Another sunny day

Today was the perfect day for going out for a walk and coming home to the first BBQ of the year.  It's the first time in 6 years of living here that we've eaten outside.
The sun was hot and the sky was blue.

Did you BBQ today?

Empty Nest Syndrome

No The Teenage One has not left home (yet) but my Great Tit babies have all fledged.  It was very quiet on the Mansion front when I got in from work on Friday and after a few hours of not seeing Mum & Dad I asked John to go and see what was going on.
He got out the step ladder, lifted the lid and said......"It's empty" to which I sighed a huge sigh of relief.  Last year all our babies died but this year every last one has flown the nest :0}

 Maybe size does matter!!!

Scrapping time

This afternoon I managed to get another 2 layouts done for my France album.  Only 2 more to go and it's done.

All done with leftover papers from past years.  The flower is layered scallops which I punched and then cut and squashed.  In the middle of the blue and green is a transparent one.

I love the old Dymo machine I have as some of the letters don't come out on the same line and it adds to the overall effect.

This layout was done with a Crate Paper kit I got from Sarah's Cards last year.

A sunny day at last

Today has been gorgeous.  Well in comparison with the last few days it has.  A full 15 degrees at one point.
It's also been a busy one with housework, ironing, dog walking,  PAT visiting, shopping, sitting in the garden and a little bit of scrapping.

Whilst walking Moss I came across the swan family.  The other day I thought they only had 4 babies but it turns out they have 5.  One is hiding under the leaves next to Mum on the left.  You can just about make him out.
In the garden the apple tree is doing well

 and a new flower has appeared.  I haven't planted it so can only assume that the seed was dropped by a bird.

The Great Tits have babies in what we like to call The Mansion (it's a bird box big enough for an owl to get in!!!) and have been in and out all afternoon.  Unfortunately not at the time I had my camera with me so here's a shot from last year.

It was the local Highland Games today so it was nice to be out in the garden in the peace and quiet.

What have you been up to?

An Award? For Me?

Yes indeed for me.  From Heidi over at Eight Days a Week.  It came completely out of the blue and I have to say I'm amazed that anyone would give my little blog an award for anything.

Who knew people actually read this drivel!!

I hadn't heard of a Liebster award but it turns out it's given amongst bloggers to those sites that have less than 200 followers.  

It does come with a to-do list:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you. Done
2. Post the award on your blog for all to see! Done
3. Give the award to 5 of your favourite bloggers (with 200 followers or less).  Done
4. Leave a comment on your chosen blogs to let them know that they have been given the Liebster Blog award - Done

So here's my list:
1. The first one will have to be my sister Ruth over at  Everyday Life of a Suburban SAHM .  She keeps me up-to-date with family goings on, takes some really great photos and nags me to keep up with my scrapbooking!!

2.  Fiona at Cattle, Kids & Chaos.  I love Fiona's blog and feel that through her amazing pictures that I'm on the ranch/farm with her and her kids.

3.  Tammy at Lens and Pens.  Tammy is the original super woman.  Mom to 7 boys, Granny to 2  grandsons, teacher, wife and homemaker.  I love reading about her family and it makes me feel like I've got an extended family too.

4.  Denise over at Dens Crafty Diary.  I met Denise a few years ago at a scrapbook retreat and she is the loveliest lady.  She does some fabulous layouts and is so dedicated to her craft, even managed to get some stash in her case to take on holiday!!

and finally

5.  Felicity at Joshy & Belle.  If you love Enid Blyton and Vera Lynn then you'll love Fliss's blog.  She has such a lovely way of writing it makes you want to tear down the motorway and pop in for a ginger beer :0)

An after work walk

Once again it was my turn to walk Moss when I got in from work.
We walked to the pond...

 We saw some new babies...

 We walked over the new bypass...

 We walked over the bridge to the castle gate house....

and we came home.

Chores

The Teenage One is away for a few days with school and while this means peace and quiet for me it also means I get left with his chores!!

