Saturday, December 20, 2008

Advent 18, 19 & 20

On the 18th day of Advent, my gift from Rachael was this gorgeous fluffy scarf, being modelled here by the devil child...I mean Keely.

On the 19th day of Advent I opened this box containing lots of cotton buds, cotton pads and balls, very useful for the females of the house, even the two that don't actually live here!

And today's present was a fluffy pair of gloves to match the fluffy scarf. I was sorely in need of some gloves so these will be great, thanks Rachael.

Kate, Ainsley and Keely went into Blyth this morning. Keely had her first visit with Santa who was in the Keel Row with people from the local radio station (Metro). Kate took a photo on her phone but I can't get it on here, unfortunately. Only FIVE MORE SLEEPS! Not excited or owt!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Advent 16 & 17

Yesterday I opened a lovely little lavender bag kit, which will definitely be used. And today I received a pack of John James petite needles, which are my favourites, and a Star De-tailor, which is useful for pulling those pesky thread ends through. Thanks Rachael, I love 'em.


When Keely was at the clinic on Monday to be weighed (she was 12lbs 6ozs!), the health visitor advised Kate to start weaning her. Keely has been having rice in her last bottle before sleep for the last few weeks, and the odd fromage frais at lunch times. Now that Kate has had the go-ahead to start weaning her properly it's all systems go, but I think we're gonna need some bigger bibs! She really enjoyed her creamy cottage pie today but couldn't manage the creamy rice pudding to follow - ugh gross.

Once her lunch was down a bit, Great Granda got down on the floor with her and did her 'exercises', which she thinks is brilliant. She has such a dirty little laugh and giggles all the time when her Gt Granda is down on the floor with her. Mind you, it's always Gt Granda who's knackered first. LOL.





Monday, December 15, 2008

Advent 13, 14 & 15

On the 13th day of advent I opened a piece of off-white evenweave material, always useful. On day 14 it was a pair of fluffy socks, they're ever so soft. And today was a pack of playing cards in a useful case. Whenever we go away we take a pack of cards with us so these will end up being well travelled. LOL. Thank you Rachael for more great gifts. Not long now till the biggie!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Santa's Little Helper

Keely was getting ready for her party at Mother & Baby group today while we were visiting my parents. Here she is doing her impression of Superbaby! I wonder if the pants over the tights will ever catch on!
And here she is all ready for her party, which apparently she mostly slept through! The outfit will get another airing on C'mas Day then put away in her memory box as it won't fit her next year, unfortunately.


Advent 10, 11 & 12

I think I'm going to have to try and find my backup digital camera so that I can take photos upstairs of my gifts without having to remember to take the small camera upstairs all the time. LOL. Anyway, here are the last three days pressies, including today.
Day 10 was this pack of 8 book rings, extremely handy for keeping bobbins on while working on projects.


Day 11 was a very cute tray with reindeer on it...this will definitely get an airing over the festive period.

And day 12 (today) was a bath mitt and some Greek soap. I love a good long soak in the bath so these will be well used. Thank you so much Rachael for all these wonderful pressies. I can't wait to open the next 12, and the biggie on C'mas Day.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Advent Day 9


This morning I opened a packet of yummy Strawberry Flavour Nougat. Being diabetic I'm probably not allowed to have this, but hey, you only live once right? I'll take some over to Mam's later when I go, she can share the sugar....she's diabetic too. And I might let Craig have some, we might as well ALL have high blood sugar. PMSL. Thanks Rachael, another lovely gift.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Advent Days 7 & 8

I didn't get round to posting yesterday so you're getting a double dose of advent pics today. Yesterday's gift from Rachael was a packet of material squares, all C'mas designs, so they'll come in handy for backing ornaments or C'mas pinkeeps in 2009.

And today I opened this groovy set of storage tins from Ikea. I haven't decided what to put in them yet but I'm sure I'll think of something. Thank you for them both Rachael, I love 'em.



And just for the hell of it...here's my little C'mas angel, wearing her Santa hat. In her advent parcel today she got a little Santa dress with matching knickers. She's going to be wearing them on Thursday for the party they're having at Mother & Baby then they'll be washed and not worn again till C'mas Day.



