Am I being unreasonable??

Oh goodness me, sometimes I feel like such a moany old fart but I get so aggitated and annoyed at people who just don't get the message!

I work in a company that does microsoft and CISCO certification, so we're basically a training centre. We open from 8.30am - 5.30pm and classes run from 9am to 5pm. Now I like to get into work by 8.15am so I can make sure the tv is on, put the newspapers out on the rack, make sure the coffee machine is stocked and make myself a cup of tea. It has nothing to do with anybody else what time I get to work as long as I am at reception and all the sign in sheets are laid out by 8.30am when the doors open.

Well it happens at least 4 days out of 5 that delegates arrive at 8.20 or sometimes earlier and bloody building reception let them in! For goodness sake WE ARE NOT OPEN!! Why must they do that?? If I get to M&S at 10.15 on a Sunday morning the people inside don't let me in just cause they are there already.

Every institution in the world has operating hours why the hell must we be any different!

Besides that the delegates are told that access to the main building is from 8.30am and if we are not open then what is the point of arriving so early??

I am a moany old fart aren't I??

Flo the hunter

When Flo was a kitten she used to hunt sticks, or rather twigs, lol. She would drag thr poor 'things' through the cat flap and leave them for me to find in the morning. At one point she had so many I could have used them to have a bbq, haha.

Then one night she caught a mouse, the thing was tiny, but I was so proud of my girl, I lavished her in praise, clever kitty!

And then we moved out of the city and into the country.....and that's when her true hunter self began to emerge. For the first few months we would come down to mice and shrews, sometimes 3 or 4, dotted around the house, thankfully always downstairs. One a few occasions she managed to catch a bird but again thankfully only a few.

At that point I decided to put bells on their collars, Josh isn't quite as bad but then he is much younger than Flo. Things improved and although we still have a mouse or shrew occasionally, they aren't half eaten or pulled to bits, eeuuww.

Last Friday afternoon I came home to a patch a fur and a bunny tail in the dining room surrounded by blood, loads of it. Luckily I got it all out the carpet! I'm not sure what happened to the rest of it but I thought perhaps she had stolen part of someone elses kill....

until last night! I was in bed, asleep, and Stu called up to me that he thought I should come down. She was in the dining room, under the table with a rabbit! A little one, but never the less it was at least half the size of her. I chased her out and got Stuart to make sure it was dead, I had visions of touching it and finding it was just stunned and not dead. I may have fainted at that point! But no is was dead and Stu carried it out, by it's ears, and threw it up on the garage roof for the owls and crows.

I have no problem with her being a hunter and no one in our villiage objects to cats killing rabbits (as they eat all the veggies) but I really don't want them in my house! I may have to resort to locking the cats out at night.

Now as a scrapper you may ask if I took photos, lol, i'm afraid NOT! Although this morning I did think that maybe I should have kept it to pose in the garden and get some close up shots. I will not be doing dead bunny LOs anytime soon!

Last week started off as quiet and pretty boring, but by Thursday all hell had broken loose in the office and we had 40ish manuals to print off and no printer to print them on! The main one needed the Xerographic module changed and refused to carry on till it had, the one in the main office hadn't worked for 3 weeks and had i known I could have chased IT! Then the other 4 we have are so small and slow it would have taken a month of Sundays to get it all done.

IT, thankfully, steped in and offered to print it all in Chiswick and then send it over on Friday morning for us to hole punch and bind. SO at the end of the day it was all done and dusted. Sometimes it nice when everything goes wrong, it keeps us on our toes, lol!!

It was the UKS cyber crop and as usual Scrappybunny did a great job of organising it all. The classes, well the ones I managed to look at and do, were fab and I got some cool LOs at the end of it all.

I didn't manage to spend all weekend cropping as we had John, Brendalene and the girls over for a braai on Saturday night. We had a lovely evening and Stu did a great job of cooking!

So some of my LOs from the weekend!
Life is good - Thereslys class

Fairies - Dollys class (sorry it's so dark)

Trees celebration book, not sure what occasion to use it for yet, but no doubt something will pop up soon enough!

Ansos class - Josh.

Will upload more later today!!

a late update

We had such a great relaxed Easter weekend it was thoroughly enjoyable. On Friday we went out and bought Stu a new bbq, he wanted a gas one so we went to a garden centre that had a good range of OUTBACK, whick is an Aussie brand. They do both gas and charcoal. After a good inspection and analysis of all they had he chose a super douper, all bells and whistles, 2 grid, with a hood bbq. On our way back home we stopped off at Homebase for an outdoor table and ASDA for the chairs and some weekend food. Of course we had to build the bbq when we got home and use it straight away, lol. I spent the afternoon taking photos of ladybirds and flowers.
On Saturday we went out to do a bit more shopping aarrgghh, the afternoon was spent scrapping, chilling and watching CSI dvds. Sunday I gardened a bit and took more photos of flowers and bunnies in our garden!
Monday was much the same, but I am happy to report I am not nearly as sore as I was after my first gardening experience, haha.

