Aren't I a lucky Girl

Well I couldn't resist any longer so have got myself an iphone 4. I was so excited waiting for it to arrive that I made Kim take a picture of me with the box before I had even got it out to play. It is so sleek and swooshy ( not sure about that word but hey ho) and i  love the feel of it . Have already got some great piccies on it and downloaded a couple of apps but there are so many to choose from where does a girl start!

My new toy

I have also been looking at our library.....only joking but anyone that knows us knows how we love books. All kinds of books have found it into our library but I wanted to explore some more of the arty stuff so we had a little trip to the fabulous Stamp Attic at Wantage. What a fab range of stuff they have and they are the only shop locally well 1 and 1/2 hours away that do all kinds of books. I went armed with my camera of existing books and low and behold a couple that I had been looking for they had.
Their range of goods are phenomenal so it is well worth a trip.

Reminds me of High School Monsters

Ready for Kim to start Steampunk stuff

Cloth paper scissors is a magazine that I had seen before but not really looked at closely until I found a great technique in this edition called Fragile Fusion by a very talented lady called Rebekah Meier. What a great idea and something that I think is well worth a try. I had to go out and hunt for some supplies so have those ready and waiting for my first attempt.

How very English.

Kim and I went out for afternoon tea at the Bartley Lodge Hotel. Set in the New Forest what a great place. We dressed up for the occasion and took ourselves off for a well earned treat. We had mini sandwiches, cream cakes and best of all scones with jam and clotted cream. There was a glass of champagne to go with it along with the good old English Breakfast tea.

 

 

Kim with his little tipple

 

 

Me with my little tipple

Best of all.......the food

It was a great afternoon just relaxing in nice surroundings. Shame about the weather but maybe next time it will be a little better.

Who would have thought it.

Yesterday Kim and I got out there and attacked the garden. We decided to tidy up borders, edge lawns and mow the grass. We have not gardened since we had the house in France and that was not so much gardening as hacking our way through the undergrowth. We are really pleased with the results as you can see below. Kim put his heart and sole into it the only hiccup was no........petrol so we had to trundle off to the garage and buy not only petrol but a can  He really doesn't like gardening but suffers it for me although he was really pleased with the results.At least with a garden you can see your efforts relflected in the finished product.

Kim getting on with it.

Here is the finished garden just got to hunt down some plants and hanging baskets to pretty it up.

Wow what a difference

 

 

 

 

 We did go off to look at plants and have a list of things we like including colourful azaleas, roses (fragrant of course), fuschias and hebes.

Where has the time gone?

I know it is a long time since I last blogged ( how many times do people say that!) but I have a really good excuse.....WE MOVED HOUSE!!!!. After 13 years at our old place we finally up'd sticks and moved to a bigger place. It has been a really exciting time we finally took the plunge as with all things we do which is very last minute. I cannot believe that we had all this stuff crammed into our 2 bedroom flat. Packing was a nightmare as we had nowhere to put things when they were packed apart from into the rooms we were living in.

 

How much more stuff can we cram in?

 

 

Poor Alex had no where to sit let alone sleep!

So we have gone from this .......................to this!!!!

Mid move from old 2 new..

and finally to this......

So much space................

and it really does feel like home now. We even have a garage for the boys to play in so they are in seventh heaven.

Boys playground!

We have had the family round and they think it is GREAT. Can't wait for the summer to get here so we can make full use of the conservatory and garden. Have even bought a lawnmower and anyone who knows me knows I do not do gardening :)

Here is 2012

Here is 2012 and it snuck in quietly for us.Just Kim and I at home with a couple of drinks and Jools Holland on the telly. Not very exciting but at least I didn't lose a day which has been know in the past. Must be a sign of getting older and wiser.

We went over to Charlotte and Scotts and whilst there Frankie got out the scrapbook albums that I made when she was first born. I can't believe that was in 2004 and I was amazed how good they looked with her baby photos in. I have not done any scrapping for the last 3 years but that made me want itch to get back into it. I have a wonderful book by Sue Roddis that my good friends Anne, Carol and Angela bought me for my 50th that has lots of albums to make. Maybe it's about time to dust my stuff off and get going again. I know the kids really liked the ones I did in the past so maybe now is the time.

I'm not sure if the weekends have less hours in them but boy do they fly by. Kim and I have been back at work for 4 days and it has felt like a very long week. We went out for a walk today part of the New Year get fit campaign. Walked all along Warsash seashore past the Academy and onto Hook Park . There were surprisingly a lot of people about and I did pop off a couple of snaps of Kim and him of me. I am sure the camera lies as he does make me look somewhat attractive although the windswept look is not so good.

Kim

Me

Days leading up to 2012

 
We had a brilliant break over the Chrtistmas period with family visiting and going to visit family. We had Audrey around on Christmas Day and had a great time. She seemed to enjoy it and went off with her hamper of goodies for her to dive into when she needed a fix.

Kim and Mum Audrey

 I took this photo of Alex whilst we were waiting for Kim to arrive back and Alex took this one of me.

Alex

Me

We had a brilliant Christmas with all the troops on the 29th and I can't believe that another year has passed. It it traditional to have a family photo and this year it had to be inside. There is always much hilarity over the camera timer switch and will I make it into the photo in time. This year sadly Alex was missing for most of it as he had to work but he arrived back in time for adult present opening and the kids welcomed him with open arms.

All the Troops except the boy.