My Month In Numbers 2012 : May

This month I have managed to read a record 10 books.

I have applied for 3 jobs and had 1 interview with another 1 next week - gulp.

We attended our very last primary school fete which raised a total of £1340.  These are the cakes Callum made for the baking competition.

We have been to 1 rugby tournament where Callum scored a try - but the highlight was the tug of war. Look at the determination on their faces.

There are 0 Union Jacks in this house and that is the way it is going to stay.

Callum has had 1 appointment with the podiatrist who now doesn't want to see him for 12 months and thankfully we have had 0 trips to the orthodontist this month :-)

I made 1 loaf of bread - my first - and it was delicious.

We have blue tits nesting in our bird box - and today we heard the babies - but we don't know how many yet. you can see the bird box in question in this photo (made by Sam while he was at primary school) but the willow in front of it is in leaf and has almost hidden it - so hopefully the local cats won't find it this time :-(

I planted a heap of allium bulbs in the Autumn but so far only 2 have flowered.

It reached a scorching 27 degrees in Moray last weekend and this is how boys like to cool down!!

Pop over and see Julie to see everyone's Month in Numbers.

152/365+1 : Bargain

Everyone loves a bargain!

I have to say I love my local library (so much so I have applied for a job there) I wanted to read some of the new Richard and Judy book club choices so I have requested them from the library and the first one arrived today - a brand new book to read for the bargain reservation fee of just 70 pence. I have to admit that this book is the only Jubilee related item in the house - despite hubby serving Queen and country for 23 years I am avoiding everything Union Jack related! (but I will enjoy my extra day off thank you very much.)

Here is the complete Richard and Judy Summer 2012 reading list - I already have the Book of Summer and The night Circus in my library book pile - as well as this selection I have picked up this week.

151/365+1 : Groceries

I popped into Asda after work mainly to take back a pair of trousers fro Andy that didn't fit - and a few other items fell into my basket - all these things bar the Mini Magnums were on my list!!!

My favourite purchase was this Lurpak brownie tin complete with butter and a recipe for £3.00 - I have a weakness for cake tins.

I also had to pop into Poundland in town as it is the cheapest place to buy bird food - we have been feeding our feathered friends all winter so we can't stop now as there are plenty of babies around. I know some folk turn their noses up at shops like Poundland but it's the best place to go when you have boys with hollow legs as the biscuits and crisps etc are so much cheaper. Callums favourite cereal bars are over £1.70 a pack in Tesco compared to £1.00 (obviously) in Poundland.

WOYWW 30th May

On Saturday evening my team over on UKS had a team crop night with Dawn picking the sketch below (which is the May sketch challenge from Sarahs Cards.)

I'm afraid I didn't get much of it done on the night and as you can see it is still a WIP - not sure I like it very much and I am faffing about with it!!

Pop over and see Julia and find out what everyone else is up to today.

150/365+1 : Messy

An easy one today - a teenagers bedroom (Don't think he will thank me for this one!!!!)

149/365+1 : Tools

I was Callum's very last primary school fete on Saturday - and they had a glorious day for it. We have been going to fetes at the same school for 10 years now - as despite being RAF kids my boys have been lucky enough having to attend one primary school instead of being moved around the country with each posting.

But why is it that your kids buy a whole heap of rubbish at these events - but thankfully this year there were no cuddly toys needing to be re homed - and I even managed to buy absolutely nothing from the book stall (the cake stall was another matter!)

But he did come home with this chocolate fondue set which he has been nagging to use - I suppose I had better be a good Mum and find a recipe - then buy some strawberries and marshmallows to dip in it. Such a hard life. Really all he wants to do is use those long handled forks to dip stuff in - and probably drop it everywhere. Is it just me - or does the pot look like Shrek??

Also at the fete was Sam's kickboxing club who were putting on a demonstration in the field for everyone. Despite the almost total failure of the sound system they put on a good show - and I actually managed to see a rare glimpse of the teenage one doing his stuff.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

I am a little behind the times - Richard and Judy have just announced their book club choices for Summer 2012 and I have just  started on one of their Spring 2012 ones! Here are their choices for Spring and the only one I had read up to now was Me Before You by JoJo Moyes which was fantastic.

Yesterday's Sun by Amanda Brooke has been in my library book pile for a while as I wasn't sure about it - but now I have picked it up I can't put it down - spend too long sitting out in the sun reading it yesterday that I am now a lovely shade of lobster pink!!!

I don't think I would have picked this book up if it hadn't have been for the Richard and Judy book club - the storyline didn't appeal at first glance. It is a bit of a daft idea - a moondial that gives glimpses of the future - and I know I shouldn't enjoy it - but I do.

A heart wrenching story for fans of Jodi Picoult, Susan Lewis and Katherine Webb.

