Family Reunion

We have just returned from a great weekend in The New Forest. Present were our 3 sons, Gary, Mark & Stephen and 6 grandchildren and of course the 3 dogs. We had 3 fab days and 2 nights with the children ages ranging from 3 to almost 21 years. We stayed in a hotel but everyone else stayed at Garys, camping in the 8 man tent! Rather them than me! It worked though.

A very mixed age group but wonderful to see the 6 cousins all getting along and each of the older ones passing on skills and help to the younger ones and making sure they were all safe. Each and every one of them having fun with the others.

To see Wavelett (5) taking guitar lessons from Luke (17)and learning quickly. Luke is so musical and so patient with the little ones. He in turn learned a lot from Gary's musical expertise. Luke also showed Beau (11) how to play the piano a bit which gave Beau confidence.

Autumn (14)helped Bluebell (3) with her constant dressing up as a princess! Such girlie girls together.

And Mike (20), well he helped the younger ones learn tree climbing skills the day we spent in the forest. To see The New Forest ponies just wandering around is a wonderful experience.If you havent been there you absolutely must go, its free and is so calm in the forest, its definitely a back to nature calming journey.

The evening BBQ was a great success with Mark acting as chef and the jamming session was super! Even Wavelett got on the microphone to sing! Combine this with the dogs barking in tune and great fun was had by all.

Its not too often we can all get together so each moment is a moment to treasure. We should never forget that time is free and to give of it freely is a great gift. You cannot replace time and it goes so quickly so use it wisely and give others great memories.

Family

I am quite excited as I talked to my youngtest sister in USA this week on Skype and we discussed how we can all get together again. We came up with a plan!

So for it to work, I have exchange my Cyprus timeshare apartment for one in San Francisco. If that all works out ok thats the main part of the plan started!

I dont know how available these San Francisco apartments are but I am speaking to a representative next week to find out.(Fingers crossedd!)

The next step will be to book a flight, try to fit it in with all my commitments for 2010. I dont want to just go all that way for 7 days so am thinking maybe combine the trip with going to see a cousin in Canada. We will have to wait and see what transpires there and the total cost which will determine how much or how little we do.

If it all comes together I will be able at last to meet the next sister down from me. There are 5 of us altogether and I have met 3 so just Terrie to go. She is a new Grandma as well so there is an addition to the family to meet too. Its very exciting to think it might now happen. I cant wait.

The trouble is, I am so impatient, I want it all now! but the wheels of the travel industry do not seem to work as quick as I do. Never mind, I have faith now that it will happen.

The only fly in the ointment may be that my eldest sister may not be able to get to San Francisco and that will be upsetting. However, I havent even told her of my tentative plans yet so thats another 'wait and see'.

Now I have mastered Skype, I am hoping to be able to speak to all my sisters on a regular basis, its ok for emails but the human voice carries so much feeling.

I need these sisters, I only found them a few years ago, I missed out on so much with them when I was growing up an only child and so time is precious, I have to see them as much as I can manage.

Family is a wonderful thing, I will never take it for granted. I love them so much.

Why I dont want to save money!

What a silly title, you may think. Well its not really when you know what I mean!

Every day for the past 2 weeks (including Sundays), I have had at least one telephone call from someone claiming that they can save me money if I switch my telephone company. It sounds like they are all from the same call centre and at first I was very polite, just saying no thanks, I am happy with who I currently use. Then another couple of days go by and I have had 5 or 6 more calls and I am a little cross now so I say NO! I am NOT going to change. then a few more days down the line and a few more calls, I am a bit more agitated at this invasion of my privacy now. I don't sound very polite at all, in fact I tell them to go away, I have had enough, take my telephone number off their listings and DON'T call again!

Does that work?
Hell no!

What do I have to do to stop this? I thought I had signed up with a telephone preference service to stop these kind of calls. The number of the caller is unavailable so I can't register it and have it blocked. It is such a waste of my time.

And whilst I am on the subject of wasting time..............What about all that junk mail? Its a tree that gets delivered more or less every day. WE are supposed to be aware of saving paper and the like but not if someone wants a nice shiny leaflet shoved through my door apparently.Its always for a pizza or Chinese food delivery service too, different ones every time.

Then there is the case of the phantom plastic bag poster. Someone puts a plastic bag through my door, the bag says please fill up with clothes for XXX charity. (No charity number on the bag by the way). We will collect the bag from outside your house in 2 days. HUH! these are NOT charity bags. Its someone collecting then selling fabric for money and whilst I appreciate individual enterprise, I hate being ripped off by scoundrels pretending they are doing good! I support some charities but will choose who to give to.

I have a note on my door that says NO JUNK MAIL! But hey who reads that? Certainly not our postman who delivers leaflets with the post nowadays and not the people who get paid to put rubbish through our doors!

Please let us get back to normalacy! Its getting on my nerves now.

Scrapping today

It is the end of the summer term and have had so many working hours this week finishing off the school accounts and preparing for the new academic year starting in September, I decided its time I took time out to do something for me!Something that will calm my mind, focus my creative energies and allow me to switch off for a few hours.

I recently found an old photo of my Mum and Dad's wedding and it was in such an old format (it was 2 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches) I had to have it professionally repaired and printed. I was so impressed with the final result I just had to create a 'page' of their wedding day. I hope you like the finished result of both pages. It was a very small wedding and is so obviously in a time of austerity following the end of the war. I just love old photos, they tell a story on their own.

My scrapping bug has again bitten and so I aim to spend the afternoon scrapping as well. The dinner can wait, the housework will still be there tomorrow and the washing can do itself in the machine. Today is for me!

I have just found a fabulous layout online that I plan on making. I need to really think it through as its a jigsaw puzzle pattern. I want to use it to fit the pieces of jigsaw of my life together in a scrap page. Its quite an exciting project for me.

In fact this isn't the only page I have lined up and waiting to be sorted out. I have a box full of photos that I printed especially for scrapping. A huge box of scrap papers, another box of bits and pieces to decorate the pages with and my dear husband purchased a wonderful cricut machine for me to electronically cut out letters and shapes. So there is no excuse for not getting on with things, its just the pace of life sometimes!

So I have made a mid years resolution (I never keep New Years resolutions!) it is simply this:

I mustn't take life so seriously and have to make time for me at least once a week.
Life must not be all work and no play.