Almost another month gone ...

Once again I’m playing catch up. The days seem to be going by so fast I don't seem to have time to blog any more let alone anything else (nope still not done any of Product Playground).

So here it is another whistle stop tour round my week …

Wednesday evening - Lynne and I went to see the Dreamgirls at the Odeon in Chatham Maritime. I’ve been to this cinema a few times now and am impressed by it, mainly because its’ so quiet I think. People haven’t yet discovered it and as it’s so new it's a pleasant place to spend an evening. The film was absolutely brilliant. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to see it (although Kev had given it a good review) but I am really glad I did. A fantastic ‘proper’ musical and Jennifer Hudson is completely amazing – that woman has the most fantastic voice and she’s a great actress too (and thoroughly deserves the Oscar that she won last night!). Even Eddie Murphy is fantastic. If you haven’t seen it yet you really must go – definitely the best film I’ve seen in ages.

Thursday evening - Andrew and I went for our meal at Soufflé. It was lovely and the food was superb. I had mushroom ravioli, followed by fillet of beef with girolle mushrooms, whilst Andrew had scallops and black pudding followed by Barbary duck. I ended with a dessert of raspberries on a lemon meringue with grand marnier sabayon which was sweet, but not too sweet – the perfect ending to the meal. The wine was nice, good quality but not overly expensive – all in all a very pleasant evening. The restaurant was very nice, and much busier than I had expected, there seemed to be quite a few other people celebrating their birthdays too.

Friday evening - I made some headway on bedroom contents. Problem is I’m getting rid of so much that the lounge is still half full of items waiting for a new home that I don't want to just dump back in the bedroom again. Still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with all these items (throwing them away is not an option) but hopefully by the end of this week my lounge will be sorted too. Then I just have to retrieve my stuff from Lynne’s place and go through that and I’ll be sorted for a while.

It has been confirmed that the guy who came to look at the pub last week has taken it. I believe his name is Mark and he should be starting in about 6 week’s time. Don’t know why but I don't have a good feeling about him – maybe it was just the rudeness when he came last time, perhaps he’ll be lovely when he takes over.

I’ve had the worst PMT this weekend that I’ve had in absolutely ages. I was ready to kill several customers yesterday at the pub and my mood is generally very black. I can feel depression creeping up like a big storm cloud ready to engulf me. I seem to veer all the time between pure red rage and tears at the slightest thing (or worse still both at the same time). I am very unhappy at work at the moment which really doesn’t help (although I’m not sure to what extent my mood has made me unhappy), but I shouldn’t be feeling this bad, even with that dreaded time of the month. Of course the full moon is on its way which never helps, but that’s not till the weekend so even that doesn’t account for the way I feel at the moment (I really hope I feel better by then or watch out world!). I spend most of my day trying to hold back an urge to just scream, smash things up and burst into tears. I really hope I snap out of it soon, I’m becoming no fun to live with and probably not a very good friend to have at the moment either.

A bit of good news (for me anyway)

Just reading the Blue October website and found the following announcement:

UK/European Tour to be re-scheduled
Due to reasons beyond our control the upcoming Blue October tour in the UK and Europe scheduled for March 07 is being re-scheduled for later this year. We're sorry for any inconvenience this has cause anyone. Please know that we are looking forward to getting there as soon as possible. Our US Tour dates are not affected by this change. Please look for future tour announcements.

I have to admit that I am over the moon about this as I was really upset to be missing them. Of course I'm sure that sod's law will dictate that the tour will be rescheduled for August when I'm in Italy, but here's hoping they do it at a time when I can make it.

Not too much of a surprise ...

Whilst browsing through my favourite blogs this lunchtime I found this quiz (thanks Claire). It came as no surprise to me what colour my brain is, and I'm sure wouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. Scarily it is rather accurate about my brain too ...

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras in New Orleans and I am tuned into the Bourbon Street and Parade webcams and desperately wishing I was there.

Instead I've been stuck at home in this dreary weather, working hard. I had a crap day at work yesterday - in fact I could have walked out I was so fed up, but today was much better. It obviously helped that I was working at home. It may also have been the brainwave that I had regarding a tricky work problem, or maybe it was seeing Tim Holtz on QVC this afternoon (although not for anywhere near long enough in my opinion). I have just seen his new range of storage and I NEED IT! As I am a Holtz junkie I own huge quantities of Ranger stuff and would definitely benefit from things like proper ink pad storage rather than the cardboard box I currently keep them in. Haven't found any prices yet, but I'm sure they won't be cheap - nothing ever is in scrapbooking.

