Dolly's Dreamings

Dental emergency

It's been a strange day one way and another.

I was on a school trip today - we were doing a wonderful Tudor Christmas day out in the wilds of Dorset. It is a really fabulous day - very enjoyable. The children enter a Tudor hall all decorated for Christmas, learn about a Tudor Christmas, make Tudor gingerbread and read mince pies (with meat and fruit) and they write a Tudor letter with quill pens, make pomanders and leather pockets, make a kissing bough, stage their very own proper mummers play and learn Tudor dances. An utterly fab day but a long journey so we leave school at 7.30 am. It was a grim trip as the rain was utterly dreadful - Florida type rain .... like a monsoon. Anyway - we arrived and had a drink on arrival and I ate a crispbread and broke half my tooth off with the first - and only - bite. It was broken enough to cause a LOT of pain.

Phone call to hubby at home to make an emergency dental appointment for the next day.

Phonecall back - dentist off to a conference on Thursday and friday so could do this afternoon or Monday. Yikes! the pain was bad - no way was Monday an option.

Luckily enough we had extra adults on the trip so the party leader and I agreed I could be done without. Phonecall to hubby at home to say please come and get me.

Travel time to get to destination on coach 1 hour 45 minutes. Time available for husband to come and get me and take me back to the dentist 4 hours. Just do-able. Time it took hubby to find a place not recognised by even a really good sat nav and monsoon weather through country lanes that were flooded - just over 2 hours. Time back to the dentist 1 hour 30 minutes (speed due to the need to get screaming wife OUT OF THE CAR!)

Anyway - the dentist saw the extent of the problem and the decay under the busted bit that caused the break and fixed it. He was a superstar. Trouble is with my TMJ a trip to the dentist is always traumatic and I will pay for this with jaw ache for the next week. But heck - he saved the tooth.

Then I was riddled with guilt at missingt he trip. But I waited till they were all safely back and have just got home.

Hey ho - life is at least varied.

Anyway - I am about to do my JYC page and will upload it when it is done.

OK - making my page was just the therapy I needed.

This year I had snow pictures to scrap - taken in february this year when we here on the south coast who never ever get snow had more than we wanted. (never happy are we?)

I would love a white Christmas with thick white snow everywhere, but let's face it, unless I go away I am never ever going to have that here. And much as I would love the snowy Christmas I am clearly never going to leave my fur babies at Christmas now am I!

The page gave me the chance to document the awful weather from today as well .... sadly monsoon rains not snow.

Happy Advent

OK so I know it was Advent Sunday on Sunday but Advent has started for me today really. 1st december - feeling all christmassy (and all knackered but that is another story)

Been at work for 12 hours straight but the NICE thing is my Christmas Tree went up in my classroom and when i eventuually got home Nij has put up the Christmas santa to count down the days, the Christmas wreath ont he door and the Christmas candles. He really is a very very very special man.

I also opened my advent box today. jakki - my best friend - and i do each other an advent box each year and I opened my first present today. It was a gorgeous box the like of which i haven't seen. Huge and thick plastic with a wire frame and very pretty and inside are all my other wrapped gifts. I will take a picture of it in the fullness of time.

It was so hard to buy Jakki's this year as she doesn't scrap much so I really struggled to buy things that may tempt her.

I have yet to do my page 1 of JYC which starts today - but i WILL do it before i go to bed and will add it on here when I have.

I do have another calendar page to share though - June this time. the photo is very special to me. My Daddy used to talk a lot about a magical place called Fairy Glen in sefton park. He used to play there as a child and I had all sorts of visions of what it would be like. he took me there when I was about 5 but i don't remember it. When we went up to stay with my cousin |Joyce this year I asked her to take us there. It has recently been renovated and it was a gorgeous day with bright sunshine and it truly was magical. It was also very poignant to visit it and remember my Daddy, who I still miss every single day. So the June page is of Fairy Glen.

I can't quite believe that this page has come together as quickly as it has, but I have done my manifesto page and it is all printed off and in the journal!

I have decided to use the Jessica Sprague numbers this year and was going to try and do the Holidays in hand class as well as this one. clearly too much! I have printed off all the prompts and will do that one NEXT Christmas.

