Farewell 2010

So that's another year over with - wow where did it go? Even children seem to be saying it flew past, when I was wee that was only something grown ups said. LOL

New Year's Eve will be (hopefully) a more healthy one this year as I'm not coughing up a lung like I was last year. I am also not working myself to death for minimum wage anymore either.

Anway I thought it would be a good time to reflect to see what else has been achieved this year.
I don't 'do' resolutions but I did set myself some aims for this year.

•More quality family time.
Giving up the bar job definately helped with this one. I am here when the smalls come home from school and I get to cook them proper meals every night. I'm present in the now for them and not living in my head reliving scenes from work. Money's tighter but it's been worth it.


•Making this house a home.
This year I got the downstairs bathroom refitted - there have been no before and after pics yet as I'm STILL waiting on the guy coming back to fit the extractor fan. He 'finished' the bathroom in July - yes I know! I'm going to get someone else to fit it after the holiday season and the first guy won't be getting asked back to do all the other work I need doing in the house. His loss - big mistake! LOL
I have filled bags and bags of clutter but it seems to be breeding and it's a losing battle but I'm determined to win.
As I can't afford a new kitchen at the moment and I have lived with mine for far too long (8 years but I'm not counting honest) I took the bull by the horns on Wednesday and attacked the unit doors with a paintbrush. I will post before and after pics in the new year. ;)


•Getting my crafting mojo back.
I've brought out the knitting needles and made hot water bottle covers and hand warmers and am still working on a blanket for wee one at this rate it may be finished when she leaves home. She's 10 now! Big one might get one for the birth of her first grandchild :)
I've baked a fair bit, especially when I found the whacky food colourings I'd forgotten about.

I've read 112 books this year - ok that's not technically crafty but thought I'd just tell you anyway. :)
I did a wee bit of stencilling but not nearly as much as I would like to get done.
I made a door curtain to keep out the cold that was crafty and thrifty :)
Obviously Chrimbo brings out my more crafty side - snowflakes, paper chains and baking.


•Living frugally but bountifully.
Despite losing a weekly pay packet I have lived within my means this year. I owe nobody any thing. No loans, no credit cards, no overdraft and I paid for an all inclusive holiday in the sun for me and the smalls. Yay me!


•Nuture my important friendships.
I came to realise that I am worth having as a friend and real friends don't expect me to do all their bidding. My Christmas card list changed this year but I'm thinking definately for the better. I lost a dear friend in a tragic car accident this year too and two other dear friends had breast lump scares so that also helped with the realisation that some things matter and some don't.
I have found some wonderful friends in this magical sparkle box and you all mean a lot to me, you know who you are and if you don't I'm doing something wrong. LOL

•Have a holiday even if it's only a weekend in a tent in a field with a campfire.
Not one but three and a bit holidays.
Holiday number one. A camping trip to Linlithgow in the summer.
Holiday number two. Two weeks down in Wales. One week on my own when I caught up with all my old pals and the second week when the smalls came back from their holiday with their Dad.
Holiday number three. Two weeks in Tunisia in October.
And the bit. My return trip to Wales on my own in September for an old friend's wedding.

Here's to 2011 when hopefully I will be

* beginning a new career.

* continuing to make my house a home that I want to be in.

* acquiring a social life that entails me going outside the front door, this last year I've been somewhat of a recluse so it's time I made me some new 'local' friends. Of course this wouldn't be necessary if you all didn't live so far away!

* Keep fund raising so that Big one gets to go on her Malawi trip - oh and survive having my baby in a foreign country for a month without me or her Dad or any family member for that matter!

* Help wee one finally get to grips with how a tidy room is supposed to look.

* Keep my little family smiling, happy and healthy.

Thanks to you all for keeping me company during this last year, supporting me on the days when I've needed a shoulder, a hug or a kick up the bum, laughed with me on the days when I've either been daft or life has just made us giggle and finally just for being you. You're all great.

So was it good for you?

I certainly hope so. ;)

Intentionally blurry Santa - honest. ;)

Why is it that we spend weeks if not months working ourselves up to the big day then it's all over in what feels like minutes?

Anyway enough to say Santa came, small people were suitably thrilled with their gifts, a huge plate of food was eaten and then several chocolate based treats.

The cake is yummy.

I feel about 25 times bigger than I did a week ago and I'm not talking height!

One more sleep

and Santa will have been.

Thankfully we finally got our cakes iced








and our cookies made.




