IT'S FRIDAY - SO WHAT'S ROCKING YOUR WORLD THIS FRIDAY?

I solumnly swear not to get angry on this one this week!!!!!

So how's it going - another week has gone in the blink of an eye my life has been filled with work and sleep predominantly and not a lot of anything else so here is my grateful top ten this week!

1. Having fantasticly supportive family and friends (both virtually and in real life) - it never ceases to amaze me how fantastic these people are and when life is tough and difficult how they are just there with a hug (or a cyber hug) when you need it most. 
2. Being able to say I had a fantastic Dad who will live in my heart forever and whom I will always cherish (it was 21 years this week when he passed away so it's been a tough week but always one that I cherish because I allow myself time to reflect, to smile, to grieve and to share) 
3. Dare I say slimming world?  - I joined on Thursday with my Mum (I have a separate blog to follow my general plight as a woman whose spent her entire life trying to get her head around her weight) and I'm hoping for big things - well actually no I'm hoping for little things get littler the only big things I'm hoping for is a loss in my weight!  We shall see - managed day one with a breeze and now I've been shopping I've actually got food in that I can eat unlike yesterday morning.
4. My husband - I know I usually mention him somewhere along the line but today I wanted to make a special mention of just how amazing he is (and I know a lot of people out there are blessed with amazing husbands too).  Firstly he puts up with my whinging which over the last few weeks has on occasions reached epic proportions, he always wants us to have the best family time together and got us out geo-caching last weekend which was great fun, he listens to my mad ideas and asks what he can do to help and overall he is just awesome and I love him to bits!
5. My son who makes me smile every single day - this mornings little bit of confusion followed by a little smile was around the fact that he's been doing about volcanoes at school (obviously going with a current topic theme) and he's told me that they've been discussing about one that went up on an island and blasted it into space?  Mmm me thinks potentially more research is needed on this one - I'm going to hazard a guess that they'll be talking about Krakatoa and I'm also thinking that it never actually got catapulted into space - if anyone knows different then let me know I may have to let him down gently on this one.
6. Borrowed Christmas gadgets - we borrowed my Mum's garmin GPS gadget that she got for Christmas and took it geo-caching and then took her with us and we all went geo-caching - we managed to find all of the geo-caches that we've been after up to now and much fun was had by all - she's told us that she'll have it back once we've fully fathomed out how to use it!  
7. A bank holiday stretching out in front of me - a long weekend - let's hope we can have some good old fashioned fun.
8. Test results coming back clear - apparently everything's normal?  Mmm not sure if the jury is still out on this one - but in the interim keep your fingers and toes crossed because I'd be quite happy if body goes back entirely into normal mode!
9. Morning cup of tea - there is nothing nicer than a morning cup of tea it's just awesome and really sets you up for the day! 
10. Finally being grateful I've been able to turn my tea-cup over this morning and greet another day!

If you fancy joining in and telling us what's rocking your world this Friday then please do so - please note it doesn't have to be as lengthy a post like I've put above LOL!

Right on with the crafting, I've got a day off stretching in front of me, I'm tied to the house because 'a' I've got the man from Virgin Media coming to sort out the Virgin Media box and secondly I've got a poorly child on my hands - raging temperature last night and upset tummy so this morning he looks tired and completely washed out!  So I can see DVD's and crafting being the call of the day, in the meantime here are a couple of art journal things I've been doing - this one documents an evening at the theatre - often these sorts of things don't get documented scrapbooking wise because you can't take photos but I've managed to capture it in my art journal (A5) one - I did this one one evening whilst on holiday and am really pleased with it

 and then this one

and close ups 

 and other side

 

right I'm off for breakfast me thinks - have a fantastic Friday! 

