What a fabulous day today has been - woke up to the bluest sky, a light breeze, and bingo, off we go! We have been waiting to paint our deck. We have lifted taken out all screws (over 350 of them - many of which had to be drilled out), cleaned the decking boards, lifted the boards - cleaned them again (yuk, yuk, yuk - all cobwebby) and gave been waiting for a nice day to be able to give them their first coat of black paint. Keeping the doggies of them was a bit of a challenge - they sulked a bit because we were out in the sun (yes, sun) and they were indoors looking through the window. It was glorious - a few hours of sunshine to do a job that needed doing - and it looks fab - all silky and black. It needs another coat - but hey - that will make it look even better.
There's still a few more cobbles to lay - and a planter to plant up and position - but its going to look amazing - and what's more, when the sun gets on the patio - if you close your eyes - you could be in the med somewhere, it's such a suntrap
We have been thinking of getting a hammock - we have two trees to fix it to - but we aren't sure how big they need to be to support the weight of a body. They aren't small -but they aren't old oaks either (as a matter of fact they are beautiful silver birches)
The lawn poses a bit more of a problem - two dogs hurtling around it all winter have churned it up a bit - we need to get our thinking caps on to sort it out. Also - got to look for a couple of very large bamboos - a couple have died - and as we use them to screen the house from the garden - we need them badly!
Anyway - now the jobs are done - I have chance to get into the craft cupboard for a bit of scrapbooking whilst my husband it our on his mountain bike.
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
Then and Now
The picture "now " was taken by a fab lady - thanks Lyns - it was taken at our scrapbooking retreat last year - and it goes well with my christening picture. The common denominator - my mouth is open on both of them - I think I have always had something to say....
When We Were Small
This is is a lyaout I have wanted to do for ages - I found the picture at my mum's - and was taken in the local park.
Latest Layouts
These are recent layouts - I hope you like them - I had a lot of fun creating them! This is a wedding photo from many moons ago - but I wanted to so soemthing with it after all these years!
A Great Weekend
The weather has been just what it should have been for March - flippin cold! But it's been a lovely weekend; long walks with Daisy and Mollie, some scrapbooking, some good food and time spent with good friends.
Daisy and Moll love their walks in the woods - we could throw sticks until the cows came home - but they'd both want more. I can't believe the size of stick Daisy is prepared to fetch back (more like a medium sized branch - she has to drag some of them as she can't pick them up!) I also think that she thinks she's a springer spaniel rather than a lab - you should see her leap through those ferns and woods - I can't believe a dog of her size can get so far off the floor - and so beautifully elegantly.
Two of our very best friends came to supper on Saturday - with some amazing news - they'd gone off quietly to have a civil partnership ceremony. Though I would have loved to have been there with them - I am so very, very happy that they have done it. They are wonderful human beings and they deserve to be as happy as can be. It makes my heart very glad that they are able to show how much they love each other by doing this. Needless to say supper turned into a celebration with pink champagne all round!
My significant other has been busy sorting out our garden - specifically , our deck - which needs cleaning and re painting black. We also put a tonne of cobbles down - and thy look a whole heap better than the shingle that was there. By the time the summer comes the garden will look fab.
I have been doing a bit of scrapbooking - and have managed to complete three layouts this weekend - might not sound much to you -but to me - it's really going some - and I am pleased with the results. One day - I will post some here!
Anyway - better load the dishwasher and get everything ready for tomorrow's deliveries.
Daisy and Moll love their walks in the woods - we could throw sticks until the cows came home - but they'd both want more. I can't believe the size of stick Daisy is prepared to fetch back (more like a medium sized branch - she has to drag some of them as she can't pick them up!) I also think that she thinks she's a springer spaniel rather than a lab - you should see her leap through those ferns and woods - I can't believe a dog of her size can get so far off the floor - and so beautifully elegantly.
Two of our very best friends came to supper on Saturday - with some amazing news - they'd gone off quietly to have a civil partnership ceremony. Though I would have loved to have been there with them - I am so very, very happy that they have done it. They are wonderful human beings and they deserve to be as happy as can be. It makes my heart very glad that they are able to show how much they love each other by doing this. Needless to say supper turned into a celebration with pink champagne all round!
My significant other has been busy sorting out our garden - specifically , our deck - which needs cleaning and re painting black. We also put a tonne of cobbles down - and thy look a whole heap better than the shingle that was there. By the time the summer comes the garden will look fab.
I have been doing a bit of scrapbooking - and have managed to complete three layouts this weekend - might not sound much to you -but to me - it's really going some - and I am pleased with the results. One day - I will post some here!