The bedroom is now completely finished (just waiting for the door paint to dry), so I need to start moving my remaining belongings back in. However, I just can't seem to get in the mood tonight (too busy watching CSI), tomorrow I'm off to the cinema with Lynne to see Dreamgirls and on Thursday, Andrew and I are going to Souffle to celebrate his birthday (which is actually tomorrow ... and I still have his card to make too), so it looks like it'll be Friday before I can make real headway and start to get my lounge back in order. Hopefully by that time I'll have sorted my wardrobe out too after a little accident when I was unloading it.

Just remembered that I haven't had my pancakes (for those who know how bad I am at pancakes, don't worry I wasn't actually cooking them myself, Auntie Bessie has done the job for me) they'll have to wait till tomorrow now as I'm still full from dinner and it's getting a bit late.

None the Wiser

The staff meeting this morning was a bit of a disappointment. No upset staff, no show by the new landlord and a hint by Gary that the new landlord may not be the new landlord at all. He's now saying that the guy only came to look at the pub and hasn't yet decided if he wants it (bit of a backtrack on yesterday when he was saying the guy was the landlord and that he would be leaving imminently!) So for the time being things carry on as before. Disappointingly this means that the staff that needed a good telling off got away scott-free as usual. There was one slightly amusing moment when Gary was lecturing us about late time-keeping and absence. He had just said that he was fed up of people arriving late with flimsy excuses when Darren turned up (20 minutes late). Of course he proceeded to apologise with a really lame excuse ... cue laughter from the rest of the staff whilst poor Darren looked bemused. Yep it shows how bad the meeting was that this was the high point!

Jo has sent me some pictures of the puppies that our dog Mitzi had back in the early '70s. They are sooooo cute and it is lovely to see them all again so many years later.

It's the weekend

Well my bedroom is almost redecorated. Andrew has spent the last 2 days painting, painting and more painting and will finally be finishing tomorrow (just the last coat on the shelves and the skirting to do). I have to admit that I was very unsure on Friday when the first 2 coats of paint went on the walls, but I think once it's completed and the furniture is back in place it'll be fab - and the white definitely makes the room look bigger. Now I just have to figure out storage solutions!

I have spent the last few days sorting through the stuff that has come out of my bedroom and am pleased to say that I have managed to earmark quite a bit of it for disposal. I am still baulking at the idea of just chucking it, but am not sure whether I can face attempting to sell it on e-bay and I know I can't be bothered to do a bootfair with it (and I certainly don't want to have to hang on to it for months until the weather improves). The good thing is that hopefully my bedroom will look a lot less cluttered, although I am sure that finding a decent storage solution would help and that needs to become a priority.

There is a staff meeting at the pub later today. I will be interested to see what happens and what is said as many rumours have been going round since it was announced a couple of weeks ago. I've heard that Gary has said it will be a one-way meeting with him talking and everyone else listening (yeah, lot's of luck mate!) and I've heard that at least 3 members of staff are going to be severely criticised (nope not me ... well not if he wants to live). However, the thing I most want to see is if our new landlord is going to be there. Yep, you heard it a new landlord. It came as a bit of a shock to everyone as we were all still waiting for the pub to be advertised, but it appears that Sarah the Area Manager has somehow played dirty and advertised it without allowing anyone who might be vaguely interested in applying actually see the advert. Therefore instead of Steve getting the pub (as we had all been expecting and waiting for, with Fred and June being turned down already) today some guy turned up with his other half and spent approximately 10 minutes looking the place over. He did not bother to introduce himself, nor did he even say hello (not a good start I would say). This was a complete bolt out of the blue as Steve only found out about him this morning and is understandably not happy. Have to say my first impressions were not positive - I mean how rude is it that he couldn't even be bothered to say hello to the staff? So we'll see what happens. The interesting (and quite depressing) thing is that more and more I am hearing customers saying that they think the pub will be closed down soon. I really hope this isn't the case as the village really needs to keep its pub, but I find it hard to disagree as I've been thinking that this is the Company's plan ever since Iain arrived. I also heard today that the place that Kate and Wendy work is closing down so it will be interesting to see if they end up making a return to the pub. Perhaps this will give me the push I need to finally leave?

