I cannot believe it is the last day of 2007! What a year it has been, full of ups and downs and roundabouts.
Logan is now one - which finally saw an end to what seemed like an endless month of wrapping presents. He is walking, although a bit unsteady still, but what a quick year it has been. No doubt this speeding up of time is a sure sign of my increasing age, but I will ignore that for now.
Christmas was lovely, a quiet day and a busy day only marred by poor Beth having chicken pox! She missed the whole last week of school, the one week that all the fun things happen in, and although she enjoyed Christmas she wasn't her usual bubbly self.
Katy and Logan had great fun. He played with all her toys and she played with all his. Everyone had lots of lovely presents and scrumptious food, although we didn't overdo it. All the males, except Gordon, were working Boxing Day night, so I was being the taxi driver.
My knee is now mended and I can almost go up and down stairs as normal, at last. Unfortunately I have managed to develop and ear and throat infection along with a blocked salivary gland which makes eating unbearably painful! So that will help me achieve my target for 2008 and being fitter and hopefully more healthy.
I rarely set myself targets and resolutions because things get in the way and then I feel bad about not sticking to them. I have to improve my fitness and hopefully lose some weight though. My health has been so poor this past year and it is getting me down so my future is in my hands.
I just want to wish you all a happy and healthy 2008. I wonder what delights the year ahead will have in store for you and yours, me and mine? Here's to a good one! Take care x x x
Just a quickie - life is pretty hectic at the moment, I wonder why?
For those of you who like digi scrapping have a look here and here. The second one is my fave as it includes some of my favourite digi designers.
I would like like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the designers who offer freebies of their hard work, I for one really appreciate it.
Back soon with an update. Take care x x x
I am still here but life has been fairly boring so not much to relate. I think a weekly update will do me for the next wee while until I manage to get a life again, lol. I can now walk unaided by stick or banadage, I just can't do stairs very well. In fact Katy can beat me on the stairs, as can Gordon's mum, opposite sides of the age spectrum but fitter than me - I can feel a new year resolution arising!
Anyway, Miss Katy is now three and had a good birthday for the most part. The rotten part was she spent the night before being sick and couldn't even eat her birthday cake. Luckily her party is on Friday of this week so she will be in top form for that.
Then Michelle decided she wanted some photos for Christmas. She had bought Logan a Santa suit as it will be his first Christmas, Katy also got a Santa outfit and Beth had an angel's dress. I could see this really cute phot in my head and had the scrapbook page planned for it. Sadly my skills as a photographer obviously leave a great deal to be desired as it was a disaster! Logan was crabby and cried then Katy got fed up. Beth just wanted to play with Katy's toys and I wanted to toss my camera out of the window! Maybe one day, maybe other people's children are better behaved, maybe pigs really can fly.
I had hoped to be back at work today but just wasn't up to it. I have to go back on Monday whether I am fit or not, I have masses of stuff to buy for Christmas as I have barely been out. I have managed a few pages but no cards as yet, despite the fact I have a ton of stuff. I think I may make them anyway and send them next year. I cannot believe how fast the past few weeks have passed, despite each day seeming long. Still at least Christmas will come again next year so I have another chance to get it right, or organised, or both lol. For now I am away to bed in the hope that tomorrow I will be able to achive something, no matter how small. Take care x x x
That is Missing In Inaction. I know most people would have put missing in action but action is not something I am finding easy at the moment! It turns out I have torn the ligament on the inside of my knee and boy is it painful! I have now have a walking stick
If only it were that easy though! I would be mobile, I could walk and drive and not be stuck in the house waiting to be 'taken' places. Honestly the highlight of the week so far has been a trip to B & Q to buy plastic piping! The worst part is that I have legs like a russian shot putter - and the bandage is quite tight so it tends to slip down and acts like a tourniquet. The walking stick is taking a bit of getting used to and is using muscles I never knew I had. By the end of this my left leg will be half the size it is and my right shoulder will be way more developed than my left. I will look a pretty sight no doubt! At least people who read this blog but have never met me will know who i am if they see me passing. I am the one who gets overtaken by old ladies and snails while trying hard not to run round in cirlces on my two different sized legs while one arm bursts through the seams on my jacket, lol.
As for scrapping - despite having bought some bits from Angela I have no notion to scrap at all. I sort of wander into my craft room and then wander back out again. I haven't even taken any photos recently, which is most unlike me. I have only just got around to answering messages that have been sitting for days - so my apologies to those of who I haven't been in touch with, I have only recently caught up. I am off work for the next 2 weeks so hopefully by then I will be well again and ready to begin my new diet and exercise programme for my diabetes.
I have managed to reorganise some bits on my computer, mainly my digi scrapping stuff. I have way more than I will ever need or use but there have been so many great deals recently I could not resist. I have actually managed to use some though and have made a few pages. I do need to try and be more productive though, if only to justify the hours spent sorting it all out!
