Friday.....already ?

ETA.......I went to edit a mistake I made and hit the draft,not publish button,so now I've lost my comments and part of the original post for some strange reason :(



This week seems to have flown by.
The snow is slowly melting,I can see bits of green and plants are beginning to come to life !

Anyway,Friday is layout day,so scrapbook talk :)
March flew by but I managed to create 7 pages,including 1 older layout so my total so far this year is up to 24,yeah me !

I'm trying to work through my pile of planned(ish)layouts.Sometimes when I think I want to scrap but then don't know quite what I want to do. I either start organising or pull out photo's,often older ones I've not got round to scrapping yet.Then I put together papers and bits and pieces I think I might like to use.More often than not they sit in the 'to be done' folder for far longer than they should because I'll find new pictures I want to use instead !
Anyway this week I pulled 2 things from the file........one is still waiting to be finished but this one,my first layout of April,I whipped up in an hour.....Only because it's pretty much a direct lift of this one here.


This has sat in that folder for over a year and of course like most things I drag out of there,I ended up changing what I had originally picked out.I love making layouts this simple but then I feel a pang of guilt with all the paper that I own !

This was done last month,it started off squarer than this,not sure what happened,it started off loosely based on this one I showed last week......

I love that photo,I've tried many times to sneak pictures like this but they always see me and it's not the same,this time I did it ! The journaling which you won't be able to read because I squeezed it in around the edge,just fitting it on.Explains how Ol will always go and lie on Ad if he finds him laying around,on the floor or sofa.Ad always says he tries to push him off but I don't think he tries very hard.....Ol just adores his brother.

Completely off topic but I just saw a marmot(groundhog) go across the back of the garden......there goes all the new growth !

So far no plans this weekend but I think it will start with one of these !!

We should start to tackle the list of jobs that need to be finished around the house.All those projects that get started and then for whatever reason,often a small one,end up not quite completed,couple of things in the bathroom and kitchen,shelves in Ad's room.

Then starts the list of things that need to be started......such as paint Ol's room,the woodwork in the living/dining room,maybe even our bedroom,since it's the one room that we've done nothing to since we moved in.



Also need to remember to take a photo for my photo a day project

This one's......

For Mary-Ann because she told me I had to do this and I didn't do the last thing she asked me to do after I said I would !

She tagged me to list 15 songs or albums which are significant to me in some way.

I've often thought about this. A lot depends on the mood you're in at the time but I also think there are just some albums or songs you just never tired of the ones you can play whenever or over and over and never grow sick of or songs that just bring memories flooding back.
This was hard,I could of listed 50,I did have to narrow it down from 20.Had to give the chop to Coldplay,Duran Duran,The Pixies,Pulp and The Wonder Stuff.I love music,you can take away my TV with pleasure but not my music ! I tried to list them in some sort of order of preference to the best of my ability but without a doubt number one is number one for sure.

Also,because I obviously have nothing better to do with my time I've linked them(either You Tube or Last FM ) as best can by their numbers.

So if about to be marooned on an island I would fill my ipod up with these for memories and just because........

#15..... Only by the night by Kings of Leon It's 15 because it's relatively new but I have played this so much and I can listen to it over and over and over.He has a very distinctive voice that I think you either love or hate........I love it,it's a just because one !

#14..... Say Hello,Wave Good bye by Soft Cell Reminds me of being in the grungy common room at Kings Lynn Tech and the best Soft Cell song, forget the over played Tainted Love !

#13 ...... Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash This and Jackson reminds me of my dad.I'd skip around the living room to this one :)

#12..... Good riddance(Time of your life) by Green Day My favourite Green Day song,this and the next track reminds me of my times with my friend Nichole.

#11........ Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins As mentioned above I got into this band by a friend and reminds me of Sheffield.Just love the very start of this and was really surprised and pleased when it was used as the theme music for the Whale Wars series last fall. Best played very loud.

#10..... Nevermind by Nirvana Saturday nights while at University we'd go to this dive of a club and without fail they'd play something from this album and the whole dance floor(I use the term dance in it's loosest form )would ignite.I can't even remember the name of the club and that probably says something about the state I was in while there !!

#9..... Eyes Open by Snow patrol Another CD I can play repeatedly and never tire of.Worth it just for 'Set fire to the third bar' with Martha Wainwright,beautiful.

#8...... Protection by Massive Attack I'm not a big fan of dance/electro/bass stuff.That said I love massive Attack and got into them through an Ex.This track has the voice of Tracy Thorn(Everything but the girl) and for some reason reminds me more of my college friend Carol than the Ex,thank God !

#7 ..... Vs by Pearl Jam This is one of the few albums that we have 2 copies of since both Stuart and I owned it.I love Eddie Vedders voice.It was a hard choice between this and 'Ten' because I love Once and Alive but this won because I could listen to Daughter over and over again.

#6.....People by Hothouse flowers This album on vinyl got played to death.This came out at a time when I was coming out of my Goth phase into a hippy/folky phase before the Grungy phrase.So reminds me of Yarmouth Art college.

#5 ..... Running up that Hill by Placebo I love Kate Bush and I'm not a huge fan of covers but I thought this was amazing from the very first time I heard it. Mary-Ann you'll probably hate it :)

#4..... Each man Kills the Thing he Loves by Gavin Friday Hugely underrated singer/songwriter formerly of the weirdly wonderful Virgin Prunes.Played this to death on vinyl too and didn't find a CD version until I came to Montreal.

#3.....Song to the siren by This Mortal coil or music to slit your wrists too as Stuart would say.I first heard this on the Annie Nightingale Sunday evening radio show when I was about 15/16 and was just enthralled.I recently bought a few of my fave This Mortal Coils songs from itunes since all my stuff by them is on vinyl.

