OMG That’s My Home Town!!…

While we were getting dressed on Thursday morning, listening to ‘Five Live’ radio, we heard a news announcement that a hundred fire-fighters were working to bring a massive blaze under control in Hereford City Centre!! The largest fire the city has seen since the 1800’s!!! Talk about a shock!

I haven’t lived in Hereford for over 25 years but my family are there & I still refer to it as home! I was born & raised there & although it is a city (it has an awesome Cathedral) it has never lost its agricultural/country feel. There is so much history to be found within its borders & surrounding area & I’m sure that this had a great influence on my interest in all things historical!

In my childhood, my Saturdays would be spent at the morning pictures & then off to explore either the Cathedral (it has the most amazing chained library & is home to the medieval Mappa Mundi), or the ‘Old House’..an original Tudor Black & White house, still standing alone in High Town…originally a butcher shop in a row of three buildings, it is now a fully furnished museum. This all sounds very academic, but it wasn’t…we just used to scare each other to death with ghost stories!  Nowadays I appreciate the preservation of all the artefacts, furniture & everyday items & how it allows us to grasp how life was lived back in those far off days!  

So…when I heard on the radio that there were Tudor buildings being threatened by the fire I was aghast! I was on the phone to my sister poste-haste & she confirmed that the fire was in the vicinity of High Town & she’d keep me posted!

As silly as it sounds, it bothered me all day, that this wonderfully preserved piece of history..& part of my childhood too, might be destroyed!! So when an email arrived with pictures from the local press, I actually felt quite emotional & in a state of shock! 

The ‘Old House’ itself was not damaged by fire, but the old Tudor building opposite that was the ‘Booth Hall Hotel’ was completely gutted & now there is fear that the remaining facade could fall into High Town & that would seriously damage the ‘Old House’ directly opposite. 

Apparently it was a faulty ventilation extractor that ignited in a greetings card shop, so combine fire with all that paper stock & very old timber framed buildings & you have the perfect recipe for destruction!

There was no business carried out in High Town on Thursday & according to my sister, access is still restricted until decisions are made on  how much demolition is needed!

Whatever happens, my home town will never look the same! But no one was injured or killed..thank goodness!  Thank goodness too, for the brave men of the fire Service!

Now on to my creative week! I attended the ‘Crafting Time’ crop at Shepreth,  on Thursday with Karen & Ann & managed to complete my week 5 challenge for ‘Glee Club’ over at Dixie Pieces…’Country Pop’…

I took my inspiration from ‘Country Pop’ by using stars & stripes, gingham, lace & rhinestones. The photo’s were from 2002 of my boys playing giant board games at a local petting farm, so I thought there was a tenuous country link there too!!! Again I tried to incorporate as many elements as possible to try & score points for those ‘Secret Items’ & have just learned I have 3-out-of-a-possible-5 so it really is going to be a close run final lap of this contest!!!

Shimelle’s new ‘True Stories’ class starts on Monday, so I’m also working to finish up my ‘LSNED’ project….

 

 

On September 14th I discovered that I can earn free coffee at my all-time favourite coffee bar! Just by presenting a card each time I order! I’m a firm believer in reward cards…if you’re going to spend money in these places anyway, you may as well get something back…even if it is only an occasional free cup of Joe!!

 

 

 

On September 15th, I went along with three friends to play Bingo! It’s something we do a handful of Wednesdays in a year when the Bingo Club sends us vouchers for free books (do you see a pattern emerging here?!!)

We have won in the past & it all adds to the fun, we always have a giggle & a good chat in between games. But I’m not a natural gambler & my lesson for the day was that Bingo, like any form of gambling, in the long run, is really a mugs game!! 

So that’s it for today, Thank you for all your ‘feel better’ wishes, I am feeling so much better & a trip to the hairdressers yesterday worked wonders!!  It’s now half term & that means a nice sort-of-relaxed week, hopefully with some serious scrap time!!

Thanks for dropping by & I hope you’re all enjoying a great weekend! : )

To Be Brief…..

I have been feeling a bit better today…my energy levels are improving!! I slept again for most of yesterday, in spite of having gone into work on Sunday & felt OK….it seemed to have knocked me back down again, but as I said today I’m feeling better!

