A head full of snot

but Hungary was great. Last week me and my good friend L went to Hungary for a 4 night girls only trip. We flew into Budapest on the Tuesday and spent two great days exploring the sights, wandering up and down streets, freezing to near death on an open top tour bus and then the same day going on a night time open boat trip up the Danube. We checked out a market where we saw some interesting food stuffs - chicken feet, chicken heads, pigs feet, tails, heads, ears....oh and the genitalia of what we think was a bull! I have pictures I will return with ;) Not of the genitalia though :o
We ate goulash and drank palinka and egri merlot and generally had a very lovely 2 days. On the Friday we checked out of the hotel and caught a train up to Esztergom to visit L's friends Rita and Tamas and their family. They made us feel so very welcome and their children were beautiful and helped me not get too homesick for my own small people.
They took us to the Basillica where we were given a fascinating tour of the treasury by a very enthusiastic man who spoke no english and as we spoke no Hungarian past yes, no, please and thank you I was amazed by how much I actually understood!
I really will come back with photos, silly me posting on here and not having the pics downloaded ready :/

Anyway I'm home now and I have so much to catch up on, my partner and I have both received our Skull Swap packages and I have sent out to my Dr Who parner so watch out there will be even more pictures ;)

Off to rest my eyes now, this cold has me up all night coughing so am exhausted and unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow. Woe is me.

I am so spoiled

See what my records to ipods partner MaRut sent me.



An amazing cassette tote bag.



A personalised ticket stub diary.



This is especially great as we're taking big one to her first proper concert next month. To see My Chemical Romance. :D

The cutest wee ipod cosy complete with cassette logo. As a child of the 80s this totally rocks.


What could this be?



It's the coolest boombox wallet, that's what. :D

And at the bottom of the box what did I spy but this utterly gobsmacking earring holder.


Look at the detail!


Yes I am indeed a very lucky girl :D

Other news well this week has been a week of piercings. Wee one had her ears pierced for the first time on Monday and yesterday I took big one to finally get her upper ear cartlidge pierced. If I didn't already have more than enough piercings I'd feel left out...ok so maybe I have been contemplating another one LOL
Oh and big one chose some hair dye - ocean green. Guess who's got the job of putting that in her hair this weekend? Do I qualify for a cool Mum award yet?

I made a hat!

Yes and I am making that into a song and jigging about as I'm singing it. I'm so happy, I did it! Only problem is now I've done it, I'm going to have to do it again and again, small people have already placed their orders. And who knows I'm thinking Christmas gifts for hard to buy for relatives ;)



Other news. I received my Photographer's swap parcel and was totally spoiled. My partner made me not one but two camera cosies, one for each of my cameras. And they are totally gorgeous. I also received a beautiful photo tree, a hand painted frame and a photo album I can't stop stroking. Here they are in all their gorgeousness.

This is what I sent my partner. I stencilled her a shirt with a big old eye, cos every photographer needs a good eye eh? :D A camera cosy and a journal, oh and a wee dishcloth for keeping her equipment nice and clean. :D


Another thing to share is the package I sent to my From Records to Ipods partner. I stencilled her 2 shirts, knitted a wee ipod cosy and sewed a cassette pin cushion and a boombox clutch bag. One of the things on her wish list was a rectangle yellow boombox bag, well my sewing isn't quite up to that but I can handle a bit of felt so I went to town and I'm pleased to say my partner was really happy with it.


Oh and it doesn't stop there (please make it stop I hear you cry but bear with me please) This is a scarf that took forever to knit as the wool is so bobbly (see close up shot) but I finally finished it and my Mum spotted it on her recent visit so it's now gone home with her and she's told me how to stop overtightening when I'm casting off ;)




Had to share this as it made me chuckle.
This is me!

It starts around 30.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the rubbish anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my chequebook off the table, and see that there is only one cheque left.

My extra cheques are in my desk in the dining room, so I go to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the drink aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of flowers on the window sill catches my eye--they need to be watered.

