No, not Part II of Back To The Future but a proud mummy moment of another kind.
A poem by Katarina:
The Power of the Sea
The sea was pounding against the rock face
Crashing and spraying with amazing grace
The light house was standing tall and strong
As the sea unleashed all her wrong
And as God looked down on the roaring sea
He waved his hand and smiled at me
And all of a sudden the sea went calm
And I was skipping home unharmed.
How beautiful is that? How talented is she?
Well, I am slowly starting to feel better but won't be running any races for a little while (as if, LOL!).
Today was a day off and I relaxed and chilled out, visited with friends this morning, had a coffee and a chat, lazed around in the afternoon and topped it off with a dvd cosy-up with the children after school. It was great - I introduced them to one of my favourite movies of the 80s - Back To The Future.
I'd recently bought the trilogy, very cheaply at Homebase (?? how weird's that??) and thought it would be great to sit and watch it with them. Noah, unfortunately (or fortunately if you read on further) got bored and took himself off to play Stuart Little on the playstation but the girls LOVED it. Now, this is the fortunate bit (or unfortunate now... if you see what I mean), the rating was a PG. Well, that'll be fine, I think, uhmmm... NO. There was actually quite a bit of swearing (which I don't remember there being at all). You should have seen the look on the girls faces! Outwardly I feigned shock myself but inwardly it was so funny to see them look so surprised - both at the bad language (which wasn't horrendously bad I hasten to add, no 'f' words or anything) but also at the fact that I still let them watch!!! Bad mother, I am... But it was good. Real sort of retro 80s.
They LOVED it. It took a while for them to just settle in to just watching it. To start with they were just constantly asking questions.
"Is that the sort of sunglasses they wore back then?"
"Did you have sunglasses like that?"
"Is this 80s music?"
"Is that an 80s car?"
You get the picture. Harriet even had a chuckle over the opening film credits and how 'old' they looked! Great stuff. As soon as it was finished they wanted to watch Part II but that's for tomorrow!
So I popped in to Borders last night, like you do when you only really need to go to the chemists, but hey, it's right next door and it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?
I was very lucky to not only find a copy of Creating Keepsakes BUT also Simple Scrapbooks, a magazine that I haven't managed to put my hand on to in many a month! Result.
But even more intriguingly as I'm paying for my purchases (OK, I threw in a couple of books for Kat, for me and for others) the guy serving me casually remarks "oh, you're one of those scrapbookers!". Or words to that effect, my head is still feeling a little woolly from recent illnesses. To which, after I get over my shock that he even registers what scrapbooking is, I reply that of course I am. We have a very brief chat about magazines (he commented that the UK mags are not as good as the US ones!) and he then says that he is trying to give the scrapbooking look to a website he is trying to set up! The long and the short of it is that he asked for my email and this blog address and is going to check things out and, maybe, be calling on me for some advice!
So if you are reading this Borders Guy "hi!".
Oh, no, I can't just have the usual sort of viral thing that is going around can I? I can't just feel awful for a couple of days and then start to feel better. No, I have to go and get laryngitis! And 4 days later I'm still feeling like crap.
Both Harriet and Richard (Noah did have the viral thing but it was very mild and only lasted overnight and so didn't even miss any school time) felt awful for a couple of days and then got better, albeit slowly. So I'm expecting mine to follow the same route. No. I get up on the 3rd day expecting to feel better but... I. Feel. Worse. As it's a Saturday I have to ring the emergency doctor and then in my hoarse whisper of a voice, which fades in and out to no voice, explain why I think I need to see a doctor. I hate doctors! They make you feel like you are wasting their time. I know I'm not. I know the difference between just a sore throat and something more. I. Just. Know.
I finally persuade the snotty nurse that I really should be allowed to come in to the emergency clinic and so off we trot. Yup, sure enough she can see I have spots at the back of my throat and announces I have laryngitis and need a course of antibiotics. Um... duh! I didn't like to say "I told you so" but "I told her so!".
The worst of it is that I just couldn't teach at PaperArts yesterday and I hate that. I hate letting people down. But I just couldn't. I toyed with just going along, teaching the class and then coming home but even if I could have mustered the energy to stand to teach the class, no-one would have heard a word of what I was trying to say as I've lost my voice. Add to that the fact I have a raging temperature, feel like I've gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson and hurt everywhere, well, there was just no way.
I am going to do some instructions and a step-by-step for everyone who was there though and hopefully I will get this out to you all sometime in the next week or so. Sorry.
Now, I'm just waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. How long does that take?
That's me. There is some awful viral lurgies going around at the moment. Harriet was off school sick for 2 days this week and now Richard and I have got it. I feel bloody awful. High temperature, headaches, aching all over, the most horrendous cough and sore throat. I don't want to talk. I don't want to eat.
