Five Things I'm Pondering Right Now

Five things I'm pondering right now?

1. Why you can't eat fudge and do crochet at the same time. Oh, no, wait, I know the answer to that one. TOO MUCH STICKY. And what a shame that is
2. Why teenagers will never take a coat. "If your Mum had told you to take a coat, would you have done it?" she said. Actually, yes. My Mum could be scary. Or maybe rain in the 80's was wetter?
3. Why the easiest sounding presents are the hardest to find. You'd think a black clock to go on a mantelpiece would be do-able. But apparently not. I've been to every shop in town, and then some. So now I have to tell my Mum her birthday present will be late. See 2 above.
4. Why asking people for money is so very hard. All this talk of fund raising is bringing back memories of having to knock on doors when I was a Girl Guide. At least they aren't allowed to do that any more. Last night I had a dream that we ran a pop up curry restaurant in our kitchen and raised lots. Actually, I think it could work, though the chief fundraiser isn't convinced. But then she doesn't like curry, so that could be a stumbling block
5. How to bring myself to unwrap this beautiful package from the lovely Julie of Notes On Paper

Five Books at my Bedside

To read this month..

Oh, I love getting books for Christmas! Best book time of the year, is January. I stack them up at the side of the bed and trip over them every night until they are all finished. This is the current pile:

- Quentin Blake Words and Pictures: a surprise gift and a beautiful book. Any UK readers who remember Jackanory? The books with Quentin Blake's pictures are the ones that stand out for me. I've been a fan since I was about six. I buy cards with his drawings on whenever I see them. 

- J.P. Martin The Complete Uncle: yes, with illustrations by Quentin Blake.I've waited years for this one. I discovered Uncle when I was twelve, I guess, in the school library. I think I've written about him before here. he's a hugely rich grey elephant with a vast property empire and a crazy collection of friends (and enemies). Very anarchic. Very funny.Most of the stories have been out of print for years, but just before Christmas, I read about an enterprise to get Uncle back in print with the help of the crowd funding site Kickstarter. Of course I headed over there and preordered a copy, which arrrived beautifully bound and weighing about as much as a phone directory.

- another of the Japanese sewing-for-dolls pattern books I love to collect. If I sew til next December I'll never get through all the patterns I have now, I'll admit it. But the pictures are so lovely to look at, so cleverly styled...

- Susan Brewer British Dolls of the 60's: this, and the moustache knitting pattern book, came from my Mum. She can't get out to the shops, so one of her best pleasures at Christmas is to choose books for everyone from mail order bargain catalogues. Then she organises a wrapping schedule, so that I wrap for my sister on a day I'm visiting and she wraps for me on a day she's visiting, you get the idea, and we all end up with some surprise books. Nothing expensive - that's the fun, they are all from remainders lists. But that means I often get something I love which I would never have found in a walk round Waterstones or a browse on Amazon. Last year's Christmas decoration book came in very handy when I needed a pattern for the ornament swap. I've been loving the pictures in the doll book this time round.

So, those are my current reads. I've been spotting lots of lovely book posts around just now - how's your reading list looking?

Five Things I've Noticed..

...about my boy being away (and a completely unrelated layout)

It is travelled themed though. My first Norway page, which appeared on the Gotta Craft blog last week

1. The dishwasher is only half full every evening.

2. I don't seem to be running out of milk. Or bread.

3. Watching the Formula One without him isn't the same.

4. No one pats me on the head. No, wait. That one isn't true. Everyone pats me on the head. And I mean everyone.

5. You bring a child into the world, you look at him and you think I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you always have everything you need. And then he grows up a bit and tells you his plane gets in at 5.30am, which means getting up at 3.00am to drive to the airport. And you think Mmmm..

Five Holiday Observations..

...with photos from Bergen's open air museum.

1. If you are the littlest (see how I slipped that in there?), you don't have to carry a suitcase. The big people do that.

2. Next time, don't visit the Titanic exhibition two weeks before sailing. That way you won't be left fighting the urge to shout "Stuff the drill, let's just get in the lifeboats," at the Emergency Procedure Lecture.

3. When your husband describes your outfit as "jaunty", you know you have overdone the nautical stripe cruisewear.

4.  Watching the Space Shuttle launch while in a hotel room miles from home with everything you own reduced to what is in your suitcase can be a strangely moving experience.

5. Something great about getting older: it seems no time since last summer. Holidays come round faster and that has to be a good thing, right?

