Happy new year!!!!

I would just like to wish all my friends a very happy and safe 2009

May your days be spent with those you love and may your friends be held close to your hearts i know mine are :-) I hope the new year brings you all the happiness in the world.

New years resolutions

I usually make these but never seem to stitch to them for very long i guess i just dont have enough will power lol after having a wonderful holidays with my family which by no means is over quite yet as we are having a family party on new years eve!!! I have decided that this year i should maybe only make a few that i should really try to stitck to so here goes

1. I am going to try to exercise more this year and try to get some of the extra weight i am carryng off me i always start out with good intentions but get bored so easily but this time its going to be different as i am doing it with the ladies on Jackys board ans as one lady is living just 10 miles from me as i found out today we are really going to try help each other so fingers crossed it will last!!! I am going to put up my tickers here to try keep myself motivated too.

2. I am going to try cut down on the amount of exchanges i join in i have been so disapointed with not getting back quite a few on boards such as Harmony and the pheonix stitching one and also the contests i am thinking od only joining in those people i know as i have been let down on both smo and Harmony here also so im just getting fed up with it all. So from now on its just people i trust or im not interested harsh i know but im getting fed up of being left down. I have already cut down on a lot of my yahoo groups and think i will drop out of a lot of places all together in the next few months so it will give me more time to do other things.

3. I am thinking of maybe (I can hear Donny laughing already) of cutting down on my internet time!!! i want to stitch more and play some of my computer games as they are stocking up and i dont have enough time to do everything i want. Ive had a ball the last few days playing the wii with the boys mind you my arms and legs are aching lol but its been fun spending so much time with them. We were playing our new singstar game on christmas day too that was fun i love it!!!

4. To not do so much for other people especially when you get no thanks for it just a great big kick in the teeth. I am far too trusting when it comes to leting people into my life and i try to do so much for them when they need it only to find when i need a little support they are no where to be found so I need to learn to put me and my family first from now on.

Hmmm i cant think of much else i want to change in my life at the moment there are things that i cant change so i try not to think about that too much. Is anyone else thinking of making some changes for 2009?

Look at me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My good friend very kindly sent me this yesterday and it didnt half make me giggle to see myself in print!!!! I was approached a few months ago by the cross stitch gold magazine to write a piece for them still to this day i have no ideas where they got my details from at all!!! maybe its the contests i enter on thier web page where i won the tickets to the Cardiff craft show from and not too sure. Well anyway they liked what i wrote and decided that they wanted to print it in thier magazine so hear i am!!! i havent got the magazine yet as its not due out in the shops untill january 6th but my good friend has a subscribtion and she found it and sent it to me :-) i am going to be getting a small crafty gift for doing this im not sure what but i look foward to recieving it anyway. So what do you think of what i wrote???

Merry christmas

To all my dear friends from our family to yours we hope you all have a lovely christmas.

Cristmas eve!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant believe that santa is coming tonight!!!! qoq qhats happened to this year?? its just flown by. Weve been busy today we have cooked our turkey that my dad got us here is was before abd here it is after

we always cook it on christmas eve that way we have more time to spend with the boys on christmas day.

Leon and i also put the finishing touches to our christmas cake npt to bad even if i say so myself lol you cant really see the glitter on the trip though and thats a real shame.

So dont forget everyone to go to sleep early tonight or samta wont come!!!!!

Baking up a storm.

Yesterday afternoon Leon and I spent three hours in the kitchen doing some christmas baking first we made some stained glass window trees they are supposed to be for the tree but i can see them lasting long enough lol they look very pretty but they are horrible to get up off the tray.Then we made some short bread cookies from a recipie i always like to use its the same one we used for the halloween cookies in october and its just so easy to do we just have to dunk them into some melted chocolate later to finish them off yummy!!!Next Leon decide he wanted to make some cookies so he made these all by himself not too bad for a first attempt i must say!!!Then last but by no means least we made some mince pies and i hand made the pastry i must admit i normally cheat and use the prebought stuff but not this time i did this one all by myself and they are going down really quickly i was hoping to freeze some so we would have some over christmas without me having to make more but i was told that there is no chance Donny said he would eat them all before i have the chance i had one this morninf with a cuppa because after all that baking last night it was the last thing i felt like doing lol but saying that i did cook a curry after i had cleaned up.

So how is everyone else doing with thier christmas baking? It wont be long now you know!!!

