The One About my Free Goody Bag...

It came today! The goody bag from Scrapbook Inspirations magazine that was promised for having a letter published in the mag, and its quite good too! Things I'll use:

A pot of lots of different coloured flowers, and a lock and key, which might act as an incentive to do a heritage page for a change, as I haven't done any for AGES!

Off to the shops tomorrow with Mum and Robert (who is home for the weekend), and then a trip to Hobbycraft with my friend on Sunday. I'm also determined to find a recipe for low fat chocolate brownies- probably don't exist they're that bad for you!

And just a note to a friend of mine on UKS, I'm thinking of you and hoping that things turn out ok xx

The One about the Pantomime & My Car...

We took the Brownies to the Pantomime on Saturday to see 'The Snow Queen', and it was so good! They got the audience involved with the 'he's behind you' and 'oh no he isn't' & 'oh yes he is!' And the adult members of the cast really made it I thought. And the brownies really enjoyed it! And at the end they'd made up a song for the audience to sing but to the tune of Rudolf the reindeer. Then they had a competition to see which half of the room could sing the best, and then... at the end they got all the children up on the stage to sing! They were very brave, thats all I can say, particularly with some of our Brownies!

So after having a really lovely time at the pantomime, I get back to my car to find that some idiot has wacked my car as he's driven past and completely smashed my wing mirror. To say that I wasn't pleased is a complete understatement! Luckily one of the house owners down the street saw what happened, wrote the reg number down of the car and left me a note. So now the insurance company has to make their insurance company pay, and I have to send my car away to be fixed yet again, for up to 7-10 days. For just a silly little wing mirror, over a week! I couldn't believe it.

Anyway yesterday, I made more soup potato and leek this time, and then went shopping to the Trafford Centre with Mum to buy some clothes for work. This is the suit that I bought:

We had a lovely time but were worn out when we got back!

The One with the LO About Tatton Flower Show

As I have finished all my Christmas pages, I decided to back to the double Layout that I started last summer of Tatton Flower Show. With my papers that came last August I was able to put this together this afternoon, I still can't believe that the photos have been printed and waiting for six months now!

I've used lots of bright colours, because it was a really lovely hot sunny day when we went. Thats about all for today. I've also managed to do my step video all the way through, and half an hour of yoga this weekend, so I'm feeling quite good and healthy!

The One About the CJ Entries

I have done two CJ entries this weekend, the first one is about a trip to the Moors Valley, and the lady whose book it is asked us to each do a 8x8 inch page using the photos provided. I really liked this photo, as its primarily of the Totem Pole, but when you look closely, the lady's littls boy is peeking out from behind it!

The second one is for a smaller book, and the photos of days out last summer (I think), so I chose to use this photo of the castle, with the gorgeous blue sky.

I'm really enjoying these CJs, I think its much more fun to be using other peoples photos, rather than for a general theme. Plus witht eh smaller books I've been getting through my scraps quite quickly, which is good as I'm trying to not buy any more stash supplies in a long while (I already have a Bins it All on my wishlist though)!

The One About the Finished Christmas Journal...

So I FINALLY finished it! Here are the rest of the pages:

17th December: Perfect Gifts

18th December: The Menu for the Meal

19th December: Letter to Santa

20th December: Unexpected Surprises

21 December: What I saw around me that day

22 December: The Gifts that I have bought everyone this year

23 December: The stockings

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Day:

Boxing Day:

The whole book put together:

The One with Fridays Photo

Yesterdays photo was not what I had planned at all. I was going to take a photo of something quite boring, and instead I managed a photo of Mum with her new hair do, with the cat trying to have cuddles while Mum was on the computer. It was quite funny really, Tasha clearly wanted attention and was completely blocking the view of the computer screen! She also likes to headbutt us to encourage cuddles!

Today feels as though it has whizzed by and that I haven't achieved anything. I managed to get all the way through my Step DVD but will probably pay for it tomorrow. I have also spent hours trying to get a better deal for my car insurance, and ended up going back to my original insurer as they offered the better deal in the end. What a waste of time! Am going to go and practice with my camera now.

The One About The Fog

So we go from snow to sludge to fog in a matter of days. Should we expect anything less from the British weather?! So todays photo of the day is of the fog before I left for work this morning:I've been following what other people have been doing for their photo a day, and my photos just don't look anything special compared to others I've seen, so I've decided if this is worth doing, its worth doing properly. I'm going to go back to the photography course I took last year and use my photography book and try to master my camera, not just the point and click, but actually changing settings manually to see if I can improve. I intend to learn something new each weekend, then use the following week to practice that particular setting. I've found a local photography society that I might sign up for in a couple of weeks once I've picked up how to use the camera a bit better! Watch this space to see if I do improve!