MISS YOU DADDY

Well it's 21 years today that my Daddy passed away at the grand old age of 40, he was an amazing person and I miss him every day!  Today has been a tough one, I usually try and get the anniversary day off from work but it just hasn't happened today and I was managing very well until I got a text from Melanie and I think she got us all crying no matter where we were as Melanie has been missing in blogland for some time I thought I'd put what she wrote to me, my Mum and my brother John and you'll understand how she managed to tip us over the edge

"21 years ago today we lost the best man/husband and daddy anyone could ever wish for.  There is no rhyme or reason to why he went so early but for whatever reason he did.  However, I will always feel blessed to have had him as my daddy even for a short time.  This message however is to tell the three of you that I love you and I hope that you know, as always that I'm thinking of you all.  Melanie xxxx"

I was sixteen when he passed away, Melanie was only eight and John six it feels so desperately cruel sometimes that we didn't have longer with him, more memories, more photos, we don't even have his voice recorded and I struggle now to hear him in my head although I can still hear his laughter.  So if ever there is a reason to document who you are and how you feel and to leave a trace of yourself when you leave this world then this is it and it doesn't matter how you do it, on a blog, in a diary, through an art journal, in a scrapbook page anything just put it down and leave lasting traces of yourself for future generations to cherish when you are no longer here.

I think I can see an evening of art journaling therapy coming along - this was the angry paint throwing page from the other day (could do with some more of that sort of therapy at the minute me thinks). 

Close ups

 

Thanks for popping by!

  

SUNDAY - AND BREATH AND REPEAT

Yes it is a curious thing to have as a title, but this week has felt like I've been holding my breath, it has been one of the hardest weeks that I've had in quite some time but I know I'm not alone on this, in fact everyone I speak to seems to be in some way struggling from a tumultuous basis because life is throwing curve balls faster than they can bat them away!  But I go back to what I said on Friday I'm alive and I have a fantastic family and some amazing friends both in person and virtually in blogland and to them I am eternally grateful.  So although this is somewhat belated this may turn into something of a grateful posting.

I thought I'd share my page from last night - anyone whose been following mine and my Mum's blog will probably know things have been unsettling for us both - her blog post on Friday made me cry because I know how heartfelt the post was, so I thought I'd pour my week onto a page last night - what do you think?  I loved the image when I saw it - but think it looks much better tattooed - don't you?

 Close ups

 And again

I felt so much better mentally once I'd finished it - I haven't a clue what I wrote in the journaling (sometimes it's good to write it and not be able to make it out afterwards LOL) the flag I felt I was wearing at the time was of a different colour and meaning but the intention was just the same.  So for now I'm going to put that side of things down (although at some point I may share the angry Thursday page, that Craig sent me outside to do - for fear of me unintentionally redecorating the house - I kid you not outside paint throwing - you can't beat it - don't believe me - give it a try - you can always mow the grass afterwards and nobody would know!)

So back to positive - for Christmas my Mum got a GPS gadget from her hubby, to be honest my Mum is not the most gadget friendly of people - instruction booklets are boring and she wants to be able to use it immediately if not sooner!  So when this appeared at Christmas she was not surprised (as she usually gets gadgets) but was a little lost as to how she'd use it.  She did take it to Center Parcs with her and her verdict was that the machine knew where she was - anyone thinking she might not be getting the full potential out of this little gadget?  

Anyway we borrowed it and went to find our first geo-cache with it - we've done Treasure Hunts and thought what the hell we'll go for geo-caching and see what we think.  We'd been toying with it as an idea for some time, hubby had played with phone GPS's etc (which hadn't worked as we'd wanted) and we came full circle back to this little gadget and then Clare (who I know from scrapbook class) posted a comment (BIG WAVE TO CLARE - HELLO HUN NOT SEEN YOU IN AGES) and apparently she's into it and she's got Ann Marie addicted to (BIG WAVE TO ANN MARIE - HOPEFULLY SEE YOU MONDAY!) so we bit the bullet and got on with it!  

Well said 9 year old was impressed because the first geo-cache was within walking distance, which meant he wanted to cycle there!  Which in turn meant the pleasant Friday evening walk was somewhat brisker than my back was happy with - anyway we did it - it took hours even though we didn't really travel any significant distance, whilst searching for said 'cache' we were getting a little worried that we wouldn't find it when said 9 year old pipes up

"Nope Mum, I can't see it the only thing down here is a  sandwich box" 

"That's it" I cried

Not sure if he was expecting a treasure chest marked with a skull and crossbones filled gold doubloons because he looked confused that the 'treasure' was in a butty box!

