Things are looking up..

I have finished a layout, read another book and my laptop has been returned. So I have been very busy and the Norwich break laundry / ironing is still staring at me and being completely ignored!



I wanted to scrap some immediate photos so that my journalling could be more meaningful. Usually it says "I can't remember how old you were in this pic or what you were doing etc" so I wanted to document how I feel now, so chose this lovely photo of Jessica and Dad walking on the beach at Holkham on Monday. Jessica is a very touchy feelly girl and loves to hold our hands even though she is 19 and I wanted to record this lovely attribute. I hope this layout does it justice. I like most of it - just not sure about the journalling block. It was meant to go along down the right hand side with the 'hands' word along the bottom, but I could not fit in all that I wanted to say. I tired it on white printer paper first but that looked even more silly than this. I think I will have to dig out my clear acetate and try printing on that again.

I used Brown Bazzil cardstock, Basic Grey Arachaic PP and used the Sure Cuts A Lot software to cut the title on my Cricut - using Curlz TM font.

It is lovely to have my laptop back - now I can make a start on sorting out all my photos for the Gogo Getaway. Just had an email to say there are a couple more classes been added for Friday evening. These are sponsored by ScrapGenie so we won't have to pay for them - which is great -I have to find photos for 6 classes now which should keep me busy.

Having really enjoyed the Book Thief novel I thought I would read another one as my reading material is usually non- fiction.

This one was OK, but certainly no where as good as The Book Thief. This is a strange story about a woman who gives birth to twins, the girl having Downes syndrome. Her husband (a doctor ) delivering the babies, decides in the emotion of the moment to send this baby away and tells his wife that her daughter had died. The story follows the events of their lives, but it does drag on a little bit and I felt I had to keep reading just to get to an interesting part. I felt that the author was trying too hard sometimes. Anyway I have passed it on to Jess to read now - so it will be interesting to see what she makes of it.

Picked up a few scrapping goodies in Norwich...

Well I had to didn't I?
We went to the Range but it was very busy ( I think the rain and bad weather sent the whole of Norwich indoor shopping!) so only managed a short browse, but I picked up these DCWV papers stacks - Nana's Kids - they are so lovely that I bought a 12x12 and an 8x8 stack. The papers are really gorgeous - some have glitter on, some are embossed and the designs are just great - pure & simple but not slushy. I have found lots of photos of the children when they were little that I want to scrap so I hope I can use up most of these papers.

Then I went to the top floor (5th) of Jarrolds store and picked up this DCWV Rock star stack. Its a bit grungy, but I hope I can use them for Liam's teenage layouts. I also picked up some long cards & envelopes to stick my Penny Black stamped images on. I did some staming and colouring last week but they were too long for my normal square cards.


In Borders I picked up a Creating Keepsakes magazine - but again there was nothing in it that really grabbed me - I don't think I will bother with this again - the trouble is I keep thinking that the next one might be good again. They also had the new issue of Scrapbook Inspirations out - I did not get it as I have a subscription to it and so was sure that mine would be waiting for me when we got home - it was not, so I wish I had picked this up now instead of CK.

Lovely sunny, wet & windy bank holiday in Norwich!

We have just returned from a lovely 3 day break with Jessica in Norwich and what a mixture of weather we had. Beautifully sunny on Saturday, pouring rain on Sunday and gale force winds on Monday.

Despite this awful weather we manged to do 6 geocaches - 2 each day - which was not bad as we did not arrive in Norwich until 1.30 on Saturday. We were able to leave 5 travel bugs and geocoins, but only picked up one.

The first 2 were on the UEA campus, the first around the lake: The Ultimate Exciting Adventure (UEA) GCQA29. This one was really hard, we spent ages climbing through trees and through the undergrowth - sustaining loads of nettle stings. In the end Jess (who had been sat eating chocolate bisciuts whilst we foraged) found it right next to the path - a far distance away from the coordinates - but it turns out that it has been moved!

Jess was very pleased with herself as this was her very first geocache.

The second one was in the Yare woods on Campus: Yare, Yare, Yare! GC1AJMN and we found this one easily.
On Sunday the weather was so bad that we went into Norwich and hid from the rain in the shops. We left the children window shopping and dreaming of all the clothes they would love us to buy them, whilst Steven & I braved the outside to do a couple. We got absolutely drenched and even though there were more to do, we had to admit defeat to the weather and come home to a hot bath. The 2 we managed were in Chapelfield gardens: Peace Pole GCGZ1T and one near the cathedral: Tomb Raider 3 GCZE6Y.
On Sunday we drove to Holkham and did one in the woods next to the beach: Holkham Haul GC1984 - the children groaned when the GPS said it was 42 mins away from where we had parked - but it was a nice walk and we found it easily. We walked back along the beach - the gale force wind ripped up the sands so there was no sitting and admiring the view. Liam had the right idea having bought a blanket from the car to protect himself.