How could you ever choose between your own life and the life of your child?

Newly-weds Holly and Tom have just moved into an old manor house in the picturesque English countryside. When Holly discovers a moondial in the overgrown garden and its strange crystal mechanism, little does she suspect that it will change her life forever. For the moondial has a curse.

Each full moon, Holly can see into the future – a future which holds Tom cradling their baby daughter, Libby, and mourning Holly’s death in childbirth…

Holly realises the moondial is offering her a desperate choice: give Tom the baby he has always wanted and sacrifice her own life; or save herself and erase the life of the daughter she has fallen in love with.

Pop over to The Book Journey and see what everyone else is reading today.

148/365+1: Unfinished

As a crafter I could probably show you a multitude of unfinished crafting projects - ranging from scrapbooking, cross stitch, tapestry.............. the list goes on!

But today was a glorious day and Callum had a rugby tournament in Nairn. I packed my book along with my camping chair thinking I would have loads of time to sit in the sun and read and hopefully finish my book. But the tournament was great fun and included tug of war - and we went for a stroll around the town and down to the harbour and beach so not a great deal of reading was done.

So I brought my unfinished book home and carried on reading - but still haven't reached the end!

147/365+1 : Cleanliness

I can't believe I ran out of washing up liquid today - a fine excuse for getting out of a chore! Now I love my dishwasher but if it has been on and everything is clean but needs emptying - I would rather hand wash up than empty the dishwasher!!!

Also couldn't believe the price of some washing up liquids - who would pay almost £2 for a bottle????

146/365+1 : Boring

On the one day a week I don't have the car me and Callum have to get the bus home - which is boring. I don't like the bus station and having to wait there (too many "characters" who invariably get on our bus!!)

But for once the bus journey wasn't too boring - thanks to Callum and his random (very random) word association game, followed by a conversation debating whether the incredibly small dog a child carried on to the bus was actually real (it was - but it was rat sized!) and rounded off by a game of I spy where the woman sitting across the aisle joined in (I was trying to read what her tattoos said!!)

Skywatch Friday

Blue skies and clematis in the garden this afternoon.

See more skies from around the world here.

145/365+1 : Soft

I know I have already posted a photo of a dandelion clock earlier in the year for a different prompt but when I spotted this beauty in the park I knew it had to be todays photo.

Also in the library next to the park there was an exhibition in the gallery of the library - not what I would hang on my walls - but I did like the lovely soft colours the artist has used.

WOYWW 23rd May

Inspired by Shimelles latest Starting Point Challenge I have pulled out some photos, paper and card and am hoping to make a start on it later.

Pop over and see Julia to find out what everyone else has been up to today.

144/365+1 Artificial

Pondered over this one while I was at work - don't have nay artificial flowers, plants or grass. Then I thought of the box of hair colour that is waiting to used (quite soon going by the number of grey hairs I can see!) The I spotted a packet of Skittles whilst I wandered around Tesco. Full of artificial colours and additives no doubt.

But they do look bonnie in a little glass jar!!

Callum can't eat sweets like these because of his braces so I did what any good mother would do - and ate them all. Only problem now is I have a sugar rush - and feel quite sick!!

Weekly Challenge

Not taken part in a weekly challenge over on UKS for some time now and at first glance I didn't really fancy this weeks too much. But then I had a rummage and found some remnants of a really old Scrapagogo kit containing a sheet of Prima paintables paper and some scraps of American Crafts of the required colour.

The Crafty Magpies set the challenge as follows:

Hello and welcome to this weeks challenge, it is the turn of The Crafty Magpies team to set the challenge for this week. We as a team all had lots of fun putting the challenge together and hope that you will all enjoy it too 
The Magpie bird is mainly black and white in colour, so we would like you to use this colour scheme for your LO – Black and White LO but to also add just a hint of yellow for 10 points.
Did you know that 'Magpies are believed to be one of the most intelligent of all animals: The European Magpie is one of the few animal species known to be able to recognize itself in a mirror test'. So going along with this piece of information we would like you to use two photographs on your LO please for 5 points.
We are lucky that we are a full team of ten members. Some team members have been with the Magpies since we first started, others have joined us along the way. So as we have new members as well as established members, we would like you to use something new and something old on your LO for 5 points.
As a team we thought that the well known rhyme below, seemed quite appropriate as we are Magpies 
One for sorrow,
Two for joy, 
Three for a girl, 
Four for a boy, 
Five for silver, 
Six for gold, 
Seven for a secret never to be told, 
Eight for a wish, 
Nine for a kiss, 
Ten for a bird you never want to miss.
So for the last ten points we would like you to pick your favourite element from one of the sentences in the rhyme and find a way to incorporate it into your layout, be it as a title, theme, journalling or embellishments, eg: Sorrow, joy, girl, boy, bling embellishments for gold/silver, or maybe you have a secret you wish to unveil!