Anyway first cache and we'd enjoyed it so yesterday we picked my Mum up and went on another walk and found 3 more - and what a sod they were to find, the first was wet but we found it and put our name on the list nonetheless

The second was extremely well hidden and if it hadn't been for my Mum we simply wouldn't have found it but we did.  However I did get seriously nettled in the process - wasn't expecting wounds from this geo-caching malarkey!

The third well was designed for giants to find - I kid you not! If my Mum had found this on her own - she'd have needed a ladder - it said stealth was required as it was in a very open place - stealth stealth - does this look discrete to you?

But I can honestly say we had a fabulous time and then we headed to the craft shop and spent money money money (tee hee - well actually I bought some DST and a new Tim Holtz die that I'd been after) and then we went to the sweetie shop - peanut brittle, fudge, scotch tablet (which I blame on Jude because she got us addicted when we met up at AFTH!) 

Much fun was had by all - whilst on our walk (after the first cache but before the second) looky what we found

isn't he cute

now back to crafting I've done a couple of scrapbook classes recently with the lovely Sandra and I thought like a dutiful student I'd show them completed - I adored making this one because we learnt a new technique which was fabulous - I wasn't sure if I'd find a photo that was appropriate until I came across this one, the elderly lady in the middle sat down is actually my Great-Grandmother and until 12 months ago I wasn't even aware the photo existed, it also shows my Dad and one of his brothers and two of his sisters together with an Aunty and it's so lovely to have a layout that does it justice - so Sandra - many many thanks for this beautiful class.

The second one I did at the last class a few weeks ago and I know for a fact that I had an idea of the photos that I was going to use, but by the time I got round to putting them together they had escaped me but I had some lovely photos from a family Christening we went to recently and to be honest the colours just went so well - I just had to use them - what do you think?

So if you reach here say hello - I'll spend all day now coming back to find out if anyone's commented LOL - drive myself nuts with it!  Hope you're all having a wonderfully blessed Sunday!

ROCKING MY WORLD FRIDAY

Wow Friday again already - when did that happen - I'm immensely struggling at the moment to remain positive, what I actually am this morning at 7.40am is angry - not a great way to be I know but I'm angry actually probably beyond angry I was stressed now I'm angry.  Now a little of my history I'm of Irish descent my dad was Paddy O'Reilly - I kid you not and for anyone who knows anybody whose Irish they have an infamous temper - let's put it this way be glad you're not going to be in the same room as me when I blow up because it's not pretty I tell you -it's not pretty at all!

Anyway I will be grateful for my week - I will, I promise I will I just need to dig a bit deeper 

I'm alive - woo hoo made another week -  now some of you may find it strange that I'm grateful for this but when you have a Dad (whose just turned 40 years of age) who wakes up one morning ready for his day of laying a concrete drive and leave him to get off to school and come home to find he's gone forever you never ever take life for granted again - so I am truly glad to be alive - even amongst the stress and worry of my week, life is still pretty damn amazing.  

Now I've read about in the far east they use a cup and saucer to symbolise the fragility of life, at night they turn the tea cup over and in the morning when they wake they turn it back - symbolising that they are here in the world for another day - now I think this is an awesome thing to do - really takes you down to grass roots but I'm not so sure I could get it to work - the first thing is that the stack of Charlaine Harris and Terry Pratchett books already balanced precariously on my bed side table indicates that finding room for a cup and saucer may be mighty difficult - secondly the only cup and saucer I own are huge - thirdly if I used my late at night cup of tea mug I'd end up spilling the cold dregs out of the cup all over the floor when I turn it over and I need my pint mug of pop by the side of the bed incase I get thirsty - mmm - me thinks I'll have to do this one in my head - symbolically as it were!

I'm grateful that I can touch type I love to write and leave my graffiti all over cyber world - in years to come I hope ancestors can find my innate ramblings and say - yes that woman was completely barking!

