Little Chef, Little Books, Big Results

For the most part, the word of the week in our house is 'little', however even little can be big sometimes...according to what it is! This is how this week started out:
Charley asked Jay to do him some toast, so after a chunt and a chant cos I threw the minging toaster out he got up and done it the old fashioned way, under the grill. But Charley being Charley had a million other things for Jay to do and being the dutiful older brother, Jay wasn't too quick to say no. This is how a little meal happens with big style.....

A round of applause to Jaymie!! He will never live this one down!! :) On seeing the literal burnt offerings Charley and Kirsten decided to do some baking, only they wanted to do cupcakes but I didn't have the right cups. After much debate and my voice still going unheard I decided to let them prove me right instead of me proving them wrong...that the shape will not be like the one in the picture I printed off! But, give em their credit, they had fun, done a good job and even sort of tidied up after themselves! :)

This time it was I that almost done a Jaymie! A bemused Kirsten and a chuckling Charley, this is what the oven done! :) Kirsten made the pitiful joke something to the tune of 'pity you cant edit your cooking mum like you can a picture!' Does she REALLY want that PSP for her birthday?!!! Lol :)


Blow me down, if the dog didn't go get a look in too! The plate of cooling (failed) cupcakes was in his reach thanks to the lil guy...and one disappeared with a flash...so much so by the time I leapt the 10 steps to him this is what was left...


Too much going on, too much sun and too much laughing...my lil dude just couldn't keep up and cuddled up on the sofa...with the dogs smelly blanket!! :)

This evening, after a lovely day at Sonia's (**waves**) crop in Gloucester, I was so inspired by all the lovely projects and stuff the ladies had made that I sat at my desk, ignored the phone, email pings and the calls for mum and came up with this....it is to be a book for my mum to tell her all the things I want her to know that I wouldn't usually say to her. Just because she's the bestestest!! :)


This tiny book actually folds out to a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock, counting both sides it has 22 folded squares that I am going to use to tell 22 facts of what I love about one of my kids...its for someone in particular and I aint saying who!! Hehe I wanted something that when it was read it was totally, 100% from me to that person, things only a mother would say or know.

It's really easy to make and ideal for something so personal. The ribbon is woven with 'A Mothers Love' repeated throughout in muted colours, so suits the theme perfectly. When i've added the journaling I will show ya and i'll include the instructions too incase you wanna have a go.

I'd like to say that's all the excitement in our house but it isnt! I have the Bosnia theme going on in our house. While Jay has been gutting, cleaning, chopping, strimming, digging and hosing the gardens I have been wading through box after box after box to sort stuff out that needs new homes. I took a lot of stuff to Sonia's crop today, a lot of which went rather speedily which pleased me to bits. Thanks Sonia for allowing me to do that and to have a great day with you all! :) The girls that go there are just the sweetest! :)

For the first time ever I ran out of double sided sticky tape, can you believe it? I mean, how can you run short, much less run out! Doh So off I went shopping, which I wasn't going to do till Monday but needs must! Tesco didn't have any (double sided tape, keep up!!) so Charley and I jetted over to Asda, they too hadn't got any. This was getting serious so on the verge of being prepared to pay in gold for one used roll of double sided sticky tape I text Sonia...I think she's so fed up of me today!! :) The gal saved the day! So I jetted over the other side of Gloucester, again (only the 4th time today!), had a bit of a chat n giggle then came home, oh that was after an insult here n there!! :D Gotta luv her! :) Thanks hun, your so cool :)

What I want to know is why do I have a rather large corner desk, much less stuff on it yet have the tiniest bit of workspace? I admit to being the messiest worker EVER no matter how hard I try, but bit by bit I can feel my space getting less, even to the point of my 12 x 12 sheet getting stuck or overlapping something or other. I admit however that once in a while I will get so frustrated that i'll lean forward and do the breast stroke, pushing everything out the way onto the floor! Kirsten looks at me, rolls her eyes and says 'and you say my room is disgusting?'. Oh the shame! NOT!!