I set the drink down on the window sill, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the window sill, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.

Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the lounge where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm can of coke sitting on the window sill, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one cheque in my chequebook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Do me a favour, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.
GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC!

A new knitting project.

A hat. Yes a hat. I've never knitted a hat before so this could prove to be fun :/ I'm on my second cast on now. First cast on was a complete disaster as I tried to use the circular needles that I bought a while back....flaming fire ball of horror. The stitches seemed to have to stretch too far to the two ends for me to knit the size of hat I wanted. The way it was going the hat would have fit a bear. And I'm not knitting it for a bear. It's for my partner in my latest swap over at Craftster. I've been partnered with my first male partner and he said he'd like a hat. So as I have knit a hat on my list of things to do I thought hey I can kill two birds with one stone here :) So after deciding that the circular needle route wasn't going anywhere fast I started again on some nice normal needles and am knitting it flat so that I'll just seam it up once I've finished. Only problem is I'm totally winging the whole thing, I'm not following any pattern and I haven't even kept track of how many rows I've done so far. So how will I know when to cast off? Should I decrease stitches as I go up so that it's still a fitted hat and not a big square? Maybe this hat will prove to be the test run and my partner will get the second attempt :D
I haven't gotten much crafting done over the last week or so as I've had a few extra shifts at work, my Mum has been up visiting and the smalls are off school. But I did take these photo's of a beautiful sunset. I love it when I get to catch these moments.

Birthday cakes

Tomorrow is wee one's birthday and every year I try to give the smalls the cake they ask for. In the past I've made castle's, chocolate creations, dogs etc etc. Anyway this year wee one asked for a TARDIS. She is mad for Dr Who so a TARDIS it had to be. So this is my attempt at just that,
unfortunately no matter how much blue food colouring I added to the icing mixture it just would not go dark blue. The cake is actually darker than it looks in this picture but hey ho wee one thinks it's a great cake so I guess the client is happy. :D
Wish me luck for tomorrow, I'm taking her and 3 of her friends (plus big sister and Grandma) to the cinema followed by lunch out then if the weather stays nice to us a trip to the park.

AWOL

Good grief I can't believe I've not blogged for so long. What a terrible blogger I am! I have so much news to catch up on. Well I guess I'll need to condense it all or I might make my page wipe itself out or something equally awful.
Right well Florida/Disney was amazing. Exhausting but so wonderful. The smalls had a great time and to be honest so did me and him indoors. One things for sure we'll definately be going back, if only to go to all the place we didn't get to see because we ran out of time.
Right other news, other news. We've adopted another wee doggy, his name is Oscar and he's a white west highland terrier. He is a cutey. Don't ya think? He's settled into the family great and my big boy seems happy having someone smaller than him to play with. :)
I have been busy busy with swaps over at Craftster and doing things for friends. Such as these onesies for friends who are having/had babies.

The things I've sent out recently have been for the Sakura/Cherry swap. This is what I sent. I handpainted a large black scarf with cherry blossom, knitted three dishclothes with one, two and three cherries on respectively. I also made a felt cherry blossom pin cushion which was on a wristlet decorated with seed beads and the pin cushion was removable and finally I glass painted more cherry blossoms.
And this is the fabulous stuff I received from my wonderful partner, psmommy. The most gorgeous reversable tote bag, a beautiful beaded cherry necklace, the cutest cherry blossom headband and lots of cherry flavoured goodies. What a lucky girl I am :D

I won't post pics yet of the stuff I sent out for the Photographer's Round 2 Swap even though my partner has already received. I'll save that for when I receive my stuff...how excited am I?