Its coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant believe there is less than a week and it will be christmas ive been so busy this week through the sickness with both me and Leon being being so full of cold but at least now we are both almost over it thank goodness.

I wanted to show you all a photo of leon in his new cadet uniform he wont be a real cadet until his 12th birthday in march so hes inbetween junior and cadet at the moment. Leon and Jake have been at asda today bag packing to help raise money for the cadets they are doing it most of this week if they can so he he is with his fresh new hair cut he got in town all by himself its a bit shorter than i thought hed go but doesnt he look handsome

I have been so lucky this year too i have had so many beautifully made hand made cards from all my friends all over the world i recieved these from the two Sues at my board today and i love them thankyou both. Id also like to thank Nicky for the pressie she got me!!! its been taken away to be put under the tree for me thankyou Nicky so much but there was no need you know :-)


Well i am almost ready for thursday but still have my main shop to do which lokes likely to being tuesday or wednesday!!! yikes im really dreading that lol but my dad said earlier that we will have the turkey on tuesday afternoon and they have us a piece of pork so im going to have to empty my spare fridge which usually homes the kids pop and stuff so that i have somewhere to store the turley untill i cook it on christmas eve i also have plans to bake some shortbread cookies and my mince pies tomorrow with Leon as he loves to bake. I was doing some last minute christmas wrapping while the boys where out so now everything is sat under the tree as now the boys are too big for me to have to hide everything anymore which means at least this year i wont have to stay up untill 3am when Jake finally decides to go to sleep as its all done lol i may acually get to sample the wine we made tonight too as i dont have to go out tomorrow so that will be nice a bottle some pringles and a movie bliss!!!!

Kids

What is it about kids once they turn into a teenager? does that give them the right to turn from a child to a monster? Well Jakes seems to think so and he is driving me mad. How exactly is it my fault his clothes havent been washed when he hasnt brought then down for me to wash? well aparantly it is. What am i supposed to do go through his room and do everything for him? I dont think so he almost went to school with a sore mouth this morning when i was a child if id spoken to anyone like that i would of had one he always has to tyr have the last word well not with me and if he keeps it up he will learn the hard way i can tell you.

Anyway enough of him for now because thinking about it is making me mad again and im off to meet the boys after school so they can do thier christmas shopping. Leon is back at school today hes still not 100% but hes finished his antibiotics so hes gone and i havent heard anything so he should be ok. Im dreading going mind as Leon has passed his germs onto me and i have a sore throat and ears a cough and a cold but i dont feel to bad and these things have to be done before it gets too late.I can hardly believe this time next week will be christmas eve!!! yikes id better get moving i guess or im not going to be ready for it.

Brilliant mail day!!

Todays mail really cheered me up after the weekend made me think of what had been going on within my family. I recieved my prize from Twig on the smo board and some dmc she granted me off my wish list thankyou so much Twig :-)I also recieved the krenick #4 i bought off a lady on the smo board its all so pretty and i cant wait to use it all she was selling it at $1.45 each which i thought was a good buy and i go through it so much these days it will be a great help thankyou Meg :-)
Leon was home today and will be tomorrow then all his medicine will be finished Jake has the cinema with the school in the morning and i have to get him there by 9.15am so im going to walk up with him the roads have been so icy id feel safer on my feet!!! im going to be walking Leon up with us to see how he goes too. Its not going to be much fun here tomorrow as we will have our water off between 9am and 9pm for works to be carried out so that means no heating either i guess ohhh joy!!!!!!! but at least on the bright side if Leons well enough to go to cadets tomorrow night and im hoping he is they are both 6.30~8.30 tomorrow so i wont have to go out so many times.

My final exchanges for 2008

Yes my final stitched exchanges for this year have finally reached thier new homes one in England and the other in New Zeland and im really hoping both Sue and Rose are happy with them they are the last of my orniment/rr exchange from my board so here they are for you all to see. I wonder what exchanges nest year will bring to my group :-)

