Well I should be getting ready for the NEC tomorrow but I've been piffling about again!
I decided at lunchtime to go into Derby and get my hair cut. Not really an excellent idea because I didn't know what I wanted and you can tell. Now it DID look nice when the girl did it, but I am unconvinced it will look anything other than a mess when I attempt to do something in the morning. I bought a colour and highlighter kit to do tonight but things conspired against my time and it will have to wait until another day.
Did buy some new clothes though (a rarity for me) but did think I ought to try and look more presentable whilst I was representing Claire and Orlando on their stand tomorrow.
Josh went to his first High School disco tonight. He hadn't mentioned it to me, but when I went to pick Chiara up from her friends, the brother was sat all ready and waiting to go at which point Josh decided he might go after all! He came back not overly impressed other than the fact they they spent a small fortune on snacks and drinks and pigged out all night, though he did confess they did a little bit of dancing (rather, as Josh said, they tried to dance!)
Anyhow, I've done the wages, filled my hot water bottles, given Len instructions to wake me up when he goes out in the morning, so I am going for an early night .... well that was the plan but I notice it really isn't too much earlier than normal!
And thanks to everyone for your encouraging and kind words on my post about Mia, it made me feel a lot less lost.
Looking Forward
After recovering from a brief but nasty virus which had me knocked off my feet (so bad in fact that there was no way I could get the girls to school yesterday) I feel a bit better which is GOOD because I'm really looking forward to Friday.
I'm off to the NEC as I have managed, somehow, to sweet-talk my way into helping out at the Card Fairy stand. I bought yet more of the lush Danelle Johnson/Art Warehouse/Limited Edition stamps which are so new I can't even find them on the Limited Edition site to give you a preview. Anyhow, they are fabby unmounted clear stamps, circles and diamonds. Cos I can't find a piccie of them anywhere, and can't be bothered to take one myself today, you will just have to come along to the stand yourself (if you are lucky enough to be having a day out) to see what is so special about them!
I had a little weep this morning. I took the car for the MOT and it failed on some rear coil thingymejig, so have got to get that fixed next week and re-tested. But it wasn't that; I got back home to the report from the Speech Therapist assessment Mia undertook last week.
Mia is my angel, my baby, she is beautiful, funny, charming, caring and adorable. And she has *developmental delay*. Something I spotted from a very early age. Well straight away. When she was born she wouldn't stay awake at all, certainly not long enough for a proper feed, meaning she lost loads of weight when she was only a wee one to start with. Then at a few weeks I realised her basic reflexes just didn't work. She didn't flinch at loud noises nor blink if you quickly moved your hand in front of her eyes. The standard stuff. She went through tests and they couldn't find anything wrong, but over the years, she has been *behind* the others at the major points of development. Sitting up, crawling, teething, walking, potty training (not achieved until she was almost four) and talking.
No-one took me seriously until she had been at school for a term but thankfully, since then, she has had one to one sessions with a speech therapist. This has really helped but her latest assessment still puts her between one and two years behind her peers in terms of language use (which is coming on) but more worryingly, her ability to process information continues to be very poor. Simple understanding such as first, next, last, has her flummoxed. Ability to remember things stays poor (we can go through her word list of and, said, go, the, time after time and she will still not get them right for several weeks). This impacts all areas of her life, from understanding conversations at home, to following instructions at school.
We have a special needs assessment lined up for the end of the month, I really want the assessor to recommend that she needs to continue having extra one to one help in the classroom and am really worried about how she will progress (or not) as the current help is due to end at Christmas. She is an adorable little thing, everyone tells me they love her and that (more importantly) the other kids all love her too. But for how long? I can remember how cruel children can be as soon as they realise that someone is a bit different. I know in the scheme of things, Mia's problems are miniscule, but to me they are the world.
I'm off to the NEC as I have managed, somehow, to sweet-talk my way into helping out at the Card Fairy stand. I bought yet more of the lush Danelle Johnson/Art Warehouse/Limited Edition stamps which are so new I can't even find them on the Limited Edition site to give you a preview. Anyhow, they are fabby unmounted clear stamps, circles and diamonds. Cos I can't find a piccie of them anywhere, and can't be bothered to take one myself today, you will just have to come along to the stand yourself (if you are lucky enough to be having a day out) to see what is so special about them!
