June update

Where is this year going??? June already!!! It just seems to be flying by its hard to believe that it will be christmas again in just 6 months time,,,,Life here has been busy this last few months but jake has finally finished his GCSEs and left school now we just have the wait to see how well hes done and if he will get the place in college that he wants in september. Leon has a new intrest he has gone fishing mad at the momment and its lovely to se him truley happy in his hobby for a change :-)) when he said in the kitchen this week that he is just so happy to not be lickboxing anymore i had to agree with him we are no longer under any pressure in anyway and its been fantastic to be able to go back to being me. So what about me?? what have i been upto...well to be honest not that much when it comes to stitching or crafting. I have been working on my head but slowly the sasme with my enchanting lair i will show you lol this is my haed a little more done but not much as you can see but i will get there eventually i keep telling myself haha. And this is my enchanting lair a little progress made on her wings but tahst about all. I have found myself encrossed with my ps3 playing burnout paradise and little big planet in the weeek and singstar, beatles rockband and band hero on the weekend with the boys thats when we havent all gone over to our friends for the evening having fun :-)) But saying that i really have got into zumba on the ps3 too and i am loving beging to keep fit all over again i dont think ive ever done a work out so intense and i always feel fantastic afterwards :-))

If any of you have a ps3 please feel free to add me my user name is starydreamer. Well one more thing to share with you all before i head into the garden to try and do a little stitching as it acually apears to remember that it is summer here after all lol I found there wonderful earrings in a local store in the week arent they great!! I just lovethem what a find :-)) Take care of yourselves xxxx

Sad day

30 years ago today you and you were gone for ever mam. I dont remember much being just 6 years old and in my grandparents that day home from school ill when my gan walked a=in and told me that my mammy had gone to be with the angels in heaven leaving me and my three year old sister with just a daddy. I remember thinking from that day on that I didnt like god why did he have to take my mammy??? But being older now i realise it was proberly much better for her. Truth is I only ever remember her battling the cancer not even being able to walk or talk towards the end or having any hair when it had gotten to her brain as i now know. But when your six you need your mammy.

School was hard especially around mothers day when the primary school i went to insisted on me making a card when i had no mammy to give it to and that was just the start, Growing up with my grandparents with my father living next door it was hard. I was bullied throughout my school years because of this. The hand me down clothes we used to get from family i never minded but other children can be so cruel. I found it difficault to talk to my gran about things she was so much older and though the times changed from when my mother was small we were brought up with the same rules which again made us different from other kids. I remember i was 14 when i had my first pair of jeans as they werent for girls and i wasnt allowed them i had to save the little pocket money i had and buy them myself. Silly little things i know.

It was even harder when i had my first son, especially as he was a special care baby. I was never sure if i was cut out to be a mam when i hadnt really had one myself . Every mothersday was a struggle for me thinking of what you had missed out on with me and my sister and every year i see my sons grow that year older i am so happy to still be here with them knowing i am lucky enough to have that. I try so hard to give them everything i know you would of given us love, time, attention and try to make them as good and polite as i possibly can . I just really wish you were here with us to see this and i hope that where ever you are i am making you proud love you mam xxxxx

Easter baking :-)

Here is my easter cake :-))) I love it!!! so pretty and sooo cute!!! Whats everyones plans for this easter?? I can see most of mine being spent in the garden :-))) xxx

Spring??? Its more like summer!!!

Wow it seems like we have stepped straight from winter into summer...what happened to spring???? not that im complaining one little bit its beautiful and we already have the pool up and weve had quite a few bbqs to make up from all those years we have been too busy before to make time for ourselves :-))) We had a wonderful time last night out in the garden until almost 1am!!! thats how warm it was next to fire anyways lol. And Jakes girlfriend came over for the bbq it was really a good night. I love to spent time with my boys and i have missed it so so much the last few summers they are growing far too fast these days i have to make the most of it xxxx