Families

Why is it that they can be so nasty instead of loving like they are supposed to be? When my dad called down yesterday he slipped me to tescos to get ink for my printer as i was using it to do things for him and my ink ran out well me being me i bought the wrong one so he slipped me back again to get the right one lucky its only 5mins drive down the road if that lol. Well when i was out my step mum was here wwith Donny and they were having a chat which i was told about in the early hours of this morning so for those of you that dont know me that well i guess you are going to learn a lot more about me when you read what i have to say.
When i was 6 my mum died of breast cancer well its started in her breast and then quickly spread through her whole body including her brain not even a mastectomy helped she was 31 and she was gone my dad was fantastic he cared for her all the way through she never went into hospital and died quietly at our home.While my dad was caring for my mum my mums mum and dad were taking care of us even though me and my younger sister could see out mum and dad as much as possible after my mum died my dad was so grief stricken and exhausted it took him a while to get over the fact that my mum had gone he moved in with us for a while with my mums parents and then the council moved him down next door were we could all be together. My sister and i used to spend days and nights at both houses but we did see more of our grand parents when my dad was working he was always there though everyday. I always was grateful for my grand parents being there for me and my sister but i guess for a long time i was blind to the type for person my gran was even though i used to hear my auntie and my dad spaeking of the things that she had done and said.

It wasnt until 2 years ago that i finally woke up to it all she had never liked my choice in Donny as a boyfriend and had tried on several oocasions to cause trouble between us and i didnt stop when i moved out and in with him when i found out i was expecting our first child she tokd me to "get rid of it" the day i got married i arrived home to find a letter telling me i was making the biggest mistake of my life she did not see Jake until he has 5 months old and im starting to wonder if i ever should of let her be a part of my boys lifes., When i found out i was expecting Leon she again said "well you know what to do" and i was amazed we were married we had Jake already and we had been together for 5 years and she still wasnt getting the message. My grand father then offered to pay for Donny to have a vasectomy as he didnt want me having anymore of his children. It wasnt long after that my grandfather passed away i was ther at the hospital at the bed side when he went after that my gran started getting worse. She would phone 5 or 6 times a day especially when she knew we would be busy with the children she would call down and cause trouble she told me at my sisters wedding which was a year after Leon was born that i was an imbaressment in my size 16 suit because i was so big she would constantly mock my weight im confortable the way am but it would leave me feeling horrible Donny hated the way she always put down everything even though i was constalty heling her out ect but he would leave me as i though i needed to do this as she was there when my mum died for me.

Well two years ago i went down there just after Leons birthday wow it will be 3 years really soon biy time goes fast. Leon wanted to say thankyou for his birthday gift Jake was at school as they were in different schools then someone phoned the house and it was my sister me and my sister dont get along but thats a whole different story well anyway she picked up the phone and walked into the other room and was giving my address out over the phone i went mad i walked Donny back to the car as his eyes were bad then too and walked back to tell her what i though about what she had just done Leon was there seen and heard all that was the last time i have steped foot in that house. She decided to go around telling people that Donny had done it screamed and shouted at her it was all lies and i dont understand why she is doing it at all.

Well my step mum told Donny yesterday that she has been telling people we wont let the boys see her (funny Leons girlfriend lives in the same street and he just walks past the house rather than go in and see her) and that Donny is refusing to let me see her yeah right my boys have thier own minds and what they do is thier choice not mine and who i do or dont see or talk to is mine too i am strong minded and those of you who know me know i tend to speak fisrst and think after LOL i just dont see why she could be so nasty instead of loving like grandmas are supposed to be she did this not us why cant she see what she has done wrong? doesnt she realise this will make things worse not better? i hope i dont have to see her for a while (which will be hard living next door to my dad) i just dont know why she is trying so hard to brake my family apart.

Been bottling!!!!!

Today has been fun at our house. This morning we watched the dance off on soccer am it was sooooo funny!!! the best one won i think though lol. Then my dad and stepmum called down and my dad slipped me down to tescos to get some ink for my printer me being me got the wrong one so dad had to take me back to get the right one lol. After they had left i made dinner then me and Jake went back down to tescos for a walk to get tonights lotto tickets nope we didnt win but nevermind!! we also got some chocolates for Leon we got a tin of quality streets but as we had two tins of heroes at home we opened one of those instead and had a few he still looks awful and isnt 100% i think it will take a good few days but we are keeping him dosed up and he is coping.

While Leon was watching his footie match on the telly me and Donny bottled up our home brew wine and as you can see as longas i dont start drinking it we should have plenty for over the holidays!!!

