Jen's World

{Proud Momma Moment}

I got a phone call from Sophie at work this morning to say she had won a prize of £25 at school for being the winner of the Year 11 award for the girl who most improved on her expected target grades and her actual GCSE results out of 350 pupils in her year.  Wow what an award, she was so proud of herself, and although Sophie is no scientific or mathmatical student, she is a very hard worker and she overachieved on every single target set for her including her Maths and French, her worst subjects.  She always undermines her ability, and lacks confidence in her knowledge and understanding.  I guess I played a part and nagged the pants off her about having a revision timetable, spending dedicated time to certain subjects, even if that meant learning 5 new French words a week, which she hated.  But it paid off today, and she walked up in front of all the Sixth form and tutors to rapturous applause to receive her grand prize and was very shocked but proud.  The lad who won the boys award, wasn't there as he has since joined the forces, which was such a shame.

I leave you with a very fuzzy pic of Sophie taken on a phone camera, but I love it none the less, and she's all mine!! (For the time being anyway!)

{I'm On A Roll}

I'm so excited.  I've been scrapping all evening!  I've done two LOs and one well under way.  I was supposed to be designing a website for someone, which I have done over the last couple of days ready to show her today, only to discover she's gone on holiday until mid Oct, so all my rushing around wasn't really necessary.  At least it's part way done now.

Back to my scrapping.  I did Sunday's Pencil Line's Sketch #103 designed by Ayako Katayama.  She did a beautiful and delicate LO of Summer with beautiful colours in it.  It looks way too artistic for my abilities.  The sketch had four little sections at the bottom, but I sorted of ignored thiese because I didn't have any small photos printed and just used three big ones to cover the same space.  I more or less kept to the rest of the sketch.  I used Jenni Bowlin's very pastel and delicate August kit.  Not totally to my taste, it was a bit wishywashy, but I love a challenge!  I used lots of bling, and I enjoyed the sticker pack in the kit and tried to use as many as possible.  The pics are of Sophie, my daughter and her cousin William, my sister's daughter at the Commenwealth Cemetery in Arras.  Will is just a year younger than Sophie, so they get on well, and we spent a week in France Spring 2007 with my Pa to go and check out my Great Uncle's war memorial.  I ran out of space to write what I wanted to write, so it didn't quite make sense, but I tried to link the two growing young teenagers with a man not much older than them who died for his country during the Somme. Since these photos were taken, Will has grown another foot, and his voice has broken!  He's over 6 foot now, scary!

My next LO I did tonight was one of Sam and I.  I don't often get good photos of us together, but this was taken last Mother's day by one of the kids. The message here is that we have stayed together for 24 years, and this October will be our 25th anniversary of meeting each other.  Life's not been so easy over the last year or two, what with my illness, being off work, losing lots of weight, being a bit obsessive etc, we've had to work hard together to keep the children in tow, get Sophie through her GCSEs, support my Pa during his health scares last year, and Sam and I took a bit of a back seat as you do.  So this LO is a celebration of what we have and what we have achieved so far and that we have faith and it will continue.

Again I used Jenni Bowlin's August kit, and added the MM foam letter satmps.  I haven't used them for ages, and have come out very effectively.  I loved the little Bingo card that had a 24 right in the middle of it. and Istuck an acrylic haeart over it.  The flowers are just cut out from a plastic flower template I have, and then I drew around their edges with a black pen several times. I sewed lots of butons on to add colour, and can you see the little house button  right next to the stamped title?  I've had him for years and am pleased I finally used it. All the large brads are  arty-licious and delicious they are too!

I really must go to bed, I'm nodding off as I type.

{My Camera}

My lovely and compact Canon S60 died a few months ago.  I love it, because firstly it cost me a lot of money and it has all the features an LSR would have but it'ssmall and fits in my bag. But unfortunately I must of got a piece of grit caught in the lens mechanism and it would no longer zoom in and out, so I couldn't close or open the lens. 

All Summer I have used my Pa's camera, a tiny little Samsung Digimax.  The screen is cr*p, but it takes a reasonable photo, I'm pleased I have it, but I so long for my old Canon back and all its settings.  I've put up some photos here that I managed to take with my Pa's camera when we were in France a fortnight ago.

Eventually I took my Canon to a shop to be looked at and got a quote back for £125 and thought OMG!!  And just ignored it!  I ranted on about it all summer and how I could be taking better pics if I had my camera back, and now some lovely person, who shall remain nameless has offered to pay for it for my BD present (Next Week) so I am ecstatic.  I can't wait to get it back and take some decent photos. But here is a fairly average one of Bella concentrating over the watering can and what she might be able to do  with it, and no she didn't tip all the water over her head, she blew in to it like a French Horn!!

