Dolly's Dreamings

Fur Baby video and I wanna be a rockstar!!!

The house seems very quiet this morning as Nigel has had to pop into work for a while. I have kind of gotten used to having him around all the time. Mind you - I might be getting a whole lot more used to that in the near future.

Kira is missing him terribly and has so far spent most of her time crying for him. Tender as that is - it is a tad deafening.

And whilst on the subject of the cats - Nij made and uploaded a great short video of them on Christmas morning. It is on You Tube and you can see it by following the link by clicking on the picture above or by clicking  HERE.

 I recommend watching it in high resolution as it is so much better. It shows off what a lovely colour the Fiki monster is (he's the ornagey one LOL) and how pretty my little moggy Boo is. It also explains why the tree was taken down shortly after this was shot. The only reason we didn't drag him out was that we knew it was coming down any minuite. I hope you enjoy sharing it. Let us know what you think.

It has been an exciting morning as Guitar Hero - full band - has arrived and I am way too excited. I was planning on waiting till Nij was back home, but that may go by the wayside LOL

Also my new Cuttlebug has arrived. I had held onto the money I made last year through scrapping projects and hence the purchase of the Bug and Guitar Hero. Now lets be honest - there is gonna be no housework done in THIS house today LOL.

As we seem to be having a cat day today it seemed right to share this page made for the ATDML Christmas gallery.

It is one of my favourite pictures of Fiki, though having watched the video you will see he is not nearly so tender with it when it is not lit!!!

Anyway - I am off to emboss and drum my little heart out (Oh yes - I'm the drummer int he family, though I can play the guitar in real life )

Have a great New Years' Eve and I will see you all in 2009

29 and 30 December

I am caught up and pretty much done on my journal.

Yesterday we went up to London as one of the presents I bought Nigel was a pair of tickets to see Bill Bailey.

We both love his humour and it was a great day trip.

I was surprised at how few Christmas Lights we saw. Some of the streets round Park Lane were beautoful but we didn't see a single house decorated ont he outside anywhere near London. Is it just us in the provinces that do this?

I made a stitched pocket for the tickets and journalling and used some bits from the flyer for the page as well.

I had great fun doing the review of 2008.

2008 has been a busy year for us. We didn't go on holiday as we were worried about Kira. Consequently we had lots and lots of great days out. It seems like we crammed a lot in.

It was also a year marred by some health issues. Nigel's serious scare in February thankfully turned out to be a false alarm. My knee injury - though sadly not the osteoarthritis - has healed well and I got the all clear regarding the chest pain problems. Kira, thankfully, seems to be in remission, or balanced or coping. When I think back to her poor face in January this year, raw, covered in scabs, with two huge staple biopsy wounds and her in the little collar to protect her, I realise how far we have come.

It was a year of home make0vers. We re-did the patio ourselves - not wishing to pay the huge sum we had been quoted for Nigel's design. Then there was the kicthen! I am so thrilled with it - and it was worth the stress.

It was a year where we saw a new member of the family - Elinor Jayne - and where we celebrated a 21st and an engagement with our godson Jim. It was the year of the Wii, the year of digital CT's, the year of speedway and - most of all - it was a year we spent TOGETHER.

Catch Up days

Well apart from my page for today i am back up to date with the journal and - I confess - am quite happy that it is almost done.

I love doing it every year but by this time I am always pleased to see the back of the Christmas papers and embellies. I KNOW I could use ordinary supplies - but I don't LOL

This is my page for the 26th. Boxing Day for us is a complete and utter chill out day. We have half our presents on Boxing Day and repeat the champagne breakfasta nd then we don't get dressed. It is a pj day where we slob out and play with our toys (Oh yes - we always have toys)

The photo of Nij with Kira on his knee was just too appropriate not to use - though it was actually taken on Christmas Day.

It just summed it up.

You can't really see but the tree is decorated with stickles tinsel. It looks pretty in real life.

The opposite page - they work as a pair - truly - is about the 27th and the cold frosty day it was. We headed off up to Coventry to collect Nigel's mother who had been staying there with Nigel's brother and it was a nice chance to catch up with family.

It was, however, a long day as the journey up there which would notmally be just over 2 hours was just over 3 due to traffic and it was another 3 hours home by the time we had dropped his Mom off.

Yesterday - well that was another chill out day LOL.

I have included pictures of the cats taken on Christmas Day as somehow it summed up the peacefulness of th day.

They are, all three, catnip addicts and the 'drug' does keep them quiet for a bit once they are satiated!