After tea me and Jake went upstairs to play singstar while Donny was watching the boxing and Leon came and sat with us he couldnt join in because he has no voice poor little thing so he sat and played about with his toy wrestlers they have ben in bed now about 45mins and the boxing is still on so im having a quick look about.
Id just like to say a quick thankyou to Sally,Heather,Cristin,Twig,Hannah,Lorraine,Rose,Jacky and Louise for the lovely christmas cards they have sent me.

Another friday has come around

We have had an eventful day today with Leon home sick i knew when he got up this morning he wasnt right and i insisted he went to the doctor he decided he was wearing his uniform and he was going to school hmmm well the doctor thought different gave him medicine and told him to take it easy the weekend he slept most of the way home in the car and then gain on the sofa when we got in but hes had 3 lots of medicine and paracetomol and is doing much better well his mouth has recovered lets put it that way lol hes still sneezing coughing and talking really rough but hes doing ok.

I have just walked Jake to sea cadets and its pouring and blowing a gale my hands are freezing and i dont know how many times my umbrella nearly blew away but im back now untill i need to go collect him later.I am going to get going with the wine kit we bought its ready for the final thing before its bottled tomorrow so at least i have plenty of wine for the holidays!! and we had fantastic news from my dad earlier as my stepmum has won us a turkey for our christmas dinner worth £45 its at least 20lbs maybe bigger there will be turkey for days!!! yummy!!!

Here are two more fobs ive made for my shop too havent had much time of late to update as much as id like maybe i will do after the holidays.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

Still crafting!!

Yes i am still busy trying to get things done seems neverending!!! Today is the last day for feeding my christmas cake the brandy before i mazipan it on sunday wow i can believe two weeks today will be christmas day its so unbelieveable!! Ive been busy making christmas cards here are the last few paper ones which i mailed out yesterday this is the one i made for my dad and stepmumand this is the one i made for our neighbours they have been so good to us since we started living here and always send such lovely cards to us and buy gifts for the boys so i wanted to make them something nice as a thankyou especially as the lady next door has been battling breast cancer the last few years but is still always so bright and cheerful she is just amazing.

Busy busy busy

Ive been so busy this week its hard to believe ive hardly had any pc time at all ive been busy crafting for the holidays and im still trying to catch up on heroes ive been watching for hours lol but its ok i enjoy it. I was sitting upstairs tonight making some more christmas cards as wednesday is last posting for the states thats tomorrow!! yikes but i got them all done and everyones is being posted even my friends in the uk so i can breathe easy for a bit.Anyway finally finished here are the cards for my boys

first a dragon for Jake a boy who takes after his mum!! this is an old dragon dreams freebie.

next a funny penquin for Leon as he is the joker of the family

and last but not least my dear hubby a big liverpool football team fan so i think hes going to like this pheonix funny he hates birds in the house but as this isnt a real bird i should be ok.

Everythings cold!!!

As Jake was at the christmas dinner with the sea cadets today i walked up with Leon to kick boxing so that he didnt have to walk alone i didnt mind because i wanted to go to game station to get singstar vol 3 for the boys for christmas anyway so i though a walk would be nice. Well it was nice on the way down crisp cold fresh air and all the roads and everywhere still glowing white from the thick frost we had ;ast night i was fine until we got to the railway station and the gates where down so Leon suggested we go over the footbridge!!! my chest has been a bit rough the last few days so i did struggle a little by the time we got to the top but i was ok then a little further down the road Leon said the fresh air was killing me lol. We got to kick boxing and had to wait around for the instructors to vome but then i left him there and went across to town to pick up the game and have a little look around before i went to collect him at 4pm. On the way back the sun was gona and it was starting to get dark so it was really cold and even though ive had a cup of tea and the heating is on i still have cold fingers!!! nevermind im cooking tea now so hopefully that will help warm my body up a little all this cold and winter hasnt even started yet!!! next time its this cold i think ill take the car lol Leons already maoing as he has cross country first lesson tomorrow morning and is not looking foward to it!!!! i have no stitching to show today i was hoping i would have the boys cards done but i just havent had the time to get them done this weekend so hopefully i will tomorrow.I hope you all saty warm and well.