#2..... Skin and Bones by Foo Fighters Is it the best FF album.....NO! but it has my favourite Foo song ever (Everlong) on it and they do acoustic rather well :)

#1..... The Joshua Tree by U2 My vinyl copy of this is scratched to pieces and this was my first ever CD I bought.I loved this album,from start to finish,it's just classic stuff.It came out while I was still at high school.Bono at his hottest too :)


A quick google search brought me up the images and I think I have a new layout practically done !

I'm not going to tag anyone else but if you're stuck for a blog post this is as good a start as any and if you do,let me know here in the comments so I can check it out.

April Fools Day

April the 1st,that soon came around.I did think about making up some ludicrous story and then coming back later with a "tricked you" but I couldn't think of anything worth while !

I need a new photo for my header but it's still very snowy out my window right now :(

I nearly forgot too,that I said I would do another photo a day when April came around.I think I have my shot for today already,I'll post them all on my other blog though.

OK this was just a quickie.......back later with a mammoth post courtesy of a tag!

Back with a layout.....

Two posts in one day !
As promised below here's a layout........

It's another layout for the Friday challenges on the American Crafts blog.I don't really need an excuse to scrap with AC products but a challenge is as good a place as any to start a layout from.This week it was use the Craft Fair collection for a non girlie themed page........

Supplies are American Crafts....... Craft Fair Papers(Elenore Battington,Myrtle O'Seam,Pearl Bobbinhauser),Thickers(Eggnog),Rub-on Letters(Kate,minimarks) and Journaling Sticker.Cardstock,Bazzill and Heart sticker,October Afternoon.

Whipped this simple one up Friday afternoon before the boys came home from school.Oliver and the class mascot Harmonie.He was so excited to bring that bunny home,luckily it was Thanksgiving so we had plenty to write about on the page we had to do for the class book.
I wrote a little more journaling on the back explaining how I spent the weekend calling the bunny "Harmony" and Ol correcting me every time with "No Mummy it's 'am-mon-nee' remember you don't pronounce the H" !

OK well lots of little things going on this week,hoping the rain stops and we see some sun soon.

Here again..........

Monday morning.
It's dull and raining so no problem in getting started on cleaning the house today,bathrooms done,beds changed,laundry underway,house vacuumed.....so time to grab a coffee and catch up here.

The weekend .............

• Took a road trip......just because !
  
• By the time we hit Ontario there was no snow !
  
• Saw thousands of geese(Canada and snow)
  
• 10 Wild Turkeys
  
• 1 Porcupine.......up a tree!
  
• 17 degrees and sunny on Saturday.......gorgeous
  
• Even if the GPS seems to be taking you to hillbilly hell it will get you out :)


• But don't rely on it to find the closest gas station......but when you do.....


• 74 cents......fill it up !!
  
• Didn't take 1 photograph
  
• Saw Monsters Versus Aliens 3D........great effects,boys loved it.
  
• Came home,in the rain to dirty snowy garden.

So that was the weekend in a nutshell !

Going back to the movie,it was fun,Bob was our favourite character,not hard to work out how it was going to end but the effects made up for it.For me one of the best bits about going to actually see a movie is the trailers !!
Lots of 3D movies coming out one that everyone thought sounded good except me "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" "Up" looks interesting and "Ice Age 3" we all liked the look of that one !
Non 3D :)"Harry Potter" everyone wants to see that one except Ol and nobody except me thought "Where the Wild Things are" looks amazing.

Since I took no photo's this weekend I'll be back later with a layout........

A couple more layouts

It's Friday.......it's been a busy but pretty unproductive week,hate that.

A short and sweet post today as there's not much to report, so I'll get on with just posting a couple of layouts and be done !

I finished this one last week,not loving it I think I should have left it how I had it in the beginning but it's done !

There's no journaling,which I don't like to do but the title and photo say it all,love that photo of the boys from last summer.
I think I've used that Grafton line by Scenic Route for most of my layouts from last summers cottage photo's !! It just goes so well,I pull other stuff out but always come back to that one.

I didn't use it here though ;) I made this one back in January,super simple double page........

Photo's from our holiday at our friends cottage last July.Roll on summer !
Which leads me nicely into saying a lot of these photo's made it into my favourites for July over here :) where you can see them better,if you want that is ! Since this has come out rather small.

Hopefully later today I'll have time to upload favourite(s) #8 over there too.

Busy weekend ahead but a good type of busy !

A layout...

and it's not even Friday :)

I finished this one on Saturday but it's taken me all week to photograph it ! I really wanted to use the new AC Backyard papers and had this one pretty much planned out and ready to go.Then I saw the challenge on the American Crafts blog to use 3 different times of thickers on a page.Well I had one picked out already so added in two more and it was done............


Everything on the page is American Crafts and the Thickers are:

GIGGLES(super) EGGNOG(soaker)and SUBWAY (date)

So,another layout completed with older photo's,Ad's early years album is slowly filling up !

Back tomorrow with a couple more layouts.......

and Monday went where ?

I have no idea.........boys had a ped day but both ended up at friends houses so I still had the house to myself but somehow got nothing really accomplished.Looks like today could well be heading the same way too.........Oh well !!

I've been doing more sorting and tidying.

Warning......Reminiscing ahead.........

I'm disappointed though because you know when you're sure you've put something somewhere and then it isn't there ? Well I was sorting through old stuff from my Art college/Uni days.I've dumped tonnes of stuff from this era,most of it before we moved overseas because I just wasn't sure I would have the room for it.Turns out I always have and I'm sorry now that so much of it is gone.
Anyway I remember being set this project about colour.Mixing the colour from the primaries in gouache and the effects of what a little or a lot of one colour or the addition of black and white and what it could do.Well it produced pages and pages of tiny colour charts in a sketch book.We then had to pick our favourite colours,re mix them,paint them up large(so we could cut them up into small pieces) and the mix and match them with each other.Bare with me I'm getting to the point :) So I had all these cool colour combo's in sets in my book and I thought it would be fun to look at them now,see if they were still inspirational...............well I can't find that book and I know it was one of the few sketchbooks I kept because I put a lot of time into that project.
Bugger !
I did find these 2 things tucked away,not sure why I kept this one,it was part of a collection at college but it never made the final cut.......