I spent a fantastic day with my best friend Tina, her daughter Amber, Sophie and myself in the city on Saturday.  It was so girly.  Tina and I ran off leaving the girls to their teen shopping and shared our woes over a cup of coffee, and caught up.  Then we went shopping, I felt very spritely considering I had a very nasty fall on Thursday afternoon. We then all met up and had a fab lunch at Tootsies, sitting outside in the glorious September sun, with a glass of Rose wine. I had a fab Hommous sandwich with loads of salad on top (I'm being very good) and the others had burgers, but Sophie had this Cheese fondue served on an oblong plate that was the width of the table, it was really massive, about 2ft long.  It had all the bread, veg and crisps lined up to dip in the fondue!  It looked very extravagant.

Norwich played at home and we won 1-0 and my brother phoned from Melbourne at half time before we scored.  It was a cold day in Melbourne, but by then Tina and I were sunbathing in glorious sun in my garden on the swing seat putting the world to rights.  Amber and Sophie decided to dye her hair black, so Sophie now has jet black hair!!  Actually it suits her, but you can see the deep brown colour through it, so it looks very natural, especially before she straightend it!  I haven't got a photo of it, because she's been working all day and has flaked out in bed.  But here is a photo of her in her waitressing uniform pre black hair!!

{I'm amazed...I finally got Scrapbooking again}

Yep, tidying up my scraproom a bit inspired me to finally take the plunge.  I visited Pencil Lines #102 and did this week's sketch.  Using sketches always get me going again.  These are photos of Sophie on her 16th BD.  I used a couple of sheets of "Enchanted" by Tracy Whitney, Dream Street Papers that I bought at the GogoGetaway a few months ago, they are luscious and double sided (always a great bargain).  I did deviate from the sketch quite a bit by using two photos and made a sort of large circle come flower embellishment.  I couldn't put a stalk on it as it looked like it was growing out of Sophie's head, but it gave me some ideas of just cutting circles freehand and putting them all together to make a flower just like I used to do with the kids at Playgroup!    I can't remember where the figure cards come from, they look a bit Jenni Bowlin like, but I could be completely wrong, but I have a whole set of them.  I was also chuffed to dig out some really old plastic embellishments that were collecting dust.  The flowers are Prima flowers that I got in a metal tin back at CHA in 2006 I think, but I pulled them apart to get two further flowers from each flower!  The gems were again bought from The Gogogetaway and are Chatterbox's new Artil-icious range, and what a fab range that is, I bought tons of it a few months ago.

I had a long chat with my brother this afternoon, and they had a great trip back to Melbourne with Bella sleeping most of the last leg from Singapore.  She hasn't quite got back into the right timings yet, and had them up at 3am for 3 hours last night, but they think she's back on track for tonight.

Norwich LOST at home playing against 10 men last night against QPR 0-1!  How could they?? It was the worst football I have heard for some time.  But a good fan always supports their team when the chips are down.  We play at home again this Saturday, the boys are desperate to go, but I really don't quite have the confidence to take them on my own.  I did once before, but I wish my DH showed some enthusiasm for the odd game of football, but he'd rather watch paint dry!

"I Said My Goodbye's"

  It was all very sad and emotional at the end, but my brother, Kris, his wife and Bella, my neice left on Monday for Heathrow.  They didn't leave until 4.30, so we had most of a beautiful sunny day to enjoy first, but those last few minutes hanging around the car hugging eachother does no good at all, both my brother and I sobbed in eachother's arms.  I don't know how many years it will be before I see him or his family again, but I hope it is just one year this time.

We still share the love of Norwich City Football Club and will both know we are listening to Norwich play on the radio/internet, and text each other throughout the match, and I hope to have many chatty conversations with my niece and Sister in Law. Kris and I have really only met 4 times, but we became great sisters this time, we have lots in common now she is a Mum, and I was honoured to be left overnight babysitting several times, and hear her call my house "home" on a number of occasions. My Pa was emotional too when they drove off, but in the comfort of knowing he'll be heading off on a cruise from Southampton to Sydney via South America in 4 months time. (Lucky old thing!)

   I have such fab memories of their trip, all the funny little things Bella used to say in her little Australian accent and how she thought it perfectly normal to look out of a car window and see Kangaroos and not cows when we asked what can we see?!!  I was so proud of my boys, because they played so well with her, and entertained her for hours, they were brilliant.  My DH was "" Uncle Sam?...Funny!" that was her description of him, but she did love running around the garden screaming her head off, with him shouting "I'm going to get you!!"  She was such a little flirt with him, she'd do anything to get his attention and a raspberry blown on her tummy!!