Getting prepared

I cant believe how quickly a year has passed even though it wasnt a shock that the letter arrived in the post two weeks ago because i knew it was coming again. Its time for my yearly breast screening again and im dreading it. Not so much in the fact that i dont want to have it because that would be silly its the sensable thing to do then if i do get anything at least they will detect it early and hopefully that means i would recover. Im doing it for my boys i could of said no but i decided maybe its for the best just so i know whats what. I just really hate having it done its just so uncomfortable because im not exactly small in that area theres a lot of boob to get squashed into that machine but at least this year i am prepared for what they are going to do to me not like last year. My husbands been on the edge since the letter arrived and i know hes not going to be able to relax until the results come back hopefully clear again. Me im ok theres no point in worrything about these things i just wish he would relax a little. Anyway enough of that talk... Ive had a little bit of time and i have put a few stitches in on my fairy a quarter of the chart is now done so i am getting somewhere at least according to the paper anyway lol ill let you be the judge of it :-))). Weve had more lovely weather so ive been working like a mad person getting the front garden under control we have crazy paving under some of the hedges and i hate it!!! Takes so much time to do who ever thought that was a good idea has a lot of explaining to do i can tell you!!!! But the weathers changed and its raining and cold after getting a shade browner in the garden on sunday just wish it would its mind up and decide if its spring or not then we would know where we are isnt it :-))).

Smells like yum!!!!

Just thought i would share that i am baking strawberry,banana and white chocolate chip muffins!!! And even though i dont like banana or white chocolate they smell lovely :-)))))

aaahhhh the weekend :-))

Wow where did march go??? Seems like it had only just began and now we are already into april. I must be getting older because the time seems to be spining by very fast these days. We have been having terrible weather the last few days rain and gale force winds which shock my greenhouse so badly that all my plants feel and ive lost them all i have to start all over once i buy new seeds :-( and we had quite a big thunderstorm last night too. I havent done much in the way of anything this week the bruising has come out on the ankle i fell onto and now the other one is black after coping with being used more than usual it obviously still isnt right and i still havent heard anything about my mri results so im still non the wiser really there. I have sat this afternoon and made some cards for all occasions just for something crafty to do for a change. Its been a little while and i did need to make cards for my stepmum for her birthday and mothers day tomorrow. You can see the other cards i made here I also have been working on my enchanting lair wip here she is this didnt take too long to do while i sat and watched some tv i was quite impressed how much i managed for me in just a few hours lol. Ive got myself addicted to ratchet and clank a crack in time on the ps3 and have spent over 14hours in the last two days on it i know i know its shocking!!!!!! but im really enjoying it and well with sore ankles i have to rest them right???? hehehe. Well i guess id better go make a start on food i dont want to be on my feet all evening cooking i want to do something fun :-))))) xxx

Having a busy week

Well the sun has been shining brightly here all week and its been over 20c so its been more like summer than the start of spring. So weve been busy busy chopping down trees and cutting back brambles. Painting fences and the shed and side gate. Cleaning down the floors with a power washer. It was all going really really well untill i was loading the care on thursday morning when i somehow managed to fall in my front garden while walking back from loading up the branches into the back of my car :-((. I have only managed to twist my good ankle and bruise my left hip too. Oh sometimes i wonder how i get by with all the accidents i have i really do. But saying that i am walking much better on it this morning so hopefully thats a good sign. One a lighter note as you can see i kinda got my greenhouse!!!! We went up to morrisions on monday afternoon to get a few bits and pieces and they were selling these on sale for �15.00 ok its not the biggest one in the world but its great and i love it!!! Its the perfect start for me to get me doing more gardening this summer :-))). There always seems like theres so so much to do and because i totally necklegted it all last year there is twice as much as usually so ahhh well i guess i will get there in the end. The only downside is the decorating has still been put on hold but i will get back to that on the days i cant do the garden. It was so lovely here yesterday we managed to have a bbq in the garden last night too. It was fantastic to soend a few hours with my boys just messing about and having a laugh it seems like forever since we had the last one but this one will be the first of very many this year. And when my wine has finished brew ing next week im so looking foward to drinking it on my patio and relaxing :-) Hope you all have a great weekend xxxxx

Buds new hididng place

My dog is terrified of the hoover always has been. Ive had to move my kitchen table into my living room for Donny and when i was hoovering the other day i turned around and this is where he was lmao!!!! So cute i just had to share :-)))))))))))))))))))))))

