Fluffy!

Yep – I’m feeling all fluffy on the inside this evening! (In a good way I hasten to add – not in a windy way!)

Today Lee and I whiled away the hours at a health spa in Cardiff – it was my Christmas pressie from last year………..the thought of having to climb into a swimming cossie put me off booking it for 10 months, but seeing as the voucher expires on Friday I thought I better get my big lardy butt into that lycra hell that is my swimsuit and make good use of my sweetie’s thoughtful gift.

But after all that worrying, it was lush, I must say, and worth all the squeezing, flab folding and roll adjusting it took to get into my bather, as well as all the industrial breath-holding necessary whist making my wibble-wobble way from the changing rooms to the pool, to the Jacuzzi, and back again. We also made use of the sauna and steam bath (don’t know what the scented stuff infused in the steam was, but not sure if it was really legal to drive home after getting a lung full of that in ya!) But the best part of the day just had to be the back massage and facial we had at the Elemis salon. It truly was heaven on earth and I probably would have fallen asleep on the treatment table if I hadn’t been so self-conscious of the possibility of revealing my elephant-strangling-a-hippo style snoring in such idyllic surroundings (well, in public in general if truth be told!)

The facilities were fab and even the changing rooms were to die for – (now excuse me if this is everyday life for you, but you are reading my blog here y’ know!) – the towels were soo fluffy; there was a machine to spin your cossie off in and bags to put your wet kit into; and then these huge dressing table areas, complete with beautifully laid out tissues, cotton pads, hairdryers and even hand cream for your use after a swim. Yummbelina!

Hence the lubberly fluffy warm feeling inside and out – my skin is just sooooo smooth! Of course – I had a perfect complection already (mwooohahaha), but it’s now even wonderfuller!!!!

Only downside to the whole ordeal is that Lee thinks it would be fab for us to go swimming three times a week now – "fabby" I cry through gritted teeth and watering eyes! Doesn’t he realise that I do not wish to repeat the ordeal of twenty mintues to squeeze into a swimsuit and another 45 to peel it off again anytime soon………(how come they are sooooo much trickier once they’ve got wet – it’s like trying to strip off a layer of skin and half your innards to boot! Youch!!!) Unless of course it involves another facial and massage!!!! Hehehe!!

The other thing is that if we had facilities like that nearer here I'd go flippin well twice a DAY if he wanted, they were that luxurious, but truth is our local pools are so manky that the mere thought of them is enough to bring me out in verrucae, perish the thought of taking an actual dip in one.

Other lovely happenings this week have been having lunch with Gems and gorgeous Ashton – awwww she’s such a sweetie – well they both are really lol!

And also – for the first time in yeeeeears – I’ve read a book! Yes I know – I can hear the guffaws amongst you now – but ‘tis true – I can really read! Just haven’t done it in a long time what with my crazy shifts and sleep pattern! But I saw advertised earlier this week that one of my favourite books of all time, The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, has been made into a two-part chrimbo special for Sky. They spent six million squiddies on it and the heart warming David Jason is starring in one of the lead roles – so it should be a goodun! If you’ve never read a Discworld novel, but have an off-the-wall sense of humour and enjoy fantasty type stuff (or not even!) – you don’t know what you’ve been missing! So I dusted off my copy for a re-read – and sat in the corner tittering to myself all through Saturday, much to the annoyance of Lee who was apparently trying to watch the X-factor (Which in fact brings me to another point. Should I be worried about this?! Does anyone else’s male spouse watch this talent show with more interest than themselves?!)

Well, that’s it for now me finks as I’m all fluffied out! Catch up with you all soon!

Norty Norty!

I've been a vewwwwy naughty girlie!

My arm has been well and truly twisted (ouch!) and I have booked a place at the Scrappers Unlimited Brecons 2 retreat in April, despite the daunting situation that I will be lacking the companionship of my scrapping partner in crime, Gems (bluming Uni finals - who needs 'em eh?!)

Those of you who REALLY know me will know what I shy little wimp I really am, and what a big step going to something like this all on my lonesome is!

So if I spend the weekend crying for my mamma, Chrissie Willicombe will be held solely responsible for my emotional distress, ok?!!!

Will try my hardest to be back tomorrow with a proper update and some piccies.

Love ya xxxx

Catch Up!

Cruising UKS this evening and a couple of blog prompts caught my eye and I thought I’d play catch up!

