Farewell

It's been a while since my last post, I know, but life just seems to be getting busier and busier and I simply don't have the time to blog.

I have decided to take a break from blogging for the moment, I am not giving it up completely as yet, butthat could be the next step.

When I first started blogging a long time ago, it was for therapy as life was getting me down and I needed to vent. I blogged for me as an online diary. Then as life got a bit easier I used my blog to showcase my scrapbook pages. Then things got difficult again, mainly work related, but I was limited in what i could share and the knoock on was a considerable reduction in my scrapping. Now things at work are great and life outside of work isn't too bad either. My scrapping time is less than I would like it to be but that will change back over time. For now, thank you for your support and take care x x x

PC Problems

I love technology - I would be completely lost without my computer, though I could probably manage fine without a mobile :-) Technology lets you do so much more than you could otherwise and it opens a whole new world, when it works!

Sadly the past few weeks have been a bit of a technological nightmare. My poorly PC got a bug and nothing I could do would fix it. Gordon was an IT fixer in a previous life but he couldn't sort it either. Eventually I spent money I didn't have on an all bells and whistles 'I will keep your machine clean' piece of software which did fix the problem. The trouble was it caused loads of other problems as well, hence my lack of updates.

All sorts of bits of programs had gone missing (though I do suspect Gordon was partly to blame for that) and not much worked properly, including my beloved photoshop. Many, many weary hours later I think I have finally got things back to how they should be. I did manage to scrap one whole page during this time, but I forgot to photograph it. I think my brain has a similar bug to the one my PC caught, lol.

School has been busy but so much better. We finally have a boss that allows us to use our intiative and has a considerable amount of common sense, something that is often lacking in education. So far, so good and long may it last.

I had planned to scrap today as well but I had signed up for a free class by Jessica Sprague called Stories in Hand. The prompts started last Monday but I only got round to looking at them today so I have spent the whole afternoon putting a wee book together and I am loving the whole concept. One of the best things I have signed up for.

I am now off to find a notebook to start recording some of my stories and hopefully I will get some scrapping done too! Take care x x x

Happy Halloween

I am slightly reassured to find that it is still October, even if only just. One of my neighbours was spotted putting up a Christmas Tree and decorations in her kitchen window earlier this week. It sits very nicely beside a scarecrow and is decorated with what appears to be ghosts, and I thought things were confusing in my world!

The Halloween party was a great success, although playing party games with a dozen and more children under 6 is pretty exhausting, especially when their anxious parents are watching from the sidelines! Still it was good fun and I will be more prepared next year, though the apple dooking was a great success!

It was geat to see some of our guests much more relaxed and not so scared as previously and watching Katy trying to put Logan's make up on him, despite his best efforts to stop her, was hilarious. She was delighted by the fact that not only did she get to wear grandma's lipstick, (which she told me cost £60!) but nail polish as well.

Tuesday saw an announcement in school that left us reeling a bit, both in a good way and a bad way. It appears that out Head Teacher is leaving, along with the principal teacher, effective as of today. The HT is on a secondment to the Council offices and the PT is to be acting head at a nearby infant school while the Head of that school becomes acting Head of ours. I did say things were confusing! As we have yet to meet the lady who is to be our boss, I have no idea how things will be. I am simply holding onto the hope that they will be no worse and hoping that they will be better.

I haven't scrapped this week as yet, but that's mainly because my desk is buried inder a mountain of ribbon. I decided to treat myself to some new storage after my big sort/clear session last week and I absolutely love my new tote.

It holds so much more and what's even better I will be able to see over the top of it at crops. I also treated myself to a ribbon storage thingy from Heather's new shop. I am sure that once it's fully loaded it will be great but I am shocked at how much ribbon I have. This was not helped by the fact that it was stored in three different places. My goal is to have all the things I have to do this weekend finished by the end of tomorrow so I can have time on Sunday to scrap. So far things are going to plan, I just hope I can sustain it. My biggest enemy is my PC, it seems to eat time so as a result I am going to sign off and bid you goodnight. Take care x x x

Compulsive hoarding = complete chaos!

