Dolly's Dreamings

Myth busters

I had an e mail from my godson last week telling me how he was enjoying his final teaching placement - he qualifies as a teacher in June this year. He asked, in the e mail, what on earth head teachers do as they always seem to be rushing from place to place.

I e mailed him back and told him they have to rush from place to place as they are secretly trying to get the earth to start spinning more slowly in order to expand time, create another couple of hours in each day and thus have a tiny fighting chance of catching up on all the things they have to do!

What do head teachers do - they put out fires - one after another. Some days the fires are few and far between and you even have 'spare' time to catch up on some of the never ending paperwork. Some days are like today when there is a veritable firestorm

 

 This is a page I meant to post last week as it was such a laugh to make.

Mythbusters.

Don't you just love that programme? We filmed our own myth busters in death valley. Is 124 in the shade hot enough to fry an egg? Nij has promised me he will edit the video one day (I do so hope he does) but for the time being here is the paper layout for the album.

 

The answer to the question ......

No it wasn't - I am sure it would have been if I had been allowed to try it ont he bonnet of the car but 'someone' (who is sat right behind me) didn't think that was a good idea as they would probably be the one to end up cleaning it off. It might have worked if we had found proper tarmac to try it on - but we were trying to do it away from where anyone would see us (because they might THINK we were nuts!)

 Tell you what - I wish I still looked that brown and tanned and healthy now and not pasty winter-ified.

Today I am thankful for

• The support I receive from so many people at work

 
 

A bit of a wash out

Today was a bit of a wash out but was still a lovely final day of the half term holidays.

we are fated not to do the walk in Lymington that we keep on planning. We have tried three times now and our failure today was weather driven. It was a glorious morning when we set off but the closer we got to Lymington the more overcast it looked. We started walking, undeterred, and thought it was quite bizarre that there appeared ripples int he puddles like rain but we could feel no rain..

Ten minutes later we felt the rain alright. I was glad I had a waterproof coat with a hood. We turned round and were really glad we did as it ended up quite a deluge. We missed the worst of it.

We had, however, had a lovely drive and a nice time together. the rest of the day was spent happily reading, playing games and scrapping.

It's been a great half term and one I have really enjoyed. I am still thankful for the fact Nij is at home with me for school holidays. At times in the past holidays were quite lonely as he was always at work. It is sooooooo much nicer now.

 This is a page, once again featuring Jakki's beautiful daughter Alice, which was made as a CT piece for Shimelle's design team. It uses a template by Shimelle, some of her papers and some flowers from Amy Wolfe.

 

 Today I am thankful for

•  Holidays with Nigel - even doing nothing is nicer with him there

 

Finally Joyce sent me this and I share it with you all

After living what I felt was a 'decent' life, my time on earth came to the end.
The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house.The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defence table.
As I looked around I saw the 'prosecutor.' He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me.  He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen.
I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney,  kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him.
The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes.
He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room I couldn't take my eyes off of Him.
As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, 'Let us begin.'

The prosecutor rose and said,' My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this woman belongs in hell...'He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and In the past when I cheated others Satan told of other horrible Perversions that were once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn't look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about. As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sat there
Silently not Offering any form of defence at all. I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some good in my life - couldn't that at least equal out part of the harm I'd done?

Satan finished with a fury and said, 'This woman belongs in hell, she is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person who can prove otherwise.' When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench. The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward. As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full splendour and majesty.
I realized why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Saviour. He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, 'Hi, Dad,' and then He turned to address the court.

'Satan was correct in saying that this woman had sinned, I won't deny any of these allegations.  And, yes, the wage of sin is death, and this woman deserves to be punished.'
Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed, 'However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and she has accepted Me as her Saviour, so she is Mine.' My Lord continued with, 'Her name is written in the Book of Life,  and no one can snatch her from Me. Satan still does not understand yet.. This woman is not to be given justice, but rather mercy.'

As Jesus sat down, He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said, 'There is nothing else that needs to be done. ''I've done it all.'

