Monday 10 November 2008

Neglecting blog

Well I have been neglecting the blog recently and I have no real reason as to why..... However off to Florida again on Thursday so hope to update every few days with what I have been getting up to.

Maybe even some pics. Hopefully when I get back I can maybe start to do some cards...

Thanks for reading.


Cally

Sunday 19 October 2008

Tank Driving.....

Yesterday i went tank driving... well I didn't actually drive a tank, hubby did though, but I did ride on one which was great fun!! I'll explain more....

As those that have read my blog before will know, my hubby was 50 in May (we went to florida for his birthday... going back there in 3 weeks and 3days - not that I'm counting. For his birthday I bought him a Tank Driving Experience. Due to him breaking his wrist in June and weather and work committments we eventually got to go yesterday.

Off we set yesterday morning down to near Winchester in Hampshire to a place called Juniper Leisure. My friend Cyd came along for the ride too. I was a bit nervous only cause you are never sure what to expect and is it going to be worth the money etc.

Well he had to be there for 1pm, so we arrived thee in plenty of time, got him signed in, Cyd and I had to pay £10 each as spectators but for that money we got a couple of rides on tanks and endless tea, coffee, cake and biscuits.

We had a safety talk first and then he was told that he would be driving 4 vehicles, an 'abbott tank', an armoured personal carrier, a chiefton tank, and a quad bike.





Here he is driving the 'abbott' and the 'APC'

This is Cyd and I ontop of a tank being driven around the course. That was great fun but not so good on your back.



This is a pic of Gaz next to the chieften tank which he drove. While they were driving this the spectators sat up on top of the tank which was great fun apart from the fact that the this tank only went backwards and forwards so going forward was great, but going backwards, the exhaust fumes were horrible... As you can see from the picture of Cyd and I.

The only thong thats Gaz didn't enjoy very much was the quad biking. he wasn't that confident on that but he still did it and got very very muddy doing it.

All in all we all had a great afternoon of fun and most of all Gaz enjoyed his pressie.
Thanks for reading.


Friday 10 October 2008

My Anniversary

Well yesterday (9th) was my 15th wedding anniversary. Where have those years gone? :-)
I had a beautiful card from my hubby. Love him lots. Spent the day at work and then went out in the evening ... not with hubby though, a freind of mine had bought theatre tickets to see the new David Essex stage show, 'Fun at the Fairground'.

It was a great show, david has aged a lot, well he is 61 now, but his voice, both speaking and singing, hasn't changed. The show has all his old hits in although not all sung by him.

It was a great night though and enjoyed catching up with my friend. Thanks Hevs.

Thanks for reading

Monday 6 October 2008

Another year older!

Well it was my birthday on Thursday (2nd October,) another year older, but I had a great day relaxing at home, lots of nice pressies.

In the evening we went up to London with Cyd and Fel to see 'We Will Rock You'. It was gary's and my birthday pressie to Cyd & Fel but we went up on my birthday.. We arrived in London at about 5pm having driven up to Gatwick and then getting the Gatwick Express up to Victoria.

We then got the tube to Oxford Circus and then walked down to Tottenham Court Road stopping on the was at Pizza hut for something to eat.

Gaz and I had already seen the show about 7 years previously when it had just started. Both Cyd and Fel are great Queen fans and they had wanted to go and see i for ages.

The show was fab!

On the Friday we went to the Isle of Wight to our caravan. When we got to the caravanb I was very upset at the state of the van was awful. There was a big hole in one of the side panels where someone had obviously hit it with a ball. Gary went to the office to see about it and they didn't know about it, strange really when the caravan was supposed to have been cleaned prior to us going over there. I was very angry and will be writing to the park's head office.

The weekend, apart from that was great and a good rest, for those of you that know me you know how much I love the Island. The weather was awful but who cares!

I am now back and it's back to work tomorrow.. but now only 5 weeks to Florida!!!!!

Thanks for reading

Monday 22 September 2008

Oops!!...

Have been neglecting my blog for a few weeks. Not that I haven't been idle, just haven't had time to complete this,

Well I haven't made any cards since my last posting, just haven't had the time.
I have been busy at work and in my spare time I have been knitting and updating my website www.ubeautycrafts.com
E-bay have decided to up their shop charges to over double what they have been and I am not prepared to pay that for the privilidge of having a shop. So it's trying to update my website and start to advertise that.