I had a little weep this morning. I took the car for the MOT and it failed on some rear coil thingymejig, so have got to get that fixed next week and re-tested. But it wasn't that; I got back home to the report from the Speech Therapist assessment Mia undertook last week.
Mia is my angel, my baby, she is beautiful, funny, charming, caring and adorable. And she has *developmental delay*. Something I spotted from a very early age. Well straight away. When she was born she wouldn't stay awake at all, certainly not long enough for a proper feed, meaning she lost loads of weight when she was only a wee one to start with. Then at a few weeks I realised her basic reflexes just didn't work. She didn't flinch at loud noises nor blink if you quickly moved your hand in front of her eyes. The standard stuff. She went through tests and they couldn't find anything wrong, but over the years, she has been *behind* the others at the major points of development. Sitting up, crawling, teething, walking, potty training (not achieved until she was almost four) and talking.
No-one took me seriously until she had been at school for a term but thankfully, since then, she has had one to one sessions with a speech therapist. This has really helped but her latest assessment still puts her between one and two years behind her peers in terms of language use (which is coming on) but more worryingly, her ability to process information continues to be very poor. Simple understanding such as first, next, last, has her flummoxed. Ability to remember things stays poor (we can go through her word list of and, said, go, the, time after time and she will still not get them right for several weeks). This impacts all areas of her life, from understanding conversations at home, to following instructions at school.
We have a special needs assessment lined up for the end of the month, I really want the assessor to recommend that she needs to continue having extra one to one help in the classroom and am really worried about how she will progress (or not) as the current help is due to end at Christmas. She is an adorable little thing, everyone tells me they love her and that (more importantly) the other kids all love her too. But for how long? I can remember how cruel children can be as soon as they realise that someone is a bit different. I know in the scheme of things, Mia's problems are miniscule, but to me they are the world.
And it's done!
.jpg)
Well my purely selfish, have fun playing layout is done.Inspired by the Shine canvas on Maxine Hazebroek's blog. (the shimmery blue background). I dug out some papers I have had for ages (the shimmery blue I bought when I first discovered scrapbooking in 2004) and the other pp has been in my stash pile for at least 18m I think too!
Cardstock Bazzill
Shimmery Papers (plain and patterned), Paper Adventures
Dragonfly accents and bird rub on, K&Co (also very old stash)
Chipboard, Heidi Swapp and Fancy Pants
Flowers, Dunelm and Prima
Brads, Making Memories, Heidi Swapp
Crystals, Heidi Swapp
Alphabet Stamps, Making Memories
Lots of painting, inking, sanding, tearing and machine stitching
Picture of Chiara and DH taken in the Summer. Everyone says she looks like Josh (who I think is the image of my Dad) but I think she looks so much like Len. And she certainly has lots of his personality traits too!
Cardstock Bazzill
Shimmery Papers (plain and patterned), Paper Adventures
Dragonfly accents and bird rub on, K&Co (also very old stash)
Chipboard, Heidi Swapp and Fancy Pants
Flowers, Dunelm and Prima
Brads, Making Memories, Heidi Swapp
Crystals, Heidi Swapp
Alphabet Stamps, Making Memories
Lots of painting, inking, sanding, tearing and machine stitching
Picture of Chiara and DH taken in the Summer. Everyone says she looks like Josh (who I think is the image of my Dad) but I think she looks so much like Len. And she certainly has lots of his personality traits too!
Anyhow, my tummy is rumbling which means it is dinner time, then I have got to get down to serious work of DT stuff for the mag. I enjoyed playing though, I think I needed to do it to rekindle my mojo. I hope this will rub off on the assignments I have to do :D
Sitting here drumming fingers
Cos I am working on this layout and need to add some machine sewing to it before I can put it all together. And DH is sat at the other computer blocking my access to the machine. Grrr! Will dive into his place the moment he moves! I know, a very feeble blog entry but I just wanted to get it off my chest :D
On the Up
Thanks for everyone's best wishes. I woke up feeling a lot better today, managed to drag myself out of bed at gone 10.30 am so I think the extra sleep helped in my revival.