I'm also just finishing up the Records to Ipod Swap and am pretty pleased with the shirt I have just stencilled but there is no way I'm posting that here just incase my partner comes for a peek ;)

A shirt I will share with you is this one that I did for a personal swap with the lovely craftADDchick. I did a personal swap with her a while back, remember rosebud the cutest pink bear? And she mentioned back then that she would love a shirt with a thistle on it, sooooo how could I not go on a mission to find one to stencil for her. :D

I've also been busy knitting up lots and lots (think I'm on about 55 now) of wee scarves. My mum helps out in a children's hospice charity shop and they sell these wee soft dogs and when they put a scarf on them they sell them like hot cakes, no scarf they don't seem to sell. So because head office has realised that this shop sells more dogs they are sending them 400 dogs to shift. 400! So to try and help out and do my bit this is an example of the few I've done so far. BTW I don't have to knit all 400...thank goodness.

Anyway that's me back now :D

Word to the wise

don't go out the night before you're due to drive for 7 hours the next day. We were invited to a bbq yesterday, me, him and the smalls..we got home around 3 this morning. Big one fell down some steps and has torn her legs to bits...very sore poor love. I have got bruises on just about every appendage, him indoors is shattered because he lost a nights sleep on friday due to plane delays etc so a late one last night was probably not the best idea but it seemed it at the time.
But on a brighter note we're leaving shortly to travel down to my Mum's to drop the dog off for his holidays and we leave from there for Florida/Disney on Tuesday. Aaaaaah yes we are very excited. :) How much freezer paper do you reckon I can get through customs?
See you all in a few weeks x

I've come to love my post woman

especially when she brings me such fantastic parcels.
The wonderful ;)knitdrinkknitdrink chose me as the next PIF recipient and this is the beautiful stuff she sent me.



A beautiful necklace for me and gorgeous wee braclets each for the wee one's. They were quickly spirited away by the said small people who were as thrilled with them as their Mummy was with her necklace. In fact I think big one has her eye on the necklace too LOL
Thank you so much for them T, you really did make our day (((hugs))) I hope to see you back blogging soon, miss you.

So as tradition stands I now declare that the first person who comments on this post will be the next recipient and so it goes on :)
I'm away for the next few weeks so please don't fret if I don't contact you immediately but I will be in touch

Suprises in the mail

This is my wonderful suprise package.

I've been bad in getting this on my blog but I came home from a particularly trying session up at the school with the kids doing their practise cycling profficency test to discover that a parcel had been left with a neighbour. And it was huge! And you can see why...so much stuff.
The lovely lady that sent me all these goodies did so because I sent her a scarf and a few bits a while back. Bless her. I feel so spoiled and so special - she says as she's munching lots and lots of chocolate. Oh and how many bags of peanut butter M+M's will I be buying when we go over to America later this month? :D Unfortunately my friend has introduced me to a wonderful sweetie that they don't sell in this country.

I've also been busy with my stenciling brush and rustled up a few shirts to send as a surprise to a friend who put us up for a wee break when we visited Dublin.
My friend is mad for her cameras, her other half is a drummer, her eldest son is learning to play guitar and her youngest is a wee tike. Can you guess which shirt is for which person? :D
I'm especially proud of the Animal one as I made the stencil up myself as I couldn't find any online at all. :)

RULES FOR BEING HUMAN.

You will receive a body
You may like it or hate it,
But it’s yours to keep
For the entire period.

You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time
Informal school called life.
There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial, error
And experimentation.
The “failed” experiments are as much
A part of the process as the experiments
That ultimately “work”.

Lessons are repeated until they are learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms
Until you have learned it.
When you have learned it,
You can go on to the next lesson.

Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that doesn’t
Contain it’s lessons.
If you’re alive
There are still lessons to be learned.

“There” is not better than “here”.
Whey your “there” has become “here”
You will simply obtain another “there”
That will again look better than “here”.

Other people are merely mirrors of you.
You can not love or hate something
About another person unless it reflects to you
Something you love or hate about yourself.

What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need.
What you do with them is up to you.
The choice is yours.

By: Dr.Cherie Carter-Scott.