What Ive been upto :-)

Well truth be told since finishing my last dragon dreams design i havent really put much in way of needle to fabric. I have made a start on the head design. I choose a freebie to begin with just to see if i have the patience to really do it and the small piece that i have done seemed to take me a few hours so for me this is going to be a very long project i think. Can you tell what it is yet???? I very much doubt it haha. I did however pull out an ols wip this morning and do some backstitching on it ooohhhhhh how i detest backstitching i really really hate it i do wonder sometimes if i just pick the patterns with the most in it just to agrivate myself!!!! I really do believe it is the reason why this piece hardly gets picked up with me just because there is just so much of it!!!!! Any winge over lol the dragon seems to be comeing along beautifully even if a little slowly so i should just stop winging about it :-) Ive also started to plant my seeds ready for the summer this morning too. I really really need a greenhouse i would love to have one but i guess i will just have to see how far i can stretch myself there. But for now at least they are on my kitchen windowsill what i have [planted so far anyway i still have loads left but not enough space!!! There tomaotes, chillis, courgets, peppers, spices, some flowers and more i cant remember now lol how useless am i!!! And as i started to clear out the winter from the garden yesterday I have alot of old stuff to go down to the local recycling place once i have finished my coffee now. I dont want to see it built up this summer i want my garden to be a lovely place to go out and sit. As last year i was way to involved in other things i had no time to enjoy it but this year i will have plenty and im really starting to look foward to it. Weve been so lucky this last few weeks the sun has been beautiful and its been warm enough to walk around in a tshirt untill teatime when its been really cold and foggy most nights too just a reminder i think that its not even spring yet. Hope everyones having a lovely week xxxx

Happy birthday Leon!!!!

Oh my where does all the time go!!! It flashes past so quickly these days I can hardly believe i have 14 and 15 year old boys!!!! Long gone is my chance for a cuddle and a story but still it is nice to see them turning into young men :-). I made this card for Jake to gtive to Leon as he is a mad Man utd support unfortunitly lol!!! Its just with me being a Cheksea supported and his Dad being a Liverpool supporter it does get heated around our house sometimes lol. Well I hardly seen anything of Leon today. He went to the local lazer zone that has opened in town with a big collection of his friends and Jake and his girlfriend then he went off to town whil i was home baking his cake and preparing a home made from scratch Indian meal for his birthday meal. We had turkey birianni, beef vindaloo, garlic and ciorriander narn breads and onion bahgis all made from scratch!!! It took a few hours but was well worth it :-) And what did he do them for the rest of the evening??? Went upto his room and spent it all on the internet. Cant say i wasnt a little dissapointed but like Donny said they are growing up and i guess there is nothing i can do about that. So i just played the new game that Donny got for me on the ps3 for a few hours to try and unwind after a long day cooking and i did enjoy myself which is strange because im not a big gaming person unless its a singing game lol. Well anyway happy birthday Leon im glad you enjoyed your day babe xxxx

Having a ball :-))

I just wanted to drop by and show everyone im still alive :-))) Ive hardly had time to look at my computer the last few weeks. I have had one very busy husband and a living room thats looked like a production line all of last week just to try help out a friend but thankfully its back to normal now and ive decided to leave my table in the living room too as we seem to be using much more as a family to eat together than we ever did the whole time its been in the kitchen which is fantatsic.

The weather here has been so warm and sunny really unusual for this time of the year, in fact it was so nice on sunday the boys spent most of the day at the local beach. It was lovely for Leon because if he was still doing his kickboxing he would of spent the whole day at a competition and missed out on the fresh air and freedom. It doesnt seem like he is missing it one little bit which is making me wonder if he really was enjoying it towards the end so maybe its for be best he left when he did even though it wasnt his decision really. Its just a shame he fell so badly on his face when he was out i had a big shock when he came home sunday evening and seen the mess on it i really am hoping it looks better by his birthday on saturday hard to believe my baby is going to be 14 years old!!!!! And with Jake going for an interview in the local college this afternoon too i am beging to wonder where all the time has gone.....