Anyway, I digress. here is my manifesto page - my declaration of intent for myself.

2010 is looming

I am aware that 2010 is just around the corner and I need to get on with things like calendars.

I was desperate to use Dawn's new calendar kit to make a CD calendar for myself for my office desk and made a start on it last night.

Now you wouldn't seriously expect me to do anything like start in january and work my way through logically would you? Good, because I didn't.

I started with July and November because I knew which photos I wanted to use for them.

I have to say I am really pleased with them now they are printed out.

Now - you have to go and visit my friend Heather HERE because she has the most awesome video called patience on her blog. It just took my breath away to watch it.

I hope you enjoy it.

FREE Class - Always in trouble

Now tell the truth ..... as soon as you saw the title you KNEW it was about Fiki didn't you!

I guess that is because he really is always in trouble. He is just a bad bad boy.

Anyway - I digress. this is another free class which can be used to fit any theme you like. As always the class is often just an inspiration kick start - maybe for a colour choice, the tag idea, a topic inspiration etc. Just enjoy it however it works for you.

I won't be doing the random freee classes on a Sunday for much longer as, in January, I will be starting on the project for the year and posting prompts or pages or downloads each week.

The class this week uses hidden journalling under  two tags that open to reveal whatever you want to hide away.

You can download the class HERE

This is another page that uses the same technique .... but quite an old page. It was one of my entries for The Best Of British (which I was thrilled to win ... one of 5)  in 2006

Can I also say a huge thank you to so many of you wonderful people for the fab feedback on my advent house.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment. It meant a great deal.

Such a wonderful fun creative day

I have really really really enjoyed myself today. I have made a project I have been longing to do for ages.

I finally decorated my Advent House.

These advent houses have been very popular - they are incredible value at just £5 from Tescos. they are made of wood and very sturdy. But I think they look dreadful in their raw state.

I have now finished one (the girls may have to wait till next advent for theirs as one is enough for today!)

I am not into funky Christmas colours I'm afarid. I am very traditional and to me Christmas is red and gold and green and subtle.

I know exactly what I wanted to do with the house.

It was painted cream first to give me a blank canvas. Thanks go to my ever devoted hubby who did the painting for me in the week so i could have fun this weekend. he really is a star. It was just painted with left over paint from our recent home decorating jobs.

I couldn't find the right paper so bough at digital kit I loved and printed the papers and elements I wanted. A lmost everything came from the same kit - Joy to the World by Kristin Cronin Barrow at Sweet Shoppe Designs. It is a fabulous kit with such rich papers and I fell in love with the angel.

She looks cute with her wings edged  in stickles

This is the complete house

I haven't done so much sanding in a long long time ... and the curves and the chipboard swirls were a real pain ... but worth it

I cut loads of scallop strips for the roof, edged in brown ink and stickles which looks like snow (and hardly shows in the pictures)

and ... it is not often I say this .... I am thrilled with what I have created. It took a while to work out how to have the angel fixed on (she is double sided and just HAD to be there)

Thanks for looking and, if you have a spare second, I'd love to know what you think.

Phew - it's over

It has been one heck of a week ..... one heck of a week. But it is over.

Not only is it Friday but the stresses of the week have now resolved and I can finally relax for a bit.

I am exhausted but happy to rest now.

My darling Nij is also a star. he knows what a hellish week it has been and, I know it is early, but i have come home to our Christmas lights up outside which I just totally love. They are magical and he has added lights in the cherry tree that i have always wanted. Early or not I don't care - it's a wonderful treat.

I have a page to share which is another project 365 page - I am still behind a week (but so thrilled there are so few weeks left as I am fed up of the project now!)

I made the page using Shimelle's prouducts from Two peas. Penned words, months, polkadot papers, Long and Winding Road papers and also added some fabulous Dawn Inskip flowers.

I am way too tired to blog a lengthy post tonight , but wish you all a happy weekend.

xxxx

Happy Thanksgiving

 We have so many American family we do celebrate thanksgiving in our home even though we are in the UK.

I also have many American friends and besides which thanksgiving is an important day to remember. Not just int he pilgrim sense but just in the sense of being thankful.