I will start with a confession. My name is Linda and I am a compulsive hoarder. There really should be break free programmes for folk like me, a bit like AA but for hoarders. The worst thing is my kids are just the same and, until fairly recently, so was Gordon.

I have always crafted in some way or another. Knitting, cross stitch, crochet, dressmaking etc. and I have a stash mountain for each one. The wool crafts are the worst because not only did I gather my own hoard but I inherited my mother's too!

As time has passed I have crammed things into little spaces and heaped piles on top of piles until the house was full to bursting, until recently that is. First I was looking for some earrings, having not worn any for several years. I knew I had them but just couldn't find them. Then it was wool. I had a pattern in mind for Logan and thought I had the right wool but I didn't. Then it a search for some phonics work that I knew I had - somewhere, but couldn't find. I could see a pattern forming and I didn't like it much. I had a rough notion that I would sort things out this week while I was on holiday but I figured that a day would do it.

I was supposed to be going to the caravan for a few days but between a mix up with the dates I was to go and taking ill on Friday, which left me exhausted all weekend, I didn't get at all. Added to this Gordon decided to reorganise the house as his work was quite quiet. Unfortunately my clearing out took 4 days and it's still not quite finished! In between getting cramp in my hand from tearing up paper (I broke the shredder when I overloaded it!) and hurting my back from moving piles of books, magazines and boxes, I finally got some time to relax about lunchtime Friday. I am almost glad to be going back to school, it will be less stressful, well for the first five minutes anyway :-).

I am trying really hard to break my hoarding habits and have offloaded bags of odd balls of wool, boxes of magazines and piles of patterns through Freecycle. I have also managed to lose my mobile in the bin - I got Gordon to phone it while I dug for it in my dressing gown outside the front door. Luckily it was the paper bin (or it would still be there!) and it kept the neighbours entertained. The down side was that on trying to move the paper bin we discovered it was a bit too heavy and had to remove half of the paper before we could move the bin! Two trips to the local tip later, we are almost rubbish free.

I do like admiring the spaces I can see and the way things don't fall on me as I squeeze past. I found the earrings and bought the wool for Logan's jumper. The phonics stuff I didn't find but I think it may be in school. I even managed to scrap the pics that have been on my desk for almost 3 weeks now. I did a double page using Daisy Bucket papers. The paper with the circles just screamed 'cut me out' and I echoed the same shape with two of the other papers and used brads to define the edges and give the page a bit of a lift.

I then decided to have a go at a 8.5x11 page. I had tried this size before but just couldn't get it to balance for me. At first it seemed way too small but I quite like the way it turned out and I will certainly be scrapping this size again. In the spirit of my clearing out I used Doodlebug letters for the title and some plastic buterflies I had bought many years ago to use with Beth. I added some beads on wire to lift them a bit and I am quite pleased with the finished look. Hopefully it won't be another 3 weeks before I get to scrap again, not now my desk is so tidy!

Tomorrow is the annual Halloween party so I will be taking plenty of photos, once I have helped make all the food and made and organised the games and .... Phew, I feel tired just thinking about it! I am away for some well deserved sleep. Take care x x x

Knitty Nora

Where did the time go? Apologies for no updates recently. I seriously think I need to do a time management course or something, because things are just running away from me at the moment.

I have worked, scrapped, worked, knitted, read, worked, did I say worked? Things are back to being very difficult at work, in some ways much worse than before. There is an occasional glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel but it passes so quickly that often I wonder if it was ever there! I know this is impacting negatively on the rest of my life but at the moment I am powerless to stop it. I do plan to change things after the October break, which is next week, yippeeeee!!!!!!!!!! Fingers crossed that my plans work.

I haven't had a lot of scrapping mojo recently. In fact I have had papers and pics sitting on my desk for more than a week now and I can seem to make them work. This page of Katy dressed up in everyone else's clothes didn't take me long and used some more of my very old stash. Colour my world and KI memories papers, Heidi Swapp and AMM letters for the title and some Queen & co felt and KI memories butterfly. All but the KI stuff is a fair age so that was good. I even used a scrapagogo stamp for the journalling and I haven't dealt with them for about 18 months.

