6 Weeks, 6 Reads

So the summer holidays are well and truely underway, we're a good week in now and it has been hectic so far but good to have a break from working.

I decided to challenge myself this holiday but in a good way to keep those brain cells going (6 weeks of CBeebies was soon going to kill them off!). As many of you know, I'm a bit of a book worm - I ALWAYS have a book on the go. The trouble is I'm quite a slow reader; not sure why, maybe it's my complete inability to concentrate, but I have always been a bit on the laid back side when it comes to reading. So, this summer I've challenged myself to speed up a bit. A book takes me between 2 and 4 weeks to read so this summer I want to read an average of one a week - 6 in 6 weeks. I know this may not seem too speedy to others (yes I'm talking to you Mrs Readthewholetwilightsagainaweekend and you Mrs OhI'mjustpopping outsidetoreadawholebookwithmybrew (you both know who you are, seriously, how do you do it?!)), but to me it's quite the challenge.

So, a week into the holidays and I'm onto the 2nd book, go me! OK so the first one was only 200 pages long but I decided to ease myself in gently and actually did it in 48 hours. It's this book leant to me by Mrs OhI'mjustpoppingoutsidetoreadawholebookwithmybrew (think she'd read it in the ad break on Corrie or something!):

Now the whole wave of books about children getting hurt just isn't my cup of tea, but I trust Mrs I'mjustpoppingout...'s judgement so gave it a go, and I loved it! Quite harrowing but there was just something about it where you had to keep reading to check she was OK (true story about a girl kidnapped by a paeodophile (sp?) in Belgium).

Currently I'm reading this book that I got for Christmas (yup, I'm that slow a reader!):

Now, on the front of this it says it's full of romance...oh dear, I don't do romance. I do however LOVE Jojo Moyes so I feel like I have to give her a chance and so far I'm quite liking it (maybe because the romance hasn't surfaced yet?!). The target is to finish this by Wednesday when I will start on a BIG read to take away on holiday (Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest - 3,000,000 pages!) but we are driving to Cornwall so will have an hour or 20 to kill.

So there you go, I've blogged it so I now have to do it so you don't all think I'm a big fat liar and stop reading my blog forever! Will keep you posted...

Complaint

I'm afraid we've had a complaint here at the Garlics. Lady Tate of Tate Towers writes "why don't you try updating your blog once in a while?". Well obviously here at the Garlics we take complaints very seriously so I met with Lady Tate yesterday to address her complaints; she elaborated that she was '"sick of looking at that bloody bag!" (please see last post readers). Of course I owed Lady Tate an explanation and so she was told that "I've got 2 bloody jobs and 2 bloody kids you know!". Ever the professional editor!

So, what has been happening over here? Well, I've been a busy little bee that's what's been happening! Aside from the doubled up job situation and the doubled up kids going through end of school year stuff, I've been jet-setting around the country. First of all I had a date with this young man:

Courtesy of these 2 ladies:

 Yes after 60 years my mother fianlly decided to get some musical taste and booked some Bon Jovi tickets (really, it's been Barry Manilow and Cliff Richard up til now, I was starting to think I was adopted!). So weekend in London with no kids and wine and Jon Bon Jovi for company? I was there!

Then the weekend after I abandoned my children yet again (:o) for a weekend with these lovely ladies in Whitby:

 It was the annual Leeds Paper Dolls retreat and the weather was glorious and I got tonnes of scrapbooking done. Unfortunately it meant I missed the laying of Rob's Grandad's ashes that Sunday, but Rob and the kids went along and at the time of the service I took myself into Whitby and sat here to remember the lovely man:

Then since that I've been working at my new job, finishing my old one, making and buying presents for the multitude of teachers my kids seem to have, getting a little man ready for big school by meeting his teachers etc. Oh and I threw my back out in the middle of all that so seem to have lived at the doctors and the chemist!

However, it is now the school holidays (help me!) so I will hopefully be able to satisfy Lady Tate's internet time and update more often!

Creating

I came to a very sad realisation this morning.

Undoubtedly the Garlic's number 1 fan was Rob's Grandad. I'd often get emails from him thanking me for the blog. I think, as he lived 200 miles away, it was a good way for him to keep up-to-date with what was happening up here, especially with his much cherished great-grandchildren. Consequently there's been a few posts that I've posted with a 'Grandad would like that' tone about them. This morning I was out in the garden hanging out the washing and just thinking about how much I liked our house and where we lived. I had a quick thought 'oooh I keep meaning to blog about that, Grandad would love that'...and then the realisation hit. :( Grandad (and indeed Nana when she was alive) would say how much they loved the home we built. I thought a couple of weeks ago how nice it would be to blog about our house and how pleased Grandad would be that we agreed with his and Nana's thoughts.