I just had to pop in to share something with you! A week ago, following a link from Tammy, in the forum over at Dixie Pieces, I discovered  the ‘Practical Scrappers’ blog. It is really very good & I do suggest you pop over & check it out, as well as their message boards too!  Well, they had a call out for collage/multi photo LO’s, so I submitted five, thinking that maybe there might be one chosen…& guess what?!! They have used THREE!! How cool is that! You can see which ones HERE…& there are fresh call outs for November too, so get submitting…I know I will be!!!

 
My Scrap desk is a hive of activity at the moment, with work in progress for week 5 of Dixie Pieces ‘Glee Club’s’ challenge, which is ‘Country Pop’ (BTW I’m in the lead, but by 1 point only at the end of week 4, so I’m going for it BIG time!!!) as well as the latest challenge at ‘TAAFOMFT’ which is ‘My Favourite Pet’, & also trying to wrap up my ‘LSNED’ journal before the new class ’True Stories’ kicks off on October 25th!! Phew!…it never rains but it pours!!!

So that’s me for today…I’ll be back at the weekend to share some creativity & bring you up to date with my week!!

Thanks for stopping by & I hope you are all in good health! : )

It got me in the end…!

Talk about famous last words! I closed my last post with ‘I don’t need a cold right now thank you very much’…& guess what? I woke on Sunday morning with a very dry & sore throat.

I dosed myself up, sprayed my throat & set off to work, determined not to let it take hold. I take vitamin supplements daily & whenever I get a sniffle, I ‘up’ my vitamin C intake, but this time it wasn’t enough! I now have a full blown cold…coughing & sneezing & generally achy all over!!

This morning, after I had dropped the boys to school, I made beds & generally tidied up before filling a  hot- water-bottle, dosing myself with Lemsip & curling up under a throw on the sofa, along with the cat & my laptop!

 

However, back to Sunday…I met Amanda for our regular Sunday night cinema visit after work & we managed to see ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ starring Julia Roberts. 

I’m not sure what I expected from this movie, there had been some beautiful images in the preview, hinting at a great story… & I do like Julia Roberts, but it wasn’t as impactful as I’d hoped!  There were some very funny moments & some gorgeous scenery, but it just sort of drifted, I felt!!! 

Ah well, you can’t please all of the people, all of the time!!  One thing that did happen though, was that when we ordered our supper at Prezzo’s after we’d seen the film, we both opted for Pizza instead of our usual pasta or salad!!! Talk about the power of suggestion!!  Now, you’ll have to go see the film to know what I’m referring to!!

I have managed a bit of creativity this week. I did mention last time that this weeks challenge over at Dixie Pieces ‘Glee Club’ is ‘Southern Gospel’ & I managed to complete a LO using the song title ‘Sing Sister Sing’ using a photo of my sister & I singing at a musical evening in Paris back in 1993! 

I was a little unsure of how to keep to the ‘Gospel’ theme, but pulled out some embellies that I thought fit the bill, but by the time I was piecing it all together it took on a very Christmassy feel…maybe something to do with my choosing green & red!!! Anyway, what do you think?!!!…

 
There was also a mini challenge to make a card using ‘shape notes’ as inspiration…

…now I didn’t even know what they were, but apparently each ‘do, re, mi, so, fa, la, ti & do’ note has a different shaped head, so I chose ‘re’ & ‘do’ & made this card for my friend Suzy's birthday next week.

In case you were wondering, the ‘re’ shape is a semi circle which I used in the scalloped edges & ‘do’ is a triangle, which is in the bunting!

And that’s about all from me for now! I think I’m ready for another dose of Lemsip & perhaps a refill of my hot-water-bottle…I’m sure there must be house-boy around here somewhere to tend to my needs!!!!

Thanks for dropping by & thank goodness cold germs aren’t transmitted via cyberspace, or you wouldn’t come back again!!  : )

Fresh Country Air & A Favourite!

Autumn is definitely with us! I stepped out of the front door yesterday & the smell that assailed my nostrils confirmed that!! Our local farmers have been spreading fertiliser of the organic kind & there is no escaping the smell anywhere in the village! Oddly enough, even though my boys are making a real pantomime about it, I don’t find it altogether unpleasant! Something about it’s ‘earthiness’ is somehow reassuring…can’t you tell I’m a country girl at heart!

So…what’s been going on since my last post? Well, on Thursday evening, Karen & I set off to Shepreth for the ‘Crafting Time’ evening crop. This is a very enjoyable crop & we chatted & giggled & scrapped our way through from 5pm to 10pm! 