My God,could that woman be any thinner or taller !! I always drew these tall,long limbed skinny women,used to make my dad laugh.

This one too,I think this was my Tudor underwear/Sinead O'Connor phase........

I'm not at all sure why I kept this one either?

I have one other place the missing sketchbook could be but that's tucked away in the garage and I'm not tackling anything in there until our annual spring garage clean out !!

Not much else to report,it's glorious and sunny but cold,I so want to be done with my winter coat !

Off to help at the library......

It's here..........Spring !!

Yep it's officially spring today.....Woo Hoo.I am so,so,so pleased about this !
This year it really feels like it could be too ! Yes,it's a tad chilly out there this morning but the 2 week forecast is giving above average temperatures.It's also giving some rain,not too thrilled about that but at least it will wash away all the dirty,disgusting piles of snow that are still here.

So I had to quickly whip up a card for Mother's day,since it's Mothering Sunday in the UK this weekend.I had these papers left on my desk after I'd made a page,so used them to create this..............

Super simple but I think she'll like it !

What else ? Well since it's Spring and I'm all excited about plants and flowers,how about this double page that's in the current Creating Keepsakes magazine.....

The photo's ( that aren't very clear here,unfortunately,) were from Victoria day weekend last year at our friends cottage.

On the topic of my friends cottage as I've been sorting pictures for my favourites on my other blog I came across our dragonfly pictures that I've never posted,so I put those there too,just here ! in case you want to take a look !
Still flower/spring related,well sort of.....

A page from February.I don't think you can see the photo's that well but I loved them.The one in the bottom right has a dandelion seed on it and it's all covered in dew.This was one of those pages I just made because I loved the pictures.

Easy weekend ahead,weather's looking sunny so hopefully lots of fresh air and some BBQing,a little get together with some great girl friends on Saturday,should be fun :)

OK better stop wasting time on the computer and get my act together as I've got to get groceries and tulips !

Rosemary

I love rosemary,the herb that is.So here's two recipes I make fairly often that use it.
Both very different.
Sorry no photo's again,I will add them when ever I next cook these dishes.Had I been organised enough I would of had this all planned with piccies but since it was a spur of the moment thought on Monday,I don't.
That's why I don't do spur of the moment very well or very often :)

The first is a pasta one,using chicken and chorizo but I've made it with only chicken and added a good pinch of smoked paprika and with only chorizo(I just added more chorizo and reduced the stock to 100ml)Both are good.If I haven't had the lima beans(butter bean) I've used white kidney beans(cannellini)

Mediterranean Chicken

Serves 4

150g Chorizo,roughly diced
1 tbsp Olive oil (if needed,sometimes the chorizo produces enough)
4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs,chopped into big bite size pieces
1 onion sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste(puree)
400g chopped tomatoes
200ml hot chicken stock
leaves from 3 sprigs of rosemary
100g pitted black Olives
400g lima beans(butter beans)

Pasta to serve,penne is best.

1. Heat a large frying/saute pan over a heat heat,add the chorizo.Cook for 2/3 minutes until lightly browned and the oil has begun to run.Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Add the olive oil if needed,and add the chicken to the pan.Cook over a medium heat for 3/4 minutes,stirring occasionally.Add the onions and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute.

3. Add the tomatoes,stock and rosemary,bring to the boil,then simmer gently for 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the olives,beans and cooked chorizo.Simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced a little.Season to taste.

5. Serve over the pasta :)


Next one !!


This ones more wintry and don't be put off by the lentils,it's really,really good !!


Spicy sausage and lentil one pot

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
6/8 spicy sausages (I use the Italian ones)
1 large onion,chopped
1 large carrot,diced
2 cloves of garlic,finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2/3 sprigs of rosemary
250g puy lentils
600ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley(optional)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and fry the sausages for 8-10 minutes until beginning to brown.Remove from the pan and set aside.

2. Add the onion,carrot and garlic to the pan and fry on a medium heat for 3/4 minutes until the onions are soft and just lightly browned.

3. Return the sausages to the pan(I cut mine in to 3 to 4 big pieces first but you can keep them whole if you want)Stir.

4. Add the bay leaf,rosemary sprigs,lentils,hot stock and tomatoes.Bring it all to the boil.Then reduce the heat and simmer gently,covered for about 45 minutes,or until the lentils are tender.If you feel it needs more liquid just add a little water.

5. Remove the bay leaf and sprigs of rosemary(should only be the stalks left!) and season to taste.

6. Serve sprinkled with the parsley,if using and some steamed greens and wholewheat chunky bread.



That's it recipes done for now ! Back tomorrow with a couple of layouts and a card and unimportant ramblings !

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

Mmmm,this is a great dessert,it would be good for brunch too.
Quick and easy too.
As a kid I never liked bread and butter pudding because I didn't like raisins very much and I thought it was stodgy ! This is much lighter.Stuart decided to make it after seeing it in my copy of this months Canadian living.We added more bread,cooked it as a whole rather than individuals and used chocolate sauce rather than caramel.As I never seem to make anything as it states ! I do have a picture today but it's not the best.........my battery died after 2 shots obviously I was oblivious to the flashing battery symbol !

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

Serves 8 to 10

3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbsp butter(melted optional,we did us it!)

8 slices of Sun-Maid Raisin Bread cut into cubes

Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C)
Combine eggs,sugar,vanilla,salt and nutmeg.
Stir in the bread cubes.
Let stand for at least 5 minutes or refrigerate over night (Really I would say it needs at ;east an hour to soak)
Pour into a,7x9inch ovenproof dish,that will fit inside a roasting pan.Add hot tap water to the baking pan until it comes half way up the sides of the dish.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

I served this warm with chocolate sauce(chocolate chips melted with a little cream)

I also have something similar with croissants and chocolate......mmm might have to try and find that one too :)

Nothing to do with Ireland !

