Relaxing

Saturday afternoon, chilling with my man, can't be bad can it?
Spent the morning up at Crabapple for a coffee morning, very nice it was too despite Rosemary's lack of voice.
Came back full of idea's.

This week has been very social for me. it is either a feast of a famine when it comes to socialising with me.  I don't go out for weeks then it is three nights in a row.  This happened this week.

Tuesday I went over to Chester to meet one of my very favourite bloggers Marie.  She had a Pampered Chef party and I really enjoyed it, ordered a couple or few things;)  but didn't really get much time with Marie, which was a shame.  She did however show me some of her delightful drawings for a big project she has on the go. I cannot wait for it all to come together.  We will be getting together soon though and I am looking forward enjoying some of her cooking:)

Wednesday night I was round at my daughters for a natter, that is always great.
Thursday night was Curry night with Norma, Jean, Lorraine and Ann, always a good night, especially when Ann gets tiddly.

Yesterday my gorgeous Emily came to to some scrap booking and was supposed to stay over.  But at 7:30pm the tears started and she wanted her mummy. Since she was ill she will not sleep over anywhere, we thought she was making progress when she agreed to stay last night, but alas it was not to be. The problem is, we are taking Emily, Jessica and Jazmine on holiday in June and we need to get her  into a different mindset before then.  Has anyone out there got any idea's for encouraging her?  I would be grateful for any realistic thoughts.

Well I am off to enjoy the rest of the weekend with Ralph, hope you have a good one.

Off To Meet Another Blogger Friend Tonight....

I am going to meet the lovely Marie tonight, she is hosting a Pampered Chef party.  I have heard of Pampered Chef but not been to a party so I am looking forward to it on both counts.
I really enjoy getting to know people out there in Blogland, meeting them face to face is a real thrill for me.
I better make sure I have got my camera with me. I will report back tomorrow:)

Fab Weekend

I have had a brilliant weekend, with two of my most favourite people in the world.
My Trish and My Ralph, they are both wonderful people and I so enjoy being both of them.
Scrapbooking up at Crabapple was great, we had a laugh or two or maybe more..lol
Then we went to Pizza Hut then to see "The Kings Speech" Excellent film.
Today after an American breakfast, it was back to Crabapple for more fun.

Now I am sat of the sofa with my man, watching Dancing on Ice, totally relaxed after a Fab Weekend

Weekend With My Bezzy

I am thrilled at the thought, my darling Trish will be arriving tomorrow for a weekend of fun.
We are going to Scrappy Happy up at Crabapple Crafts. I have printed off 90 photo's of the 2,500 we took of our holiday;)  This morning will be sorting my papers, ribbons and embellishment's. It is a long time since I have had dedicated scrapping time for me, I have had scrapping days for my lovely granddaughters but not done any for me.  Can't wait:)

Sigh.....

I have been getting some photo's ready for a scrapbooking weekend with Trish up at Crabapple.
Here are some I have chosen so far.

 

Guess where I would like to be right now?










Spot the difference yesterday, was my eyes. No Chris I cannot wear contact's:) they are my own lol.

Spot The Difference

Can You?

Cuddly or Fat?

Fat Bear or Fat She?

This is how I see me at the moment.

I am looking for inspiration....

Again..............

Enough is Enough Sheilagh!!!

You know that three pounds I lost last week?
I found them again this morning!!
I weigh 224 pounds and 54 of them are not welcome here.
You have heard it all before...I am tired all the time, sluggish, bloated, old and decrepit.
So although I do not want to "diet"  I need to change my diet, my attitude, my plan's.
I have weighed and measured myself, oh yuck:(
I have dusted of the Wii, do you know it is 89 days since I last used it?
We now have the Wii and the Xbox Kinect, so between them they may whip me into shape.
As well as the gym membership that Ralph pays for each month that has not been used for 6 months!!
I have go to get back on track.......
Apart from that, we have had a lovely weekend.
Hope you did to:)

Bring It On...

The weekend that is.....

We were going to Scotland this weekend, but a mixture of the weather and Swine flu has changed our plan's. Snow in Scotland and Swine flu on the increase, Ralph is the only member of shift to be still working. The rest of the guys are off with the flu.  So we are not going to take the risk on taking it up to Scotland and passing it on to Ralph's mum.

Instead we are going to spend the weekend doing fun things. 
Don't know what yet, it all depends on the weather, the forecast is for rain:(
But I am sure we can find something to do undercover.

