ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Good morning my beautiful Rockettes how are you this morning?  I know Friday - what's that all about - time to step back, look back, clock the positives, don't think you have any then dig deep because they are there I promise!

First up for me - I'm alive - I know that sounds mad and no before you go jumping to conclusions I'm great I just think sometimes it's far too easy to take for granted being alive - don't you think it's awesome.  To interact with others, to see a member of your family or a friendly face, chat on the phone with someone, whatever it is, it is only possible because we are all alive.

I'm also grateful for my eye sight even though it's pretty poor without these glasses, I love being able to enjoy the world around me for all it's beauty, a blue sky, a cluster of purple crocuses, a photo of snowdrops, a smile from my hubby, seeing my son laughing, all awesome and beautiful moments captured through my eyes.

Talking of said 11 year old - one of his classic verbal statements had me rolling with laughter yesterday - another massive grateful, I picked him up from school and he was chatting about a school friend who had been given her homework early, I asked why and he said "because she's going sky diving".  Mmm I think perhaps she's gone to one of those indoor things with the blowers, but then I thought well they don't normally get homework until Friday so why has she got it so early, I was mighty confused so I said "Are you sure about that, because it would only be a day away to do one of those experience days and I'm not convinced that she's old enough" he said "no Mum I'm sure because Miss said so, she said that my school friend was skiving, you know sky diving"  "Skiving" I said - "doesn't mean she's gone sky diving" laughed til I cried - love it!

Onwards with the list - grateful for the Doctor, I like no nonsense doctors, where you say this is the problem - checks me out, concludes he knows what's what - provides recommended medication - phew, sometimes I just keep going when it's easier to stop and get things sorted.  So big grateful for straight forward advice - now that I can handle!

Crafting at night having time to chill and relax at my table of an evening and scrapbook, such fun and I'm loving every minute of it.

Grateful for the neighbours finally removing a fairly horrendous hedge at the back of the house, mind it looks mighty odd now, but thinking that the extra light is nice, that I can live with.

Grateful for MTV unplugged - a 30 minutes set of 30 Seconds to Mars who do an awesome version of U2's Streets Have No Name track as well as their awesome tracks in an acoustic set.

Grateful for my beautiful and amazing blogging friends, I love to read about where you are with your crafts and life's adventures and to see a post this week by Sarah of my Linkin Park CJ (Click this to see what I'm talking about) out there - wow is all I can say - awesome stuff can't wait to get it back to see it in all it's glory!

So there you go my main gratefuls for this week, if you fancy joining in - write yourself a blog entry and come back and link up so we can come and visit and see how your weeks been!

Before I go - another layout to share (as I have quite a few to share as you know from yesterday's post LOL).  This one is my sister doing the gladiator challenge at Center Parcs last year - yes she is that mad!  I loved the fact she was wearing pink!

Up close the journalling has a ripped paper concertina behind it to set it off.

So there you go Rocking post for this week Mr Linky below hope you all have a beautiful and blessed weekend

DARCY'S 52 WORDS - WILDERNESS

Another page in Darcy's words this one was hard to pull together but persevering with paint and merging the images in meant I was eventually happy with the finished page

Today has been a strange one up to now, stopping in bed til gone nine then a mad dash to the shops to sort MIL a pre-lit Christmas tree out because hers is from the 1960s and DH is worrying it won't be flame retardant, then Morrisons to buy icing sugar and marzipan for the cakes, back home and a quick breakfast and now plans for the rest of the day, we've been playing with the Christmas food list, which is always interesting because we spend so long sorting that out and spending on that that we have no money left to buy food for the rest of Christmas - crazy stuff.  

Still umming and ahhing over the gingerbread challenge grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr another painful task if I'm honest which I swore we wouldn't do again but I keep thinking maybe we will?

Finally said 11 year old and his funny comments 

The first this morning when he got in the car

"Dad have you used that stuff that kills ice?" 

also known as de-icer to you and I

and on leaving our estate and following a tractor pulling a trailer full of hay which kept falling on the car DH said "It's snowing" to which said 11 year old said 

"No Dad it's haying" 

Bless I love these funnies much fun!

Hope your weekend is fun too

TEACHER GIFTS

 Well as we fast approach the last week of school these are the teaching assistant gifts created this year - altered clipboards, I found loads of inspiration on the internet, found some 'blanks' at a large national stationery supplier and set too with papers selected by said 11 year old!

Forgot to photograph this one post ribbons but you get the idea, the letters at the bottom cut with my Big Shot, to try and make it more durable the bottom section of each clipboard has been mod podged

 I included a ribbon at the bottom of this one

 These papers were out of one of those massive stacks that have chunks of co-ordinating papers

 This one proved interesting to try and fit a rather long name on it!

I was pleased with these once done, they are all wrapped up upstairs ready for distribution next week!