Well even though my life has been upside down i have managed to finish the dragons dream design. I used dmc,carries creations and krenick and although the photo doesnt shoe it too well it really does sparkle!! And of course i did use my own fabric :-) And i have also started on a haed freebie just to see if i can really manage one before i spend money out on one lol will post some pics later in the week. I also want to try getting my seeds planted for the garden at sometime very soon too as it is beging to look like spring but then again it could be just a false alarm so i will have to be careful!!!

I guess this frog is just a bit much for me.

I always knew people liked to tell you how much they disliked frogging I myself hate the fact youve done one stitch out of place and if you cant just alter the pattern a little you just know you arae going to have a whole lot of ripping and tearing out maybe hours and hours of work you have done. Well this dragon dreams hs so far ben a nightmare this little frog has been frogged so many times i have lost count and obne time i even thought about giving up on him i really really did!!!! But i am detirmimed to try get him finished this weekend.

Ive had no time for him really this week as i have made the most of the bright warm sunny weather we have been getting all week even though it has been so cold and frosty every night and morning to make a start on getting the garden sorted and the shed tided. The shed is now done and the garden...yeah well... thats gonna take a while lol. But at least its beeen started right....

Ive also been busy making more headbands I dont know where i fit the time into do everything somedays lol. Donny and me made home made from scratch onion bajhis and garlic and corriander nann breads lst nite they were so yummy we have decided we are going to try make a vindallo from scratch next weekend :-) Well better get some wrok done i guess as Jake has a sleep over tonite xxx

Happy Saint Davids Day

To all my Welsh friends xxxxxx

What a wild weekend....

Donnys old school friend has been home visiting this weekend and he always seems to end up crashing at ours when hes down. He arrived at our house just after 10.30pm on friday night and before we knew it we had been sat in the kitchen chatting and Jake was telling me it was 3.20am!!!! I had to tell Jake to get off the ps3 s he was still playing greenday rockband and yell upto Leon to get off facebook!!! Typical not one of them decided to tell me what time it waas which was pretty sneaky if you ask me mind lmao. I guess its true what they say time really does fly when you are having fun.

We didnt see Alan then until sunday evening when he came back so we did have a quiterish night on saturday well earlier Leon and i were playinbg singstar for a few hours. Alan also stayed on monday night and i went off to bed earlier and left the boys to catch up and returned back to manchester on the train this morning its always fun to have him over but im always so so tired for days afterwards!!!! It does Donny good though to have a real friend over it helps lift his spirts especially after everything that went on the end of last year when we discovered what we did about certain people who only aid we were friends to get what they could from us but ah well true friends are the ones who make you smile and drive you mad at the same time and those who you do fall out with then laugh about how silly your arguement had been xxxx

Busy days again :-))

Firstly i would like to stay a big thankyou to Nicky for my wonderful birthday presant you never forget me on my birthday and christmas I love it so much thankyou so much huni lots of love xxxxx

I dont know if anyone remembers that i used to make sweat head bands for the kickboxing class i used to attend...well ive been approached by different club in the last few weeks and asked to make some for them and i was more than happy to do it as even though it totally does my head in when im sat there doing it i relly love the way they turn out when they are finished tke look for yourself and see what you think... I wil admit it does cut into my stitching time but im sure i will pick that back up very very soon xx

Happy birthday tooooo me!!!!!!!

Omg where do all they years go....they seem to fly by I cant hardly believe it....

Well today started off relly good its half term here so i got lay in to start with :-) Then my dad called down to see me nd I told they boys they didnt have to stay in with me go out and hve some fun for a few hours with thier friends. So I had a bath and put on the lovely dress Donny got me for my birthday we dont usually get our gifts until the evening in this house but i did get that one just a little early. Donny and me went for a walk over to Lidls to get some wine for our meal tonite and i had only just walked in through the door when the phone rang and thats where the day started to go horribly wrong........

