Thursday 29 March 2012

new toys


My hubby has got me addicted to apples. Not the shiny red/green fruit. Apple Macs, Apple iBooks, Apple iPhones, Apple iPods and Apple iPads.

We've always worked on Apple Macs at work in the studio and when our home PC died we replaced it with an Apple Mac. MrG has had an Apple iPhone for years and has upgraded each time a new one came out - I always thought it was a 'boys and their toys' thing and didn't really take much notice. The kids have Apple iPod Touch's and iPod docks too.

I'm no technophobe. I work on a computer in the office and I enjoy my time sitting browsing blogs, ebay and online shopping on my computer at home (maybe a bit too much sometimes) . I just haven't been that bothered about iPods, iPads, iPhones etc. I've never felt the need to have the latest technology - as long as I had a phone to be used to contact someone if my car broke down or if school needed to get in touch about the kids then I was quite satisfied.

MrG then bought me an iPad as a present last year and I must admit that I am hooked - I love, love, love it. It’s the most fantastically brilliant present and I’m soooo pleased with it. I was able to take it to London with me to ‘play’ with and it was a joy to have for the train journey – I was able to do crosswords and solitaire while listening to podcasts of Desert Island Discs. Brilliant! The three hour journey flew by. I can get my ‘home’ and ‘work’ emails on it and can check out my favourite blogs and websites. I can also catch up on TV programmes in bed at night (we don't have a TV in our room) and I can use it to listen to plays while I'm in my craft room.

It’s my very own iPad. Isn’t the cover fab too? It’s from Cath Kidston, no less!

Of course, I had to order it to match my keyring! Very funky.

Well this week I've gone one step further!

I've been trying to take lots of photo's for my blog and have been so frustrated with my digital camera. Every time I want to use it the batteries need replacing. I also don't like to carry the camera everywhere as well as my phone so I've been checking out which mobile phone has the best camera. And guess what? The iPhone came out tops in my research!

So...look what the Postman brought me today.


Ooo a lovely shiny new toy


with shiny new bits (technical term)


and... a CK cover to finish it off - lovely!

Sunday 25 March 2012

spring has sprung!

The garden is coming back to life - spring has sprung!

It's so good to see the colours of the flowers and blossom, even the greenery is bright spring green.


the azalea's have lots of buds on them - a glimpse of things to come


the delicate pale pink of our Cherry blossom


and the most fantastic red blossom on our quince tree - it's stunning


As spring has sprung I have started my spring cleaning in preparation for giving the place a lick of paint. I was kick started into action because I looked up into a hidden corner in our kitchen and noticed the most enormous cobweb - a really embarrassingly huge black cobweb. It's so embarrassing that I'm in two minds about showing you the photo. Will you be disgusted?

Quick, scroll past!


It looks as if it has been there for years and years doesn't it? How disgusting!

You'll be pleased to hear that my house (and I mean the whole house) is now a cobweb free zone. Not a single one survived.

All the cushions came off my sofas and chairs and all the hidden dust and debris was hoovered. All the hidden corners, nooks and crannies, nothing escaped the hoover nozzle.


I have bought the paint ready to do the kitchen, staircase and landing. Now I just need to find the time and energy to tackle it!

Sunday 18 March 2012

mother's day

Thanks to my hubby and children I had a lovely Mother's Day. Home-made cards, breakfast in bed, flowers, chocolates, Victoria sponge cake and endless cups of tea.

pink roses and white tulips

a lovely little selection of chocs (I'm on a diet!)


an antique perfume bottle

and a piggy bank to decoupage

This is my first Mother's Day without my Mum.

The adverts on TV for the week or so running up to Mother's Day were hard to watch. "Treat your Mum this Mother's Day". If only I could - I'd love to have spent the day with her.

I wrote my Mum a Mother's Day card because I wanted to put into words just how much I miss her and love her. I will keep it with my Family Tree records and maybe read it in years to come when it's not quite so painful.

I also took these beautiful flowers to a local beauty spot.


I remember walking here years ago with Mum and the children. We had such a great laugh that day because Mum didn't have appropriate shoes on for such a steep climb up the hill and really struggled on the way down. I think she spent most of the time on her bum because her shoes were so slippery. She ended up taking her socks off and putting them on over her shoes to try to give her more grip. We laughed so much.

the view towards Morecambe Bay

the sea at Morecambe Bay


the view in the opposite direction


the view towards Kendal

and to the mountains of the Lake District

I drive past this hill on my way into town and always think of Mum and the fun we had.

