Skywatch

Yesterday was grey and miserable.  We got soaked despite having raincoats on.  The sky was particularly boring but at sundown the clouds parted and gave us a spectacular sunset.

Operation ~ Change

Things will never be the same.  Life is something that can be cruel, can change things but we have to adapt and sometimes change can be good.

Life has thrown a lot our way this year from grief to job loss to money worries to major building work to fabulous exam results to my eldest moving to university.  All different things which brought different emotions. 

A new kind of normality is now in place which is very different to the old normality but like I said change can be good.  The loft conversion certainly was.  My husband losing his job wasn't so good because it meant that our plans are now on hold as his new job means us making economic changes.  Our daughter is now away at university and hers is the last bedroom in need of an overhaul so there is no rush.  Ideally I would like it done before she comes back for the christmas holidays.

Speaking of which - she went at the weekend.  Not too far, too far to commute but near enough to come home on a weekend if she wants to. 

Her room is slightly bigger than her bedroom at home and she shares a student flat with two other girls.  Their doors open onto a shared kitchen making it nice and sociable.

Something that never changes is the desire of children to collect conkers (horse chestnuts).  My littlest son went to the park with his daddy at the weekend and they returned with some fallen shells which said son had great pleasure in stamping on to open them. 

Another change I need to do is to get this house out of its current state which is closely related to a tip.  First thing though is to get this blocked.

Another change I have decided is that I am giving up on the learn something new everyday thingy.  My heart is no longer in it and I haven't managed to even start putting any of it on paper so I am making my last lesson that it is OK to give up on something if I choose to.  It isn't anything to do with the way Shimelle has taught the course because her daily emails have been a joy to read.  It just isn't for me this time. It is a lifelong course so maybe next year I might do it properly.

Skywatch

Helicopter taking off that we witnessed this afternoon

Back to the learning process and lesson 20 was that a bit of sunshine works wonders for opening the buds on the flowers in my yard.

Lesson 21 is definitely that I can't leave things until the last minute and I need to be more organised.

Lesson 22 is a personal one as it was the funeral today for a very brave member of our family who will be sadly missed.

Travelling Scarf

Remember this post?

The travelling scarf is now underway.

I can't quite believe it but I completely forgot to take a picture of my own starting section before I posted it.

Nevermind though.  Here is the next one belonging to Paula.  It is knit lengthways on a circular needle. 

Can't wait for the next one which should be arriving sometime after the weekend.



Starting Afresh With LSNED

My day 16 lesson after the very sad events of Wednesday 15th is that it is OK to take a day out and start afresh with the 17th lesson on a day that isn't the 17th September.


So day 17 is actually saturday which was the 18th.  We walked to the supermarket and I learnt that my son is way fitter than I am.  He set off running across the field and landed quite a while before me.

Day 18 - Thomas tracks are a pain in the butt to put together but a joy for my son to play with.

Day 19 is going to be today which is the 20th.  My lesson was one I learnt a long while ago but was reminded of this morning.  There is no reasoning with a person who is on the autistic spectrum and it is best to just embrace their quirks.  Crossing the road in a certain position everyday - things having to be done in a specific order - waving goodbye at school a certain number of times - each fastening on his scooter having to be in a particular place (to the millimetre).  The list goes on but you get the picture. 

Learn Something New Everyday - 14

My lesson for day 14 is that I am old enough to decide now that as far as footwear goes comfort is the main thing.  I got these Hush Puppies boots which are very very comfy.  I asked my daughter if they looked too old fashioned and her response was - no they look French!! I guess I'm going to be looking French this winter.

Day 15 is going to be a private one because we lost a family remember to cancer today.

Skywatch

This week I have chosen a sunset picture.

The reasons behind it are quite personal this week as we had a family bereavement so it is a tribute to the sun setting on their life.

Basic Grey Challenge

This week I decided to take part in the Basic Grey Challenge.  

I have had this picture lying on the kitchen table for a while and I couldn't quite decide what to do with it in terms of colours etc.  I saw the basic grey challenge was paper piecing so decided to do some flowers with a couple of petals blowing away to replicate my little man blowing the dandelion.  The butterfly is paper pieced too. The paper line is Origins, I used sweets alphabet and flurries & filligree stamps.

Learn Something New Everyday - Days 12 and 13

Day 12 I relearnt something that I knew all along anyway - the laundry does NOT do itself.  Nor does it put itself away or does anybody else apart from me.

Day 13 this is another one I knew but didn't want to admit. I have a serious addiction to Farmville and Frontierville that needs to STOP asap.

 

I haven't, as yet, recorded any of my lessons onto paper so if I spend a bit less time playing silly addictive games then I might find the time to make a start.

Learn Something New Everyday - Day 11

Day 11 I learnt to NEVER trust the weather!

