What were the chances.....

..that I would take a few days off work and this would happen!




It has totally thrown my plans off! How can I clear this out....



..with all that sunshine outside?!!!

I am determined to enjoy days like this in 2012. I am one of those weird souls that is not a fan of summer. Don't get me wrong, I love the longer days and the blue skies but I am not a fan of the heat or the brightness of the sun! No sunglasses have ever worked for me. I still end up with a squint and a headache!

And I just don't seem to 'get' summer clothes. I don't think I have bought anything other than a t shirt and cropped trousers in years! But then, I just don't get/like clothes shopping (but sure, that's a whole other story which may become relevant soon since I have to buy something pretty for a wedding I am attending in may :s).

So, I spent the afternoon in the garden yesterday reading, trying hard not to think of the birthday card I have to make and send my sister by Monday (well, I can't ruin my reputation of sending things at the last minute now can I??!).

Except, I have ran out of lotion!

And didn't think about it!

Therefore I am now a little bit red!!!! Oops!

Guess I am staying indoors until I can get to a chemist (or other cheaper retail outlet that sells lotion that I will use for 3 days then not touch till next year because the sun has completed its visit to Ireland for the summer!!!)

Which means I now have no excuse not to be upstairs!

If I get out of the room alive, I will let ya know! (don't fancy my chances though!!)


- Posted on the move :)

Month in Numbers - February

This month, I thought I would utilise the Notes app on my phone.

I began by logging the minutes it takes me to do my walk when I am on splits...45 minutes which is approximately 3 miles according to a work colleague. Or the duration of The Kinks 'The Village Preservation Society' special edition album that I was listening to at the time.



ssshh, i know the picture is from jan but no one will notice

 On the 13th, I received my order from Sew and Sew which took 4 days to arrive and that was over a weekend. Mightily impressed so I will definately be ordering from them again. I have my eye on their complete stash of DMC threads although the fact that I rewound 304 colours shows me that I can't be far off the complete selection already.

moving from the gold concept to the paper reels. much tidier for me

And this is where my counting kind of dropped off! Seemingly, using a pen and paper is still my favourite way to remember things...something I have realised by keeping up to date with my OLW scribblings so far.

Oh, and I had sat down to do a Month in Numbers LO to accompany this post this morning but it turned into the LO you see below! Not quite what I was looking for but one of the quickest LOs I have produced with all my stash around me! That is definately no bad thing :)

Don't forget, if you want to join in, hit the link in my sidebar or go straight to Julies post for Feb where she will also direct you to her Pinterest board where you'll find everyone else :)

48 questions:

Found this on Michelles blog and although a little late...for some reason, my reader keeps holding back blogs then coughing them out in about a months worth....I thought I would join in.  Some of the questions are differently worded to on her blog, but thats just because I got frustrated with my copy and paste tool so jotted them down instead.

What time did you get up today?  8.25am to see the boss off
How do you like your steak? Blue!!!!
Last film you saw at the cinema? crumbs....think it was New Years Eve last month
Favourite TV show? this is a tough one!!  I would say Dr Who most of the time, but at the moment seriously addicted to Fringe, Being Human and Grays Anatomy.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Not sure to be honest. I like the idea of New Zealand but then, I like the idea of Galway as well.
What did you have for breakfast? Muller Corner yogurt...am not really a breakfast person when I am at home
Favourite food? Corned Beef and Potato Pie or a pastie.
What foods do you dislike? Liver!!!!  Otherwise, I eat most things
Where is your favourite place to eat? at my kitchen table...we don't eat out much
What is your favourite dressing? Salad Cream or chilli sauce
What vehicle do you drive? None....I don't at the moment
What are your favourite clothes? jeans and jumpers...the woolier the better.
Where would you visit if you were given the chance? New York, just to say I have!
Cup half full or half empty? half empty unfortunately!
Where would you retire? I don't know. The boss likes the idea of France....I don't really think that far ahead
What is your favourite time of the day? Depends on the type of shift I am working if I am honest. On average, it is midday I suppose
Where were you born? Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Your favourite sport to watch? Football :)
Your favourite fragrance? Garlic.....don't wear perfume much
Your favourite face cream? Nivea Visage Rich
Your favourite baby/kids product? kids bananas...i know not strictly a product as such but adult size ones are just too much for me
People watcher? most definately!
Are you a morning or night person? Again, it depends on my shift pattern!!!
Do you have pets? Yep, Holly and Lister, 2 mongrel dogs were adopted from my parents litter...they are 7 now
Do you have any new or exciting news to share? Not at the moment. I am the worst at sharing news.
What did you want to be when you were little? I honestly can't remember...I have such a poor memory for that type of thing!
My favourite memory? again..brain...sieve....but do have lots of good ones, just cant pick one!
Are you a cat or dog person? Dog, definately.
Are you married? Yep, 2and a half years now!!!!!!
Do you always wear a seatbelt? Of course I do.
Have you been a car accident? A minor one
Any pet peeves? where do i start!!!!! If I say I can be a typical Virgo, does that help??
What are your favourite pizza toppings? Spicy meat...very spicy please
What is your favourite flower? not a huge fan of flowers but me and the boss do like lillies. he picked my wedding bouquet by the way!!
Your favourite icecream? Haagen Daz Strawberry Cheesecake or raspberry ripple
Your favourite fast food restaurant? Luigis....a local chipper that does proper chips like an english fish and chip shop! Its amazing how hard they are to find in Ireland.
How many times did you fail your driving test? I am soooo not telling you that....lets just say the process has been ongoing for the past 20 years (with a 15 year break in the middle I might add :P)
Who sent you your last email? blogger telling me Jo.C had left me a comment on my last post..thanks :)
Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? two peas in a bucket....or if I have to go into a shop, I guess I could have a good go in WHSmiths or HMV/any record store with vinyl in particular
Have you done anything spontaneous yet? Moved to Ireland...pretty spontaneous. We decided and moved within 6 months. Ok, it helped I had family here :)
Do you like your job? Sometimes, but its a long story. I like the field I am in, put it that way!Broccoli? Yes, but I prefer Brussel Sprouts. Yep, brussels are the king of veg.
What was your favourite vacation? All been good but to be honest, we don't go away much.
Who was the last person you went put to dinner with? The boss because he couldn't be bothered to cook :)
What are you listening to now? England v Netherlands.
What's your favourite colour? Red
How many tattoos do you have? None, but I want one
Coffee Drinker? occasionally

