eternity

23:11:26 o'clock BST

                              Hello everyone

I hope you all had a fab weekend. I meant to post over the weekend but time just flew by!!

I am switching off my alerts until monday 18th August I am taking a break!!

Sorry if I haven't been by your journal recently I got way behind and have decided to start fresh in a couple of weeks.

I hope you all have a great couple of weeks, see you when I return...

                                       Take care

 

                                          

                                                               mrs t xxx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

14:17:35 o'clock BST

                                          Hello everyone

Hope you are all having a good week so far, I am busy with holiday preparations, business, blogging for C4E and swimming lessons!! Mikael has a 1/2 hr lesson each week day for two weeks. He is not confident in the water, hates water on his face, bless him. He is doing well, he was blowing bubbles in the water today and floating on his back. My nephew Lawson is going aswell and doing well too. He is a little more confident in the water, his bubble blowing nearly emptied the pool!!!lol

I had a lot of cards to make recently and I realised that I hadn't shared any with you for a long time so here are a few of the more recent cards...                                         

                                  

                                                

I have had some great products to work with as stock for C4E has begun arriving, but I still can't resist the digi kits!!lol

The C4E blog is up and running if you would like to take a look, there will be lots of news, challenges and projects posted there. 

                     click here to take a look.

                          Thanks for looking

                               Take care

                                mrs t xx

edit: sorry, picture edit screen still wide!!! LOL

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:34:59 o'clock BST
Feeling Sad
Hearing the radio

                                hello everyone,

Hope you are all having a good week. Again I am behind with everything...lol. Hopefully now I have caught up with my alerts!

Sad news from our little seaside town, our pier caught fire yesterday morning about 7am. All gone...there is just twisted metal and ashes where the main pavillion stood at the end of the pier. So sad, luckily no one was hurt, 1000's visit the pier during the summer, awful to think what would have happened if it had been later in the day.

The news hit national TV, Gmtv were here today, our local news has covered it too.

To see coverage of the fire look here

Lots of people went down to the beach to watch and get pictures.

This morning they have said that the main structure looks to be sound and that it is likely that they will be able to re-build it.

The owners had only bought the pier in February and have spent £1000's on improvements. It is an awful thing to happen right at the start of the school holidays.

here are a few picture that people took and sent into ITV...

 

 

 

Last year clive and I got married and we had this wonderful picture taken on the prom with the pier in the background....

Have a good day and take care

mrs t xxx

edit: moved pics the screen has gone wide!!! sorry  xx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

23:41:39 o'clock BST
Feeling Thoughtful
Hearing dog snoring!!!


Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:18:13 o'clock BST

Good morning!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

On saturday we gained two new family members....

 Suki and Charlie!!

Suki is an 8 week old pure white kitten, she is so adorable. She is settling in well and seems to be finding her paws a little now,  I found her upstairs this morning, under Alix's cot!! Bless her. When I came back from the school run this morning she ran down the stairs to greet me...so sweet. I think she will do just fine. So here she is......

Our 2nd new member is Charlie. Charlie is an 8 week old Papillon puppy. He is so cute, he is smaller than Suki!!! Sapphire (our black lab) loves him, she is even sharing her bed with him!!! He needs to be house trained, but when he is put in the garden he just hides by my legs and shivers!!! bless him. He loves the kids and is just the right size as to not threaten the other cats. They kind of looked at him as if to say what on earth are you!!LOL.

So here is Charlie...

I hope you all had a good weekend and have a good week too, I think I have caught up with most people in the last week, if I haven't been by to see you yet I am sorry, I think my alerts are playing up, I seem to be getting some and not others. I will catch up soon!

take care everyone

mrs t xxxx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

13:14:26 o'clock BST

Lawson!!!

 

My little nephew celebrates his 6th birthday today.

He is a little star and a proper boy who loves to run , climb trees and get into trouble!!! Usually with my son!!! LOL

...and such a handsome chap too!!

Happy birthday lawson from auntie she-she xxxx

have a good weekend everyone and take care!

mrs t xx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:58:47 o'clock BST

 

 

HAPPY 4th of JULY

...to everyone across the pond. Hope you all have a great time.

Have fun!!!

mrs t xxx

ps. images snagged from photobucket!!

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

21:25:29 o'clock BST

Hello

Well, I made it back again!! It's all rosemary's fault (Inspiration) ....lol. Rosemary set a challenge last week to design a logo for the nice award, if you haven't seen it take a look at magic smoke or Inspiration for the details.

I couldn't resist a try at this challenge, only problem is I got a little carried away...lol. Once I open PSP I am on it for hours...lol

Here are my ideas....

The images are from microsoft clipart, downloaded from their website, I am not sure about the copyrights on them. The images of the hands in the sand and the faces could be re-done with a photo that is royalty free, we could take one!

Because I had to save as jpeg images it merged them so the torn effect frames got a little lost...sorry don't know how to change that and have to go make my nephews birthday card now!! But you should get the idea...lol

Take care all

mrs t xx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 4 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:35:37 o'clock BST
Feeling Rushed

                   

How bad is this? last entry was almost 2 months ago!! Where does the time go? I have been floating around j-land I just have not been very active, sound asleep more like...LOL as far as j-land is concerned anyway! I have just been busy with life, I had dozens of entries planned and just couldn't find the time to fit them in. So sorry to have been absent for so long, I would like to say that I will try harder to keep up but I can't promise. so... what has been going on in my world??....