Anyway - better load the dishwasher and get everything ready for tomorrow's deliveries.
Friday, 21 March 2008
A good Sort Out
This might sound odd - but I do think that there is something a bit cathartic about a good sort out - wardrobe, cupboard, garden, desk - whatever's floating your clear out boat at any one time. But, best of all is a stash sort out; the chosen stash for sorting this week were my ribbon boxes (yes boxes - 3 of them - I love ribbon, so what.....).
Since I saw Jay's fab way to keep all her ribbons I have been itching to have a go at mine - so having got the storage box (Jay, thanks - will sort it out with you soon) I have spent the last few evenings cutting little bits of card into 4cm x 4cm squares. Then I have sorted my ribbons in to colours and stored them on the card in the perfect little slots left for them in the box. They look so lovely and neat all ready to use - so I will have to get cracking on a layout that is going to need lots of ribbon - yippee. I think my husband thinks I am totally mad....
On the very positive side though - a clear out mean that I could RAK a number if ribbon items on UK Scrappers - which also makes me feels quite warm inside!
On a different note though - I have been looking for a picture of my husband to scrap - and having found just the one have started to plan the layout (yes, I do plan a lot of them - they just don't always pan out the way I want them to..) I have decided to use a fabulous poem which, for me, says it all about my husband - its called "I rely on You" and its by the wonderful Bolton poet, Hovis Presley, Check out the website www.hovispresley.co.uk to see some of his work. Its dry and northern and very bittersweet (like the best chocolate) and very sad too - because Hovis shuffled of his mortal coil way too early indeed in 2005.
Need to do some real work now - got some veg box things to sort out now - then there's a house to be cleaned, dinners to be prepped and dogs to walk (again) before its out to meet some friends for a woodland walk later this afternoon.
Since I saw Jay's fab way to keep all her ribbons I have been itching to have a go at mine - so having got the storage box (Jay, thanks - will sort it out with you soon) I have spent the last few evenings cutting little bits of card into 4cm x 4cm squares. Then I have sorted my ribbons in to colours and stored them on the card in the perfect little slots left for them in the box. They look so lovely and neat all ready to use - so I will have to get cracking on a layout that is going to need lots of ribbon - yippee. I think my husband thinks I am totally mad....
On the very positive side though - a clear out mean that I could RAK a number if ribbon items on UK Scrappers - which also makes me feels quite warm inside!
On a different note though - I have been looking for a picture of my husband to scrap - and having found just the one have started to plan the layout (yes, I do plan a lot of them - they just don't always pan out the way I want them to..) I have decided to use a fabulous poem which, for me, says it all about my husband - its called "I rely on You" and its by the wonderful Bolton poet, Hovis Presley, Check out the website www.hovispresley.co.uk to see some of his work. Its dry and northern and very bittersweet (like the best chocolate) and very sad too - because Hovis shuffled of his mortal coil way too early indeed in 2005.
Need to do some real work now - got some veg box things to sort out now - then there's a house to be cleaned, dinners to be prepped and dogs to walk (again) before its out to meet some friends for a woodland walk later this afternoon.
Monday, 17 March 2008
So, what's new?
Thought it was high time I put fingers to keyboard.
The Daisy Diaries continue; Lumpy Daisy (now 20 months old) suffered no long term ill effects following her chomping and digesting the Nativity set. However, she has, in very recent weeks turned into a thief!!! I came home from delivering River Nene veg boxes to find that the fruit cake defrosting on the counter top in the kitchen -had been snaffled by the aforementioned Lumpy Daisy - and eaten - not a scrap or crumb left apart from the tell tale cling film left on the living room floor. It's hardly surprising she's still lumpy!
Daisy has been on a bit of a diet since just before Christmas and I think the stealing is just to let me know, that she knows, she's on reduced rations (but only very slightly). She now has a waist and weights just about 29kg; not exactly a porker then, but we all know that Labs need to have their food intake controlled 'cos they're rubbish at it themselves (bit like me really...)
On the plus side - we think she's stopped eating rugs so we bought a new one (perhaps she's just lulling us into a false sense of security). The old one was nearer circular than rectangular - she'd nibbled away at so much of it.
You might wonder what poor old Mollie Dog makes of Lumpy Daisy (I know I do). I think they get on well enough; Moll lets Daisy annoy her (in the puppy dog way) then, when she's had enough she tells her off with a little nip. Daisy likes to think she's top dog - but Moll just quietly puts her back in her place. That's how it should be.