On top of that I finally went to the docs between Christmas and New Year to find out why I have been feeling so awful for the last couple of months. Turns out my blood pressure is pretty high and I've now been put on medication and have been having to go back once a week to monitor it. Started off on 1.25mg of medication, which was then doubled to 2.5mg last week and yesterday that was then doubled again to 5mg! It explains why I was feeling so awful but not why I'm suffering with it - I blame my mother - it's bound to be an hereditary thing, isn't it?
So at the moment I'm sitting here feeling like, well, you can imagine and trying to build up the energy to sort out some page kits for the crop tomorrow. But thinking that maybe I shouldn't waste the energy because if I'm still feeling like this it will be more likely that I will go, teach and then come right home.
If it behaves anything like Harriet's then I *should*, in theory, start to feel a little better as the day wears on. We can but hope. I hate feeling like this. I feel so apathetic. Ugh. Horrid.
As I've been nagged, I'm posting a sneak peek of the class I'm teaching this Saturday (20th January) at PaperArts. And it is only a peek as it's just about a 2" square of the layout. Mean aren't I? LOL. We'll be using the scrummy Blush papers from BasicGrey.
Fancy doing a little project? Fancy using up some of your own stash? The fantabulous Shimelle is doing a mini-book project AND, because that's the kind of gal she is, it's FREE! Yup, free. So get on over there, grab the badge and sit back and wait for Friday
.
I know, I know, I'm not blogging very often at the moment. But I'm going to try harder from now on. I'm not going to make any promises about being a better blogger, about writing more often. Someone once told me "Never break a promise so... erm...never make a promise!". I am, however, hoping that home/work/scrap life will now settle down to a better rhythm now that Noah is at school full-time. In theory I should have more time. Funny thing, theory!
So, layout catch up. Even though I haven't been blogging I have been busy on other things, not just work or family life but I have been scrapping. A little. These 2 layouts were for a class I taught at the December 2006 Scrappers Unlimited Crop using acetate, glitter and paints. The acetate shapes were cut out using my CraftRobo (boy did it have steam coming out of its ears by the time I'd finished) and then Stickles glitter glue applied to create definition and dimension. I then used the negatives left in the acetate, once the baubles/snowflakes were removed, to paint a band of pattern across the background cardstock in varying shades. The red strips were created using my favourite scalloped edged decorative scissors (see they can still come in handy!). You can't tell from these photos but they really are VERY sparkly in real life.
This next layout was based on a cyber crop layout by the wonderfully talented Shimelle. It wasn't a 'do this, put that here' type of class but more of a design principle, one based on keeping everything in the middle of the page and the balance of white space around. I love this style anyway so this was no hardship to me. The hard thing was actually scrapping this photo. It was taken WAY before scrapbooking was a twinkle in my eye and so is a terrible shot but I love it. Love what it represents and the emotions it stirs when I look at it. It also went great with some Imaginisce papers that Fiona had given me at PaperArts which I had been feeling very guilty about every time I came across them stash hunting as I had done nothing with them (orange is not a colour I do!). I mix of hand-cutting and CraftRobo-ing on this one and some colouring in (how therapeutic is that?) on the little Jenni Bowlin journalling card.
Finally just a couple of random layouts. The double layout 'Splashdown' and 'The Many Faces of Harriet' were both inspired by a Becky Fleck sketch. 'Splashdown' really is straight in real life and does line up - honest! I loved the sketch for 'The Many Faces of Harriet' and in particular the placement for all the little photos. Such a great idea. 'Christmas Concert' was a layout I did for the ScrapManic weekend, back in November, for my Ad Inspiration class. Obviously, it was inspired by an ad. Got to love ads, such a great source of free inspiration.
Well I think that's it apart from a couple of layouts that I just haven't scanned in yet. I will get to them eventually so watch this space.
Just want to wish everyone I know a Happy New Year and hope that 2007 is a good year for all.
We had a very quiet New Year which is pretty much normal for us since having children and living so far away from family. We chatted, we watched a bit of TV, we drank champagne, wished each other a Happy New Year and then went... to bed!
Richard hasn't made any New Years resolutions. I'm still thinking about mine. Do I make some and inevitably not keep them? Or not make any and therefore not have anything to aim for? Difficult dilemma as even though I nearly always break any resolutions it is nice to have put those thoughts out there, to know that there are things you want to achieve in the coming year. This year I turn 40. There, I've said it. It wasn't too scary. I will be 40 this year and yes, there are things I would like to achieve. Some big things, some not so big, but something to aim for all the same.
I'm not going to put them all down here on my blog though. I've decided to do a mini album, which I will post as and when during the year.
Today is a glorious day, the sun is shining and a walk is beckoning. Perhaps a geocaching jaunt?
Happy New Year.
