Kate Takes 5 Listography

Kate Takes 5 Listography - Top 5 websites

Having made good progress with my mums e-blogging course, I have decided to try one for Kate Takes 5 Listography

Here goes:
My top 5 websites:

facebook

I have to go on here nearly everyday (I know really sad!) but it is one of the only ways I have of keeping in touch with friends who live miles away. Also I have a bit of an obsession with playing castleville, words with friends (even though I loose every game I play!) and hidden chronicles! It is also really handy to send message to groups of friends at a time (we organise our 'ladies and babies what lunch' this way every week!)

My blog dashboard

Another essential that I  access almost daily, though not always to post. I love looking through and seeing what the other bloggers I follow have been up to.

Net mums Blogging network

Again another place I visit almost daily as I love looking at what other bloggers post about. It also gives me a chance to see what my blog could look like when I've got to grips with the more technical things!!

My netmums home page 

I only usually go to chat - coffee house usually, but lately I have found the section for miscarriages and still births really helpful. It's great to be able to chat to other mums (and sometimes dads) about everything and anything - usually to do with toddler issues I'm having with little man!!

Mad about cards

Finally, my last favourite website is one where I can get loads of the resources I need to make my cards. Usually they have really good sales and deals on, so I nearly always manage to grab a bargain!

So there you have it, my top 5 websites!

What a great day :)

Hubby surprised me today by deciding to finally sort out his mountain of clothes that spill out of his 2 and 1/2 chest of draws, clutter the tops and the floor in the landing! (ok, not all of the clothes in the landing are just his, but you get the idea!) I never could understand why he needed things like 12 white tops that look almost identical? Anyway, he managed to fill 2 charity bags and I was really happy - I sorted mine out last week, so a fab clear out to start 2012!
But we didn't stop there! I decided to start sorting out a few little things here and there around our pigsty bedroom and it ended in us both clearing and sorting out the whole room! It looks really nice now, I'm just hoping that it will stay that way!!

Little man has been busy all day, playing games with Grandad, Grannie, Unkie Sy as well as me and hubby. I managed to snap a couple of picture of him playing with the fuzzy felt pictures (even though I absolutely loath it, as the board is covered in glitter that goes everywhere!!) but today I didn't mind playing at making pictures:

a master at work

one of the pictures he made

'cheese!'

Then, the only time of the day that I wasn't 100% happy with, was when I turned around from ordering a few bits on the computer to find that little man had been keeping himself thoroughly amused and his call of 'daddy look' (hubby was helping me) and here's what we found:

my little toad!

He had only emptied the entire tissue box - little toad!!

The evening has been spent with my parents watching Thor on DvD - I'd never seen it before and thought it was brilliant! Added bonus being that Thor was gorgeous!! ;)

Hubby is out down the pub with his friends, but before he left, I managed to get a couple of piccies of him and me, as I am seriously lacking in any recent piccies of him or us!

I think he looked gorgeous tonight!!

me and my yummy hubby

The other thing I have realised today is how much better our relationship seems to be now. Since we lost Pip, we have had to have some serious chats. Now, we are talking more and I feel loads more love and happiness than I have in ages - seems strange that something so tragic has made me love and appreciate hubby so much more!

100 things to do list

Having joined the mum Blogger e-course (run by Erica at little mummy.com) I am trying out my first link!
I had a little nose around her blog and found that she had created a list of 100 things to do (before she dies) and I thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted to share it with you!

I'm not sure if I can think of that many things to do, but I thought it might be fun to have a go! If I think of quite a few I might even try and set up a new page (as Erica did), so here we go...

100 20  things I'd like to do before I get too old, or completely loose my marbles!

1) Make some money with my crafting business 'Happy Crafting'
2) Have another baby
3) Save up enough money to move into our own little place - preferably with 3 or 4 bedrooms
4) Go for a family holiday to the following places:
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
Disney World (don't mind which one!!)
New Zealand
The Canadian Rockies
5) Learn how to snowboard
6) Go on a snowboarding / skiing holiday
7) Read the 100 books on the BBC Big Read list 2003
8) Play a solo at a concert ( a very small one!)
9) Play a duet at a concert (again very small!)
10) Learn to knit and make a scarf
11) Go camping in the New Forest
12) Go and see the following shows:
Cirque du Soleil
Wicked
Stomp
Les Miserable
Rock of Ages
13) Own a tanzanite ring
14) See hubby in a job that he likes doing
15) Go to Alton Towers and ride some scary rides!
16) Beat my fears:
hold a snake
hold a tarantula
have my second tattoo on my foot (scared of needles!)
17) Climb a mountain (no matter how small!)
18) Walk along the Great Wall of China
19) Publish my poetry
20) Have dinner in a really posh restaurant

Well, I've made a start - will give me lots to think about!!
I hope the links work!

Had a brilliant day!