Well it's St Paddy's day but I don't have an Irish inspired recipe,sorry.I do but it's so lovely and sunny and spring like I'm not going to post a Stew recipe !

I couldn't decide between simple,versatile Spicy Tomato sauce(which was a 3 for one deal !!) or Mushroom Quesadillas .....................

Quesadillas won !! I make these a lot in the summer served with this bean salad You don't have to use the really big mushrooms,I often buy the smaller ones.It's really one of those recipes that you can work to how you like it,use the ingredients amountsas an example.
Sorry I don't have any photo's,next time I make them I'll try and remember to put one here.


Roasted Portabella Mushroom Quesadillas

Serves 4

Allow 2 tortillas per person for a lunch,maybe 3 and a half for dinner served with a salad.

8 portobello mushrooms(generally I allow one mushroom per quesadilla)
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 large flour or whole wheat tortillas
4 cups grated cheddar Cheese (I think goats cheese would be yummy too but haven't tried that yet !)
2 cup chunky tomato salsa(I use medium heat)
1/2 cup coriander leaves chopped


1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

2. Trim stems of mushrooms parallel to cap or remove completely and place in a non metallic dish.Mix the oil with the vinegar and pour over the mushrooms to cover them. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Thickly slice and divide each mushroom into 4 to 6 portions.

4. Lay one tortilla on counter.Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over half the tortilla. Lay 4/6 mushroom portions on top of cheese. Top with 1/4 cup tomato salsa, another 1/4 cup cheese and a good sprinkling of the coriander leaves. Fold tortilla over and press down.

5. Heat a non stick skillet or frying pan on medium heat. Place tortilla in skillet.(you can fit 2 at a time) Fry underside until browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Flip over and fry second side until golden and cheese is melted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat with other tortillas.

6. Let cool slightly and cut in to 3.....................eat fast before everyone else does :)

Hot and Spicy BBQ Rub

As promised back with recipes,well not strictly recipes,rubs for making stuff taste yummier !

I've used this rub on a number of things,anything with skin on works best !! My favourite is on rotisserie chicken,which I could eat every Sunday during BBQ season,which is pretty much April to October in our house :)

I can't remember if this is what we've used when making burgers? That could have been the steak one !

I have a lot of spices on hand,if you don't then yes,I suppose it works out a little expensive.But,by the time I've made all my favourite rubs up for the summer I've used pretty much everything I've had to buy.This way,like most stuff I cook at least I know exactly what's going in here.

Hot and Spicy BBQ Rub.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups and will keep for 3/6 months.I make double this in spring and it barely lasts till the end of summer !

1/2 cup sweet paprika
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tbsp salt
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp hot mustard powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp cayenne pepper

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and transfer into a airtight container.
Store in a cool dry place.

Just for you Mary-Ann.........

Mediterranean Rub.

This is wonderful on roasted veggies,in fact it's the only thing I use on my veggies when we BBQ ! Also good for potato wedges,on fish,chicken pork..........

Now it does seem to include a large amount of salt...........I'm fine with that here as I barely use salt in anything else.Trust me it's worth it :)

Makes about a cup but again I make double as I use it all the time,all year round.

1/4 cup dehydrated garlic flakes
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chili flakes
2 tbsp chicken stock powder
2 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried marjoram(or oregano will do)
1 tbsp coarsely ground fennel seeds
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp cayenne pepper

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and transfer into a airtight container.
Store in a cool dry place.

Lovely Monday !

I'm here enjoying a well deserved cup of coffee.Both bathrooms are shiny,house is hoovered,laundry done,windows cracked open a little,the sun is shining.....everything is good !

Spring is definitely in the air,yesterday,while we were on a little drive I saw 2 flocks of geese..........got to be a good sign.We also saw a herd of deer,about 15 in total,not the best picture as they were in a few fields over.

Out the corner of my eye just now I either just saw Chippie scramble past or else it was a big mouse or small rat.........I'll go with Chippie :)

It's been sunny and warm,all weekend and what a good weekend it was too.
Signed both boys up for their summer sports,Ol choose soccer(can't believe I actually call it soccer now!) and Adam stuck with baseball.
I got to read,finished my book and I scrapbooked.
We spent quite a bit of it seeing my wonderful pal Carine and her clan.Friday for dinner,(BBQ !)Then Sunday we went and saw Mackenzie play goalie in Hockey and then ended up having supper there again,where we brought over a rotisserie chicken.I'm mentioned this so that it flows nicely into me saying I'm going to try and post a recipe a day this week(except Friday,that's layout day !) and the first one will be the fore mentioned BBQ chicken rub recipe !

Back later with it..........

Friday the 13th (again !)

It's taken me forever to get this post,posted.
Stupid Internet or really,stupid wireless !! Nothing more frustrating than seeing you're connected with a good signal and not being able to get your email connected or pages to load.
Now it seems to be perfect,everything is fast,strange !

Just in case I'll make it brief,here's my favourite page from last month.....

I used some older photo's,I made a mistake in the journaling because I wrote 11 but it's actually 12 years ago these pictures where taken,but decided to leave it(huge step for me !!) Looking at those pictures,part of me thinks it seems such a long time ago and another part thinks it seems like yesterday.......can not believe he'll be 13 and in high school so very soon.

I've been going through all my papers and if there's a line I've yet to use I've been making myself use it and that American Crafts above was one and this Basic Grey(mixed with a piece of paper I bought when I first started,that scrapworks brown/white dot) was another.........

I was so glad when that tooth fell out because Ol had been torturing me with how loose and wiggly it was for ages.I hate wiggly teeth !

All supply info I list on my flickr pages on the side there or here !

Off for supper at friends tonight,should be fun as always and then so far nothing planned for the weekend,except signing up the boys for summer sports.So we'll play it by ear,those are always the best.