The knitting was another story. If you can remember from a previous post, I was asked to knit a boloro jacket for my friends mum for a wedding she was going to in September, well talk about the 11th hour. The day before the wedding I was on one of the sleeves and still had one more to do, then I realised i would run out of wool. She had bought the wool from Southend so couldn't get it from there. Went intoi all the local wool shops (all two of them) - no luck, came back home and started going through yell.com. Came up with 4 shops in area I live in. Rang all of them - no luck, by this time in was 12.30 on the Friday and the jacket was needed for the folloing day at 1pm. To say I started to panic was an under statement. Then I had a light bulb moment. C&H Fabrics - so I rang them, yippee they had one ball of the colour and dye in stock.
I jumped into the car, zoomed into town, got my wool, came home and started knitting, and I continued to knit until 2am, only to find that when I layed the cardi out the sleeves were different sizes.

So I went to9 bed and got up at 7, undid one of the sleeves and re knitted it. I sewed it together and took it round for her to wear at 12noon! They were leaving for the wedding at 12.15pm.
NEVER AGAIN- well not for another 15 years.. lol

Well thats the update at the moment. Will try not to leave so long next time.

Thanks for reading


Thursday 14 August 2008

New cards made today

Well new eyes bought my mojo back today and I have made a couple of cards for family birthdays. They aren't difficult cards, just quick.


This card on the left was done for my brother in law (surprise surprise!) . It is 2 decopuage cars on a white pearlescent card. I have used peel offs for the greetings and a peel off border.








This card has been made for my great nephew. He loves football. The card already had the windows cut out of it. I have put red handmade paper behind the windows and stuck it down. I then used gold football related peel offs and stuck them on. Then used a gold peel off greeting.



This is another square card . Green handmade paper was stuck on the card and then the golfer and golf bag are decoupaged and stuck on the card. Peel offs were used again. This card is for my friends brother who we are going up to see at the weekend.



All the cards were done very quickly and would have liked to have made more but my eyes were hurting.
Will see if I can make more tomorrow
Thanks for reading.

I can see.......

Yesterday was the big day for my laser treatment. To say that I was nervous was an understatement. I was out the nighyt before with some friends and I couldn't really enjoy myself as I had a real bad stressy headache. I woke up yesterday with a really bad tummy.. which I think was just the nerves. My appointment was at 9am and i arrived there with my hubby and good friend, Cyd. I felt ok but tummy was still playing up.

I had my consultation and they confirmed they could do the treatment (which was just as well as I already paid for it) lol. Well I had to wait for a couple of hours then as they were running behind. When they called me in for the treatment, I was taken into a room and asked to put on a lovely white hat. I was then called into the treatment room, laid down on the chair/bed and the treatment began. The whole process took about 15 mins and was pain free. The most painful bit (and this wasn't really painful just uncomfortable) was after the treatment when I git home. I found it very difficult to open my eyes so they tell you to rest on the day of the treatment so I went to bed for a couple of hours and when i woke up I was fine.

Eyes were a little blurry and I spent the evening closing them every now and again ans resting, my sight was still blurry.

I woke up thos morning to lovely clear vision, the first time in just over 30 years that I was able to see unaided...

I have been for my follow up appointment this morning and told I have 20 20 vision, they are healing fine. Need to just continue putting eye drops in and have another followup appointment next week.

It was worth every single penny.

Anyone who may be thinking of having it done - DO IT!

Thanks for reading

Sunday 10 August 2008

I've done some crafting...

On Wednesday, my friend Pam http://peejays-ramblings.blogspot.com/ went for a Stamping Up demo/make & take, hosted by Joanne (Mainly Flowers). It was a small group but we had lots of fun and made a couple of cards and a cute little box. I haven't done a lot of stamping before, only at classes but I really enjoyed the evening and was inpressed with the Stampin up stuff. I could have spent alot of money..lol. I'd like to say 'Thank you Joanne for a lovely evening, & the tea & biscuits were great!
I will be getting my stamps out soon, honestly!