I meant to say - our tree is down! Finally. It came down Boxing Day morning but because all the boxes for the globes etc are packed away and we didn't want to take down the other decorations, it is now in our bathroom.

We have the poshest bathroom ever - respelndent with a gorgeous full size tree LOl

The reason it is in there is we have a very big bathroom and it is a room Fiki is not allowed in so the tree is safe LOL He isn't allowed int eh bathroom as we have a gorgeous lightpull which is a white ceramic cat and his sole aim if int here is to stand ont he sink, reach the licht pull and play smashing it against the tiled walls. He loves the noise. He really is a bad boy you know.

Finally - and I am not sure if this will work - but I want to share a file with you all today. It is a powerpoint presentation so not sure if it will work. If it does it has such beautiful sentiments that we could all learn from - enjoy xxx

Download Askthegeese

Scrap Your Day - 2 for the price of one

I had not managed to get my November pages complete and so it was a mad panic on Christmas Eve to do them as I just HAD to get them done before the 25th December.

Now I know the world would not have ended if I hadn't managed it, but that's me. Just have to get it done.

I struggled a lot with the prompts for November. I don't like pictures of me - but managed to get a few - even though I don't like most of them.

It was a boring day so was really stuck for things to do for photos.

As luck would have it it was dark when I left and dark when I came home so Nij managed to do the window shots for me. He also took photos of the TV so I had the news, the weather, a headline and I took photos of my dashboard so I guess November was really a sort of - your world today - page.

I really like the pictures of the news and weather and plan on repeating those for other days. If I had thought of it in time I would have done it every day.

By takingt he photo of the plasma screen rather than the regular TV it also meant we got clearer shots - not with the usual lines down them.

This morning I did my December Scrap Your Day pages.

I have to confess to getting to the stage where I am sick of Christmas scrapping. I am sick of Christmas papers and colours and words and so wanted to get these pages done before the Christmas stuff gets packed away for another year.

I still want to do a few more pages of my Christmas journal, though am not planning on scrapping every day till the 6th Jan. I plan on a couple this week and ending with New Year's Day.

I had stacks of pictures I wanted to use and so there is a lot of journalling on tags which pull out.

I need to explain a couple of things LOL.

The pictures of the cat at the dinner table are not of one of my cats though they are my fault. We do not usually have cats eating at the dinner table (and please note all plates used for the pictures were disenfectanted afterwards)

 However, the cat in question is meow (yes that is his real name) . Meow is a very old gentleman now. He has to be lifted onto the chair he used.   

He was a rescue cat some 15 years ago so is probably 17 plus now. He is very thin, very arthritic and totally deaf. But he is very very happy and very affectionate.

I love spoiling Meow and there is a distinct possibility that this will be his last Christmas. So Aunty Karen spoilt him rotten.

There is a chance that, if he is still here come the latter part of the year, he will come to live with us as his Mommy may be going away for several months. Not sure how the CFH will cope but I wouldn't see him go anywhere else.

Happy Boxing Day

Boxing Day is our chill out day.

We keep half our presents for today so it was a champagne breakfast again and then present opening and then a day to play with our toys.

We had several games, lots of DVD's and CD's and LOTS to play with.

I popped into the scrap room for three quarters of an hour and have just done two very quick pages for my journal for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It is most unusual for me to use a picture of me - must be the champagne!

The Christmas Eve page details some our traditions for the day - a Christmas lunch just for 2 (well Fiki thought he was included as well)

Carols by Candlelight and reading Twas the Night beofe Christmas - oh and the only day int he whole year I drink sherry ..... when I make the triffle.

We had a wonderful day yesterday with Gina and our godson Jim. It was the 'smallest' number we have had for Christmas for years but it was a very special day.

I got to spoil Meow - now a very old and very frail old gentleman, Mim came round so we were able to toast Jim and Mim, the newly engaged couple and Jim gave Nigel the best present ever. He asked him to be best man. Now that indicates a very very special god-father and god-son relationship.

The - and what a then - we played Guitar Hero for hours. It was fabulous and I LOVE the drum kit.

I can't wait till ours arrives LOL

All in all a special couple of days. I hope that the holidays were magical for you too. xxxx

Merry Christmas

  

Had a lovely day.  Did my 24th page, did my 25th November pages (in the nick of time) and made and ate Christmas dinner.  Just returned from Carols by Candlelight which was as magical as ever.

My scanner has packed up for the holidays so no sharing today. 