End of an era.

However, in memory of our beloved Grandad/Great-Grandad we shall be carrying on with the posts today and one I think he might like as it features just how fab Emily is!

There seems to have been a lot of crafting round here lately. I was going to do this post about everything I'd been up to but I must start with how fabulous my darling daughter is getting at scrapbooking. She's scrapbooked for a good 2 or 3 years now but recently she has been producing some very grown up layouts. She's been coming up with these all on her own, matching her colours, balancing her LO etc etc and I think she's doing a great job!

Definately the makings of a professional scrapbooker in that girl!

I've done a couple of LOs lately too as my MIL bought me a scrapbooking book for my birthday so have taken inspiration from that. Firstly my Royal Wedding LO:

And a LO about the lily the kids planted for Grandad:

 Speaking of MIL, I've still got a big hankering for the sewing machine and spied a project I wanted to do. MIL is getting a much longed for new kitchen and as said project was for an oven glove (nope, no idea why I desperately had the need to make oven gloves either!) then I thought she'd be the perfect recipient. The original pattern was for a cupcake oven glove but it didn't seem MIL's type of thing but on another page of the same book I found some fab chickens, so a bit of pattern combining and voila!

 Er yes, did get carried away and had a 'need' to make a teapot cozy and apron aswell!

Oooh but I still needed to sew more and those chickens were calling to me. Hang on, chickens? Who do chickens remind me of? Maybe this woman who we just happened to be visiting last week. I feel a chook-related pressie coming on....

Chicken egg cozies! Love 'em!

And I did have every intention of putting the sewing machine away but it's still there with a new project sat on it, watch this space!

Hope the WiFi works up there Grandad! ;)

Happy Easter!

What an absolutely beautiful weekend it's been. The run of good weather that we've had virtually the whole of April continued and we got out and enjoyed it.

On Good Friday we went up to Steve and Ally's. We went to this place which was gorgeous. There was some lovely scenery:

 Though quite a lot of hills:

 But lots of photo opportunities:

 After a few hours there we headed back to Steve and Ally's where the kids enjoyed the slip 'n' slide:

 And a bit of rocking out on the trampoline:

 Needless to say, the munchkins were exhausted:

 The rest of the weekend we've been mainly at home. Good job really as there is this little lot to plough through:

My kids are very spoilt but very lucky. Thanks to everyone who thought about them this Easter and sent an egg, it'll keep them in chocolate until Christmas!

So, Easter is now over and we have a whole 3 day working week to get through until the eggs are moved to make way for the bunting!

Happy New Year!

OK so I've not blogged Christmas yet but wishing you all a Happy 2011 on 20th Jan seemed a bit wrong so I thought I'd do that first!

New Year's Eve was fab, we went to Steve and Ally's as usual and this year took along Rob's sister Zoe as she was staying with us for a few days. We went out for an amazing meal:

 Before back to S&A's for some Just Dance on the Wii:

 And setting fire to the neighbour's gardens...er, I mean setting off Chinese lanterns!

 Then up into the market square to see in the new year with the locals, the mayor and an excellent steel drum band (ah the Antiguan memories!)

So, 2011 eh? Well, 2010 was definately an annus horribulus. Not much good happened last year and we won't go in to the bad stuff that did happen. However, we have a brand new shiny year ahead now so hopefully we can start looking forward. I don't do resolutions but I do like to get planning in January and already have a couple of projects in mind (and Rob already has a list of jobs I want doing!).

So, I hope 2011 is a lovely joyous year for you all!

Bonfire Night Part Deux

OK, so only took me a week to blog this! Been kind of hectic this week and I just didn't get round to it. So last Saturday we had bonfire night part 2 with Ally Steve and Elise. Rob had a lot to live up to but do you know what...nope, he came nowhere near to matching the big organised display from the night before! However, for £15 the garden fireworks weren't too bad:

 Everyone seemed to enjoy it anyway:

 Plus all the treats we had, especially the hot chocolate with whipped cream (and a little something extra for us mummies!):

Then we ventured inside to warm up and a Hungry Hippos tournament:

OK, so not very bonfire night-ish but after the 'hot chocolate with a kick', it seemed like a good idea!

So, that's it now until the dreaded C word (please note that word shall not be mentioned on the Garlics until there is a December on the calendar!). I can see Hungry Hippos making a return and I have it on good authority (from S**** himself) that there will be more 3+ games in certain stockings. Sandbags - you up for the challenge?!

Ooooooohh...Aaaaaaahh!

