Sandown weekend

I had a really fabulous weekend! Burn took freda and me away to a little cottage near the river Thames at Shepperton for the weekend, and we spent Saturday at the Quilt show at Sandown racecourse. It was a lovely venue, really light, airy and spacious. It was great to be 'showmn the ropes' by Burn and Freda, who have both been quilting for years. We did spend some time looking at the quilts, and I was particularly interested in the sea-scape quilts, to get some ideas for my sea scene hanging. We also walked along by the river, which was really trnaquil after our manic shop at Sandown! In the evening, we had a takeway chinese, and a show and tell! In order, the photos are Freda's, mine and Burn's. I am going to do another post with photos of the quilts.

craft room tidy up

I have had another big tidy up! I use my dining room as my craft room, and it is usually in a terrible state! It has piles of stuff all over the floor and I can't see the table




!





Now at least I can see a good bit of working space! I finally got round to ordering a clip it up whirly thing. I hung all my alphabet stickers onto it, and am embarrassed to say that I have filled it up! At least now they are at my finger tips, and I will use them, especially all those old half finished ones! It's great!





I have ordered the piles on the floor a bit better. Just got 2 big boxes, one with Arrowfile inserts (I am still sorting photos!) and one with holiday bits and pieces over the years. They really need a proper resting place!

Mini book swap part 2

And here's the minibook kit I received, now made into a book about summer 2001!

Mini book swap

I received this gorgeous mini book in a UKScrappers swap this morning! It comes all the way from Bali!!! So thanks very very much Sue, it is really lovely - not sure that these photos really do it justice. The first photo shows the extras she sent with it, loads of ribbon, more die-cuts etc.

I love it! Just got to decide what to put in it, but my first thought is photos of me and Maurice when we first met. Might have to use scans though as we haven't got many photos from that time.

Driving

I had another advanced driving lesson today. My instructor, Ron likes to take me deep into the country to the north of the town. We drive down some really tiny one track country lanes, gorgeous! He is really keen to tell me interesting facts about places, buildings and landmarks. I have shown a bit of interest, so he is doing it more! Today we drove to Arundel, and as we drove past the cathedral, we saw that the flower festival is on. I happened to mention that I haven't been to see it ever, so we parked up and went into the cathedral! Ron is like a tour guide, spouting interesting facts all the way!LOL

A funny little story is that I mentioned at my sewing class that he has taken me on some really lovely drives in the countryside. Fiona asked why would he want to take you there? nudge, nudge! Well, that particular afternoon, we drove over round some lovely little villages to the west, and he made me park the car, then he said, let's get out for a walk, there's something I want to show you round here!! Well, I had to suppress a giggle!!! What was it he wanted to show me?!? Actually it was a very interesting gravestone in Walburton church yard, which has the story of the death engraved as a picture on it. (It was a tree that fell on him!)

I wish I had taken my camera on these drives!

My driving is improving all the time, and Ron says I am ready for my test YIKES! I have now arranged to have a dummy test with another instructor next week. I must fill in the form for the test too.

Todays chat has also bought back lots of memories for myself and Maurice. The subject got onto my Dad and the fact that he had worked at Ricardo Engineering at Shoreham. Ron mentioned someone he had known at Ricardo, who was involved in the RAC/ACU training scheme years ago. Well, that was where Maurice and I met! It was a training scheme for novice

motorcyclists, and I went on (under Dad's instructions) when I had my first moped when I was 17. Maurice was a trainer.... need I say more..... (It was his big Triumph Trident motorbike that attracted me!) So walking the dog tonight we've been trying to remember who else was there!LOL Maurice can't remember Ron though.

Leaving work

YAY! I left my cleaning job last week!!! I had a lovely evening last night - not having to worry about getting up this morning, or preparing all my stuff for this morning! We went for a lovely drive last night to practice my advanced driving. We went down some gorgeous country lanes north of the village of Ashington which came out by this gorgeous little country church! We then made our way to Amberley and had a drink in The Bridge. It was really busy!

