I'm on annual leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello my blogeroonies!

Well, Bank Holiday is over, and a busy weekend it was too!

I've been looking recently for an exercise machine, the Tony Little Gazelle Glider, in my latest bid to get fit and loose some of the hundreds of extra pounds I'm carrying about. My mum's got one - and after several goes on it I was convinced that it would be something I'd use regulary and make good use of (unlike the numerous other machines we've splashed out on and then got rid of after months of them gathering dust or doubling up as clothes horses). She'd bought hers from a shopping channel and paid around £100 plus the post and packing.

I'd finally saved enough money to get one, sat down at the pc to order it, only to find that that particular offer no longer exists, and the cheapest I could find a similar model (but with the amazing added bonus of........wait for it......a water bottle) was £159.99 plus p&p!!! Slightly deflated, I thought to have a quick scour to see how much roughly they were going for on ebay- and lo and behold there was an auction for one 45 minutes away, in Barry, near Cardiff ending in 24 hours......so I got bidding away and I won it for £41!! Bargain!

So we went to collect it yesterday afternoon! It had only been used a couple of times - and the instruction video that accompanied it was still in its' shrink wrap, so it really was a great buy! Lee and I spent yesterday evening having turns on it - and it really is good fun!! I'll keep you updated on how I get on with it!!!!

As we had to drive up to Barry to collect it after 5pm, we headed up a little earlier and stopped by Barry Island for a look around first. It's a typical seaside entertainment resort - with lots of Amusements, a mini theme park, ice-cream parlours, fish and chip stalls, and little shops selling rock, postcards, bucket & spades, dinghies and all the other paraphernalia you expect to see in such a place. To be honest, it's not really my sort of thing, but Lee loves those places, and had a whale of a time winning me a blue flannel teddy on the amusements, who we quite fittingly named Barry. Of course I had to carry the thing around like a berk then for the rest of the afternoon, but never mind! I did have a pic of Barry kicking back and enjoying the sunshine on the beach, but Blogger took a dislike to him and won't let me upload it........ maybe I'll try tomorrow (now there's something exciting for you all to look forward too!!!)

But here are some photos of the afternoon anyway......one of myself, slurping on a slush puppy looking rather blown about (although sunny, it wasn't half breezy on that promenade - and yes, that really was the best photo of me!!!!) And here's Lee enjoying his smelly cockles! Just look at that face!! Yuck! I couldn't even stand near the sea-food stall as it stank so bad. I was brave and tried one of the cockles though. I tried them as a child and remember liking them, but ever since whenever I've tried them they have been repulsive. And yesterday this was again confirmed. Slimy, fishy yuckiness. Never again I swear :)








And just look at this cheeky little fella! You have to click on the picture to see the full size version to see how cute he is! We were sat having a naughty McDonalds with the car windows open, when we had the shock of our lives when this little birdie came and perched himself on the mirror in the hope of a spare french fry winging its way to him! Lee jumped out of his skin and i only wish my camera had been pointed at this face to capture the moment - it was hilarious! At one point - the little thing was taking scraps right out of Lee's hand - so sweet!


Blog Prompt:
Today’s UKS blog prompt is about your top five pet peeves, so here are mine *lol*

1. The fact that my sister has less than nine weeks until she gives birth to her first child, yet her fiancé and herself are unable to obtain any social housing until goodness knows when, despite there being hundreds of empty properties sitting here wasting the tax payers money.

2. The fact that there are so many people out there who cheat the benefits system and get away with it, and those who could really benefit from some or more help are turned away/not entitled to it

Oooh errr….quite political with those two there………next!!!

3. The fact that older people (not all I hasten to add) seem to think the younger generations are all rude and lack manners and are general hooligans. Yet, why is it then, where as I always move out of the way for old people, hold the doors open for them, say please, thank you and generally be as obliging as possible, when the tables are turned and, for example, say an older person has parked their trolley across the aisle in Tesco (which I think is rude and inconsiderate of others in the first place), when I politely ask if I can get passed with my own trolley, they tut and fuss and make a big deal as if I’ve asked them to dig a 10ft hole with a couple of cocktail sticks. You often find that the same said Aisle Hoggers then jump in front of you in the till queue, apparently oblivious to you, and the other 20 shoppers behind you, already patently waiting to be served.

