welcome to my world janmary

Lessons Learned - Hats, education and faith

2009-11-10T13:39:00.000Z

A bit of a mixed bag of lessons learned this week.

First, because I love the photo, as they say "If you want to get ahead, get a hat" - who said that anyway?

While checking out a local craft fair last week, my daughter chose this gorgeous hand-knitted hat. A bargin at only £6. Are you a hat-person? I am definitely not, or at least I have yet to find a hat which looked as good on me as it does when it is in my hands!

Second - Education, eductaion, education

With all 3 kids being back to school, and my youngest finally having full school hours of 9am to 2pm, it is not surprising that I am learning lots about their education this week.

Ever wonder what goes on in your child's head? Well this week I got a glimpse as my eldest composed a poem entitled "Inside my Head".

My middle child had a great fun homework this week - make up 3 wacky excuses as to why you were not able to do your homework. Here are what she came up with:

My son got his first book home to "read" this week, no words yet, but a cause of great pride and excitement for him!

Here he is reading it to his big sisters.

Sunday was Remembrance Sunday, and after a walk in the park we went to the War Memorial. It was moving to see so many remembered from wars past and present, and those killed in duty far away and close to home too.

Final Lesson - and by no means least, I have again this week had the privilege of having one of my children ask me how they can become a friend of Jesus, and leading them in prayer to become a Christian,

Their child-like faith is so moving, at such a young age, and I look forward to watching their faith grow and mature. All three of our kids have now made a commitment to the Christian faith. It is a challenge to me to continue to live my faith as an example for them every day and pray that I will be an encouragement to them.

Have YOU learned anything this week? Please share.

For more Lessons Learned, visit Musings of a Housewife.

Fall-Fest and 3 Lessons Learned

2009-11-03T20:45:00.001Z

This year our church held a Fall-Fest celebration on 31st October as an alternative to the tradtional Halloween Celebrations, so instead of dressing up and having too much sugar Trick or Treating, we went to a party where.....the kids dressed up and had too much sugar!

Posting my lessons up in 3 parts

Lesson 1

Despite only arriving home on the afternoon of 31 October after a week at the cottage, it is possible to simply decorate the house.

A. Open up the GENUINE AMERICAN CANDY delivered personally by a lovely blogger during her irish trip, and discover it tastes very different to how you imagined! However the kids loved sharing it with their friends, telling them all it was REAL!

B. Arrange artistically with a fake spider or two

C. Wrap some tangled leftover garlands from last year around the base of the table lamp - Voila!

Lesson 2 - Remember your "please and thankyou"s for they are the magic words

We did do a wee bit of Trick or Treating first just in our own street prior to going to Fall-Fest, but on a much smaller scale than usual.

Here are my kids attempting to look scary - but believe they can be quite scary without the aid of costumes.

My daughters no longer want to "dress-up properly" but it was a good excuse to wear lots of black!

As it is so dark here by 6pm after the clocks changed back last weekend, any photos I attempted to take were a disaster - so none of those to share, sorry.

At one door the kids were offered apples - my polite son said "No thanks, I don't want an apple, can I have a lollipop please?" At least he remembered his pleases and thanksyous!

3. Fall - Fest was a huge success!

So down at church a huge amount of effort and hard work had gone into the planning, promotion, decorating and staffing the event.

As I don't really want to put photos of other kids on my blog, here are a few of the wee details that made the night such a success :

We were greated by "snow" on the way in - for those of you from colder parts, even this much (artificial) snow is a cause for excitement!

Lots of pumpkins

The table centres in the free cafe

More decor.

Scarecrows

Some of the many (all free) activities included - fancy dress competition, bouncy castle, badge making, basket ball hoop, table football, mini-golf, family portraits, beading, craft, bun decorating, nail painting, hair braiding, balloon modelling, "fairground" games, puppet show, free popcorn and free party bag.......

Thanks to the lovely Katie Hadfield (a digital designer) I was able to use some of her details to create a digital frame to be printed with the free family portraits. As many kids and some adults were dressed up there proved to be some interesting "family" poses - including pirates, fairies, aliens and the like!

The evening ended with everyone going to watch the firework show by the council in the local park. Despite very heavy rain earlier in the day, the evening was dry and clear. There was even a full moon!

Lots of families from the local community joined the church families, and nearly every room in our church was filled.

So the lesson learned from Fall Fest?

Our church is full of some very talented people who willingly gave of their time and gifts to create a memorable even for all who attended.

So what have you learned this week?

And have you ever attended a non-Halloween event such as our Fall Fest?

You know I love to know!

For more lessons visit Musings of a Housewife

PS If you are from the UK - visit HERE and leave a comment to WIN an M&S voucher.

GIVEAWAY - £25 Marks & Spencers Vouchers for TWO winners!