Aiden's childminder loved the card I made to celebrate the arrival of their new baby:

Then I managed to make my first card ready to sell for Valentine's Day:

I did my first shift back at work AND I managed to keep to my new goal of cutting down on chocolate, and managed to go completely without today :)

Small steps, to my continued recovery after loosing Pip. At least they are steps in the right direction :)
Can't wait to get back to crafting, hopefully tomorrow!

fun things with little man

We've been having lots of fun lately and for once I had the camera ready!

enjoying his 'work'

playing with rubber ring!

deciding to wear trousers on his head for a change

we made a den today :)

playing in the den :)

I wonder what we'll get up to next ;)

starting to feel loads better

I've been signed off for the past 2 weeks, as my emotions from the miscarriage have finally caught up with me! I think physically I had delt with loosing Pip, but went back to work too soon and then my emotions finally caught up and knocked me for six.

The first week, I was back to the dreadful depressive state, where I became a couch potato and rarely got out of my jammies!
Thankfully, this week has seen huge improvements!
I am trying to make sure that I'm up before 10 am every day. I'm keeping to my exercise routine. I've started to make a bag for MiL and a card for little man's childminder whose just had a baby boy! :)

Things are starting to come together again and I am so pleased and relieved!

As soon as little man has gone to nanny's house for the rest of the day, I'm off to more crafting :)
If I finish anything, I'll post later!

Feeling totally inspired and hopeful

I just finished watching the most amazingly inspiring film I have seen in absolutely ages 'eat prayer love' starring Julia Roberts. She is on a journey of self discovery following a divorce and I know that it sounds weird, but I kind of feel that I'm trying to do the same.

In the film, her character spends 4 months eating in Italy, then travels onto India to find inner peace and God, finally ending in Bali, where she finds love again.
I think that loosing Pip has meant that I've felt lost and unsure - ok, it probably goes way back before then, but maybe this is like the pivotal point in my journey now. I can see clearly the stage I'm in - eating! (I don't seem to be able to stop eating, all foods, especially those that are really bad for me!) So compared to the film, I'm at the Italy stage.

I want to find inner peace and become a more spiritual, contented person (India stage).
I believe in God, but I'm not sure where I fit in with everything else. I wish I could find a symbol to represent my spirituality, as although I wear a cross at the moment, it doesn't fully represent how I  feel. Maybe I should be looking at exploring a range of faiths and see if anything fits how I feel. I like the thought of meditation, but lack the focus. I think this is where I need to start my own journey.

The way I see it, at the moment I am filling the void left by Pip with food. When I have finished I want to find myself again. In the film, they have a conversation about describing yourself as a word - not 'what you do' (so 'crafter' wouldn't work) I think at the moment 2 words sum me up, 'lost' and 'searching'. I don't want to keep going on through the rest of my life always up and down with depression and the madness that is the world we live in- I think it's time to find some peace.

So, here I pledge to myself to find where I fit spiritually. I will research and begin the next step in my journey heading towards inner peace and spiritual salvation.

my new card design

So I decided to try out my new drawings on a card and am feeling rather pleased:

I'm learning to draw

For some reason I have terrible insomnia at the moment!
So, last night I decided that I was going to do something to pass the time!! I looked up little man's folder 'how to draw really cool stuff' and got sketching!
I loved them so much that I then re-created them and had a go at adding colour - am really pleased with the results :) (made the colours of the turtle up, as had no colour reference!!)

green turtle

dolphin

I have also had loads of dreams lately about my Little Pip, here's how I see her:

how I picture my Little Pip

I would love to know what anyone thinks - am thinking about using them for card toppers.

Am not doing too bad :)

So, I have just had a check up on the things that I would like to achieve this year and am already pleased with the start I have made :)

Me and hubby spent a day tackling our living room. We managed to achieve half of the room being completely stripped back, everything sorted, recycled or stored away properly. Little man now has even more storage space for toys (with the addition of a huge yellow tub that used to live in his bedroom)
Am planning to tackle the rest of the room tomorrow, whilst little man is spending the afternoon with nanny and grandad.
The other thing that I'm finding frustrating, is that I now seem obsessed with it looking really nice (the bit we have done) and can't stand it when post, toys etc start to find new homes in the middle of the floor, or on the coffee table. Must try and make sure that we ALL work on this together!!

The exercise plan has started really well too :)
I managed to do some jogging (on my brother's trampoline thingy that I'm borrowing) followed by some weights work - hubby has shown me which one to do so that I can tone and loose my 'bat-wing' arms - followed by a session on Wii Fit on Monday.
Today I managed another 'jog' followed by weights work and some stomach-crunches (can't do sit-ups yet, heehee!)

Might not sound like a lot to some of you, but if I think back to where I was this time last year - big achievements back then were getting up and dressed each day!

So, I'm taking time to recognise my achievements, however small they are, as no one else will always have the time to cheer-me-on, I'm going to start my own path to becoming a great self-motivated person ;) well, better than I am at the moment will do for a start ;)

Had great fun with finger paints today!

So, to start off the New Year in the right way, I have decided that I am going to try and do more fun things with little man. Today we started with trying his new finger paints out - and managed to persuade grannie and grandad to join in the fun! :)

Here are our 'masterpieces'!!

little man getting started

another little man creation

look at it sideways and little man has made a kind of pineapple!!

little man masterpiece

my 'mess'!!

my 'nature' inspired scene (kind of, heehee)

Grannie's pretty picture

Grandad's tornado

Grandad's tree