All the warm/cold weather seems to have brought on the sniffles so I think I'm good for nothing other than a little scrapping this morning,plus I'm running out of pages to show !

Mid week

What a dreary day it is....yuck.
The only plus is it's rained so much there's no snow left on the driveway.............plenty everywhere else though.

Well I promised to post today but don't have much to say so I'll post a layout.
I have barely scrapped over the last couple of weeks but I'm itching to get started again and have one on my desk now.After my scrapping frenzy of January it tailed off in February and I only made 6 pages but I did manage one older layout in there.So my total for this year is 17 pages,not too bad.

So,this one's super simple and was inspired by this one .

I made it last month and thought I'd post it now as I've been loading my favourite monthly photo's on my other blog,to while a way the time over there until I start a photo a day again in April.

OK,more layouts Friday on my normal layout day :)

What,Where ?

Did the last week go ? !

I had good intentions of posting here,Wednesday and then Friday but it didn't happen.I do aim to do that this week though and since I've written it I'd better stick to it !

Most of the week was spent tidying,sorting,as started last week and it went pretty well,still a couple of little things to do in Ad's room and a whole ton of stuff to do in ours but it's nearly there.
As we had to move the computer out,it meant going wireless,as I didn't fancy paying Videotron money to come and move the incoming point.It posed a few problems but it seems to be working fine now.
ETA.....no it's not fine,stupid thing keeps throwing me off all the time,grrrr computers :)

Boys are still off today,since it's a Ped day and with that lost hour yesterday I think they needed it as today was the first day they actually manged to sleep in.

Yesterday was gorgeous,Stuart even got a little sun burnt on his face since he spent most of it sitting on the back deck !! Managed to take a photo to enable me to change the header,buds forming on the neighbours tree,I was sick of seeing the snow up there.I needed something clean and fresh,I'd been searching all my old photo files last week but had nothing I could use so very glad of the opportunity yesterday !

This was how warm it was(for my English readers,to be outside in this type of clothing in march is marvelous)even if it was just one day. We went for a walk and just soaked it up.

He's dropping an apple core into one of the holes the little red squirrel uses under the snow ! Of course it cold,dull and snowy again today.

There was/is a tag going around on Facebook and blogs,25 things about me and I had made Mary-Ann post hers on her blog and promised to do the same but after getting stuck at about 20 and reading through it I decided nobody needed to know this stuff ! So sorry mate :)

OK,better get my backside into gear for the day,be back Wednesday with something,even if I have to make it up !

The saying goes....

...Rome wasn't built in a day,well that's my chant for today.Nine o'clock this morning I started clearing out closets,making piles of stuff,by eleven after surveying the surroundings I was almost wishing I hadn't started,almost!

This room was tidy this morning.I took the picture of the least messy room,this is what is supposed to be Ad's new room by the weekend........

The house looks like a bombsite,piles of things waiting to be put in their new place.(Ikea trip with long list planned for tomorrow ) bags of clothes and toys to donate,hoping to drop that off tomorrow in town.Then I have a couple of piles of stuff set aside for friends.A huge container of the Brio railway track that I think I'll see if I can sell because Ol was never really that into it,like Ad was and it's taking up too much room.

So it's four thirty and I'm having a well earned cup of tea and thinking I've had enough for today,that is after I've taken out the 2 bags of garbage and recycling I've accumulated.

This is what will be keeping me busy all week but I'll try and come back later in the week with some pages.

Everybody loves .............

Friday :)

I've been slack on the blog front this week but it's Friday which means movie night with the boys and then this show later for us,love that it's back on after a break and that we can get this on HBO. It's the only way I can handle current affairs....with some comedy thrown in !

Spring break next week and oh how I'm looking forward to not having to make lunches or supervise homework for a whole week.We'll be taking it easy here.I had thought we'd arrange a few play dates with friends but seems most of the boys mates are actually taking off.My response was yeah but who needs Cuba,Disneyland or Whistler when you can stay here and have Ikea and organisation................yep that was met a huge amount of enthusiasm ! Although the main objective is to get Adam in his own room by the end of the week.I think I'll have to throw some sort of fun activity in there one day though !

ETA........For my English readers.........Spring break is one week off from school the only break they have apart from Christmas,and 2 days at Easter.None of this week off in October,Feb and May plus 2 weeks at Easter stuff you have back there in the UK !!

On the scrap front I did actually manage one page this week but I'll leave you today with 2 older pages that I just put in my flickr albums.For some reason these images always look dark when I load them into blogger ? Anyway I did both of these at our cottage scrap weekend last September.

A double page,this one took me a while,mainly trying to find the right letter stickers.2 page layouts are a rarity for me but I wanted to use all these pictures from one of our trips to our friends cottage.

This one I had all planned out and then..........

Julie challenged me to use the whole sheet of paper,because me being me was only going to use a bit of it ! I don't think she was too happy I even took a tiny bit off to make a border :) I actually really like how it turned out and the photo placement wasn't too different to how I'd planned it I just ended up overlapping them slightly as a tribute to my challenge master !!

OK,got to get going groceries to get and pizza dough to make.

Love it or hate it......

......it's Monday !

Another fairly quiet weekend here, Ad had homework projects to finish up although it did involve a friend for one of them so not so bad for him.I'm not at all fond of homework that's project based,even less so when it involves team work and no time is given during class.

We went for dinner at friends Saturday night,which was fun but resulted in a late night so Sunday was a bit of a wash out ! It snowed all day too,nothing heavy but at 4 O'clock someone decided they really wanted to play outside and as there was no big brother to drag outside the job was mine !! I cleared the path and steps while someone whizzed down the slope at the front of the house.I took photo's because I realised I didn't actually have any pictures of either of the boys playing outside this year.Anyway not the best pictures since it was getting dark and I had the big lens on but someone had a blast and it seems the harder the fall the more fun it was........