2009-10-30T21:00:00.001Z

I am delighted to announce TWO giveaway prizes of £25 vouchers, thanks to a great new site which I have discovered.

www.vouchercodes.co.uk
Do you use discount codes? I must confess I tend to look for them for online purchases, but forget about them for restaurants, shops on the High Street etc.

However, I now have a great place to search for UK vouchers.

To be in with a chance of winning, just leave me a comment below, telling me what you would spend your M&S vouchers on if you won. (I wonder how many bags of Percy Pigs you could get for £25!)

Giveaway will close Friday 13th November at 10pm, GMT.
For more details on Terms and Conditions you can email me for a copy (a link directly to them will follow shortly).

Open to UK bloggy readers only this time, sorry everyone else.

On to other news - since my last (beachy) blog post here are a few things we have been up to here at the cottage.

We attempted to make more Brownies - this time WITH the sugar, and they were delicious!

Today we went 10-pin bowling - and as you can see I had great fun photographing the lights.

Finally, as promised, here are a few of my new creations for janmary designs - coming to my new on-line store SOON!

Let me know what you think of these - feedback always helpful.

That is you lot for tonight. Remember to leave a comment (with valid email address if you are entering the giveaway).

Blogging from the beach

2009-10-28T15:27:00.001Z

Following my last live blogging on my iPhone, here I am again, blogging on the go!

We are on Runkerry Strand, the sun is shining, it is pleasantly warm and the waves are gentle.

It is October so it is time to attempt to get the family photo for the Christmas card. Usually with assistance from my husband and the bribery of a few sweets we succeed. If we don't manage it I always threaten to produce the Santa hats.....enough of a threat to focus their minds!!!!

So here are a few pics from my iPhone of fun on the sand.

Take care, and come back soon

Don't Count Your Brownies ... lessons learned from half-term break

2009-10-27T19:09:00.010Z

1. It is wonderful when the hour changes over a half-term break - gives all of us more time to adjust, although for a certain 5 year old in our house it is taking MUCH later than it should!

2. When you plan to post a lesson about how much more delicious home-made chocolate brownies will be when made my your husband and your kids DON'T count your chickens (or should that be brownies!).

Error 1 One daughter measured out (almost) all of the ingredients
Error 2 Rely on your husband to supervise (in his defense he said he was only superficially supervising)
Error 3 Suggest they make DOUBLE the quantity (that was me - oops)
Error 4 Take a large mouthful of warm brownie AND THEN realize that someone forgot to add sugar!

No names mentioned to protect the guilty! They were certainly the most memorable brownies that have ever been made in our home.

3. When on holidays at the cottage it is wonderful when your husband offers to do ALL the menu planning, grocery shopping and cooking. Yes - I appreciate him!

4. It is amazing how much jewellery/jewelery you can make when you get a few undisturbed hours - I don't think I have EVER been so productive.

5. Geocaching is great fun for all the family, and can be done using your iphone! (as the add says - there's an app for that). We met up with friends who took us to a small forest and lake. The kids did not seem to notice how far we walked (not that far...but NO complaining!) especially when they found their first "treasure".

Definitely something we will be repeating lots - maybe even tomorrow if it is not raining.

6. Pumpkin carving - greatly enjoyed by kids and husband!

Although someone got a little bored as Daddy was having more fun!

It always make my husband and I reminisce about how, as children, we only had turnips to make lanterns with. Lots of bent metal spoons and aching arms, if you have never the fortune/misfortune to attempt to hollow out a turnip - imagine trying to carve out a brick!

Think that is your lot except to add a few photos from our Half-term break.

Coming soon - to a blog near you.....

Lots of new jewellery/jewelery to share - I have some lovely new beads and designs
A giveaway - Marks and Spencers Vouchers to be won!
Fall Fest - our church is having an alternative community event for Halloween.

For more lessons learned, visit the lovely Jo-Lynne

More wedding photos...of the bride with the black dress and and purple shoes!

2009-10-22T08:04:00.004+01:00

Due to popular demand, I have some more of the wedding photos to share.

Paula was able to see them properly for the first time yesterday, and she and Jimmy have a fun evening ahead selecting which images they want to include in their photo book, mini-album and digital scrapbook page.It was lovely to see her reaction, but I did not quite manage to make her cry (in a good way)........ She said she is becoming more immune to my photography and scrapping and I need to "step it up a bit" in the emotion stakes! In the past, the mere glimpse of one of my photos or layouts could make Paula start to weep (or leak as my son would say).

Lessons learned and creativity shared

2009-10-19T20:34:00.007+01:00

Have a thumping headache, so this will be a short(ish) post!

First some items to share:

Two Digital Scrap Layouts featuring a certainly little red-headed boy who turned 5 last week. He told me it was his "BEST birthday ever".

Two recently commissioned items I made for janmary designs.(Not much for sale in the Etsy store just now, but my OWN STORE opening soon and I am working on lots of new items!)

A toggle bracelet in purples/reds/black.

