goodbye 2012

My mum and dad ALWAYS have the kids on new years eve. Ever since we've had kids. TWELVE YEARS! But not this year. Oh no. They've buggered off to Florida and abandonned us. Self self self!
Anyway luckily for us the mother-in-law has stepped in. We'll be dropping them off at hers in a bit and making our way to the pub. And we won't be home till next year.
So I'd just like to say thanks for all your lovely comments this year...they always make me smile even though I'm a bit slack at replying. Hope you all have a good night and that your dreams come true in 2013 x

is it the weekend?

Turkey curry....rain....PJ days...trips to Toys R Us to spend Xmas cash...rain...late night parties...Forest Gump...long lie-ins...rain...mince pies...What day is it again?
And when can I take the tree down?

home...

We are home.
The dog is glad.
I'm not.
I wanted to stay longer.

merry christmas!

Hope it's a good one people x

advent 24

Hope you've all been good....

advent 23

Center Parcs kindly offer to stick a Christmas Tree in your lodge for when you arrive. And for their kindness they charge you 60 quid. So maybe we'll just take our own...

advent 22

Went to the mother-in-laws for a yum Christmas dinner today 'cos we won't be seeing them on Christmas Day. 
She hadn't sent her pressies to Santa! She just had them sitting there under the tree! AND she let the kids open one each. We put the rest in a big bag to take with us to Center Parcs tomorrow. Too late to send them to Santa now!

advent 21

Last Sunday our friend invited us to his wedding ... via Facebook!
It was today. He married someone from Thailand who no-one has ever met. And we had to text him for her name.
There were only 14 of us at the service and we just went back to the pub after.
But you know what? It was fab!
People who spend £10,000 on your wedding take note, it's not always value for money...

advent 20

Today: another Christingle service in which no kid got burnt...or set fire to the church...God knows how!

advent 19

....only just in time to actually call it 19!
I got waylaid....nipped to deliver a Christmas card...talked too much....just got in...bedtime....

advent 18

The little one's school went a bit off piste this year. None of that traditional Nativity stuff for them. None of that limiting us to two tickets only and squishing us in the school hall with the talk about fire exits before and the grand raffle after. Oh no...this year the school was revolutionary! They had a carol concert. Outside. In the playground. With twinkly lights. And a Christmas tree. And mulled wine! 
It is the future!

flora waycott giveaway

Don't bother entering this giveaway 'cos I'm gonna win..... :-)

But if you want to try anyway, just for a laugh, go here x

advent 17

So Christmas has started at the little one's school. There's a postbox and everything. But after years of standing over him making sure he writes a card to everyone in his class, and tears cos he really can't be bothered writing at all, this year I decided to just leave him to it. Like it doesn't REALLY matter if he misses someone out does it? Who notices?
So he wrote his cards at the weekend...all 7 of them. Couldn't be bothered with any more than that. His arm was aching. 
He posted them today. And came home with one. From himself. 
I think he's missing the point somewhere....

advent 16

We went to the park and got muddy today with the wife and kids of our friend Ken who died last October. They're doing really well, he would be so proud of them. They're going to Lapland on Wednesday to see Santa. It should have been Ken's birthday that day, he would have only been 43.

advent 15 and a film review....

We went to see Nativity 2 today. It was brill!

advent 14

Went to get the mother-in-law's pressie with the other half today. Got a couple of items for the kids' Chrimbo stockings. Tat that will be discarded as soon as the real pressies are in sight. But you've got to love the Christmas stocking tat. For a minute anyway.

advent 13

advent 12

I love designing my Christmas cards.
I hate writing them.
I hate delivering them to all the randomly spread out people on my list even more.
Wishing now I'd done that cop out thing where you donate to charity instead and don't bother with the damned things at all....

advent 11

The other half and the little man have gone to watch Bradford City play Arsenal.
It's flipping freezing out there...don't they know it's on the telly?

advent 10 and scouse stuff

Today a little parcel arrived...from Scouse Stuff...a fab teatowel and coaster for a Scouse family member...go buy the Scouser in your life one too, they'll be well chuffed.

advent 9

Well the tree is up. Too early for my liking but I couldn't stand the nagging any longer. Everyone else has got theirs up...it's not fair...rah rah.
What is it with people these days? Mid December used to be normal for tree trimming. This year I saw loads in flipping November!
Anyway. It's up. Looks fabulous. Merry Christmas!

advent 8

advent 7 and tigerprint

The little man's school is closed today. Officially this is because there is a flu bug going round and they're having to do a deep clean to get rid of germs.
Rather convenient that this sudden bug arrives two and a bit weeks before Christmas don't you think? And needs to be zapped on a school day. When the shops are a bit quieter. With only 18 shopping days to go. 
Obviously they can't possibly do a deep clean on a Saturday....

