Review of 2013

I had a great time in 2013, here are the highlights:

 My new niece Alice was born just before my birthday.

I enjoyed walking in the snow.

I taught myself to crochet a ripple blanket.

I really enjoyed doing Project Life, still need to do 33 weeks to catch up on this year though :)

I met online friends in real life.

I got new ink.

I went on a Gromit hunt.

I went to the air show at Bournemouth.

I enjoyed a hog roast at my brother's 40th birthday.

I spent time with the whole family.

I spent time with friends and went to an old work reunion.

I walk 10k with my brother and sisters to raise over £1000 for Alzheimer's research.

I spent lots of time on the beach.

I carried on with my weight loss.

I spent time with Pippy.

I spent time with Paul.

I spent time with Alfie.

And I spent lots of time with Maddie.

Oh and there might have been cake along the way!

All in all 2013 was a good year and now I'm looking forward to 2014 and the adventures it will bring.

I hope you had a good year.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

My Most Precious

It's the very last Story Telling Sunday and that makes me a bit sad.  I have really enjoyed telling stories and reading the stories of everyone else who has joined in for the last three years.  It's all been thanks to Sian over at From High in the Sky.

This year has all been about picking our precious and my precious for the very last story was a no brainer, here she is:

My beautiful, funny daughter who goes by the names of:

Samantha Rose Daisy
Samantha Rose
Samantha
Sammie
Sam
Mattme
Matt
Maddie and
Boobar Rushdedardee!

Everyone calls her something different and I'm surprised that she hasn't ended up with split personalities!

I had a couple of miscarriages before I had Maddie and a couple after, I even had a threatened miscarriage when I was carrying her so she has always been very special.She surprises me with her intelligence, her sense of humour and the way she treats those less fortunate than herself.

She loves to photo bomb everything!

And even though she's 19 (and a half) she still likes to fall asleep cuddling her mum!

We live together and work together and I love it. She makes me laugh every day and makes my heart melt when she randomly comes up to me and hugs me.  There has only been the two of us for the last 14 years and we have such a special bond.

More often than not she is the adult in our relationship :) She checks all of my blog posts for me because I just can't spell so, as this one is a surprise for her, it's probably riddled with spelling and grammatical errors which will drive her mad!

I think know she's beautiful after all she looks like me :)

She has her own sense of style and is definitely not a sheep who follows a flock.

And there's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for her, she is definitely the most precious thing in my life.

I love you Boobar xxx

Now it's your turn to head over to Sian's and tell your story.

Thank you for stopping by
Jo x

I'm Mad About The Boy!

I know that I don't stop going on about how much I love my boy, Alfie.  He was a rescue dog removed from a home where he'd been locked in a room with no food, no water and no love. That all changed just over four years ago when he came to live with us.

He's a Belgium Shepherd/Collie cross but I haven't come up with a ridiculous name for him like the overpriced Labradoodle mongrels :)

I thought I would tell you a couple of things about Alfie, the things that make me laugh and make my heart melt. He loves cuddly toys, they're his babies and they are always near to him. When I get the vacuum out he always runs to get his babies so that he can save them :)

When I go to Paul's Alfie always stays behind to look after Maddie and he always moves into my bedroom.  Last time I came home I found FOUR of his babies in there! He was most upset when I removed them and I'm sure he thought he was moving in for good :)

Another thing about Alfie is that he always has to be touching me. When I'm preparing dinner in the kitchen he's always at my feet, when I'm crafting at the table you can bet he's at my feet.

If I'm sitting on the sofa sewing or knitting then he is always there lying right next to me. Even if it's just his head leaning on my foot he will always find away to touch me.

And, despite his size, in his head he thinks he is a lap dog!

I love him to bits and wouldn't have him any other way.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

Quickest Story Ever Scrapped!

I realise that my blog has been woefully neglected this year and there's been hardly any scrapping on display, hopefully that will change!

Last week I had a go at the weekly challenge over at UKScrappers.  The prompt was to use sewing on a layout, real or fake, to use a die cut or do some fussy cutting and to take inspiration from this sketch:

I actually managed to get my layout done on Thursday at the crop, yes I actually did manage to do some real, live scrapping at the crop!

I added the title last night but didn't really have any journalling.  I have lots of layouts of Alfie telling the story of where he came from and how lucky I was to have him, I needed a new tale.