Saturday, December 06, 2008

Advent Day 6

Today I opened a really pretty ornament. At the minute it's hanging on my message board thing but it may make it downstairs if I remember one of these days.
I've had a really quiet day today. As usual we had Keely last night (and tonight) and today when Kate and Ainsley came round they got her ready then went down into Blyth to have a look round the shops. Dene came round for his tea before Craig took him home again in the car. Now it's almost 10.30pm, it's lovely and quiet, Craig and Keely are asleep. Kate and Ainsley are round at Kate's. I might get a lie in tomorrow, but I won't hold my breath. LOL.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Advent Day 5

My gift from Rachael today was a pair of bellpull ends. I think I may have something to put on these, though I have no idea how to attach them without making a complete bollocks of it...which is what would happen. I'll figure something out.
And seeing as I posted a photo of my Dad with Keely yesterday, I thought I'd better add one of Keely with my Mam. Just so she doesn't feel left out cos I know they sometimes read this. LOL. *Waves to Mam and Dad!*

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Great Granda's Girl

Just look at that cheeky face...and Keely's! She has her Great Granda wrapped round her little finger, and always has a huge smile for him whenever she sees him. When she's lying on the floor he gets down there with her, gets her to do her exercises and tickles her. She laughs her head off, it's really funny.

TS Advent Exchange days 1 - 4

Any regular reader of my blog will know that last year on the Tranquil Stitches message board I took part in their Advent Exchange and got lots of pressies from my partner. As I enjoyed it so much last year I decided to take part again this year. I had to buy for Kathy (and she got her parcels back in August when Craig and I were down in Bristol for the weekend) and I received a big box of goodies from Rachael down in erm...Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire. Somewhere down there anyway. On the first day of Advent I received a lovely little notebook with a snowflake cover, which I am now using for next years C'mas lists. I already have ideas for all the advent parcels I'm planning on doing, and I'll be starting in January, or maybe the end of this month, to get things in. There's nothing like a bit of advance planning!
On day two I opened this gorgeous little box containing a selection of C'mas ribbons. I'm thinking of making some ornies for next year so these will come in really handy.
Yesterday I opened another gorgeous box, slightly bigger, containing two spools of Kreinik metallic thread. I haven't decided what to use these for yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something before too long. I just love that blue.
And today, another box, bigger again, containing a small pair of scissors - a girl can never have too many pairs of scissors - and a Menorca sandal keyring. Will probably put the car key on there. I can't wait to see what the rest of my parcels contain. Thanks Rachael, I love everything so far.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Bringing You Up To Date




Seems like ages since I last posted on here and people have been nagging me, so I thought I'd better do something about it.
First off we had Keely's christening on 16th November. The service was at 9.30am and I'll have you know it was flipping freezing in that church. Luckily the church is only a five minute walk from our house, you can see it from our sitting room window, so at least we didn't have to carry her very far. She was very well behaved throughout, didn't even cry when the vicar poured water over her head. She didn't start to get grizzly till about 10 minutes before the end, but a previously prepared bottle sorted that out.

We had a photo taken with the vicar (left to right - Craig, me, Father Richard holding Keely, Dene, Kate, Laura and Ian) before heading for home. Craig went to collect my Gt Auntie Vi - it was too early for her to come to the church - while me and Mam sorted out the food in the kitchen, then after a bit of a chat we had a buffet lunch.

Mam and Dad made Keely's christening cake, Dad and Kate iced and decorated it. The pink bits are Kate's effort. LOL. It was scrummy.

The above photo is of five generations of our family. If my Gran had still been alive it would have been her in the photo, but we used the next best thing instead, her sister, my Gt Auntie Vi. So on there is Auntie Vi, Kate, Mam, me and a not-very-happy Keely. We thought we'd better make the most of Auntie Vi as she moved to Sheffield the weekend after this was taken.

Last week Kate took Keely to mother and baby at Sure Start. They made C'mas cards, and this is Keely's to her Gran and Granda. She made the reindeer's face with her footprint and the antlers with her hands. There should be a little red pompom for his nose but it fell off and I keep forgetting to take some glue downstairs to put it back on. Kate obviously did the writing and drew the facial features on it, but I still think it's ever so cute. Very talented my granddaughter. LOL.

Kathy and the twins were here for the christening. Here's Kathy with Keely. Kathy would love a daughter and is very broody whenever she sees babies. She loves Keely and would have taken her home with her if we hadn't been looking. Love ya sis!

It was Kate's 21st birthday two days after the christening. As her best friend Laura was up for the week we thought they would be going out clubbing or something, but Kate decided to have an Ann Summers party instead. It was very funny and the wine was flowing. Not too much though as I was babysitting when I got home...Granda babysat while I was out. Kate and Laura had been into Blyth wearing cat ears and tails and when they came home someone put the ears on Keely. I don't think she was too impressed. Wait till she sees her reindeer antlers!

