Wednesday 31 December 2008

Out with the Old..

I can hardly believe it is the last day of 2008 - this year has seemed to go so quickly.
The last week since Christmas has been unbelievably quick - I still haven't uploaded any photos yet! We had a lovely Christmas Day and have been enjoyed playing the games on the new Wii that the boys got - some more successfully than others!

We have a quiet New Year planned - although Andrew is determined to stay up to see the New Year in - we will see if he manages it!

My word for this year was Positive and I have certainly finished the year feeling a lot more positive about many things than I was at the start. Some things have not worked out the way we thought they would this year, but we have trusted in God and in His plans for our lives. There have been lots of positive things happened this year as well, for which I have been thankful.

My word for 2009 - I'm still working on that - watch this space!

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Merry Christmas

No I haven't disappeared totally off the face of the earth - it just feels a bit like it! I really don't know where the month has gone to. We have all had the dreaded cold/flu lurgy over the past couple of weeks. I think it might even be going round us all again - I was at the docs today with a sore throat and John has been in bed all day feeling sick. I have not even had time to do any more of my Christmas Journal, but I do intend to get it up to date sometime with the poems that the boys had each day.

Tomorrow might not be the Christmas Day we had intended or hoped for, but I am sure we will enjoy it nonetheless.

I wish anyone who reads this blog a happy and blessed Christmas Day.

Monday 15 December 2008

Results

I got the results in from my OU course: Religion, Tradition Modernity and Change and I am so chuffed - I got a Grade 2 Pass. I am feeling really happy today! I start my next course: Living in a Globalised World at the beginning of February, so it will soon be back to the books!

Sunday 14 December 2008

Advent 10 & 11

Yes I know I'm a bit late putting these pages up. I did actually do them on the right days just never got round to uploading them. Day 10 prompt was about wrapping paper, or paper in general, Gordon brought home our copy of the Radio Times today, which he only every buys at Christmas -so of course I just had to do my page on that.

The poem is The Time Draws Near by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.

Four voices of four hamlets round,
From far and near, on mead and moor,
Swell out and fail, as if a door
Were shut between me and the sound:

Each voice four changes on the wind,
That now dilate, and new decrease,
Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,
Pease and goodwill, to all mankind.


Day 11 prompt was about Christmas trees, I will add a photo when I get round to taking it!
The poem was: I Can't Wait for Christmas

I can't wait for Christmas
Only 125 more days t go
I hope we're going to Granny's this year
And I hope it's going to snow!

I can't wait for Christmas
Only 68 more days to go
I've made my list from the Argos catalogue
What more do they need to know!

I can't wait for Christmas
Only 24 more days to go
We've put up the decorations
Including the mistletoe!

I can't wait for Christmas
Only 1 more day to go
I bet I can't sleep at all tonight
'Cos it's Christmas day tomorrow!

I can't wait for Christmas
Only 365 more days to go.
I know it's a long time to wait
But I do love Christmas so!



I am now only 3 days behind, but it has been a busy weekend. Yesterday was JAM for primary aged children, it went well and we had a bit of a party. Then last night Andrew was up sick, but seems better today.

Only one more week to go before the schools stop - eeek there seems so much still to do!!!

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Advent Day 9

Todays Poem - Christmas Bells by John Clare

The singing waits, a merry throng,
At early morn with simple skill,
Yet imitate the angel's song
And chant their Christmas ditty still;
And, mid the storm that dies and swells
By fits, in hummings softly steals
The music of the village bells,
Ringing round their merry peals.

Todays prompt by Shimelle was about Traditions. I like that my Christmas is a mixture of things that have always been and some things that are new. We have always hung up a stocking on Christmas Eve - that includes everyone, even the adults. Santa still puts an apple and an orange in the adults stocking - but not the boys!!!! Since we got married my husband always buys me a Poinsetta plant for Christmas. Some things - like doing this journal are newer traditions. I wonder what my children will remember as traditions and want to carry on when they are adults.

Monday 8 December 2008

All caught up - part 2

Here are the rest of my Journal pages.








I think I need a rest now!!!

All caught up now - part 1

I have done lots of scrapping today and have managed to get up to date with Journal Your Christmas.


Each day I am sticking in the poem that the boys get in their Advent calendar and also adding something else, using Shimelle's prompts as starters, but sometimes changing them.





Chubby Snowman

Todays poem - Chubby Snowman

There was a chubby snowman
And he had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose
The hungry little bunny
Was looking for his lunch
He grabbed that snowman's carrot nose
NIBBLE! NIBBLE! CRUNCH!

The boys liked this one. I have finally started on my Journal Your Christmas - am up to day 6 at the moment, determined to get up to date by tonight - and take photos to upload.

