Something From 'almost' Nothing!! - my stash!!

I start a new class on Wednesday - an online class designed to use up scrapbooking stash that you already have!  I'll let you into a little secret though - in the grand scale of things, compared to many people, I don't actually have THAT much - I used to - BUT - about a year or so ago, I had a really good decluttering session, and I got rid of a HUGE amount of 'stuff'!!  I sent it all to school with Susannah and her class had great fun with it!!  Her old teacher probably still has tons of it left for Mothers Day/ Easter and Christmas crafts etc etc - and just for general scrapbooking and artsy crafts with the kids!  They even started an Artist trading card club at her school - trading cards with another area school - so I'm sure the supplies were put to good use.  

I really like that I no longer have so much 'stuff' in the way when I work - I saved some of the papers I didn't want, for when the children want to scrapbook/ craft with me, but I don't have much.  It's nice now to just have things that I LOVE!!!  

I also don't find that I'm much of a scrapbooker these days anyway - I love mini albums and art journaling - being creative in other ways - but I rarely actually scrapbook - I am so looking forward to seeing how this class inspires me to use my supplies.  I'm not sure what kind of pages/ album I will create yet - i'll wait for the prompts before I decide.  Shimelle's classes are always so wonderful that I know my creative juices will start flowing.  JYC was so wonderful!  I loved the album I made for that!  

So yes, I didn't really sign up for this class because I have a lot of stash to use up - but more because it's one of Shimelle's classes and I wanted to be a part of it :)  And with that, here is my first homework - blogging pictures of my 'stash'!!!  

Are you PLAYING???

Going....going....GONE!!!!

3:20pm and they have GONE!!!!

???????

They got here after 12pm and they finish at 3:15pm???????  No railings are up.  No railings down the steps....none along the porch.  Just some weird metal things down in the grass??????

And now they have gone.  Not one knock on the door.  Not one word.

Lloyd is NOT happy!!!

Cress heads!!!

Our cress heads are growing fast - we'll soon be able to eat the yummy mustard and cress in egg salad sandwiches or egg toasties....mmmmmm!

Easy supper

After our riverside walk yesterday we came home and had a really easy supper of bacon and egg sandwiches.  Laurence had his without the bread (????)  

Mine was totally yummy even if it wasn't the healthiest dinner I've had lately ;)  

FINALLY!!

They are here!  It's 12:30pm and they are finally here!  There are several of them here - not sure how many - and you know what???  Not ONE of them has bothered to come and knock on the door and say hi and that they are here and who they are or apologise for their lateness or ANYTHING or whatever....now I KNOW why they are here etc etc - but still - I am in the middle of nowhere and they are a group of men and you'd think they would have the manners to say SOMETHING!!!

But no, they don't have the manners to acknowledge the homeowner.  If I remember correctly though (Val maybe you remember) When Denis was here the other week the boss of this company called round to see what materials they needed - and even HE did not acknowledge me - he acknowledged Denis and Jorke but NOT me :(  Ggggrrrrr.

I just find that sooooo rude and ignorant.  I don't know - maybe it is because I am so used to Denis and Mike and Tim, but the entire Apollo team is so polite and friendly and well mannered - even Derek is so well mannered and friendly.  I am just not used to a company like this.  Reminds me of the company we used to build our well!!!  They only ever spoke to Lloyd - it was as if they didn't believe in lowering themselves to speaking to women!!!  Grrrrrr!

Unfortunately it's a wraparound porch - so for the entire afternoon I will be surrounded by workmen and I will feel like a goldfish in a bowl.  Luckily my morning was spent getting the chores done, so dinner is in the crockpot (Thai green curry), the house is clean and tidy, laundry is done, schoolwork is done and the children are happily playing games and relaxing - so I can potter upstairs for the afternoon and not worry about it!  I think i'll take some black sacks upstairs and declutter the girls closet!  Then crochet/ knit for a while and check out swapbot!

Oh hang on:   12.37pm and it seems they are on their lunch break!!!!  omg!!!  I don't believe it!!!

Well thats it!  My coffee machine is on strike!

Happy Birthday

Just a quick post to wish a very Happy Birthday to Val's Husband James!!!

Hope you had a great weekend and have a wonderful day today!!

Best wishes from all of us over here

:)

(image above not my own)

Porch guys

10 am they weren't here.  Lloyd phoned and they said they'd be here at 11.

11:30am and they are NOT here.  Lloyd has left a message on their machine.  They have a LONG history of not returning our calls :(

So, we have half a porch with railings. And since NOVEMBER they have not been showing up.  Their excuses have ranged from it being TOO warm.  TOO cold. The boss's  Dad being in the hospital (which I would almost sympathise with if it hadn't have come across as being one of those 'my dog ate my homework' excuses...sigh - I mean I don't see why that has stopped them coming back ever since - why would that put us back so far????)

The thing that upsets me is that our wraparound porch is not SAFE....there is a steep high drop all around the edge and it gets ICY!!!  I have young children who play out there :(  and we can't even get our final sign-off of our addition with the county until the railings are finished because it's not LEGAL!!!

It's getting to the point where I'm considering threatening them with contacting the Global girl at the local news to get some action.

I mean - who on earth works half days on Monday?????

Ok gripe over - lets hope they show up soon and I have a nice porch to post pictures of before dark tonight.......lol I won't hold my breath!!!

Not the porch guys...but

These were our morning visitors today.  They came through and went into the back side woods.  I thought they would head off onto our neighbours land, but instead it wasn't long before Sam was yelling MOOSE!!  again.  They headed back through our front yard again and over the field across the lane.  I've sent Laurence down to the bus stop with Susannah this morning just in case they are still around.  She was a bit nervous about going alone....Laurence isn't at school today.

And then they came back:

Jumping the fence - cute!!  -