I'd like to wish everyone who pops over here a very very Merry Christmas, I hope your day is happy and stress free and on Christmas Day take just one moment to stop, stand still and look around you. Look at those happy faces and hold that memory because that's what Christmas is all about. (((Hugs)))

How much!!

I went food shopping yesterday, I only needed some veg, a few bits for our meals and some things for our Boxing Day - Christmas Day Mark 2. My pal is working Christmas Day so she and her wee lad are coming round to open pressies and eat lots of goodies on Boxing Day.


Anyway I digress, so there we were with our trolley just over half full trying to avoid all the mad one's with their overflowing trolleys with enough food and booze in them to feed probably their entire street!



Maybe I'm just out of touch as I don't have lots and lots of people to invite round for drinks and nibbles but I do wonder how much of that food ends up in the bin.



Right I better go get these Christmas cakes iced, as happy as I would be with just marzipan on them I think the small people would like something a bit fancier. ;)

Not many sleeps now.

In fact so few that I thought I better start making a check list.

* Cards written and posted. CHECK
* Presents that need posting posted. CHECK
* All Santa's presents bought. CHECK
* Xmas Cake baked and marinated in lots of brandy. CHECK
* Trees erected and decorated. CHECK
* Snowflakes made and hung. CHECK

* Paper chains made and hung. CHECK



Still to do.

* Finish Santa's wrapping.
* Ice the Xmas Cake.
* Buy Xmas dinner bits and bobs.
* Buy Boxing day buffet bits and bobs for my pal and her wee son coming round.

Oh and some 'friends' say I have to make myself a Xmas jumper!! Hmmm not sure about that one.


Plus I'm sure there are other things that my brain is currently chosing to let me forget but will no doubt remind me in a last minute panic.
But I'm not going to panic I'm going to enjoy this Christmas with it just being me and my girls. Their Dad is working abroad until January and this year it is my brother's turn to have Mother for Xmas and New Year. :D
All a recipe for a relaxed, happy and stress free holidays me thinks.

We can't see the wood for the...

TREES!

Is it just me that loses the will to live after unfurling all those branches after only doing the bottom tier?


All standing ready for action. One white, one black and one green.



One set of very old lights chucked in the bin, one set of oldish lights still working and two brand new sets of cheapo Asda lights later....





Next?

You tell the small people to go crazy with the decorations. Big one has only just finished off decorating the white tree as she's had a ton of homework lately. Roll on next Wednesday when school finishes for the HOLIDAYS!!!!

Thanks for all your lovely comments about our snowflakes, it's been a tradition I've had with the smalls for a long time. They are now snowflake creator's extraordinaire. :)

We made snow

And while we're on the subject of cold things, I thought you might like to see what my bedroom window looked like during this cold snap.

Mother Nature's ice poles. :)
Keep warm, there's still a lot of winter to get through yet. x

For our heroes

T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,

HE LIVED ALL ALONE,

IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE,

MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.


I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY,

WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,

AND TO SEE JUST WHO,

IN THIS HOME, DID LIVE.


I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,

A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,

NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,

NOT EVEN A TREE.


NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,

JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,

ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES,

OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.


WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,

AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,

A SOBER THOUGHT,

CAME THROUGH MY MIND.


FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,

IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,

I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,

ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.


THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,

SILENT, ALONE,

CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR,

IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.


THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,

THE ROOM IN DISORDER,

NOT HOW I PICTURED,

A TRUE BRITISH SOLDIER.


WAS THIS THE HERO,
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?

CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?


I REALISED THE FAMILIES,

THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,

OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS,

WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.


SOON ROUND THE WORLD,

THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,

AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE,

A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.


THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM,

EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,

BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,

LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.


I COULDN'T HELP WONDER,

HOW MANY LAY ALONE,

ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,

IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.


THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT,

A TEAR TO MY EYE,

I DROPPED TO MY KNEES,

AND STARTED TO CRY.


THE SOLDIER AWAKENED,

AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,

"SANTA DON'T CRY,

THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;


I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,

I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,

MY LIFE IS MY GOD,

MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.."


THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,

AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,

I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,

I CONTINUED TO WEEP.


I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,

SO SILENT AND STILL,

AND WE BOTH SHIVERED,

FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.


I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE,

ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,

THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR,

SO WILLING TO FIGHT.


THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,

WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,

WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,

IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."


ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
image - www.legionlive.org.uk

Friday night gig

Big one and I went to see Thirty Seconds to Mars
This is the lead singer..

a Mr Jared Leto.

You may or may not recognise him from films such as

Chapter 27
Fight Club
Girl, Interrupted
American Psycho
Panic Room
Lord of War
Mr Nobody

Or the TV series

My So-Called Life

No?