And the rest...

Day 6 Poem is a riddle for you to solve

My first is in icing, mincemeat and spice
My second's in sherry and there appears twice
My third lies in brandy but not wine or beer
And my fourth is in socks which my dad gets each year
My fifth hides in stocking which hangs by your bed
My sixth's seen in present and also in sled
My last's found in robin and also in tree
I help to make Christmas but what could I be?

Day 7 - The Shepherd's Story

Snow.
Just as it was growing dark - snow.
Soft, flakes fell
White and glossy
Thick as swans' feathers
Slowly, slowly,
Until the world was put to bed
Under this white quilt
Slowly slowly drifting
Into sleep....
Then. In that silence
The sky was suddenly alive
With angels bright as fire
Their wings burning with such golden light
Their songs like thunder and like ice
Like bells and like the deep and sonorous sea.
Their message stranger
Than any other I have heard.
"God is born", they said
"The God who spoke and shaped the world
The stars, the universes
And the soft black deeps of space
Is born"
There on that hillside
In that snow
I heard them say it
Then just as quickly they were gone
The sky was dark again
No echo lingered
Nothing.
But the white white snow
The secret white white snow
Nothing has even been a greater mystery
Than that night
With angels. Snow.
A million different kinds of light
I knew then that the world is not an ordinary place
When heaven shone from one small baby's face.

Catch Up on Poems

I've been in bed with a horrible cold for the last few days, feeling a bit better today but my throat is now sore! I think my lovely son gave me the cold - he was off school last week too - isnt he kind!!!

Anyway thought I'd better post a couple of the poems that the boys have had in the Advent Calendar.

Day 4 - The Christmas Tree

Of all the trees in the woods and fields
There's none like the Christmas tree;
Tho' rich and rare is the fruit he yields,
The strangest of trees is he.
Some drink their fill from the shower or rill;
No cooling draught needs he;
Some bend and break when the stroms awak,
But they reach not the Christmas tree.
When wintry winds thro' the forests sweep,
And snow robes the leafless limb;
When cold and still is the ice-bound deep,
O this is the time for him.
Beneath the dome of the sunny home,
He stands with all his charms;
'Mid laugh and song from the youthful throng,
As they gaze on his fruitful arms.
There's golden fruit on the Christmas tree,
And gems for the fait and gay;
The lettered page for the mind bears he.
And robes for the wintry day.
And there are toys for the girls and boys;
And eyes that years bedim
Grow strangely bright, with a youthful light,
As they pluck from the pendant limb.

Day 5 - When Santa Claus COmes

A good time is coming, I wish it were here,
The very best time in the whole of the year;
I'm counting each day on my fingers and thumbs -
the weeks that must pass before Santa Claus comes.

Then when the first snowflakes begin to come down,
And the wind whistles sharp and the branches are brown,
I'll not mind the cold, though my fingers it numbs,
For it brings the time nearer when Santa Claus comes.


I'll be back later to catch up with the rest.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Advent 3 Poem

The poem for today was:

S stands for stockings we hang up so high.
A is for all we get if dont't cry.
N is for nobody he will pass by
T is for tomorrow, the day we eat pie.
A stands for at last old Santa is nigh.

C for the children who love him so well.
L for the little girl, his name she can spell.
A stands for apples so rosy and red.
U is for us as we wait for his sled.
S stands for Santa Claus, who comes in the night
when we are tucked up in bed with our eyes closed so tight.

I went to do some Christmas shopping today and now I remember why I like on-line shopping so much. I couldnt find anything inspirational and I got tired and cold!

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Advent

Yesterday was the start of Advent and we all started our Advent Calendars, the boys have got their usual chocolate ones, plus a couple of others. This year my Mum knitted this Advent Tree, which she saw in a magazine, and we have knitted/felted/sewed 24 items to hang on it. The idea is that each day the boys can hang a different ornament on and the tree gets decorated. So far they think this is great idea.





Last year I decorated an Advent Box with lots of drawers from B&Q and put in different activities - well this year I have put a poem in for each day (along with a chocolate each). The boys are quite liking this idea as well.

Day One Poem was:

O, Merry Be, Both One and All

O, merry be, both one and all
This festive Christmas season
Let stockings have from every wall
With joyful hope and reason
As family and friends do call
May company be pleasing
And let the snowflakes gently fall
This festive Christmas season.