The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down..  The following words bellowed from His lips.. 'This woman is free.' The penalty for her has already been paid in full.
'Case dismissed.'

As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving, 'I won't give up, I will win the next one.' I asked Jesus as He gave me my instructions where to go next, 'Have you ever lost a case?'

Christ lovingly smiled and said,' Everyone that has come to Me and asked Me to represent them has received the same verdict as you, ~Paid In Full~

'Stop telling God how big your storm is.
Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!

I can finally feel my feet

It's taken a long time to get the feeling back in my feet today. A really long time.

Went and did a car boot sale this morning and it was cooooooooold. And also not really worth doing. Should have known really as most of the stuff we took was the stuff we had left over last time. Should have been a clue I suppose.

Anyway several hours standing in the cold did for me.

I am still working on my Rome mini book, but not getting far with it to be honest. I am not really in the mood for it, but I did scrap a Rome digital page as I had the photo open anyway!

 
I also have a card to share today that was just made with left over bits and pieces that I 'found' when tidying away.

 
It is very dimensional but just looks flat in the photo. Ah well.

I read catcher in the Rye today though. i have wanted to read it for years but the library never had it in. i wanted to know what was so significant about the book. Why had people been mentioned as having a copy when they killed someone? I wanted to read it to find out. I guess I know now. The book was so awful, just plain and simple awful and boring and repetetive and so not good that i guess anything was better than reading it. Not one of my top ten books then.

One of the books I have enjoyed recently was the new Peter james book (love those books) and also a free book on my Kindle called Painless which was really good and would make a fabulous film too

Have a friend coming round for dinner this evening so am looking forward to that.

Today I am thankful for

• Deciding whatever was left was just going straight tot he charity shop - no more boot sales for us

 

 

Aaaarghhhhh!

Sorry for the shouting. second time I have typed all of this as Typepad seems to conflict with IE when i upload pictures. I know it does it and usually I save as a draft. today I didn't! Typed a really really long post and lost the lot.

So abreviated version is coming up now. Shame, the original was quite a good post too.

 When tidying yesterday i found a CD full of photos of our short break to Rome back in 2003. It was a place i had been before but Nij had always wanted to go to. It goes back to pre interest in photography 9so the pictures are pants) pre scrapping and it needs recording. So i dug out a chipboard Bo Bunny book i have had for ages and have started making a Rome book. Nothing to share yet, but it is coming on nicely.

I do have more of my weekly pages to share though.

This was week 6 (names have been removed for posting purposes)

 
and here is week 7 - so I am up to date (but will be behind again tomorrow LOL)

 
Goodness knows what i will scrap for week 8 mind you. half term week and I have only taken 1 picture!!!! Shame on me.

I received this e mail from Sara today which made me smile.

Did I read that sign right?
In an office:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER...  PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES:

PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office:
WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY

PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office:
AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a second-hand shop:
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC.   WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

Notice in health food shop window:
CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park:
ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference:
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a farmer's field:
THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES.

On a repair shop door:
WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR - THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)

Today I am thankful for

• old photos which make me smile
• the ATG gun which is great for covering pages.

 No LOL cats today but another e mail from sara proving bambi and Thumper really do exist. Such fab photos.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a day

It's been the first good weather day of the holidays and it is amazing how much better a bit of sunshine makes you feel.

The morning started badly with Fiki being very very sick - which also meant he hadn't kept down his painkillers and anti inflamatory. Not a great way to start a day.

However the day picked up - we went out and bought our wedding anniversary presents. My wedding ring and engagement ring are far too big for me to wear anymore and so we decided we'd mark the anniversary with new ones. Yes I know we could have had the old ones altered but what can I say!

I am no longer a gold person really - I tend to wear very little jewellery and recently sold most of my gold.. The jewellery I do wear is silver and I like that colour much better. So after having looked for ages we finally bought a new, very simple but classy platinum wedding band and a platinum solitaire. They look very very classy and simple and very me. And honestly, Nij did genuinely say they were for OUR anniversary. He is as thrilled as I am. The plan is that on our anniversary - our 25th anniversary - later this year we will go into church and, just on our own, renew our vows, bless the rings and voila - newly weds again. Mind you - he does tell everyone we are still on our honeymoon anyway.