I was excited that I received this month's Jenni Bowlin kit and my "lost" one from last month yesterday, all in one day.  They must have both come on the same shipment even though August's was clearly postmarked Aug 17th!  I cleared my scraproom and dated up some printed photos that I ordered earlier so am ready to scrap.  It's probably not going to happen this weekend because I have promised to design a little website for someone and that deadline is this weekend, so I have to move along with that bigtime, but I am anxious to go and scrap and visit a few old scrapping websites that I haven't been on for months and months and months!!

Norwich City are playing tonight at home, so I shall be listening to that intently, waiting for our first home win and hopefully get a phone call from Melbourne to say my brother and family have arrived home.

See ya!

{A Day on The Road}

I travelled several hundred miles today from Norwich to Gatwick and back in one go. I had breaks, but I'm feeling pretty numb in the head now.  Parting little Isabelle from her Parents who headed off to their hotel in Mayfair directly from Gatwick on the Express didn't seem to bother Bela at all.  I had taken Elliott with me as company and entertainment on the way home.  OK, so he should have been school, but we have both picked up sore throats and the snuffles, so I let him off today.

Bella walked into my house just like it was hers, she found all her toys and DVDs she left here, and sat down like the queen in front of the TV watching Spongebob, like she had never been away. Once Uncle Sam arrived home, she was hysterical and so hyped up.  She wanted cuddles, to jump on him, squeezes, raspberries on her tummy, attention, attention, she is such a flirt with him, but he really is such a clown with her, she loves it.

She's fed, watered, bathed and in bed by 9.30pm, which is early for her. (My brother being an Ozzie now, is so laid back, they don't eat until 9.30pm!) I've heard no peep, so things look good. and I can relax. My brother and Kris are dining at their friend Shane's restaurant A Pied A Terre tonight, and I am sure they will get the star treatment.

  I've been downloading photos from my SILs flashcard tonight, she took some gorgeous photos, and I can't wait to show them, but this is one I took whilst borrowing her camera. Bella helping Daddy to do pressups!

{My French Trip}

I've uploaded all my French Holiday photos, and have been deleting tons.  It's so difficult to take pics of toddlers isn't it?  They move around so much, I just got blurred images or backsides!!  I did take hundreds, so luckily I have a few good ones.  This is Bella looking really cute, I love her little pigtails, the concentration and that gorgeous cheeky face. I have plenty of photos here for scrapbooking.

It'sso long since I scrapped, well 4 months.  That's a long time, and I feel nervous about starting again.  I'm so out of the loop at the moment, I have no idea what's going on in the scrapbooking world, what the latest products are, what the latest fashions are and who is who, if you get what I mean.  My scraproom is fairly tidy, so I only have a smalll bit of organising to do before I can start again.  I sent off an e-mail to Jenni Bowlin to explain that I hadn't received my August kit yet.  I bet it's got lost in the post.

  The house we stayed in, in France, was the holiday home of the parents of my brother's neighbour back in Melbourne.  His neighbour has just given birth to a baby boy, so the grandparents will want to visit Melbourne often, so my brother did a house swap, but with their holiday home.  My brother is thinking of doing a some more often.  The house was gorgeous, and the view from my window was a field of sunflowers! The little house at the front is the shed!

My sister and I babysat Bella for a couple of days while my brother and SIL went off for a couple of romantic days together.  We didn'thave a car, so spent two days lounging around the pool and walking amongst the sunflowers!  Now I know where my Flora margarine comes from!

The pool was unheated, but after the first dive into freezing water, I warmed up quick.  A couple of lengths was enough to warm me up and then play with Bella in her flotation suit.

I used this swimming pool as an experiment.  I hadn't been swimming properly since my MS diagnosis, I wasn't sure what warm water would do to my body, but I was amazed how more freely I could move in the water, and how good my legs felt without the pressure of the ground and my weight on them.  I've definately decided swimming is for me, and the only nway I am ever going to get regular exercise.  So watch out local swimming pool, here I come!!

I shall miss that little pool, we had lots of fun swims and lovely french meals on the patio.  I ate so much French bread and cheese, I really do look like the side of a house at the moment.

I have decided to go back on a diet as I have sadly gained 3 stone since I lost all that weight last year.  I can't believe I have put on 3 stone in just one year.  I've already changed my eating habits since I have been back, but am finishing off some bottles of red wine and awaiting the final few days left with my brother before he flies back to Oz.  I don't know how he keeps so fit and slim eating all the food and wine he cooks.  Most professional chefs of his standard, do tend to be slim, but I did see him do pressups on the pool side with Bella on his back!!