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll have a new layout up on the Gotta Craft blog tomorrow and I have a special series I've been working on for you next week. It's "My Crafty Life" with a layout a day Monday to Friday. How's your crafty life this summer?

Five Reasons To Love An Uncle

..who stepped off the plane this week and will be here for the next year. Hurrah!

With contributions from the family. I'll leave you to guess who might have said what:

1. He is living on our top floor, so Mum can't be up there scrapbooking when we need her for something important. Like making the dinner.

2. He offered to read some blogs and do some commenting. Mum stopped him when she found out he thought "That's some super sticking" would about cover it for everyone.

3. He knows someone who knows Angelina Jolie

4. He came to watch me playing the flute for Sound of Music and when we got home he said he couldn't remember much of the story because he had been watching the orchestra all the way through. And he didn't even do all the embarassing things he said he was going to do.

5. He is going to buy a car and when I get my licence (in eight months!) he says I can drive it. Oh yes.

Welcome Home Uncle Dave!



Five Things Five Years From Now

Five things you know won't be around in five year's time, Amy said. Photograph them, blog them. whatever.

Mmm. For a whole pile of tricky reasons I'd need a day to explain, thinking about things not being around (especially at this time of year) would make me melancholy. Too melancholy.

I had to find another way. Fast. So, I offer The Accountant you five things I hope I still won't be looking at if he knows what's good for him five years from now:

The glass splashback in our kitchen. I don't like it, but it was a gift from the kitchen design company after things didn't go very smoothly with the fit so we kept it. I want to replace it with creamy brick shaped tiles. Soon.

An entire bed full of rocket? Please, I'm begging, grow something else. Anything else.

NOT AS DANGEROUS AS IT LOOKS. It's not connected to anything, it's not live. It's just a cable with no place to go, left by the builders. Usually hidden by garden seats, but it still has to go

I know. These are getting uglier. I don't want bins on view, sitting on mud. I want a proper fenced in bin store. Without the mud. Very soon.

I made a start on this one myself. I finally replaced our old bath mat. You don't want to know what the old one looked like.

So, that's my list. With a bit of luck it won't take us the full five years to finish up. And when we do you'll be the first to know.

Five Things I've Learned About Blogging..

...since my first post. To mark the end of Beyond Blogging For Scrapbookers, with thanks for a great class

1. Catchy titles are fun to write and great to read but they are only successful if they deliver.

2. Keeping a notebook close so that I can write down any inspiration which comes my way is A Very Useful Thing.

3. It's harder to be funny when people can't see your face.

4. Some readers visit every single day, and never say hello. But that's okay. Sometimes I like to be quiet too.

5. There is a google-world full of blogging resources out there; but my current favourite (because it's so lovely to look and so useful at the same time) is The Blog Guidebook

And you, what have you learned since your first post?

My first blog look

Five Steps to Blogging a Layout

The five steps I took to get this page onto this blog:

2005 - Help The Small One make an Easter hat for the school Bonnet Parade.

2006 - Pack up the hat and move it to our new house.

2010 - Hunt out said hat and take photos of a bigger Small One to create a quick Easter blog post.

2011 - Print out photos and make a page.

Today - Follow advice of Shimelle and fellow bloggers and publish LARGE photo of page for another new Easter post

Have a joyous Easter! And while you are out and about, see if you can gather a story for next week. It's Storytelling Sunday.

Five Reasons to Come Back Here Tomorrow

1. If Mel is organising it, it's sure to be fun.

2. I've heard there might be some giveaways somewhere along the way.

3. It's a great chance to catch up with lots of Blogging For Scrapboookers bloggers - maybe you'll be joining us for Beyond BFS on Monday too?

4. I'll have a new project to show you - easy enough for Easter holiday crafting

5. It's going to rain tomorrow. Stay inside, drink coffee, eat biscuits and read blogs

So, repeat after me:

A B C...1 2 3...HOP...to...

Sunday 17th April 2.00pm GMT

Five Things I Need Explained This Week

Five things I've been wondering about this week:

1. Why border punches feel the need to throw up all over the floor. And how long can I look at the mess before I give in and haul the vacuum cleaner up the stairs.

2. Why the postman manages to sense when I have left the house and decides to try and deliver a parcel the minute I go out.

3. Why the phone always rings when my hands are wet.

4. Why school asked The Tall One to bring in stamps for posting out his exam results the day postal charges went up.

5. Why the engineers working down the road turned the water off just before I needed to cook pasta. Leaving me approximately 15 minutes to - what? BAKE POTATOES??