I had 12 gorgeous red roses yesterday! :D How lucky am I? The card was simple, but deep, just my style! :D I want to photo them properly to remember them, I might even share too! :D I love flowers, all flowers are just the surest way to get me smiling and pondering. Ok, I've had too much fresh air, bite me!! :)

Today, I'm glad to say is the Sabbath, and I fully intend to steer clear of boxes and their contents, well apart from those that I trip over, and I intend to steer clear of anything that remotely reminds me of Sizzix, bread trays and wheels!! Ok I have to use the car to go to church but THATS IT!! I have declared to all kids that today is going to be a family day, even if it means we sit around all day (which i'm really, really hoping to do!!) cos this last week quality time went right out the window far, far away! :)

Ok, enough from me. I hope to be joining in HS:MS again next week, cos goodness knows, I dont have a clue what happened to this week!! :)

Have a great Sunday!

Debsx

Wonderpet, Wonderpets we're on our way...!!

This is what my 'wonderpets' are singing today...Charley loves this programme on Nick Jr and is forever singing it as he struts around, now I have Princess Kirsten dancing around with new words but same tune...Charley encourages her and every now and again I get a palpitation as the pitch goes up a few bazillion decibels! Oh how I love happy children...and today mine are definitely wonderpets!! :D

Talking of pets, I have a lil black fur ball that answers to the name of Jake who is most definitely on a death wish. Whilst Kirsten and I were taking turns looking after Charley throughout last night while the poor little dude was throwing up and coughing, the mutt decided it was a great time to play! He was dashing round the landing, in and out of each room, skidding on the laminate floors and sounding like he was about to yelp at any minute. I was convinced after half hour he would crash n burn before the neighbours came round and threatened that law thats still in place: Murder! However, the mutt was tireless for almost FOUR hours! During which time Charley had threw up three times, had four sets of pj's on, been sponged down 3/4 times and got through a good litre of warm water. Kirsten and I was hanging out of our eyeballs yet we couldn't leave him. I got the grand total of 3 hours sleep after the mutt eventually calmed down...though I do wonder if my size 5's had anything to do with it on his head?!! JOKE!! Pmsl I wouldn't hurt him for anything! :) Kirsten summed up zero hours sleep, poor doll is shattered but cant quite drop off so i've left her in her room to chill out. That was after we went for a walk over the field! Charley needed some air, the dog needed to release that energy and I just needed to wake up a bit! Now though, we are back huddled on my bed threatening to get in the shower but not quite there yet and totally happy to veg all day long!! Go figure!!

Kirsten has just made our second appointment at the nail technicians salon and we are excited! Last time we went we had a full hand treatment, the massage, polish, trim and french manicure. This time we shall go for the same but i'm having acrylics again, I figured with some of the events I have coming up I will need to get my already well cared for nails looking even nicer and well...I just like acrylics! :) We are also booked in at the hair salon, this is a treat we have every 6 weeks or so, just cos our hair is so long and well, there's only so much I will do on hers and my hair! :) Charley, not wanting to miss out, has already had his hair chopped real short, and looks the right lil man I can tell ya! I like being a girl...it most definitely has advantages!:)

Kirsten is off to her nans later today ro tomorrow for the week (the correct Easter term holiday!!) so its just going to be Charley and me and the mutt! I have a few plans with him but I can only follow those through if he doesnt develop any infection or something. So fingers crossed! :) I shall be spending this weekend finishing off the write up for the Tag Book and then I just have a few finishing touches for the other book then they're both ready to go on my site :)

I bought a Cricut a few weeks back, its turned into a major disaster, the person I purchased it from has mysteriously vanished! I have details and Paypal are investigating it but I feel more frustrated and annoyed at the lack of communication, that really narks me!! So for now I am STILL without Cricut and I am not a happy chick! :( All that time I was saving 1p, 2p,5p, 10p, 20p's all seems to be for nothing!!! Grrrr And on the subject of gadgets, my camera STILL hasn't been collected and i've been waiting for months now! My continuous moans to the insurance company is tedious and I have had to get very mean with them now, paying an extra £200 for extended warranty was not what I expected! So i'm still battling on with pot luck photos but I admit that the heart has gone out of it now. I miss so many photo opportunities that I am convinced i'm going to have a big gap in my family journal and our albums, thats annoying too! Ok I have to stop being annoyed, its does nothing for me wrinkles!! :) :)

Ok the Lady of the Manor has entered the shower which means I have to move my butt and get motivated again. Charley has just nodded off on my bed so now is a perfect time to sort out his toy boxes! Joy! :)
Debsx

Utterly Shameful ~ but am I bovvered?

