No Promises :)

There have been many times over the past 2 years I have opened this blog, thought about posting then closed it.
So much has happened since I was last here I don't know where to begin.
Perhaps a fresh start?
Today I received an email from someone I considered to be a friend a long time ago. I was deeply touched by the simple words "hope all is well!" It probably sounds silly but current circumstances as they are I am at a low point and feeling vulnerable and lonely even surrounded by people, both real and online who I feel I can not talk to.  I was reminded of the amazing support amongst J-landers.
Thank-you Guido.
I can't promise I will post or visit regularly but may be the time is right to return to a place where I am not judged, where I do not have to wear a professional hat or be anything other than myself?
I am under no illusions, I am not asking for anything except a place I can write freely.
I am sorry to have deserted you.
No promises :)
Mrs T x

Christmas at Mrs T's

Hello!

How is your weekend going? Well that is it Christmas is over for another year! was it a good Christmas for you? It was a bit odd here this year as our family leader came down with flu Christmas Eve and missed Christmas!! Poorly mum spent Christmas in bed, she has been really bad with it and truly mum...WE MISSED YOU!!!! It just wasn't the same. She is still poorly now, out of bed but still suffering, bless her! So Christmas was not the same, but was in a way??? I know I am talking rubbish...lol!! Me thinks that I will have to re-think how we do Christmas and new year!! I will have to ponder that one...maybe I can google it...lol!!!

Anyhow's I thought I'd share some photos (the few I managed to get!!) and tell the Christmas story!!

...it all starts on Christmas Eve (well it would wouldn't it!!) we all go to the cemetery to remember my dad, we return home, furiously cleaned by moi that morning!! Have tea then it's time to sprinkle magic reindeer dust outside and put the magic Santa key under the mat....

...Yes clive is in his PJ's already...lol!! Sapphire helps too! Mikael puts out a glass of milk (no drink driving for Santa!!), mince pie and carrot for the reindeer! Then nice warm bath and clean crisp bestest PJ's for the kids. Up to bed with their stockings for me to read "twas the night before Christmas" and other nice Christmassy stories.... time to sleep. Bless them they went straight to sleep!! Although both work after midnight, Alix crying and Mikael couldn't find his stocking!! which santa had already filled and put at the end of his bed...well he didn't want Mikael to hurt his head and melt all the chocolate!!!!

"Santa" puts all the presents under the tree.....

There were some very large presents this year and thanks to generous friends there were lots round the back too. We had to put a board round them to stop Charlie "opening" them!!!

In the morning the kids are supposed to bring their stockings into bed with us (gives me time to open my eyes...lol!) Only Alix ripped his open in his bed and started on the chocolate!!! It's just 6am!!!

I tried to get in the room before them but they just couldn't wait so I missed the photo of their faces when they saw the tree!
Bless him, Mikael was desperate to get stuck in, but cruel mummy wanted a coffee in hand and the camera before they could start...


Alix got some help from Suki!!!!


Mikael loved all his presents!! I love to see them opening them!!

Alix had a HUGE Thomas the tank train set, really it is HUGE!!!!! and everyone has enjoyed playing with it. It sounds like a proper model train set too! I was really impressed!! He opened it and said "I like Thomas" and kept saying that over and over because Santa had left him lots of Thomas toys!!

Charlie and Suki joined in with the fun, I think Sapphire is too "old" for that now...lol!!

A bomb explodes in my living room!!! and in a few hours we have family coming with more presents!!! The big bag Alix is holding was "Santa's" surprise gift for the family.... a Wii!!! lots of fun for all!!!

And so the family arrive, more presents to un-wrap, kids having a fab time, grown-up drinking tea and watching the fun! Me, I get to cook dinner this year, it was planned that way and lucky as mum was so poorly, she stayed to see the presents opened then went home to bed. I took a dinner round in the evening. I set my table, now if you know me at all you will know that I have been planning this for weeks! all in lilac and silver (my favourite and matches the tree!) Now can you see what's missing? yep forgot the bloody crackers!!! I looked everywhere to find matching crackers and forgot them on the day! It was said later that at least it was the crackers and not the turkey...lol!! In the centre of the table are the table or tree gifts we give at lunchtime, these gifts are supposed to be joke gifts and cost about a £1!! The youngest boys Alix and Harvey just couldn't stay awake for lunch so it was a quiet lunch with the older boys. Sorry no pics of us at the table, mum not there to remind us!!