Had a pretty lazy day, some household chores followed by a couple of hours just tidying up in the office/craft room. Even so, things aren't looking too straight as I simply have too much stuff for the storage I have in here. And even worse, I've made a huge mess again as I've started work on a new page.
I've been inspired to play after visiting Maxine Hazebroeke's blog. Oh WOW isn't her work just divine! (rhetorical question, I fail to see how anyone can contradict me on that one!)
I first discovered Maxine's work in one of the first scrapping books I bought "Celebrate" with the For Keeps 2004 Elite Team. I just love her textural, lumpy bumpy, chic style. There is such an incredible amount of work involved in her pages. I could never emulate because I am simply way too lazy in my scrapbooking!
Anyhow I was totally inspired to get my stuff out and have a play. I particularly loved the shimmery background of the Shine canvas and went rooting my old stash to find a piece of shimmery blue paper that must have been one of the first things I ever bought (in fact I have had to rescue it from the *the kids can have this stuff* pile) and also uncovered another beautiful piece of paper from the same place. As usual I've got the photo and papers in place now just figuring out what else to do. But I can say that I love these old papers I've dug out.
So go on, go back through your stash and create a page with at least one piece of paper that you have had since your first foray into scrapbooking. I'll be back to upload my own creation when I have finished it. I'd love to see what you do too.
Had a pretty lazy day, some household chores followed by a couple of hours just tidying up in the office/craft room. Even so, things aren't looking too straight as I simply have too much stuff for the storage I have in here. And even worse, I've made a huge mess again as I've started work on a new page.
I've been inspired to play after visiting Maxine Hazebroeke's blog. Oh WOW isn't her work just divine! (rhetorical question, I fail to see how anyone can contradict me on that one!)
I first discovered Maxine's work in one of the first scrapping books I bought "Celebrate" with the For Keeps 2004 Elite Team. I just love her textural, lumpy bumpy, chic style. There is such an incredible amount of work involved in her pages. I could never emulate because I am simply way too lazy in my scrapbooking!
Anyhow I was totally inspired to get my stuff out and have a play. I particularly loved the shimmery background of the Shine canvas and went rooting my old stash to find a piece of shimmery blue paper that must have been one of the first things I ever bought (in fact I have had to rescue it from the *the kids can have this stuff* pile) and also uncovered another beautiful piece of paper from the same place. As usual I've got the photo and papers in place now just figuring out what else to do. But I can say that I love these old papers I've dug out.
So go on, go back through your stash and create a page with at least one piece of paper that you have had since your first foray into scrapbooking. I'll be back to upload my own creation when I have finished it. I'd love to see what you do too.
Woe is Me!
Said tongue in cheek.
Spent last night with whatever it is that makes me feel awful. Something to do with colonic spasms. Was trying hard to stave off panic attack (which normally follows these episodes) as when they get really bad I can barely breathe and hyperventilate (have been hospitalised twice in the past because I need the oxygen and stuff to breathe and the safety of being in hospital to calm me down) Not that anyone actually looks at me, I just get dumped in a bed without pillow or blankets, obviously don't want to make it a good experience. Last time was worse as the couple in the cubicle next door were obviously not very ill either (if you get my drift! - yuk!)
Thankfully things didn't get that bad but I feel totally bruised and worn out, like I've been in a boxing ring with someone big and nasty. Have spent the day in bed, got up to get tea for everyone and am now back off to bed.
Elsies 52 Challenges and DW Colour came in the post today and I haven't even had the energy to look at them yet!
I was really looking forward to going to the Stoke crop tomorrow too, but I don't think I will feel up to the drive as it's a fair way and very country roadish route too.
On the plus side I get out of taking Josh to his swimming club tonight (8-9) as Len will take him instead.