When we got home we walked Merlin round the block, and bought a bottle of wine on the way home. It's quite a while since I had a drink on a Sunday night!!!

Today I got up slowly, had my cup of tea in bed, YAY! It is another absolutely beautiful day, so i walked Merlin along the beach - dipping my toes in the sea! I pottered around the kitchen and then helped Lucy revise for Biology exam this afternoon. Not sure how well she is going to do, she doesn't know the stuff well enough really!

Now I am on the computer doing AIFHS stuff, and making a very long list of things I want to do over the next few weeks. More on that later!

5 things about us

Inspired by Ali Edwards again!

5 things about me;
counting down the days till I give up my cleaning job (next Thursday)
loving (and keeping up with) my Photo a day project
struggling with losing a bit of weight
reading David Bellamy's autobiography
crafting (esp scrapbooking) LOADS!

5 things about Maurice:
looking forward to his Himalayan adventure
has lovingly cleaned and polished the 'blingy' bike - Honda
is enjoying playing squash again
loves loads of vegetables with his dinner
has a job still atm (American Express are to make another 4000 redundant)


5 things about Nicholas
is taking 1st year exams at Bath uni
is staying on for an extra week to party!
will probably do some voluntary work in the summer - computer related
is probably looking forward to coming home for the summer
is willing to talk to me on MSN a lot!

5 things about Lucy
is taking A/S level exams at the moment
is on study leave - but not too much studying going on!
is driving everywhere in the little green Micra
working quite a lot at the Cricketers as a waitress
is looking forward to going to Spain in the summer with Tom.

driving, eating, scrapbooking!

Well, my first advanced driving lesson has happened! I arrived at my instructors house, suprisingly nervous, and knocked on his door. He is exactly how you would imagine an member of the IAM to be, middle aged, ex police type, precise. When I went back to the car to wait for him, I noticed a drip coming from the bonnet, eeek! The car radiator is leaking!!! So, we decided to drive back here and pick up the Micra! Maurice said I should do the test in the Micra because it is manual and the Honda is automatic. So there I am crashing through the gears - trying to start off in third, not going into 5th when I should! Actually he said at the end that I impressed him with how I switched to manual having not realised it. I came away not really knowing what I have to do to improve my driving, but well aware of the IAM system, IPSGA! (Information, position, speed, gear, acceleration)

I spent the weekend scrapbooking. It was our Brighton crop on Saturday, and then Maurice was out all day on Sunday. It has been a while since I have been 'in the goove' for scrapbooking, but I think I am getting back there now. I just need a 'project' to do. My last project was our wedding album, and as my birthday photos hadn't turned up, I decided to do more to my A-Z of everyday things, and start a 2009 album. The 2009 album is going to have 1 DLO per month, it is going to be tricky to decide which photos to use and which to leave out!

Last night I went for 2 meals out - one after the other!!! Naomi at work (our student social worker) was leaving her placement so we went to a nice little Italian on Worthing seafront for the early bird dinner, £8.99 for 2 courses). It was great! I had meditterraean grilled veg for starter and then goats cheese salad for main. Naomi gave us all a little present! We each had a little bottle of nail varnish beautifully wrapped in pink with silver ribbon!

Maurices brother and wife are down for a visit from Scotland. So we arranged to take them out for a meal, yes last night! WE went to a little pub on the outskirts of Worthing. Trouble was it was a gut-buster type of menu - no salads! So I picked scampi and chips and I ate it all! Boy did I suffer though! It would have been oK if I had not eaten the (earlier) cheese or the chips! So I have had a nice long nap this afternoon! Probably won't be able to sleep tonight nowLOL

BH weekend

We love a BH weekend! This time of year is great because May day comes soon after Easter, and then we have the late May one to look forward to as well! (Lucky my notice at work covers the month of May with 2 BH Mondays in it!)

We went to visit Nicholas at Bath on the Honda motorbike. It's about 2.75 hours each way. Oh my god it was cold! And oh my god did I get a numb bum!(Although why they call it a numb bum I don't know - it is actually quite painful!!) Here we at the university are setting off for home, and it rained a little bit! Maurice had spent all morning on Sunday polishing the copious amounts of chrome on his bike, only to get it slightly damp! Oh dear!