Ok he has dated (allegedly)...

Cameron Diaz
Paris Hilton
Britney Spears
Lindsay Lohan
Scarlett Johansson

Anyway it doesn't matter really. The gig was great, well to be honest the first support act, Funeral Party, were a bit pants - god only knows what they were singing about as the music was louder than the singer and only about five people in the audience worked up the energy to clap between songs. Me and my new pit friend, Chris actually cheered when they announced they were going to sing their last song. Ooops! :)

But then...

Enter Shakri came on



And they totally rocked! They looked like total chavs/neds but their music proved the old don't judge a book by it's cover.

Then the main act came on. Now I'd got myself all excited about seeing Mr Leto in the flesh and in the flesh we did see! He very kindly took his top off even if it was minus a million degrees outside. But I actually had my eyes more on a certain drummer boy. I've always been the girl easily swayed by a man that can beat a skin and sway me he did with just a kilt, several tattoos and the best kit(drum) I've ever seen.



Yep I prefer the big brother. :D His little brother is Jared.

I did have to giggle with big one though when Jared was being all tough and we're against the system man, as I said to big one....he's old enough to be your Dad!(Technically he's 3 years younger than her Dad but we won't split hairs.)

Mind you he's only a year younger than me and where was I? In the pit with the best of them. :D

More swoonage.... oh and big bruv is the same age as me ;)


Oh did I mention it took me over 2 hours to dig the car and drive out of all the snow?

World Aids Day 2010

I love books and these certainly caught my eye with their designer covers.
Penquin are donating 50% of the profits from the sales of each book to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Last year nearly half a million babies were born with HIV.
It is the aim that by 2015 every child is born free of the virus. Just think a whole generation born free of the virus.

While Dec 1st is often a day of excitement that Christmas is ever closer, please spare a thought for the kids who will never know a HIV free Christmas.

Buying one of these books or any of the other products by the companies taking part in the joinred.com campaign helps us towards that day. As they say this is the gift that gives twice.

UK Book Shop and Online Bookstore - Penguin Books

Penguin are also offering free downloads of some of the covers, I've already saved mine but now need to find somewhere where I can print an A3 sheet. :)

This post is NOT sponsored, I'm just someone who loves books and would like to see a world where all our children are born happy and healthy.

Still snowing!

That was a shocker eh? Not!!

Anyway I think we've covered the whole snow thing before so I'll move on to something else more interesting.


Now while it's like this outside.

My back garden and yes the bottom of the slide is indeed buried in snow.

And your front and back door are about as effective as this.

An idea may be to take this...

and this...

And make this...

The jury is still out as to the colours but to be honest beggars can't be choosers. I bought the curtains many many moons ago and had made some bags out of the red pair so it was just a case of cobbling together what I had left to make them long enough. Yes I know they're too long at the bottom but that is because the draught at the bottom of the door is vicious.

So they may not be the best curtains in the world but for just now they're the best I've got. :D

How's everyone else baring up in the cold?

Snow Days

Now I live in Scotland so snow is not unusual but to be honest snow in November is. We don't tend to get this much, this early.

We've had snow since Tuesday, I see the rest of the country is starting to catch up and snow has even landed right down at the bottom of the UK.

Are we entering the start of the new Ice Age? Some theorists seem to think we're due one so who knows!



View of back garden with no flash


These are a few pics from my back door and front door this evening. Thank god I went shopping today so I don't have to go trudging through it to the local shop for a wee while.


Footprints courtesy of the Monster after he decided to brave it to go for a much needed pee.

View from the front door. Pretty isn't it?



Wherever you are stay safe and warm. x

Queen of Procrastination

Do you remember me posting about working in my pals shop in May? And I knitted something up that a certain someone thought was a cover for their gin bottle? :)

Well I finally sewed it together today. Yes that's right 6 months later.


Big one is very pleased as now she can stop wrapping the hotty botty up in a towel. Bad Mother Award to me.
But I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, I'm thinking of adding some embellishments. Maybe even knocking up a few more and seeing if I can sell them.....maybe.

So what else did I do today. Well I wrapped up warm and took myself off to the charity shop. I don't know if you've seen the news but my part of the world is a bit white at the moment.

This was the garden just before the huge flakes started coming down again. The smalls were very disappointed this morning when I phoned the school snow closure line (yes we have things like that in Scotland) and only the kids who took the bus in from surrounding villages were off. They are hoping the snow keeps falling and their school gets closed tomorrow. LOL

Anyway I toddled off to the charity shop as I've not been down there for a while and look what i found.