Now I am off to stroke my new basic grey Oh baby! boy papers...

I'm obsessed....

How sad am I?? I am obsessed with Brangelina!

Yes the saga that is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolies sorry love story. Now to start with let me just point out that I am a huge fan of Jennifer Anniston and have been in her camp since this whole sordid affair started.
But I have to admit to now feeling desperatly sorry for Ange, I think the poor girl is making one mistake after the next and is in a downward spiral. She has one failed marriage under her belt so who can blame her for not wanting to tie the knot just yet, but why oh why did she fall pregnant? Come on girl have you never heard of birth control? How about giving yourselves time to get to know each other, form a bond, have some time to live a little, decide if you actually want to grow old together!
Her latest issue is Jens interview on Oprah when she was quizzed about her marriage breakdown, Ange can't stand that people feel sorry for Jen and she is the victim....hang on....why the hell not! she's an actress and she makes money on her popularity and if she's in the spot light her movies will make money. So again why is she not allowed to milk the situation.
Ange has also stated she wants to live on a yacht and have no fixed address, this hasn't gone down well with Brad who wants to settle down and have a suburban lifestyle. Chalk and Cheese comes to mind, poor things are just on opposite ends when it comes to compatability.
But everything I base my feelings on is hearsay and who knows how much of it is true. At the end of the day I am spending a fortune buying these silly trashy gossip magazines whenever I see their names on the cover just so I can keep up with the Brangelina!

PS Having a baby in the very early days of a relationship is not always a bad thing and I do not judge anyone who does, My grandparents where together till death do us part and they were pregnant with my mom before they got married and very young!

PPS I have some great photos that I took this weekend so will do an update tonight (if I remember!)

My thoughts and prayers today are going out to a dear friend Sally whos husband is very poorly in hospital :( Love and hugs for you both.

My marketplace sales on UKS are doing very well again and I have reduced my stash pile considerably, although Stuart still thinks I have way too much, hey ho!

We went out for dinner last night to the green man, it was great to sit and chat away from the tv, pcs, and cats. I had the giant yorkshire with roast beef and Stu had the mixed grill, which was huge and it's not even the mamoth mixed grill he had! We chatted a bit about the wedding, and both agree that it's going to be very quiet and small, I really don't want a fuss and don't want family in SA to feel pressured into coming. It's far to travel and it's very expensive.

I am off tomorrow so my weekend officially starts at 5pm today WOO HOO. Although we have no firm plans yet, if the weather is nice we plan to spend the time in the garden.

Weekend update

Saturday
We had a lovely time shopping in the morning, went to ASDA, my new fvourite store, lol! Then we came home and I read my book and Danni and Stu watched tv. At 4.30 we grabbed the cameras and went to the farm to see the cows being fed but after half an hour the farmer hadn't arrived and it was so cold we went to the pub for a drink, although we did get a few pics! I got this one of a bunny rabit on the way to see the cows.
Danni and I camped out in the field for a while trying to get photos of the baby bunnies but had no luck :( The storm clouds were moving in too, so it was time to go indoors

On Sunday morning I made a banana and chocolate cake, all by myself (I usually assist Stu when he makes it) and then made my way out to the garden where I proceeded to clear out a few flower beds. I had to rest mid morning and have tea and homemade *chuckle* banana and chocolate cake to keep the energy levels up and then got stuck in again. I think I was out there for about 3 to 4 hours and I tell you my legs and butt are so sore I can bearly move but I feel good that I achieved something with my weekend! The sun even came out in the afternoon and we sat out in the garden and had lunch, it was so nice to feel the grass under my feet. But all too soon the storm clouds moved in and we had to go back inside.

My pizza box prize arrived from A Trip Down Memory Lane this morning and it is so lush! Thanks Mel and Jill. Blonde moments patterned paper with co-ordinating cardstock, some co-ordinating ribbons, spring basic grey rub ons, some mm alpha rub ons and a heidi swapp mini mask (which I have been dying to try). I think I may use this to scrap the gorgeous photos I took of Sarah and Jessica in their fairy outfits.

I owe wanna-scrap Kirsty a HUGE thank you for showing me a neat trick on photo shop I have been having a play around with my photos and WOW what a huge difference the curves make. So thanks Kirky pants!!

Danni is coming to spend the weekend with us, so excited as I need someone to camp out in the garden with to try get photos of the cute bunnies!

Well as it turned out I was so busy yesterday I didn't even manage to get my {21} day art journal out my bag so have not caught up yet :o Will try again today!

Last night I unpacked my stash from the weekend and also tidied my desk which was littered with little scraps of paper, tools and stamps. Tonight I plan to sit and do a little scrapping and hopefully *blush* upload some photos, i'm hopeless I know!

Danni is coming up to stay this weekend and we have a braai at Mike and Chantal which I know Stu is really looking forward to. It's also the Pad cyber crop but i'm not sure I will get much time to do anything. Will have to check out the class list as I will probably only try do the LOs, not too keen on the altered stuff.

bbrrrrr

Ooh it's a cold one today, -2 at home, and very frosty, I thought summer was on it's way!!