It was a niceish morning when we set off to town. A bit cloudy. We went into our final shop and the heavens opened in dramatic fashion just as we were finishing up our shopping. Luckily the shop has a big canopy at the entrance so lots of people managed to get sheltered.

I won't go into how annoyed I was at the ignorant smokers who lit up while we were waiting and held their cigarettes at face level with my six year old. I have massive issues with smokers in public places. Smoke in your own private place if you want to kill yourself but PLEASE don't inflict it on other people.

A Bit of Scrapbooking

I finally got a chance to play with the new Prima stuff I have in the shop. 

My design team have also had a play and their fantastic creations have been showcased in the shop blog all week.

My layouts aren't quite at the level of theirs but anyway here they are.

Learn Something New Everyday - 9 & 10

Day 9 I learnt that I have way too many unopened and definitely unused fitness DVDs.  I can truthfully say that I have only ever used one of them and that was only a couple of times.....until today when I decided to give Jillian Michaels a go. 

Day 10 I learnt that the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred one is a killer on the arms the next day.  I must have worked muscles I didn't even know I had. I'm going to stick with it though.

Skywatch & LSNED 8

This week skywatch is a picture taken by the canal from the top of a bridge over it.

My lesson learnt yesterday for lsned was that my son can run.  At the beginning of every school year they do cross country. The older two always hated it but my younger son managed to get himself a platinum award (they come in platinum, gold, silver, bronze and participation).  He also got himself a place on the school team.

Learn Something New Everyday - Day 7

Lesson learnt on the 7th day was that, after having major problems with my printer, a change of print head works wonders and it now prints properly.

Learn Something New Everyday - Days 5 and 6

Day 5 I learnt a lesson about footwear.  These shoes are only intended for longer walks when I wear socks.  I wore them on saturday (without socks) for a longish walk and apart from a small amount of rubbing they were fine UNTIL sunday when I learnt the lesson.  I put them on to go shopping and oh boy did I know about it. The rubbing was much worse than I first thought.

Day 6 was back to school day for my boys.  I always take a photo on their first day back in September to compare to previous years and see how they have grown.  I learnt that this one has grown rather a lot.  Almost a foot in the last year or so.  He is already bigger than me and I'm tall at 5ft 9.  I think we are definitely headed for 6ft before he is 15. The face isn't a lesson - just a protest at me taking a picture.

Learn Something New Everyday - Day 4

Yesterday was booster time for Daisy.  Last year the nurse told me she was chunky and needed to lose some weight. She was 28kg. 

This year the vet said she could do with losing a kilo or two to be ideal weight but that she wasn't massively overweight.  Getting her on the scales was a two person job because there was a rottie right at the side of the scale who was much more interesting than standing on a scale.  She came in at 30.1kg.  This is despite reducing her food and hardly giving any treats at all. The only ones she has are tiny little things on recall practice at the park.  She also eats exactly the same amount as Charlie who is lab cross and only weighs 21kg but looks like he could do with a good meal.

So my lesson was that the vet thinks losing a kilo or two back down to 28kg  is fine and she would be ideal yet the nurse last year thought that 28kg was chunky.  I think I will go with what the vet says and maybe in that year between being 1 year old and 2 years old she might actually have grown and she would actually have lost some if she hadn't grown. 

I'll stop rambling now.

Learn Something New Everyday - Day 3

Day three on lsned I learnt to read food labels with more understanding thanks to the weight management class I am doing. If there is one nearby you I highly recommend going along. The classes are free and run by the NHS. Depending on the class teacher you will look at food in a whole new way especially when they show you how much sugar is contained in certain foods. Seeing it measured and poured onto a plate is a real eye opener.

The Month In Numbers

Julie challenged us to blog the month in numbers.

Here is mine.

6 - the number of design team members I chose for the shop

236,017 blackberries picked (well maybe not quite that number lol but it certainly felt like it)

3 sandcastles built on the beach

5 beach huts in a row

5972 - the number of the Hogwarts engine on display in the railway museum at York

£399 - the amount we spent on a new laptop for our daughter as a well done present for passing her A levels with grades of more than she needed for her university place.

1 hour 39 minutes and 28 seconds - the amount of time, according to my phone bill, I spent on the phone trying to sort out a financial problem.

Learning

This week a hot air balloon flew over our house. I don't believe I've ever seen one so close before and certainly never at home.

Yesterday saw the start of Learn Something New Everyday and was also the last day of the school holidays for my little man. We had a nice drive out to a local stately home and with the class in mind my lesson learnt was to enjoy nature.

Today my lesson was that cakes can come in extra super size. We went to a local pub for lunch and my mouth must have been somewhere down near the floor when I saw the cakes on display. I didn't have the camera so have pinched this photo off the pub website.

Next time I might actually have some and will definitely take my camera.

Tomorrow a post about numbers