Anyways...if you're NOT a teacher from the little man's school and aren't in Meadowhall today have a look at the Tigerprint website cos my christmas card characters are making an appearance. Lizzie Mackay did it too. You can jump on the bandwagon if you like....go here for details. 

advent 6 and the great raffle win

I won a Christmas raffle!! First prize! Massive hamper filled with chocolate and biscuits and wine and peach slices and Christmas pudding and stuff.
We already have a Christmas pudding. Bought in a giddy mood for our trip to Centerparcs. But you can never have too many Christmas puddings can you?

advent 5

advent 4

Got a rather nice scarf in my advent calendar today.
*Smug face*

advent 3 and sainsbury's

Day 3 and the kids got out of bed with hardly any nagging. Just the mention of the advent calendar was enough to get the LazyBonesLittleOne up for school.

And the Spotter of the Week is Amy who found my designs in Sainsbury's...

I've nicked your photos Amy, hope you don't mind :-)

This is my original....

And this one...

My original....

moyo magazine

Imagine my excitement...there I was faffing about online when I'm sure I should have been doing some useful ironing....and there it was, my name in lights. Well not exactly. No lights. But my name nonetheless!
Go check it out for yourself....Moyo magazine....new issue....interview with the fabulous Marie Perkins from Print and Pattern....my name!
How giddy am I?!
Cheers Marie :-)

advent 2 and the big switch on

Unfortunately, due to us spending too long in the park today, I had to send the other half and the kids to the annual village ChritmasLightsSwitchOn without me. Someone had to put the roast in the oven and do something with the spuds and that someone was me.

Such a shame I missed it 'cos by all accounts it was as fabulous as usual. The bell ringers pulled out at the last minute so big thanks went to the stand-in Shakin' Stevens tribute act. And unfortunately due to an electrical fault none of the lights will actually be coming on till tomorrow when someone who knows something about these things will be coming out to look at it.

Undeterred they did the big countdown anyway. Some kid pressed the switch. And.....nothing.

I was soooo sorry to have missed it.

advent calendar

Our advent calendars are spectacular. No really! Proper spectacular.
It's my mum's fault. One year she bought me and my sister this cardboard thing with little boxes that she filled with goodies for every day in advent. (This was when we were grown up you understand. Not when we were kids. When we were kids we got those normal advent calendars that didn't even have chocolate in. It was in the olden days. Chocolate in advent calendars hadn't been invented then)
After a couple of years me and my sister decided it was only right that we should do an advent calendar for my mum. We spent years running round like nutters at the end of November trying to get 24 tiny little gifts to squish into the boxes.
Fast forward a few years and the box thingies were getting knackered so my mum took it upon herself to do these amazing embroidered advent calendars with grabby clips on. Instead of something tidgy squished into a box we bought 24 a-bit-bigger things, wrapped them and grabbed them on.
Then we had 5 kids. Not all at once. But my mum felt the need to make each one their own spectacular advent calendar.
So now she spends the whole year buying lovely little gifts to go on 7 advent calendars and me and my sister run round like nutters at the end of November to buy 24 a-bit-bigger gifts to go on the grabbers of 1 advent calendar. 
Today I got a Lakeland spoon that gets boiled eggs out of boiling water without boiling your fingers. See! Spectacular!

Anyway that's not what I came to blog about. 
I decided, probably unwisely, to join in with Lizzie Mackay and post an advent pic every day.
I probably won't stick with it. Might get bored around the 5th or something. Make my excuses and go back to my normal drivel. But for now I'm gonna go with it.....here's DAY 1.