Have a great weekend, whatever you are up to!

Five Signs of Spring

Five signs of Spring at High In The Sky. The pops of colour today are courtesy of the Colorsplash iphone app. It's a lot of fun for 59p.

1. Our peg bag comes out of storage because there is a chance of hanging the washing outside

2. The Tall One stacks up a big pile of textbooks and hides behind them. It's nearly exam time

3. The coats gradually come off our hook tree and are put away upstairs, and we get a look at the fresh green tree instead

4. I get the Cif out and try to clean up my plimsolls

5. There are signs of life in the basket of flowers I was given last Mother's Day

If you are celebrating tomorrow, have a good one!  But do remember to come back for Storytelling Sunday whenever you can grab a moment for a sit down and a read..

Five Ingredients For My Perfect Weekend

I like:

1. A quick trip into town, stopping off at the bookshop first, then a rifle through the magazines in Smiths (I always buy something), then over to Paperchase. This week I need to hunt out a special Mother's Day card for my Mother-in-Law who only accepts the wording "Mothering Sunday" (anything else just isn't official). Then it's a paperbag full of toffee bonbons from the tobacconists and home again in time for lunch.

2. A chance to read my new magazine and then make something in peace. That means finding a little DIY job for The Accountant and his willing, small assistant. This week they are on plumbing - in The Adventure of the Minty Mould. Don't ask.

3. A delicious dinner I haven't had to cook myself. I need to go to my Brother-in-Law, Kenny-Who-Cooks, for that. Or I could throw something in the Slow Cooker very quickly and then run away and pretend it wasn't me.

4. A new DVD to watch, courtesy of the Love Film subscription friends bought us for Christmas. This week it's a girls' pick - "The Illusionist" an animation we hope will be lovely to look at.

5. A walk by the sea. I wish they'd wait for me, though, I can never keep up..

Five Reasons For Me to Cheer This Weekend

I'm feeling cheerful on this lovely Saturday morning:

1. Ruth has sent me one of her World Book Night books - Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera" - and I'm going to crack it open this afternoon.

2. I've recently discovered I love mustard after avoiding it for years. There's always something new to learn in the world (but does anyone know if it's possible to overdose?)

3. It's only another week til the Formula One season starts. Sometimes I have a need for speed.

4. I've just found They Draw & Cook. If I could draw I would make scrapbook tutorials just like this. (And that reminds me - did I tell you about the rosettes I made for the Gotta Craft blog?)

5. I have two new linen shirts for the summer and I want to take a photo of them looking pristine..because I'll never be able to launder them like this again.

Five Quotes From My Notes

Five things I read. And then nodded my head.

1.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou

2.

"The world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people." Henry Miller

3.

"Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sight, before the dark hour of reason grows." John Betjeman

4.

"Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual." Arthur Koestler

5.

"My idea of hell is a very large party in a cold room where everybody has to play hockey properly." Flora Poste in Cold Comfort Farm. Was ever a truer word spoken?

We don't like hockey

Five Random Things About Me

Dedicated to the lovely bloggers Carmen, Kelli, RachelB, Sandie and Sandra who have very kindly passed on blogging awards to me recently. Thank you. And while we're on the subject, I'd also like to thank  every single one of you who comes back here week after week to see what we've been up; and every follower whose smiling face makes me grin every time I go to post. You are very much appreciated.

So, the facts:

1. I was due to be born on my Grandma's birthday, but I was ten days late. The Accountant, who is five days older than me, actually was born on his Grannie's birthday.
2. When I was fourteen I spent two weeks living with a French family in the beautiful cathedral town of Chartres. No English speaking allowed. The thought of doing it now scares the living daylights out of me.
3. The first time I ever went to the cinema I saw Bugsy Malone and it's still a favourite of mine. I'd still love the chance to drive one of those pedal cars.
4. When I was six I told everyone in school I was going to Sweden for my holidays. I wasn't, but I was fed up hearing about where everyone else was going and thought I would wow them with an exotic choice. This plan backfired when the teacher asked my mum about her interesting holiday. This year I will come the closest I've ever been - we are going to Norway.
5. I learned to drive when I was seventeen and I was still driving the same little car I passed my test in when we drove off for our honeymoon. Several years after that, I saved it from being stolen one night when I woke to the sound of breaking glass, looked out the bedroom window and saw two lads breaking into my car. I ran downstairs, out the front door and stood in the street yelling at them until they got out and ran away. I now realise that was probably a very stupid thing to do. But I did still have my car..

