Best Stressed

Well I have been a little stressed to say the least and when I'm feeling like that I need nice simple craft. I have a habit of making chipboard flowers.....well other chipboard stuff too but today it was flowers. I photographed a couple for you, I love making these.....maybe a little too much really as supply is much heavier than demand. LOL......in laymans terms I could never use all that I make and usually end up inflicting them on friends and aquaintences. In hindsight I think I like anything that ends up with me being painty, inky and glittery and today I was all three.

Snail Mail

Well we have had rather a snail saga going on. Ffi was given some giant african landsnail babies (hereafter known as Swirly and Brian) by a lady on UKS who agreed to keep them until we got back from our break as we didn't want to leave them in Rhiannons care if we didn't have to.....remember the orchids. LOL. So on Tuesday they were posted out by first class snail mail. Wednesday arrived and Ffi padded our post box with a cushion and a towel as its quite a drop. The postman came but alas no Swirly and Brian.....upset Ffi curses RM. This morning we go through the same procedure of padding out the letterbox and when the dogs went mad (announcing the posties arrival) Ffi rushed to the postbox.....but there was only letters. Very upset 8 yr old issues the order "CHASE HIM MUM"......now chase is something I don't usually do but spending the day with a super sulky upset Ffi was something I would rather not have to do so I unlocked the gate and ran (for those of you who know me you didn't misread the last bit I actually ran. The postie is a rather fit looking young lad on a bike.....I'm not particularly fit, young and didn't have a bike either but luckily he stopped to talk to someone..PHEW I could stop running. Anyhow I explained the situation and he politely refused my offer of a few hours with aformentioned sulky child and told me very positively that we had several small packages but because we also had several large packages (that would be more stash then) he had put the small packages with them to save him carrying them and that they would all be coming out by parcel van. Dinnertime came and dinnertime went, Ffi huffed and Ffi puffed and Ffi cursed RM immensely. We went and sat outside and she started to make a die cut pet shop to take her mind of things. Then at 2.30 my mobile rang....twas Jay who fully aware and updated on the situation had spotted Derek the parcelman heading our way Now we had to go and sit outside the back of the house (I was not allowed to wait inside even though the dogs are very well traind to alert me to parcel deliveries). DH had spotted Derek a couple of minutes away from our house but half an hour later he hadn't turned up and we were starting to get concerned. Then he appeared through the large archway that leads to our yard.......my hero of the week.....Ffi's knight in shining armour a vision in a postal uniform.......drum roll please for DEREK THE PARCELMAN and yes he was carrying several parcels including Swirly and Brian. He posed for a photo handing the snails over had a chat about his imminent hols and waved to us and went on his way. Swirly and Brian spent the afternoon on the patio table in their postal tuppaware tub with no lid as Ffi decided that they needed lots of fresh air after being in the post so long and they finally moved into their new snail des res at teatime. The pictures show said snail abode with a very happy Ffi peering in and then swirly on top of the rock and Brian at the foot of the rock. There is definately a layout if not a mini book to be had out of this tale.

Mosaic Making

We have been mosaic making today.....getting very messy with tiling grout....Ffion loved it because if its messy then Ffion loves it.LOL We are going to make mosaic bird baths next as soon as I can drag myself off to the garden centre to buy some terracotta plant saucers to make them from. Still feel decisively miserable and gloomy. We have been shoe and trouser shopping for Justine this evening, it is so hard she is 13 and now 5ft 11" tall and has size 8 feet. She will go back into year 9 and so has two more years to go after this one.....Eek what on earth am I going to do next year as she is still growing.

Todays Moos

Sorry couldn't help the title. These pictures were taken a couple of minutes apart on the last day of our recent break. The first one was so funny the cow came right up to Ffi who wasn't sure of it at all (it was in all fairness quite huge compared to her) It stayed for several minutes just staring at her before going on its way and was closely followed by the cow train in the second picture. I just loved the expressions on Ffi's face they were priceless.

I feel totally fed up today.....even more so than yesterday.....don't know why, maybe its because its nearly back to school time......I know most mums can't wait for some peace and quiet and self time again but I hate it when Ffi goes back, I just love having her home. We went to buy her school shoes today......very last minute I know but hey we love a challenge and we were succesful.......she is an odd child and her feet have always been very different....we now have one foot that is a 13 e and the other a 13 and a half f.......you wonder why I put it off so long. LOL

Winnats Pass

Winnats Pass just outside Castleton is breathtaking anyway even just driving through. Heres a different view of it.....from the top. In all the time I have been visiting I have only ever seen it from the bottom. On the last day of the week away we decided to climb to the top. I can still hear Ffi's shrieks of "yeaayyyhhh another hill" as she proceeded to run up them. Jay and I looked at each other thinking oh another hill can we go home now. LOL. I have to admit that it was well worth it for these fabulous views though. (of course I can say that now sat in my dining room typing this but all I could think at the time was........the one place in ages we have been without Jays medical bags and boy could I do with a blast of that oxygen now)

Craft pic for today is a wedding card I made on Saturday for Rhiannon to take to a reception she was going too.....again very little notice was given.....the joys of teenage children eh.

mini album

Just for Natalie a mini album I made for Ffion using home made chipboard hearts as the base, Paints, inks, Banana frog stamps and of course my August Ben Madigan Crafts ribbon kit. I need to improve my photography because this looks so much better IRL even if I say so myself.....and I do. In fact I am meeting someone from UKS later whom I haven't met before so I might just inflict my album on her so that someone gets to see it IRL.

and the answer is!!

No I couldn't go the week without some kind of craft. I couldn't scrap obviously so I took a Margaret Sherry cross stitch kit and was determined to start and finish it whilst we were away. I only had a short time each day as we were constantly busy but I managed it with a few hours to spare and heres the picture.

Disaster has struck and the new memory card I got for the holiday is playing up with most of my photos on it......a new card reader has been ordered and hopefully Jay will be able to rescue them....so you will have to wait for the tales with accompyning photographs.

However I thought you might like the tale of last Saturday evening. It had been a pretty miserable day weatherwise and at tea time it was quite cold but bright and I decided to have a wander across to the bathrooms. I came out of the site and turned into the lane that led to the farmhouse andacross from me was an estate car with two rather fit and almost naked (with the exception of a rather small towel) cavers. Obviously I didn't know where to look. LOL. They looked across at me, smiled and said hi. So I had to look back and return the greetings didn't I.

Where are the photos.....sorry girls but even I didn't think I would need a camera going to the loos. Lesson learned it will go everywhere with me in the future.

The other picture .......the view from Camp Fisk.....Mam Tor in all its glory. Fabulous I think you will agree.