I can't believe I have missed a month!

Where does the time go? I am sure there are less than 24 hours in the day at the moment as I never seem to get everything done. So sorry for the lack of postings.....again!

So what happened in September? The boys went back to college and seem to have settled in ok. Thomas has decided he wants to go to uni now and has chosen to visit an open day at Plymouth! For someone who didn't want to move far from home it's a weird choice. Anyway as he is a bit of a 'surfer dude' he should fit right in. I can't see much work getting done though with him so near the waves. Still, he will be too far away for me to nag!

William's UCAS form has gone in with Emanuel College at Cambridge being his first choice. We now have to wait and hope he gets an interview. These are usually around the end of November / beginning of December so all our fingers and toes are crossed!

At last Adam has moved into an apartment in Manchester. He has been wanting this for sooo long and I am pleased he has finally done it. It's a lovely place as well, very near the centre and with wood floors, big windows and private secure parking. He actually told me not to ring after 7pm one evening as he and Joelle were having some friends round for dinner! How cool is that?? I knew he would grow up eventually.



John and I have just got back from a few days on our Andy's boat. He has it moored at the marina in Alcudia. There were 8 of us there together and we had the greatest time. I don't think we stopped laughing from the time we got on the plane at Manchester to getting off again 5 days later. And the food.....oh....and the drinking....ohhhhh, that seemed to be all we did. I could not do it for long but it was a fantastic break. We took the boat out every day and although the weather was not the best it certainly did not spoil a minute of it. Garth was our master barbecue 'er out at sea and did a cracking job. Everyone else helped out with the rest of the spread and then we all laid around eating and drinking. John has decided he could quite happily be a deck hand when he retires. Me?.......I am hoping that lottery win will come soon and then I can buy my own boat!

Anyway it is back to reality now and I was at the gym as soon as I could to get back on track. I could feel the excess bacardi seeping out of my pores as I pounded the treadmill.

Bye for now.

And it's back to the eighties!

Yes, back to the 1980s. I have been continuing with my mission the scrap some of my old photos of the elder children. I have had great fun today with a couple of cute photos.

I know it's not quite Christmas yet but that is the fun of scrapping...you can do layouts from all seasons anytime! I love this picture of the three of them and it clearly brings back the feelings of that day. They had never seen such an enormous Santa before and Daniel especially was so excited. It was the first Christmas that he had a real idea what was going on so it made it all the more exciting for everyone.

I love this photo of Kim. I think she looks just gorgeous. She had loads of freckles on her nose and cheeks that summer but they don't show too well on the old photo. It was taken in 1986 when we were on holiday at Pontin's with my mum and dad. We had a smashing time even though we made the usual trips to the medical centre with one or other of the boys!

Some great news as well this week.....Thomas finally gained his science GCSE after having to resit it this year. He was just sooo relieved as it means he can continue with his plans to teach. They only have just over a week left before they are back at college for the final year. Goodness knows what we will be up to this time next year!

Bye for now!

Results Day!

After waiting all summer the day finally arrived for us to go into college to get Williams AS results. They needed to be good ones so he has a chance of getting into Cambridge next year. Needless to say he did not disappoint! All straight A grades with barely a mark dropped in . How can anyone get 100% in two Physics exams and two maths exams? It's a scary thought! I hope Cambridge are suitably impressed anyway!

I've been taking my mind off the worry with quite a bit of scrapping. Nearly all the holiday photos are scrapped now which is great.
Here is a double layout with the photos from the ferry we went on over to the Isle of Mull. It has been years since I went on a ferry and I was really excited. I had forgotten just how big they really were!. I would love to live on a small island somewhere. Just think how peaceful and remote that would be. Mull was gorgeous and I could quite happily move there!

Our Janet and David have just bought a house down in Basingstoke. They are moving in there this weekend. Thankfully it is not a full time move but more like a second home so she can be nearer Sarah and Jacob without having to stay at Sarah's house. She does envy me having Kim and the girls living so close so I am pleased she can finally spend a bit more time with her daughter and grandson. I think they are busy cleaning it all this weekend ready for the furniture arriving on Monday. I am sure they will soon be settled in and it will feel like home for them.

Janet and I spent a cosy girly afternnon last week curled up on the settee watching Sarah and Paul's wedding dvd. What a stunning production. They have made an amazing job of it, with the whole of the day captured. However they never seemed to be getting in the way and were really unobtrusive. So that proves how good they were. I would love Kim to have something like that for her wedding.....when ever it happens.

Anyway off to put the kettle on and watch a bit of Olympics!

Busy, busy, busy!

As you can imagine it's been a busy week for me since the sale started. I have spent every waking hour packing orders and making two daily post office trips. There is still plenty of stock left but a massive hole has been made in it, thankfully. So bob along and have a browse. You may find just what you need!

So with all the stock and order packing I have had no time for scrapping which is a bit of a disaster but I have been imagining all the spare time I will have once the shop is finally closed.

It seems a bit of a shame that so many good shops are closing at the moment. There are various reasons for this but a lot of it is due the economic climate......there just isn't the money about in a lot of cases and what money people have is needed for other things. A further reason is that some people just want something for nothing and the biggest gripe of many retailers I am in contact with, is people asking for free postage. There is no such thing as free postage unless it is a special offer. I don't believe any business can afford to cover the cost of postage such as it is at the moment. A customer buying one sheet of 12 x 12 paper immediately sends the postage band up to 'parcel' along with the appropriate charges. If someone is offering permanent free postage then it is added into their prices somewhere down the line. So don't be fooled!

Anyway off my soapbox for the moment! Hopefully I will have some scrapping to show you soon! :)