Rocking My World Friday...

Happy RYWF on Saturday! This is going to be a quickie and hopefully one of my positives will be that my internet stays on long enough for me to post. It's very sporadic at the moment and very slow when it actually decides it might work.

Not many pictures this week but still a few things that brightened my week. I am well and truly in the Christmas spirit. It's so nice, especially after I had such a Bah Humbug year last year - really just felt a bit down and couldn't get in the mood. I don't know what the kids think is worse - a Mum who isn't Christmassy at all or one that insists on having every Christmas film going on the telly in the background! Found one with The Hoff in the other day! I kid you not! Cheese-fests a plenty! Have been wrapping my Secret Santa gifts and trying, trying to get Craig to START the shopping for our family and friends. He is a firm believer in the last minute dash. I always used to start in January!

I did manage to sneak these books in under the radar - found them on Amazon and got 4 different ones in their Used & New section. 1p each - just had to pay postage. They are in gorgeous condition, look brand new. I got them for The Bear but showed Ruby as she has been doing Picasso and friends at school and she loved them too. They are board books of various artists, there are others in the collection and am going to get those too - these were the ones that appealed to me most to start with. The art comes with little lyrical texts describing the pictures to introduce kids to art. Just love them - I hadn't seen some of the Picasso art before. Can't wait to give them to  Bear.

Talking of little Mister, he usually comes up to bed when we go up. But this past week he's been happy to go up to his cot an hour or two before we go up. This has meant much needed extra time to spend on my Maths revision and I can really feel the difference that extra bit of time has given me. So bonus one: Routine bedtime for Mister Bear. Bonus two: Couple of hours a night of grown up time. Yay! Hoping when my maths is all done and dusted I can keep reclaiming the time for art stuffs.

My bookshelf now has books on it! This is a big thing - I had to remove them all a while ago as Logey was just trashing them, they've been piled up on my tall shelves or beside my bed. Decided enough was enough this week, I've been trying to get organised and decided my bedroom was going to stop looking like a second hand bookshop. The Bear and I had a chat and he helped me put all my fiction books back on the shelf. He's promised to be nice to the books and not hurt them... so far he has kept to his word. It must be so tempting for a 2 year old to go into a ripping, tearing frenzy. Hence my art books still being up on my high shelves ;) It was like Christmas though - I was discovering books I had forgotten I had and lots I haven't read yet!

Some other bits that have made me smile:

• Haircut and eyebrow taming. I'm no girly girl and that's about as far as it goes... but it does feel nice to get looked after in that way occasionally. 
• Half hour in my shedio today - it's been to long.
• Some pretty amazing views of the moon this week, the sky has been so clear. Pheebs called me in to have a look out of her window a few days ago - it was gorgeous.
• Autumnal colours everywhere.
• Craig, the girls and my squidgy Bear. Always.
• Hot water bottle on my ice block feet in bed.
• Silver crow spotted rooting around for worms in our street with his friends. I must look so weird, slowing the car right down, lowering the window and saying "hello".
• Craig wants me to say his new Norwich. Which is a canary. He is most pleased. He is in love.
  
• Mincepie cookies from Poundland (Oh my word!) Our Thursday, after weigh-in treat!

That'll do me - thanks for stopping by today, how has your week been?

I'm linking up with Virginia :)

Rocking My World Friday...

Hello, happy Friday people. It's that time of the week when I take a few minutes to think about what made me smile over the past seven days. Do it enough times and it really changes the way you think - I recommend giving it a go.

First of all - my poppy arrived. I was really surprised, I thought the dismantling of them all from the Tower would be a mammoth task, that I probably wouldn't see it till the New Year. I was so pleased when it arrived on Wednesday. It's beautiful, still muddy and very, very cold to the touch. We've packed it away again until we can get a vase for it - it's not going outside.

 

The same day was Pheeb's birthday. My baby has turned 14. How can that be? So we had a nice meal out with one of her friends and it was a really lovely day... 

...and what did the big grown up birthday girl ask for? A Build-a-Bear Toothless the Dragon (from How to Train Your Dragon.) Made me so happy!

This sight makes me smile. The Bear has had the Devil in him this week. He's also become a dab hand at trying to play Mummy off against Daddy. And vice versa. He is hyper most of the day, so when he drops... ahhhh, peace.