O, celebrate in revelry
Now Yuletide has begun
Sing carols’ holy melody
The Virgin Mary’s son
And look ahead at what’s to be
And what is yet to come
‘Tis a time of mystery
Now Yuletide has begun

Saint Nicholas attired in red
Now Christmastime is here
With reindeers seven before his sled
This one night of the year
All children good tucked up in bed
Dreams of gifts that cheer
So onward let us all be led
Now Christmastime is here

God bless all merry gentlefolk
It’s Christmas! Let us shout!
Uncork the wine and laugh and joke
Let love and joy ring out
Sing on until our voices croak
While snow be round about
May sleigh day dreams be filled with hope
It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!
IT’S CHRISTMAS! Let us shout!

Neville Ambrose Xavier

Todays poem was:

The Christmas Pudding

Into the basin

put the plums,

Stir-about, stir-about,

stir-about!

Next the good

white flour comes,

Stir-about, stir-about

stir about!

Sugar and peel

and eggs and spice,

Stir-about, stir-about

stir-about!

Mix them and fix them

and cook them twice

Stir-about, stir-about

stir-about!

Wednesday 26 November 2008

That time of year again!


Yes believe it or not, its time to Journal your Christmas again. I have done this for the past two years so I can't miss this year - its a tradition now! You can find out all about it here at Shimelle's blog. I haven't quite decided on pages/papers yet, but I think a smaller size and more of a journal this year is what I have in mind.
I am also going to do a Christmas A-Z with the girls over at FaithscrappersUK, so I expect December will be busy!!!!

Friday 14 November 2008

More from the weekend

Here are some more pages and LOs that I did last weekend when I was away.
On the Saturday morning we had a great time with Bernice showing us lots of different techniques with paint. I made lots of pages which I am going to add to to make an art journal. This page was done with watercolour paints and bubble wrap.

This is my favourite art page, it was made first by applying watercolour paints to the page, then adding the newspaper headline and then using Gesso over the top of it. The words were so appropriate as my mojo has been sadly missing recently, but I do really think I found it again at the weekend.
These cards were for a challenge set by Carolyn, we were to choose a theme and find Bible verses to put on the cards, I am going to use Book Rings to bind them. The idea being that the cards can then be stood up somewhere and changed to give us inspiration. My cards were all about trusting in God.
This DLO was for a challenge by Sue, we were to do a DLO using a sketch. Mine is only roughly based on the sketch, but I really liked doing it.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Great Weekend

I had a great weekend away with some of the girls from Faith Scrappers in the Lake District, great fellowship, great food, great laughter and even some great scrapping. The weather was not great - but then we didnt actually go out the house much! We had rented a large house with lots of scrapping space and organised meals and some challenges ourselves. I managed to finish all the challenges classes - something I have not done at any other weekend retreat, so was really pleased - now to unpack and take photos.

This LO was a challenge by Sue, the theme was Creation and the technique was using a shaker style box on a LO. I have never tried this before and was really pleased with the way it turned out.


The next double LO was a challenge kit, kindly supplied by Babs from Faith Scrappers. We had to do something on Friends or Friendship. I was so glad I had put these photos in my bag at the last moment. They were taken during the summer when I visited my friend Lesley in her new house. Lesley and I have been friends for a long time since we both had bedsits in the same house many moons ago!



I will upload more of our projects tomorrow.

Wednesday 5 November 2008

25 October



Finally managed to do my page for October for Scrap Your Day. It was a miserable day weatherwise so we didn't do much, even though it was a Saturday. I helped the boys spray paint their Warhammer models. I even managed to play a game with them of the Lord of the Rings Warhammer.

I haven't managed any other scrapping since coming back from hols, we have had the painters in. They have now finished and the two rooms are swapped around now, they both look really good, Gordon's study is now much bigger and he can get all his books in it. Now I have to tidy the rest of the house. We have been looking for new settees and it is not proving to be easy - they are all soooo much bigger than when I last bought one (21 years ago) and my living room is long but narrow.

I am going away for the weekend to the Lakes with a group of girls from FaithscrappersUK for a DIY retreat and I am really looking forward to it - hopefully I might even get some scrapping done!

Sunday 26 October 2008

Warhammer World

On the way home from Windsor we stopped at Nottingham so that the boys could visit Warhammer World. They both collect different armies, so really wanted to go and visit it. What a place. They have a huge gaming area with lots of different tables to play on. Upstairs is the collection of painted miniatures which the boys gazed longingly at.


Then in the shop they got to play the Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria game with the assistant explaining it to them. Quess what we had to buy - yes the Mines of Moria, so we are now collecting the Lord of the Rings as well. I suppose it keeps them quiet and out of mischief.



Saturday 25 October 2008

Legoland

Holidays were fab, Legoland was great, and the weather - it was actually better and warmer than some of our days in summer this year!