Week 3 of Product Playground has begun and I'm a bit ashamed to say that I haven't even looked at it yet, let alone done anything. I completely failed with Week 2, although in my defence I couldn't get my craft stuff out due to a full lounge, but I suspect Week 3 is going to be much the same. I wonder if I'll actually get anything done before the end of the course? Mind you I'm not sure the rest of the sinners are keeping up either *LOL*

Finally, Happy Birthday to Sharona - hope you have a good one. Sorry matey - card will be on its way as soon as I get some stamps!

Valentine's Day

Here it is again, another Valentine’s Day. Sadly Kiefer Sutherland hasn’t yet turned up with a large bunch of red roses to sweep me off my feet and declare undying love and by 8am I was already fed up of hearing slushy romantic tunes all over the place (I even had to turn off the Carpenters on my I-Pod as listening to them was depressing me too much). Of course it may be that when I get home I’ll find queues of Royal Mail vans just waiting to deliver goodies from all my many admirers, but I suspect that instead I’ll probably just have a couple of bills and a takeaway menu waiting for me on the doormat.

Valentine’s Day can be a depressing business for those of us not in relationships and I hate the fact I react so badly to it. Rather than being wistfully introspective about why I am still single and unloved, it instead sets off a major bout of depression and self-doubt. I am always left wondering what is so wrong with me that no-one wants me as their valentine. Granted I’m not beautiful, and not attractively skinny, but am I really that terrible a person that not one person in the world could have romantic feelings for me? As far as I am aware I am not a monster (if I am please let me know so I can do something about it). OK, I don’t have the world’s most sparkling personality either, but I’m friendly, loyal, affectionate and house-trained (mainly). I guess the problem is that I’m an incorrigible old romantic who deep down still hopes that my life will turn out to have a fairytale ending complete with a prince and a moment like the ending to ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ where she gets carried off, and of course real life just isn’t like that. As Karen Carpenter sang “I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world, and fool enough to think that’s what I’ll find.”

So why is it so important to have a valentine anyway? I mean, if you’re in a relationship then every day is a potential Valentine’s Day. Surely there’s no need to spend a fortune on cards, flowers, chocolates and all that other old gumph just to tell your other half that you love them. I mean it’s not as if you only love them for that one day of the year is it? I guess it depends on circumstances. With a partner who is hopeless at remembering birthdays and anniversaries and is notoriously unromantic then its nice to know that at least one day a year they are thinking about you, with a more romantic partner it is less likely to be so important. In my case I think that as the years without a partner increase my desire for some sign of affection grows and the fuss made about valentines matter more. Really, it should make no difference to me that I don't receive anything … there are many other people in the world not receiving valentines either, but for some reason it does.

So now it’s time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and look at things in a different way - forgetting the romantic side of Valentine’s Day, instead thinking of it as a time to celebrate that I have friends and family who I care about very much (and am incredibly lucky to have). Therefore, let me wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to ALL my family and friends – you really are very special to me and I love you all very much.

Introducing Edward

So as promised, here he is - my newest teddy bear 'Edward' - isn't he an absolute cutie?

Gutted!

Arrrgh. I've just found out that Blue October are doing a few shows in the UK. In particular they are playing at Lock 17 in Camden on Tuesday 20th March (the day after I get back from Spain and just over a week before we go to see MCR at Wembley). I am absolutely gutted because I would so love to see them live again. They really are one of my favourite bands and I listen to 'Foiled' almost as much as 'The Black Parade'. Unfortunately, I just don't think that it's a viable proposition (and the other dates are out as they are while I'm away, although of course they are in places like Glasgow so would have been out anyway). If anyone can make it I urge you to go, as I am sure you'll have a fantastic evening.

Birmingham City Football Club have released a really cute teddy bear for Valentine's Day. His feet have 'I love' on one foot and the BCFC logo on the other. I need him for my collection! On the subject of teddy bears, I bought myself a new one for my birthday. His name is Edward and he is a limited edition steiff. I shall post a picture of him later.

Wintertime Blues

Well today I am feeling quite blue and a little bit weepy. I am not entirely sure why this is, I guess it’s a mixture of it being a Monday (gotta be the worst day of the week), the fact that I am at work (I really do work much better and am much happier at home) and because the weather is so dismal (horridly gray and drizzly). I am completely fed up of winter now (unless we get a DECENT amount of snowfall) and can’t wait for the longer sunny days to arrive. I definitely feel less depressed when the sun is shining. Also time seems to be whizzing by so fast, almost half way through February already, and the weekends come and go at such speed that I don’t even have much of a chance to enjoy them.