Credits are - Nearly Three - template, Kellie Mize, papers, Katie pertiet. Gap toothed smile - template, Mrs Wresh, papers, NK Design Studio. Big Blue Eyes - template, 2 sisters designs, papers and elements, Melany Violette.
I do tend to use a lot of templates for my digi scrapping because it makes it so easy to put a page together, especially when I don't have a lot of inspiration. I am now away to finish sorting files and hopefully produce something totally spontaneous and wonderful, even if it's only an altered walking stick! Take care x x x
I am so tired of being ill/out of sorts and feeling bl**dy miserable! Over the past few months it has been one thing after another but it is only now that there seems to be some kind of pattern to it all. Following on from the recent sore back I managed to twist my knee and agravate a problem that has been dormant for 10 years or more.
I am now hobbling around in pain with my knee, but my back is better :-) It's the small things are really painful such as getting out of bed and getting dressed. Trying to put your knickers on without bending your leg ain't easy, trust me! As for driving - I can just about stand the pain of getting into the car but the thought of driving it more than I can bear with the result that I missed the crop at Angela's yesterday, adding to my misery.
Gordon has kindly offered to drive me to school this week, so hopefully that will help. The last time I had this problem it required huge amounts of ibuprofen and months of physio - not what I need to cheer me up, lol. Added to this is the knowledge that I already have impaired fasting glycaemia and I will find out in a week or so whether it has developed into diabetes or not. This blood glucose problem seems to be what's behind a lot of the other things that have gone wrong recently, scabby skin, mouth ulcers, dizziness etc and I am hoping that these will begin to improve if I can get things under control.
One of the things I have been told I have to do is to avoid stress! Easier said than done. I cannot afford to not work and my job is very stressful, not helped by my current boss, but she ain't the worst out there by any means. I am going to try and reduce the hours I work over and above what I should be doing so that might help. The biggest problem is my lack of exercise so I have to deal with that, once I can bend my leg at the knee without crying, that is. The only good thing is that I have to sort of stay downstairs, where my craft stuff is, or upstairs, where my pc is. As a result I have actually managed to do some scrapping.
This is my take on a recent UKS cybercrop class which I really enjoyed doing. I used Bazzil card, DCWV, Imaginesce, Colour My World and KI Memories papers, Heidi Swapp and Autumn Leaves stamps and some rather dodgy stitching, but it was good fun.
This one has been in my head for ages - it's about Logan's fascination with all things orange! Card - Bazzil, paper - Scenic Route, Title - American Crafts, Paperloft, Heidi Swapp and butons from Rebecca's Srapbooking Stash.
Today has been school work and essay writing :-( but I did manage to throw a page together using a Kellie Mize template.
I haven't done any digi pages using a pic as a background before so I will see how I like this one once it's printed before I do any more. I have signed up for a digi class but haven't had the time to even look at it so far, hopefully after next weekend when the essay is submitted and my school paperwork is up to date. That's if I haven't developed yet another illness or had a limb drop off for some reason. I will leave you with the thought that I am now officially unhealthy, unwealthy and probably unwise - or why would I be writing an essay to prove to someone that I didn't fall asleep in their class and I can read a book or two relevant to my job! Linda wanders off muttering to herself and hoping she doesn't start providing the answers as well!!!!!! Take care x x x
At least that's how it feels at the moment! I have managed to hurt my back and have been walking about like I have a board strapped to my back for the past week, on the days I have actually been able to walk that is. Apparently sitting for too long trying to write an essay is bad for your health - REALLY????!!!!
God, it's a wonder I haven't jumped oot the windae - apart from the fact I would never be able to get my fat ass up that high without a chair, lol. Just as well I have hurt my back or the poor chair might have had the shock of it's wee life.
The cherry on the cake was to discover that not only am I working on two modules of this course at the same time but - due to the fantastic organisational capapbilities of the council I am employed by - I should be doing another module as well - at the same time! Now I may be good at what I do but that is taking the mickey just a wee bit, I think.
At the moment the decision is being made as to whether I get 3 days out of school to preserve what little is left of my sanity or whether I have to change what I am doing - which does not fit in with the school development plan at all. Thank god someone out there gets paid loads of money to make these difficult decisions or I really would be having sleepless nights. What I really feel like saying to these folk is - get a grip! - but as they are so far removed from reality it really wouldn't be worth it, apaprt from which as they employ me I might live to regret it. Thank god for free speech on blogs, lol.
As always happens with my life, the minute I need time/space for myself the rest of the clan go nuts and the shit (and almost everything else) hits the fan and I need to sort it out. I am tempted to ask the question - why me? - but I always come up with the answer - why not me? - so it doesn't help me much. Anyway, suffice to say they are all still alive and hale and hearty at the moment but the temptation to commit serious injury on some folk - as in knocking some sense into them - is almost overwhelming, but I won't bore you with the details.
I have actually managed to scrap a bit recently, much to my surprise. I am working on a kind of hit and run style of scrapping - I manage about 10 minutes and then have to change position and/or go do something else. It's not ideal but it's better than nothing and I have been in badly need of some paper therapy.