I let him out the garden while I had a think about what story I could tell.  It was nearly midnight and he didn't allow me any thinking time.  He managed to get into my neighbour's garden and get out the other end into the alley!  I didn't know whether to follow him or head him off at the front of the house!  I was in a panic, I was shouting, it was raining and then he came bounding back to me with a massive bone in his mouth!

And I had the journalling for my layout!

What's the quickest you've ever got a story in to an album?

Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

Precious Friends

Unbelievably another month has passed and it's time for Story Telling Sunday over at Sian's.  This year it's all been about the precious things in our lives, the things that mean so much to us.

My story this month is about friendship.  When it comes to friends I always prefer quality over quantity and the few friends that I have are definitely worth their weight in gold.  I know that I can count on all of them and I know that if anything were to happen to me then Maddie could rely on them too.  This month though I'm just going to focus on one of those friends and I'd like to introduce you to Allison:

I first met Allison at high school way back in 1983. I had an exam and the desks were set out with alternating rows of year ones (my year) and year twos (Allison's year).  I was put next to Allison and straight away she started talking and telling stories and making people laugh.  Being new at the school I was mortified and wondered what sort of trouble I'd get in to because of this girl. Little did I know then how much she'd come to mean to me.

Allison is still a talker, she can still tell a story and she can still make everyone laugh.  Nothing seems to faze her, she can and does cope with anything and everything. She can reason and she can see all sides of a story.  She has an amazing knack of telling you a negative by making it sound like a positive.  She always makes you feel that she's got time for you, that you've never called at an inconvenient time - I once called her in tears and she let me talk for 20 minutes before she let me know she was at her son's birthday party and was looking after 20 kids!

I can go for years without talking to Allison but I know she's always there for me and for any of her friends.  No matter how long it's been we'll always start up where we left off and the years in between just melt away.

It is always great to spend time with Allison, I always know that I'll end up laughing and feeling good.  She is a special kind of person but if you ever cross her then I can guarantee that you'll see all kinds of crazy :)

So this little story of mine is to let you know about a great person and to let her know that I know she's been through so much recently and we all love her dearly.

Now it's your turn to head over to Sian's and tell your story.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

Ickle Bottle

Here we are again, another month has passed and we're on to the 10th Story Telling Sunday of the year! It's all thanks to Sian over at From High in the Sky.

This month my precious is something quite new to me, I picked it up from a charity shop last month for nothing more than £1.

I saw this little glass bottle and fell in love:

I could see the word Pyrex on it. 

And measurements on the sides:

But I left the shop without it at first but my friend convinced me to go back and buy it. 

And I'm so glad I did. When I got home I thought I'd research my little bottle and see if I could find any information on it. I was surprised when I found out it is a baby feeding bottle!

And that has made me love it even more. It's also made me hunt for others but I haven't had any luck yet. 

Now it's your turn to head over to Sian's and tell your story. 

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

An Update

As you may remember a month ago today I published this post. It's details of a Memory Walk that me, my brother and sisters were going to do to raise money for Alzheimer's.

Well.....we did it!

Last week I decorated a card to pin to the back of my t-shirt.

Then on Sunday morning we all met up ready for the big walk, we were also joined by my niece, Elsie.

The weather was overcast but dry and warm enough for us not to need coats, perfect walking weather.

There was a great atmosphere at the start with music playing, games for the children and a memory tree.

We set off at just after 11:00 along with hundreds of other walkers.

The first 5k of the walk was vertical! The views, and the charity, made it all worthwhile.

At the halfway point we had a couple of cheerleaders in the form of my friend Sarah and her hubby Chris so we managed to get a picture.

Then it was time for the descent, this was the part I found the hardest and I would much rather have carried on uphill! At last there was just one mile left to go.

And then we saw the finish line.

We'd done it!

Our mum, family and friends were there to meet us and to snap us crossing the line.

We started together and we finished together, then we headed to the bar!

Cheers dad!

It was a great day spent with a great family doing it all in the memory of a great man.

We walked 10k in 2 hours and between us we raised over £1000 for the charity!

Me and my family would like to thank every single person who donated to this great cause.  There's still time to donate if you want to, just click the Just Giving link at the top of the page.

I decided to do this walk months ago and I was delighted that my brothers and sisters wanted to join me.  I also decided that I wanted to do the Pier to Pier swim in Bournemouth next year and they've decided to join me for that too!  In fact they said it would be nice for us to do a challenge every year for charity which will be fantastic.

Thank you again for all of your support
Jo xx