So

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

and may your year be blessed in every way.

I did a thanksgiving assembly this morning - partly for the children's benefit but also for mine. Times are very hard in a lot of ways at the moment and we need to stand back and remember what we are thankful for.  I have a picture frame right by my bed which is one of the first things I see every morning when I wake up and it says 'hem your blessings with thankfulness' and it reminds me to count my blessings every single day.

It uses this word art which you can download HERE

 

I am thankful for so many things ..... my wonderful husband, my friends, my almost daughter Samantha and her family, my cats, my warm safe home, the food on the table, the fresh running water, my health, my weightloss, my hobbies, my camera and computer and so I could go on. I am truly very lucky and that, my friends, is the thought to hang on to.

 

Dawn inskip has three new digital products out today, available at Catscrap and PickleberryPop  and they are all lovely. I can't wait to find time to play with the calendar properly.

Here are two pages I made with the kit.

 

and I will be closer to 10 stone in 2010.

 

 

Life's like that sometimes

I have had a bit of a day of it today ... but do you know what .... life is like that sometimes.

There are days when you don't expect anything good to come and they end up being a fab day and totally unexpected, because life is like that some days.

There are days that you worry about and then things go so much better than you expected ... all that worry for nothing .... because life is like that sometimes.

There are days when you try your best and the hits just keep on coming - because life is like that soemtimes ... and indeed it was today.

I left school full of anger and hurt and angst and frustrated and ready to burst.

Then, in the dark late afternoon when it was windy and rainy and I was crawling along in traffic fuming and obsessing and planning what i was going to do, I passed a blind man stumbling along the road and suddenly, I felt ashamed. In the great scheme of things I have no idea what struggle and disappointment is like. I don't face daily hardships like so many do.  I am so darned lucky and don't take enough time to appreciate that.

Sometimes you just have to take a step back and count your blessings and not get hung up about what, in reality, are trivialities because do you know what .... life is like that sometimes.

I am sharing a page today made as one of a baker's dozen - one of Shimelle's team.

I love the polka dot papers she has in her Autumn Apples collection and couldn't wait to use them on a page. I also used one of her nature papers and her nature and autumn penned words on this page about  our trip to westonbirt.

Now - I am off for a long hot bath, some fairly serious digital scrapping and a jolly nice chilled out evening. Because life is too short to be stressed out.

Fiki Monster info and a little humour

I still haven't caught it!

My tail that is!

I have been chasing it all day - or so it would seem. Very very hectic.

Anyway .... on to more relaxing things now.  I thought, as it had been asked yesterday, that i ought to provide a bit of info ont he Fiki monster and his sister as people who read don't always know what he is. Actually i can think of lots of words to describe him, but i will try and be sensible and deal with nice things. He really does deserve the bad names though!

Fiki - properly called Mustafah Rafiki, and his sister Kira (Scarlett Shakira) are brown spotted bengals. Kira is a very typical brown spot and looks just like she should. Fiki ..... mmmmm, well he would have to be different wouldn't he. Fiki is, however, more unusual. He has a very strong rufus (red) gene inherited from his multi award winning grandfather. It is apparently a recessive gene and is much prized. He is a most unusual colour - very red, a rich mahogany colour. he is also exceptionally glittered. bengals should all have glitter - it comes from hollow hair shafts and it genuinely does look like their coats have been dusted with glitter. Kira is, of course, glittered, but nothing like her brother who is truly awesome. He also has incredibly green eyes. however, his pelt (yes it is pelt rather than fur) is not so good. His pelt is much thinner in consistency than Kira's. Kira's is like plush velvet - totally awesome to feel. He also has a badly shaped chest. I guess you don't get all the award winning features in one go. The breeder would have loved to have bred from Fiki because of his colour, but we had reserved him when he was very little (4 weeks old) and also very sick. He was the runt of the litter we thought wouldn't make it. He was sad to see him go when he finally left at 12 weeks for his new home with us. And as we had bought them as pets we signed to agree to have them neutered ... so Fiki's personal lineage ends with him! Thank goodness, because he really and truly is a devil cat. He is the naughtiest thing ever, has ruined our home in so many ways, has broken and damaged so much (deliberatley) and is too clever for his own good and ours. He is also a very very big cat. he is exceptionally tall and long and  although he was half Kira's weight at 12 weeks when they came home to us, he is huge compared to her now. He weighs an incredible 1 stone 4 pounds and he isn't fat. he looks lithe and skinny. He is just huge and all muscle and power. So hopefully that explains what a Fiki monster is.

