Getting To Know Me

Pop over to the Man Land 5 blog to play along with this fun post:


1. Have you ever snooped around someone else's house?
Sure I must have done. Does house viewing count - as I loved looking round other peoples houses when we were house hunting!


2. Can guys and girls be friends?
They certainly can - but it is usually other folk that have a problem with it - not the people concerned.


3. Can you curl your tongue?
Certainly can.


4. Have you ever stolen anything?
Sweets while I was a kid. Well it took Mr or Mrs Eastman so long to get down the stairs from the flat above the sweet shop that we must have had faces like hamsters and bulging pockets. Everyone did it so I really don't know how they ever made a profit!!

5. Would you rather talk on the phone or text?
Text - cos it means I can be doing something else at the same time!


6. Memorial Day plans?
It isn't even a Bank Holiday here in Scotland today (now what is that all about??) but I have the day off and the sun is shining so I am off for a walk along the beach.


7. What do you do to relax?
Read a good book.

8. Do you do anything to honor those that have died fighting for our freedom?
I wear my poppy with pride and support Help for Heroes. With a husband who served his country for 23 years it is something that is close to our hearts.

The Good Life

Well maybe not quite - but I do have a sense of longing when I pass an allotment site.

The raised veggie beds now have device to stop next doors cats from using them as toilet - even if it does look like it was designed by Heath Robinson! My makeshift wood and wire frame is my spoils from being a skip rat down at the local recycling centre. I had spotted a piece of wood sticking out of the skip which I thought would come in handy - as I tried to retrieve it I spotted part of what I think was a rabbit or guinea pig hutch. Luckily due to my work with the environmental protection department of the local council I knew some of the lads that work down there so it was soon in the boot of the car. It couldn't be recycled due to the wire on it so it was headed for the landfill site - so I have done my bit for the enviroment!!!





The leeks that we bought from the local market are now in the ground and look as though they have taken well.























Much excitement when we saw the beans coming up (although I had looked the previous day and what was the actual seed pod I had mistaken for a dead and dried up slug.





















And I think we will have more than enough brocolli!!!!

Scrap Weekly - Challenge #21

I must admit to not playing along with these challenges as often as I should - and I had to think hard about what to base my challenge on.

In the end I decided to go along with one of the popular trends and chose butterflies. They seemed to follow hard on the heel on the trend for birds and bird cages - wonder what will be the next hot new thing?




I love my butterfly punches and stamps. My first punch was a cheapy X Cut one which did the job fine and he was soon joined by a smaller version that I picked up at the Percy Thrower Garden Centre in Shrewsbury when I was down visiting. But on our trip to Edinburgh at the beginning of the month I had the chance to visit a Hobbby craft store for the first time. Now I had hear all the stories about these stores - not much choice in scrapbooking paper and everything is pricey. But I was amazed at the range of stuff they carry - and my gorgeous Martha Stewart punch was only a pound more expensive than I had seen on line.





So the challenge this week is to use butterflies somewhere on your scrapbook page or car be it die cuts, punched shapes, chipboard or stamped images. I used my X Cut punch for my butterflies on both of my pages. The papers I have used are Lemongrass by Crate Paper - I loved them so much I ended up with 2 sets!!! Thank you to Sharon for the cork Scrabble tiles.

As sweet as the moment when the pod went 'pop'

Callum loves to help in the garden so played a leading role in planting our first ever peas. He filled each of the little pots and then stuck his finger in to make a hole for each pea and then covered them over again. The little propogator has been living in the sunroom as it is noce and toasty warm in there most of the time.























Although as he doesn't see instant results he tends to lose interest quite quickly. But in the last couple of days we have seen some signs of growth.

{this moment)

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!







See more {moments} over on SouleMama.

Skywatch Friday

It's that day of the week again - comes round so quick.

Here are mt tiny swwet pea plants that I have grown from seed (for the first time) - reaching for the sky.






















You can see more stunning Skywatch Friday photo here.

52 Walks with my camera - week 21

On Friday we went to Cove Bay which is just along the coast from Hopeman. It was a bit of a scramble down to the beach (maybe flip flops weren't the wisest of footwear choices!) - avoiding the gorse bushes and needing a helping hand now and again.

First thing Callum did was kick off his socks and shoes and run down towards the sea. He soon came running back up when he found out how cold it was!! He then decided playing in the rock pools was a better idea.