I'm grateful for people who know who I am and how I tick on a mental basis - these are important friends when times are difficult and I am incredibly lucky to be surrounded by these amazing people

I am grateful for the most amazing husband and son, an amazingly Nutty Mum (Nutty Nannan) whom I adore, I mad sister Melanie who makes me laugh so much when we get together my niece who is turning into one amazing young woman, my brother John who really is the bestest of mad hatters and who can keep me sane - John should actually be a politician if you had John as Prime Minister many many injustices would be dealt with with a fair and firm hand - John is utterly amazing and listened intently last night to my difficult week grew angry and cross at the injustices and left me feeling much more calm and surreal when I left his home.  John has the best sense of humour and the most amazing singing voice and is a true gentleman!  Thank you John I slept easier last night for having downloaded my day with you and my hubby and my Mum unfortunately I woke cross again this morning - although I'm almost setting the keyboard on fire with this one there are sparks flying off it I tell you!

Ok hold up wait a minute - my grateful's are turning cross have you noticed - mmm - OK - I'm just going to grab a pillow (if you're feeling cross this morning do this little exercise with me) place it close to your mouth - try not to cover your eyes because if you do you won't be able to read the instructions - now scream into it (if you live in a detached house the pillow is optional) the reason - well my next door neighbour is a traffic cop and I don't want him to think I'm being murdered - now scream ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH repeat as necessary until you feel calmer or you've got a headache 

OK - happy grateful happy grateful happy grateful

Simple things I'm grateful for simple things I'm grateful for my art journaling I intend on getting paint out later and trying to refrain from redecorating the room with up but actually get it on the paper - actually at the moment a room where I can literally throw paint sounds like some mighty good therapy - big tins of paint and giant canvases I really really could - OK I'm going to stop now before grateful gets cross again - if you happen by tell me what 'therapy' you would introduce to aid your life's stresses given half a chance!  So I'm going to leave you with a little bit of art journaling just because I can this page is known as the "Art of Destressing" LMAO

ART JOURNAL, A MISERABLE AFTERNOON AND LIFE - OOH THAT'S GOING TO INSPIRE YOU TO WANT TO LOOK NOOOOOTTTTT!!!!!

Well what a peculiar Wednesday I had, I don't think I've ever quite had one like it if I'm honest after the stresses of the morning (ie tests at Docs and being used as a pin cushion by nurse) I thought my day would be merely busy - it wasn't busy it was much worse and I had to leave work early because I just felt so utterly fed up - anyway before you ask I'm fine now - just not enough hours in the day and sometimes just that little straw breaks the camels back - so my little straw broke - basically a rubbish rubbish day - but hey it's THURSDAY so brand new day hurray - a new day where I have a clean slate in front of me I can interact with my day in a positive way (I can can't I) and this is what I'm going to do!  

So I'll share a little art journaling with you - I re-read my 'permission' journal from cover to cover last night (not that it's finished yet but it's getting there) and had to laugh at how many times I've used the word precarious!  I mean it - it appears over and over, in title in words, in the journaling as key words etc - mmmm maybe it's telling me something about my life in general at the moment LOL!  So here is one of the pages that I've used that particular word on  

Close ups of course

and right hand page

 I am loving the grungy messy nature of these pages at the moment - feels a little bit like my mushy brain!

On a positive note I had an amazing response to my WOYWW - everyone was lovely I've managed to visit quite a few of the blogs in return and intend on tracking down a few more - it's lovely to see what everyone is up to!  I thought I'd answer a few of the questions that were asked (not that I expect the questioners to probably see the answers LOL) - the photos were all taken in my house and yes that really is my kitchen installed by my fantastic husband with lots and lots of help from family along the way (my sister helping rip things out, my brother holding parts of a wall up that we were taking down and my Mum plastering - I kid you not!!!!! infact - I have proof

 and no that isn't a staged shot - need further proof

My old kitchen was awful with a piece of work top about 2 and a half foot wide to prepare, serve up etc on - after one Christmas when we'd cooked for 9 people I threw my toys out of my cot and said it would be the next job we would do on the house, so we took walls down (literally - in fact at one point my brother was holding a large section of a wall up) - moved living room from it's space into another room and converted old living room into dining room, my demand for the room was that it had to have lots and lots of worktops and as you saw yesterday I managed that (I also demanded lots and lots and lots of drawers and I got those as well - 12 in total my old kitchen had one!) 