Of course this weekend didn’t help as I’ve been emptying my bedroom (a Herculean task) in readiness for the redecorating (which has now been delayed until the end of the week due to work commitments). I was hoping that the big clear out would enable me to get rid of some more stuff, but of course I got rid of a whole load before mum and dad came over in August and in my opinion I don’t seem to be left with much left to lose (not that I want to lose anyway). I was told by Kay that my starting point should be to throw away ANYTHING that I hadn’t looked at or used in 12 months. I thought about this for about 2 seconds and realised that I would end up losing 95% of my belongings – including my stash and so this is a total non-starter. I am sure that by Friday I will be fed up to the back teeth with all the stuff clogging up my lounge so maybe I will just have a fit and chuck it all. Of course my main problem is that I think how much all this stuff has cost me over the years and it makes me loathe to lose it. If anyone has any SENSIBLE suggestions about how I could reclaim some living area please let me know – I really could do with the help, but I will not entertain stupid suggestions like the one made by Kay. *LOL*

The high point of the weekend was having a lovely meal cooked for me last night. A few weeks ago I was complaining about never getting a roast dinner on a Sunday because I’m always working. I suggested that I might have to take a day off in order to go to one of these carvery places and have lunch, and to my surprise Andrew offered to cook me a roast dinner sometime. Now, I obviously thought it would be one of those empty promises – once mentioned never acted upon, but last night he came up trumps. The meal was a beef pot roast, with ‘proper’ roast potatoes and huge Yorkshire puddings, pot roasted vegetables and honey glazed parsnips, washed down with a nice bottle of red wine. My verdict – it was absolutely delicious, and I would be happy for him to cook for me at any time. It was also wonderful to have a proper meal on a Sunday rather than something from the pub which is my usual fare. We did have to listen to rather a lot of Katie Melua , but I guess I can forgive him for that after such a tasty meal, and actually I rather liked her version of ‘Lilac Wine’ which is a favourite track of mine.

*edited to change Norah Jones to Katie Melua ... I did know who it was but had a brainstorm when I was writing the post!!!!

TGIF!

By the time I left home at 5.30am this morning almost all the snow had disappeared and there wasn't even much in the way of ice either fortunately. I'm afraid that Mr(?) Snowman is now no more than just a memory on my blog. Had a long conversation with Jo last night about the usual things - work, weddings, more work and she mentioned that they still have loads of snow in Oxfordshire, so much in fact that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to get the car out for work. I have to say I'm jealous but have hopes that maybe we'll get some more soon, although today definitely isn't the day. London is distinctly gray and drizzly, in fact a really very depressing day.

Talking of weddings, Jo is still trying to find a venue and is currently looking at Tuscany as an option. I have to say I'm very much in favour of this option as I'd love to go on holiday to Italy. *LOL*

Tonight my stash is going back behind the sofa so my chances of getting anything on Product Playground done is fairly remote. However, I need to get the lounge tidy so that I can clear out my bedroom. I have been offered the services of a decorator (and as it has been almost 9 years since it was last done it is well overdue) but it needs to be done next week while he is still at a loose end work-wise so this weekend is going to be spent removing everything from there and the only place for it to go is in the lounge. Yes I know that now would be a good time to have another major clearout (someone mentioned Life Laundry and someone else mentioned a skip!) but as we all know I am completely hopeless at dumping anything that might be even vaguely construed as possibly useful in any conceivable way, so whilst it would be nice to think I'll have a minimalist bedroom when I've finished the reality is likely to be somewhat different. I'm sure the answer must lie in storage, but alas I can't even seem to get that right. What I really need is some lifestyle guru to come and get tough with me, whilst showing me how to make the best of the space I have available. *LOL*

Parents and others concerned by my purple fetish will be pleased to know that the room is going to be decorated in white rather than purple, but I haven't yet decided on the accent colour. I have seen some gorgeous lush deep red cushions which would look wonderful, but then I have also seen a beautiful dark purple velvet throw, and also some lovely dark blue curtains. Whatever the final decision, at least it'll have been decorated which is a good start!

I see from browsing Gary's site that Gemma is expecting another baby. Congratulations to them. Also on there are some pictures of Raven and Persia. They both look so cute!