Couldn't resist trying to get one portrait shot......

OK well two because that toothless grin is too funny !

I've spent the morning cleaning and tidying so might actually try and start a page before the boys come home.I finished up a page Saturday that had been sat on my desk all week,just wasn't feeling it last week but I got a bunch of older pictures developed so I want to make a start on those.

TGIF !

Another week nearly over.It's been a long week.One more week before Spring Break and I'm not sure who's more excited about that me or the kids.

Went to another class yesterday,still aching from Tuesdays's and so this morning everything I do is accompanied by a small pitiful ow ! No pain no gain :)

I'll leave you with this super quick one I did last month........

I have been dying to use that American Crafts paper ever since I bought it a while ago.I loved it,one because it's polkas dots and two because it reminded me of a malamine beaker we had in the bathroom when I was a kid !

Ow ! Ow ! Ow !

I ache,not as much as I thought I would but it's a good ache ever if even walking is hurting this morning !

I signed myself back up for a couple of classes in the community center,it sounds a bit lame and when I first took these classes 4 years ago I thought they probably would be too but Natalie does the best muscle conditioning/fitness/yoga classes I have ever taken( and I've taken a quite few over the years) I like that she does the whole class with you so is left with sweat dripping off her nose too !

I hadn't exercised for 3 months. I hadn't been to one of Nat's classes for probably 12 months.To be honest,I loved them they worked but I got a little bored with them,sure she'd mix things up but after 3 years I'd had enough and that's when I decided to try running.This year I did better than last but come the beginning of Novemebr when the weather took a turn for the worse and I decided it was just too cold to run outside,that was it on the exercise front for me. I don't have the commitment (or is it stupidity) that the old guy who lives a few streets away does,out side everyday rain,snow or shine doing his daily run.

My mind and body needed the work out and I knew I couldn't wait another 7/8/9/10 weeks until it was good enough to hit the tarmac again.I just need to stick with this because I know how easy I can talk myself out of not going,between the boys getting on the bus at 7.30 and the class at 9 I can find a whole range of excuses not to go,other things that need to be done !

So tomorrow I will drag my still aching body back again for more torture but by 10.00 when it's over I'll be glad I did.That is until I try and get out of bed Friday morning !!

A post with no picture...........I'll be back friday with a layout :)

My favourite....

.....day of the week is here again ! I think it's just the feeling of how good it feels to have the house to myself and get a whole lot accomplished without having anyone else here to need/distract me.

Well this weekend brought Valentines day and I got to search for my hearts again (I mentioned it here) Ad got invited to sleepover at a friends although it was a tough decision for him to make as he knew we were making sushi for dinner and it's his most favourite meal.Anyway we promised to save him some,in the end we made too much so it wasn't a problem at all.

We are getting better at this,the rice was much better than the last time we made it and we put more filling in,although we still need to put more.It's not the same as getting take out but it's fun and a lot cheaper :)

Sunday we went for a drive,didn't see much but I like the look of this nest so I'll leave you with that instead of a page today.

No scrapping at all this weekend..........just wasn't in the mood unfortunately.

A just because,a layout and a toot.

Ol: On Friday Josee will give us a stamp in our agenda(said in best french accent) of the guy with the arrow,you know what's his name,Oh,erm Stupid

Me: Do you mean Cupid ?

Ol: Ohhhhh, yeah that's him.

I think Stupid might actually be a better name but there you go !

Just a quickie and I'll leave you with another page for my friends album.........

I need more pictures,matey chops :)

Oh and I had a layout picked up by BHG Scrapbook Etc for their Made in Minutes column.

Spring and sorry

Spring................well for a day anyway,in the pluses yesterday and it felt good even if it was only a little tease although today with all the rain,kind of feels like spring too...........or England ! Turning back to snow and winter tonight.

Sorry....... for boring you with a couple more layouts,I'll run out soon. I read this post on Cathy Z's blog last week.I have to admit apart from the people I 'know' I don't really read a lot of other blogs,I go to them mainly for the pretty images,I have lots of pretty picture blogs !! Anyway I related to that one because it's something I've always done not in the exact way she mentioned there,but in one way or another because for no other reason than it just make the whole process a heck of a lot easier and it gives me an intro in to posting these two pages.

The Jr Jays layout off to the side there has become 3 other pages since the beginning of the year like this one...... thought for hours over that title !

This one is a complete lift of this one here......

Both going in different albums so it doesn't matter.If I have a photograph I really love,such as that one of Ol above,I'll find a page/design I really enjoyed and use it again.........I'm all for making life easier whenever I can because life's just too short.

Off to work on those closets..........

Good Afternoon.

I always try and post on a Monday and squeezing this post in before Ad starts typing up his homework assignment.

That blah kind of week I had last week extended into the weekend but feeling better today with all that sunshine outside and it feels warm,enjoying it while it's here.

Since it's a Ped day here,Ol had a party this morning so I dragged Ad to Ikea,which he wasn't exactly ecstatic about until he found out it was for stuff for his new room then he didn't mind tagging along so much.So operation closets is going to start for sure this week,I'm raring to go !

Really I have nothing much else to say,I did manage to complete 2 pages this weekend,I'll post them later this week as I still need to photograph them.
Right now I'm working on something I said I'd never do which was re-do a page........I was flicking through Ad's first album,working out what pages I should try and add since it's severely lacking ! when these two just leaped out at me,I can reuse the photo's and bits and pieces of stuff on the pages,should be simple and quick......famous last words !

Anyway I'll leave you with this older page I did the same day I came home with the yummy SR celebrate line.....
In fact I did both Ol's 5th and 6th birthday pages that day. Also this one.......

I finished at the end of last month. Such a fun day but man was I disappointed the roof was shut because it made for appalling lighting conditions in there !