Spent last night with whatever it is that makes me feel awful. Something to do with colonic spasms. Was trying hard to stave off panic attack (which normally follows these episodes) as when they get really bad I can barely breathe and hyperventilate (have been hospitalised twice in the past because I need the oxygen and stuff to breathe and the safety of being in hospital to calm me down) Not that anyone actually looks at me, I just get dumped in a bed without pillow or blankets, obviously don't want to make it a good experience. Last time was worse as the couple in the cubicle next door were obviously not very ill either (if you get my drift! - yuk!)
Thankfully things didn't get that bad but I feel totally bruised and worn out, like I've been in a boxing ring with someone big and nasty. Have spent the day in bed, got up to get tea for everyone and am now back off to bed.
Elsies 52 Challenges and DW Colour came in the post today and I haven't even had the energy to look at them yet!
I was really looking forward to going to the Stoke crop tomorrow too, but I don't think I will feel up to the drive as it's a fair way and very country roadish route too.
On the plus side I get out of taking Josh to his swimming club tonight (8-9) as Len will take him instead.
Orange Wednesday
I usually take the kids to the cinema during the holidays on Wednesdays because of the Orange Wednesday 2 for 1 offer (if you have an Orange mobile phone text film to 241, they send a message back containing a voucher number which you show at the cinema counter).
We were just setting out today when Len came home from work early so we managed to take two phones with us so only paying for the 2 out of 4 of us. Quite pleased really. We saw Open Season which was, well, okay, quite a few laughs, but nothing special and I really wouldn't have liked to have paid full price for us all. I was hoping to see Hoodwinked as the previews for that look much better - unfortunately it wasn't showing in Derby today.
It was also haircut day today. We go to a No Appointment place in the Derby Eagle Centre (hence usually combining the trip into town with a visit to the cinema whilst we are passing). Josh has his hair done by this fab chap called Ali. He is wonderful, very friendly and charming (oh and good looking too) He greets you personally when you walk into the salon, shaking Josh's hand and making proper small talk with him whilst he cuts his hair. This is a man of many talents as he is also a dab hand with the cut throat razor and does that eyebrow plucking thing using the threads. It's fascinating to watch him in action.
Both the girls also had a trim. I had to gasp when Mia was returned to me, the girl had using straighteners to get rid of the curls to make it easier to cut. *sob* she looked so grown up. Mia was ecstatic though as it made her hair look longer and more like Chiara's. I should have taken a photo, I know - will have to see how things look in the morning.
I went to my friend Donna's for our usual Wednesday night scrapping session. Well, we talk, drink tea and each chocolate, but we do have a layout out in front of us in between all this. I love escaping one night each week and Donna is a beautiful and caring person. Another friend I would never have known if it wasn't for scrapbooking.
We were just setting out today when Len came home from work early so we managed to take two phones with us so only paying for the 2 out of 4 of us. Quite pleased really. We saw Open Season which was, well, okay, quite a few laughs, but nothing special and I really wouldn't have liked to have paid full price for us all. I was hoping to see Hoodwinked as the previews for that look much better - unfortunately it wasn't showing in Derby today.
It was also haircut day today. We go to a No Appointment place in the Derby Eagle Centre (hence usually combining the trip into town with a visit to the cinema whilst we are passing). Josh has his hair done by this fab chap called Ali. He is wonderful, very friendly and charming (oh and good looking too) He greets you personally when you walk into the salon, shaking Josh's hand and making proper small talk with him whilst he cuts his hair. This is a man of many talents as he is also a dab hand with the cut throat razor and does that eyebrow plucking thing using the threads. It's fascinating to watch him in action.
Both the girls also had a trim. I had to gasp when Mia was returned to me, the girl had using straighteners to get rid of the curls to make it easier to cut. *sob* she looked so grown up. Mia was ecstatic though as it made her hair look longer and more like Chiara's. I should have taken a photo, I know - will have to see how things look in the morning.
I went to my friend Donna's for our usual Wednesday night scrapping session. Well, we talk, drink tea and each chocolate, but we do have a layout out in front of us in between all this. I love escaping one night each week and Donna is a beautiful and caring person. Another friend I would never have known if it wasn't for scrapbooking.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)