Seems and appropriate day to share this page as well, made with the new kit by Dawn Inskip called The Promise.

 
Gosh how young we looked then. And what big glasses we wore!

I do know, however, how very lucky I am to have met and married my soul mate and my best friend. He truly is my everything.

I have another page to share with the same kit

My Aunt was just 16 when she married her GI at the end of the second world war. She travelled thousands of miles away from home and I know it went wrong for a lot of GI brides, but hers was a fairytale romance. Sadly her husband died very young but she stayed in America as she had 2 children and said they were American. (I am lucky and get to go visit her and my cousins over there)

The photo is of her with her father, my granfather, on her wedding day. How hard it must have been to walk your daughter down the aisle and know she was then leaving, potentially for ever.

 
Today I am thankful for

• wonderful new rings
• Nigel - but I am thankful for that every single day

 
 

Fiki doing well and me wasting time

We had a follow up visit tot eh vets today and he was pleased with Fiki's progress. He is walking much better and his spine feels less 'knotted' apparently. We still have to keep him ont he pain killers and anti inflamatories for a while and watch him, but it is much better news than we feared.

He is taking his medicine well and loving the special food he gets. The cats have been on dry food only (apart from fresh chicken) for the past 4 years since Kira was so ill. However, his pain medication has to go on food and wet food really so he and Boo have been sharing a felix puch every morning just to get the medicine done. And Oh boy have they loved it. It is quite sad though as Kira can't have it so she has to be shut out and she screams the place down. The other morning we let her have the tenniest bit - just two little chunks. later that day she had spots on her head - that quic. So it really is a no no for her.

I have achieved little today. When i am at work I get so much done in my leisure time as I have to make the most of every minute. When I am off I achieve so little because I do things so slowly. I have played rather too much Bubble Shooter! And I have read rather a lot of books. But heck - i guess that is what a holiday is for.

I did make this for the new weekly UKS challenge

 

Today I am thankful for

• Fiki being so much better

 
 

Some holiday this is

So i am on school holidays right now. The clue is in the name - HOLIDAYS. Doesn't that mean just chilling out and relaxing and doing utterly nothing?

You'd think!

Well today I seem to have been busy busy busy.

Even before I had breakfast i started. We bought new crockery yesterday and it went int he dishwasher last night so I wanted to put it away, but there wasn't room and before i knew it I had emptied most of the kitchen cupboards to sort and get rid of stuff and rationalise and tidy. One huge box of largely glassware for the car boot sale, lots of china for the car boot sale and way way way too many tupperware containers that just 'might' come in handy one day.

From there the day was downhill really. we had a nice walk across the heath to get essential supplies (we have just had a lovely Christmas dinner of roast turkey and all the trimmings) and then we had to call in to the library as I had a book to return and needed to get a new library card as I had lost mine. I TOLD Nigel before I went in that i was NOT to be allowed to look at books, that I had a pile of books I needed to read plus a Kindle and I was NOT to get books out. How come I came out with 4 books! I mean HOW did that happen!

This afternoon i have sorted out clothes for the car boot sale. I have only managed to sort 3 of the 14 bin bags out and have filled the clothes rail well and truly. If you know any larger ladies that would like any clothes in assorted sizes from size 18 - 24, skirts, tops, coats, jackets, blouses, suits, you name it, some brand new and still with tags then send them my way please.

It has actually been quite sad as I have had these clothes packed away for a year. I didn't want to get rid of them until I knew I could keep the weight off. But as I looked at them it was like saying faewell to old friends. Clothes I really loved.

Anyway - I have new scrapping to share as I have been catching up on my weekly pages. here is the first one which is week 5

 

I will pop the others on tomorrow.