A bungee stretch bracelet with black and striped black cane beads

Orders welcome (hint, hint!)

So on to lessons learned

1. Having a headache is NOT fun (but we all knew that already)

2. Photographing a wedding is fun, stressful and a privilege.

3. Black was the PERFECT colour (color) for the bride.

Especially when worn with these killer purple shoes.

4. Autumn leaves are incredibly beautiful.

5. My final lesson this week is that lessons seem harder to remember this week! So that is your lot for now.

As requested, more wedding photos to follow.

Not sure if there will be What I Learned This Week over at Jo-Lynne's blog, but visit her anyway, because she is just lovely!

The Bride Wore Black! My first time photographing a wedding.

2009-10-18T20:07:00.007+01:00

So I was invited to photograph my first wedding yesterday.

It was a bit stressful, but also lots of fun, and great to be part of Paula and Jimmy's day.

It was quite unconventional and informal, from the music choices to having no seating plan or order of service and it all helped to create the relaxed atmosphere for such a lovely celebration - just how Paula wanted it!

In addition to the wedding ceremony, all 4 of their kids were baptised as part of the service.

So here are just a few of the photos I took.

The Bride arriving
The flower girl twins
During the service

Saying their vows

The Blessing - their hands held together by our minister.
The happy couple once the formalities were over.

And outside the church
The cutest flower girls

Paula was happy for me to share them on the blog. Thanks Paula and Jimmy for letting me be part of your day - it was wonderful.

Do you have a fave pic?

Would you like to see more? (because, as you can imagine, there are lots more!!!)

Be sure to let me know.

I will be back soon with some NEW digital scrapbooking layouts.

Until then take care, and comment!

Autumn on the Beach, and other lessons

2009-10-12T20:37:00.009+01:00

This weekend we escaped to the cottage. Although on Friday morning I was not looking forward to packing up and getting there, waking up to sunny blue skies on Saturday morning made it all worth while.

I took my camera off to the beach, to capture some textures and colours. I was amazed by the autumnal feel to the path on the way to the beach, down to the river, over the foot bridge and through the sand dunes. Usually I am keeping up with the kids as they race to the waves on the beach, but on Saturday I had time to linger on the path and here are a few of the images I captured.

It was lovely to not have to defend WHY I was photographing a frost-burned nettle leaf!
On the beach, the autumn colours continued with some amazing variety of seaweeds which had been washed up that morning. The surf was impressive, and a few brave souls were enjoying the waves.So, lessons learned this week

LESSON 1 - I miss spending time taking photos, and I need to do it more often.

LESSON 2.- I love the beach out of season

LESSON 3 - I now have a FIVE year old!LESSON 4 - I miss digital scrapbooking too - here is my most recent layout.

LESSON 5 - Someone has asked me to take photos at their wedding THIS SATURDAY! Lovely to be asked, but now slightly panicking! It will be a very informal wedding, and they don't want any of the traditional photos - just lots of candid photos and a few wee details. I have permission to share some of the photos on my blog - so be sure to come back to see how I got on.

LESSON 6 - This is STILL my fave place to photograph trees!
For more lessons, visit Jo-Lynne's blog and see what other bloggers have been learning and sharing this week.

So, what have I learned this week?

2009-10-06T12:51:00.004+01:00

Regular bloggy friends, tell me ......... do you, like me, look forward to these lessons learned?

If I did not have this regular prompt to keep my blogging on track I may have disappeared over the edge into the bloggy abyss to join the other abandoned blogs out there. So thanks Jo-Lynne, without you I may not even be here.

So without further ado (what is ado?) here we go:

Lesson 1

I love Autumn - we have had some beautiful crisp mornings. Following some strong winds over the weekend, there are now lots of leaves to crunch through on the paths.

Lesson 2

I do not like the dark mornings that come with Autumn. It is now 7.15 am or later when it starts to get light - makes it so much harder to get up when it is dark outside.

Lesson 3

Who's the Mummy?! I have made it into the TOP 100 UK Mum Bloggers - I may only be at number 68, but it is a start!

Lesson 4

I have had another digital layout accepted to be published in a UK scrapbooking magazine - a REAL one, that you can buy in REAL shops! (This distinction is vital in my kids eyes - being published on-line is not enough for them)

Lesson 5

Having a 5 year old boy's 5th birthday party NOT AT HOME was a wonderful idea. Everyone had a wonderful time, then we returned to a calm and quiet house to enjoy a chinese takeaway without having to clear away the party "fall-out".

Lesson 6

Can't wait for my Pampered Chef goodies to arrive - then I promise a FULL report, with pictures, on the Pampered Chef party, and which products I chose.

Lesson 7

While composing this post I initially left Lesson 7 blank. I was hoping something else was going inspire me while I cooked chile con carne for our tea (or maybe you call it dinner, or supper? - let me know what you call the main meal you eat around 6pm-ish) - but nothing has.

