Happy Pancake eating everyone!!!!

Shrove Tuesday :
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom,[1] and Australia[2] for the day preceding the first day of the Christian holiday season of Lent.
The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide", the English equivalent to the Carnival tradition that developed separately in countries of Latin Europe. The term "Shrove Tuesday" is no longer widely known in the United States outside of Liturgical Traditions, such as the Lutheran, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic Churches. [3][4] because of the increase in many immigrant populations and traditions since the 19th century.

Well we're going to be eating our pancakes today are you? My favourite is plain pancakes with cinammon sugar and lemon juice, but if I want to be indulgent then filled with strawberries and fresh cream, Kelsey has taken a fancy to pancakes with peanut butter and banana!!! yeuch!!! What takes your fancy???

Why not share some of your favourite fillings with us, perhaps you have a strange combination you'd like us to try???

Then tomorrow is the start of Lent and Aunty J and I have decided that we're giving up either the 3 C's - Chocolate, Cheese and Coke!!! or the 1 B - Bread... I know which one June is struggling with... I think I'll give up the 3 C's after all M&M's don't start with C!!!

For those of you who thought there was no romance in me, todays quote:

Forget love... I'd rather fall in chocolate.

House update...

Well onto a land update:

As you can see by the photos our land has finally been flattened enough for us to start building (AGAIN). A bit of an explanation of what's happening in the photos - the one with me standing waving - that's going to be the lounge / dinning room with sliding doors (behind me) onto the patio.

In the one I am lying down, on my imaginary bed.... That's going to be the main bedroom, to my left sliding doors onto the patio, opposite my feet the en-suite bathroom.

The room I am 'sitting' in, waving, this is going to be the 'office/craft' room, looking onto the back of the house. And in the other photo I am 'skipping' down the passage way. The layout has been changed a little bit as they put the passage a little too far forward, but that has now been corrected.

You can see by the road in the background just how much land had to be moved UP to cover over the 'natural watercourse' that was at the bottom of the garden. They've installed a 'French Drain' whatever that is, but it looks like Paul is going to get that water featured he's always wanted...

They started digging the foundations last week, but as these have to be dug by hand, and I'm told there's a lot of rock under there, it's hard going...And of course the weather has been it's usual unpredictable self, 1 day hot next day rain... Seems they can dig in the heat but not in the rain, go figure!!!

Needless to say I'll keep you updated with the progress, as it happens.

What a weekend...

You can say that again... I don't think I've ever had a weekend quite like this one, never mind the fact we've had a fortnight of suprises!!!

As mentioned previously last week (10th Feb) was mum's 70th, so the brothers planned a surprise visit last weekend and I got hold of one of my mum's very special friends, Iris, and organised for her to visit this weekend...

I told mum I had to help out at the school on Thursday, it was the only excuse I could think of that mum would not want to come with me, and I set off to the airport to collect Iris. I'd had to make an excuse to Kelsey for him to take all his kit for the day as usually I go and watch him play cricket on a Thursday, I didn't want him to spoil the surprise either.

When we got back earlier than expected I got out the car and mum said "what have you done to upset them now" (whatever can she be talking about, me upset anyone !!!) Well mum got the fright of her life when Iris walked in behind me... But it was lovely to see the two of them chatting, drinking cups of tea etc...

Then on Friday I get the same trick played on me, with Paul arriving!!! Perhaps I'll give the surprises a miss for a while, the blood pressure and heart just can't take it...

We've had a fantastic weekend even though the house has been a little full. We all had a fantastic night out on Friday, we went to dinner at a really good restaurant locally. The ladies went gambling on Saturday for the day, Kelsey and Aunty J went horse riding and K was so pleased to have his dad watching, the boys swam and enjoyed the first rays of sun we've had all week... Paul seems to have all the luck, or is it cos 'the weather witch' was happy and the sun shone???

Sunday we spent a lazy, rainy day, watching DVD's, eating popcorn and just 'chillin' it was great.

Monday Kelsey was upset cos dad was going home, but glad that dad could finally take him to school. We had a couple of trips to the airport, to drop off Iris and then Paul! He sent me a message this morning to say he's arrived back safely in London...

And so it's back to 'normality' ...

Cupid shot his arrow...

And look what landed in my garden... Yes what a suprise!

My sister-in-law Penny phoned me on Friday afternoon to ask if we were in as they were coming to the Hillcrest area to collect something for my neice and they were going to call in for coffee and I told her we'd be in after 4pm. We just got home when the buzzer went on the gate, Lawrence and Penny pulled in all excited because they said they'd found a 'bearded dragon' and knew that Kelsey had always wanted one...