Had a good bonfire night yesterday. We went with my mum up to the organised display up at the rugby club and, though we were disappointed with the 'entertainment' provided, we had a good time with friends. We met up with Amanda, Pete and the kids and Emily saw her friend Justine from school. It was a bit of a while waiting round for the fireworks but the kids entertained themselves:

Even though the rest of the event was disappointing, the actual fireworks display was fantastic. And must say I'm loving the fireworks setting on my camera!

 The girls (who had also met up with their other friend Hannah) watched whilst trying to look cool as only 9-year-old girls can!

 While Xander and Cameron avoided the girly stuff and watched the fireworks together at a safe distance (from both the fireworks and the girls!)

 I think Xan's face says it all, they all had a great time!

More fireworks tonight. Ally, Steve and Elise are coming down and we're all relying on Rob's garden display to knock the socks off the rugby club's! No pressure Rob!

Crafting - A Rainy Day Life Saver!

Now as you know, I love any excuse to craft! But this 'summer' I've found it an absolute life saver aswell.

This summer's weather has been dreadful. All the planned 'let's get the paddling pool out and spend the day in the garden' has gone well and truely out the window. I am clinging to the hope that it's all saving itself for a mini heatwave next week when we're under canvas yet again on the East coast! However, there's only so much you can do indoors when the weather's like this and, although Xander would happily play on the Wii all day, there's a little motherly concious saying I can't really allow that.

So, we've been having a bit of a craft at ours when the weather's been bad. We'd collected a big old bag of stash before the hols so we could just pick a project and go:

The other day, Xander's little buddy Izaak came round for a playdate. It was a typical blooming grey day so no chance of chucking them out in the garden, so after a few rounds of Mario Kart and Garfield The Movie, I decided to get the crafty bag out. The boys had great fun:

And they both came away with a super dooper space rocket!

Another use for crafting on a rainy day: when Alvin & The Blinking Chipmunks is on the tv for the 375th time, sometimes it's good to go and lock yourself in your craftroom to stop your ears from bleeding! As my son has the attention span of a flea, I've used the time to try and finish off some project in my Work In Progress pile (for that read, Started It Then Got Distracted By Something More Shiny pile!). This little project is so simple and yet looks fab (now I've finally finished it!). It's a little kit Kirsty bought us all at the retreat, just some chipboard shapes but a bit of paper, ink, ribbon and gloss later and ta-da!

A nice little decoration for my hall to welcome in my visitors (well, those of you that dare venture into Chez Gillard!). We had Rob's mum come to stay for a couple of days this week and I was so pleased with mine that I made her one too:

So, the end of the holidays is upon us so I may have to pack up the craft stash bag, but watch this space around the Christmas Holidays for what we can come up with from a loo roll and a bit of tinsel! ;)

Counting Your Blessings - Part 1

You know, we live in a crap world at the moment. The whole economy's gone down the pan and we're all going to be on bread and water soon, there's oil gushing out into the sea and they don't seem to be able to stop it, we've still got soldiers dying over in Afghanistan, and for god's sake we have bloody Jordan!

However, this week the Garlics is going to cheer everyone up by looking at the good things in life. No matter how bad things get we all have positives, things that make life worth living, so this week we're going to blooming well celebrate them!

Now, I wasn't exactly on the ball when they were dishing things out 36 years ago. Back of the queue for finances, slept in for health and got the complete wrong day for flat stomachs! However, I think I must have been bright and breezy and up at the crack of dawn when they dished out friends.

Obviously, the most important thing in anyone's life is family, nothing beats that. But family is the sort of unconditional love where you get stuck with each other warts and all. Friends takes a lot of work. So why do we bother? Well, to me, friends is what makes me work, they are my sanctuary, my salvation, what ultimately makes me me. When the kids are driving me up the wall, I NEED to get on the email to Marie and scream, my sanity depends on it! And when I'm feeling old I need to go to Ally Andbag's, have a glass of wine and dance around her living room to some good old 80s Lita Ford, remembering my youth! Friends make you function as a human being.

I'm so fortunate with my friends, I have quite a few. I've met them in various situations: through my kids, from years ago when I went out clubbing, from being fat! Something can just click in any situation and they get stuck with me for life!

Yesterday I had a group of friends round for a BBQ. These are the girls I used to work with at a company I left 6 years ago now. However, amidst all those 'oh yes, keep in touch won't you's that you get when you move on that never happen, these girls and I have stuck. It takes effort yes, we all now work in completely different places and had big changes in situation, but we still get together because we want to see each other, because we work well together.

So todays's blog is dedicated to all my wonderful friends. Thank you all for being part of my life and making me me!

Swot - The Partaaaay!

Here's a few pics from the party that my parents threw for me on the evening of my graduation. A good time was had by all though there were a few sore heads the next day (especially mine!):