Don't be deceived by that angelic face!

We went to a uni open day on Saturday - this was to look at their Access course. I was really nervous and I had convinced myself there would be loads of people my age there this time. Nope, still surrounded by fresh faced teenagers. There was a really different vibe to this one than the last one we visited, not in a bad way - just... different. The tutor gave a really good talk and then another really helpful one about building your portfolio. Craig convinced me to hang back and ask some questions, which I'm really glad I did as it really settled my nerves.

I now have to write a personal statement. (Eek!) and apply - they are interviewing in January.

Sticking with the learning stuffs - I got 100% in my last Maths homework - no-one is more surprised than me. We are on the Algebra now though, expect a rapid decline in how I'm doing.

Craig gave me a huge surprise this week - I had spotted this bag the last time we were in Hastings and honestly - talk about drool. It was love at first sight. At nearly £30 though - way to expensive in my eyes. Craig told me not to be disheartened and to look online. Which I did, saw it cheaper and added it to my wishlist to save up for. So imagine my surprise when he walks in all smug and presents it to me this week. For being a brave girl in going to the open days (he's not taking the mickey, he knows how rubbish I am at social situations - really have to psych myself up) and he reckoned I'd need a 'school bag'. *Insert gleeful face here* Isn't it purty?

• Getting the shedio tidy (see my WOYWW post) Next step, going to pretend we're moving and do that kind of declutter of the house.
• Letting the Bear choose what new mittens he wanted. Showed him the boys crocodile ones and the girls furry mouse ones. He chose the furry mice - whoops, that's me in trouble :D He keeps them on though! Nice toasty hands.
• Chocolate Kallo rice cakes. So yum and not to naughty.
• Doing some drawing of an evening.
• Getting started on the Christmas shopping.

And that, I reckon, will do me this week. How has your week been?

I'm heading over to Virginia's to link up. Why not join us?

Thanks for stopping by today :)

WOYWW - What's On My Workdesk, Wednesday...

Sing with me... "What a difference a week makes..." Thank you all for your lovely encouraging words last week. My shedio desk has gone from this...

To this...

Sorry about the angle - you may need to tilt your head. Took it while balancing on one foot and leaning backwards over my daughters bike. And yes, my mind is a lot less cluttered this week too. Things are looking a lot clearer in many ways!

And just to prove I made use of my now reachable supplies, here's the birthday card I made my daughter. She's bonkers about Minions and Superman at the moment.

Fineliner & Sharpie Pens
I used this fab Minion piece by Radenkomvis on Deviant Art as reference.

Happy Birthday Pheebs :)

And now, to link up with Julia at Stamping Ground. If you'd like to see more desks, floors, counters, and work spaces in action - follow me over!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Rocking My World Friday...

Happy Friday all. Going to be a short one this week as it's kind of gone by in a blur.

I've had a tummy bug for most of last week,  it seems to be on the way out now. Still got a queasy tummy and cold symptoms but other than that - the rest of it is gone. So my biggest thankful is Craig. I am not the easiest person to live with when poorly. I'm not the easiest person to live with when not poorly! I don't want fuss, I just want to hibernate. I didn't make it in to my Maths class and was really worried about falling behind. Craig has taken over the school run and even took the bus into my class to pick up extra homework for me. My class is not local  (there wasn't enough uptake) so what would be a 20 minute car journey took him well over an hour each way. He thinks he saw most of Kent that day.

He would tell you that his positive was having the upper deck of a double decker all to himself. He loved that part - he sat at the front. He hasn't done that for years. I stole these pictures off his phone, he must have taken them as they were heading off the old bridge. I like the top picture where you can see the old and new bridge together.

We are off to another open day tomorrow, to look at Access/Foundation diploma courses. It all still seems a little surreal. I've been adding to my portfolio over the last couple of days. Nothing new but Devvie had printed me off some progress shots of things I've done this year. I'm struggling to get new stuff done while trying to stay on top of the Maths, I have to admit. But everyone here is so encouraging and they keep me going. I know I would regret it forever if I didn't try.