The evening went really quickly and we didn't leave there til about 10.30pmish. There was a brillient thunderstorm during the evening and the lightening when we drove home was amazing.

Thanks for reading...


Wednesday 30 July 2008

My Award


Thank you to my good friend Pam for my award. http://peejays-ramblings.blogspot.com/

Wylde Women Awardthe rules are as follows:

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blogsite (http://www.tammyvitale.com/) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women.


The Purpose of the Award:To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy
Thanks for reading


Sunday 27 July 2008

Guess what I have started doing again.........

......after 15years..................KNITTING... I didn't have any intention of starting again but Cyd's mum wanted a shrug to go with a dress for her nephew's wedding in Septemeber and she couldn't find what she wanted so she asked me if I could knit and I said 'yes' even though I haven't done it for so long.
So she got the wool and the pattern and gave it to me.. amazing how you don't forget.. as soon as I picked the needles up I knew exactly what I was doing and I was really pleased with myself. Since starting on Friday I have only gone wrong once and had to start it all again. I will keep you updated on how I do.

The reason why I haven't pick up knitting kneedles for 15 years .. well this because my mum taught me how to knit and since she died I haven't been able to do it!..

Thanks for reading..


Lovely Sunday Afternoon

What a beautiful weekend it has been. Has Summer finally come.. Shush or it may go away again and we don't want that. A few weeks ago, inspired by ouir walk around Stamner Park, he bought a book called 'Walks Around Sussex' He has been trying to get me walking for ages but I always soad no, buit I have given in as long as they are nice walks. Well yesterday we all decided ( thats hubby, Cyd & Fel (our friends) that we would go for a picnic and nice walk, so we decided to do an easy walk first whicch was round Bramber, a little villiage about 6 miles away from us. The walk would take us up pass the castle (pic of the ruin on the left) and down the banks of the River Adur. The whole walk took us about a hour and was really nice. Parts of it was a bit like walking the jungle but most of it was beautiful. When we finished we decided to take out picnic out to Henfield Common to have our picnic and watch a bit of the cricket. It was lovely and warm and we had a lovely picnic and later on in the afternoon we played frisbee and ball.
I am absolutly knackered now but I really enjoyed the day.
Looking forward to the next one now.

Thanks for reading..


Thursday 24 July 2008

Tiring week

Have been neglecting my blog cause I have been so tired this week and working long hours. My collegue at work has gone on holiday so I am left to do everything myself. Which is fine but it's very tiring.

Still coming up to the end of week now altough Fridy's are normally my day off but I have to go in for a couple of hours in the morning and then I have the dentist for a check up. Not looking forward to that.

However I have a nice massage to look forwar too in the afternoon and then I am going out to a friends birthday party in Brighton. Haven't been out in a long time so am really looking forward to it. Can't drink too much though as I am working Saturday morning.

In the afternoon I hope to be able to make a few cards... but don't hold your breath... :-)

Friday 18 July 2008

New Eyes Update

Well I went for my consultation today and after having my eyes puffed at anethatised, orange dye put in, ultr violet light shone in them and being numbed, They decided that I was suitable for laser treatment, but not the simple £395 per eye treatment as advertised. . oh no.. due to my high precription and thefact that i apparently have lumpy eyes I have to have the most expensive one..

Mind you this is a one day recovery and no blade treatment..
The big day is 13th August....

I am very excited but very nervous about it but I will be able to see unaided in 3 weeks time.

p.s hyst to let you know that if you ever go for the consultation, make sure someone is with you because of the stuff they put in your eyes you can't see properly and it's like you are drunk. Also take some sunglasses as the light hurt your eyes too.

Thanks for reading

Thursday 17 July 2008

Journey begins to new eyes!


Those of you that do not know me, I am as blind as a bat. I am very short sighted and have been since I was 9. Up until then I had perfect eyesight. The optition advised my mum it was the shock of loosing my dad ( he had recently died.) Anyway I started of having to wear national health glasses, you know the ones.. big plastic square frames... lovely!! My sister and brother in law bought me my first pair of 'private glasses when I was about 12, then I then had another pair which were real 'Dierdre Barlow glasses as you can see from the picture, they were huge!! However just after this picture was taken (me at my 21st) I got my contact lenses and haven't look back until recently when I started thinking about laser treatment.