My brother said he'd put it in the back of his van as it was injured... we carefully opened up the back and who jumps out shouting 'Happy Valentines Day' but Paul ... Well as you know I'm not a big one for suprises for me, I love organising them for others but don't do well getting them myself...

The first thing I said was "what the bl...y hell are you doing here, and how much has this cost us?" Of course a true romatic...

AND he even had flowers...

Trying to out do that song "and I will walk 10th miles... just to be the man whofalls at your door"...

"I'm only here for the weekend" he says, he's flying back to England on Monday, the man's got more money than sense, but I love him for it...

Happy Valentines Day to all

Both of these cards are very basic and very easy to make, even though they may look a bit complicated. The heart shape can be used for all sorts of things, including making flowers...

Again using Double sided BoBunny papers, the card with the large flower in the centre is made by cutting out several different sized hearts, curling them around your scissors and then layering them up to make them look like a large flower. I have used a button for the centre of the flower. (You could use other colours as well to make this for a wedding card or even a birthday card.)

On the other card, cut 2 strips of patterned paper and adhere to main card, stamp an image of a heart onto patterned paper, cut it out and mount it over the 2 stips of patterned paper. Add a greeting either by stamping or using 'your favourite' peel off.

The language of Love

I really love the pink and brown combination, so much so that I even wear it a lot these days too...

Again I used ribbed chocolate brown base card, BoBunny Heart Paper.

I stamped the word LOVE using Hampton's Little Classic Alphabet stamps, punched out postage stamp shapes using the McGill Stacking punches.

These are mounted over brown & pink gingham ribbon and the card is decorated using small paper flowers to finish it off.

This card is ideal for Valentines Day, Wedding and Anniversaries, again you can personalise it by using the person's name punched out and added rather than the LOVE.

Todays verse:

Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve,

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love,

time is eternity.

Feel the LURVE!!!

An ideal card for lovers of Pink & Brown.

For the background I used a Ribbed Chocolate(yummy) Brown Card, the patterned hearts were cut out using Sizzix, Original Die, Heart Combo. All papers are BoBunny Double Sided papers.

The Letters LOVE were double cut out of pink and brown card using Sizzix, Circus Alphabet, mounted slightly off set to give the 'shadow effect'.

Ribbons are double knots attached to the top of the hearts. Ribbon used is Brown and Pink Gingham.

Again if you do not have Sizzix Heart dies, you can use punches, or even use a smaller punch and punch out enough for your loved ones name.

Can be used as a Valentine Card, Wedding or Anniversary Card or even a Birthday card for a loved one. Also fun for a 'Girly Teenage Card' if you use hearts and their name...

Suggested inserts for your card:

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,

A song is no song 'til you sing it,

And love in your heart

Wasn’t put there to stay -

Love isn’t love

'Til you give it away.

OR

Love puts the fun in together,

the sad in apart,

and the joy in a heart.

OR

Two lives,

two hearts

joined together in friendship
united forever in love.

What a Party Weekend...

It's mum's 70th Birthday on Tuesday 10th and I wanted to try and do something a little special for her, so I contacted the brothers and planned a surprise visit by them, for the weekend.

And boy! What a great weekend we've had, Kevin & Sandra arrived on Friday and mum was sat in the garden and we were all hanging about waiting for their arrival, next minute a car pulls up and the look on her face when she saw them was well worth the stress of keeping it a secret...

Lawrence, Penny and the kids all arrived on Saturday, the fire was lit and the alcohol started to flow freely, even Penny had a 'bottle' and she doesn't actually drink, hence the fun photos of her and I in our 'crash helmets!' in cash we were so drunk we fell over !!!!

And no party is complete without the 'Conga'!!! It seems this 'Dancing on the Driveway' is catching on...

Needless to say Sunday was a very 'quiet' calm day... Spending time around the pool (temp 32c) catching a tan and snoozing... This is what 'family' weekends are all about.

There was only 1 thing wrong the whole weekend... Paul was missing...{:-(

L-O-V-E

Another little 'ditty' for your reading pleasure:
(for the romantics)

L-O-V-E

a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction

of the heart which weakens the brain,

causes eyes to sparkle,

cheeks to glow,

blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.

(And for the comics)

L-O-V-E

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love;

the running across fields into your lover's arms

can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.

Hope you all have a great LOVE filled weekend...

