Story Telling Sunday: A New Word for Christmas!

I had a eureka moment the other day.  I heard a song that reminded me of something and I thought, at last, I have an apt story for Sian's Story Telling Sunday!

This is part of the song I heard:

When Santa got stuck up the chimney

he began to shout

"You girls and boy won't get any toys

until you let me out"

And here's my story:

When Maddie was in nursery she was taught lots of different songs. One Christmas she came home singing a new song she'd learnt, all about Santa getting stuck up a chimney.  She sang it for me but she used a word I'd never heard before, a word that she had created, and I think it's a perfect word for Christmas.  Here is Maddie's version of the song:

When Santa got stuck up the chimney

he began to shout

"You girls and boys won't get any toys
untince you let me out"

How fantastic and very festive is her made up word?!? I could do nothing to convince her that the word she was meant to say was 'until' and, even now at the age of seventeen, she tells me that it is a word that exists!

Yes Maddie, it is a word that exists, a very special word in OUR Christmas vocabulary and I love it.

I hope you like my tale, I hope that your December has got off to a good start and I hope you'll pop over to Sian's and see the other stories and even tell one of your own.

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

December's Here

And so are my advent presents!

This year I've finally decided to join in the advent swap with the girls at my crop. A present a day for 25 days, can't be bad!

As I'm still stuck in my sick bed Santa's Little Helper delivered my parcel today because I missed the little get together they had the other evening. It looks gorgeous:


How cute is that and how cute is this?:


It's full of lovely gifts:


And, when I feel better and can really enjoy it, I shall start opening them :) thank you Santa.

It's nearly the weekend and, if I'm well enough, I shall be putting up the tree.

Hope your week is going well
Jo xx

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What a Difference....

.....a year makes!!!!

30th November 2010 - snowed in!

30th November 2011 - sunny and dry!

I am not getting any better and it's getting me down now, like a trooper, I'll be back at work tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping by
Jo xx

I Have Returned!

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I last blogged, the time has flown by.

I have been busy:

Knitting a hat for Paul - because it's getting cold and I want to make sure he keeps warm :)

Baking Christmas cookies - yes I'm aware I'll get through a few more batches before Christmas is here :)

Baking coffee cupcakes - because we're having a "Bake Off" at work and I want to practise :)

Spending time with my nephew, Gorgeous George

Having more ink added to me - Paul is so talented, didn't sketch it out just inked it straight on :)

Cuddling up with Alfie

And I even managed to squeeze in a layout

I love the look on Maddie's face when she realised she was sitting right behind the horse's rear end when we went on a horse and cart ride in Weymouth.

I used papers and embellishments from Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends range that I got in one of my Gotta Craft kits.

And some very old flowers!

Today I am off work ill, Maddie was ill yesterday and, on top of the cold I already have, I've picked up her lurgy!

I hope you're all having a great week. I'm sorry the post is photo heavy I won't leave it so long next time :)
Jo xx

Gulp!

I was telling a friend the other day about a little superstition I have, well it's not really a little one, it's a MASSIVE one.  To cut a long story short because of heartbreak in the past I have a very silly superstition and it's to do with photos.  I have about two photos of me and Paul together, just TWO in the four years we've been together.  I'm scared that if I have lots of photos of him then I could be tempting fate for the relationship to end.  I know that it's stupid but even as I type this I'm wondering if I should post it!

Anyway, my friend knew I was going to see him this weekend and demanded suggested that I take a photo of the two of us, so I did and it's here:

Me and Paul together, looking happy after a great weekend together.

There, I did it :)

Hope your week has kicked off to a great start.
Jo x

It's Been a Hell of a Week

This week has been really awful and I haven't had a chance to be creative or blog.  Firstly I noticed a really bad smell of gas at work, then the boiler blew up! So we've been sitting chillin (literally) in the office.  Then the computer system went down closely followed by the phones.  Then yesterday, to top it all, my iPhone stopped working, it seems that if you don't sync or upgrade the software for 2 years then it will do that.  After 8 hours of it being hooked up to a life support machine, AKA iTunes, I managed to revive it. Whew.

Anyhoo, my last blog post talked of me having to do a layout for a deadline that had just whooshed past.  I did that layout and I did it in 45 minutes, not bad eh?

It tied in nicely with the spots and stripes prompt for the Pretty Paper Party and it's Maddie panning for gold, by the look on her face I'd say she was successful :) Terrible photo of the layout I know, it's the only thing I hate about winter - no good light to photo layouts.

Another trip down the motorway for me to see Paul later, can't wait because he's been in Bruges today and rumour has it that there's some chocolate heading its way back to me.

Hope you have a great weekend.
Jo xx

Another Weekend Fast Approaching!

I can't believe how quickly this week is going, I have a million things to do though so would appreciate it if my free time didn't go quite so quickly - I guess that's something we all wish for!

I have another layout I did at the weekend to share.  It was inspired by either prompt 2 or 3 from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party - I've got a bit behind on the prompts but I am hoping to catch up soon.

I love this picture of Maddie, taken at a picnic in Windsor.  Every time my friend Lynne arranged a picnic we always seemed to get bad weather!

On this occasion Maddie was so cold that she wrapped the picnic blanket round her so we had nothing to sit on apart from damp grass, wouldn't be any good for my poor old bones nowadays :)

I had fun cutting the trees out of the Jillibean Soup, Apple Cheddar Soup range and although I wanted to screw the papers up and throw them away when I first started this layout over a week ago, I'm quite pleased with the end result now.

I now have to dash and try and get two layouts done that have a deadline of....erm......yesterday!

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx