trick or treat

I always go trick or treating with the kids. Like ALWAYS. Every year.
Well, you know, I walk round with them, stand at the end of people's drives in the cold and rain and shout thank you when kind people chuck sweets in their buckets. I don't actually dress up and do the thing myself. That's just odd I think. 
But this year the little one's off to a party and the big one wants to trick or treat with her mates. I am redundant! My services are no longer required. I'm on the Halloween scrap heap.
I suppose I will just have to stay at home and chuck sweets in other kids' buckets. And have a glass of wine. And maybe a curry. With the other half. In our warm house. Shame...

plan B

So plan B is SORTED. Yay!
And in the style of all those blogs that like to make announcements about announcements....here it is....
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT...
I have joined up with three super-fabulous-lovely-and-very-talented birds and we have invented a brand new shiny studio. It's called Dotty Wren Studio and you can have a nosey here.
There's me, Lizzie Mackay, Susan Driscoll and Wendy Kendall and we are very giddy and excited because....drum roll please....we have booked a stand at Surtex in May! Woohoo! New York here we come!!
We got together a couple of weeks ago to sort it out and drank too much wine to actually do anything. But it's ok...it's all sorted now.. new website, new blog, new twitter, new facebook...new new new everything. 
Check us out!

when the clocks go back...

The clocks went back last night. So today we got an extra hour. Yay. So many things you could do with 1 extra hour. Sixty whole minutes! Woo!
I used mine wisely. It's not often an extra hour comes along free of charge is it? 
So... I slept :-)
I was knackered. Too many late nights meeting lots of deadlines was making me ever so slightly a little bit grumpy. So I just stayed in bed for an extra 60 minutes. I'm in a super good mood now. We should get an extra hour every day I think.

ps

The seaside trip was a success.

Wetsuits were worn and surfboards were used. The little one kept his hat on. Went well with the wetsuit I think....

seaside

The big one has gone away for the weekend with her friend. My sister's big one has also gone away for the weekend. So tomorrow me and my sis and the 3 little ones are going on a day trip to Whitby. It's the seaside folks. We live miles away from the seaside so it doesn't happen that often. 
My sister's littlest one decided he wants to take his surf board and his wetsuit. That means all 3 of them want to take their surf boards and wetsuits. In October. Nearly November. 
Could be a bit chilly I think...but who am I to say...

ball thief at local park

Me and my sis and the kids and the dogs went to Oakwell Hall Country Park on Saturday. We go a lot in autumn. And winter. And even Spring. But not summer. We don't go much in summer. It's too busy. Full of people and screaming kids. We like it when it's cold and the softies are all at home having a DVD-duvet-day. We don't have to queue for an ice cream when it's cold. And there are plenty of rustic wooden benches free to park our bums on while the kids jump in the stream.
So there we were on Saturday enjoying the peace and quiet when along comes this dog called Poppy and steals my Minnie's ball! The bloody thing got it in it's mouth and would NOT let go of it. At first the owner was all like "Oh she'll get bored in a minute and put it down".... but after 20 minutes of gentle coaxing it became apparent that Poppy the dog would NOT get bored. Ever.
But the kids were moaning. We needed to move to the next bit of muddy stream. I offered to just swap our ball for theirs but Poppy's ball was clearly some sort of family-heirloom-wonderball because instead the woman said they'd just walk with us! Er hello? We don't need new mates, we came for some peace and quiet! 
So there we were. In the park with no ball to chuck and a hanger-on-er following us about. Ace! If it hadn't been for the big one I think we would've been stuck with them for ever and they would've had to come to live with us. But luckily the big one is dead clever. She told the woman to buy an icecream from the van-with-no-queue for Poppy the dog. Good trick JodiePie! Faced with the choice between ice cream and a tatty old ball the 99 won! We got rid of our new mates, Minnie got her ball back, the kids got an ice cream from the van-with-no-queue and we all lived happily ever after!

this week I....

Crossed lots of jobs off my work to do list.
Met some lovely people I knew I'd get on with.
Got 1 step nearer to Plan B.
Had TWO flat tyres which cost me 300 quid.
And drew Autumn in my sketchbook...

missing under a pile of work

Anyone notice my absence? Bet you thought I went to the pub last Saturday and just stayed there didn't you? Perched on a bar stool drinking Malibu and Pineapple like I thought I was on holiday. Totally tropical.
Well I wasn't.
I made it home from the pub the very same day! I've just been buried under a pile of work ever since. It's that time of year. The time when everyone wants their work doing. URGENTLY please.
Oh and we went to York for the weekend...had a day at the races for the brother-in-law's birthday. In the posh end. Super!

coffee morning ...beer afternoon

Last Saturday I was invited to 3 Macmillan coffee mornings.
I drew some coffee stuff in my sketchbook and was gonna blog about it. But I've had so much work on this week that I never got chance. Seems like old news now so I won't bother. 
But tomorrow there will be none of that coffee malarky. Me and the girls are off to the pub! In the afternoon! Woo!

there goes September...

October already people!
Here's my September blog summary.
In pictures.
For people who can't be bothered reading.