To top it all someone has sneaked a few months out of my calendar and Christmas is next month along with Katy's 3rd and Logan's 1st birthday. There are definite renegade forces working in this area at the moment, I just wish they would go and fight elsewhere for a wee while. Anyway, on that note I am away to try and find something to make for food as with all the other hoo ha going on the shopping didn't get got, such is life. Take care x x x
What a week it has been! I have been ill, my annual sinusitis, yeeugh, I have been stressed - way too much work to do, but I have actually scrapped a page with paper, hooray!!!!
This course is driving me nuts - the amount of work involved is incredible and I have been very bad temepred and stressed as a result. Poor Gordon, I think if I said I was quitting he would be so relieved. What's worse is that having dragged myself out to Jordanhill on Saturday for a very looooong and boring day - I was greeted with essay number 2!!!!!!!!!!!!
At that point I nearly did quit. I had sat all Friday sweating over various acts of parliament and huge tomes of very dry literature about said acts - none of which I have retained (a lesson learned about learning styles there) to the point where I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. I did take a few hours off to scrap one whole page though but I can't show you it yet as I haven't had time to takes a pic of it. I did manage to escape for a wee while yesterday to take some pics of my grandchildren's halloween party, which was good fun.
Tomorrow is Jordanhill again, straight after school but hopefully I survive. The worst part is that essay 2 is way easier to do than essay 1 - that's life I suppose. Hopefully the next time I post the essay will be done, or almost done and I may even have managed to scrap another page. Until then, take care x x x
If you ever get the chance to visit the Enchanted Forest at Faskally woods near Pitlochry - grab it and go! It is wonderful and suitable for all ages. Sara-Jane and I had a great time and spent hours on site taking photos. Thank you SJ for your company and a fab weekend. I am absolutely shattered and fighting to keep a cold and a bout of sinusitis at bay so I am off to bed with lots of pills and a book. I will leave you with a few pics from Faskally to whet your appetites. Take care x x x
At this moment in time everything in my life seems to be a work in progress. My craft room is partly sorted and although I am desperate to scrap with paper I won't let myself until it is all sorted so that's a work in progress. I am also in the process of reorganising my digi files to make them easier to use - another work in progress. Sadly the essay is a non starter - I almost wish it was a work in progress because then I might just bite the bullet and get it finished!
I have read several books, walked for miles and taken masses of photos - all waiting to be uploaded and sorted. I have been to Perthshire, North Berwick and Glasgow over the past few days and although I am having fun on my holiday I know I will regret not having started the essay sooner when the deadline looms nearer.
Tomorrow is a long put off visit to the hairdresser and a visit to my kids and Friday I am going back to the caravan with Sara-Jane for a photo weekend. We have tickets for Faskally on Friday and then it's whatever we fancy before back to work on Monday.
I will leave you with a few digi pages I have managed to squeeze in - total work avoidance I know. The Katy one just captures that moment in every young girl's life when they discover make-up though I would have thought not quite 3 was a bit young still, lol. The others are of pics taken at the caravan over last weekend - I am hoping to put together an album of my photos that I wouldn't perhaps otherwise scrap and digi is the perfect solution. Take care x x x
Well the good news the expected phone call asking me to teach on Thursday and Friday didn't come. I am amazed
that the teacher in question managed to get into school and actually teach as she was very ill, then again maybe she didn't and they just didn't want me!
So what did I do instead? Well, I managed to visit all of my children who are having a period of very mixed fortunes at the moment. One good thing about all this is my oldest son is finally starting to do the things I have been hoping he wopuld do for such a long time. For the first time in ages I feel I can simply be proud of him rather than have an awful feeling of dread about what will happen to him next. I won't go into details here as he wouldn't like that.
I also continued with the tidy/sort of my craft room. I have way too much of some stuff and I had sorted it so neatly that I forgot half of what I had. Those who know me as a scrapper will know how obsessive I am about having my stash sorted and organised but I have taken it too far and need to be a bit less strict about this and then maybe I will be able to find things and putting stuff away won't be such a mission! I haven't finished and it is nowhere near ready to be used but I can see an end to it now.
Then the realisation struck that I haven't scrapped in any form since the start of the month so I did a few quick digi pages yesterday which prompted me to start organising my digi files too, lol. I use ACDSEE to keep my digi bits in order and make sure I know who created them.
At the moment they are all in folders according to who made them but that's not easy to use unless you use all the same persons stuff on a page and I am trying to get away from that a bit. So a rethink is in order which means I cannot buy or download anything until I have it all sorted so I have been gathering a few goodies before I start.
I am now off to the caravan for a few days to try and get the main part of my essay written and hopefully get some fab photos. I am home on Tuesday and then away again on Friday. If I didn't have to work I could happily spend all my time scrapping and taking photos - I am sure I have enough stash to keep me going for a year or so, lol. Take care x x x x
P.S. I will post credits for the stuff I used as soon as I get a chance.