And here is my take on it. I have got the 2 photos and the yellow and black colour scheme. i picked the line 2 for joy from the nursery rhyme as the photos are of Uncle Will (who I have known since he was very small) and his new girlfriend Sarah. They came to stay with us for Christmas and we all had a wonderful time - don't they make a lovely couple?

143/365+1 : Restful

Half an hour sitting out in the garden with my book and my cuppa (and some favourite biscuits) - very restful.

Suppose I should make the most of it - I could be working full time before too long!!

142/365+1 : Ornament

Ornaments in our house are quite thin on the ground - I can't be doing with too much tat and the fewer things to dust the better!

The "ornament" hangs in the sunroom - Andy bought it for me before we moved into this house - it only went up a couple of weeks ago - so that only took us 3 and a half years!! Like the upside down reflection of the garden in the glass ball.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading.

A bit of a quiet reading week this week - but not sure why.

I love Erica James - one of my favourite authors over the past few years - but I struggled to get into this one at first. But I am glad I persevered as I am quite enjoying it now - love the main character of Katie Lavender - and ever hopeful of a happy ending!! But I wouldn't say this is her best book - maybe the cover doesn't do it any favours!!

At 30, Katie Lavender thinks she is better than most when it comes to dealing with life's surprises. But when she gets a request to visit a solicitor, she's not expecting the dramatic turn her life is about to take. There, she receives a letter from her deceased mother that literally changes everything she ever knew about herself... The Real Katie Lavender is the delightful, sparkling new novel from Sunday Times bestseller Erica James.

Has anyone read 50 Shades Of Grey by E L James. Everyone seems to be going on about it. That in itself is usually a good enough reason not to read it (didn't read the Twilight series as everyone and his dog appeared to be reading it too!) From the reviews I have read they seem to suggest the writing is pretty poor and it is only the racy storyline that is getting people talking. Should I give it a go - or put the copy I have been given straight in the recycling box?

141/365+1 : Minimalist

Forgot all about today's prompt till tonight and then is was a hunt around the house to find something to take a photograph of. I tried out a few ideas out in the garden and when I came back into the sun room I spotted my bowl of white shells I collected in Florida - and a white on white idea was born. Really pleased with how it turned out.

Cover to Cover # 4

In this prompt Shimelles asked us to identify gaps in our albums and then find ways to to add to those pages - it might mean adding more pages, maybe adding a divided page protector with some of the additional photos you have from a particular event or simply adding more journalling to a page.

I finally got round to sending off my Photobox order late on Thursday and received an email to say they had been dispatched on Friday and I should expect them by Tuesday . So it was a surprise this morning when the popped through the letterbox - fab service.

I took the easy way out and completed 2 more pages - one to go in my America album with another beach photo from Florida. I have so many photos that we took of the kids on the beach one evening that I am thinking of adding a divided 12x12 page protector between the pages to add some more of the photos - as many of the photos aren't different enough to warrant pages of their own.

Here are some rare photos of Sam:

In 2010 we visited the Western Isles and looking through my albums I realised I hadn't actually scrapped many of the photos. Eventually I think I will make up an album of their own - one which will include just pages from our camping trips.

One of a cheeky looking Callum on one of the stunning beaches on Lewis.

For both the pages I used the March Scrapagogo kit which included papers from the My Minds Eye Be Amazing range. I wasn't sure about the papers when I first saw them but I now have a small pile of photos which match them perfectly. I am in love with my new Jenni Bowlin bird punch - can see me using that one a lot.

140/365+1 : Interior

I went for the easy option today and photographed a room in my house - my favourite room. This is out sunroom and on a sunny day like today it is the perfect place to be.

There is a story behind us having the sunroom. We live on a small development of new houses and we chose our plot because it had a south facing garden and there was nothing but fields behind it. We knew we wanted a sunroom for the additional living space over the number of bedrooms - but the house the builder wanted to put on the plot was at the top of our budget. They wouldn't put a smaller house on the plot as it meant going through planning again and the extra costs that it would incur. We spent ages swithering over the house - so in the end the builder said they would add on the sunroom free of charge - and it was during the real slump in the housing market and they were desperate to sell their houses. That swung it for us - and we haven't regretted it since.

139/365+1: Flower

An easier prompt today :-)

It wasn't raining today so this afternoon after work I headed out into the garden with my camera. I can't remember what this one is called - but it is pretty.

Here are a few other random flowers dotted about our patch. I think this one will end up being an allium:

My bleeding hearts:

Clematis flowers:

 My bluebells have finally flowered:

Skywatch Friday

Flying high.

See more skies from around the world here.