I suppose I HAVE learned that I don't know what my bloggy readers call their evening meal - so enlighten me please (and thankyou - for they are the magic words).

REMEMBER - please enter my giveaway, as the very nice people at uprinting.com have allowed this giveaway to be open to US AND UK - so enter PLEASE and you could win 250 customised cards, with free delivery. More great giveaways planned soon - so stay tuned.

In fact, if you are from UK and have never commented yet, why not take the plunge and make a comment! I know I have lots of UK readers/lurkers, but most of my commentors seem to come from the rest of the world. To help get more great UK giveaways, I need some more "local" commentors.....who knows, you might even win something!

For more lessons learned by bloggers this week, visit Jo-Lynne

Over to you.....

An early birthday, with a Mickey theme

2009-10-04T20:13:00.008+01:00

My son is a huge fan of "M-I-C-K-E-Y.....M-O-U-S-E!" - are you singing along?

We needed to have an early party so we could have fully parental attendance, and the date was set for my son's 5th birthday party.

So I made some Mickey invites, we had a Mickey Mouse birthday cake, and (due to a technical oversight on my part) he did NOT wear his Mickey t-shirt, but wore his Donald Duck top to the party.

He invited 9 friends, 7 from his class, a friend from another class and a friend from our church. As he has only been in school for 3 weeks, it was a great chance to meet some of the kids and their parents.

We chose to book a new local soft-play place for the party - a great decision. I will pretend that this blurry action shot was deliberate, and I was being artistic!

Everyone happy, all played out, loved the food, and in no time at all the parents were collecting them.

A success all round!After the party there was a bit of a frenzy as presents were opened.

Batteries needed to be inserted and small parts assembled - not necessarily by my son!
That is my party round up for now - only 2 more kids in our house to have birthdays before Christmas.

Hope your weekend has been a success too - what have YOU been up to?

More lessons, and the start of a dining room makeover

2009-09-29T21:12:00.007+01:00

OK - last week I apologized for missing out on blogging, and here I am again.....history is repeating itself! So it is a bit cheeky to ask "Did you miss me?"

However, I have blogged ONCE since the last lessons learned - with a wonderful giveaway, sponsored by Uprinting.com. You can win 250 personalised cards (with free shipping to US AND UK - I know, the UK!!!) (I am excited as rarely to US companies offer free shipping to UK, so come on all you UK lurkers, comment on the post for a chance to win).

Did you catch that - TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY cards? I plan to use Uprinting.com for my Christmas Cards this year, but I would struggle to find 250 people to send them to, what about you? How many cards (if any) do you send?

Lessons learned this week? Here they are:

Sick kids are not fun, but when they fall asleep on the sofa they can still look very cute.

Plans can change but when you have 2 men ready and willing to paint a room, be flexible and make the most of the opportunity

Due to a number of un-anticipated issues, we were unable to repaint our bedroom as planned last Friday. As my husband had already planned to take the day off work, and my Dad (thanks, Dad!) was also booked to come and help, there was a quick change of the plan and the dinnng room received a facelift instead.

Here are the before pics - terracotta-ish walls, supposedly warm and welcoming, but more orange than I would have chosen, lots of pine furniture, my "office" and craft work-room (i.e. the dining room table!), curtains which were faded and we never did manage to finish the pelment for each window.

After-ish

I say "after-ish" as we still need to get a light fitting, new curtains, eventually change the carpet (which we have had for 17 years, and moved with us from our last home 11 years ago as a "temporary" measure). We also need to put some photos back on the walls - I am thinking black and white photos all with matching frames.

My plan is cream/black theme - and this little notebook is my inspiration.

As I (hopefully) make progress I will keep you informed.

We moved the sideboard to the hall, and are not putting the dresser shelves back up and I have plans to maybe use it at the cottage instead.

Sorry the quality of the photos are not too great - it has been a tough week!

When you get out of the way of blogging regularily, it can be a struggle to get back to it

Pampered Chef parties are fun - even though I always feel a bit awkward that friends feel obligated to buy. I will do a separate post on the Pampered Chef night when the products I have chosen arrive. An enjoyable evening, lovely food and great chat. Did not sell much jewelery this time, but hopefully some orders soon.

That's your lot for this week - leave a comment if you can.

For more lessons, from MUCH more regular bloggers, visit Jo Lynne and check out the links there.

Come back soon(ish) for more if you dare!

Until then, take care.

A Customised Card Giveaway - 250 cards!

2009-09-25T07:33:00.008+01:00

UPDATE

This giveaway is now closed and the winner (chosen at random, I promise) is

Amanda from I Am Mommy

Congrats to Amanda and keep watching for more giveaways soon.

The lovely people at UPrinting have offered to give 250 printed custom greeting cards to one of my bloggy friends in US or UK!

Regular readers will have seen the canvas I received following my last giveaway from UPrinting and I was really impressed with the quality and service so am looking forward to trying out their greeting card printing.