Have a Great Weekend.

Special Friends Special Gifts

We were out having fun with Jaz on Saturday when the postman tried to deliver a package.
He left a card to say it wouldn't fit through the letterbox. So after work on Monday,I trotted off to the sorting office to pick up the package.  What a delightful surprise, a box of goodies from Maine, I was tickled pink.

They were addressed to Ralph and myself, so I couldn't open them until he came home.

It drove me crazy but I had to be good.

As soon as he got home we opened them and were were delighted with the memories of a wonderful holiday, they came rushing back, by the dozen.

Maine Maple syrup..mmmmmmmmmmmm

Wild Maine Blueberry Jam mmmmmmmmmmmmm

A Lobster Lolly mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

and

A Lovely little pillow/sachet of Balsam Fir Incense.

Ralph wanted to have the maple syrup straight away on waffles.

I wouldn't let him until I sent thanks to the lovelyy sender.

Thank you Kathleen and Lyle, we are both  touched by your kindness.

You have had us looking through the holiday photo's again.

Reliving great memories of fabulous place's and wonderful people.

I still haven't let Ralph have any maple syrup, I am wicked...lol

I have decide as a treat we are going to have an American breakfast on Sunday

and will toast distant friends and fabulous times.

WOYWW2

I am late, such a busy day...

I thought I might share some photo's of my finished craft shed.

This is what is on my workdesk at the moment.

I am finally having fun in there.

Pop over to Julia's to check out some great workspace's.

Monday Monday Again.............

Monday comes around so very quickly doesn't it?
There are only FIFTY left this year....

I have been trying to avoid the weight word.  I don't want to diet anymore, I don't want to be ruled by the scales, the numbers, the tape measure. What options do I have if I want to get healthy? Is there a method of losing weight without counting calories? points? fats? carbs?

I need to lose weight for my health sake.
My Diabetes is under control, so under control my doctor thinks I am amazing..lol
My Arthritis is the problem at the moment, it only used to bother me in the summer, but now it bothers me no matter what time of the year. My left hip complains after walking, my knees, wrists and thumbs are sore most of the time. Climbing stairs is not fun, kneeling is impossible.

So here I am 51 pounds overweight. My weight has crept on again since my birthday, I have a wardrobe full of clothes that don't fit me. I am tired all the time, get breathless when walking, I feel and look OLD.

Who needs to get a grip?
Who needs to get her head on?
MEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I have lost 3 pounds since New Years Day, just cutting back on goodies.
All the Christmas stuff has gone, thankfully.
We are living out of the freezer this month.
Getting into living a simpler life.
We are eating off of  smaller plates.
Making do with what we have, in the freezer and  the cupboard.
Just buying fresh milk, veg and fruit.

I do not want to be blogging just about my weight, I am far more than my weight. But I have to recognise my weight is taking over again.  It has to stop NOW! There is so much inspiration out there in Blogland and I am tapping into it. I will blog once a month about my weight, no more no less. I will be using Dawne's motto, Eating Less, Moving More.

Thank you for your comments about Conor.   Yes it is crazy as mentioned a couple of times, that here you can enlist to serve your Queen and country, before you can legally drink alcohol. The legal age for drinking in the UK is 18, you can enlist at 16.

My grandson Conor, the boy/man who had me bursting with pride earlier this year. He was the reason I asked for prayers. His career in the army looked to be hanging in the balance after an incident on Tuesday evening.

He along with a couple of other young soldiers attended a football match. When they were looking to get a taxi back to camp, they got involved in an altercation with an Asian man who they thought was a taxi driver,(He was parked at a taxi rank) He started ranting at the three young men about why did they think he was a taxi driver just because his race. They tried to apologise and walked away, to a taxi further down the rank.  As they went to get into the taxi, the Asian man had left his car and tried to prevent them getting into the cab. shouting obscenities and obstructing them.One of the young men pushed him away and he hit his head on the ground. Two of the young men panicked and ran.

Conor did not run. But the next he knew he was in handcuffs and in a police car. He was taken to a police station and advised he would be charged with "Racial Assault". Conor is not racist in any way shape or form. He is a decent lad and has close friends of different racial backgrounds.  He has his faults as do all of us, but violence and racism do not sit well with Conor.  So followed several fraught hours, worrying about this boys future. He could be kicked out of the army, have a criminal record and thrown on the scrapheap. His parents were distraught.   Thank God for the power of prayer and the generosity of strangers.