We have been busy with veg boxes over the last few weeks- we've introduced a brand new box which is going down really well with our lovely customers. There are some great plans in the pipeline for new products too - its rather exciting. Check out our website to see fabulous organic veggies www.rivernene.co.uk. I am so glad that more and more people are choosing organic over "conventional" vegetables (amongst other things); it just makes sense to me to have my food grown in tune with nature. I don't see why we have to try to beat nature all the time - let's work with her, she will win in the end. I find it really weird that we call stuff grown with the help of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers conventional....why?
Had some ups and downs on the scrap booking front - I finished a couple of really nice layouts - then had no inspiration at all at one of my crops a couple of weeks ago. But, last week at Cassie's crop in Walnut Tree (http://cropandcreate.blogspot.com/) - I found some inspiration to finish a layout of one of our wedding pictures (ancient - 15 years old); thanks Cassie for inspiring me with the chipboard Celtic knot - it's beautiful, and it really makes the layout ,covered in embroidery silk and gems. Thanks too, to Jay - the help with my San Francisco layout was invaluable - and the chipboard alphas just the job. I have to say that Cassie, Jay, Chel and Sue are some of the most creative and talented (as well as lovely) people I know. There are others too - many people who's scrapbooking skills I admire enormously - just too many of them to mention.
Looking forward to going to Alexandra Palace for the scrapbooking event in April - already compiling a list of things I want to look for - and saving my pennies to spend there - I can't wait!!!
Since my last post I had my birthday and wedding anniversary - I am glad to say that being one year older than I was feels no different, though I do get a shock when I look in the mirror and see me looking back - I still feel the same as I did when I met Russell 26 years ago - I just look a bit older and baggier.
Time to do the ironing - it just gets better and better!
The Daisy Diaries continue; Lumpy Daisy (now 20 months old) suffered no long term ill effects following her chomping and digesting the Nativity set. However, she has, in very recent weeks turned into a thief!!! I came home from delivering River Nene veg boxes to find that the fruit cake defrosting on the counter top in the kitchen -had been snaffled by the aforementioned Lumpy Daisy - and eaten - not a scrap or crumb left apart from the tell tale cling film left on the living room floor. It's hardly surprising she's still lumpy!
Daisy has been on a bit of a diet since just before Christmas and I think the stealing is just to let me know, that she knows, she's on reduced rations (but only very slightly). She now has a waist and weights just about 29kg; not exactly a porker then, but we all know that Labs need to have their food intake controlled 'cos they're rubbish at it themselves (bit like me really...)
On the plus side - we think she's stopped eating rugs so we bought a new one (perhaps she's just lulling us into a false sense of security). The old one was nearer circular than rectangular - she'd nibbled away at so much of it.
You might wonder what poor old Mollie Dog makes of Lumpy Daisy (I know I do). I think they get on well enough; Moll lets Daisy annoy her (in the puppy dog way) then, when she's had enough she tells her off with a little nip. Daisy likes to think she's top dog - but Moll just quietly puts her back in her place. That's how it should be.
We have been busy with veg boxes over the last few weeks- we've introduced a brand new box which is going down really well with our lovely customers. There are some great plans in the pipeline for new products too - its rather exciting. Check out our website to see fabulous organic veggies www.rivernene.co.uk. I am so glad that more and more people are choosing organic over "conventional" vegetables (amongst other things); it just makes sense to me to have my food grown in tune with nature. I don't see why we have to try to beat nature all the time - let's work with her, she will win in the end. I find it really weird that we call stuff grown with the help of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers conventional....why?
Had some ups and downs on the scrap booking front - I finished a couple of really nice layouts - then had no inspiration at all at one of my crops a couple of weeks ago. But, last week at Cassie's crop in Walnut Tree (http://cropandcreate.blogspot.com/) - I found some inspiration to finish a layout of one of our wedding pictures (ancient - 15 years old); thanks Cassie for inspiring me with the chipboard Celtic knot - it's beautiful, and it really makes the layout ,covered in embroidery silk and gems. Thanks too, to Jay - the help with my San Francisco layout was invaluable - and the chipboard alphas just the job. I have to say that Cassie, Jay, Chel and Sue are some of the most creative and talented (as well as lovely) people I know. There are others too - many people who's scrapbooking skills I admire enormously - just too many of them to mention.
Looking forward to going to Alexandra Palace for the scrapbooking event in April - already compiling a list of things I want to look for - and saving my pennies to spend there - I can't wait!!!
Since my last post I had my birthday and wedding anniversary - I am glad to say that being one year older than I was feels no different, though I do get a shock when I look in the mirror and see me looking back - I still feel the same as I did when I met Russell 26 years ago - I just look a bit older and baggier.
Time to do the ironing - it just gets better and better!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
