All set...

Can't stop!
I have to leave to catch a plane in.... 2 hours 50 minutes.
WHAT???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holey moley!
OK well, didn't get to go to bed then. Oops.
I'll sleep on the way there in the car and on the plane. RyanAir permitting.

And while I'm on the subject I shall make time for a mini rant!!!! Does any other airline insist that your handbag has to go inside your cabin luggage??? I'm sure they didn't use to do this. You could carry on one small bag, plus your handbag. I'm SURE.

Well this time I had everything packed, then Luvbug read out the notes to me. Well, bum-in-a-jockstrap to them! I've had to take lots of stuff out. Me and Luvbug are leaving some of our presents to each other behind just so we can fit presents to other people in!!!! Grrr.

AND I have several small creatures to sneak on board... a couple of dragons, a few bears......and THEIR packing of course....

I'll be online over there, so I'll nip in here another time and answer your messages from my last post (oops sorry) and THANK YOU Kristen for the award!!!

BTW, I NEARLY completed the list in my last post. I have still to finish what I was making for Luvbug. I suddenly realised that if I could squeeze some crafty stuff in my case, I could finish it over there, and that would give me 4 extra days! GREAT! The BIG problem was deciding what crafty stuff to take.... I concluded that whatever I took, I would want something I had left behind :) Once that little gem was out of the way I stopped fretting about it and just shoved a few things in a bag. Hope it turns out ok!

And I hope my future mum-in-law has a hairdryer I can use, as that had to be sacrificed to make room for it all.

Happy Christmas, every one! And a great new year! Sorry for the lack of flashing images and Chrsitmassy stuff in this post. No time. You can have some falling snow. There. Enjoy:)

Running out of time!

Pollarded birch trees in Colchester last winter. I like this photo: it seems to sum up cold, short days :)

My mum always has an enormous A4 size diary, preferably a day to a page, though not essential. She doesn't write in it every day, but most days. She records who phoned, where she went, things like that. Not huge essays, just a sentence here and there. Then she clips in receipts from her shopping and appointment cards for the dentist, quotes from tradesmen, that sort of thing. Stuff you might write on a calendar, in it goes. Birthdays are written in, and, with time, what she bought and when she sent it.
She also sticks in clippings from papers and magazines that made her laugh. These are mostly fat animals stuck in, on or under things. If it snows, and big snowdrifts make the papers, the photo's go in. If we have a heatwave, the headlines get clipped and glued.
I think that if my mum were online, and exposed to the wider crafting and scrapbooking community, she'd be hooked. She's a natural; the original scrapbooker, no fancy papers or accessories. Just a big diary and a stick of glue. She has about 18 years of them.

By October, the spine of the diary has given up the ghost. The thing is bulging and usually held together with elastic. These last few years I've spent about £15 on a fancier one as a present for her, one with a big strong spine, ringbound, stronger. Or so I thought. It still falls apart from the weight of the contents!

SO! This year I have bought a ring-bound A4 diary for about £7. I want to take it apart, add in some pages and wallets for receipts and keepsakes, etc. and then put it all together using big book rings. I'll make a cover and tie it shut with a big ribbon.

OK. I have all the ingredients. I started on it tonight..... I have to deliver it Saturday. Yes. THIS Saturday. We're going to Ireland after that.

I also have to squeeze in an appointment with the dentist, dye my hair and get it cut (if there is a hairdresser in this entire town not fully booked up the week before Christmas!) and finish something I was making for Luvbug. Oh! And I have to pack, too.

Erm. I'm not going to do it, am I?