Well Diane awarded me the CIrcle of Friends award, I can't seem to get the image to upload just now tho!

I am veyr lucky to have a very strong circle of friends. Some local to me here in Leeds, and some further afield. Since Nigel died, they have been there for me through thick and thin. I'm not going to wax lyrical and get all mushy over it, but I will say thank you to those people who have done so much for me.

Spare a thought today please for my lovely neighbour Mary. She is currently in St James's Hospital with a possible perforated appendix. Ouch. Get well soon!

Still not feeling great myself. We're off for a nice tasty lunch down at the Mill Village in Batley.

So Lottie tagged me...

Not had one of those for a while, so here goes!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. Ten years ago
May 1998 I was in the middle of my finals at the University of Leeds. Hoping to get the 2:i I needed to to a primary PGCE at the University of Durham (which I did!). Nigel and I were together, our relationship was just starting out.

2. Five things on today's "to do" list (in no particular order).
1 empty dishwasher
2 sweep living room floor
3 put basket of laundry away
4 do bit of ironing
5 continue tidying my craft room

3. Snacks I enjoy.
crisps, fruit

4. Things I would do if I was a millionaire
Buy a holiday home on the Algarve, and one next door to rent out. If I had a holiday home I would want to decamp there for the whole school holiday, so the other one could be rented out to earn me some income.
I would buy a new car. Nothing wrong with my golf, I don't need a new car but I would like one! I have my eye on a VW Tiguan, a compact 4x4. Droooooooool...


5. Places I have lived,
Durham, Leeds, Enschede (The Netherlands), Pudsey and Gildersome, where I live now.
Nigel and I had planned to retire to the Algarve, so maybe I will do that one day.

That do you Lottie?
Ok so I tag:

Heather (password protected)
Julie
Diane
Monica
Tracy

Am suffering with laryngitis atm so forgive the short post. The girls are poorly too, so feel free to send us delicious home cooked meals for me to reheat, along with lots of chocolate. And Calpol. Thanks.

Relaxation at it's best

We've just spent the weekend at Scargill House up in the Yorkshire Dales in a place called Kettlewell. Have you seen the film Calendar Girls? If you have, then you will be familiar with the village of Kettlewell.
Scargill House is a mile and a quarter out of Kettlewell, and is a Christian retreat. We went as a group of friends, 6 adults and associated childre from 2 to 7 years old. No Christian affiliation but most of us are church goers in some shape or form. Scargill is in the middle of nowhere really, no mobile phones can get a signal, and all you can hear outside is sounds of nature. Perfect for a nice quiet weekend.
As soon as we arrived, I could feel the stress draining away. I have been feeling very stressed out again lately, so it was exactly what we needed. The girls had plenty of playmates, and as we were the only residents over the weekend, we had free run of the place. The food is out of this world, really delicious, and all included in the price too, so no worrying about cooking for a whole weekend!
I read a whole book while we were there, Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz. Shows how relaxed I was really. No crafting done, but there's time for that this week. I'm on a mission to get my craft room tidy again, it has got very out of control. Time to purge some stuff I think, so wish me luck!
Some pictures of the weekend to share, lots of smiling faces which is great.

Reliving my life with Nigel...

I spoke to a journalist today, with a view to her writing a piece about my life since being widowed at 30.
We talked about how we'd met, when we got married, how long after that the girls were born... lots of memories which were good to go over, if a little emotional now, later in the day.
We talked about what happened the night that Nigel died, and I can still remember it so clearly. Every time I talk about what happened that night, I am so very grateful that the girls slept through it all. To have seen their daddy how he was that night is something I am so very glad they did not see. The paramedics who came did everything they could to help, but it was not a sight I ever want to see again. It is all very well to learn first aid skills, but to actually use them like I had to that night is frightening. I didn't think twice about it at the time, and I would do the same again for anyone who needed help. Still makes it a scary thought.

Life is ticking by nicely here. This weekend we are off to Scargill House with some friends, including one 4 year old who wants to know if we eat each other when we die... am I sure I want to go???

New goodies

A day of new goodies today. Alex has been wanting a cabin bed, but unfortunately her bedroom just isn't the right size for one. So I have been on the lookout for something exciting for her to have instead. As she is a HUGE Dora the Explorer fan, I was delighted when I found a Dora bed tent on Amazon. It arrived yesterday, and I put it together this afternoon. As you can see, she is delighted with it!




I finally got my order from Crafts U Love today. I needed some new cutting mats for the cricut, and a new Whipper Snapper stamp just fell into my shopping cart... I must say I was not overly impressed with the delivery time, having ordered on Monday 28th April, and the goods arriving today, May 10th! In the past when I have ordered from them, delivery has been much speedier. Oh well. Once won't put me off ordering from them again.



For the card, I used my lovely new Whipper Snapper stamp, Craftwork Cards cupcake paper and sentiment, grosgrain ribbon in hot pink. I coloured it with my Derwent water colours.

A Good Day

It started well, Alex slept until 7.45, and on waking wanted to watch the end of ET. We started watching it last night, as Sophie was at her best friend's for a sleepover. Once ET was finished we had a quick breakfast and tidy round, before meeting Sophie at Starbuck's with Jennifer, Sarah and Oliver.

After coffee, and a quick mooch round Next to get the girls a summer weight body warmer each, we headed to Showcase Cinema to see Nim's Island.



We loved this film! We met some friends there, and Katie came in to watch the film while Debbie and Patrick headed to Ikea (Patrick is only 10 months so not yet old enough to appreciate the cinema!).

The story is all about an 11 year old girl called Nim. Her father Jack is an oceanographer, and together they live on a remote South Pacific island. Nim's mother had died some years before, having been swallowed by a whale. Jack was researching plankton, and this research took him away from the island for a couple of days, leaving Nim to wait for some turtle eggs to hatch.

The inevitable happens, and a storm means Jack can not get back to Nim in the intended time scale. So Nim ends up emailing her favourite author, Alex Rover, for help after Alex Rover write asking for advice about volcanoes.

To cut a long story short, there is a most happy ending! Definitely worth seeing, a little predictable for sure, but still enjoyable. The scenery is amazing, makes me wish I was on that island right now!

Once the film was finished, we came back here and the kids had a play. Patrick loved exploring our house, bless him! Debbie watched the girls for me while I nipped to the tip with the rubbish that wasn't collected last week because of the strike, plus a mattress we didn't need and was past it's best.

Nothing exciting about today but we enjoyed it. Relaxed fun all round! Here's to more days like that. Shame there was no crafting to be had, will save that for another day!

Sharing time

This is my most recent layout of Alex on her birthday whilst on holiday. She loved meeting all the Sesame Street characters, even tho she had no idea who they all were! I used my April Scrapagogo kit for this, with various bits and pieces added like some Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, American crafts letter stickers, and stickles round the chipboard letters.



This shows my photographs which I took for Craftwork Cards' latest newsletter. It's the first time I have taken any photographs for them, so I hope it will result in more! I was so excited to get the newsletter on yesterday, made me feel very pleased with myself indeed!

Other news, well there isn't any really! Got the girls at home with me tomorrow as it is May Day, so we are planning a trip to the cinema to see Horton Hears A Who. Dr Seuss so will be very overdone, but I think the girls will like it.

Adios for now!!

That day arrived

My online buddy Sally posted with the news I knew would come soon. Sadly her husband Dick lost his fight against cancer at 1.10am this morning.

Sally, Ben and Tom, I am thinking of you. Losing a loved one is never easy. Sending you strength over the coming days of making arrangements and dealing with so many emotions.