I would use my 250 for christmas cards. I just need to take a photo or two (!!!! - or a hundred) of my kids looking appropriately seasonal.

Last year I took a photo on the beach in October. The kids tolerated the "photoshoot" quite well as I threatened that I would have to produce the Santa hats if I did not get a suitable photo! Worked like a charm and here is last year's digitally scrapped Christmas card.

For your chance to win just tell me how you would use your prize of 250 cards..... yes...... it is THAT simple!

Winner chosen at random. Open to US AND UK readers (sorry everyone else). Giveaway closes on 12 October (my son's birthday). Prize includes FREE shipping within US and to UK so total value is $200.

Prize Offered: (250 ct.) 7 x 5" (folded to 3.5 x 5") Custom Greeting Cards
Shipping: Free UPS Ground within United States and free shipping to UK

This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting.

Go forth and comment!

Did you miss me? Lessons learned.

2009-09-21T20:15:00.008+01:00

You may or may not notice but I have not blogged since last Tuesday. It was not a planned absence from blogland, but sometimes it just happens. Did I miss much?

So here are a few of the things I have been up to, and some lessons learned along the way:

I attended a Pampered Chef party, where I also displayed my jewelery for sale. The Pampered Chef party was fun, and I am hosting one next week myself. I bought a few of their products a few years ago, and every item has lasted really well. If you love Pampered Chef, please tell me your top-rated product.

PHOTOS TO FOLLOW - NEED TO GET THIS POST UP!

Promoting and selling my own jewelery was a bit nerve wrecking but it was well received, I sold quite a number of items, and have spent since then making new items to replenish my stock. Here are a few new goodies I have created.

I would love to know which piece you prefer - always good to know what colours (colors) and designs appeal to others. Thanks.

I rarely wear a dress, and it is several years since I bought one, but I found one I loved in Gap which I wore for the first time on Sunday. Of course I made some new jewelery to match (a good excuse to visit The Bead Shop in Annahilt) too. So this week I learned that maybe dresses are so bad after all. Can't find the dress on-line to share, but it is an aubergine colour, in a fine cord. Here is the jewelery that co-ordinates with it.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to shell peas which were a gift from my brother-in-laws vegetable garden. The kids loved it too, popping them open and emptying the contents, and almost as many were eaten raw as were left to cook.

Monday will go down as the first (and probably not the last) day when my son had an "incident with a marker pen" which is how his P1 teacher described it. My son decided that white-board marker pens were also for drawing on faces, hair and school jumpers. Fortunately it was only his own face etc that he drew on, but then another child copied him and drew on her face too.

He looked suitable sheepish as I collected him from school but as you can see, he had soon recovered by the time I took this photo (with pen marks still visible!)

Finally, I learned it is fun to view your own country through the eyes of another - I mentioned meeting up for lunch with Jen, and you can read all about her trip to Ireland on her blog. She has some great photos, and managed to find some very eccentric places to stay too. For those of you who dream of a trip to Ireland (and we both know who you are!) this might give you a glimpse of what delights are in-store for you when you do finally make it over here.

For more lessons learned, visit Jo-Lynne where you can find lots of other bloggers who are willing to share their lessons too.

Thanks for your comments - I love the validation!

Lessons Learned - autumn, taxes and bathrooms!

2009-09-15T19:33:00.010+01:00

Lessons learned this week:

Despite a few days of glorious weather, autumn is on it's way. On Sunday in the local park I could see the first leaves changing colour (color - just in case you think, like spell check, that I don't know how to spell where you live!) on the trees and even the first conkers of the season too!

Are there any signs of the changing seasons in your corner of the world?

We received some potential plans for our bathroom (aka the room of gloom) makeover. This would be the view from above - we are considering various options, but this is our preferred one at the moment......but I reserve the right to change my mind at any moment!

Sometimes it is worth entering a photo competition even if it is a last minute decision. I love I Heart Faces and was delighted to come second. Sorry to regular readers here to mention it AGAIN, but I was very chuffed!

I love my newly purchased sign - my latest, which is destined for the cottage of course.

Learning about income tax, Class 2 and Class 4 national insurance contributions etc is not as scary as I thought it would be.

As part of setting up my small business, janmary designs, I attended a 4 hour seminar today on "Becoming Self-Employed" by HMRC (Her Majestys Revenue and Customs!).

Also in attendance were two moblile hairdressers, one originally from Russia and the other from Lithuania. If it was a challenge for me in English, I cannot imagine trying to follow it in another language.

I am attending night classes for free training in lots of areas such as marketing, financial planning, book keeping etc at our local Business Enterprise Centre. I have met some really interesting and varied people who are also starting their own businesses.

At the modules I have attended so far I have met a female tatooist, someone who makes celebration cakes, graphic designers, a couple planning to sell organic baby food, a silver smith and a wine journalist, among many others.

It is fascinating to meet all these people, having met mostly mums in the school playground and at toddler groups for the last number of years.

