Far too early ....

....to be up on a bank holiday, but thought I may as well put my time to good use and do a bit of over-due blogging!

The weeks are flying by and I can't believe that my first year of lectures as a uni student is over, done and dusted! We return for a week of exams after the Easter hols, and then we're out in school until mid June. My sweet little class will not be together again, as next year we'll be split depending on whether we want to do the course over three or four years, so we all headed out for a little meal last week to spend some final time together as "1B" :)

I'm so thankful for having met two of the girls (I scrapped them previously in the "Alright Bird?" LO) so decided I wanted to give them a little token to say thanks, and remembered the itsy bitsy minibook I learned to make at the retreat last year. They are only about and inch and a half high and you have to be brave with the shrink plastic! But they are really quite quick to make, and I whipped up three in an evening. Two are for the girls, and one is for my Gran. It was her birthday a couple of weeks ago and I ashamedly have not been able to get down there (more about that in a bit), so thought a little hand made gift may go some way as an apology, or at least ease my guilt a little! My gran is a very creative person so I'm sure she'll like it. I think I have her to thank for my love of making stuff, she always - and still does to some extent - had some sort of fascinating project on the go when I was growing up!!

Yeah, so the reason I have been unable to get down to see her in person is that my car blew up!!! Truly - billowing smoke and everything! Apparently it's the turbo that's gone, and the main dealers (always pricey I know) quoted us £1,100 and something PLUS VAT for the part alone. Eeeeek! Being a measly student we don't have that kinda money waiting about for a rainy day, so as of yet the car is still sitting outside going nowhere. So we're looking into reconditioned units instead of a brand new one, and saving every spare penny lol! It's been a total nightmare as Lee sold his car before I started uni as running two cars on one wage was a no-no. So we are transport-less, and both Lee's work and my school placement are a bugger to get to. I know we shouldn't rely on cars so much anyway and use public transport blah blah, but the buses here really are crap so it's tough - I want my gas guzzling car back!!! lol!

Lee's employers have actually been great though and he's had a loan of the pool car when he's really needed it to get back and fore. And I've got some really proud news about him with work too - he's been offered promotion to manage the house he works in!!! He has to complete some qualifications first, but they are keeping the position open for him until he's done that, and providing on-the-job training in the mean time.

As I've been off uni this week I've spent loads of time with my super cute niece. She was supposed to stay over last night (she's never stayed here overnight without her mummy or daddy before!) but she's had a tummy bug so I thought it was best she stayed with those who are more used to changing scary stinky nappies than I am!!! However, here's a pic of her earlier this week, after polishing off some of Uncle Lee's special spaghetti bolognese! This really is a miracle moment because she is going through a finicky eating phase and worrying her mother half to death; the only thing she'll eat is fromage frais :(

She must have really enjoyed Lee's cooking cos she even got it up her nose!

Speaking of cooking, the Sainsbury advert with Jamie Oliver cooking some yummy concoction involving marmalade, custard and hot cross buns had had me drooling all week. I can confirm that we are well-stocked with said ingredients and we will be scoffing this at some point (or several points!) over the bank Holiday weekend :)

Happy Easter everyone xxxx