4. Whilst driving, people who pull out quickly in front of you (when there’s nothing behind you and they could have waited three more seconds anyway), only to dawdle along at 5mph, or then take the next turning off. Hurumph!!!

5. Animal and child neglect cruelty. It drives me mad and is so upsetting. In this civilised day and age it is not called for. Enough said.

Hohehaw – so those are my thoughts anyway!


Well, my plans for this evening are to try and move on with that beach LO that I've been stuck on, so hopefully will be back tomorrow with a completed picture of that, plus I've got a little bargain storage item to show off too!!!!

Catch up with you tomorrow my lovelies! xxxx

Short n Sweet

Was not intending to blog today, as I'm at work, however todays blog prompt on UKS caught my attention as it's something I've been thinking about recently, particularly as I've reached the end of my first year as a scrapper.

The prompt reads "Which scrapbooking technique(s) have you seen and liked, but not tried yet? Why did you like it? What scrapbooking technique(s) have you recently tried for the first time? Did you like it and did it work for you?"
My answer is maybe not directly related to a technique, but maybe more to a style which I have found inspiring. As I expect most new scrappers probably tend to, most of my scrapping this far has been about major events and occassions, however I've been thinking more and more about catching and recording the every day moments in life, the little things that make me and the people who make my world, who we are, a la Ali Edwards. I find her simple, yet expressive everyday pages striking and provide amazing insight in to her day to day life - and this is something I want to leave as a legacy for my future generations too.

I have tried to steer a little more in this direction, with pages such as "Dotty About Shoes" (see the above slide show), Fit of the Giggles, and the recent top secret "Pieces of Me" page commissioned for the Scrapbook Inspirations Sketch Challenge (coming up in Issue 20). These are more BOM pages and give some insight into my character and things I like, but not quite the "every day snippets" I'm starting to want to capture.

Also, I also read an inspiring article by Heidi Swapp recently, in which she stated she never spends more than an hour completing a page. Now......I agonise over every single details of my pages - resulting in a single LO taking anything up to a week to finish.......so I also, with the "everyday" style pages in mind, hope to start going a little more with the flow whilst scrapbooking and hopefully, not only will this make my scrapping time more productive, but it will naturally lean me towards the simple but impacting style I desire for them.

So, those are my current scrapbooking intentions anyway.......but for now I'm stuck for working with new pictures as I'm still working on His Loveliness (a.k.a. Lee) with regards to a new printer.......but good news is I think I'm slowly beating him down as I did hear a mumble of "Maybe this weekend cos I need you to print some letters for me....."

Yey! Fingers crossed!

Quiet Weekend

Well, it feels like a long time sine I've sat at the PC - but it's only been a couple of days!! I've deliberately tried to stay away from here this weekend, rather than being glued to the net as usual. And a refreshing change it made too. We didn't get up to anything earth-shatteringly exciting, a bit of grocery shopping, catching up on sleep, visiting my mum and taking Rocky to the beach. But it was bliss I must admit. But here I am......back to the reality of a working week, and back in front of the PC!!!!

A new daily thread has been started on UKS, by Jane , providing prompts with which to blog about. It's a great idea when inspiration has run dry, and today's prompt really appeals to me. It is to talk abut your first name, any meanings it has, whether you like it or not, and anything else which may spring to mind!

Well, my name has Latin and Italian origins, and means "Born on Christmas Day". I've always found it strange that, although not born on Christmas day itself, I was born exactly two months later, the 25th of February. My parents had no idea of the meaning of the word, and I was infact born 10 days after my due date. Spooky eh?! And originally, I wasn't going to have a middle name, but my great grandmother died shortly before my Christening, so it was decided I should have her name, Anne, as a middle name. It didn't take my Uncle long to notice that this made my initials NAG - and boy - have I lived up to it! It would be rude not to really. As they say, nag by name, nag by nature!!!