Well here we are only days away from Christmas and I'm still not feeling particularly festive, we did however, manage a Panto on Sunday - oh yes we did!  Which was very good apart from the child behind kicking the chair constantly through the performance, strangely enough I would have stopped said 11 year old if it had been him when he was that age but the Mum seemed oblivious bless - the joys of being oblivious it must be nice!

The best part of the panto has to be the Dame - he is absolutely hysterical and one of the main sponsors of the panto this year were Sheffield's Supertram so the part when he came on stage dressed as the tram was pure comic genius so very funny!  But it still didn't manage to get me into the festive spirit - mmm how do you get into the Christmas mood?

Now the giggle tonight, well me and hubby trying to order Domino pizzas from Pizza hut - most confusing - we didn't realise until it was too late - but it did make us giggle (quite a lot).  I know pizza shouldn't be something you have for Sunday lunch, but in all honesty we couldn't be bothered with cooking once we got home, it was enough to sort showers out without the thought of cooking.

So your challenge today is to tell me what gets you into the right frame of mind for Christmas?  Is there a particular point where you are 'there' or perhaps an activity you do?  A bit of quiet reflection?  Anything you like?

Hope you have all had a good weekend.

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Well this has been another trying week, predominantly from a mental basis, you know how it is when life is hard but there is nothing you can do about it - well that sums up this week.  But it is Rocking Your World time so let's think about the positives.

First up has to be Pinterest, when I was feeling low at the beginning of the week and nothing seemed to make a lot of sense I saw a statement on there that made me realise that for the time being this is how I have to live my life the statement went along the lines of

WORRYING ABOUT TOMORROW
DRAINS THE STRENGTH OUT OF TODAY


So for now, I've stopped trying to over think anything and I'm going to try and take back this festive season as mine, because I love this time of year, the build up to the big day, the time with my family, creating new memories and journaling my Christmas.

So next up has to be my Journal Your Christmas, this is the least prepared I've ever been for this project but I'm going to go with the flow up to now I finally have some papers, now unusually for me these are A4 but I didn't like the 12 x 12 packs to cut down, so I'm now a little confused on the size of my project, I'll let you know where I head with this one.

Next up has to be Amazon for coming through in the face of adversity, for a few years I've considered buying a Lego advent calendar for my 11 year old Lego addict but they always seem hellishly expensive, this year however I decided regardless of cost I was going to treat him and a certain on line retailer who shall remain nameless but whom I won't be using again (it's obviously not Amazon) saw fit to advertise a 10% discount in early November making the new 2011 Star Wars Advent Calendar a sensible price, however, as the weeks progressed and nothing arrived I started to worry before getting the inevitable e-mail telling me it was out of stock and they couldn't get further supplies, I was gutted, by this time Amazon too had run out but had lots of sellers on there selling it for twice the original price.  So I almost gave up, but then decided that as he hadn't had one before it wouldn't matter if it was a different one that had been out for a couple of years so I promptly ordered one from Amazon and in a matter of days - this arrived!

So I wrapped it up and he opened it as a present last night and Thursday morning he set too on day one of the calendar

Which resulted in this first character a bank robber!

Goodness knows what else he's going to find in the packs as time progresses but his smile this morning was worth the effort!

The next grateful is hubby who asked whilst part way through cooking tea one evening this week, if I wanted some soup, it was a strange question and he'd very obviously had a thorough conversation in his own head that he'd not mentioned to me, anyway he just fancied making some soup, so we have some delicious homemade leek and potato soup courtesy of DH!  Now it might not look that appetising but take it from me its yum!

Next up has to be finally getting hold of my book people order, I've waited FOREVER for this, first of all it was sent and delivered - just not to here and despite wandering around the neighbourhood asking people who lived at similar addresses (we're a 'close' but there is also an 'avenue') if they'd received it we were turned away empty handed.  So we contacted them and they despatched again and when I checked on line on Wednesday they'd apparently tried to deliver it on Monday - oooh no they hadn't (ooh yes they had - just not to our address - can't you tell we're in panto season).  I was in when they tried to deliver, there was no note through the door, I was losing all hope of ever seeing it.  Anyway Thursday afternoon and I made contact with Parcelforce and the lady was very helpful and said it had been taken to the nearest Post Office, so off I went with my Internet print out and my ID and look

my parcel, all mine, full with things I really really really really wanted - woohoo - so a big grateful for Parcelforce for sorting this issue out and doing a logical thing ie taking the item to the local Post Office who'd have thought!

Speaking of parcels, look at what arrived today, utterly gobsmacked I was when I opened it up, it's my Secret Santa gift organised by Carmen who is utterly amazing for thinking of something so awesome.  Thank you Carmen, can't give too much away about the reciprocal parcel after all it's a secret!  My thoughts are also with Carmen and her family at the moment - thinking of you hun!

Then we have this little beauty that I picked up at the Craft Box earlier in the week, a little bit of reading material for my weekend away!

So there you go these are my gratefuls for this week, I keep digging deep to find the silver linings that are occurring at the moment.