We then drove to Wells-next-the-sea for lunch and ate in an old fashioned cafe - I had mushroom soup and a roll and rhubard crumble and custard - it was delicious. We then left Liam and Jess to do the final geocache: The Noble House Cache GC1A1XW- as they were a bit fed up by this time so though it would buck them up a bit - it did and they found the area ok but - the cache was positioned in the middle of a busy road where 3 roads meet which Jessica thought was far too dangerous and she thought she was going to be left orphaned by the traffic as we found the cache - which made her all grumpy again - so I don't think we have converted her.

a bit of catching up

I have had a few busy days so need to catch up now.
Took my mother out for lunch the other day to Haughmond Hill. She did not know there was a little cafe there and she did enjoy this new discovery. We took a stroll along the yellow route - the easy one. She is quite mobile if she takes it at her own pace. She so enjoyed this little trip out that that she thinks that she might bring back some of the other ladies at her apartments for the stroll and lunch.
Mother & I nicely full after our lunch at the open air Pine Tops cafe

These are the veiws from her apartment - complete with pheasant in the gardens.

We went Geocaching the other evening - but I forgot my camera! We found 'A Mere Surprise' (GC1AKJ9). A lovely stroll around the mere and excellent hidden caches - our first nano ones - very ingenious! We did not find Shrawardine Castle (GC16Z7Q) though . I think this one may have been taken as we found the 2 flat stones - as given in the clue and a hole in the ground next to them where it looked like the cache should have been hidden - it was a shame as it had only recently been found and there was a travel bug in it that wanted to go to Lowestoft - so ideal for our trip to Norwich.

Liam's GCSE's seem to be going well - despite his lack of revision!

19th may photos - warning not very pleasant!

I am sorry but had to show this vile photo of my teeth but I have been and spent 2 hours at the Dentist this morning starting my dental treatment.

I am having 4 new crowns at the front to replace my old ones. They are about 20 years old and a bit past their best. One broke on Christmas eve but thankfully I was able to get a temporary one put on - so that I did not look too ghastly over the Christmas period, but it was a sign that they needed replacing. Now that the dentists are private this is a very expensive business! Therefore I wanted some before and after photos to prove that it was worth all this pain and expense.

I now have these temporary ones on and have to wait wait 2 weeks before I can have the proper ones on. Just had to have soup and a yogurt for my lunch as I am still quite numb. Even these temporary ones look better than my old ones - one has a bit of the template stuff on but I am assured it will come off soon.

17th May photos

Its raining today so no lovely outdoor pics, instead a photo of the book I have just finished reading today.

This is a fantastic read. The book is narrated by death, which sounds a very strange way to read and write a book but due to the author's (Markus Zusak) immense talent it works very very well.

The main character apart from death, is Liesel, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany and through her we get to know her fellow sufferers. So clearly the subject matter is of a morbid nature but Zusak whilst making me feel very emotionally charged, did not make me dwell on the morbid or depressing issues in the book but rather be uplifted by the strengths of human nature when faced with such adversity.

Zusak is so clever in drawing parallels that I had not considered before - that books and words can be both wonderful and dangerous. The importance of books and words allowing Liesel to flourish and bring hope to others and also conversely terrible - Hitler's words and books for bringing such misery to millions.

I have always been interested in the Holocaust and issues around this and have many books about it. Another novel that had a profound effect on me was this one - A Past in Hiding: Memory and Survival in Nazi Germany by Mark Roseman

It was recommended to me by one of my tutors on my degree course, whilst taking the Dictators of Europe module. I have tried to get the girls and Liam to read it but none of them are really interested in this period - but again it is the strength of human nature which is the ethos of the book rather than the subject matter.

16th May photos

No new photos today, so putting up these lovely ones of my trip out to Ellesmere with Ali & Cherida last week.
This one was taken outside Horseshoe crafts cabin but we were looking directly at the sun - hence the distorted faces! We moved out of the sun for this one.
Collision course!

Some good news though - the computer man came and fixed the wireless router so now Steven & the kids can pick up the Internet wirelessly again. Not sure if my laptop can, as it has gone to be mended - in Germany!! Wonder when I will see that again?