Well, my intentions over my planned relaxed weekend were to get on with last weeks UKS challenge, I had the ideal pictures, however as usual left it until last minute and then found all inspiration had fleeted and for the first time in a while - I abandoned the project. It's currently sitting on my ironing board waiting for inspiration to strike (ha! As if I actually go near the ironing board!!!). I'm sure I'll be able to finish it in the next few days, and something will spring to mind to help pull all the elements together. Until then, I'm a signed and fully paid up member of the "I've lost my mojo" club. Got a name badge and everything *lol*

One good thing about the page though - is a new little bargain discovery I made over the weekend! Whilst nipping into Lidl on Saturday for some of their delish instant Amaretto Cappuchino (it's only £1.45 a tin!!), I went a-wandering down their "jumble sale" aisle as I like to call it - you never know what you might find in there! And what did I find I hear you all asking?!

A customisable address stamp! It's an office stationary sort of thing, you know the self-inking sort that prints lots of lines such as name, address and contact details?! So my little creative cogs were sent whirring and wondering what I could do with it - and for £3 I snapped the likkle contraption up!

And it's fab! It takes up to about five lines of text and comes with hundreds of, at most 5mm high, letters and symbols to create your text, a tweezer to fix them onto the plate and an ink pad.
So I've lost a couple of the tiny letters already as they went pinging across my kitchen when I was changing the text on the plate? So I've already snapped the mechanism that locks the stamp in place whilst changing them? (got around it by pushing it down on the table though - I'm cunning like that I am!!! *grin*) - I still love it! Here's a little peek at the result - that's part of this LO I'm struggling to bring together at present. Aren't they just adorable?!! £3 I tell you - £3! You'd be hard pushed to find some little rub-ons for that price - and this is reusable!
And the letters are the ideal size for printing onto ribbon........so Knitters and Sewers World...................lock up your grosgrain..........I'm coming to get you!

Look out for stamped ribbon on a LO near you soon!!!!

xxxxxx

Tagged!!!

I've been Blog-tagged by Gems!! hold on to your hats.............here goes................

1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
On the beautiful coast between Llanbedr and Harlech in North Wales - it's breath taking and I'm in love with the place - I'd love to move there given a chance! It's like a cliff road hanging over the most beautiful stretch of golden sand. I love the isolation there, and can totally envisage myself living in one of the big houses that are dotted high up along the road, with an attic scraproom with huge windows overlooking the sea, letting lots of light in to work by, and a lovely big kitchen with a log burning stove, and nipping out to walk the dog along the coast on a grey wintery day! Heaven!

2. What's your favourite article of clothing?
I'm a jeans and jumper kinda girl - I love to loaf about in comfort! But I'm a total shoes addict, and possibly my fave article of clothing right now is the cream and brown dress I wore to the wedding last week as it's not often I dress up.......and I never wear a dress!!!

3. Favourite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Their willies!
Haha! That got your attention didn't it?! It had to be lovely bottoms, big wide shoulders and chests and .........receeding hairlines lol (think Dermot O' Leary's hair style - yum!)

4. What's the last CD that you bought?
Oh no, this is where I show how sad I am as the last CD I bought was over two years ago, when I picked up the Scissor Sisters and Franz Ferdinand at Asda. I'm just too poor to buy CD's these days, when I was younger I had the most enviable and up to date collection around, but there always seems to be something more important to spend my cash on nowadays. Thankfully my mum usually gets me something new each christmas!!!

5. Where's your favourite place to be?
At home. We've worked hard to make a nice home and so I enjoy spending my time there. I love cold, grey and rainy days spent at home in the warmth with a cosy jumper on, watching an good old film with the people I love. I also love my bed, but especially when I'm all cosy and can hear the rain beating against the window - i find it so comforting and it makes me feel all snug and happy :) I'm such a home bird!