I manged to get them all done and then after supper sit a watch The West Wing without the usual interruptions of "Mum, have you seen my ???", "Mum do you know where ?????? is?"

Still what's a Mum for except to find things that aren't lost?

Herman update

If you remember a few weeks ago I brought home Herman.  He was nothing but a few bubbles in the bottom of a bowl.

Then I fed him with flour, sugar and milk and he grew ever so slightly to nearly overflowing the same bowl......

After which he had apples, sultanas, flour etc added and ended up a splendid looking specimen.

He smelled divine and tasted delicious but I had to freeze most of him as there is only me who will eat him and I don't need all those extra calories.

10 Things on the Tenth

This is the first time I've played along with this since last year as I normally remember the day after. 

 So here are:

10 random facts about me

1.       I’ve had three broken bones.  Two fingers and one elbow.

2.       I once saw Ewan McGregor in a local pub with his dad and brother but didn’t say hello as I had really bad hay fever and my eyes were red!!  There was a postcard in the pub that night of a dinosaur eye and my lovely sister thought it was a match for mine!!!

3.       I’ve waved at Margaret (& Dennis) Thatcher when they arrived at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands in 1992.   She came to visit for the 10th anniversary of the Falklands War.  The guys in the Supply section gave their plane a landing score out of 10 and Dennis went over to chat to them.  Much to the disgust of the Station Commander who didn't want them out there when the Thatchers arrived!!

 This picture is from her visit in 1983

4.       I passed my driving test in Germany in a right hand drive car on the left hand side of the road.

5.       When I was in Saudi Arabia and went for a meal with the guys I worked with.  The owner put us behind a screen as the guys told him I wouldn’t sit in another room with the women and children.  Women are not allowed to sit in the same area as the men.

6.       I really don’t like heights and wouldn’t go up the Eiffel Tower when we went to Paris last year.  I won’t go on any kind of roller coaster either.

 Photo from Google

7.       I’m definitely a “leave it till tomorrow” kind of girl than a “do it today”.

8.       I’ve watched Band of Brothers, with John and Samuel once, every year, for the last six years.

9.       I’m quite a shy person until I get to know people.

10.   I find making small talk difficult so tend to say nothing.

10 Things on the Tenth is hosted by Shimelle but I don't think she's done one this month.  Or at least not one I can find!!

A Layout

It's a good job I'm sitting down to write this post as it contains the words "I've done a layout".  It's the first one I've done this year which is a bit of a disgrace but hey ho!!

It's another entry in the France album from last summer.  I've only got a few more LOs to do and it's complete.  I think what slows me down is not having any up-to-date papers and working from the scraps from old kits etc.  It seems to be so much easier when you have matching papers.  It takes a lot longer when you have to trawl through the mountain of odd sheets to find something that "goes together".

Anyhoo.  Here's today's offering.

 I used October Afternoon papers, American Crafts Thickers and  few odd buttons which I stitched on.  Not a bad afternoons work.

Look what I've got

Look what arrived in the post yesterday.  The complete box set of the West Wing.  I have to admit to never watching it while it was on TV but it is supposed to be very good drama.

It came as a "Just Because" from my lovely sister Ruth.  Thanks sis x

I now have 44 DVDs, 154 episodes, 112 hours of viewing time (with added extras) to watch.  Though not all at once!!

Lets get started :0)

Meet Herman

This is Herman.  He's my Friendship Cake and I got him from my friend Sharon at work.
He's a sourdough cake and over the next 10 days I will stir him, feed him flour, sugar and milk and then I'll split him into 4, giving 3 away before turning one quarter into my own cake.

So far I'm on day two and all I do today is stir.  How hard can that be?  It's nice to see the bubbles on the top as no bubbles means he's dead!!!

He doesn't look very appetising at the moment but I'm hoping once I've added the apples and cinnamon and (in 10 days time) cooked him, he'll be delicious.


BTW the pink bit in the bowl is just the reflection off the vase!!