                                             

Family...

...are all ok, Mikael is still doing well at school, only about 6 weeks to go and he finishes yr1!! He has had some teeth problems, quite bad really he now has 3 fillings in his baby teeth! apparently not my fault, as I don't let him have too many sweets and I only have sugar free drinks. Poor love had to endure two fillings in one go then the mean dentist pierced the swellings on his gums (that hurt!!!) bless him he was so brave. We have had sports day, family camping on the school field and so many other events I have lost count. But all good fun.

Alix is ok, he is having tantrums from hell. He is quite quiet most of the time but when he is cross the whole town knows it!!...LOL We have all the normal problems with him, sleep, food, hitting, throwing.... all the usual stuff.

Hubby clive is fine too, working hard I don't get to see him much in the evenings as he goes to bed early and I am usually doing either business work or catching up on housework.

                                        

 Business news....

Slow progress with this the web designer has had problems with it and it now won't be ready till july. It took me 3 weeks to decide what stock to buy for the launch, problably out of date by the time we go live...LOL. I have been busy with marketing the last couple of weeks, I don't have a big budget so I have been working on other ideas of how to get traffic through to the site. This has taken a lot of time and effort, hopefully it will help.

 

                              

Crafty makes...

I have been a little better at keeping  The lilac diary going (part of the marketing stategy) so pop over and take a look at what I have been doing, there is a lovely butterfly mini book there(pic above). It was my 2nd project with my new toy the Bind-it-all machine, loving it!!LOL.

I have some great photos from a recent trip to street that I'd like to share, my 5yr old nephew rose to great heights!!!!LOL I will sign off for now Alix needs his lunch!! I will try to get round to people when I can and post again soon.

Take care everyone

mrs t xxxx

 

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

11:55:38 o'clock BST

Teachers strike

Good morning!!

In England and Wales today there is a teachers strike. I don’t normally journal about current affairs, but I just wanted to show my support for the teachers. As a trained teacher myself I understand the mixed emotions of teaching, the stress, joy, love, dedication and skill.

I chose not to pursue a career in teaching opting instead to bring up my children.

Today the teachers are striking because the proposed pay increase is below the rate of inflation. I know that in the UK there are many families struggling to keep up with mortgages, childcare cost and just surviving day to day, many employed people are underpaid and deserve more. There are a lot of people who say that teachers have it easy with long holidays etc (my husband is one of them!) what people do not see is the hours put in after school and during those “holidays”. When you are faced with the mountain of paperwork that teachers are faced with on top of the actual teaching time you have to fit it in somewhere. I remember working into the small hours preparing lesson plans, daily plans, weekly plans, termly plans, yearly plans, individual assessment for EACH subject - EACH child (10 subjects x 30 children = 300 assessments!).

If teachers have long holidays doing nothing how do they fit it all in ?

I found this story on a crafting forum last year, I am dedicating it to all teachers….

The good Lord was creating teachers. It was his 6th day of overtime and he knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children. An angel appeared to him and said, “you are taking a long time to figure this one out”.

“yes,” said the Lord, “but have you read the specs on this order?”

Teacher

Must stand above all students, yet be on their level

Must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subjects being taught

Must run on coffee andleftovers

Must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time

Must have more time for others than themselves

Must have a smile that can endure pay cuts, problematic children and worried parents

Must go on teaching when parents question every move and others aren’t supportive

Must have 6 pairs of hands

“six pairs of hands,” said the Angel, “that’s impossible”.

“well,” said the Lord, “it’s not the hands that are the problem. It’s the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!”

The Angel looked incredulous, “three pairs of eyes… on a standard model?”

The Lord nodded his head, “one pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labelled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher’s head to see what shouldn’t be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as she/he ‘acts out’ in order to reflect, “I understand and believe I still believe in you”, without so much as saying a word to the child.”

“Lord,” said the Angel, “this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow”.

“I can’t”, said the Lord, “for I have come very close to creating something much like myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick… teaches a class of students that don’t want to learn… has a special place in his/her heart for children who aren’t their own… understands the struggles of those who have difficulty… never takes the students for granted…”

The Angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating. “it’s too soft hearted,” the Angel said.

“yes”, said the Lord, “but also tough. You can’t imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary”.

“Can this teacher think?” asked the Angel.

“ Not only think,” said the Lord, “but reason and compromise”.

The Angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger over the teacher’s cheek. “well Lord”, said the Angel, “your job looks fine, but there’s a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You can’t imagine the stress that will placed upon the teacher.”

The Lord moved closer and lifted the drop of moisture from the teacher’s cheek. It shone and glistened in the light, “It’s not a leak,” He said, “It’s a tear”.

“A tear? What’s that?” asked the Angel, “What is a tear for?”

The Lord replied with great thought, “It’s for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task. It’s for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it’s for the compassion for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feels in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say goodbye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class.”

“My,” said the Angel, “the tear is a great idea… you’re a genius!!”

The Lord looked sombre, “I didn’t put it there…”

 

For all the teachers out there.

Take care

Mrs t xxx

Written by mleppard06 Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 8 comments: Show Recent | Add your own