Other things I have loved this week:

• Starting to get organised. The shedio still isn't done but that was due to poorliness. 
• Sugary tea when not wanting anything else
• 3lbs off this week. I'm now in my final weight bracket and heading towards that target!
• Being asked if I was me. Apparently I look like a totally different person since the last time this person saw me. That's enough to make anyone smile.
• Craig and my girls... and cuddles with the Bear.
• The Sainsburys advert. They've won the Christmas advert wars for me. They were my favourite last year and looks like they will be again this year. As for people (newspapers) saying it's just to drag you in their stores. They are lucky if I shop there once a year - so ner.

• These porcelain figures by Jessica Harrison.

See and read more on hyperallergic

And that'll do me for this week. How was your week? I'm popping over to Virginia's now to link up with Rocking My World Friday. Why don't you join us in looking for the positives in your week?

Thanks for stopping by today :)

What's On My Workdesk, Wednesday...

...Everything but the kitchen sink, that's what!

I'm hoping this picture spurs me into getting organised again. That was my word for the year. I started off well but this latter part of the year has kind of seen me, erm, wobble off track a bit.

I've felt a general, fingers are not holding on, everything is getting out of control, what's happening feeling, for a while now. Ever get that? That there image of my desk is a pretty good representation of my brain at the moment. So, first things first. Tidy that damn desk.

It's a start ;)

I'll be popping by as many desks as I can this week. I have really missed WOYWW. Really missed it.

If you'd like to do a bit of desk, floor, counter, shedio hopping - be sure to swing by Julia's for the full list.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Art With A Heart ATC Swap - Halloween/Autumn

I recently took part in an ATC swap hosted by Anita Mistry via the Art With A Heart page on Facebook. The theme was Halloween & Autumn. I don't know what happened to my usual grunginess when I sat down to do my ATC. This witchy woman is what happened...

Neocolour ii crayons
Coloured pencils
Fineliner pen
Posca paint pen

She was much more pastel-y in real life. I know - pastel? Me? But I liked her, so off she toddled to the swap.

This is the one I received in return. It's by Ottilia Cormas and is just so beautiful and so sums up Autumn for me.

It's also so unusual in that it looks like she did it on two sides of plastic so the colours kind of float. Just wonderful.

You can see all the entries for the swap here. They are hosting another swap in January which I'll definitely be taking part in. All the entries get exhibited and there is a £2.00 fee for taking part - which covers the postage and packing for your return ATC.  If you fancy taking part - be sure to 'like' the Art With a Heart page for updates.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Rocking My World Friday

Good morning, good morning, good morning. And it is a good morning - the sun is shining here and it looks a proper autumnal day outside. So what better way to start the day than to sit here with my cuppa and think about what made me smile over the past week?

It's been a very lucky week. I won a prize over on the Weird Scissors blog and that arrived this week. It was this rather stunning kilt pin loaded with charms. It came beautifully wrapped in this little cobweb bedecked box...

And this is what greeted me inside. Isn't it beautiful? My picture just can't capture the amount of charms on there.. skulls, skeletons, stars, a voodoo doll, a bird skull, scissors, fangs, a cauldron, a stoppered bottle full of sparkles, gems, keys... I just love it so much! Thank you Jaz.

And then, the other day I won the Cowling & Wilcox giveaway on their Facebook page. They are sending me an assortment of 10 Promarkers of my choice (I asked them to pick me out a selection of greys and skin tones) and a goody bag. Lucky week or what?

This week saw us start back to Maths after the half term. Not kidding you - I think I am going to be lucky if I scrape the C I need - I just don't get it. I understand it a tiny bit while I'm there but in the time it takes to get home... I think I leave the information in the classroom! But I am enjoying going and I am learning stuff. We got our exam dates for next year and everyone at home is being so supportive. One of our neighbours, Ruby's friends Nan, has even brought round one of the grandkids Maths dictionary books to borrow and is saving me brain teasers from her newspaper. So much support from everyone - it's been lovely.

I only put half a lb on this week. That is very good news. I really stuck to plan while we were away in Hastings and then kind of lost the plot when we got home... so half a lb was such a happy sight on those scales. Having a great week thus far - on plan and really yum meals. Am loving Pinterest for finding new recipes and am going to try out a new one each week. We had a taster day at group this week and one of the ladies made a chocolate drizzled black forest roulade. Oh. My. Word. Making that at Christmas - could quite happily have fought everyone else off with my fork and ate the whole thing. Actually, we were saying - you could cut it almost in half , eat that half and still remain on plan. Gotta love Slimming World!