The art work that you spied on my workstation is my current art journal work and thank you for the lovely comments on that.  

And my storage cupboards are huge and inside they are tidy I promise - I'll show you close ups next week if I'm good!  In the past I've had a craft room but I ended up spending all my time in it and never seeing family so when we sorted the kitchen we decided the TV room would be TV and craft so that when the boys (my hubby and son) were on the games system or watching a DVD I could be in the same room crafting and it was working really well until I got them hooked on art journaling - so yes the other question that was asked was do we really art journal as a family and the answer is yes we do, myself, my husband and our 9 year old son have great fun on a Saturday night after tea of spreading newspaper on the dining table, grabbing pens and paints and inks and cut out images and basically art journalling whilst watching a Top Gear dvd or occasionally a film and it is sheer and utter bliss I love the time we have together it is so precious, my son's art journals are adorable and my hubbies are similar but also very different to mine! I suppose our only issue is that we all tend to work on our A3 journals at the same time and so when they are open on the table we struggle for room LMAO! 

So there you have it unfortunately no funny tales of Nutty Nannan today - actually my Mum was my rock yesterday when I needed a shoulder and my husband was my rock last night listening as he always does - I love all of them they are amazing!  

News on the missing in action Melanie - she made it to the gym this week - first time in months and did 50 minutes cardio - she's looking forward to AFTH - (we were doing sums about costs last night - she was so funny), she's started her new job in Wakefield she doesn't know how the hell she is going to sort out the clutch problem on her car but she's travelling up and down the M1 at the moment and secretly she's enjoying her new job because she's busy and her day goes quick!  And her new relationship well if I told you you wouldn't believe me!!!!!  

Anyway if you're having a good morning and happen to pop by say hello!

WOYWW - Mmm I've been tidying

Well I thought I'd strike out and show you before and after pictures, I've said recently that my art journaling was taking over the world and I wasn't kidding, so I've had a massive tidy up and sort through, I thought I'd be quite ruthless and get rid of 'lots' of thinks I don't think I'll use, but by the time I'd done I had one small box of cardmaking stuff and a definite intention to get some of these things altered and moved out - maybe a little bit of stash dieting only buying essentials (DST and cardstock) until I've got some things moved out - now before you ask no I didn't do this tidy up this morning but at the weekend but I promise it's stayed tidy (ish) since! 

Anyway enough waffling this is before in my crafting cupboards - woops

and after - and yes they do actually close

and then my scrap table  and before you ask - no I can't use it when it's this bad!

t-der what do you think - what do you mean it looked better when it was messy!

remember me saying it was getting ridiculous - this was apparently our breakfast bar

Mmm - same home?  Probably not!  I sneaked up the road to the show home LMAO - nope honestly this is what it's supposed to look like!

Finally spilling onto the dining table - well not so much spillin but taking over the world!  But we were all art journaling whilst watching repeats of Top Gear so what do you expect! 

And now (flowers from hubby for anniversary)

Now I'll grant you these were technically done at the weekend so just to show my current workstation area - yes back in my scrapping area and only one project on the go!

So that's me done if you're joining in don't forget to pop over and tell Julia  right I'm off child to take to school and then I trip to the Doctor's (again I'm not very well - got lots of tests to be taken boo hoo)

Nutty Nannan, the cake and the art journal

So we've had a lovely break a really good holiday, some mighty fine family time but now it's back to 'normality' whatever that's supposed to be!  It's mine and Craig's 12th wedding anniversary today and we've had a really great family day.  We went to Roche Abbey for a wander about with our new English Heritage passes, the sun was shining our 9 year old wanted to explore so it was mighty therapeutic.  