Love is in the Air *:-)

For this card I used BoBunny striped paper, cut a thick strip to cover the front of your A6 card, using the Original Red Die - Sizzix Heart Combo - lay the strip along the bottom 2 hearts, cut out and keep the smaller heart to add later.

Position punched out strip on card, take stamps of your choice and stamp directly onto card (behind) cut outs. Attach punched out strip to main card using brads, add flowers to embellish.

Attach the smaller cut out heart, decorated with ribbon to your card at an angle.

If you don't want to stamp, use double sided paper and you can re-insert hearts with opposite colours instead.

Again this card can be used for weddings, anniversary etc.Or even as a birthday card for a loved one. If you don't have the sizzix then use a selection of different sized heart punches instead, keep the left over hearts to put inside the card (so they make a mess when your loved one opens it!!!)

An ideal insert for this card: A hundred hearts would be too few to carry all my love for you….

Enjoy...

RAIN stops progress again

Oh heck... Are we back into winter again, last night it was hot water bottles at the ready, winter PJ's and it was damned cold AGAIN !!!!! I just can't get over this and neither can anyone else, but should I be moaning? You guys in the UK seem to be having worse than me, BUT...

Needless to say yet again here's another day with nothing happenin' on the land, the diggers can't dig, the rollers can't roll and the dynamite just gets wet !!!!

Do you think I'll have a house to move into by 2010? P. I think we might be house hunting in April at this rate!!!

K.'s p'd off too cos it means crickets cancelled again today...He was asking me if he'll get a game in before the season ends???

I think the only one's happy at the moment are the ducks...

Feel the LOVE {:~}

Todays thoughts on LOVE:

Love is as much of an object as an obsession,

everybody wants it, everybody seeks it,

but few ever achieve it,

those who do will cherish it,

be lost in it, and among all,

never... never forget it.

Can you just feel the LOOOOOVE? :-) xxooxx

Land Transformation

Well as you can see there's a huge change on the land, I can finally see the light, now I know what they are talking about when they said they were going to take the top down and bring the bottom up... To make more solid land to build on! And picture 2 has them starting to shape where ther driveway is going to go...

I think I'm going to have some fun with my neighbours too, I've had the old bat from across the road moaning about the noise the diggers are making !!! and then the Tree Huggers were round this morning because we had to remove a tree that happened to be standing where the drive is going... Don't you just love it. I told them to take a walk on the GREEN side of course...

I've also had several builders calling to see if I need my house to be built!!! Duh! Where were all the builders when I was looking for one!!! And I've had offers on buying my top soil!!! and Rocks!!! Like I'm going to sell my rocks... I need them to build my own rockery and water feature... and Aunty J wants first refusal too... Duh, but I'm told by Bruce that we have to keep an eye on out rocks and top soil as they get 'nicked' from site!!!

Girls I'm learning so much as 'Project Manager' of my own building site!!!

LOVE - another look

Here's another little anecdote for you to think about - LOVE : )

The couple that fights the most is the one most in love...
it shows they care enough to notice the other one screwed up

and care enough to mention it to the person so they can fix it.

When you stop fighting it means you stopped caring.

Based on this I guess I must be in love, as we do an awful lot of fighting !!!!

Whooa! another Hobby, well not for me!!!

Aunty J has always loved horses, in fact she once persuaded me to go with her (that was many years ago, and unfortunately it did not end well!) since then she has been on at me to try again... Well K. decided he would go in my place instead, and although he just about walked away (with bandy, sore legs, and an extremely tight butt!) he loved it and can't wait to go again...

So now Saturdays will be taken up with 'horse riding' ... and eventually once K. gets some lessons in and some more experience, (according to Aunty J.) Sundays they will go out on 'out rides'

Whatever! I'll just drive along in the comfort of my 4x4!!! Listening to cowboy songs !!!

I can hear you all laughing from here...

February, the month of LOVE {:-()}

For those of you who know me!!! LOVE! Yes well...

This was one of the cards we made a couple of years ago for the class 'Love is in the Air', this card could be used for a wedding invitation, a wedding card, an anniversary.

The stamp I used for this was from Magenta and the patterned paper is a BoBunny Paper. The ...with love.. is also a stamp but this is a PSX design.

If you have a 'heart' stamp lying around, stamp it onto your main card and then again onto some patterned paper, cut out the design from the patterned paper and mount over the original stamped image. If you don't have a stamp like this one you can stamp several hearts across the front of your card and then 3D mount just one in the coloured paper, it works well even with a very simple stamp.

If you're stuck for special words for inside your card, your 1st Love quote for this month:

Each day, I love you more today,

more than yesterday

and less than tomorrow.