And that was it basically, Clive went to feed his mums cats, Terry washed up, then Harvey decided he wanted to go home early! and I went to check on mum.

We stayed up late playing on the Wii and with the train set, the boys seemed to have a great time which is what matters most.

So big Thank-yous to everyone who sent cards and gifts and helped and joined us and most of all mum...GET WELL SOON XXXX

I hope you all had a great time, I will get round to everyone now all the rushing is over...if you want to see all the crafty stuff take a look HERE

I bid you goodnight and thanks for joining me in this story!!!

take care

mrs t xxx

Happy New Year!!

Hi,

Just popping in quickly to wish you all a Happy New Year!

I am sorry I haven't been round to everyone for so long, I promise I will catch up soon!!!

We are off to mum's to welcome 2009 in, in her bedroom!!! She is poorly sick, bless her, she has spent the whole of Christmas in bed poorly!

I wish you all a healthy and successful 2009

Take care

Mrs t xxxx

Merry Christmas!!!

Oh my goodness me!!! I have been a bad blogger! So sorry to have been AWOL but things just got crazy here for the last couple of weeks. I thought I had it all under control then all of a sudden school's ending the cards aren't finished the magic reindeer dust is still porridge oats!! and there are a gazzillion things to do before the big day! I say it every year, and I am gonna say it again...so much work for 1 day!! The mad race to buy gifts, wrap them , hide them ( I am sleeping balanced on the big ones!!!) the cards, the food.....you know! LOL Then the day comes (drum rolls...) the kids open the gifts in 30 seconds (it took a days to wrap them!) and it's all over!! (I know there's the food and if your lucky alcohol!) Not really feeling Christmasy yet, too tired!!!
I get the Christmasy feeling when I get home from the cemetery on Christmas Eve, by 7am Christmas morning it has gone!! This year I have bought them a surprise gift (credit card is in the hospital!!!LOL) which (fingers and toes crossed making typing difficult!!) should keep the fun going at least till bedtime!! Well, I can't wait to play anyway!!!!LOL
This was going to be a quick post, but as usual the fingers have run amok on the keyboard and I am waffling!!! LOL!!!
I haven't had chance to edit all the final cards and bits I have made for Christmas so I will post them next week .I promised not to touch the computer or crafting bits till next Monday!!! I can feel the withdrawal symptoms already!!!LOL But I had to share this photo......
My DH bought my gift a couple of weeks ago and it has been sat calling to me since it arrived over a week ago! So unfair!!! I really could have done with it! Here it is....
...yep sitting on my table there has been a cuttlebug and pack of nesties!!! I am sure there should be a anti-cruelty to crafters society out there somewhere...I will have to google that one...LOL!
Well, all there is left to say now is a promise to visit everyone when I can and wish you all....


Have a wonderful Christmas
take care
Mrs t xxxxx

1 Year Blogaversary!!!!!

hello all!

It's my 1st Blogaversary!!! (is that how you spell it???)1 year ago today I posted my first entry on my J-land journal!! I am not sure if it still counts but I thought I'd just mention it!!lol. I did want to do a tag but it is so busy here at the moment that it is the last on the list!!

I will have some fab carnival photos to share just as soon as I can get time to edit them!! All the Christmas craft projects cards etc are on The Lilac Diary HERE Thank-you Jeanie for you lovely comment I really appreciated it!!! I've been having a problem with my mojo, it took a little pre-Christmas holiday, not a good time to loose the creative juices...lol!!!!

The website is almost complete now I have to upload all the stock now if you would like a sneak peek it it here http://www.crafts4eternity.co.uk/ It still has a lot of test pics and text on it at the mo, but I am working on the product images so they can be uploaded and we can start selling....hurray!!!! It has been a long journey, hopefully it will be worth it!!! fingers crossed!!!