On the phone was a police officer who haad Leon with him and was looking for Jake. Turns out after they had brought Leon home and given him a real fright that the poor thing had done nothing wrong and haddent even been in the place where it had all gone on....confused much....well so where we to be honest. Anyway I got on the phone and told Jake to get himself home but they picked him up when he ws on his way and this is when we got the full story as to what had gone on. We had a multistory car park in our town and the roof seems to be the meeting up place for kids these days why I have no idea really. Well Jke and his friends like to make videos ect and they thought it would be cool to throw some catalogues off the top to see what type of noise it would make when they crashed to the floor...stupid well yes but they had made sure that it was a place where noone hardly goes and that there was no one there and noone was hurt and no damage was done...so im still confused why the police had wasted thier time chasing these kids when they said themselves they werent going to do anything about it. Surely thier time would be better spent cually chasing people who are damaging property ect... But that did put a big cloud on my day :-(( I know boys will be boys but why on my birthday. Jake did spend the rest of the night in his room and will be kept in for the rest of half term even though he didnt do much wrong.

I did get some lovely gifts from Donny,Jake ,Leon and my dad and did play karaoke for a bit but i wasnt the same as i would of liked it to be.

I love saturdays :-)

This week has been a great week so far and its almost over so i hoping it stays that way :-) Today has been beautiful here in Wales its been warm and sunny a big improvement from the dark cold and wet depressing weather we have been having for most of this week. But Leon has just informed me walking in through the door it is now feezing dark and foogy so i guess even thoughits only just after 6pm the winter is still firmly here.

I managed to finish off myfairythis week. For a quck stitch itstaken quite a while LOL i guess thats cos i reall havent given it muc time. My time seems to have been spent on decorating cooking and cleaning this week which is fine cos one of these days i might just e that show room house.............yeah rite...............tat when my kids have moved out!!! hehehehe Its nt a hous its a home so as lon as it clean i can handle a little mess!!!!

We have visitors coming from Cardiff for the day again toorrow and Donn friend coming for he weekend on friday all this along with half term is going to keep me a vey busy girl along with a new order for headbands :-)) Watch this space starydreamers fabrics may again raise from the ashes as i dont have such big commitments to other people anymore xxxxx

Happy valentines day

To all my friends who celebrate the holidays :-) We dont do it its one night a year and we believe that you should show each other in little ways everyday how much you love each other :-) Most holidays are too comercial these days. But my eldest son did buy gifts for his girlfriend aaahhhh young love xxBut i did do some baking for my boys and Donny is cooking me a meal tonite and we are going to let the kids watch a dvd upstairs tonite so we can spent the evening together see......the romance is quite dead afterall lol xxxI hope you ll have a lovely evening spent the way you want :-)) Love to you all xxxx

Quick stitchy update

Ok so i havent been doing as much as i would of liked this month but in my deffence i have been really busy getting the kids rooms sorted out so i guess that should make me feel a little better. This is taking me a little longer than i thought though i must admit i guess my big gab has made me a litttle slower than i used to be and the complete colour change has been quite daring too but so far so good and i like the way it is appearing to be turning out and thats all that matters hey :-) I was hoping to get it finished tonite for stitch weekend at my runboard and this will then make me 3 out of 12 for this years challenge which i really do want to try and complete this year :-) Have a lovely wekend xxx

Still decorating.

This week we have been working on Leons room again which will soon be Leons room and the games room. It seems to be a long process but it does start to seem like there is light at the end of the tunnel starting to peer through at the end :-) This is what Leons room is going to look like. Where i am standing from taking the photo is where the wall is going to be. As you can see from this photo Leon

has managed to get quite a large amount of trophies and medals both from when he used to do rugby and kickboxing and finally they are in his room where they belong insteed of all over my living room lol. His world championship medal is in the box frame on the wall next to the shelves it has its own space :-). On the bottom of his bed he has decided he is going to hang all

the belts he has achived in kickboxing over the last two years. Leon put a lot of effort into everything he did for the club he was with and his country the both times he competed for Wales but i guess its like they say i supposed all good things do eventually have to come to an end somehow and i wouldnt drem of making him do anything he no longer enjoys that just wouldnt be right in my eyes. It has to be something you want to do or you will get hurt as it is a contact sport afterall.