I am bringing my jewellery and digital scrapbooking along to a Pampered Chef evening a friend is hosting - now that is MUCH more scary than tax returns!

It will be great to introduce my "creations" (!) to some new people, and hopefully get some orders in the run up to Christmas.

So.....hint, hint.....if you would like me to create a bespoke bracelet, necklace or phone charm, or perhaps create your family christmas card or a custom digital picture using your photos......get in touch. I would love to help :)

Here are a few items to remind you of what I love to do....

For more great lessons, visit Jo-Lynne - I love to see what other lessons fellow bloggers have learned this week.

Have you learned anything? Please share.

Project 365 - Weekly summaries

2009-09-13T21:08:00.005+01:00

Are you taking part in Project 365 - taking a photo a day to record life's happenings (both monemental and insignificant) for 365 days?

I am (just about) managing to keep going, with the help of digital scrapbooking. Gina at Weeds and Wildflowers has created an amazing resource /collection called LIFE 365 to help us "scrap" these moments. From time to time she also creates "add-ons" to build up the collection further, and if your weekly summaries are UP TO DATE (!) then you are entitled to claim the next "add-on" for free.

So there has been a flurry of activity on my laptop, to ensure I have caught up, and I want to share them with you.

So here you have six weeks of my life over the summer, preserved for posterity now in all their digital glory!

As always, I love your comments.

We have been enjoying some beautiful warm mild days here in Northern Ireland, but already the trees are starting to change colour - will share some photos soon.

I came 2nd in I Heart Faces Photo contest this week!

2009-09-12T08:52:00.004+01:00

Yes - can't quite believe it, but this photo in the TOP TEN of the Back To School theme at I Heart Faces this week, and what's more, I came SECOND!!!

(Can you tell I am pleased and excited?)

I have loved I Heart Faces since it began, and portraits are my fave subject to photograph. Each week I love to see the winners, so to be included is thrilling!

They also have some great tutorials and challenges - check it out if you haven't already.

OK, enough......I will try to not to go on about it......TOO much!

Have a lovely weekend.

Hooked on Wall Decor

2009-09-11T12:36:00.007+01:00

I don't know about you, but I go through phases of not buying anything for the walls at home or at the cottage, and then within a few days seem to acquire a number of items.

Firstly I found this bargain of a sign for our holiday cottage..... for only £3 in a sale.

I love this shade of blue, and of course the words or very appropriate for the house near the sea.

My husband does not quite share my enthusiasm for all things blue/shabby, and asked helpful things like "Is it supposed to look like that?" and " You do realise the paint is flaking off, don't you?" To which I reply "Yes, yes, and...... yes...... before you ask..... I DO want to put it in the cottage!"

As with THIS sign, sometimes they just don't get it, but we agree to disagree, and I hang up my signs!

The other item to arrive, after much anticipation, was my stretch canvas print from UPrint. Do you remember the giveaway I hosted here on my blog by the nice people at Online Poster Printing? Well, the winner (Lori) and I both got to chose a holiday photo to have made into a stretch canvas. It arrived this week - hurrah!

Here it is - a rather unconventional choice of summer holiday photo, but quite true to form here in N Ireland, and letting my kids play in the rain was truly one of their highlights of the entire summer!

I promise I am not just saying this (because I always give my own opinions here) but I was really impressed with the quality, color, standard of finish, and how well wrapped up and protected it was when it arrived.

If you want to know more about Online Poster Printing canvas prints or the other services offered by U Printing, be sure to check out the links. They are very supportive of the blogging community, and I have found them to be most accomodating.

On Fridays I love to take part in a few blogging carnivals, so I am HOOKED on wall decor, finding a Beautiful Life in signs that make me happy, and remembering those special times with our kids.

What about you?

Visit Hooked on Houses and The Inspired Room for much, much more!

It has been a LONG and TIRING week, so looking forward to a quiet weekend. Have you any plans for the weekend? Let me know. Thanks.

Lessons Learned - and the Room of Gloom

2009-09-08T12:54:00.008+01:00

It's time for this week's lessons and a recap.

Never underestimate the pride and emotion of getting ALL THREE KIDS to school. That day has finally arrived in our house, and here is the evidence to prove it.

One week on, everyone is still happy, and no-one has lost any belongings or got themselves lost (yet!).

Never underestimate the love of a cheese sandwich. My son declared his love for his new teacher, saying he loved her lots.....as much as a cheese sandwich! (Praise indeed).

Despite the fact that is happens EVERY YEAR I never seem to be prepared with sufficent appropriate wrapping paper to cover the exercise books sent home to be covered after the first day of school. Do kids (in reality it's the Mum's) do this in other countries? Here are a few of my middle daughter's books.

