England by then, I mean, we're going to be there at the beginning of September, aren't we?" and so on. A few well placed words with Richard "I deserve this break you know darling. what with you always jetting off to Bermuda. I know it's work, but it's nice work. and of course 12 week long school holiday breaks. and it is my favourite scrapbooking weekend. if I could only go on one scrapbooking weekend THIS would be the one".

You get the idea... Long story short (doing lots of this at the moment) I book but we don't sell, what a surprise, so I have to sell my place off   


and then to top it off we sell and move back to England the weekend after the crop!!!!

And the other reasons I'm looking forward to ScrapManic? Some retail therapy, being able to catch up with some old friends, the opportunity to make some new ones (some of whom I've already 'met' in the virtual world), retail therapy, a whole weekend scrapping, a welcome break from my 3, not always adorable, children, great food, great instructors, fab location, to name just a few.

Did I mention retail therapy?

{7}

So, a week to go which equals only 7 sleeps until we move house.

On my task list to do today:

• Transfer the balance to be paid on the house to the solicitors bank account



• Book the removal company



• Organise mail redirection (although I'm not sure I'll do this as I may just say to Greg, my postie, "hey mate, just drop our mail in to our new house from now on, will ya, eh, eh?")



• Organise Sky to be moved to the new house

Things on my task list to get done sometime this week, hopefully sooner rather than later:

• Ring Gas, Electricity, BT etc. and arrange all that stuff



• Compile a list of people to advise re: change of address



• Maybe make (? when will I have time, LOL) some "We Have Moved" cards

That's all I can think of for now, please feel free to let me know if you think of something I don't seem to have. All the most important stuff is already in hand, my 2 Peas order has already been arranged to go to the new house as has my sign up for the lovely Scraptivity kit.

Hope all is well with you .

"What? Cool church?"

The response made by Noah (3) this morning when asked to come and get dressed, we're off to church.

Since moving back we've found that the church we used to go to just doesn't feel right for us anymore. We've changed, grown in ways that well, as I've said, it just doesn't feel right for us. So, we looked around and decided to see what the local newfrontiers church was like, the Swindon Family Church. Our best friends attend a branch of this church in Shrewsbury and reports were favourable and indicated that it may suit us.

It does. The energy there is just amazing, the children are excited about going, in fact the girls were up and dressed very early this morning - without being nagged!

Noah just sums it up - a cool church!

{8}

8 sleeps to go until we move in to our new home (the number of sleeps is how we count down to things in our house).

Well, I say 8 sleeps until we move in but it would be more accurate to say 8 sleeps until we complete on our new home. We may actually get to sleep in our new home on that day too but we won't have fully moved in for at least another couple of days.

For those of you who don't know (and those of you who do, skip on ahead to the next paragraph) we have moved back in to the same little cul-de-sac that we lived in before we went to Canada and bizarrely enough we are also now buying another house in the same little street. So, to cut a long story short, we owned and then sold No.2, we are currently renting No.4 and we will be completing on No.7, in just over a week. And there are only 8 houses in the street! So by my calculations we will have occupied..... think, think, think..... 37.5% of the homes (sorry, it's the accountant in me


) in our little road.

The plan for Day 1 (my plan not Richard's - he is not known for his planning) is as follows:

• Remove unit from kitchen to accommodate dishwasher



• Remove unit from utility room to accommodate tumble dryer



• Dismantle, carry across the huge distance (about 10m, or even less!) the beds and then re-assemble them, hopefully in the correct rooms



• Ditto for the kitchen table, known affectionately in our house as die Eckbank gruppe (because that's what it's called in Germany where we bought it)



• Take over some kitchen essentials, kettle, bowls, mugs

And so ends Day 1.

Day 2 will be for moving over small items of furniture and getting prepared for Day 3, when we are getting a local firm to come and shift all the large, bulky and heavy pieces of furniture. I know it seems strange to get someone to help us move such a short distance but it's really much more practical to do so - and saves me breaking my back! And then, because we have almost a 2 week cross over period, where we will still have both the rental place and the new house, we can take our time moving boxes over and actually have the luxury of unpacking at an unhurried pace and be able to really think about what is going to go where.

That's the plan anyway but we all know about best laid plans and such, don't we?

Borders-land - A dangerous place to be

I should never step foot in that place, Borders that is. I mean I just can't seem to walk in to that shop without buying something. Sometimes I'm lucky and manage to get in and out with only buying a magazine (usually Scrapbook Inspirations) but that is normally the exception to rule.

And today was no exception!