6. Where's your least favourite place to be?
Work at.....*checks the time*....quarter to four in the morning :(

7. What's your favourite place to be massaged?
My head, and my arm pits - 'tis true I'm afraid!!!!!!

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?
Hmmm I'm not particularly strong in either department I'm afraid!

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?
Between half past ten and 11 on a day off (bare in mind I work nights!!) - otherwise I'm usually thinking about getting home and going to bed when your alarm clocks are going off!

10. What is your favourite kitchen appliance?
Definitely the dishwasher - even if I'm not turning it on just having somewhere to shove dirty dishes out of the way is a godsend!!!

11. What makes you really angry?
In the big bad world I'm pretty laid back I guess, or at least nothing springs to mind anyway. But then little things often nark me easily, like today I bought a box of mixed flavour jaffa cakes for when my mum and sister called around, but Lee ate a whole pack of one flavour before they even arrived. May as well have bought the plain orange ones. Also, another peeve of mine at the moment is the foul language of a girl who has moved in across the road - it really is disgusting and I can hear it even with my windows closed. Has she no shame?! Each morning she starts F-ing and blinding just as I'm getting off to sleep after work......tsk......

12. If you could play any instrument what would it be?
Without a doubt the piano - there's one siting in my house and I wish I could do more with it - I can play the violin and the guitar, but to me the only instrument that sounds fab without any other accompaniment is the piano.

13. Favourite colour?
Pink, blue, purple, white, black, brown, green.............oh sorry, did I have to pick just one?!!!

14. Sports car or SUV?
SUV

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?
It's difficult to explain what I believe - probably because I'm not really sure myself!!

16. Favourite children's book?
The entire Chronicles of Narnia series - I was bought every book when I was a nipper. Ever wondered how the wardrobe led to Narnia?! Read the first ever book - The Magician's Nephew and all will be revealed. Don't know why they didn't dramatise that when they ran the series in the late 80's. Silly Beeb.

17. What's your favourite season?
Probably weird but I love winter. Mentioned lots of reasons already in question 5 - think I like the cosiness of it and how it brings people together in the warmth. Also love Christmas, and my Birthday. Also think a lot of it stems from childhood - I used to hate summer and the PE and sports days it would bring as I always felt useless at them, and I hated the dark long shadows caused by the setting sun and having to go to bed whilst it was still light - the drawn curtains would cast a murky light in our room and I always thought there were monsters in the shadows - they were never there in the dark winter I swear!! Rainy days meant we could stay in and play with our toys and draw and do all the things I felt good at :)

18. What is your least favourite household chore?
All of them!!!! It's probably easier to list what I can actually tolerate......laundry, dusting and cleaning my kitchen surfaces with antibacterial stuff :)

19. If you could have one super-power, what would it be?
To be able to fly - I'd save a fortune on petrol.

20. If you have a tattoo what is it?
No I don't like them much - ewww imagine what they'll look like when you're 80 and all wrinkly and shriveled up. Yuck. My sister's got a nice one in the small of her back - but I'd never be tempted myself.

21. Can you juggle?
Lol - it's usually hit or miss whether I'll catch a regular ball - never mind anything more complex!

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?
My Nanny - she died whilst we were on holidays when I was eight. I'd tell her I love her and still think of her everyday.

23. What's your favourite day?
Don't really have one, our routine is pretty loose as I work different shifts all the time. I do like Friday nights and Sunday mornings though. And Tuesday for TV lol!!!

24. What's in the boot of your car?
Dog hair

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?
Fish is gross at the best of times........but raw fish?!! Ewwww - give me a cold, chewy, two day old Big Mac any day over that yucky muck!!

OK , my turn now, and I'm gonna tag Di and Nat ..................have fun! :P

One Wedding and a Scrapbooking Crop!!