Well I have my consultation tomorrow and to say I am nervous is an understatement. I'm not very good with eyes but I know it will be worth it in the end. I will be able to see in the shower!!!!!

I will keep you posted on how it goes..

Thanks for reading

Saturday 12 July 2008

Thursday 10 July 2008

What a fab night...and a horrible one

Last night I went to see Blood Brothers in Eastbourne. This is I think the 7th or 8th time I have seen it and it was still as great & powerful as ever. Mrs Johnstone was played by Linda Nolan (I think I have seen all the Nolans apart from Coleen play that part). If you have never been to see it it's a must for all musical liking buffs.

My journey home wasn't so good!. I had to drive as hubby still can't due to his wrist. Now I don't like driving in the dark when there is no street lights, I hate driving in the dark on roads I am not sure of and I hate driving in the rain...well guess what... last night I had all 3!! Iwas so tense when I got home amd I couldn't sleep which wasn't good as I had to get up at 5pm this morning to catch the 6.30 train down to Fareham where I had a meeting due to work..

Still the show made up for everything!!

Sunday 6 July 2008

Well here he is.....eventually

Some of you that have read my previous postings know that I went to Florida in May for my hubby's 50th birthday. Well Pam, a good friend of mine sent him a badge with a dare for him to wear it all day.

We went to Epcot on that day and here he is in all his glory with the badge on! The hat is a 'Disney Birthday hat' which he only put on for the pic but the badge stayed on all day.

As you can see it wasn't the smallest of badges either, I think he enjoyed all the attention it bought him. Everyone sayong 'Happy Birthday' and people saying that he didn't look 50. The little badge he is wearing was from our youngest son - this says 'I was young once'

He did aquire another badge from the place we stopped for lunch. It was at an English pub in Epcot and the young waiter we had got hom a disney badge and a card signed by all the staff at the pub which we all thought was really nice.

I don't think he will forget his 50th in a hurry!!

Crafty Day


Well I had a lovely day yesterday.... crafting. Not done this in a long time. Was on my own as hubby was working. So I decided to make some stuff for my shop. I put Captain Jack Sparrow on the telly and created.

First I did some flower toppers using the cuttlebug daisy die. I love this die and think the flowers are lovely. You can make so many variations. I made them out of pearlescent paper and finished them off with a clear gem. Ivory, pale pink and cerise pink. I cut 2 lots of each size petals to make the flowers look full.

I then made some teddy toppers. Again cut with my cuttlebug. I think these look really cute. These were made from pearlescent paper and I am really pleased with them. 2 were cut in the main colour and them two in the lighter colour. Cutting out the lighter bits needed to make a two tone bear. Then I added a pink and blue ribbon to finish them off. Made 2 in dark brown and 2 in light brown.
I also made some other little bits and pieces and really enjoyed myself.
Nothing like a bit of Jack Sparrow and crafting on a Saturday afternoon.









Sunday 29 June 2008

What a lovely day!

What a lovely Sunday I have had today. It started off going to Asda'a with Cyd. Not my favourite task, shopping, but she needed some help. Her hubby who was supposed to go with her decided last night that he would be going to golf instead... didn't go down well I can tell you.


When we got back we decided that we would go to Stanmer Park and walk the 5k route we did last week on the Race for Life. It was much hotter today but we did the walk in 50mins, 45secs which was 5 mins off our time last week. We have decided that we will try to do the walk every Sunday as we don't do much exercise. The picture on the left shows the laske and the church on Stanmer Park. It is a beautiful open space with great places to walk.In the summer, lots of families go there for family barbeques and family fun days.

After we had done the walk we decided to go out to a little villiage called Litlington near Eastbourne. It's a quaint little English villiage with loverly tea rooms. It was a bit hairyu getting there as once you turn off the main road it is a single track road. I was driving and I don't lioke driving places I have never been to before. I missed the turn off for the tea gardens first - oops- had to do a uey (U Turn) but found it eventually. We had a nice cup of tea and sandwich.
The Sussex country side has some lovely places to visit and like most people that live somewhere, you never do visit.
A lovely day was had by all.