I dont give a stuff :) I been in this house now since end of September, I've decorated all but three rooms, got all but 1 room how I want it and only have about 24 more boxes to unpack (which are tucked away nicely in the shed) so to my way of thinking, who cares that my dining room is like Bosnia? I don't!! :)
My bedroom is a very big double, I have a large corner desk in there, a triple wardrobe, a chest of drawers, shelf unit plus my double bed and bedside units (ok and a couple of boxes! tut) and I still have plenty of room to do the happy dance (which is a daily ritual...to count my blessings!) but for all good intentions I cannot settle in there to do the scrapping I planned to do. So bit by bit my dining room, which doubles as a storage area for my ebay stuff, has become a combination of 3....dining room, craft area and storage area....last night though I decided it was just not going to work and something had to move out...so the ebay stuff is going to charity tomorrow!! :D Priorities n all that!!
I did, however, manage to sort out two boxes of ribbons last night whilst talking to me mate Sonia (**waves**) who happens to live just a couple of miles away so to me I was rather tickled that we'd sit for hours on msn yapping!! Got to be chick thing eh?!! Lol So, in the end, by about 1am I ended up with 8 draws (the rest are still being emptied!) of ribbons sorted into colours...here's my PINK drawer.....



I figured i'd share what the dining room looks like right now...after i've spent an hour and half tidying it, de-rubbishing it and well, making piles of the piles!! :)

Of course there has to be somewhere close to hand for those essentials! All I have to do is twist my neck and look what I have looking at me? Hmm competition there Duane!! :D Not really babe...I know which side my breads buttered!! ;)

Does stuff multiply when you add space? Hmm would really like to know how this lot got on this chair...cos I really dont remember putting it there!! :(

The reason for the big tidy up? Cos I trashed the room after working on this lil baby. It's a paper bag book (good ole tesco mushrooms!!) covered with Fancy Pants cardstock...dont ask which one cos I forgot! I covered one side with the dots or the stripe, and the reverse with a plane but matching plain cardstock. The Winnie the Pooh card hanging inside there is from a notebook I have, over 500 different designs and styles in one book, so I thought i'd trim them down to fit as inserts to the book. I've cut little shapes to make a tag on each insert and covered the back with a matching plain cardstock. The inserts are intended to be for journalling, or if used in a cj can be used as the sign in tags! For me this is going to be my planner, I missed three appointments this week and cannot afford to do that, so I need to get organised with a book that is appropriate to what i'm doing (official appointments have an official grown up black book or file!!) . The inside of the bags is an ideal place to store extra info, business cards etc and its all in one place. Perfect!!
This is not going to be a class on my site but if anyone wants instructions for the book i'm happy to share, just email me or leave a comment n i'll get back to ya :)

So, here we are, Sunday morning, its freezing cold, I'm missing not being in church and i'm sitting here when I should be getting in the shower n getting dressed. I have family visiting today so had to stay home, which is a mix of pleasure and not so pleasure but hey ho, cant have it all can we?! I have prepared dinner, which today is going to be beef casserole. I have decided that regular sized dishes are just too much for the three of us so each week I cook a couple of meals, put them in foil containers and freeze them. That way we each have what we fancy, especially when I do lasagne, cottage pie, sheppards pie, fish pie, spagetti bolognaise etc. I dont use processed foods so this is a good way to ensure the kids get all the goodness they need and i'm even able to hide the peas!! Now that is what I call MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! Hehehe
Now I need to thaw out, after chasing the dog round the garden in the hope of dislodging his constipation I think i'm more unfit than I care to admit to! You know its bad when your running round and your still cold!! Doh!!
Who likes One Republic? Oh sheesh....he's HOT!! Not a patch on my Duane though..but still HOT!! Just thought i'd share!! :)
Debsxx