The day after Kate's birthday all hell broke loose. Her ex-boyfriend, Matt the Tw*t, decided to pay us a visit. His girlfriend had found some texts from Kate on his phone about Keely and she rang Kate up to find out who they both were. Kate told Gemma that she was his ex and that Keely is his daughter. Funnily enough Matt hadn't thought to mention to Gemma that he had another daughter (she knew about the other one), so she was a bit pissed off and finished him. Matt then decided Kate had been shit stirring and came knocking on my door late in the afternoon. He demanded to know where Kate was and wanted her to come to the front door. I basically told him to go away - only I wasn't so polite about it - and he threatened to ring social services and have the baby taken off Kate (I asked him if he wanted the phone number), then he said he was going to go round to Kate's house and wait for her to go home so he could kill her.

While this was going on, Kate was ringing the police, but by the time they got here 10 mins later he'd gone again. One of the officers went off in his van to see if he could find him, and the other two stayed to take some details. They told Kate that she could either press charges, which would take ages, or take out an injunction. She was in court on Friday and was granted an injunction, which he was served with on Monday morning. Apparently he's not very happy about it, isn't that a bloody shame. He's not allowed to come within 100 meters of her, and the injunction also has Power of Arrest, so if he does anything that breaks the terms of it, he can be arrested. I can't wait for him to try.

Keely was weighed on Monday and she's now 11lbs 14ozs, and is 12 weeks old. She's fascinated by the twinkly lights and decorations that we put up the other day. I don't normally put them up this early, but seeing as they're mostly for her benefit I decided I would. I can't wait for C'mas Day.

I'm taking part in an advent exchange on Tranquil Stitches message board, as I did last year. So far I've opened a little notebook with snowflakes on the cover, a fairy decorated box with ribbons inside, and another fairy decorated box with two spools of Kreinik metallic thread. I'll post some pics of everything so far later in the week.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Little Smiler

We've finally started decorating the sitting room, ready for the christening on 16th November. The walls were stripped at the end of last week, and Craig spent his spare time over the weekend plastering the walls where the dado rail was removed and last night he glossed the woodwork. Today we went to the shop first thing this morning and bought the new wallpaper and my Dad came over to make a start. They've done all the window wall and most of the wall behind where my armchair is. The curtains have been taken down, washed, dried ironed (thanks to Ian) and rehung, but I'm going to get some new ones, probably after C'mas, that match the paper better. Craig might get another few strips put up tomorrow but the rest of it will be done on Wednesday with any luck.
Ian is home for the week this week. He picked the wrong week though as he's going to be roped into decorating. LOL. We still have a couple of weeks, but I would like it all done this week so that I can finish sorting out all our crap...I mean stuff.

Keely was weighed again this morning, and she's now 10lbs 11 ozs. Here's lots of new photos of her - I was busy with the camera this weekend. She's been smiling for a while but I've never been able to get any decent photos till now...

Peace, perfect peace!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Five bags of sugar

Kate took Keely to the clinic this morning to get weighed. She was TEN POUNDS, FIVE OUNCES!!! What a little guzzler. That's only 5 ounces lighter than 5 bags of sugar. I suppose the bottle of rice and milk she has last thing at night is helping. LOL.

We had a great holiday in Skegness last week. The caravan was clean and on a nice site. Not too far from the town centre and the beach. The weather wasn't crash hot but we only had one really wet day, so that wasn't too bad. Ainsley had her hair cut while we were away, and her ears pierced again. She looks older now...shame she doesn't always act older. LOL.


The meet-up in Derby last Saturday was a good day. We got there just after 10am and it finished at 4pm. Kate's best friend Laura came with her Mum and cousin Olivia to see Kate and Keely, and we went to their house on the Sunday to pass the day away.

A Craft Natter - Derby 2008



Kate and Keely relaxing



Olivia, Kate and Laura



Laura's Dad, Kev, with Keely


Ainsley and her new haircut - above and below

Kate and Ainsley on a horse racing thing in Skeggy

Below - Keely in her bouncy chair

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Some more small finishes

All of these have been finished in the last couple of days. They will all be made into needlecases, but possibly not till I get back from my holiday now, as I won't have time tomorrow to do them.






We're off to Skegness on Saturday. Well...technically speaking we're not, we're off to Derbyshire on Saturday, to the Crafty Natter MB get-together. Then we're going to Skeggy on Monday, staying in a caravan for a few days and coming home on Friday. We're taking Kate and Keely, and also Ainsley. I expect most of the attractions will be closed as it's past the end of the season, but I daresay we'll find something to do.