First to find their way in to my arms were, in the order I picked them off the shelves:

               

Then, of course, I see a another book I'd like and I glance at the cover and see that it is a 3 for 2 offer! You can guess what happened next? Suddenly I find myself picking up these three books, at which point I realise that I'm struggling not to drop books and I really should go get a basket:

               

Then I seem to go into some sort of daze, I'm obviously so blinded by being in this wondrous shop that I find things just seem to appear in my basket, and when I come to I realise that I have wandered through the magazine section and, a must, have passed through Paperchase!

And I only popped in for a coffee...

Circle journal

I've signed up for a circle journal - Mum of Girls II - on UKScrappers.

I've been toying with the idea of getting involved in another circle journal and the timing seemed just right on this. It kicks off with the first posting on 24th April. Which means I will have (finally) moved in to our new house, unpacked all my stash and be ready for a creativity kick start.

It should be fun. I like the fact that I don't know anybody else in the CJ so it will be fun getting to know more about everyone. I just need to come up with a theme for my part in it. I have a couple of ideas kicking around, I just need to plump for one and then decide how my CJ is going to look/feel.

I'm feeling all creative already!

Scrap watch

OK, following in Nat's footsteps I have decided to start a wish list, although seeing as I have no patience it's more of a watch list because as soon I see where I can buy these items - I'm getting them! I know I could buy them in the US but unless I can find them all at the same time at the same store and so save on shipping it's turning out a tad more difficult than I imagined, LOL!

• Making Memories - Foam Stamps - Flowers



• Making Memories - Foam Stamps - Simply Fab Alphabet



• Making Memories - Brad Accents - Boho Chic



• Prima - Flowers of the Month Collections - April/May/June



• Daisy D's - Nursery Papers - Various ones



• Basic Grey - Urban Couture - All of it!



• Basic Grey - Hang 10 - All of it!



• K & Co. - Studio K 12"x12" - Breeze Gatefold Album

I know there's a lot more that I'd like but for the life of me I can't remember just yet what they are but I'm sure it will come back to me so I'll add (and hopefully cross off) from this list as and when.

***Edited to add: So Nat has now forced me to admit that the reason that my watch list is so minuscule is that I have already placed 3, yes 3, orders for paper, rub ons, including some very gorgeous Rhonna Farrer stuff and of course some BG (Urban Couture & Hang 10) etc. etc. {she says rather shamefacedly (is that a word?) 


}


***

***Updated 19th April 2006***

My grocery shopping theory

Since time immemorial men have been known as the hunter gatherers therefore it makes sense that men should do the grocery shopping, doesn't it? I mean, it is the modern day version of hunting gathering.

Walking up and down those aisles hunting down the shopping list, gathering them all up and packing them in to the sled (all right carrier bags) to be dragged back to the cave, where the woman sits waiting, preferably reading a scrapping mag, drinking coffee and eating copious amounts of chocolate.

Yup, I hate grocery shopping. I have been known, albeit on extremely rare occasions, to get half way round the supermarket, just abandon my trolley and go home. It's so boring. And yes, I know, the wonders of Internet grocery shopping are within reach of my fingertips but at the moment due to the constrictions of our rental house it just isn't an option.

This theory came to me during my last shopping trip around Asda Walmart and it works for me so I'm going to implement it! Richard.....

The hair!

Ok, I've decided to be brave and post a piccie of "the haircut". I have now reached the point where I can look in the mirror and NOT cry so I must be getting used to it. It's also unbelievably easy to style, just wash it, whack a load of hair gel in and ... go!

It's not exactly a good piccie either, too much sunlight I think but anyway, here it is, be gentle with me.

Mug inspiration

Ok, I've changed the look of my site - not again I hear you say - but not too drastically and it's going to stay this way (for now


).

The banner is basically the same but just a change of colours. I was inspired by the new mugs I bought today (the blue is much more turqoise IRL).

Hmmmm, strange that this is the exact colour scheme I'm planning to redecorate the lounge in...

A new look

So Spring is officially here and I meant, famous last words, to put up my new look blog site on 1st March but what with hair issues and the stinking cold I've had, well, I just couldn't be bothered.

Not sure if I like this current look, I actually have 3 versions of it, in 3 different colours (pink, red & blue) but have gone for the blue for now as it's a different colour choice for me.

But who knows, it may disappear over the next few days!

***Yes, it disappeared and has now come back in a new incarnation in the lovely colour combination of brown and teal/turquoise - and this IS going to stay for more than a few days***

Hair update

I'm avoiding looking in mirrors at the moment but I did check this morning and ... yup, still hideously bad!