The cutest snail. Yes I know I have odd tastes in my knick knacks, what with hands, heads, mushrooms and the like. But look at that face.

Right off to make a hot drink, it's blinking cold tonight isn't it?

Calling all Cath Kidston lovers

While I'm not a fan of her stuff myself I am a fan of my friends and I happen to know that a lot of you are CK mad.

So thought you might like to know about this.

Cath Kidston 15% off - TODAY ONLY
To get the discount, simply enter the code XMCD at the checkout. Sadly, the code isn't valid on sale items, the Vintage line, Marie Curie Christmas cards or gift vouchers.

Be quick is a one day only offer ;)

xx

Just a few observations...

Kids
If it's your first concert please either take an adult with you or at least someone who is strong enough to keep you safe in the pit. I spent some time at the gig looking after someone else's child (a very small 16 year old) who had got seperated from her friends and was getting further and further way from them.

Mini skirts and very very high heels
have no place at a gig. Maybe they do at a JLS, The Saturdays or Peter Andre show but definately not at a gig which involves serious moshing. You may have no intention of entering the pit but you're still going to get mighty uncomfortable.

The Pit
* You will get pushed, shoved and squashed more than you ever have in your entire life. this is normal deal with it. DO NOT take it out on the people right next to you, they are not the one's pushing you on purpose they are being pushed just the same as you are. DO NOT jab your elbows or kick at these people, they will get annoyed with you and if while you may be lucky and have me standing next to you who only growls and looks menacing next time you might be stood next to the person who jabs, kicks or worse punches you back. It happens so don't be too shocked the next person isn't so peaceful.
* Pit etiquette dictates that if those around you are falling you help them, then they will return the favour when it happens to you.
* You will sweat more than you would in any sauna - please be wise, take a bottle of water with you. They will try to pass water out but it's very rare that it will ever get to you.
* Speaking about sweat, you will go home awash in not only your own sweat but every person that comes into contact with you in the pit. There is no point moaning. You come, you sweat, you go home, you shower.
* If you find yourself behind someone who is taller than you do not moan, bitch and whine about it.
* Firstly they have paid exactly the same amount of money as you and it's not their fault if you didn't get there early enough to ensure you got near the front.
* Secondly if you hadn't of been so rude and obnoxious they may have let you stand infront of them. Your bullying tactics may work for you at school but trust me in the pit you're on your own.
* Do not take a handbag that is the size of a small suitcase in the pit with you, it will get trapped between bodies, you will spend too much time trying to pull it back towards you and people will get fed up of getting banged by your ridiculous appendage.
* Wear sensible clothes that is mostly a tshirt, your clothes will get as pulled about as much as you, buttons pop off, loose things get pulled off. Yes it's hot but you don't want to get THAT friendly in the pit.

Alcohol
* Getting so drunk you can barely stand before the gig is pretty much a total waste of money. Exactly how much of the gig do you think you're going to remember with your head down the toilet? The fact I know you're underage as well hmmm enough said.
* Alcohol may make you feel more confident but apparently it also plays it's own soundtrack in your head and makes you dance when there is absolutely no music to dance to. Yes that's you mature lady with the very sober boyfriend, trust me love it wasn't a good look and I've been some pretty bad looks myself. ;)

The End of the Night
Do ensure everyone knows where you're supposed to meet up if you get seperated or if you're not planning on staying together all night. Wandering around on your own, exhausted and worried because you don't know where anyone is, is no fun.

Mobile phones
Marvellous technology, brilliant for that one in a lifetime chance of getting a photo but a sea of them up in the air is bloody annoying. Take the picture then put the bloody thing back in your pocket...please! Plus it will save your battery so you can find you friends at the end of the night - BONUS!




Aahhh that feels better.
Right the concert was fantastic, Paramore totally rock! Hayley has THE most amazing voice! She bounces around the stage like a lunatic and her voice stays pitch perfect, never falters or wavers, god I can't even go over a bump in the car and my voice wobbles. The guys in the band were equally amazing, loving the drummer!!!
They put on an amazing show, love their fans and and and and well lets just say when they come back over I'll be buying another ticket. :)

I woke up Sunday feeling like I'd had my body swapped for a very old lady, everything ached, even bits of me that I didn't know I'd used ached. Worth it though and I'm doing it all again on the 3rd Dec when me and big one are off to see Thirty Seconds To Mars.


This is the lead singer...



Mr Jared Leto. Yum Yum. Actually, I'm starting to see a few similarities in the fellas I like. LOL