It can get very boring on the back of the bike, so to pass the time away I have made up loads of little challenges for myself, and might make an art journal to record them. A bit like my photo a day - but instead a challenge a week! 50 challenges this year as I am 50!

Big decision time!

Lots of big decisions this week!And I have done things I have been putting off for ages!

On Monday I had a health check I had put off for about 2 years!

On Wednesday I handed my notice in as cleaner at Worthing Family Centre. I have been doing the early morning cleaning for 2.5 years, which is much longer than i anticipated when I took it on! I liked the hours (except that getting up before 6am is not too good - especially in the winter!) because I was home by 9.30am and the rest of the day is my own. I liked having a bit of money that was my own, to spend how I liked, and I have bought a lot of scrapbooking stash with it! But I also have loads of money left! I didn't like the way my hours had changed and going in on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

What am I going to do now? Well there may be an opportunity to be a volunteer coordinator for the Family Centre in a couple fo months. I have been 'nibbling' at this as a volunteer myself for 6 months or so, but it is very frustrating as I only do about 2 hours per week, and I can't chase things up very well. I really hope it happens! It will be a 2 monring a week job, and PAID - not voluntary!

Also on Wednesday I went to the dentist and finally made a decision about my 'failing crown' on my front tooth! I am going to get it fixed cos it is really starting to bother me now. So I am going to have a bridge (an implant was another option, but cost £3k YIKES!) . I have an hour and a half appointment in July for the temp bridge to be fixed!

Finally, this morning I have been to have my eyes tested and ordered new more trendy glasses! Again, I have been putting off going for about 2 years! No problems with my eyes, just need slightly stronger lenses.

PHEW! I am exhausted now!

Uni friends/People photography

We had a great afternoon with my old uni friends yesterday! I went to Sussex University as a mature student (10 years ago now!), and still keep in touch with the girls I made friends with. Essi came over from Finland for a few days with DH Markus, and son Tobias, and daughter Julia (little baby), so we decided to get together. WE made afternoon tea! So sandwiches, quiches etc. Jane bought scones and cream, and Sarah bought a carrot cake.

I tried taking some candid shots for my People Photography course. Here are some of the best. It is sooo challenging this course. It really is outside my comfort zone to take pics of people, and directing them for a photoshoot - well I find that nigh impossible! I just have no idea what to say to them!LOL
I bought Tobias (4) a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker book, and he sepnt ALL afternoon doing it, he really loved it!











Here's Jane doing what she does best, talk!


















I think this might be the best technically. It is Roger, who is Markus's friend, who they are staying with in Brighton. He drove them over, nice chap!

















But this is my favourite! Simon is soo gorgeous, photogenic and is a really nice chap! He is Sarah's husband. I love the way the light falls on his face.

CJ entry

I must try and showcase a bit more of my crafting! I can't usually be bothered to photograph it. But I was so pleased with this, I have to show it to you! It's my entry in a CJ called'Take One Stamp'. Each CJ has one stamp that you have to use. This is a gorgeous Crafty Indiviuals stamp, that I decided to stamp with Versamark, then colour it with chalks. I don't use my chalks very often, in fact, hardly ever! First of all I chalked it all in pink, but then decided to try different colours, browns, mustard, and pink to highlight the butterfly. I have to say that I am really pleased with it! It is mounted on dark brown card, then onto a scrap of Prima paper that I had left over. It is a really dinky little CJ, only measuring about 6 x 4ins. Lovely!

Scrapbooking Holidays

I have recently taken all my old photos out of those 'sticky' albums, and put them into archival albums from Arrowfile. I decided that I would keep all the holidyas seperate. I ordered 12 x 12 albums and a variety of page protectors from Arrowfile. I now have 6 albums full of our holidyas going right back to when we were first married! What I would like to do now is to sort each holiday into the right order, and scrap 1 or 2 pages per holiday. I have just found all the holiday diaries - I always keep quite detailed diaries when on holiday. Now I need to spend some time on each individual holiday!