Product Playground Week 2

The second week instructions have now been posted at Big Picture Scrapbooking. This week's projects include the use of frames and photo corners. I haven't had a good look at it yet but I'm not feeling overly inspired so far (and I can't remember what I did with my photo corners as I haven't come across them during my stash sorting). However, I did manage to make a card using a bookplate for one of the week one challenges, so not yet completely behind.

Now that I can post pictures again here is my last entry for Nicola's Discworld CJ. When I get a moment I will post pictures of my returned CJ which is great. Big thanks to everyone who took part in it and made it so special.

Snow

I woke this morning to a fairly substantial covering of the white stuff... yep it had snowed during the night. The snow continued for a few hours, but alas soon it stopped and now it has almost all gone. I did manage to get a couple of pictures of the snow and the girls downstairs built a snow person although tbh I'm not sure what the wall is about or the plate for that matter. *LOL*

The most annoying thing is that I've had to cancel my planned meeting this evening with Mrs H3 - although I'm sure the roads will be OK, its probably not a good idea to risk it.


So it was a disappointing game by England last night. I know that most of our squad are out with injuries, but the game was slow and pretty boring and onviously not the score we wanted at the end of the day. Just another rubbish game by a rubbish team at the end of the day.

Finally - I need to wish Leanne and Tina both a Happy Birthday.

A Quiz

I found this quiz on Claire's blog while I was browsing at lunchtime and thought I'd give it a go.

1. Where were you 1 hour ago?
In front of my computer at work (and working very hard obviously!)

2. Who will be your next kiss? Peck or tongues?
Depends who I see first out of Andrew, Andrea and Tina and all will be a peck

3. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
A highlighter pen, Frankenclanger, Mrs H3’s interpretation of a Blue Dog painting and a squeezy pig

4. When is the last time you went to the mall?
Not since before Christmas, but I’m going there to meet Mrs H3 tomorrow

5. Are you wearing socks right now?
Yep, purple ones

6. When was the last time you went out of the state?
If this means County then every time I go to work. The last time I left the Country was October 2006

7. Have you been to the movies in the last 7 days?
Yes, saw The Fountain

8. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Innocent juicy water – costing an extortionate £1.80!

9. What are you wearing right now?

Jeans and a purple jumper

10 Last food you ate?
Egg mayo and smoked salmon baguette

11. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
No, haven’t bought anything in the last week

12.Do you have a pet?
Do my collection of gargoyles count?

13. What’s the last sporting event you watched?
England v Scotland in the 6 Nations Rugby on Saturday, and will be watching the England v Spain football game tonight

14. What was your favorite class in high school?
How on earth do you expect me to be able to remember that far back? Erm, sadly it was English (yep I know I’m a geek!)

15 What is the last thing you purchased online?
A fake fur trimmed cape and a Kiefer Sutherland dvd (Behind the Red Door – excellent film, well worth seeing) yep still spending far too much time on e-bay!

16 How old are your parents?
Hmmm not sure I should be saying

17. Are you in love?
Of course I am - my love for Kiefer never diminishes

18. Do you miss anyone?
Can’t think of anyone offhand – I am in regular(ish) contact with my family. I miss seeing them but it won't be long till we’re all together again

19. Last play you saw?
I saw the musical Mamma Mia a couple of weeks ago, but a straight play - I can’t even begin to remember

20. Ever go camping?

My life used to be spent camping, but haven’t actually been near a tent since giving up the bootfairs (thank god). I am fairly sure my camping days are over, I’m much more a 5 star hotel girl these days – although never say never eh?

21. Were you a top set student in school?

Nope. Pretty dumb really as I never bothered to work so didn’t do anywhere near as well as I could have done. Of course I regret it now.

22 Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?
Yes – Gaultier 2

23 Do you have a tan?
I don’t really do the tanning thing unless I’m in Spain

24 How old do you want to be when you have kids?
Not sure I’ll ever be old enough to have kids

25. Do you collect anything?
Far too much! Teddy bears, gargoyles, books, music, dvds, and of course the monster that is my craft stash

26. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?
Never

27 Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?
Yes

28. Last time you took a shower?
Yesterday – couldn’t be bothered to get up for one this morning (in fact nearly didn’t get up!)