Today I am thankful for

• making a start on a huge clothes mountain

 

 

I've dropped!

I've shopped till i have dropped - and had a fab time

Nij took me to Street today - the Clarks shoppin village. It is a reasonable journey to get there and took almost 2 hours on the way as the traffic was awful and the visbility worse - though we came home in just over an hour.

But it was worth it. First we topped up our denby - repllacing some items we'd broken and adding a little more to the collection. We only have the basic stuff - the green - but i love it. It is chunky but very workable, stands up to being everyday really well.

We also managed to pick a few bits up for the garden from past Times - a fairy windchime, a fairy bird bath and a fairy light to go with my collection I had for Christmas. As soon as the weather is better Nij will put my fairy door in.

Nij got some new shoes and I managed a new pair of per Una torusers and two tops from the Marks outlet, plus another shop and I can't recall the name where I got a summer short sleved jacket for £4.99 (I pay more than that for a T shirt) three nice tops for £5 each, two skirts for £7 each, a cardigan that was expensive at £10 and then i hit Roman and bought a work suit, a cardigan and a top. Yey - I am set up for Spring now.

Consequently no scrapping today but I did make this last night. This is the ranch we stayed in in Death Valley. We were ranch dudes for the day!

 
Today I am thankful for

• shopping (very shallow but so true I fear)
• days spent together

And finally

 
 

Limited movement

Today has been a day of somewhat limited movement in several different ways.

Firstly my new fitness coach dance for teh Wii arrived yesterday and, typical me, i didn't think it through I just went mad with it.

I had fun, I burnt a mess of calories, but today i can't move much. So that was part of the limited movement.

But then this morning i decided to tackle some of the mess in the scrap room. My scrap room usually looks tidy, but once you open a drawer you see how bad things are. I started emptying drawers to tidy, throw out, sort for the car boot sale next week and generally de-clutter, but i ended up totally boxed in in a tiny little place sat cross legged on the floor. I couldn't move for stuff and had to call for help. Then after sitting there for an hour cross legged in a  tiny place I really couldn't move! My knees had siezed.

Anyway, things are far tidier, I know where stuff is, i have sorted a load of stuff for the car boot (I really should sort a load of paper out to sell but i have had enough to be honest) and I have also started sorting the first of what is likely to be a couple of dozen trips of clothes. I have 12 bin bags full (all neatly folded but packed tight) I want to try and sell some of the good stuff (some still has tags on!)

So i have done no new scrapping so far today, but i did make this yesterday.

 
It is a really nice photo of Nij and I at breakfast at the Hyatt on the first day of our holiday. The smaller pictures are of us ont he same day and of us in the same place three years earlier.

Wow - we look quite different - and not just 3 years older. We had shed about 8 stone between us! Couldn't resist a page to document it.

Today I am thankful for

• a job well done
• Fiki seeming to be limping a little bit less

 

 

D is for part 2

I love the first day of the holidays. It is usally a day when i do very very little as I have so much time stretching ahead it makes me waste it. Well not waste just enjoy idling really.

I was actually up quite early and after breakfast I tried out my new Dance Coach wii game and burnt off breakfast and more!

My new distance learning course arrived - it is to do a Level 3 counselling course that I figured might be useful for work as i seem to do more and more counselling these days.

I scrapped a little plus we went for a nice long walk with a Starbucks at the end of it. (Don't our walks always have Starbucks at the end!)

So here are some D's

D is for Darby's Corner

 

D is for dashboard

 

D is for drinks .... yes I can make every letter fit Starbucks

 

D is for digging (people digging cockles or worms down at Sandbanks)

 

D is for designer stores

 

D is for double jetty (like double jepardy but different!)

 

D is for Dolly

 

 I finished this page this morning - a paper version of our off road adventures in Death Valley.

 

 

The album is coming on really well now and is looking very full, but proving to be a lovely record of our trip.

Today I am thankful for

• Holidays
• keeping fit
• new learning opportunities

And finally a link about some pretty amazing biblical art to share with you all.

Biblical Art