Meeting up in real life with a bloggy friend was great. Jen was over from America on a belated honeymoon, and she met me on her birthday for lunch in Avoca Cafe in Belfast. It was lovely to chat, although at times seemed a bit surreal! We were both relieved to find neither was odd or creepy (!) despite some of her recent experiences of Irish hospitality. You can look forward to reading about her trip on her blog, but let's just say she stayed in some memorable places!

Does everyone else have a calendar for September as busy and scary as ours? No matter how much you try to avoid it, so much is packed into these 4 weeks. Fortunately things slacken off a bit during October, then from mid-November right up to Christmas it is full-on again.

Finally starting to look at our options for our bathroom means I will finally share a "before" picture of our bathroom (aka the Room of Gloom). For a south facing room with 2 windows it has always appeared dull due to the black and grey/gray tiling of the early 90's. In fact although the bathroom suite is white, we were sure it was actually that trendy colour of 1990 known as "whisper grey/gray". We are having some plans drawn up, and I will keep you updated on the progress.

So those are my lessons from this past week. What about you, learned anything? Please share.

ALL back to school - a photo collage

2009-09-08T12:33:00.004+01:00

As mentioned in the previous post, the theme is Back To School at I Heart Faces.

There is a separate link where you can add a collage of photos relating to Back to School, which is just for fun.

Here is mine - using Weeds & Wildflowers digital products, in celebration of the fact that I now have ALL THREE CHILDREN at school :)

Yes, of course I miss them, and life is even more hectic with school runs, packed lunches, music lessons etc, but it is great to see them all so happy and keen to learn (even if not from their mother!!).

For more back to school photos including collages, check out this link at I Heart Faces.

Back to School .....or First day of School really!

2009-09-07T22:27:00.004+01:00

I managed to catch my live-wire son in a rare moment of calmness and contemplation on the morning of his first day of Primary School.

This week the I Heart Faces theme is "Back to School" , and although (as usual) I have lots of photos of all 3 kids, this is the one I have chosen to submit.

He actually looks quite daunted and nervous in this photo, but let me assure you, he bounced into the classroom with a grin, and immediately started to play without even a backward glance towards me.

Later in the week, he told me he loved his new teacher lots and lots ..... as much as a cheese sandwich!!! Yes, coming from my son, this is high praise!

Wii have finished! ..... and ramblings too

2009-09-03T20:26:00.009+01:00

Okay - I promise no more "wii" puns for a while.

The 30 day challenge I undertook with the Wii EA Active Sport Personal Trainer is over, or at least if would have been, if I had managed to complete all 20 workouts which I should have managed to do by now.

Confession - I have not been as disciplined about following the program - but this is a real, honest review, so I am being really honest!

The positives

varied program

Options to add extra activities (tennis, volleyball, baseball etc)

you can do it when it suits you

also encourages healthy eating, drinking water and getting enough sleep!

my kids loved it too, especially the running track

I can definitely see an improvement in my fitness level, and it definitely got me more active than I would have been without it.

The negatives

the encouraging voice gets a bit repetitive - wish there was the option to turn that bit off.

Wii sensor did not always recognise your movements, sometimes you needed to repeat a move several times for it to register.

handles on the resistance band became uncomfortable for me.

Overall I did really enjoy the program, and wished I had been more disciplined.

Would I do it again? - Yes

Would I stick at it better next time? I hope so!

I plan to continue using the Wii EA Active Sport Personal Trainer, especially for those times when exercising outside the home is not an option.

I would like to thank the Wii representatives and especially their PR (Kim) who was lovely to work with, for sending me the product to review.

If you too have the Wii EA Active Sport Personal Trainer, or have been tempted to get it I would love to hear your thoughts.

In other happenings, I was so keen to start my jewellery design course at the local college that I arrived today ONE WEEK early! - I felt a right eejit!!

So instead I spent the morning in bathroom showrooms gathering advice and brochures for my modern contemporay white bathroom. Hopefully it will not remain just a dream in my head, but like my kitchen makeover, will soon become a reality. Of course I will share it all here on my blog (whether you want to know about it or not!)

Finally, could not resist sharing these photos of my son, who finally got to take his lunch box to school today.
He got to stay for two and a half hours (!) so need to bring a snack with him - a piece of fruit, a biscuit and a carton of juice. As he has watched his big sisters packing their lunch boxes for years, he was eager to pack his own.

Fortunately I decided just to check the contents before we left the house as not only did it contain fruit, biscuit and juice, but also an assortment of small toys! I persuaded him these were not as essential as he thought, and we managed to leave them at home.

Can't you just see that glimmer of mischief in his eyes?!!

.....And they are gone!!!! (and lessons learned)

2009-09-01T15:40:00.005+01:00

My kids are ALL off to school - yes, ALL THREE - at the same time!!!

In almost 11 years of parenting, and apart from short times at pre-school/nursery school, this is the first time when I will be child-free from 9am to 2 pm
..........eventually.