A nothing week

Yep,this week has just been one of those nothing sort of weeks.I didn't really accomplish anything,meaning those closets are still waiting to be tackled,I think I need an Ikea trip to pick up a couple of these to get me inspired and get going ! I know once I start it will be done and organised in a day...I just need the kick to start it and a good home for all the outgrown clothes and toys !

I felt a little guilty about my lack of getting anything done so rushed around in a cleaning frenzy this morning,so the house is clean,neat and tidy(all ready to be trashed this weekend by those 3 untidy males that live here!) and my 3rd load of laundry is going right now which is why I'm here,taking a well earned coffee break at 10.00 !

That's about it,the pesky groundhog kindly reminded us that there's still a way to go until spring.I hadn't had a uurgghhh winter moment until this week when I realised,crap it is still ages until I'll see anything green again.Although I did manage a chuckle at the chaos the snow has brought to England.

I could bore you with the fact I actually got my hair done this week,be gone you nasty grey hairs ! I even let her convince me to chop an inch off,I'm sure she took more.For some reason that I didn't notice until she was half way across she decide to feather in my fringe................I'm sorry I just have to say that I've tried I really have but I just can't use the word "bangs" it just doesn't make any sense to me..........I quickly mentioned that we cut it blunt but it was too late to correct it as I'd of ended up looking like this !

That's it,the boys have a Ped day Monday,so a long weekend for them,although there's homework assignments to be finished up,what fun ! Roll on Spring break when we can have a homework free week.

I did actually scrap 2 pages this week but I'll leave you with this one,that isn't one of them !! This is an older one I did at the cottage weekend back in September.I keep finding pages to add to my flickr sets,for someone so organised my filing of layouts on the computer was a little lacking,this year I'm much more organised.

Love those Pink Paislee letter stickers used them on one of my pages this week too.

OK until later..........

ETA.......Why is it that you can check all pockets but tissues still get in the wash and why do they only ever find there way in the dark wash when you have lots of things that can't be tumble dried.............so I am now on my 4Th load of laundry :)

More pages.....

I thought I'd post a couple more pages,so here's my October and December photo a day layouts.I finished the October one a couple of weeks ago and I got around to doing the December one this weekend.

Originally I was going to make them along the lines of this one,that I did for my May 07 page but in the end I just wasn't feeling in the mood for double pages and I had more pictures than before and couldn't choose which one to highlight ! So I made one page layouts and just took the big square block element from my original page.

I wasn't bothered about the images being so small as I got all my photo's printed at 4x6 to put in their own normal photo album.As I was feeling lazy I basically just copied October's for December's,just centered it up.

I had one less photo for December so I used that for the date.

So my scrapbooking tally for January is 11 pages,consisting of 10 single pages and 1 double page. I didn't get around to completing any older photo layouts but that's OK I have one planned for this month.

New pages

Thanks for all the congratulation comments from yesterday.

Anyway I finally got round to photographing a bunch of layouts so thought I'd share a couple here. I finished this one last week,it's for my friends album(I hope you like it mate and I miss you too ) it's a bunch of little images she sent me,since they were all un-enlargeable !! I decided I couldn't wait for the larger images and used them as is........

I've had those word rub-ons for ages and pull them out a lot but never manage to use them so it felt good to use a bunch here.

This one is one I did at the beginning of January.After tidying up my space and realising how much paper I have considering the amount I actually use on a page,I had a guilty moment and used a lot on 2 pages and then went back to my old ways !

Strictly it's not a lot of aper but it is for me ! I added the AC rub-ons to the snowflakes on the MME paper,this hasn't photographed well at all,Oh well !

I'll post some more next week.........

Yippee !!

I now have the right to end my sentences with,Eh !! because it's official we are Canadian as of 11.00am today. WOO HOO !!!!

There were 372 other people at the ceremony from 58 countries,58...... and I think there were only about 25 of us that said the oath in English,everyone else took it in French,Ad said it in both languages !! What could make it even more authentic.....a lovely snowstorm to travel in !

I am extremely proud of what happened today because I have considered Canada my home for a long time now.I didn't have to give up my British citizenship but you what if I did I would of,no second thoughts about that.

It wasn't easy packing up a life and moving to a new country and knowing nobody at all and those first few weeks,months and even year were hard,I won't deny that but as time went on I realised I didn't miss England,I missed my friends and family and proper Cadburys chocolate but not England.I love the attitude here I can't describe what it is but it definitely seems more positive.The people are friendly and I just have a better feeling here.

Last week someone said to me,Oh what a lovely accent and I must of given him a blanks stare for a few seconds before it clicked and I said Oh thanks because I forget I have it.

I came out here with the attitude of making it work and meeting new people and learning new things and I don't know if that helps or not? You have to adapt.There are things are different,some things worse (taxes !!)some things better (nearly everything else !!) I shall happily grow old here and know in my hearrt that I made the right choice for my boys future.

I think that calls for a glass of wine to celebrate.....

Finally........

Be warned it's long..........

I have taken photo's of my kitchen and I am going completely over board with photo's(they should enlarge slightly) since this project consumed my life for the best part of 2 months it tortured me and I shall torture you in return !!

This is also the part where I start justifying myself by saying I did lose all my 'before' shots so these are the taken in a rush 5 minutes before going to Home Depot and my kitchen looks a mess because I'd given up with it knowing it was about to be ripped out.
We had a really really small budget it had to include the unit's,worktop,sink,tap,new stove top,new dishwasher and flooring which is why we did everything (except fit the units)ourselves. Everything except the appliances was either from Home Depot or Ikea.

This is the view now as you walk in my front door,excuse the wet floor !

Originally we wanted to take out the hatch(we took the doors off which is why it's 2 colours because I haven't got around to painting it all one yet !)and turn it into an door opening to match the one the other side and enclose the other section to allow for wall units but it didn't fit in the budget and it's something we can still do at a later date if we want.

I posted these images in September describing the nightmare of getting glued tiles off the wall.I didn't glue my tiles on you'll be pleased to know and I love how the bevelled edge subway tiles look but they were a pain in the ass to grout because of that edge and I'm not sure I'd use them again !