The boys loved Legoland, Andrew especially like the Driving School. I even went on most of the scary rides with John - including the Jungle Coaster!!!!!

John and I on the Viking River Splash - I got very wet!!

Picture of a pink flamingo at Legoland - just for my sister.

They even had Dr Who and the Tardis!

We enjoyed Windsor and the Castle as well. We ventured up to Oxford which is a lovely place - Gordon and I would certainly hope to return there again (without the kids!) sometime. Will try and upload some more photos this week.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

25th of September

No I'm not going crazy - well not yet!! Here are my pages for 25th September, thankfully before I take photos again in October.


I have been busy this week transferring all Gordon's stuff from the old study to the new one, and we are just about finished. Which is just as well as we are off on holiday on Friday for a week. We are going down to Windsor and visiting Legoland - so cameras charging! I really hope the weather improves a bit though and that it is at least dry.

Monday 6 October 2008

Photos from 25th

Here are a few of my photos from the 25th of September, which I hope to get scrapped today. We were to try some reflections, so I took my kitchen reflected in my toaster and a picture of myself in my wardrobe mirror.



We have had the decorators in last week and today the joiners are in putting up some shelves in my husbands study - for his ever increasing number of books. We have been swapping rooms round, so when the study is finished the decorators come back and do the new day room for us to sit in.

Thursday 2 October 2008

More Pages

I know that we are now into October but I thought I would still try and finish my LSN book on the theme of being thankful. I did make some notes during the month of September and am now trying to finish the pages - not necessarily in date order though!

On day 12 I was very organised and have booked our holidays for next July, we are going to this house isn Beadnell, Northumbria. The house is just across the road from the beach - so I hope we get some better weather next year.


For Day 15 I thought about the telephone and how good it is to talk and catch up with people, I had a nice long conversation with a friend I haven't spoken to in a while and it was good to hear all the news.


For Day 16 I was thankful that despite the rain and being planted a bit late my sunflowers have eventually flowered!

Jumping to Day 20 I had to call out the doctor to see Mum who wasn't very well - and they came really quickly, so I thought it would be good to be thankful for the doctors and nurses. Mum is a bit better now but still rather tired.

Sunday 28 September 2008

LSN Day 11, 13 & 14

Playing catch up with Learn Something New - but I did notes throughout the month so I could make the pages now.
Day 11 was the first night of our Christianity Explored course at Church and our CY Youth course, we had a good turnout at each, for which we were thankful.

Day 13 was that I am very thankful for my family.


Day 14 was Communion at Church, always a busy day for us, so I wanted to take some time and remember what it is about.



Yes I do know I have missed out Day 12 - only because I need to print out a photo and I have run out of photo paper - so will need to go shopping tomorrow, then I can get on with the rest of the month.

Surprises

I love surprises - don't you? On Thursday last week I got two lovely surprises on the same day! My sister sent me these lovely socks that she had knitted for me. Both she and my Mum have a pair, and my feet were feeling the cold - so she took pity on me and knitted me a pair. They fit great and keep my toes lovely and warm!



The second surprise was this lovely tag from a Secret Sister over at Faithscrappers UK forum. The verse on the back reads "May the Lord himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all". 2 Thess 3: 16. It is lovely and gave me a much needed boost.


Friday 26 September 2008

Words, words words...

Yeah!! I have finally finished writing my End of Course Assignment for the OU course I am doing - all 4,990 words of it. Posted it off this morning. The question was about how and in what ways authority has changed in contemporary religions, which was quite interesting. I now have to wait until December to get the results. Books are being tidied away tonight and the wine is chilling in the fridge! No more studying until my course starts in Jan/Feb next year.

What will I do with my time???? Answer - scrap. I can hopefully get caught up on all my unfinished projects.

I have also joined a gym this week. Curves has just opened up here and I went along and signed on the dotted line. It looks good and I have been twice this week (and don't my legs know it!).

Wednesday 17 September 2008

LSN Day 9 & 10

I know I'm still a bit behind, but I have managed another two pages for Learn Something New.
Day 9 was that Good Friends are worth having - I had a lovely lunch out that day with a close friend.


Day 10 - Andrew was looking for CDs of different types of music to take into school, this made me think of how dull life would be without music. I choose a picture of Mamma Mia as I thought this was a great film when I saw it and like listening to the soundtrack (and singing along!!).


Saturday 13 September 2008

LSN Day 7 & 8

Day 7 for Learn Something New was a reminder that I'm Special because God loves me. This was the theme for Sunday School today so I thought it would be good to make a page about it.


Day 8 was a reminder to myself that God will guide us in the right direction. There seems to be so much going on in my life at the moment that clear guidance and direction is much looked for.


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