Our primary school does not believe in rushing things, so my son raced into his class room for his first ever experience of school, only to be collected by me ONE HOUR later! He was so keen to go, and take his lunch box with him too. However it will be at least October before he gets to eat lunch in school, and November before the sacred pick-up time of 2pm arrives.

Here are photos from this morning

DON'T let this angelic face mislead you - he was as much a bundle of energy as ever, so excited to be starting school.
Middle daughter (before she got nervous) and George (looking forward to some peace!)

The group shot - can't quite believe this day has arrived!

Lessons learned (about school) this week

I am not looking forward to all the afternoon pickup times - 2pm, 3pm, 3.30pm and then if they stay for afterschool activities, some days there will be 4pm or 4.30 pm pickups. Most kids here are taken/collected by car or walk. There are few school buses for primary school age kids, and if you are older, there are only buses to the more rural areas.

It was lovely to see him so keen to go this morning, and surprisingly I did not feel that emotional about it. In fact my middle daughter was probably more nervous today, as I think she misses having her big sister in the same school.

Other lessons

I LOVE to get huge parcels in the post. And I LOVE them even more when they contain gorgeous kitchen goodies. Remember the sponsored giveaway by www.cookwareessentials.co.uk? I chose the Nigella Lawson cream cake plate and blue storage jar. The blue is a perfect match for the kitchen, and the more neutral plate will also match the dining room. I am also considering using it for some interior decor stuff in the autumn or at Christmas.

My husband was thrilled with his Wii age of 33 yesterday, when we played on Wii Sport with the kids. That was........he was thrilled until I scored an age of 32!!!

I learned that I need some inspiration for a modern bathroom makeover, so if you have any great links to inspire me, that would be wonderful. Now that the kitchen makeover is complete, I want to keep the momentum up and not wait another 10 years before we makeover the next room. I am thinking along the lines of white and contemporary with neutral tiles and accessories. So don't let me down, bloggy friends, inspire me!

So what have you learned this week? Have you any bathroom links for me? Do your kids start school so slowly/gently?

For more lessons, be sure to visit Jo-Lynne over at Musings of a Housewife - it is where lots of bloggers share their lessons each week.

Knowing me, knowing you.....aha!

2009-08-30T22:14:00.004+01:00

Name that well known Abba song!

Finally, here are the results of the Welcome To My World Survey. Thanks to the 49 who took part, and the winner of the giveaway, chosen at random, is Leanne, a local gal. This funny tea towel will be on it's way to you.

I found it a bit tricky to photograph, but hopefully you can get the gist of it.

The Male and Female Characters

He Makes Coffee.......

She Makes Coffee....

As only 1 male reader completed the survey, hopefully the other 97.7% of you will enjoy the humour! My husband rolled his eyes when he saw it - but it made me chuckle.

By the way a tea towel is for drying dishes - this term seemed to cause some confusion for some of you...I assume you call it something else, or maybe you have someone else to dry your dishes!

So back to the results - based on those who replied, if you are a typical reader of my blog chances are that you are

female
aged 26 - 35
you have kids, mostly likely at least one under 5
you visit my blog weekly
you live in America or Canada
you visit my blog for my everyday ramblings
you most love my photos
you often comment
you don't mind the ads on my blog!

So, is this YOU? I would love to know :)

A few interesting topics were raised in the comments section

Many of you like hearing about life in a different country - if there is anything you would like to know...ask away....
some read my blog primarily to follow George (the cat)! - He is doing well, thanks for asking!
Some found the ads above the main posts distracting - THEY HAVE GONE :) However 84% of you don't mind or even like the ads, so the rest will stay. They are for products I love, and I can assure you I am not getting rich from them!
Some wanted my full posts to appear in the feed readers....pleased to report I have finally got this to work!
Some of you would love to hear my accent
Some would love to visit Ireland
One of you will be doing BOTH of these within the next WEEK - yes, meeting up with a bloggy reader for lunch in Belfast! Can't wait.

This week I was chosen to be featured on Traveling the Blogosphere - I would love you to check it out HERE. Thanks.

Finally, as promised, a few more photos of my daughter and her first day at Grammar School. I am pleased to report it went really well.

Another big day on Tuesday as our youngest will start his first day of Primary School. He is only staying for an hour though, so don't reckon I will manage to get too much done before it is time to collect him again!

So, any firsts happening in your world this week? Do share.

Proud Mummy Momment

2009-08-28T07:47:00.005+01:00

Just even the title of this post will embarrass my eldest daughter, but today she heads off to start the new chapter of her life called Grammar School.

She worked really hard to get there, and looks just too grown up in her uniform. I know however, she will soon be a wee fish in a very big school, and she will be very much in my prayers today.

Here she is with her Dad just before he leaves for work.

I will add a few more photos later in the day.

Today I am Hooked on being a mum to a lovely daughter (although I MAY be just a bit biased) and am Inspired by her zest and enthusiasm for life.

Check out what others are Hooked on and finding Beautiful.