The CCTV at the football ground had recorded the whole incident. From the first contact to the last and Conor was exonerated. The police informed his CO that he had been scared but very polite whilst being questioned. The charge was dropped and he was released to the army. Back at the camp, he faced further questioning, found that the two lads who had bolted from the scene had gone to their CO the following morning and confessed everything. Their careers hang in the balance at the moment. All three of them had been drinking...all under age.

Conor is on punishment this weekend and has been assigned a social worker to help him come to terms with what has happened. His career is safe at the moment, but I think this has been a short, sharp, shock and we are going to see a more mature, responsible young man from now on. Please God.

Underage drinking is a big problem in this country and is usually at the root of most petty crime. I am not stupid enough to believe my grandchildren will not partake. It is seen as part of the initiation into adulthood and egged on by bravado and peer pressure. It scares me, as it scares me the thought that that push to the ground could have proved fatal and those three young men would have been on a murder charge.

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.  I am a mother/grandmother who wears her heart on her sleeve.  I cannot begin to explain how I have felt this past few days, watching my daughter's  pain and fearing the worst for my grandson.  But your kindness as help so much, thank you.

Thank You Thank You Thank You

The power of prayer is an AMAZING phenomenon.
Thank you everyone who sent up a prayer for my special intention.
Your prayers and mine have been answered and I am truely grateful.
This weekend we will take time to draw breath and calm down and
then I may be able to share with you what the prayers were needed for.

I Need a Favour.

I need a favour from the universe.
If any one is listening, please can you have a word with the God you believe in.
I am very concerned about the well being and future of a beloved member of my family.
I cannot share the whys and wherefore's but I don't think my prayers alone are working.

WOYWW 1

A promise I made to myself for this year is to take part in WOYWW.

So here I am with some bits and pieces I have been playing with this week.

It is good to get back to playing.

WOYWW is the brainchild of this talented, entertaining lady Julia @
http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/2011/01/whats-on-your-workdesk-wednesday.html

It has spread like wild fire across the world, I for one love having a peek at crafters work desks each week, pop across and check the phenomenon out.

Happy Wednesday.

Not Such a Bad Day

First day of the New Year at work, was not as bad as expected. Patient demand was not as heavy as we had prepared for. In fact we had appointments we could not fill. Now that is a first at this time of the year. It was a sad day though, we heard three deaths that happened over the weekend, three lovely people, one of them a lady we were all very fond of.  Yet another reminder of the short time we have on this mortal plane.

Back to Work

Back to work today, it will be good to get back into a "normal" routine.
Will be back to post about my first day back later.

Oh happy days...lol

Quotes That Hit Home

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
Oprah Winfrey

Happy 2011

2011

A brand new book, a fresh new page, how long will it take to blot it, need to rub out words, cover pictures?  Well I have changed my thinking and from now on, I don't mind about making mistakes.  I don't mind if I blob ink on the page. Nothing is perfect and not realising until now has prevented me for many years from starting projects in case I fail.

This year I am going to be flying without wings and will enjoy the blots and blobs, because they are my blots and blobs. I have set myself some goals, and I am going to score good style each month.

My word for 2011 is CREATIVITY
My Motto for 2011 is Simple + Action = Satisfaction


In the Shoebox, we plan to spend 2011 getting our little house decorated and refurnished. A major decluttering is needed, this will be started on Monday.

We are also looking at what we eat, what we waste, we want to simplify our eating habit's. Getting back to simple fresh locally grown food. No more buying food because it is there and we fancy it, then throwing it out. No more wasteful ways for us.

I have a crafting shed "My Scrappy Shack" I have spent hundred's of pounds on buying and furnishing it. An further large amounts of money stocking it (I hate to think how much) I have got to start using it.  Therefore I have set myself a project, to produce a piece of "Art" everyday for a year.  Whether it be an ATC or a tag, a card or scrapbook spread.  For January I am planning on a series of  ATC's with an Alphabet theme, my first one is done.  I may pluck up the courage to post photo's on here, I may not, but I am going to enjoy getting back into playing.


I am not going to do the usual New Year thing and say I am starting a diet and exercise regime.  We are making healthy choices and getting out walking again, but I am not setting myself up for failure.  This year is going to be about simple actions and gaining satisfaction in different aspects of life.  I have a good feeling about this year.  Here's hoping the feeling is right.