Go here to see Lizzie's day 1....much better than chocolate....

PS...Here's my spectacular advent calendar. Sorry, you can't see the embroidery, too many prezzies!

hat

The little one has got this hat. Like a trapper style with fur inside. He wears it ALL THE TIME. Like a comfort blanket. He has it on all year. I prized it off his head and hid it in August 'cos what sort of numpty walks round in a fur hat in August?  
It came back out in September and it's been stuck on his head ever since. (I even caught him wearing the damn thing in bed.)
But last night he left it at cubs!!! 
Oh the trauma! 
He's had to wear a second rate woolly number today. He's so not happy!
Lucky for him Grandad knows the big cheese at cubs and was able to retrieve it this morning.
Phew. Panic over!

dodgy boiler

The boiler, which has quite frankly always been rubbish, is now knackered. No hot water this morning. No heat. No nothing. Just a whirring noise like it's pretending to work. And a green flashing light like there's nothing whatsoever wrong with it. But it's lying. It's not doing it's job properly. It's NEVER done it's job properly. It's always been lazy. Bunking off every so often. Phoning in sick all the time. Needing a bit of a fuss before it'll work again. Then deciding it can't be arsed after all.
Well Dodgy Boiler, your days are numbered. Peter the Heater is coming this aft to size us up for a new model. And British Gas are coming on Thursday to try and charge us double for the same thing only on some easy payment plan to suit our financial requirements.
Meanwhile I'm wearing every piece of clothing I own and working really fast to keep warm.

party season

Went to a ball on Saturday night to raise money for the children's charity I'm involved in.
(Reuben and Friends ...go donate some cash. We need it. Ta)
Going on a school mums Christmas bash on Friday, a 40th on Saturday, the other half's Christmas do the following weekend....
Gonna be well and truly partied out by Christmas...

more than we bargained for

Went to the school Christmas fair tonight.
Came home with a load of tat and an extra kid.
Now the big kid and the extra kid are partying hard and showing no signs of fatigue...or of being quiet any time soon.
Ace. 
Knew the Christmas fair was a bad idea.

winner!

And without any further fafferage the little man pulled out a winner......LizzieM please send me your address!
Thanks for all your comments people, much appreciated xx

busy week

No time to stop and chat...just to say I'll draw the card giveaway tonight....sometime...before I go to bed.... so if you want to enter do it NOW

giveaway!

My Christmas cards arrived from Moo today.
They've done a fab job! And super speedy. I only ordered them on Sunday!
Anyway I've got 100 cards but I only have 96 mates so if you want to win a set of 4 cards leave me a comment below and I'll draw a name out of the Christmas stocking next week sometime ...when I have a minute....

And if you've never used Moo before follow this link and you can get 10% off...

anniversary

I first met the other half 14 years ago today.
Actually that's probably not true since he was the year below me all through school. I must have walked past him at some point. Or stood near him in the playground. But I didn't notice. So it doesn't count.
But 14 years ago I was in some dodgy nightclub. I'd had a few Bacardi and Cokes and I couldn't find my way out. He kindly showed me the way. And jumped in my taxi. And came back to my place. He's kind like that.

the lights are on but nobody's home

The problem with having a fab weekend involving various parks and dogs and kids and sisters and babies is that you get up on Monday morning to find the house is a tip, there's no food in the fridge and every item of clothing you own is on the ironing pile. But you don't have time to do anything about it cos you have a pile of really urgent work to do. Urgently. So you just pretend the mess isn't there, break into the tin of Quality Street you bought in an organised manner for Christmas and hope that if an unexpected visitor arrives they don't spot you hiding behind the curtains....

Smudge

We have a new lodger.
Smudge.
I won him!!
From the fabbo blog by Nicola Pearson.
Smudge was a reject who couldn't be sold due to his imperfections. 
So he fits in well with us.
And we think he's perfect.
Check out Nikki's Etsy shop and start your Christmas shopping. Quick. Only 46 days to go you know!

christmas in november?

It's ok to buy a Christmas top in November. Really it is. Especially if it's this one. From George at Asda. Go get your mitts on one. Quickly. Whilst stocks last.

They did a pretty good job of it I think....here's the original design....