Well, Friday was finally Lee's cousin Gareth and his fiancee Katherine's wedding day. It really was a wonderful day - the Bride looked stunning, as did their little boys kitted out in their tiny suits just like their Daddy's. It was a highly emotional affair - not a dry eye was left in the house after Katherine's step dad made his heart felt speech, and Gareth read out a poem he'd written especially for her to celebrate their marriage :)
Lee and I turned out in our Sunday Best (despite it being Friday lol!) and I must say we looked darn spanky - especially Lee in his suit!! I for one certainly enjoyed the bubbly on offer, and in true Nat-style, returned home at 2.30am to be drunkenly horrified that I'd lost my expensive hair ornament. A dribbly and slurred call to the taxi company who dropped us off followed, and the poor harassed-looking cab driver came back and returned me to the Reception where, by some stroke of luck, my hair ornament was sitting on the drive where the taxi stopped, as the building was now locked up. However, further drunken horror ensued when I realised I was bare foot and thought my lovely new shoes were locked inside too!! Thankfully, I found them thrown off in the hallway when I got home!

Barely six hours later, I was up again, with a very sore head and breath that stunk not unlike a Russian vodka distillery, picking up Gems and her sister for the South Wales Crop in Newport! It was a great day as usual, even if I did have to take an hour out for a nap in the car!! And the oh-so clever Gems won a prize in the challenge with her beautiful summer themed layout, clever girly that she is :) Hope it will be on her blog soon for us all to goggle at!

When I was not napping in the car, rehydrating myself with water or spending money in either of the fab crop shops, I spent my time working on this page, A Fit of the Giggles, for my Book Of Me. I used some yummy Crate Papers, Angel Kisses, rikrak, brads, rub-ons by SEI and Tesco (of all places) and a MM Clearly Defined sticker. Of course, not many of my pages are complete without the sewing machine treatment, so I added some stitching this morning to finish it off. Be sure to view it in full size and admire my funky Wombles T-shirt - it would appear that I have always been the lady of style and taste that you all know and love today :)The journaling reads:
I wonder what on earth could have given my 3-year-old-self such a fit of the giggles? Had mummy tickled me? Had Grandpa offered me some Maltesers? Had Nanny sang a silly song? What ever it was discovering these photos has reminded me of the importance of a good giggle! Despite people perceive me as fun and easy going, all too often I take life far too seriously and it doesn't half get me into some emotional pickles!!
So now I hope that I can recapture some of my spirit I see in these pictures! The infectious giggle, the twinkle in my eye and not a care in the world! Note to self: Lighten Up!!

I was pretty shocked when Chrissie asked me if I could teach a class at one of the upcoming South Wales crops!!! Surely I'm not worthy?!! It will be very daunting standing in front of a hall of 40 talented and seasoned scrapbookers and coming up with something that will interest them enough to want to take part, but (possibly being the silly sausage I am) I've agreed to the challenge!

Some other good news I have to share with you is that, on the back of winning the BOB competition, I'm going to be bringing some new blood into the scrapbooking fold and teaching some beginners classes in September. The first class will be based on the "secret" LO I made of my sister a couple of weeks ago when she came over for a day of crafting. Although far less daunting than the thought of teaching at the South Wales Crop (it will be for a maximum of ten beginners, thank goodness) I'm still rather pooping myself over it!! I just hope that I can win them over with my lovely charm (ahem!) and inspire and encourage them enough to take up this art for both themselves and their families :)

So that's the latest from here anyway! Thanks blogeroonies, be back soon with another thrilling installment I'm sure xxxxx

I believe in fairies!!

The chocolate fairy that is!!

As you all know by now - Tuesday night is TV-fest night in this house - and no TV fest would be complete without a complementary bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. And last night was no different. I sucked on each piece of silky, succulent chocolate through the evening until the very last piece has been devoured in lip smacking style!

However, when I went downstairs this morning - the chocolate wrapper was still next to the sofa where I'd been curled up all evening - complete with two further squares of chocolate!!!
What a fab surprise - they only explanation I have is that a chocolate fairy must have visited and left them there for me because two squares of choc would NEVER escape my attention, however gripping Lost, Big Brother and Holby City may be!! Needless to say - said squares of choccie were immediately shoved into my cavernous gob and devoured almost whole - just in case someone called around laying claim to the delicious treat!!