We were working alongside some very talented crafters so there was much inspiration to be had.

This is a crop where you take along your own projects to work on & this time I managed to complete my LO for the current challenge over at ‘These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things’…My favourite fictional character. This was an easy choice for me…I have been an avid bookworm since early childhood, discovering Agatha Christie at age 10,  I soon developed a passion for the little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot!

     
No-one plays him as well as the fabulous David Suchet, so I used his image to illustrate my LO…along with a pic of the great lady herself!

I’ve also been busy keeping up with the games &  extra challenges at Dixie Pieces ‘Glee Club’…following the main LO challenge I put together a child’s gift-tag for a mini challenge.

Week four has a very interesting challenge! ‘Southern Gospel’….so I need to do some research so that I can stay true to the theme!

I already know which photo’s I’ll be using but I just need to choose a title & see just what is appropriate to the theme…all comments & suggestions welcome!

Last night, the lovely Ann & I met up at another evening crop…The ‘3 Jolly Scrappers’ at Brampton…& spent another lovely time chatting & laughing & of course…scrapping!!! I managed to complete another two pages for my LSNED book! Still not even half way done, but I’ll get there!!!

On September 12th, I received delivery of a batch of ‘Ojon’ hair care products.I have used these products before, but as they are quite expensive I’d been without them for over a month. 

That evening I used the Ojon treatment mask, the shampoo, conditioner & styling products & immediately felt as if I had a new head of hair!!

So my lesson learned for the day was ‘This REALLY is Fabulous Hair Care’ It’s even won an award this year from  ‘CEW-UK’.

 

My lesson for September 13th was one I would have preferred not to have had to learn! I have been an avid follower of Lisa’s blog ‘Taking Life One Day At A Time’  since I first started to blog in March 09. She is beautiful, funny & an extremely talented writer with a wonderful attitude to life.

On September 13th her blog post was all about her recent diagnosis with Breast Cancer. It was written with all of her usual frankness, honesty & guts & I ran a whole gamut of emotions, from shock to anger to sadness & finally to a deep sense of injustice. My lesson for that day was most definitely that life isn’t always fair!

Lisa has since posted again, outlining how her support system is falling into place, how she has rules to enable her to fight back to win, & also with some humour in a lovely story about her daughters misunderstanding of the name of the ‘Op’ Lisa is to have. Please do drop by Lisa’s blog & leave her some love. You will find her writing an inspiration.  I’m a big believer in the power of collective positive thought & prayer, & I know she would appreciate your support.

…& that brings me back to today. I’ve been listing eBay items for most of the afternoon…I’m loving these free listing days that keep popping up!!  Lee is suffering with ‘Man-Flu’ so I’m staying a safe distance away while dispensing ‘Lem-sips’ & ‘Covonia’!!  I really don’t need a cold right now thank you very much!!!

I hope you’re all having a great weekend, thank you for dropping by & I hope you’ll be back again very soon! : )

OK I’ve succumbed!

I’m usually having a rant about now…complaining that all the shops are already displaying Christmas goods when we haven’t even had Halloween yet! I was aghast when we visited Harrods in August to see a fully stocked Christmas department (however beautiful it looked!) & Santa’s grotto already under construction!

But…I now have to admit that while visiting Bedford’s spanking brand new ‘Aldi ‘ store yesterday, I bought all of the chocolates needed for the advent calendar & Christmas tree, along with three rolls of festive gift wrap & several packs of Christmas cards!!!! Well…what can I say?!!…the price was right!!

So, with the floodgates opened, I’m now finding myself actively looking around at possible gifts for family & friends…I do have a couple of bits already squirreled away…I like to grab things that are ‘just right’ as I see them, because they’re never there when you go back. Maybe 2010 will be the year I am not madly wrapping on Christmas eve?!! I might even leave myself with enough time to complete my ‘Journal Your Christmas’ album…third year lucky?!!

On a scrappy theme, I’ve just uploaded my entry for this weeks challenge over a Dixie Pieces ‘Glee Club’….this time the theme was Children’s Music, with titles from Raffi to choose from & to stay true to the genre! I ummed & aaahhed about what to do & then Lee looked over my shoulder & said “That one would be good for the duck tour photo’s”…talk about hitting the nail on the head!! Sometimes I don’t see wood for tree’s!! So, what was he talking about?…

  
And he was right!! It was perfect! I tried to keep everything childlike, from colours to motifs, & had a go at the lacing technique I’d not tried before…not perfect, but not bad for a first attempt!! I couldn’t decide on which photo’s to use, so decided to make a collage, so that I could tell a better story of our adventure!! Of course, I’ve thrown everything but the kitchen sink into it, in an attempt to score extra points for the ‘secret items’…last weeks LO earned me three out of a possible five, so you were spot on, Karen!!!