So what have you got going on in your life, are things ticking along or are things up and down at the moment, if you're not having the best of times don't forget to reflect and find those little things that have brought a smile to your face or lifted your heart.  If you fancy joining in don't forget to leave a link and a comment at the bottom with Mr Linky so we can come and visit.

Family Funny - My Turn this Week
Yes I know it's usually said 11 year old, very occasionally it's DH but rarely do I make those kind of errors!  But given that I've been so poorly it's not surprising.  Last week I had a read of Toni's blog posting about a 150 item list of long term things to achieve, I was astounded at some of the ideas - visit all 50 states (I'm assuming it started as a US list for someone which has been used by others), holding a tarantula - not my idea of something I'd want to achieve but one item did catch my eye - Climb the stairs in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, now I know that's what it said but my brain registered Eiffel Tower, I don't know why but this is how the conversation went

"Look at that, climb the stairs in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I didn't know they have stairs I thought there was only a lift to the top"
"What?" says DH looking somewhat perplexed
"How would a lift work in that?"
"I thought there was only a lift I never thought you could get to the top with stairs, that might be something I could do" (bear in mind my lift phobia)
"but a lift would scrape all the way to the top" DH said laughing his head off
"what?"
"It can't hang straight so it would scrape all the way up, if it worked at all"
By now I was losing it, then I realised my error, we did have a serious giggle about this one.

Finally a bit of crafting to share this is a monument near Sledmere that we discovered by accident at the beginning of the year when a road was closed and we were forced along a diversion!  Now I don't mind diversions when you mind something as awesome as this!

Close ups, hearts punched and inked

 And hand stitched hearts with a contrasting thread run through them.

ROCKING MY WORLD FRIDAY - it's been a strange one

Yes officially it's Friday what is going on - where are these works going too?  It's all a little crazy today is pay date and this means the last pay day before Christmas ARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Anyway I digress (as usual) this is

the place where we put a list of gratefuls, where we look back over the last 7 days and note the moments that lifted our spirits and raised ourselves up amongst the norm.  This week has been a hard one to put together and I'm actually quite low, but these are the times when digging deep really does help and puts things into more perspective.

So first up has to be the moment over the weekend (last weekend obviously) when we were out in the car and I felt like someone had painted me a picture to really appreciate.  The colours in the trees and the depth of the landscape in front of me, together with a fine mist led to a beautiful painted picture of the countryside around me, it almost made me feel like I could paint it - dull grey sky, pale trees on the horizon, then some darker trees in the middle, then the darkest almost silhouetted trees before a blaze of autumnal colours, it's a sight that gave me thanks for being out and about that day and for witnessing the beauty of nature.


Family Funny
Then there is hubby for having a great sense of humour when making Christmas cakes last weekend, I shouldn't tell you really I shouldn't but we did giggle, making two was maybe a bad idea, the first one looks great - only problem is he forgot the glace cherries, half the almonds and half the flour - but apart from that it's fine - decided he's going to drown it in alcohol!  He almost considered adding the missing ingredients whilst it was in the oven - honestly - he did make me smile - this is a rocking moment, when hubby is fighting with a Nigella recipe and telling me what's missing - laughed til we cried.

Argos for having a sensibly priced desk, we tried a heritage place - £345 for a nest of tables - I think not!  Argos bargain desk for £90 and hubby put it together in just over an hour, now in situ so I'm back in the TV room, still little crafting going on but hey you can't have everything!

Said 11 year old (almost put little man but at 11 that seems a little unfair) bringing home buns from school which were lovely, this is the day after his first attempt at a CBBC recipe making cookies - now he made these on his own whilst I was supervising desk assembly and hubby was doing desk assembly and he did them to the letter, the only issue - they made more than 50 biscuits what kind of recipe is that?  Honestly 50 biscuits between three of us, with one of us not being a sweet fan and we wonder why I have weight issues!

Ant and Dec on I'm a Celebrity - the only reason we watch this program is for those two they are just so funny!

Said 11 year old for keeping his bedroom tidy so that the pre-Christmas clean up didn't take us more than an hour which is awesome stuff.

Our charity shop at work providing sensibly priced frames, my sister Melanie has been meaning to sort some frames all year and managed one up to now so I'm attempting to sort the remaining ones that are in the bag, so she can put them up on her stairs.  She's always fancied a black and white staircase and finally she's getting around to it.

So there we have it, that took some digging deep but there you go this weeks list of gratefuls.  If you fancy joining in - put your link on Mr Linky at the bottom so we can come and visit.

Right crafting a layout from our break in York at Easter and yes that is a swimming pool, it was probably the only positive about the place, that and it's close proximity to York

 Sometimes it's the tiny embellishments that make a layout, this was some peel offs - now stop don't run away I know I'm not a fan either but occasionally you can make them look ok on a layout

Right here is Mr Linky hope you all have a beautiful and blessed weekend.