29 Are you someone’s best friend?

I hope so

31. What’s the last TV show you watched?

Inspector Morse, yesterday afternoon, although I was doing other things as well. I never just watch TV – can’t possibly sit still that long

32. Do you own a Britney Spears C.D?
Nope and have no urge to own one either. I do have a couple of the better tracks on my I-pod though

33. Are you a Lost fanatic?

No. I got lost somewhere in Season 2 and without Sky I have no way to see Season 3

34. Have you ever eaten an entire pint, or more, ice cream by yourself?

Sadly on many occasions – gotta love Hagen Daz and Ben and Jerrys

35. Do you sing obnoxiously in the car when you’re driving alone?

Certainly do – and quite often when I’m not alone too

36. Have you ever liked a girl/boy but didn’t ask her/him out because you were afraid
Yep

37. Have you ever written a poem/story about your love life?
What love life? Nope

38. Do you eat all the servings in the food groups on a daily basis?
Sometimes – depends on what I’m doing

39. What’s the current ringtone on your cellphone?
Sadly its generally a classic telephone ring as I use my mobile for work calls. Some people have been assigned special tones although I have no idea what they are. Wish I could work out how to download tones to my phone so I don’t have to use the ones already on there

40. When you open your closet, what is the dominant color of your wardrobe?
Black and purple

Another Catch Up

Once again I need to do a catch up due to a serious lack of blogging on my behalf. I really must get back into the habit of making regular posts (and yes I haven’t forgotten about my holiday blog … well I had, but haven’t really had time to do it, but I will get it sorted soon).

Anyway, my cold is at long last subsiding – I can finally breathe through my nose again and the coughing fits have reduced considerably. I spent the weekend with my sinuses so blocked that they caused my face to feel like it had been hit by a shovel and making all my top teeth ache really badly. In fact the pain was excruciating – if you have never had sinus pain you will have no idea just how bad it is. Sinutab and hot steam didn’t really improve the situation and it didn’t help that almost every time I work in the pub I lose my voice so I sounded even worse than I felt. At least I made it into work. In fact I ended up working alone on both Saturday and Sunday as everyone else had phoned in sick (mainly with hangovers which I definitely didn’t appreciate considering how ill I felt).

Last Wednesday evening, Andrew and I went to see The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. It was a very unusual film, both enchanting and emotional (yes I cried, but then that’s not really a surprise is it?) but I am not at all sure that I completely understood it – it was rather strange and more than a little existentialist. Andrew’s comment was that the director had obviously taken some very good drugs! We agreed that we had enjoyed the film, although I certainly wouldn’t rush to see it again. I guess I’ll watch it if it ever makes it to TV though.

In (yet another) vain attempt to break my crafters block I (along with a number of the Sinful Sisters) have signed up for the Product Playground course run by Big Picture Scrapbooking. The idea is to spend 6 weeks working on different projects using embellishments that we already have in our stash. As I have hundreds of bits that I’ve not even really looked at, let alone used I thought this should be the perfect opportunity to actually use some stash – and even get on with some scrapbooking as I haven’t been able to do anything since the cybercrop.

This started on 1st February and the first weeks projects include the use of bookplates. I think I am supposed to get a card made and a layout done using them before the end of the first week. So far I haven’t done anything (yep running behind already) but I still had the final Discworld CJ to complete before I could do anything else and although I knew who I was going to do (yet another variation on my hero Lord Vetinari), my broken printer has considerably reduced my productivity. I have finally completed the CJ this evening (for some reason blogger won't let me upload the photo atm) and I have just dug out some bookplates.

I do have an idea for a card, but not sure I have what I need stash-wise – loads of stickers and rub-ons but not the one word I need, and at the moment I have absolutely no idea of what to do for the layout. Yet again my lack of printer is letting me down as I’d normally just do a layout featuring Kiefer or the Chelsea Flower Show, so now I’ll have to find time to go through the photographs that I do have printed and use some of them as I can’t afford to get a new printer at the moment. Perhaps the time has finally come to do my New Orleans or Disney scrapbooks!

I also have several birthday cards that need to be made for the next couple of weeks (2 for this week as its Leanne and Tina’s birthdays on Thursday), so I need to get off here and get on with some crafting. Of course now all my craft stuff is out the lounge looks a complete tip again. I really need to win the lottery so I can move to somewhere that I can have a dedicated craft room and then I can have my craft stuff out all the time and still have a wonderfully tidy lounge. Lucky I don’t get many visitors!