Just good wishes for all of you who stop by and visit here. I hope you all have a magical Christmas filled with love and laughter.

xxxxx

23 December - Christmas wishes

I am afraid I am off topic for today's prompt again. Only something lovely happened and I wanted to record it.

I have been so happy this year to be a member of Dawn's CT, work with all the lovely products and I have met some lovely people from all over the world. The team is very eclectic with permanent members from the USA, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Canada and Iceland. And I am so thrilled to have gotten to know them all and chat regularly to them. It has become a very important part of each day.

Anyway, a little while ago Dawn snaffled images of us all and our loved ones from CT pages we had all made and created the most gorgeous buttons for us all. They were so cute and I have a special project in mind for mine.

This morning I had an e mail from Gabs (those of you who know the digi world will know her as the incredibly talented Evitangel)

She sent a Christmas message to each of us and it was just so special I had to use it as today's entry.

She had taken the buttons Dawn made and created a gorgeous page, as seen on the layout for today. BUT - we had to work for our Christmas message She sent us all 36 tiny peices so we had to assemble the jigsaw and reveal the layout and her lovely message.

I had such fun doing it.

In the little pocket which is stitched below the page are all 36 little pieces so I can play making the jigsaw again LOL

Gabs, thank you so much for such a wonderful Christmas message and thank you to Dawn and all the Chickeroonies for such a wonderful fun time.

I also want to share a page I made last night with a picture taken yesterday afternoon. Dawn made a whole new kit which she is gifting to all of her customers as a thank you (and we all got a kit too) I have to say it is an incredibly full kit as a free thank you gift. There is loads in it and I wanted to use it straight away. I also used papers from her Wild Think Collection.

I didn't have snow - we never do - but that snowman was just too cute not to use.

And I need to let you all know, right here right now, he is failing in his gift to me. He has broken several globes on the tree and one of the branches. I've tried orange peel - he nibbled it - I have tried water sprays - he likes it and thinks it is fun - I have tried shouting, begging, pleading and smacking his paws - he thinks it is a game. If our tree is still up by Christmas Day it will be a miracle.

Free magical Christmas word art

So sorry

Image and link removed

This is not allowed due to copyright restrictions. I didn't realise it was wrong

I am so sorry for the wasted visit

22 December

OK - so I accepted a long long time ago that I am never going to be a domestic goddess LOL

I keep a neat and tidy clean home and can sew passably. But cooking - nah. I am pants. Partly because I hate it and detest it.

However, I saw the special mincemeat whirls on IACW and suddenly felt inspired. Possibly because it used a sheet of frozen pastry and involved very little mixing, making and general cooking.

So I made them today.

Ruined a baking sheet but they tasted very nice. I added loads of maple syrup so they are a bit over sticky and I couldn't get pecans so used hazlenuts and almonds.

It would have looked nicer for the picture dusted with icing sugar. Do I have icing sugar? Of course not! Are you mad!

Anyway - it made a christmassy page for today. I have had a busy busy day today and made 4 pages and 2 cards so did this one digitally! I have just printed it out on photo paper and then stuck it in the book.

Works OK actually - and leaves me more time for cooking LOL

I used items from a kit called Comfort and Joy by Mary Fran.

20 and 21st December

It's been an odd sort of day today. Spent it catching up on all sorts of things and also did my visit to Mommy and Daddy at the cemetery to lay a Christmas wreath. I really don't know why I go every year. I am ashamed to say I don't go the rest of the year and I don't thing they are 'there'. But every Christmas I feelt he need to go and make sure the headstone is OK and lay a Christmas wreath.

It's hard, but it is something I need to do.

I have also caught up on my pages fro 20 and 21st december.

I went off prompt again for yesterday as I just wanted to record our special non-Christmas Christmas Day when we saw the family yesterday.

I also couldn't condense it to a single page so this journal is fit to burst already.

i just focused on the girls and how special it was to share in Elinor's first Christmas and Emily's first as a big sister.

Now the prompt today was to take a picture of your house as it is now.

I never expected to take the pictures I did - not would I have chosen to have them.

Our tree looked gorgeous this year, but then we had a Fiki monster and he finally made it into the tree.

It took two of us to prise him out - he knew his number was up and was gripping round the trunk with both front legs bless him.

The second time he did it I am ashamed to say I went for the camera first.

He has broken several globes, broken the branch he jumped on, wrecked one side of the tree by pulling off the gold bead chain and I swear, once more and I am taking it down.

He is a nightmare.

It's a good job he is pretty.