Well I am keeping this short as I have pressies to order (mum is coming soon to order hers too!) and there are cards to make, and of course the website to finish!!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, I will pop back again soon with the carnival pics, here is a quick peek at one...!!!!!

Take care

Mrs T xxxx

Halloween!!!

Hi hope you all had a spooky and safe Halloween.

We had a little tea party at mums Friday night. We all dressed up and decorated the house, the kids carved pumpkins.....

well the grown ups did most of it...lol!!!!

Mum made a cake (any excuse mum!!!) but really cool cake!!! we called him Frank. My mum and aunt have a spider friend they call Fred. We couldn't call this spider Fred as we were going to cut him up and eat him...lol!!!In the days of snail mail the letters and envelopes were decorated with Fred the spider, when they wrote to each other. Now when I send something to my aunt in Scotland I decorate the envelope and always say hi to the postmen as she has the same ones and they are friendly!!! so here is Frank....

There are no photos (thankfully) of mum, sis, and I dressed up but Terry.....

...even managed to scare the dogs with this outfit!!!lol!!!

And the kids....

....Scared themselves...lol!!!! Alix refused to put anything on bless him but he did run around with a mask trying to scare us all!!! He loved the trick or treating, he said thank-you every time and only took one sweet when offered. He loved putting them in his little bucket. You may notice there is an extra child in the photo, this is one of Mikael's friends, Rhys. I look after him for my friend when she has to work. His mum joined us later for tea.

Mum made a fab beef stew with dumplings and apple and blackberry crumble for pud...yummy!!! (thanks mum xxxx!!)I will have to walk 10 miles to lose that...lol!!!!

I went to J-land on Friday and it has gone. So sad.... I will miss journals, but I am glad that so many came over to blogger.

If you are interested in my crafting please take a look at The Lilac diary here and if you fancy a challenge craft or digi take a look here

Have a good week

Thanks for stopping by

take care

mrs t xxx

Mikael's party #2!!!

Hello!!!

As promised here are the photos from the party...

While the kids arrived they went in to my craft room to colour pictures of Pokemon characters for a poster...

...They were given a Pokemon ball training card to collect Pokemon in. These were stickers won during games.
The finished poster....

The next game was Meowth's gold coin hunt! The kids had to find chocolate coins hidden in the room, on some of the coins were character stickers for their training cards.
Followed by the Pikachu Stomp! Hidden inside some balloons were some more character stickers, the kids had to stomp on the balloons to find them, very noisy and quick!!

Under control!!! I used stickers to keep the chaos to a minimum, with 18 kids aged 2-7 I needed them!!lol
Yes I did re-arrange the furniture, moved the TV and turned all the glass doors against the walls!!!

I managed to get them to pose for a group photo, shouting smelly feet!!!!

The star game was the Prinplup pinata, of course Mikael had the first go. Did they break it?
No!!! but they tried very hard!!!! even the babies!!!lol

The Birthday cake! My mum made the cake for me this year, I have made cakes and bought them in the past and this year mum did us proud. Mikael was thrilled!!


Food and a game of sleeping Pokemon...nice quiet game!! and time to go home. Each child went home with a party bag with sweets and cake. They got a certificate to say that they were Pokemon Masters and a punch balloon (or rice balloon) VERY noisy balloons, well I had to share the noise with the parents...lol!!!

Alix thought the balloons were great!!

When everyone went home it was time to clear up and open the presents...




Mikael did really well with his presents and was really pleased. he got lots of money which he is spending on a Nintendo DS!!! He had a fab time and hasn't stopped telling me that I am the best mum!!! Bless him, I can't believe he is 7. I am very proud of my boy!!

Special thanks to all my helpers couldn't have done it without you xoxoxoxo

I made an album to put these photos in and hopefully I will get that done soon.

Time to get the site finished, nearly there! And there is Christmas to start!!! It's Clive's birthday next week and our niece too, so more party's!

Halloween tea at mums tomorrow, we are expected to dress up! Don't think Clive likes that idea!!

Take care and have a Happy Halloween!!!

hugs

mrs t xxxx