I'm glad I decided to paint the window frames white,it was a lot of work but it looks so much fresher and cleaner.My only disappointment was that those wall units were too narrow to be glass fronted,as they hold all my glassware and I had wanted that on show.Code now is that there has to be 9 inches between a dishwasher and oven,ours were side by side before.I thought a 9inch cupboard was going to be a complete waste but it's actually a really good thing as it hold all my baking trays and my huge wooden chopping board.

There wasn't much we could change about the actual layout the only thing we did do was straighten the sink area.It was curved before and I'm sure the theory behind it was that you could look out of both the windows but in practise all you looked at was the big useless space behind the sink and the section of wall between the windows.By straightening it out you can actually see out both windows and I've gained counter space and my garbage container actually fits under the sink now.

Above is the view looking down towards my laundry/scrap space and the door to the garage.There used to be shelves on that wall and all our utensils hung there too but we decided to not but them back up there as really they were in the way !!
Below is the view looking up from the laundry/scrap space.That larder cupboard was the most expensive thing apart from the flooring I wasn't sure if I'd made the right choice with those 2 big drawers but I love them and man can they hold a lot of stuff !

This area didn't change much since we opted not to change the hatch/put up units.We just bought new shelves and these now hold the stuff from the shelves we took down and the basket on top of the fridge holds all the cookery magazines that I can't fit in the cupboard ! We replaced the handles on the Ikea unit to match the new handles in the rest of the kitchen.Of course even though it's from Ikea the style of handle I choose didn't come in that size,so I had to custom order some very similar from Home Depot and those 3 handles were nearly as expensive as the 20 in the rest of the kitchen !

This side we changed to a more unfitted look one because it was cheaper ! and two because I like that look and I love being able to just grab plates and bowls without having to open doors.The wooden worktop is fantastic.I gave it an extra coat of the protective coating.It takes hot pans/plates straight out the oven and wipes up a dream.After we put this together I so wanted it as my scrap table,it would be perfect since I stand to scrap but no way that's fitting in my space !
I'm pleased with everything but my absolute favourite thing is my floor........

I am so happy with the way it turned out,I will have a bad back and bad knees for the rest of my life but it was worth all the hard work.
The only thing we wished we'd done was put in pot lights,I think we'll end up doing it this spring even though it will make a mess,it will help as the current lights,which we kept since we'd only put them up a couple of years ago don't really light the kitchen where you need it.

OK that's a long enough post for me,I scrapped 2 pages this weekend,good stuff and I'll be back Wednesday with some happy news........

Slow

This week has gone slow,normally Thursday rolls around and I'm like what, where did the week go but not this week.

I finished another page and started one for my friends album that might be full by the time her kids are 18 because she doesn't send me enough pictures !! and I realised I never posted anymore of my mini album so here's the pages for June to Sept....

and bad me still has the finishing touches to put to Decembers pages and send them out,whoops.

I added a few of my favourite images from our trip to Omega park here so that that blog doesn't fall by the way side until April when I hope to do another photo a day.

That's all I have to say it's been one of those weeks! I was going to take a much needed trip to the hairdressers but my hairdresser is off until Tuesday,arghhhhhhh that's the down side of walk in appointments.........OK I love my roots I love my roots,no, it's not working !!

I love ...

....I love lots of things ! but I'm beginning to love Mondays,it seems to be a day I get so much done in a small amount of time.

Scrapbooking,I'm on a roll finished another page this weekend.I had a few weeks where I created nothing but it wasn't down to lack of inspiration or anything like that.My problem was quite the opposite,sometimes I have such a huge pile of photo's and so many idea's I just don't know where to start! Not wow,lightening bolt idea's just boring simple ideas but it's do I do that with these photo's or that batch there !!Anyway I'm working my way through photo's from the summer but I'm also trying to make some pages from my eldest's younger days because his albums are seriously lacking in content,I'm embarrassed to say,so I'd better do something about it.
I did this one at the end of December but it's only recently been photographed so it's classed as 2009 in my eyes.Had these photo's printed since September,and had a layout sketched out from then too but ended up changing it all completely,super simple one.

I'm going to mention my talented hardworking friend Susan who's work is featured on the cover of a new magazine called Stuffed by Stampinton . Reading about that this week was a nice relief after hearing about about 2 Scrapbooking magazines closing.One of which was Simple Scrapbooks,I can't say I bought every issue but I can say it was the first magazine I bought when I'd been toying with the idea of scrapbooking.It was a special inspiration issue and I remember a section in their showing contributors idea/sketch books and thinking,hey I have one of those I'm not complete anal after all,there are others too! I'm glad I had the opportunity to have a few layouts published with them and I really hope that a little of their philosophy can continue within the pages of CK.

Baby,it's cold outside....

Cold..............it's frigging frigid !!
When people back in England ask how cold it is,it's really hard to describe it,I've explained the nostril freezing experience but you cannot imagine it unless you've actually experienced it,that I'm sure of.I'm often asked well I'm sure you get used to it........erm NO,I will never get used to it !! I had to go out yesterday and it wasn't pleasant,I think they were saying 9 minutes for frostbite on exposed skin.Today's -25C,no wind chill but it's back tomorrow making it seem like -35C.....lovely.

At least I am home today,I lit the fire at 7 this morning and keep looking at the blue sky and pretending it's summer!

So apart from it being freezing yesterday it was also someones birthday.........

I don't normally have much luck with photo's that involve cake and candles,so I've tended to give up and enjoy the moment instead but last night I gave it another try and I like these,especially the last one with just one candle left.The candles were the only light in the room.

I added a few more pages to my Flickr gallery,older ones from 2007 that I found in a file !( I've been clearing up my photo files and backing up.)

This is one I never posted it's from September 07,I could have taken those shots every time he played what a difference to this year !

Off to chuck another log on the fire........