Thursday 8 March 2012

book club meeting

Our book club meeting coincided with a special birthday for one of our group so as well as the usual wine and nibbles we had M&S birthday cake and Prosecco. Very nice indeedy!

We also managed to discuss the book! I think we all enjoyed this one.


A true story about a lady whose cells were taken without her knowledge after her death. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa.

Henrietta's cells became one of the most important tools in medicine and were vital for developing the polio vaccine and uncovered secrets of cancer. The cells launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sell human biological materials for research. Her family never saw any of the profits - if Henrietta's cells were so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance and why does Henrietta remain virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked
grave?

A really interesting read.

Monday 5 March 2012

calendar girls


I forgot to mention that I bought tickets for my sister and I to go so the theatre to see the Calendar Girls. Unfortunately we have a very long wait. Although the tickets went on sale on 2nd March we don't get to see it until 12th October - only 7 months to go!

Has anyone seen it yet?

Sunday 4 March 2012

booking a break

Oh, I love having something to look forward to, don't you? After much umm-ing and ahh-ing and discussions over who wants to join us for our summer hols this year I have finally made a decision and booked a summer holiday for MrG, MissG and me! Our 19 year old son hasn't joined us for the last couple of years and is now at Uni so I didn't think for a minute that he would want to join us and but now our 17 year old son is not going to join us as he would rather stay home and invite his girlfriend to stay! *ahem*.

So... I have booked a holiday cottage surrounded by countryside but near enough to Bath, Bristol and Stroud to have a 'retail fix' should I have the urge. It is an area of the UK that I have not stayed before so I am looking forward to exploring. We rarely holiday in the same place twice. We have stayed in some wonderful cottages, in some lovely places and although at the time we enjoy ourselves and say we would return we always feel the need to try somewhere new. Even though we see photo's of the cottage prior to booking, I love pulling up outside and not knowing what it's really going to be like. We have always been pleasantly surprised that the cottages are much nicer than the photo's portray.

Ooo I can't wait to explore this one - it looks great. Just 4 months to go!

Have you booked your summer break yet? Where are you off to?

Saturday 3 March 2012

ooops!

ooops indeed!

This morning I talked MrG into a trip to the DIY store to buy a new door.

My craft room is actually a small area in the garage that has been partitioned off to divide my toys (craft equipment) and MrG's large toy (Harley Davidson motorbike). The partition walls have been up for over a year now but still remain doorless.

I have a little halogen heater in my craft room but of course all the heat escapes and it can get quite chilly in there - it is a garage after all.

Anyway, I caught MrG on a good day and he agreed to a trip to the store.

So far, so good.

We got to the store, found a door and found some nice nickel door fittings.

So far, so good.

I then decided that while we were there it would be sensible to buy a door for his room so that our doors and door fittings would match. MrG agreed.

So far, so good.

I then decided that as we were in his car (much bigger than my little C1) we should also get a piece of wood to make a desk/dressing table for MissG's room. MrG agreed.

So far, so good.

We ended up spending much more than we had initially set out to spend (as per usual) but still, we had bought everything we need to sort out a few problem areas in our house.

So far, so good.

Heading out to the car with our huge haul, I did ask if he thought we'd have a problem getting it all in the car. "No problem" he said, "we have managed to get lots of DIY stuff in this car before".

We decided the best plan was to drop the front seat down, slot the two doors and the desk top in and I would sit in the back behind MrG. Good idea.

So we dropped the front seat down, slotted the doors in...

So far, so good.

Then......this is where the ooops comes in! While slotting the desk top in from the boot we pushed it through the car too far and it hit the windscreen. It cracked. Ooops! We couldn't believe it. We couldn't believe that such a innocuous little tap could make such a large crack.


So the trip has been an expensive outing! I think it may be some time before MrG agrees to take me to the DIY store again!

Friday 2 March 2012

marvelous march

Marvelous weather marks the start of March. The sun today has been glorious. I could really feel the warmth of the sun on my back while I was out shopping. I hope it is just the start of the spring sunshine - long may it continue.

I've been out fabric shopping today. I'm planning to make lots of freestyle embroidery pictures so although I have stacks of fabric in my craft room I felt the need to buy something new to inspire me and kick start me into action!

While I was in the fabric warehouse I found some fabric that I'm hoping to make into a roman blind for the tall, slim window at the top of my stairs. I took the existing blind down to wash a month ago and decided that it really has seen better days. I haven't made a roman blind before so wish me luck! I'll post a photo of my efforts if/when I get it finished!