Wonderful wednesdays

I spotted the postie doing her rounds this morning from my bedroom window and when I saw her reaching into her bag as she crossed the road to my front door then ringing the bell I fair bounded down the stairs.
Here it all is in it's splendidness.


My lovely partner KathleenAlice made me this sweet little guy who she said I can either have as a wee friend or use as a pin cushion. How could I stick pins into him?

Then there is this little fella. Who is for popping on the end of knitting needles to stop my knitting falling off.


Then oh the pleasure just didn't stop :) There is this absolutely fantastic Owl hat and scarf. The eyes of the owl on the scarf are googly eyes, how much fun are they going to be to wear come winter. I almost wish it was cold enough to warrant wearing them right now.


KathleenAlice has her own label/website where she makes the most amazing clothes and things and she made me this cute wee top covered in owls. I'm off to Florida next month so I suspect this top will be appearing in a lot of my holiday snaps ;)

And last but not least these gorgeous wee earrings. I forsee me falling out with big one when they find themselves in her jewelry box on a regular basis :p


Aren't I a lucky girl?

The power of old friendships

A few years ago I moved away from the place where I had grown up, where my family still live, where the people who have been my friends for a very long time and probably know me better than I know myself still live. I now live somewhere where I have made a handful of friends, somewhere where no one really knows me at all. Now don't get me wrong sometimes that has major advantages but after spending an evening on the phone with two of my oldest friends, laughing good dirty belly laughs, debating all aspects of the current events in our lives, reminiscing over crazy things we've done and the crazy things we'll probably do this summer when we get to meet up, I'm glad that no matter where I am in the world I know there will always be someone who cares

The big sleep

I need one, I want one and damn I deserve one.
Wednesday night I was ill, not much sleep was had and then I had work (yes I know a sensible person would phone in sick...I'm not sensible) I did however come home from work, fall into bed and cuddle my children until I drifted off to sleep. After a good nights sleep I felt remarkably human again but then.
Friday I ended my shift at work and managed to allow myself to be persuaded to stay for a drink or two. Several hours and several pints later oh and lets not forget an appearance on the karioke machine I went home. But now that's not enough is it? Saturday night we actually had a babysitter organised (trust me these are like gold dust round these here parts) so me and him indoors went out for a meal and a few drinks. We didn't get home late but him indoors suggested we watch a film, so after spending forever trying to decide on one we both wanted to watch we finally settled on 300. Can I just say...PHWOAR!!!!!!! I really, really will have to watch this film again once him indoors has gone away back to work so that I can properly appreciate those bodies and over use my dvd's pause button :D I want to watch the 1962 version to but I'm guessing the Spartans might not be so buff in that version ;)
So I've been away from my computer for days and days and have fallen way behind on my emails (sorry to anyone I owe one to) my posts, my blog and I have done no crafting at all. Tomorrow morning I have a review meeting with my student I haven't got my papers together yet oops. I'm working again tomorrow night at the pub but Monday nights are usually a nice quiet night. Did I say that out loud? Now I'll have jinxed myself.

Big smile Tuesday

Well today was a pretty good day all in all. Firstly I got up and went to the gym with my friend, that's 3 weeks in a go that we've stuck to our arranged exercise day.
Then once back home again I got a phone call from my friend L who I sent the dishcloth and bright pink stuffie owl to for her birthday. She got them today and she loves them. She totally appreciates how much love and effort was put into her personal present. Bless her.
Then I got online and saw that my Craftster swap partner AmaZing had received her Owl Swap Round 4 parcel that I sent only yesterday. Yay for the post office! And... she absolutely loves my stuff. I'm so happy. I was so nervous that it was all going to go terribly wrong but she loves it all. :D
Then (it just doesn't stop does it?) I got an email from KA who is sending me my Owl Swap package, that she was going to post it today. Woohoo can we say I'm very excited?
So now here come the pics

This is everything all wrapped up and ready to go into the post.


