Millie's first trip to the beach - video

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today was is Millie's first trip to the beach on 1st Jan 09. I wanted her first time at the beach to be a positve one. However as soon as she stepped on to the sand she realised it was different and was starting to investigate when a huge Great Dane jumped down beside her frightening the life out of her! So I picked her up and put her on the wall that runs along the promenade so that she was at the same height and so she could say hello. Luckily the Great Dane and its owner went off on one direction very quickly.

She soon settled down after that and continued investigating this new experience. There were loads of people walking their dogs today so she had plenty of opportunity to get used to saying hello to new dogs. She is still nervous but hopefully the socialisation classes will improve things - that starts next week.

We walked along the wall that makes a little pond of some of the seawater and unfortunately she fell in and got very wet. So we made our way home so she wouldn't get too cold - it was only 3 degrees centigrade. A nice hot shower when she got home and then she slept all afternoon! Must try that again if it wears her out like that.

Apart from walking Millie down to the beach at lunch time and taking both dogs for a quick walk after dinner, all I have done today is give my bedroom a "deep" clean. Had a nice lay in, curtesy of Andy getting up to see to the dogs, which made for a nice change and have done little else all day really. Psyching myself up for a long day at work tomorrow. Yeuch.

Play time

Having a ball playing with my card making and ATCs and even started on "inchies". I want to set up some of my work on flickr but it is quite time consuming and I would rather play with paper and bits and bobs. When I have done it I will set up a link to this blog.

I have downloaded some images from http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/ which looks to be an excellent site with some great ideas.

Have made some Christmas cards for next year and have completed all 4 of the red and green ATC cards for a swap - just need to get a few "extras" that are lightweight enough to post abroad and then they can go in the post later today.

Today's blog prompt from http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?t=35860 is 'Where I've been, where I've lived and where I'd love to go'
I was born in Winchester, England and then when I was just a baby my parents emigrated to Australia. We lived in Melbourne for 4 years and then spent three years travelling up and down the east coast. I remember a cyclone in Townsville very vividly. We sailed back which took 6 weeks and I remember crossing the equator. We have lived in Essex, England ever since, although I have travelled again before I settled down where I am now. Sometimes my children are disappointed that they have only known one house but occasionally they admit that they like the solid roots that we have here. I would certainly encourage them to travel and I would love to travel more myself when I have more time and money. Before I settled down I went to France, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Scotland, Wales and Australia again. I do like the area that we are living in now and the house is okay. I would love a bigger house with a utility area and an indoor swimming pool (ah one can dream).

Places I would love to go to include Montana, US to see my aunt and the rockies and Canada and REAL snow. I would love to go on a cruise to see the Fjords and Iceland. We did consider emigrating to New Zealand - it looks to be a beautiful country and some say it is very much like England used to be. One day maybe.

Well that's another Christmas over!

Well that is another year over! We had a great Christmas day, just the five of us. Had to get the kids up at 10.30am to open their presents and ate too much at dinner time. Spoke to all the extended family members over the phone during the course of the day. Boxing Day we went to Andy's brother's family briefly and exchanged gifts then went on to his parents around the corner where we spent a wonderful day exchanging presents, eating too much and generally having a great day. Seven of us played Monopoly which was confusing to begin with then we amalgamated into three teams with twin brothers Andy and Simon winning the overall game. I think Simon was excited to win because he usually plays games with his neices and nephews and usually has to let them win! So I think he enjoyed winning fair and square!

We had brought Millie with us and she was very well behaved. We left Barney at home, he seemed okay enjoying the peace and when we got home was pleased to see us again. Still wobbly though. Will possibly take him to the vets on Monday, will see how he is.Barney and Millie AND Harry LOVE this bed! This is the three of them on the evening of Boxing Day chilling out.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone around the world.


Here is a little Christmas message from me, Andy and the dogs.











Here is the table layout that we plan for tomorrow's dinner.






I have completed and placed in envelopes five of the ATC swaps for swap bot. Went to post them today but the post office was closed. Will have to wait until Saturday now as they are for USA and Germany so ordinary UK stamps wont do. I have bout a special folder to put all my received ATCs in - so pretty pleased with that. I will have plenty of time over the holidays to make Christmas cards for next year and some ATCs for some swaps that I have signed up for.

Here is a picture of 4 ATCs that I have received this week. Thanks to those who took the time to make them and send them out. They are really lovely. The a and b are the start of an a to z swap that we will be doing over the next 13 months.

Poor Barney is unsteady on his back legs again today. Not sure if it is because he is outdoors at night and getting stiff or whether the inner ear infection that he had last Spring has returned. When he had the infection though he was listing to one side and his eyes would not stay still. Medication soon put him right. Not sure what to do, it will be 2 days without a vet to hand without costing a lot of money so just hope he will be okay over the next few days. Trying to keep Millie from bothering him is a full time job!

Sheffield collection

Well my attempt at an Asperger's Angel ATC was appalling so I made another one to send off and sent both of them explaining!

I have lots of projects on the go - several ATCs left to do. I have six ATCs to make for the free theme one so need to check the recipients profiles to see what sort of thing they like that needs to go off by 31 Dec, then there is the chocolate bar to send off at the endof the year as well, four red and green ATCs and 10 "inchies". I have never tried to make an inchie before- could be interesting! I will upload the finished project when I am done.

Have had a long day today, left at 9.22am to pick Sarah up from Sheffield. Exactly three hours and 200 miles later we arrived at the shopping centre where she works and had a wander around for two hours. She was ready early so we muddled our way across the city to her student accommodation and had some lunch and a cup of tea. Then we loaded up the car - I cant believe how much junk a teenager can have including a large suitcase full of dirty clothes because she hasnt done any washing for a month! Jeez. Unfortunately we got caught in a traffic jam on the way home for several hours so Sarah found some cider and some wine and we drank and chatted and played on our respective lap tops until we finally started moving again. Finally got home at 9.30pm. Pretty tired.

We saw a rainbow on the journey up. Here are two versions. One is just the boring picture and the other is one that I photoshoped.

Two more days of work and then I can have a whole week off, not back until Friday 2nd January. I hope to get a lot more scrapbooking done and all the above projects.

Bring me Joy

Today's blog prompt from Digital Scrapbooking place website as suggested by TinkZoe is the question "What things consistently bring you joy"

Not all my "things" are materialistic, but I am sure that still counts.

1. Cuddling up to my husband - feeling all snugly and safe with no urgent need to dash off and do some errand or other

2. Seeing my little puppy's sweet face as she pleads for some love or a treat/food. She is a handful - very excitable and exhausting, but even after having just cleared up after the latest "mess" just one little look from her and my heart melts.

3. Creating things out of paper etc. I just love to while away the hours making stuff - scrapbooking, ATCs and cards, knowing that when I give them to friends and family they appreciate the love and care that has gone into creating them.

4. Having my children around the dinner table and having long discussions about everything. This event has been rare of late with Andy not interested in cooking or eating and Sarah not being around - so dinner is usually not as enjoyable as it once was, not only because it is usually me cooking or buying a takeaway.

Take pleasure in the little things in life the larger ones don't seem so large.

Today I found out about autism angel. I am doing an ATC swap with the them of "angel". The person I am sending an ATC to teaches autistic children, so I thought I would google 'autism + angel' and came across various versions. One that I particularly like is this one. I will try to incorporate the design on to an

ATC for her.