Afterwards we headed to my brother John's house to see him and Cathie, it's always an uplifting conversation when we are there, surrounded by all their creativity - Cathie was fighting with some icing (quite literally - she wasn't happy with it but we all thought the cake design she was doing was simply gorgeous!) and John has various projects on the go at the moment - from the tooth fairy from Hell Boy 2 to a 'Jason' mask and his ghost-traps - genius! We really enjoyed having a catch up, including his general giddiness after getting an adapter for his airbrush - now all he needs is a reinflatable car tyre and he'll be all set.

After we'd been there a while we ventured up the hill to Melanie's now Melanie has been missing in action for some time, partly down to her new 'romance' which is another story completely so it was really lovely to catch up!  Then my Mum arrived and well she had us creased up in laughter within about five minutes of being there.  

Being the true aquarian that she is - she started mid-sentence (the other half having been had silently in her own head), we all looked around bewildered and asked what on earth she was talking about - then she looks confused at us as though we're the stupid ones - next a 360 degree turn and she's explaining how she's mad because she's bought two huge boxes of soap powder in the local supermarket and she hadn't meant to she'd only wanted one but then she'd bought two and then to boot her other half asked what on earth she was going to do with it to which she replied - quite rightly - wash clothes - when he pointed out that the soap powder she'd bought he was actually allergic to "I don't know why I bought it really" then off at another tangent which involved showing a 'wafting' motion to demonstrate to us how she'd been moving ash that was blowing when she had a fire in the back garden - (makes you wonder if this ash everyone keeps talking about isn't related to a volcano but is just my mum burning garden rubbish!)

Whilst she talked she's wafting her hands around which led to her nudging the plate she had balanced on her lap with a slice of cake on it and then for added effect went for another wafting motion which resulted in the plate flipping over, covering her and Melanie's sofa in cake - and she sat there bewildered not quite 'getting' that she'd made such a mess - Melanie slightly less amused asked her to stop wafting her hands!  Awesome family time - it probably doesn't sound very funny but honestly we were laughing so much we had tears in our eyes!  

Anyway best put some crafting on here because that's what we're here for isn't it - isn't it?  No maybe it isn't maybe you wanted the deranged ramblings relating to Nutty Nannan - well just in case you wanted craft this one is in my permission journal I love it I tell you love it!

 It was such fun to do - close ups below

We saw some fabulous art work in Scarborough - how cool is this!  I've got some great close up shots that Craig took of it and there was more art on the opposite wall!

And finally our anniversary gifts to one another this year were 'matching' art journal books initially seen in Whitby and finally purchased whilst at Rievaulx Abbey

 Craig has 'bagged' the darker one and the inside is just lush - full of pages and pages of blank paper

 If you pop by - don't forget to say hello - and tell me just how mad my Mum really is - bless her!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY IS HERE AGAIN!

Well dear reader's I'm back - yes we've been we've conquered - we've eaten chips - Carmen look away now - (quite a lot actually to the point where I stomped my foot yesterday and demanded a panini) and now we're home - so was it a good break - absolutely fabulous.  I haven't been to Scarborough since I was about 5 - apparently the first time I went I hadn't seen the sea before and apparently ran into it fully clothed resulting in a new outfit - you'll be pleased to know this time that I managed to refrain from doing the same - let's be honest it would have been slightly mad.  We stayed in a fabulous little converted chapel just outside Scarborough at a place called Cloughton - first interesting point to note it's not pronounced Cluff-tun but Clow-tun - no wonder we got some weird looks from the locals.  

We managed trips out to Whitby (and a Treasure Hunt), a day at Robin Hood's Bay (and a Treasure Hunt), a day at Rievaulx Abbey (no treasure hunt but left with a desire to paint that knotwork when we get home), Scarborough (and a Treasure Hunt), Filey (and a Treasure Hunt) 

we got thoroughly lost in the process, we walked and walked and walked and walked a bit more, we had quiet time to read, time to art journal (despite the fact that dear hubby forgot to pack paintbrushes) and just loved having family time together - sheer bliss - following the stresses of last week and the mental time to try and walk the options of patching things up and then deciding that some things don't directly involve me and no matter what my brain said sometimes 'happily ever after' doesn't pan out in quite the way you'd thought, so universally as a family we've came together and really had an awful lot of good old fashioned fun!