AmaZing showed me a shirt that she liked on the Craftster board that had been done by Tanza so I contacted her and she very kindly forwarded me the image which she had originally got from devilninny. So thank you and all credit to those 2 ladies. :)


This is a knitted purse that I lined with felt and added the big eyes, ears, beak and filled with some traditional Scottish sweeties and these cute wee buttons.


This is the first felt stuffie that I've made probably since I was in primary school and also the first time I'm ventured into the world of sequins. I'm still finding them lurking around the house, it's amazing how they get everywhere!

Back view

These are some notecards that I stencilled. My favourite is the big hairy one with a glint of mischief in his eye.


Big one was so excited about my finally signing up to a swap that she wanted to get involved so she did this cross stitch of a baby owl. He's so cute that she's already been told that her wee sister and me both want our own :)


So that's it, I have finally ventured into the world of swaps properly and thankfully it's been a great start :)


Now I just have to sit and wait for my parcel...oh and check out what swaps I can sign up for next ;)

Swappers Anxiety

I posted my Owl Swap stuff today and I've got butterflies the size of belfry bats thumping around in my innards. Does everyone else get this nervous?
I'm not going to post any pics here just incase I spoil the surprise ;) but I will once I know she's received it all.
What I can post however is the things I put together for a friend's birthday. She's currently all the way down in England far far away from home so I thought what better to let her know she's loved that some Tazzy craft LOL

The dishcloth has a wee dragonfly on it because even when we do the most mundane of tasks it's still nice to have something pretty around. Not so sure you can really see the image too well in these shots.


And the stuffie? Well while I've been on such an Owl craft binge my brain just automatically thought hey do an Owl. At least it turned out quite cute and she is a clever lady so hopefully she'll like that reference.


Oh and surprise surprise another shirt. This one was for wee one. We went to see POTC 3, it's just a shame I didn't see this stencil before seeing the movie but hey wee one loves it so at least she can now run around the garden pretending to be a real pirate :D

I do have more shirts but as 2 of them have the same design as one that is included in the Owl Swap I'll not post any of them just now ;)

You can't teach old dogs new tricks

For a second time I in my infinite wisdom decided to stay for a pint after work last night. I finished at 6pm and I had money behind the bar for one drink. Simple I thought 1 pint, a quick blether and then I'm away home....
I got home at 11.30pm :o Oooops This is the second time I've stayed for one drink and ended up staying out far too late hence the title of the post :D
On a good note though I woke up this morning with no hangover and I got to go to wee one's school Enterprise day. They've been busy for weeks making things to sell to raise funds to buy playground equipment. So I came away with a cool caterpillar bookmark, a pencil with a cool sheep topper, a marigold plant, a bag of malteaser tray bake and some books. Wee one came home with armfuls of stuff she'd bought herself LOL
Got my friend's birthday present all finished wrapped and will post it tomorrow after spending this evening making a card with big one. Pictures to follow ;)
Need to parcel up my Owl stuff for my Craftster swap and that'll be me up to date with my post.
I'm next in line for bumbershootska PIF so I'm excited about that.
Ok it's 2am and I've got to go shopping for birthday presents for 7 year old male twins tomorrow for a party that's on tomorrow that wee one has only just brought home the invite for! Aaahhh!

Peace returns

Well our French exchange student went back off home on Friday. Despite the last minute rush of packing (she was still packing at 11.30pm on the Thursday AND still hadn't finished by breakfast time the following morning!) we got her on the bus in time with all her forms completed and big hugs and kisses all round. I hope that she enjoyed her time here with us. Big one can't wait now till it's her turn to go over to France next year.
I've been busy crafting away getting my stuff done for the Owl Swap Round 4 over at CraftsterJust waiting now for my partner to get back off her holidays so I can send it out in the post. Gulp! Am very nervous :/
Also I've been stencilling like a crazy woman. I decided to try out a new technique involving contact paper. Print out the design onto the paper side, cut out, peel, stick to shirt, paint, dry, peel off and voila one stenciled shirt with lovely clear straight lines. I won't post pics just now of the shirts I've done as the design is the one I'm sending to my Craftster partner and you never know who's checking out your blog now do you ;)