He found a starfish amongst other things - plenty of hermit crabs and the such like.





















We had an explore over the rocks and found a cave.





















And then it was a scramble back up to the car and into Hopeman for an ice cream - I tried a golden syrup one for the first time - delicious!!! It's a good job Callum doesn't mind having his photo taken - numerous times!!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Not much in the way of crafting - but I am getting together some stash for a crop at the weekend. Erika has organised it in Hopeman which is perfect as it should only take me 10 minutes door to door to get there!

My Photobox order arrived today so I actually have some photos to scrap with. I placed my order at 7.30pm on Monday, had an email at 6.50pm yesterday to say it was on it's way and on my doorstep when I got home at lunchtime. Brilliant service.






















I still have this CJ on my desk to do. It belongs to Claire. The CJ group is some of the girls from the Gottacraft chat thread over on UKS. Claire wants us to create and attach a card to the left hand page with a list of supplies and how we made the card on the right hand side. Really must crack on with this - have made the card and that's as far as it has got.




I have printed of some sketches - including some from my favourite sketch site Pagemaps. Hopefully these will inspire me on Sunday.






















And finally I have some offcuts of paper by EK success to make a card out of. Whether or not I manage to make anything worth sending remains to be seen.

Sooooooooooooo cute!

On Thursday evening while I huffed and puffed my way around the park with the local JogScotland group I saw that the swans were back on the pond - and had their babies with them.

So after another 2 circuits of the park yesterday afternoon I took my camera over to the waters edge. The swan family were out in the middle of the water - too far away to get any decent shots of the babies. But as it was a lovely sunny afternoon (and I was knackered!) I sat down for a while. After about 10 minutes I was rewarded with the family swimming over - probably wondered if the woman with a sweaty red face was actually OK!!!




They have 7 babies - and I had to back away a bit when the parents came closer - don't trust swans as they always seem to have an evil look about them!






















Took a photo of Mr Duck so he didn't get left out!






















The parents spent quite a lot of time chasing away the ever present vermin that are the seagulls. But it meant I could get some closer shots of the babies - and just soooooooo cute!

52 Walks with my camera - week 20

A walk around the most gorgeous garden nursery - wasn't too sure if I was allowed to take photos on the premises so had to be a bit sneaky!! Luckily there was only me and a couple of older ladies - who seemed very knowledgable about their plants and were quite happy to advise me.




Johnstons of Elgin have been making cashmere and fine woollens since since 1797 - but recently they have branched out in to a small but perfectly formed nursery. It is like stepping back in time as it is full of cottage garden style plants and has the most gorgeous wooden seed boxes which you can buy - for a price. It reminded me of a set used for magazine shoots - think Country Living et al.





























I was quite restrained and only bought a couple of plants for the garden - a Flowering Currant and a Water Avens.

An evening of being a couch potato!

It isn't very often that I actually sit down and watch TV all evening - there isn't usually that much worth watching.

But tonight was different. First there was Halcyon River Diaries. We enjoyed last years series about the otters and this year it is just as good - the footage of the kingfishers tonight was breath taking.






















Then some light relief in the form of Britain's Got Talent - the boys love it although Andy normally retreats to another room! Loved the singing doorman tonight!












And my viewing was rounded off with An Audience With Michael Buble. What a voice that man has - even if some of the celebs and their questions were a bit cheesy - it was well worth watching.

Final Rugby Sunday

Last Sunday saw the end of the rugby season with a tournament held at Nairn Academy. The sun was shining for this one - unlike the last one in Elgin where I spent much of the time sheltering from the rain in my car!

Cal gave it his all as always and got fully incolved in each game. He had to come off injured twice - once when he was kicked in the head and then again when his hand got stamped on and he ended up with a swollen little finger.

Standing on the sidelines:






















Some action shots:























Scoring a try:





















Some of the team with John the coach:














Then it was back to Kinloss for the end of season BBQ. The club supplied all the stuff for the BBq but parents were asked to bring homebakes etc. All I can say is that there are some very talented cooks out there - the banoffee pie was to die for!

Then there was the awards for the players. Callum was absolutely delighted to recieve the coaches award for best player in the P4/5 team. I think his face says it all.























Waiting to hear whether or not the touch rugby will continue through the summer and looking forward to the new season where Cal will move up into the P6/7 team.