SO ROCKING MY WORLD THIS FRIDAY 

The East Coast of England in God's own county of Yorkshire (I know I live in Yorkshire but it's more quaint where we visited than it is here mainly down to the fact they pinched all the glorious stone following the dissolution of the monasteries to make their own houses) plus lots and lots of down to earth people bliss

Beautiful blog comments from beautiful people that I get to read when I came home - double bliss

Treasure Hunts - good family fun

Membership to English Heritage - we might manage a few more days out this way!

Converted chapels particularly ones with spiral stairs in them - kept said 9 year old busy for hours he spent all his time 'fishing' over the balcony!  

Wood burning stoves

Blue Sky days 

Charlaine Harris books 

Whitby - a truly impressive place to visit with a glorious ruined abbey on the hillside and little tiny shops in the town) 

Finally husband's genius idea of washing the clothes before we came home - needless to say it's now all ironed and put away!  (Loving washer driers in hired venue tee hee)

So proof that I did do a little bit of art journaling along the way 

and

So do I have any humorous anecdotes from the week - you have to bear in mind that I've not seen my Mum (only spoken to her) so no internet craziness to report - my brother has obviously not been to any more fancy dress nights so nothing to report there, Melanie would appear to be completely missing in action so all I have are questions from a nine year old!

Set the scene walking around Whitby Abbey said nine year old has been given a question sheet - find the letters re-arrange and get chocolate - easy?

MMMMMmmmmm additional questions to help on the back

so the big questions was "What is an easter related item you can wear on your head?" followed by a picture of a rabbit in an easter bonnet - mm great detective work required the additional questions on the back could also be made up from some of the same letters so he decided to look at these first

Four letter word "Fishermen use these to catch fish in...?" - 9 year olds answer - bonnets!

Five letter word "You might like marmalade on this for your breakfast..." - 9 year old answer - soldiers! 

Anyone think he didn't get this! 

He did get the chocolate though!

Later in the week after visiting a gorgeous little sweet shop in Robin Hood's Bay - next to the Dock we headed back to the car little man with a bag of mixed sweeties from candy necklaces to parma violets but once half way through the bag I get 

"What's this?"

"Mum - what's this?"

"Mum what is it?"

"I don't know what it is" I said as he was behind me 

"It say's 'chew' on it" 

"What do I do?"

"Do I chew it?"

"Yes" I replied laughing so much I was almost crying

"Can I swallow it Mum" 

"Yes!" 

The mysteries of a black jack chew!

On the same journey we spotted a fire in the distance on the moors

"The fire is on the moors"

"Where?" said 9 year old asks

"The moors"

"Where's the moors Mum?"

"We're on the moors!"

"Where?"

"Here!"

"Where?"

"All around us!"

"What are"

"ARGHHHHHH!!!!!"

There'll be more later no doubt - the popple crack snap one was quite humourous too LOL but I need to go otherwise I'll be rocking my world on Saturday not Friday LMAO!

If you pop by say hello, if you join in come and tell me!

Hope you're all having a great "Rocking your World Friday"

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY!

Well this could be a tough one because it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster of a week, and I could go on about how you can't 'make' people be how you want them to be and that part of growing up and growing older is that 'happily ever after' isn't always possible.  But I'm not going to because it's 

What's Rocking Your World Friday 

 A few journal pages from my A3 journal - this is how I'm feeling at the minute just a little bit "CRAZY"

What's rocking your world Friday 

is about what has ticked those boxes for you this week - either made you happy or made you giggle or that you like to say - I'm grateful for that!   so here I go for my Friday shuffle