The One About This Months SI...

So I got home this evening where my sub of SI mag was waiting on the table, and I opened it to find they had a printed my letter that I sent them a few weeks ago, just like they said they would (I had an email from them saying them were going to print it along with the pics, but when it wasn't in last months I thought maybe it had been bumped), so todays photo of the day if of my photos in this months SI! Mad I know!

My photos are the three at the top of the right hand page.

Other news, the snow has finally gone! I'm so glad, its been so cold at work, I've been sitting with my coat and gloves on! Oh, and we had our brownie planning meeting last night, and spent most of it going off tangent completely and having a bit of a gossip! I haven't laughed so much in a long time! And we even got the whole term planned too!

The One with Todays Photo

Todays photo isn't terribly exciting, I have a brownie planning meeting in about an hour so have taken a picture of one of the brownie books with all the songs in that they are learning at the mo:I really will try harder next time!

The One About the Snow

So I got up this morning and looked out the window as I usually do to check with the cars are iced up, in which case I have to get ready quicker, and to my astonishment (having not really paid any attention to the weather report the day before) there was snow! I'm sure the weather said witry showers in our area, or does that mean snow? Anyway I got up and ready in time to both de-snow the car and my take my phot of the day, and another one of the other end of the road too!

How long I keep up the photo of the day is another matter, as I do get quite embarrassed taking photos when I'm out and about on my own in public! We shall see!

Other news, still lots of chocolate brownies left! Oh and its very cold outside, I had my fan heater on at work today as well as the (awful) work heater that goes on defrost every so ofter and just switches off! Whoever invented the air con unit needs to rethink the whole, it turns off more frequently and for longer stretches on the colder days!

The One About Yesterday, the Step Aerobics & the Soup

So yesterday we took Robert back to Uni in Middlesbrough. Last time we went it was tipping down the whole way, but yesterday it was nice and bright and sunny. So we got there, I took some photos for the photo of the day, then turned round and took a random one of my mum. Well I got home to find the ones of Robert are far too bright, but the one of mum is just right, so the random picture becomes the photo of the day! Here it is:

I've decided to try and do more exercise, and since I've cancelled my gym membership (well all the classes were on at silly times) I got my step out this morning and did some aerobics. How exhausted was I?! I didn't make it all the way through, but I'm figuring that I can build it up, as well as do some pilates every day to increase the strength of my muscles. Thats the plan, I'll see how I go with it!

Todays photo of the day is of the saucepan cooking my soup. I'm making it completely from scratch from my recipe book (which is really easy to use) and its for tea later. Picture isn't great as its on an angle I think but nevermind.

I've also done Christmas Day Journal page, and hope to do a couple more tonight.

The One With All The Journal Entries

7th Dec - The To Do List:
8th Dec: The sights of Christmas:

9th Dec: Christmas Traditions

10th Dec: The Wrapping that I am using this year:

11th Dec: The Christmas Tree:

12th Dec: Any Changes this Christmas:

13th Dec: Music that I am listening to this Christmas:

14th Dec: How the Gifts Arrive:

15th Dec: Any visitors this Christmas:

16th Dec: The things that I am Glad about this Christmas:

I have done up to the 20th Dec, and am still going! More pictures to upload another day! I know that some of the pictures aren't very good, but better to have them bad than not at all!

The One About The Baking

So I actually did it! I baked something! And the brownies are actually edible too! I am very impressed that I managed it really, as other attempts at baking have been disastrous! Here is a picture:

Todays photo of the day is one of our Christmas Tree looking bare just before it was put away, but after all the ornaments came off.

I have also been busy doing more of my Christmas Journal pages, which I promise to upload very soon!

The One About 1st January

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

After seeing the article in my magazine I have decided to take part in the 'take a photo a day for 2009' with the intention to document my life in pictures. I'm sure that I will soon get used to my camera going everywhere with me! Here is a link for more info about it: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2008/12/understanding-concept-of-project-365.html I'm hoping to improve my photography skills too, as at the moment I am still using my fab SLR as a point and shoot, which is not really being used to its full potential!

Anyway below is todays picture:

As I haven't been anywhere today I thought a picture of Tasha would be good, as she looked so cute and its one of her favourite sleeping places at the moment. She likes to keep me company in my room, and has found that if she lies on the windowsill while hanging over the edge she gets to keep warm from the radiator underneath!

I've been doing lots of LO's for my Christmas Journal today, am up to December the 17th! So many more to do! I'll post pictures another day when the light is better.