Wow, that was tough!

Right, better concentrate on the second half of the game.
Hopefully, will work out my month in numbers in the next couple of days. Kept a poor record again!!!

Link me up if anyone joins in with the 48 :)

RIP Davy Jones

SHE...one of my favourite Monkees songs

I love The Monkees. I remember watching the reruns at my nans if I was ever off school sick and had a huge crush on Davy Jones.

So sad that he has died so young :(

officially joined in with OLW now

As the picture below testifies.


I printed the video transcripts and prompts for jan and feb and will be reading and planning as living at work for next couple days. This means limited access to internet :(
Then at the weekend I can learn how to use all the overlays etc in Word, say hi in class and get an album together .... well may have some ideas anyway :p

And before I run to catch the bus, below is the MIL birthday card using scraps from Studio Calico. Hope the boss remembers to post it today!!!!!


- Posted on the move :)

Cards and walls

Below is the card I made for my aunt for her birthday last month.



The image is one of the LOTV freebies that came with Papercraft Inspirations a few months back. I would never normally use these types of images but I have made a few cards using them now and I have quite liked the results.
I probably should explain the greeting. My aunt has lived in Sweden for the last year and while she is not Swedish, she does speak the language quite well. So, I figured it was only right to send her a card in her 'native' tongue. I think I may do this for her whole family now. I am of course throwing in a bit of Irish as a challenge. Although that is more of a challenge for myself since I don't speak that either.
Who would have thought Google translate would be so handy!

My other share for today is this ...



I am not sure how well this photographed as I have only viewed it on my phone. I don't think the top right sticker came out well though (it reads football crazy)
Part of me feels that the LO needs a bit more but I am not sure what so I am happy to leave it as it is and go back to it at a later date.
I am pleased with my journalling though as that is something I am still a bit nervous about.
Basically, after telling my parents I wanted my room repainted in Liverpool colours (green and red at the time), they promptly delivered while I was visiting a friend for 2 weeks.
The badge incidentally was drawn and painted by my Aunt.
A mightily talented artist she is.

EDIT: Hopefully this will have posted ... have been trying for 2 weeks!!!

And while I'm here ...COME ON LIVERPOOL :)







Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Scrapbook Saturday

Stacey at Havoc and Mayhem is running a Scrapbook Saturday and I couldn't resist playing along after the 2 LOs I made yesterday, which I am quite proud of.

The first is this one:

 I have a load of pictures of me, my uncle and #1 when we went to the DR Who exhibition a few years ago and I really want to scrap them in a TARDIS album or something similar.  Yesterday, I finally had my first go at seeing how good my TARDIS making skills were. 

It is 8ish" x11and is mainly paper piecing of cardstock.  I sketched the boxes freehand (can you tell that not all the windows are the same size!?) and inked round the edges for emphasis.  The writing was done in white Insignio pen.

I am not sure if I will go this size but I am happy with my ability to get the basic look and so can work from there.  I can see lots of TARDIS shaped scrapping in the future :)

The second LO:

is again 8ish x11 and was a result of the 2peas CHA challenges. I took the picture a couple of years ago when I was learning how to use my (now emigrated to England :() camera.  The 'title' was written on Fabrips which I cut into strips. (It is a quote from Gladstone that was in one of the tea boxes.  If you can't read it and want to know what it says, let me know in the comments and I will edit this post accordingly).

The rest of the LO came from a mixture of Studio Calico kits, although I do know that the main paper is Basic Grey.  The embellishment was made using a couple of Papermania chipboard pieces, a heart that #2 had 'Big Shotted' over Christmas (I have loads of them), a few buttons and some Glossy Accent.

I quite liked working at this size and will definately do so again.  My only problem now is that I have to get something to keep them in!!!