I am grateful to be alive (sometimes it's nice to be reminded that this morning I woke up - how awesome is that)
I am grateful to have another blue skies day
I am grateful for awesome blog comments about my first WOYWW - now the huggies baby wipes that you saw on the table are an essential art journaling tool as everyone knows (don't they?) - they are for painting with and I go through shed loads of them - thought my days of buying huggies was over then I discovered art journaling!  The sonic screwdriver is also essential just in case the Doctor comes to call, other things you might have noticed are the insulation foam for making stamps and the binoculars for when we need to look at things at a distance - I'm telling you all essential items on my work station 
I am grateful to have a fabulous Mum -who is loving her blog and the lovely comments but she really doesn't quite get all this blog hopping stuff!  I arrived on Tuesday to drop said 9 year old off whilst I went to work, she was in PJ's with laptop in front of her and this was her opening line  "I've won something on the goo-ash website" she says - "but i can't find it" - flip top lid of head remove brain and now work out the aquarian statement that has just been delivered!  "Firstly it's pronounced 'go-sh' not 'goo-ash' and I have a feeling it's french for left or something like that, secondly where are you?"  Reply "I don't know" so I found the comment on her blog, I found the link on Lara's blog, we sent Lara the relevant snail mail address and all was sorted - still don't know if she knows what she's doing but her final comment as I departed was "I didn't even know I'd joined a competition!"
I am grateful to have a fabulous sister - link to her blog go check it out - although Melanie's lack of presence on here needs to be remedied but I bet she's got an armful of excuses as to why she can't LOL
I am grateful to have a fabulous brother - now for those of you following the two above - you'll know that John has been the missing piece in the jigsaw - John is completely unique, just like my Mum and my sister but also very different!  John's blog is not going to be about scrapbooking or card making John likes three dimensional - John loves making replica props and loves fancy dress parties - so if you are anything of an Alice in Wonderland fan - or perhaps even a Tim Burton fan or just have a great love of films then John's blog is going to be one to follow - he currently has two followers - when I get back on here it would make my day to find he has lovely comments about his awesome work and also a few more followers to boot!  John is also someone who can speak amazingly eloquently and hold quite an audience so if you know me personally or via blogland, and you know my crazy sister Melanie and my equally crazy Mum then you have to learn the other part of the family!
I am grateful for an amazing son and a fantastic husband who has shown that just sometimes although decisions are tough he can make them and take them himself. 
I am grateful that I'm going to get a break this week and have the opportunity to visit a few different places woo hooo
I am grateful that I didn't dismiss the Treasure Hunt for my town and did actually go and do it - you wouldn't recognise it from the photos!  Does this look like Rotherham to you? 

and this 

 said 9 year old enjoying the Treasure Hunt

  Now the only other source of confusion was when we were stopped by the 'locals' the first asked little man
"What ya got a list for?" - they are obviously not used to seeing people with clipboards in the town centre and secondly when a young lad asked hubby "Tek mi fota?" - little man wanted to know what language he was speaking and I had to explain it was English - "what did he say then?" - To which the answer was that he wanted his photo taking - look of complete bewilderment on little man's face.  

We found this through a 'things to do' type website on the internet - it cost us £12 for 3 Treasure hunts that are delivered as PDF files - and basically you get to explore somewhere that you'll think you already knew - we had such a blast doing it and can highly recommend it, in fact enjoyed it so much bought 3 more last night (they've got a 3 for 2 offer on at the moment)

I am grateful that we went and did the Sheffield Treasure Hunt last weekend, we had great fun once again!

I am grateful for wide open spaces that allow you to let your mind relax and de-stress whilst providing "culture, art and .... don't you know" - bottom quote can't remember the third thing but making me giggle - if you know the word fill it in LOL.  This was because we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and look at what we found there 

which when up close had these items amongst many incorporated into it

Finally I am grateful for meeting all you amazing people in blogland whether it be in person or via my blog. 
So why don't you join in and tell me what has been "Rocking your World this Week" and let's have a mighty grateful Friday!   Message to Jo - who left me a message this morning - go for it join in one of these days I'll make a button (when I fathom out how) and put it on here and then there might be more than 3 of us joining in - myself - the gorgeous Heavens2Betsy and of course Carmen - extra message to Carmen - the sign is still twinkling and blinking and pps - go check my brother's blog out.  PPPS - Jude you got a hotel - phew - what do you mean it's not the Premier Inn boo hoo - Melanie may need to sit in a corner for a while to absorb that information!  


Right need to go and pack something ta ta for now