Anyway, this is how the other half of the room is getting on. At the momment it does just have the bottom colour painted on it as they havent acually decided yet what colour they want the walls lol. BBut as they have had they new tv that has gone on the wall ready. And we have bought them a new ps3 as a joint birthday pressie as they really didnt have very much for christmas as we went to portugal and that was expensive at least this yer that wont be a problem :-) So thats where we are at the momment xxx

What a nice suprise

Today we had guests down for the day from Cardiff. The people who run W.O.M.A.A Wales. This is one of the places where Leon used to go to some of the kickboxing contests when his intrest was much more into it. Leon came away with several gold,silver and bronze medals when he hs fought here. Anyway they came doen to present Donny with an award for ll the work they had seen that he used to do for the club where Leon was training. It was a lovely suprise and it made Donny feel so proud of all the work he has put it. He deserves it I think he did so much for the club its nice to have a thankyou like this even if it did come from another organisation.

I must be mad!!!!

Do you know what i decided to do in my wisdom today................I started Jakes bedroom!!!! I havent even finished Leons yet lol. Well i cant have him leaving left out now can I........:-) Jakes only got a small room and it wont take long I have no paper to strip this time either so its all good.

Heres what his room looks like at the momment. He is a typical teenager too but not quite as untidy as his little brother lol.

Ive got quite a busy weekend this weekend with two sets of visitors calling today and more people coming tomorrow so im not quite sure how much im going to have time to do very much this weekend xxx

Days 3 and 4

Well the bedroom is coming along slowly and now i get to show you one of the colours Leon has picked. This colour is for the wood in his room. And now Finally all the white is done too so it is ready for the colour next week :-))))

Yes he has picked bright yellow hhhmmmm thats wht you get when you let kids decide i guess lol.

I managed to find some time

To start a new small piece of cross stitch this morning before the decorating starte. The boys where at school and Donny was sleeping. He doesnt seem to be doing much of that at the momment so i thought i would leave him there and do a bit while i was watching casualty. Its a old dragon dreams freebie and im completely changing the colours too. Here is a little look at what ive done so far. Its done on a peace of my hand dyed fabric as ive still got quite a bit to use up.

I have also managed to get little more done on my fire dragon the last few weeks to. I must admit its not much but i am trying to get a few stitches in how and when i can so i will get there eventually :-)

Leons room day 2

Well i stripped all the wall paper off one half on Leons room yesterday on the side where is bedroom is going to be. He is sleeping at the front end of the house at the momment but he is being moved to the back end. I must say it wasnt too hard a job the wall paper seemed to come away from the walls quite easily which was good for me :-)

So i got Donny to fill the wholes for me and then left them to dry.Then today i had i had to start painting them white i think this is going to tke a good few coats as the walls are so green so then i cant paint the colours Leon has chosen.

I have to say that it doesnt seem like that bad work s long s i can blast out some tunes while i am getting it done :-) Its deff going to need more than one coat of white the walls are just so dark its unbelievable. But im sure i will get there

Here we go then.....

Ive started Leons room and ive decided im going to be taking photos of the work im doing as im going along to i hve something to look back on a little sad i must admit but it will give me something to do now and something to look back on whta i have achived with a little help for some of it of course :-) So heres what it looked like when i started it . You should be warned it is a teenage boys room and they dont seem to understand what keep your room tidy is one little bit mind!!!!!!!!! Loens room is really big we are planning on splitting it into two so they can also have a room where they can go to watch tv and dvds and play computer games too :-)

I will keep updating my blog on how its all going hopefully i wont bore you all too much lol xxx

Second finish of the year.

Why is it i always start of so good every january but then go down hill very very quickly....hmmm i think other stuff has been getting much to much in the way of what i want so no more!!!!!!!!!!! I keep telling myself this but i still dont believe i can really truely acually do it....I will have to hope so lol.

Ive been thinking about..........and please dont giggle............starting a HAED now being a complete newbie to anything like this.....can someone please tell me what fabrics they use to stitch them on. I have only ever used aida WILL IT WORK.... any advice would be grtefully accepted :-)

I did some more :-)

WOOOOHOOOO now my body has fully recovered from the last time i tried to exercise i can happily say i did an hours game time so only acually dancing of dnce central buring over 300 calories along with 30 sit ups , 30 bum thrusts and 30 leg raises and this time it just felt good :-) Im deffo gonna need to do this more than once a week to get back into it :-) xxx