This Sunday, Amanda made it to the cinema & we saw ‘Made in Dagenham’.

What a fabulous film! Set in 1968, it’s the story of how the bill for equal pay for women came to be passed. A truly inspirational cast with Bob Hoskins & Miranda Richardson to name two.

I can remember this as an eight year old, being a BIG news item, even if I didn’t understand what it was all about at the time. It really brings it home at just how recently many injustices were still accepted as the norm!  On a lighter note, it was fabulous how the film contained reminders of every day things of that time…things I hadn’t even remembered I’d forgotten, if you know what I mean!!!

So, that’s it for the moment, I must get off to do the school run….it’s a short week for the boys this week, they finish at lunchtime tomorrow & have Friday off! I don’t remember such privileges when I was at school!!!!! The good thing is that the weather is supposed to be a bit brighter, we may just be able to get out & about & make use of the extra time off!!

Thanks for dropping by & do come back soon! : )

Timeslip?

Now, those of you at a similar age to myself will recognise the title of a kids TV series I used to enjoy back in the early 70’s…this week I have felt like a character in that story!! I have lost so many days it’s untrue!!!

When I sat down to blog last Saturday, my week ahead looked very full…indeed, I have had clinic & hospital appointments to ferry Alex to, a full day in London for training, deadlines to meet for various scrapping challenges…all added to the usual chores!

So…what happened? How have I arrived back at Saturday so soon!! It is truly beyond me!!! I have just spent some time listing yet more items to sell on eBay…I had a good result on last weeks listings..all now paid, packed & posted…so onward & upward!! I have even resisted browsing through anything to buy, for fear of spending my earnings before I’ve held them in my hand!!!

Since I last posted I have been to the cinema…on my own, as my cinema buddy was suffering with back pain, so I was able to indulge myself with popcorn!! (Amanda hates the stuff & the noise it is impossible to avoid making while you eat it!!)

I chose to see ‘Tamara Drewe’…I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the cast looked great & it’s write-up suggested it was funny, so off I went!

It was enjoyable, but hardly ‘rolling in the aisle’ funny…the casting was very good & Gemma Arterton is absolutely stunning…I first saw her in the ‘St Trinnians’ remakes & as well as being gorgeous, she can act!!!

As I mentioned, I’ve had a couple of deadlines to meet, scrapwise! I’m still lagging behind with my LSNED project, but am keeping up with the ‘Glee Club’ callenges over at Dixie Pieces!!

This weeks challenge was {AlTErnaTivE}..to create a LO with one of a choice of song titles by the band ‘Train’ & be true to the grungy alternative music style!!

Now, I may have been a closet punk in the 70’s but I had to google to find out about the more recent ‘alternative’ music scene!! I opted for the song title ‘Ordinary’ & included it in the title of my LO like this…

 
…‘This is no Ordinary Boy’…once again I kept in mind that there are ‘secret points’ to be earned for supplies & techniques used in each weeks challenge. (BTW I earned only 2 out of a possible 5 for last weeks LO, so it’s not easy to predict!!) I have stitched & painted & inked, used stamping & rub-ons, distressing & even broke out the glimmer mists!!! I’ve used brads & beads & chipboard & blooms, buttons & ribbons & staples & dymo…it felt good to even use up a couple of bits that I have hoarded, magpie like, for absolutely ages…a length of grey shoelace & a leather tag & chain from a pair of shoes, bought for one of the boys yonks ago!!! 

There are some amazing LO’s in the gallery over at Dixie Pieces for this weeks challenge (& last weeks too!)…I heartily recommend that you pop over & take a peek if you have time!  It’s not too late to join in either, should you feel so inclined!!

Well…I must away, as I can hear my washing machine bleeping that it’s ready for the next load! Thank goodness the sun is shining today & I have managed to get some of the larger items pegged out!!  Nathan has a friend coming for a sleepover tonight so I need to get a cake in the oven too!  See what I mean…it’s nearly 2pm already…where does the time go?!!!

Thanks for stopping by..catch you again all later!! :)