However when I started the page about Beth and the bubbles I was really excited. I had just got the new Sassafrass papers from Angela and was raring to go but I just couldn't get it to work. It took me hours longer than usual and sort of put me off a bit. I really like it now but it was touch and go as to whether it would see light of day.

I used up some of the Fancy Pants felt bits I had snagged in a summer sale, and keep forgetting I've got, along with some of my ever expanding ribbon collection. Angela's ribbon kits are totally addictive!

As I have had little scrapping mojo I have been concentrating on my knitting, I can't simply sit and watch tv with nothing else on the go, no matter how little I watch. I have completed cardis for Katy and Logan and am currently knitting myself a beaded hat. After a few difficulties, it is looking good. I have never knitted with beads before, though that is the easy bit. The pattern is done on circular needles, which I cannot cope with, so needed a few adjustments. Luckily I found loads of help on the Let's Knit forum so I am now making good progress. Despite rarely taking pics of stuff I finish and pass on, daft i know. I will take a pic of my hat when it's done, partly because i think my daughter may well be laying claim to it at some point. Good job i bought extra wool to make her one too!

Hopefully I will be back later this week and I may even have scrapped! Take care x x x

Just pottering about

I had a fab weekend doing not a lot and enjoying it! Apart from two quick digi pages I didn't even scrap, mainly because it took me from Saturday till Thursday to unpack after the crop and the stuff I unpacked is still sitting on my desk waiting to be put away!

I did get loads of tidying and sorting done though in other parts of the house, and it was badly needed. I also had a work related course to go on unfortunately, although it was worthwhile, which often they aren't. Work wise things are back to how they were which is adding to everyone's stress at the moment, but we are hanging in there.

The sunshine helps, I had groups of kids doing active maths outside today which was great fun, so long may the dry weather last. In fact it was so nice at the weekend we all went for a walk near the river to collect leaves with the cherubs. We managed to keep Logan and the water apart, although it was touch and go at times. Katy and Beth had a ball finding leaves and blackberries and we all arrived home several hours later and mostly dirtier, but tired and happy.

The page with Katy and Beth at the gala day was made with a scrumptious kit from New Life Dreams called 5 Steps to Heaven. I also used some bits from the same kit for 'Grandma's glasses' which just shows how versatile it is. I am really looking forward to scrapping this weekend coming but it's looking like being a busy one so it may well be digi again. If I don't get the papers on my desk put away soon they will have faded in the sun, lol. Hopefully tomorrow, maybe! Take care x x x

Where did the time go????

How has more than a week passed since I last showed face here? The days seem to be going past at a rate of knots and I cannot seem to get to the end of anything!

I suppose that's not strictly true - Michelle has now moved into her house and all is well and I have managed to scrap, which is great. Thursday was a mammoth trip to Ikea and the problem of just how much you can fit into a small van. Friday was the moving day. Michelle was lucky enough to be given a fab fridge/freezer, the only problem was it was too big to go in the door! Gordon and I had to take the doors off it to get it in the house, no mean feat, I have to say.

Saturday was a crop at Angela's, where I managed 4 pages before exhaustion go the better of me and I had to come home. It was great to see everyone again and have a good blether. If I hadn't spent so long chatting I could have completed even more but it wouldn't have been as much fun. This page I did at Stewarton and it was completely inspired by the fantstic wild flowers from Riff Raff. I know Angela had some left on Saturday if you want them.

On Saturday I scrapped pics of Logan and his fascination with glasses, especially mine! He has my school glasses so badly bent out of shape that they fall off if I bend forwards. What's worse is hearing Katy saying 'Mummy I need my glasses, I can't see!' when she is playing. What a pair.

I seem to be making much simpler paper pages recently and really enjoying doing so, though my digi pages are the opposite for some reason. I have bought a few digi bits recently which I am desperate to use but have not had time. One kit I bought to make stickers and bits for some of our challenging P1's hoping that they will motivate them a bit. This weekend is catch up time both with school stuff and here at home. Michelle's house is all clean and neat and mine looks like the aftermath of an explosion, not quite the right way round. Hopefully I will manage to squeeze some scrapping time in too. Take care x x x