Storytelling Sunday tomorrow! I hope I'll see you there.

Five of My Guilty Pleasures

A post entirely inspired by Deb who this week sent me the funny nostalgia-fest "I Think I Love You" by Allison Pearson.( She wrote about here ). Thanks Deb - you've got me wishing I'd kept that big pile of Jackie magazines..

Anyway, on a Saturday morning made for relaxing, here are five of my guilty pleasures:

1. An easy read, or three. Marion Keyes always goes down well. Or, for less girly moments, you can't beat a bit of Nelson De Mille.
2. Salt and Cracked Black Pepper flavour kettle chips. Or Sweet Chilli flavour. Sometimes. But never a mix.
3. Teen movies. I can never decide if my all-time number one is "She's All That" or "Ten Things I Hate About You". Mmm, tricky..
4. Very, very sugary treats. Jelly Beans, especially. I'd choose them over chocolate anyday (did I really say that?)
5. Way too much Ugg Boot wearing. Though they aren't technically Ugg. They are Celtic Sheepskin in fern green and they are very supremely comfortable.

And you? Anything you'd care to own up to?

Five Blogs Into Books

Five blogs which have been turned into books (or vice versa)

1. Angry Chicken - Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing is a favourite of mine.
2. Meet Me At Mike's - Pip Lincolne's new book Sew La Tea Do looks like a fun sewing compendium. It's newly released here this month so I haven't seen a copy yet though.
3. Inside A Black Apple - with The Paper Doll Primer. This one is on my wish list. I love paper dolls, always have, collected them into my teens and beyond. And who could resist a book described as "a fully illustrated wondrous oddity"? With "activities and amusements for the curious paper artist"?
4. Pure Style - The books came before the blog with this one , but I'm not complaining. More of Jane Cumberbatch's chic-ly simple style can only be a good thing. There is a new cookery book in the works too.
5. And finally, a reminder of Orangette - the nicest cookery blog I know. And, of course, the blog of the book featured in Pass The Book this month. If you are quick there is still time to enter, but you'll have to be fast because I'm doing the draw Sunday morning..

And now you've got the idea..what about 5 steps to finding the book that's hiding in your blog from Cats Eye Writer. It's certainly something to think about!

Five Outfits From The 70's..

Five outfits my mum chose for me in the 70's. And then she made me wear them.

1. A fetching towelling shorts and top set sewn from a pair of bathroom curtains (no photos)
2. Outgrown trousers altered with bigger hems in a contrasting colour and cunning apple shaped patches over the holes in the knees (no photos)
3. One of her old swimsuits. To a school swimming class. All I'm going to say is that we aren't, and never have been, anywhere near the same shape or size (definitely no photos)
4. Identical sister outfits. If she made one for me, she made one for my sister (possible photos but need to check with my sister first)
5. Blue fleece dressing gown hand decorated with tartan fur in a little Bay City Rollers homage. Alright, that one was my idea. made to my own personal specifications. (actually do wish I had a photo of this one)

Ah, Make Do And Mend. Don't you just love it?



Five CHA Picks From Me

These are a few of my favourite things:

A  bit of navy from MME. It's a fresh looking colour right now, I'm adding more to my wardrobe and now I'm loooking to add some to my stash

Crate Paper. I'm trying to decide if I can force The Small One into the yellow raincoat she has just outgrown, or whether to rehash a few old photos. And houses! Of course I love houses

More Crate Paper. The more the merrier, actually, but this is a must have for me

Lilybee "Happily Lost" because I'm still loving yellow and grey and I haven't finished with it yet.

And doilies? Definitely not finished with these either. ready coloured and ready to go, I think these are genius.

Five Things I'm Planning

I do like something to look forward to..

1. A 16th birthday celebration. Details are still sketchy. But that's boys for you.
2. A 2nd birthday celebration. Alright, I'm not actually planning this one. But I am planning on being there. Especially now I've heard about the ICE CREAM VAN.
3. A trip into town for some new season shopping. Crisp white t-shirts and some navy ballet pumps are top of my list.
4. A big Photobox order. Because more pictures means more pages, right? But I wish I knew which box to tick so that they don't crop my images. Anyone?
5. A visit from a blog friend. In real life! Mel will be here any minute, so I'm off to put out some coffee cups and polish up the hamster..

We like ice cream. Especially when The Accountant is paying.