Right while I've been away busy with entertaining French girls, working and general life I see I've been tagged by the lovely ">Bumbershootska. I've been tagged for 5 random facts about all about me. 5? I think most of ‘me’ is random until I have to think about it, then suddenly I think I’m the most boring person on the planet. Hmmm. And then I’m to tag 5 other people, oh I can see me being popular for that, do I even know 5 people on here, come to think of it do 5 people know me :D

Right so let's see what can I tell you.
1. I hate peas. I don't just hate them, I HATE them. I have very bad memories of being still sat at the dinner table long after the meal had finished with my plate sat infront of me with the offending green globules still sat there, stone cold staring at me with their evilness. I'd probably have grown out of my dislike of them long ago, as I did with most other vegetables, if it hadn't been such a mealtime battle or if my Mother just hadn't served me them knowing full well the whole saga would become a groundhog day every meal time. Random enough?

2. The best friend I've ever had was my first dog. His name was Butch, he was a cross between a Great Dane and a Bull Mastiff and my Mum and Dad adopted him just weeks before I was born. He died when I was seven and I still miss him.

3. I think Bumbershootska and I have the same name. Think Mrs King out of The Avengers or Gone with the wind.

4. I love thunder and lightening. While some of my friends are cowering under the stairs I'm the one at the window counting down between the flash of lightening and the rumble of thunder.

5. I'd love to have a minimalistic home but with a husband, 2 kids, a slobbery dog and a crafting fetish this is highly unlikely to ever happen.

Now to find 5 people to tag.

takinanap - because I LOVE your sock creations.
big_girlfeet - because I love the fact I'm not the only big footed woman out there.
the-pink-kitchen - anyone who has a pink kitchen has to be tagged :)
thriftygoodness - I wish she could take me thrifting with her.
and finally

bumbershootska - because it's you that got me into this in the first place :p

Oh and can someone teach me how to do a direct link to someone's blog because I used the link button but nothing appeared :( Many thanks to big girl feet for her help with putting in link properly. You're a star thank you petal.

Proudly presenting

my new ink.

My Dad died suddenly from a fatal heart attack July 2004. My heart still hurts missing him and I wanted something for him, for me. My Dad was not a big writer, I don't therefore have many things with his writing on but I do have one birthday card that he wrote (Mum was always in charge of writing them usually) so the idea hit me that nothing could mean more than my Dad's signature. So that is exactly what I now have and I love it. This photo was taken as soon as I took the covering off so it's a tadge blurry I'll update it with a better shot soon.

While I'm sharing I will also show you the tattoo's that I designed for my children. My two that are here with me and my two that died during pregnancy. I don't have any recent shots of them so this is one from when they were freshly done some 3 years ago.

Other news is that so far the French Exchange hosting is going great. M-E is a really nice girl and her and big one seem to be getting on really well and there is much giggling going on. I'm sighing a big sigh of relief I can tell you.

The French are coming.

Tomorrow big one's French Exchange student arrives so I've been busy busy trying to make the house look like I do actually try to keep it tidy. Needless to say I've not had much success trying to make my craft pile look smaller. :)
I have however now got 3 completed items for my Craftster Owl Swap and have another two planned. I'd post pics but you never know who's watching ;)
I have some pics of some of the things I've picked up from our charity shops but the battery on my camera decided that it was a good day to run out of juice so it's now sat on charge.
As is the case of a woman's work never being done, wee one announced this evening that she'd like to move her room around. So guess I'll be lugging beds and piles of toys around tomorrow then. I painted these girls on her wall a while back.





This is the one I was least happy with but wee one liked her enough to stop me whiting her out. LOL

Tomorrow I'm getting my next ink done and I'm too excited to be nervous just now. Hopefully I'll have a shot of it to update with this time tomorrow.