For those that asked, Sophie did really well in her GCSEs.  She was predicted 5 Cs and the rest below and was hoping to get into Sixth Form.  She got 3 A's, 3 B's, 6 C's, and 2 D's (French and Maths)  So we were all ecstatic for her.  Much higher marks than she ever dreamt off.  She has started sixth form doing Four A Levels, Drama, Performing Arts, Eng Lit and Philosophy and Ethics (She loves this and got an A at Gcse, it wasn't her orignal direction she was going to take), and a Maths retake to hopefully get a C. She was only 10 marks off a C. She has tons of work to do, but is taking it all very seriously, she has shown me some of her A Level Eng Lit books (I did A level Eng Lit) but her books are all so modern.  I shall read some of them so she can use me as a sounding board etc.

  Sophie managed to find a waitressing job over the Summer Holidays at a hotel very nearby. They actually have wedding ceremonies there, functions and a couple of restaurants.  She was taken on board purely from her CV, apparently they like Drama students.  They make the best waiters!!  Sophie is very well liked there, and took to it like a duck to water, and has often been chosen to work on her own despite her inexperience, and even especially chosen to serve at the billionaire boss' s table when he came to check things out.  Her shifts have quietened down a bit now, and the sixth form don't really want their students to work more than 10 hours a week. So that should fit in ok, but at least she is finally earning her own money and can buy her own clothes.

I'm off to Gatwick again on Thursday to pick up Bella on her way back from France and bring her back to Norwich while Jonathan and Kris catch up with some of their Chef friends and eat and drink themselves silly.  I shall no doubt see them sometime late on Friday, then I have just one last weekend with them before they fly back to Oz.  I can barely think about it.  How old will Bella be next time I see her?  Probably about 10 years!  I hope she'll remember her aunty Jennie.  Perhaps I'll have to do her a scrapbook of her time here and send it to her to remind her.

{Is Summer Over Already?}

Well here I am again.  Summer is over, it's wet, windy and certainly not sunny.  In fact I only recall about three good weekends altogether this summer.

I've had a very hectic Summer. My brother has been over from Oz with his wife, Kris, and their daughter Isabelle.  She's two and a bit now, and gorgeous. It's the first time I have met her, and we get on famously.  She looks like a mini (but girlie) version of my brother at the same age!  Her speech is so forward, and we have great conversations.  I've babysat a few times now, including overnight, and she is so comfortable with me.  I just wish she lived near by and not the otherside of the world.

I've just returned from France yesterday, having spent 4 days away with them in a house near Bordeaux.  It had an open and unheated swimming pool which I spent many hours in with Isabelle playing Sharks and Dolphins.  I ate loads, drank loads, slept loads, read loads and learnt every Play School song going from Isabelle's Ipod!  She loves songs.

I got back last night, and have another few days before my brother and family get back from France.  I don't go back to work for another 2 weeks yet.  Hurrah!

Scrapbooking?  I haven't given up, but I certainly haven't done any for months and months.  I'm missing my Scrapagogo kits as I have taken a temporary break from the DT team, and I haven't received my Jennie Bowlin kit for a couple of months either, so I really need to check up on why that is,but I know I have paid for them!!  But I have taken piles and piles of photos over the summer, so I have plenty to scrap with, and am hoping to start again soon.

Lastly, my Summer has been totally rocked by the death of one of my closest friends Tania.  She died aged 42 from a heart attack!  She has left behind a 14 year old daughter Sofia, and a husband Simon, who buried his father the previous week.  Although Tania had been ill over the years, I never dreamt it would come to this.  I have spent many an hour crying from the shock and all our memories and that I didn't get to say goodbye.  I found the funeral and burial very comforting, offering me some closure.  Tania's parents were so strong, and supported Simon and Sofia so well. We hugged and chatted a lot at Tania's graveside and at the wake, and I met so many of my old work colleagues who had worked with her over the years and it was great to remind each of other of so many memories.  Tania and I had been close friends for twenty years now, if not more, we shared so many memories, girlie nights out, weddings, BBQs, parties, babies, christenings, growing up, family health problems and now a funeral!

I have plenty of video of Tania, I can't look at it yet, but I did pull out my wedding scrapbook album, and the pics of her throwing confetti over Sam and my head.  Tania, I love you to bits, rest in peace, you've taught me life is so short.

Tania Carol Garner
1966 - 2008