I have just seen I won the birthday draw over at a trip down memory lane if you've not been shopping there, now's your chance, they have loads of birthday specials running this week!

Last night I finally managed to finish my entries for the fairy cj group. I have held up the group so badly and feel awful but I totally lost my mojo :( so was battling. I now just have a shoes entry to do for Anam and I am finished all UKS cjs! Although I am hosting 5 newbie groups :o

I am a little behind in my Rhonna Farrer {21} day challenge so will spend today playing catch up and then hopefully upload some entries tonight.

:o can you belive I completely forgot to post that my photo of the cutie little lambs I entered for the photography competition on UKS has been chosen for the top 20 voting poll! I am so excited although i'm sure I have no chance at all of winning, lol, it's nice to be involved.

The theme for April is PATTERNS so I have to get my thinking cap!

Events from yesterday

I was not very well yesterday, perhaps not enough sleep and a little run down and Stu is not well so I think he may have shared some germs with me!! So we both had the day off, he needed to get my plumbing stuff for the hotel so I went with him and just before we left he got a text from Andy to say Linda had passed away. He was so upset as Linda has been a big part of his life growing up and was like a second mother to him. She was also one of the few people in the beginning who accepted me as part of Stuarts life so I too am very sad at her passing.

A few hours later Stu received a telephone call from SA to tell him Callum and some friends had been held at gunpoint and robbed of their bicycles, phones, wallets and clothes. As you can imagine he was devastated and had to pull over to compose himself, I am so glad I was with him as I would have hated for him to deal with that on his own. He had a very quick talk with Callum just to make sure he was okay and then had to hang up with the promise of a call later in the afternoon.

Last night when Stu called he heard the whole story and I thank God Callum is such a level headed and sensible child. Apparently after he realised that they were about to be robbed, he emptied his pockets and hid his valuables in the grass, he also kept his head down when they pulled the guns out and remained calm. He had on an old t-shirt and pair of shorts which I guess was good attire for building a BMX track, and the robbers didn't want either. All the bicycles tyres were slashed and as the thieves (perhaps uneducated) had to now carry the bikes away they had no hands for his. So while most of the kids were left with nothing but their boxers and socks, Callum had everything!

And of course he still had his phone so he could call the police.

I just can't believe 12 year olds had to go through something like this and the more I hear of friends wanting to go back so they can give their children a good quality of life the more I want to slap them! There is no more good quality of life, the country has changed and it is not the same as when we were kids. Deal with it and move on.....

Super duper ScrapManic5

On Friday I had a busy morning, getting myself ready for ScrapManic, I had a ton of stuff to take so of course it all had to come down the stairs and then into the car, which I had to reverse onto the back lawn to make it easier, lol. I had to also wait for the postie to bring Sarahs crocs which are still too big, aarrgghh! So I couldn't have a long relaxing bath like I wanted to do.

I left home at 1pm and had to stop for diesel and to make sure the tyres were pumped for my 50 odd mile drive down to Guildford. I have never seen such a queue at Sainsburys to that little chore took me half an hour! Once i was on the road I started to feel the excitment and apprehension of arriving and meeting new people and of course seeing the oldies too ;) The drive was long as I hit a few patches of traffic through Kew and Mortlake. Bloody London traffic, hee hee!!

There were a few people already there so we sat at a table and chatted and gossiped about everything and nothing, and it was great to see Mary Anne and thank her personally for the great article she wrote for SI mag around my accordian folder. I had a nice room, but as I was going to be spending such a little time in there I was happy with whatever, haha.

We all got our stash out the cars and left it out in the hall until Debbie, Cherry and Al had sorted the crop rooms and alocated each crop space. So happy to have been back in the lovely room with all the lovely people!! It was then time to get settled and unpacked and head to the pub for dinner.

Which of course was YUMMY! And same as last year I ate too much and was too full up for pudding. Jules, and the wonderful Mr Ross, came through for dinner too, and it was so good to see her.

After dinner is was back to scrapping and I managed a few LOs between then and the first class on Saturday with only 4 hours sleep in between :o I did Als crazy paisley class which I loved! She has a great energy that rubs off on you if you gets too close so I very inspired at the end! Food throughout the weekend was superb.

My Saturday afternoon class was with Debbie, and as I have never done one of Debbies classes I was so looking forward to it. We made a baking tray notice board, and I just adore it and can't wait to find somewhere to hang it up although I have thought of giving it to Brendalene as I used photos of Sarah and Jessica to decorate it.

Sunday was another good day, I did Kirsty's mini envelope book class and I just love the result! It's is so tiny and scrumptious, and lickable, haha.

I didn't do quite so many LOs as I managed last year, mainly because my fellow gutter girls, Tisha, Kel, Zenia and Marja, had me laughing so hard I thought I may wet my pants. I will never look at soup the same way again!

On a sad note though, our dear friend Sally has a very ill husband and is terribly worried about him as we are of her. Sally, sending you lots of love and well wishes for Dick.

A big thanks to all for a super weekend! And I can't wait for the next one.