Here I go again..

Off to Italy on Sunday morning. We shall be in Tuscany this time. Hope to visit, Florence, Pisa, Lucca and a few other places. Hopefully lots of photo' opportunities.

I am going with Bev.She called this afternoon to ask if I would take some shampoo as she only had a very large bottle of 'the one that is supposed to make you go OOOH , Aaahhh in the shower'.Hmmm maybe I'd rather use that one!!

Bye for now.

Little things...

make me smile. Lindsay came for dinner on Sunday evening. Yesterday whilst sitting in my craft room I glanced up and saw this message on my white board. Ahaaa! (sorry about the flash but I cant take the board off the wall).

Still tidying..

This week we have had a good clear out in the garage. All the 'stuff' left by the girls has now gone and now Michael just has to clear his work top and tidy the cupboards . We can actually walk through it now without risking life and limb!

At the moment I am having a sort out in my craft room. Lots of 'stuff' has been just put down in there and it was getting a bit crowded. It wasn't encouraging me to scrap or sew. I have two lots of curtains to alter so that was the impetus to make some room.

I finished this LO last night at MKScrappers and the clock at the last Sunday one,it is up on the wall and working although it took me a while to get the hands moving properly and not snagging on each other or the sparkly gems.

Just had a new chest of drawers delivered for the back bedroom so I'm off now to arrange that and then the room is almost finished.

Comparisons.

Well, here I am home again. We had a lovely week in West sussex, so lucky with the weather, sun every day. We enjoyed a visit to Brighton , wandering the 'Lanes' and then a promenade along the pier. Arundel is a very nice little town with some lovely shops ,one of which benefitted extremely well by our two visits. The castle there is beautifully kept but a little too clean and tidy to be able to picture it as it was 900 years ago. We spent Wednesday at a super Farm Park where there were pony , tractor and combine harvester rides, carousels, big slides and bouncy castles, paddling pool as well as all the animals.The beach at West Wittering is beautiful and we had a picnic there on Thursday, a real English seaside day. Friday was our second visit to Arundel and then a walk along the sea front at Littlehampton.

As I mentioned in my last entry I spent quite a lot of time in Littlehampton as a child and we came across some photo's of me on the sea front green there, probably around ( dare I say it ) 1956 ! We decided to try to find the same spot by using the buildings in the background as a guide. We found them but it all looks very different nowThen cars could park all along the green ,now there is a car park and although the buildings are still there there are newer ones slotted in between. Here are some now and then photo's for comparison.

Off again

on my travels. This time just a week down near Littlehampton in our caravan. Rachael, Ethan and Beverly are coming too. Michael and I are going down Friday afternoon and will be joined by the others on Saturday plus Gary. The caravan and awning will be a little crowded but only for one night as Michael and Gary will be leaving Sunday morning and have to work all week, poor things.

As a small girl I remember a whole gang of us, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins often
setting off for a day at the seaside.One day that sticks in my mind was when we children found a whole hoard of pennies and half-pennies at the top of the beach. We took them to a police man ( yes, they did just happen to be around in those days) and he told us to keep them. Wow, riches indeed, kept us all in penny chews for weeks!

Thinking about this has made me determined to do a book of random memories, I may not have photo's of many of my memories so will have to journal more, this will be a challenge for me.

Here's hoping the better weather holds...

Life laundry.

One of the jobs I have set myself for this summer is to have a good sort out of STUFF. So, I started this morning with the cupboard under the stairs. How did I fit soooo much STUFF in there!! We can now walk right into it and the ironing board looks quite lonely ( pity I couldn't get rid of that). When I've had a sandwich, banana and a cup of tea I'm off to the local dump. The rest of the STUFF will go to a charity shop and I have a little gift for the local Lace circle. During the week I hope to make a start on the garage and tonight I will begin an overhaul on my scrapping supplies.



Getting ahead, we have booked next years summer holiday, we are off to Egypt, can't wait to see the pyramids in real life. Michaels' Grandma was born in Egypt so we are particularly pleased to be going.



My 'baby' will be 23 years old tomorrow. Here she is with one of her lovely black labs.. She celebrated with friends yesterday evening so a family meal is planned for tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY 'FLUFFY'.!

Oven to Freezer!

Well, it seems like we have moved from the oven to to freezer. Two beautiful sunny weeks in Turkey then back to DULL and WET and CHILLY.

We all had a great time, mostly being very lazy around the pool but also took some super excursions. A 'Gullet' cruise saw us in pretty coves, swimming in the warm sea water with lunch on board. The mud baths and thermal pool were an experience and the Ecoventure was such fun and an excuse to act like a 10 year old for the day!

The resort was brilliant, everything very clean , good food and entertainment. I wish I could have put that lovely hot holiday feeling in a box to be opened when needed, which would be all the time at the moment!!

We're off!

Yes, we are off to Turkey , just finishing our packing. Can't wait to see some real sunshine.

My aforementioned mission has gone well and will be carried on whilst I am away.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Ups and downs

Yes, a very up and down week. At Olney crop on Sunday, I made an altered clipboard for our Deputy Head who is leaving at the end of term and also completed a LO. Good company and our new venue along with lots of ideas put forward for future kits and classes made for a really good day. Will post piccies later.

The events on Sunday in Glasgow made me feel a little uneasy about travelling next weekend. Having said that I do truly believe we must not let these lunatics win by not carrying on as normal with our lives.

Michael was away last night and not expected home until late tonight but his plans were changed. He actually got home far earlier than usual and so, took me out for dinner at our favourite Chinese resturant as it is our 31st wedding anniversary.

I had some very sad news today. My cousin died this morning at the age of 52. She was 10 weeks younger than me and although we haven't had alot of contact over the past few years, we did spend alot of time together during our childhood and teenage years. I will remember her for her happy and loud laugh. We always knew where she was just by listening for that. She leaves her husband and two teenage sons , two sisters and her Mum. They are in my thoughts tonight and in the difficult days to come.