Tuesday’s Prompt: "Just living is not enough" said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." Hans Christian AndersenWhat do YOU need to be more than 'just living'? Are you doing/getting it now?
Ok, so this is going to sound way too corny – but it’s very true – what more can I want than the unconditional love of my family and the warmth of my friends? With none of these special people around me life would be dull.

Wednesday’s Prompt: What has been the best time of your life? Why?
It’s hard to pin point the one best time of my life. This is because things just seem to get better all the time. I don’t mean that in a yee-ha woo-hoo hang out the flags literal sense – it’s just that I find, even when times are difficult or don’t seem to be panning out as I wish, they soon pass and things start to fit into place and come together, and the overall experience and lessons learnt along the way make life better in itself -make me a more open, learned and better person. No matter how bad (or even how good!) things appear, I always find that if I look back a couple of weeks, or months or years, I feel that life seems, in one way or another, better in the here and now. Does that make any sense to anyone else?!!!

Thursday’s Prompt: Treasures are positive things that strike our fancy, that make us feel happy or thankful or interested. Treasures are events or feelings encapsulated in our memories, usually in just a few words. The things we treasure reveals something about us. Today's prompt: List 5 Treasures from the past week. Discuss each very briefly.
1) My first cuddle with my beautiful and precious newborn niece last Friday.
2) Having a dream that Lee and I had taken a holiday to Africa. In real life Lee will not fly, but in my dream his flight was a success! We spent time catching golden tans and looking at wooden carvings in a beautiful shopping mall. The dream was so relaxing, I woke up feeling totally refreshed and that I had really been on holiday!
3) My, and I quote, “firm friendship” with Gems Meadon being immortalised forever in the pages of Scrapbook Inspirations magazine – love ya chick!
4) Lee phoning me at work to tell me he loves me, even though he threw the remote control at me in a temper before I left – resulting in it breaking! Ooops!
5) Having a good catch up with my friend Ali on the phone – miss her so much since she left work. I’m terrible at keeping in touch with peeps, but she makes sure we don’t loose touch.

So that’s me all caught up on some recent prompts. There’s at least a couple of scrapbook pages in there somewhere I reckon!!

Katrina and Andrew went home with Ellie on Sunday, and she’s even more gorgeous out of hospital!! Her hair is an inch long – it’s amazing! It’s quite funny but she seems happiest in the arms of a strong man – lol – don’t know where she gets that from! What a girl! Will have to get some more photos uploaded. But I can confirm she’s already been scrapped – I made her LO on Sunday afternoon in response to last weeks UKS challenge. It’s suitably pink and sparkly, and as soon as I get round to taking a pic I’ll add it here for your perusal!!
Until then my lovelies, take care xxx

Introducing Miss Ellie Melissa Grey

I'm sure she'll fast become the star of many a scrapbook page near you soon!!! We are all totally in love and I think this post needs little words as the pictures speak for themselves. Mamma and babba expecting to return home tomorrow afternoon!!!!

Ellie Sleeping In Auntie Nattie's Arms Wrinkly Little Hands Little Pixie!
Mummy's GirlProud Dad
Very Proud NannyProud Uncle Lee Thanks for looking blogeroonies!!! xxxx

Read all about it!!

Wooohooo!

Eleven days overdue, and after almost 35 hours of labour, I'm absolutely ecstatic to announce that little Ellie Melissa has made her long awaited appearance into the word!!

Yey! It's a girl!!

Weighing in at a healthy 8lb 1oz (not too big after all!) - Cee is the lucky winner of the guess the weight game (drop me an email Cee so we can sort out your pressie!). Mum and Ellie are both doing well!

A big thank you to everyone who joined in the fun, and everyone who has been sending their love and support and eagerly awaiting the news just as we have been! It means so much to me, and to my sister, that so many people, in some cases so far away, care :)

As luck would have it – I haven’t seen my new little niece yet! We sat waiting outside the delivery suite from lunch time, and having to work this evening even arranged cover to go in a little later to wait out for the big announcement, but time was pressing on and I eventually had to leave for work at 8.35 – with little Ellie coming in to the world at twenty to nine!!! I’m gutted to have missed out on cuddles tonight with her, but my sister did find the time to send me a photo text of her though - so I've at least got an idea of how cute and scrumptious a little bundle she is!!

I can hardly contain my excitement for visiting hours tomorrow! I promise to get loads of cute pictures and share them with you all asap!!!

Nite nite xxxxx

Update!