So in celebration of this wondrous miracle, and because I haven't got anything else to share with you, please enjoy these wonderfully colourful gratuitous photos of the thousands of paint chips now in my possession!!

Missed the Bus!

Alas! Due to having worked nights all weekend, and despite my pre-crop excitement, I missed most of the UKS journey due to sleep!!! lol! I had every intention to complete the final class yesterday, and had my bazzill all laid out ready, and also had completed the altered clipboard challenge which needed to be uploaded by 5pm.

However - my body clock had a different plan. On finishing my 12 hour shift yesterday morning, I had to go in to town to look for an outfit for a wedding on Friday. Town was heaving and hot, and I came home empty handed, apart from a set of nice rub-on letters I found in the poundshop!! I tried on various nice outfits, but nothing really looked right. Of course, it's got nothing to do with my flabby middle!! I couldn't believe that it was half past one when I got in - I'd been awake for nearly 24 hours and thumping head was all the persuasion I needed to collapse into bed and get up six hours later!! The final UKS class and uploading my clipboard were well and truly forgotten about. But, never mind, lady luck must be on my side as I logged in to the site earlier to find I'd won one of the raffles they held, a nice prize of some Perfect Paper and accessories. So expect to see everything covered in paper paste from now on lol!

So here's the clipboard I decorated for the challenge. I completed most of it at the Swansea Crop on Friday, using Scenic Route papers, paint chips, angel kisses and loads of ribbons. It was originally a joking present from my sister to Lee at Christmas time - a "Lucky Bingo Board" because Lee had been to play bingo a couple of times with a mate - which had understandably become a bit of a joke in the family!
Please excuse the poor thumbnails - if you click on to them you should view a better picture!














Lee was nipping out shortly before I left for the crop, so I asked him if he could pick me up a couple of paint chips in red and turquoise tones from the DIY store while he was out. He came home with a pile of them, in every colour available...........unbelievable! I must have easily 1000 of the things now! I reminded him I only asked for two colours, and his answer was that he'd forgotten what I said, so took them all. And he really did mean all of them! Rather than taking one of each colour - he completely cleared the shelves of every single paint chip card they had.

So....if you're thinking of decorating this week - don't bother going to the B&Q superstore to look for paint cards, cos they are all stacked up here on my kitchen table :)

We have pictures!!!!

Praise all that be Blogger! I take back every bad word I said about you!! Firstly - for the sheer bare faced cheek of it - here's one of those pictures I took of Katrina on Monday - doesn't she look purdy?!!

And here are a couple of those photos I took down in Ferryside last week. I entered them, along with a third in to the UKS photo comp, and the third one, which incidentally was my least favorite - has been shortlisted in the top 20. It's a bit pants though compared to the others - there were some absolutely amazing entries this month, including a lovely one of Three Cliffs on our very own Gower - small world! (nooooooooo - don't start me singing that again!)












And finally - time for something creative! Ding ding!! All aboard the UKS Summer Holiday bus! Here's me attempt at the first class set by Jools G and Paperarts - it was a beautiful journaling class and I have to admit my attempt just doesn't do it justice. It's one of those occasions where I really wish I'd bought the kit, mainly to have the Bazzill for the background - I didn't have enough in pink for the background and had to use plain card - things always look a gazillion times better when you use Bazzill in my humble opinion!!