This project is going to take a very long time!LOL I will update again soon

Wow, we had such a fabulous time in Rome! It really was a whistle stop tour though!

Here is the inside of the Colluseum, completely different to how I imagined! I thought it would be grass inside. I guess all this would have been underneath the 'stage', where the killings and Galdiator fights took place. It really is HUGE!


The Pantheon. It is Soooo ancient. Unfortunately it was shut because of easter and we couldn't go in.

The fabulous Trevi fountain. Actually I was a little disappointed, it didn't seem as big as I had imagined! Maybe because there were so many people about.

A lot of the buildings were this gorgeous terracotta colour.

The Sapnish steps. It seemd that anybody who was anybody in Rome were on those steps on Easter Monday! Such stylish people. And mostly Italians, not very many Americans or Japonese.

This wonderful view is from above Piazza del Popolo. It is looking towards th vatican city (those high walls) and that large dome is St Peters Basillica

One of my favourite shots! Part of a fountain in Piazza del Popolo.

And the Colosseum! It is so big, and so much part of the city. Awesome!

I just love this, a photo of Maurice taking a photo of the church of San Giovanni en Laterano

Finally, we were pleased with ourselves becasue we mastered the public transport system! Not that hard I know! But quite a thing for us. This is the double decker train we caught from Fiumicino airport right to our hotel! (well 5 mins walk to it anyway)

Back with more tomorrow. I did take 252!!! (and I haven't deleted very many) So you will have to see some more.

WE are off to Rome!

WE are off to Rome for a few days! My last and final 50th birthday celebration. We are catching th 8am flight from gatwick so nice early start, and coming home on Wednesday evening. So expect lots of photos!!

Happy Childhood

We have swapped round the computers a bit here. I now have Dad's computer, because it is much better than mine. Nicholas has sorted it all out for me this week. What I wnat to tell you about though is the cine films I found on here! Dad had all the cine films converted to DVD a year or so back with the idea of editing them - he never did! But there are 4 hours of old cine film on this computer!!! They are absolutely wonderful - my 6th birthday, family weddings, beach holidays, relatives visiting etc. I am going to watch a bit every day. Most of the film dates back to the late 1960s early 1970s, and it is just fabulous to see us all so much younger and moving! Just wish I knew how to show you a bit(LOL) but then you really had to have been there to appreciate them!! Maurice and SIL Lynda used to hate it when we got the old cine films out! And of course we always had to watch the bit where we went down the slide off Weymouth pier into the sea backwards - several times!!!

Remembering Dad

yesterday we had a man come to take away the big machine tools from Dad's garage. The garage was Dad's domain, none of us knew anything about the tools or what he did out there! He had a lathe, a milling machine, a bandsaw, a vertical drill etc. But that's what Dad did! He made some fantastic things for us and the grandchildren. I have a shaker style seat in the conservatory, and a bookcase in my bedroom. We have a doll's house which I have tried to decorate and furnish!! In the loft are a castle, a farm, a dolls bed and 2 desks! He also made a full size rocking horse for my brother's children.
As a child I can always remember Dad in his garage. We had a small garden with the garage in a compund, but it was at the back of our garden, so there was a door into it from the garden. He was out there EVERY night! His hands were always black with oil and grease! In those days he fixed cars, and did alot for the Austin 7 club. He machined the cylinder blocks for the engine for restored Austin 7s. He was involved in a record attempt in the late 1970s with Austin 7s round Goodwood circuit. (Andrew and Maurice went to reunion before Christmas - 30 year anniversary!) When I first bought a moped when I was 17, Dad rebuilt the engine! And then I bought a Suzuki 50cc trail bike which I blew up the engine, and he rebuilt that too!
It was the right time to clear the garage. Any sooner would have been more painful, but any later and the tools would have started to detierorate. But it did feel like a little bit more of Dad gone from our lives!