Howdy all!

Just to let you know that Katrina went in for her appointment to be induced this morning, but very happily her labour has since started naturally before they needed to intervene!

Her waters have currently not broken, and she's been advised to walk (or wobble!) around for the next hour to see if that helps, otherwise they will break them for her!!!!

Needless to say, we are all very excited!!

Watch this space.......!

*Twiddling my Thumbs*

No news to report on the bubba front I'm afraid! On the suggestion of Helen from Krafters this morning we tried eating icecream whilst driving (quickly) over speed bumps, but it didn't work either!!! Poor girl!

Anyway - I do have some pictures, as promised!

The first is the long awaited double layout of Burryport Harbour. It's taken me about a month to finish in dribs and drabs, but 'tis done now. Rome weren't built in a day y'know! It's a bit of a change to the more muted tones I've been working with lately - but felt the bright and bold Scenic Route papers were just perfect for the pictures. Other elements used were the chipboard letter from Provocraft, and the Plain Jane chipboard arrow which I heat embossed to give it a lovely black shiny finish. The letter stickers are by Kelly Pannachi (I think!), blossoms by Prima and Bazzill Basics and the yummy ribbons are American Craft. And what self respecting page of mine would be seen without a splash of machine stiching whirred across it?!!!!
The main photo of Lee flips up to reveal the story of how Amelia Earhart, the world famous airwoman, and her crew made their historical landing in the tiny harbour marking the first transatlantic crossing by a woman. Who'd have though a tiny village in South Wales would have played such an important role in history eh?!


Next up is the page I'd planned of Me, Mum and Kat's big bump, describing how we have to stand sideways to give her a hug at the moment! This page was quite a breath of fresh air for me as I managed to finish it in around four hours! Woohoo! As I mentioned ages ago when talking about Ali Edwards' simple style, I'm really determined to shave down the time spent on my pages in order to become more productive and get all those memories scrapped - and I feel I achieved that here. I tried to just go with the flow rather than painfully deliberating over every tiny detail, and the bold colours help compensate for the simplicity of the design. I've also been reading Elsie's book too - so I'm busy doodling over all my photos at the moment!!!

My last page was the one I completed at the South Wales crop and got a wee prize for. The challenge was to complete a page around the theme of being busy – and as you all know my favourite pastime is to busy myself doing nothing!! So the words of the song formed a cute little border right around the page, with the main journaling talking about how, although it may look to others as if I idle my days away – I’m actually busy doing my own little thang – and very happy for it!!
The pictures depict my favourite ways to while away my time – “Scrapping, slurping, surfing” and of course… “sleeping”!! I wanted a really busy feel to the LO to reflect the theme– hence the mish mash of bright colours and embellishments – I wanted almost every inch of the page to be filled. I also wanted the photos to pop off the page, so added "overflowing" elements to bring the pics to life; such as the teddys snoring "zzz", the real prima flowers layered over the ones in the photo, and the doodled/painted swirl from the mug. Again – I can’t believe I managed to finish a page in one sitting, but I think it was down to the “go with the flow” vibe, not to mention the pineapple chunk sweets and Gems keeping a close eye on proceedings!
Right then, I do believe it's well past my bed time; if I sit here much longer no doubt I'll turn back into a pumpkin! Hope everyone is fine and dandy, and will catch up with you all soon.
Nite nite my blogeroonies xxxxx

For Ye Olde Impatient Bloggers!!!

Alright, alright already!!

I haven't updated, but that's because I've been holding out thinking my next post would be the birth announcement - but the naughty likkle bubba still hasn't made an appearance yet - leaving my poor ole sis ever so tired and fed up!

Baby is now one week over due - which is quite something considering that the medical team never thought she'd go full term in the first place!!

Kat's booked in to be induced on Wednesday - however she phoned earlier to say she thinks that, in the words of wrinkly crooner Rod Stewart (sorry Mum, but he is wrinkly these days!), tonight's the night, as she "feels different".

So.....maybe by tomorrow I'll be an aunty?!!!

Promise to be back tomorrow with a proper update and some scrapping-related photos - unfortunately I have to now drag myself off to work for a sleep-in shift I volunteered to cover weeks ago. Strange how it always seems a good idea at the time - but how sorry you are when they come around!

And a big thanks to everyone who's joined in the guess the baby weight fun - it's not too late if anyone else wants to register a guess on the last post :)

Catch you all soon xxx