Nick leaves home

2 blogs in 1 day, whatever next!
Thought this news deserved its own post - although Nick officially left home last year to join the RAF, he has still been coming home on leave. He has spent most of his weekends staying with his girlfriend Jess; as she lives with her parents just across the road from us, this hasn't made too much difference! However, they are madly in love and have decided to rent a little bungalow a few streets away from us. Here it is:

They moved in yesterday, and by the end of the day they even had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the lounge! They are so happy together, and make a lovely couple. Jess's little girl, Abbie, was just as excited too, and her bedroom is already a vision in pink!
They live on the top of the hill, which means the views from their lounge window are spectacular....think if I lived there, I'd never get anything done! Here was the view last night -

Lovely, isn't it?
I wish them all love, peace and joy in their new life together xxx

Journal 2010 catch-up

Well, so much for my aim to do a monthly post! Thought I'd share my 2010 pages, I've just completed September now, so not TOO far behind!
Here are the September pages -

Here are the pages I did for August -

Not forgetting my "Big 50" in July -

And lastly, here are my June pages. Gosh, these seem years ago!

Hopefully, the last 2 months will get done asap, before \i forget what happened!

Back to school

Well, after 8 weeks of bliss, life has gone back to normal again. Why?? School!!! No more lazy mornings, drinking coffee and watching Homes Under the Hammer (sorry, but I LOVE that programme!), no more impromptu midweek trips to the caravan, no more wine with Tuesdays tea (if we were at the caravan then, it just FELT like a weekend!), no more scrapbooking in the afternoons or tootling along the country lanes around Alne on my new bike. No! Who needs a life like that when you can get up at 6.30, argue with your daughter because 11.30 is a better time for her (!), spend your day in school and have to eat a school dinner (where I just found out the chicken comes from Taiwan, yeuch!), then come home and race round shopping, cleaning, helping with homework and making tea before collapsing into a heap at 8.30 and wondering how soon you can go to bed?
Oh well, it'll soon be half term...
On a brighter note, while I had a life in summer, I did manage to complete my scrapbook pages for June and July. Here they are..

Scrapbook Catch-Up!

Well, we broke up from school 2 weeks ago and it's been wonderful to be a full-time mum again, finding time to cook meals, clean and catch up on scrapbooking without feeling tired and stressed all the time! This is my layout for May, part of Shimelle's challenge to scrapbook your year. I'm really hoping to get June done before the end of July, and feel truly up to date!
Life in the Dodgson house has been super-busy; I was 50 on July 1st, Polly was 12 on the 19th, and John will be 50 next month. Nick threw a surprise party for us on Sunday, and invited all our family to a Sunday lunch get together at Howley Hall, followed by champagne and cake back at our house. Despite being slightly worse for wear at the end of the day (!), we had a fantastic day which I'll remember with a smile forever. Thanks Nick!

Leeds Midnight Walk 14th May 2010

Last night, over 1,000 women took part in a sponsored walk through the streets of Leeds to raise money for St Gemma's Hospice. We walked 6 miles, and raised a total of over £80,000, which is an awesome amount of money. I am absolutely shattered today, but feel really proud that I was able to help in my own small way. Many thanks to all of you who sponsored me, you are stars, too!

Mum, we got an "ology"!

Just come back from a fabby weekend in Harrogate with Janet and Lesley, where we got messy and learnt loads of cool new stuff from Dyan at Art from the Heart. Despite feeling carp on Friday night, I perked up enormously after a good nights sleep and felt normal (??!!) again on Saturday. We drank red wine out of light-up wine glasses on Saturday night, how cool is that? How much more excitement can we take at our age?! Thanks Janet, I'm off to buy some of my own now!

At the end of the weekend, we all got a certificate in "Prattology", which means we all got an ology...or we're a right load of prats, the choice is yours!!

Scrapbook Frenzy!

This weekend, UKScrappers are hosting a Cyber-Crop based on the game of Monopoly. It basically means you scrapbook constantly from Friday night until Sunday, and having stayed up until midnight last night, I only hope I last the distance!
In preparation for the weekend, I spent last week trying to catch up with the 2010 challenge, and managed to complete my February pages. Just need to do March's now, before April finishes!