I have a new page to share today which is another in my book of the year. I am following the IACW 12 projects in 12 months and this is my October page.

I have also updated my 365 photo album now I am up to date again.

Finally I want to share this e mail with you

I sooooooooo get it and hope you do too.

 Dear Diary,

For my birthday this year, my Husband (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me.

Although I am still in great shape since being a high school football cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try.

I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Christo, who identified himself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear.

My husband seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.

________________________________
MONDAY:
Started my day at 6:00 a.m. Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Christo waiting for me. He is something of a Greek god - with blond hair, dancing eyes and a dazzling white smile. Woo Hoo!!

Christo gave me a tour and showed me the machines. I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which he conducted his aerobics class after my workout today.

Very inspiring!

Christo was encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from holding it in the whole time he was around. This is going to be a FANTASTIC week-!!

________________________________
TUESDAY:
I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door. Christo made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air then he put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made the full mile. His rewarding smile made it all worthwhile. I feel GREAT-!! It's a whole new life for me.

_______________________________
WEDNESDAY:
The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I believe I have a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop. I parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot.

Christo was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered other club members. His voice is a little too perky for that early in the morning and when he scolds, he gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying.

My chest hurt when I got on the treadmill, so Christo put me on the stair monster. Why the hell would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by elevators? Christo told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life. He said some other shit too.

_______________________________
THURSDAY:
Asshole was waiting for me with his vampire-like teeth exposed as his thin, cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl. I couldn't help being a half an hour late - it took me that long to tie my shoes.

He took me to work out with dumbbells.. When he was not looking, I ran and hid in the restroom. He sent some skinny bitch to find me.

Then, as punishment, he put me on the rowing machine -- which I sank.

_________________________________
FRIDAY:
I hate that bastard Christo more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. Stupid, skinny, anemic, anorexic little aerobic instructor. If there was a part of my body I could move without unbearable pain, I would beat him with it.

Christo wanted me to work on my triceps. I don't have any triceps! And if you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the damn barbells or anything that weighs more than a sandwich.

The treadmill flung me off and I landed on a health and nutrition teacher. Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir director?

________________________________
SATURDAY:
Satan left a message on my answering machine in his grating, shrilly voice wondering why I did not show up today. Just hearing his voice made me want to smash the machine with my planner; however, I lacked the strength to even use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather Channel.

________________________________
SUNDAY:
I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and thank GOD that this week is over. I will also pray that next year my husband will choose a gift for me that is fun -- like a root canal or a hysterectomy.

I still say if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have sprinkled the floor with diamonds!!!

Snug and cozy for the winter

First can I say thank you to the many people who visited and commented yesterday.

I am thrilled that so many people think they might like to play along with the project next year.

I promise there will be more details nearer the time but you won't need and special supplies or anything, just whatever you normally use. Some weeks there will be prompts, some weeks page examples and templates and sketches and some weeks some freebies which will be suitable for both digi and paper scrappers. I will just be thrilled to have other people join me on my journey ... as I said, i am not totally looking forward to the year in some ways and so want to do positive things to ensure it is a GOOD year and one I will look back on with pleasure rather than looking forward to with a sense of dread.

Anyway, enough about that for now .... onto new scrapping.

The new A True Friend challenge has gone live and boy do you need to go look at the pages. The new design team members have their work int here as well and I have to say the work there is awesome.

The theme is pets on those long cold winter nights.

This is the page I made for it.

As soon as the weather turns cold Fiki re-adopts his winter bed - one of those radiator beds. He stays there all day, only moving when we sit down int he evening when a lap is, apparently, just as good.

It is a digi page made with the grab bag by Dawn Inskip that I mentioned last Thursday.