Despite being slightly disappointed by the outcome, I'm still glad I did this page as it records some very special memories of summers gone by spent in my grandparents garden near the Gower. The first photos are of Gramps and I, aged 18 months, the next was taken by my Grandad when I was 7, and the third one is of my Gran, Mum, sister and myself when I was 14. The journaling reads:

"So many happpy days spent growing up in Nanny and Grandpa's lovely garden made so many happy memories!.....
-Sitting on the hand-knitted blanket, and later, the sun loungers -Radio Two on the "wireless" -
-Grandpa in his sun hat - Nanny sewing her embroidery - Biscuits and coffee being brought out on a tray - Playing scrabble and card games - The beautiful flowers -
- The old apple tree - Watching Microlight aircraft overhead - Happy days, happy memories"
Major apologies for the following dodgy image - although I'm not happy with the LO I must admit it does look better than this in real life *lol* - do you think I could manage to take photos of both sides that matched?!!! I can also ensure you that the right hand side is straight in real life - but my infamous "sqwonky" photography skills are to blame for the strange angles in the shot!







Well, off to the Swansea crop tonight which is gonna be a laff innit?! (lol Chrissie and Gems). Not sure what I'm going to be taking along to do as my ink is nearly all out on my printer so can't do any scrapping unless I work with old 6x4" photos - which I don't fancy today. Currently eyeing up a new lovely printer anyway hence the reason I'm not rushing out for a new cartridge - just have to be very nice to Lee and keep batting my eyelids (and waiting on him hand and foot) until he caves in!!!!

Take care my lovelies............Will be back soon with another boring installment of my boring life! Hey - if you're ever suffering from insomnia- reading my blog will sort ya out!! xxx

Another day.....another visit to the vets.....

3rd Aug - Firstly, apologies. have been trying to upload this post for days, but blogger wouldn't let me add any pictures - the nasty pasty. After my 50th failed attempt, I'm just gonna post it sans pictures I'm afraid (I can hear you all blubbing at the very thought *lol*)

Well finally, after what seems like months, it was Peg Leg's (aka Millie the Menace) xray appointment today under general anaesthetic, and we were hoping her leg would have healed nicely and they could remove the exterior scaffholding. But, as always, nothing runs smoothly in the Grant-Wright household and unfortunately on picking her up they advised they have had to realign the metal work as, although healing, her bone was going askew and, unless we wanted her to have a wonky leg, it had to be done. So she has at least another three weeks with the metalwork until her next xray when they'll reassess her progress.

She chatted to me all the way home in the car, obviously pleased to be back with her lovely marmy rather than at the strangely smelling vets with all those silly barking and whiny doggies. She's proudly sporting a luminous green bandage over the scaffholding, which she was showing off to the others, when treacle, the oldest and bossiest of the four, took a sniff at her, and must have had a whiff of said pongy doggies and started whacking the hell out of her with her paw. So, I booted her out of the front door (not literally might I add, no calls to the RSPCA please!) telling her I hope a bigger and older cat picks on her to see how she likes it.

God help when I have kiddies! And yes, my neighbours are quite used to seeing me chat to our pets in the street. Most of them chat with Rocky too, although they haven't moved into kitty chit chat territory yet. See, I'm not the only bonkers person around here!!

Katrina came over yesterday as planned, made a birthday card for my lovely buddy and fellow crafter, Carol - Happy Birthday Chick!! Not sure about the result - it's ages since I've done any stamping and must admit I'm more than rusty. Mum and Katrina brought me back some scrapworks goodies, and these Hampton arts chinese stamps from Cardiff last week - so had to give 'em a go!! Used Versamark to stamp the watermark bamboo onto the pink paper too - that's my favourite stamping technique. Anyway, realised how much more freedom and creativity you get with Scrapping, and how I don't think I'll ever be able to sit and make cards all evening again. Funny how you change like that isn't it?! See, wouldn't it have been nice if I could have inserted a pic of said card here?!
Took some nice pics of Bump anyway. Took them in Black and white, and on my landing where the voile panel on the window helped give a really bright yet diffused lighting. And wouldn't it have been nice to insert said pictures here? Used them to make that secret LO I was telling you about - looks nice too - sorry I can't divulge any more info than that at present.....but I know you all like a bit of suspense! Heck - you've waited four days for this post - can't get more suspense than that can ya?!

So that's it for now...............catch you later blogger dudes!!