Ho ho ho

You know Jakes going to the christmas lunch with the sea cadets tomorrow? well last night they decided that it was going to be fancy dress!!! yeah real good idea to give us all so much noticeto try and get a costume choosen and made or bought today lol so anyway me and Jake have just been for a walk and look what we just bought ooohhh isnt he cute!!!It wasnt too bad at just £2.49 and it saves me the stress of having to try and get something sorted out for him at such short notice so now he is all ready to go and have some fun :-)

Not like his brother who has already given me grief this morning he has gone out with his friends on his own all the way to town after having his migraine back when he came home from cadets last night i wasnt happy but hes growing up so i have to let him start doing these things at some point i guess they are playing football just down the road from where i grew up so i know where he is and i know at least one of the boys he is with i have told him he needs to be home before its dark as he is walking on his own and he has his phone and i have heard from him 3 times so i know hes ok. I am going to settle down this afternoon and watch the footie and get some stitching done hopefully.

Friday again

These weeks just see to be flying at the moment with christmas lurking a little too close for cofort although saying that we are almost done so i cant grumble too much!!! The wine kit i ordered came back this morning so it is now busy fermenting n the kitchen and if all goes to plan i should have around 28 bottle this time next week!!! oh joy i wont have to worry about buying any untill next year hopefully!!! depends on how quick i drink them lol this is a rose and its lovely much nicer tan the chadonay one we use to make and its done in around 5-7 days too so its reall quick. I gave my christmas cake its weekly top up drink today and i am looking foward to mazipaning it next week as it will be another step closer to seeing it all iced and i cant wait!! i am so looking foward to tasting my first ever christmas cake i have been so tempted to eat it as it seems so nice but so far my will power seems to be hanging on ~ just!!!

We went up to town this afternoon to go take a look at the big sale in woolworths and did manage to spent £20 even though we were just looking!!! saying that i did get some presants bought so its not all bad it just means more packing for me to be doing later. We went back to the car and then up to Morrisons for a few things where i had a call from the school nurse Leon had another migraine so i had to go collect him i was lucky the nurse offered to let Jake leave with us as there was only 25minutes left of school so i didnt have to go back to collect him so i then went back to Morrisons to finish what i started before coming home.

Leons better now and is returning to cadets with Jake tongiht so very soon we will have peace for a few hours which will be nice.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend :-)

Heroes and stitching

We have had quite a busy week here getting ready still for christmas which seems to be speeding towards us like a roller coaster. On tuesday me and Donny went into tescos and he bought me a poinsettia he tried last year but our dog bud knocked it off the kitchen table and killed it a few days before christmas im hoping this year it lasts at least untill boxing day!!! but i must say even though my kitchen is a disaster with no flooring still it has helped christmas the kitchen up s little!!! Leons school rugby team where playing this week and they have got to the final stage of a local tournament so he is really hoping that he will get a chance to play in the new local stadium i hope so too as he did play in the old one during half time on a live game in the old stadium with the local team he used to play for so this would be fantastic for him!! he could then say he had played in both :-) Jake has had a quiet week as he has exams at school at the moment but he has the christmas walk and dinner with the sea cadets on sunday and then the christmas party coming up a week on friday to which we are all going so that will be nice.I recieved these lovely christmas cards in the mail this morning one from Karyn all the way from Hawaii. And the other from Joan. The one from Joan was part of the christmas card exchange i ran on my board and very impressive for her first attempt at making christmas cards!! i love them both very much thankyou girls!!!!

I have spent most of today home trying to catch up on last seasons heroes as this seasons is slowing filling up on my sky+ box im on the last one now so tomorrow i can start working through my planner as it has been so cold and wet here today i really didnt mind staying home at all!!! and i almost got all the christmas cards stitched for my boys im hoping to have them all done by the weekend.

Sunshine and ice

Today has been so cold everything was white when we got up this morning and even though the heating was on for 3 hours the house just hasnt seemed to warm up at all. Even though the sun came out and was shining so bright which didnt do Donnys eyes any good at all my shed roof and a lot of my street is still frozen and we are looking at more tonight to go on top of what we have already had but at least its dry i guess which means the kids are getting to walk to school. I did almost manage to get Donnys xmas card almost finished this morning while watching last nights desperate housewives just the back stitching left to do then to start on the boys.

I had to remop my floor about 3 times today because the front door kept knocking but we finally have the old ariel which was here when we moved in removed from the roof as it was just dangling there Donnys friend from round the corner who is a roofer came and took it down for us so thats one less worry that it will come through the roof or smashing through the upstairs window.

Well liverpools on the telly tonight so i guess the boys will be all watching that so i may get in some sort of crafting after i have fed everyone maybe ill make somemore xmas cards or decide on my next project!!