I seem to have forgotten my word for the year (Organisation) so this weekend I am trying to get back on track. I am well ahead of myself (for once) with My Secret Santa's - have wrapped most of the gifts and just need to make the handmade part of those. Going to make a start on trying to get a couple of gifts handmade for people that have asked for them in my family and friends circle too. I've also got a big sketchbook sorted to try and get my portfolio properly under way rather than just talking/thinking about it. I'm also trying to set aside an hour a day for Maths homework - that bit's easier said than done. So this is a grateful for next week. Hopefully I'll be telling you how much I've managed to get done.

This is a picture Craig captured on his phone this morning. He gets up at stupid o'clock and he caught this gorgeous early morning rainbow.It shows up much better on his phone than it does on my screen but after how cold and miserable and dark it seemed to stay all day yesterday - I thought this was just beautiful.

Some other things that made me smile this week:

• An ATC arrived from a swap I was in, just beautiful. Blog post to follow.
• Putting the heating on for the first time, taking the chill off.
• New (to me) children's cartoon I discovered today. No kids in the room and there's me sat entranced... loved the bit that this clip doesn't actually show, where they go under water. Such beautiful papery animation...

• Cheesy Christmas films on TV.
• Heavily reduced Quorn products on the discount counter.
• Autumnal colours.
• Our hot water bottle and the knitted blanket Craig's Mum made us a couple of years ago. Snuggly!
• Sat here typing with a cuddly Bear on my lap.

And that'll do me for this week. I'm popping over to Virginia's to link up. Why don't you join us?

Thanks for stopping by today - how has your week been?

Rocking My World Friday...

Well lookee here. I might be late but I'm posting - two weeks running! The reason for my lateness is that we had a couple of days in Hastings visiting Craig's Mum - we just got back yesterday. The weather was beautiful while we were away - people still walking around in shorts and t-shirts, in October! Bonkers!

Unfortunately we are all at various stages of catching a cold/fluey type bug. I'm lucky in that it's just starting now but poor old Craig had it while we were away. That didn't stop a certain Miss and her Nanna from heading out to a Halloween party. They didn't roll home till gone 10pm! Dirty stop outs! Nanna was a witch and her sidekick was a zombie witch! (That's my girl!) Sounds like they had so much fun.

This little Bear didn't want to be left out of the picture taking shenanigans. He was so tired, bless him.

While we were there, we were visited every morning by this little robin. Craig's Mum says he is a frequent visitor - he certainly wasn't shy. Very appreciative of her window feeder by the looks of things.  

One of the days we popped into town. Devvie and I went into New Look and I decided to try some clothes on. I had no idea what size I was, I've said I'm not buying new clothes till I get to my target weight. So I'm still wearing my size 18 jeans with a belt and size 20 tops... which are quite baggy now... I am now a size 16 top and a loose size 14 bottom. Never been a 14 in my life. Ever. I'm not sure if my glee comes across - I know I was quite restrained. (The poor changing room girls must have wondered what was going on!)

Little Bears legs make me chuckle in this :P

Only about a stone to go till target now. Hoping to get there before Christmas.

Some other things that have made me smile this week:

• The Bear not having chicken pox. We thought he did for a couple of days there.
• Being read to by Ruby while I'm having a long soak in the bath.
• Tea. Lots of.
• McDonalds coffee and a shortbread biscuit. Yum.
• Christmas shopping for my Secret Santa's.
• Tidying my indoor shelves - can reach my books now! Next stop for decluttering, my shedio!
• Quorn 'chicken' nuggets. Just discovered them this week and love them. I can eat the whole bag if I wanted to and still be on plan. I haven't... but I could.
• Crunching through big piles of fallen leaves.

And now - my little Bear has fallen asleep. Little Miss has gone to the cinema with her friend and the older two are back to school today. Which means Maths homework time for me. I'll pop over to Virginia's to link up. Why not pop over yourself and have a think about what made your week good?

Thanks for stopping by today :)