Saturday 28 June 2008

I've been tagged!

Well I have been tagged by my mate Pam you can go over to her blog to find out the rules at http://peejays-ramblings.blogspot.com/ . Well here goes: -

Ten years ago -

Let's see if I can remember - 1998 - Working where I am now although in a different job, went on holiday to Lanzarote for the first time with my boys who were aged 13 and 10. Living in the same house as I am now. Also we still had my baby, Charlie, my dog.

5 Things to do today -

1) Have a massage
2)Have my hair done
3) Do the ironing
4) Write on my blog
5) Eat my chinese!

Snacks I Enjoy -
My favourite snacks are crisps, biscuits with my cuppa tea (preferably digestives) and cashew nuts.

Things I would do if I was a Millionaire:-
I would make sure that my kids had a house. I would pay off my sisters mortgages. I would buy a house in Florida and then go on a world cruise.

Place I have lived:-
I have lived in Sussex all my life. I was born in East Sussex and the for the last 16 years I have lived in West Sussex. Not very adventurous but I am hoping to move to Devon in a few years.

All done

Thursday 26 June 2008

His arm is getting better

For those that have read earlier posts , you wii be aware that Hubby broke his wrist. Well after several cancelled appointments with the fracture clinic he finall got to see them today. His original appointment was last week but they had to cancel as the doctor ws on holiday!! Because he only had a temporary plaster on and this was too big has the swelling on his arm had gone down, he visited the plaster clinic and got a new cast in purple (apparently you can have black, blue, yellow, pink, purple or black!).

For the last few days his wrist has been aching so he was worried that the doctor was going to tell him that he needed an operation... would have been his own fault as he has been using it too much!.

Well when I got home from work today he was all smiles. It seems his arm is mending well and that he may be able to have the plaster off next week and fitted with a splint! Thank goodness for that..

Designing flyers


My friend Hevs has just completed a podiatrist and is trying to set up a new business. When I visited her last week she was telling me that she needed some flyers for her business. Her dad had tried to help by blowing up her business card onto A4 paper but it didn't look professional but he tried to help.
I told her that I would have a go at designing her some flyers so I took her business card and said I would see what I came up with. She said that if I could she would come down and do hubby's feet for me as his feet are a bit mankey!!

She cam down today and I managed to get he flyers done. I am having problems down loading it at the moment so will do it later. I was quite pleased with the outcome and so was she.

And hubby has got nice smooth feet!!

Monday 23 June 2008

What type Of Fruit are you?

I read this on a friend's site and thought I would give it a go.

I AM AN ORANGE!





You have a zest for life, especially for anything colorful, wild, or dramatic.

You have a unique take on the world, and you're not afraid to be a little funky.

You are a bit reserved toward people who don't know you well.

You have a thick skin, which can protect you from anything that goes wrong in your life.

Once someone does get to know you, they totally get and appreciate you.

Your friends see you as a bright person with a refreshing take on life.



Not sure how much it is like me but I do like things wild, I can be reserved (or shy) when I first meet people. (Doesn't last long though..lol). I do have a thick skin and usually block things out if they go wrong. (If you don't think about it it can't hurt you..) and I hope my friends see me as a bright person.
Thanks for reading.


Sunday 22 June 2008

Well I did it!!


The Race for Life that is. At Stanmer Park in Brighton my friend & I lined up with 3000 odd other ladies to do the 5k run/walk.

The weather was great, stayed sunny but windy. First thing was the warm up and I was knackered after that. Then the race started at 11am. My friend and I went through the start line at 11.10am and went through the finish line at 12.05pm - 55 mins it took us at a good steady paced walk.

The worse part was the start, about 5 mins into the walk my calf muscles were screaming out but we got through the pain barrier lol and apart from one part where it was up hill and I kept having to remind myself to breath, I really enjoyed myself and will be doing it next year.

When you sign up you get your running number and also another bit of paper to write on who you are doing the race for. I was doing it for my Mum who lost her fight against lung cancer in 1992. Also for my dad who lost hos fight when I was a little girl in 1977 and my hubby's Grandad who died of cancer in 2002. I raised about £120 which I am pleased about. Thank you to all those that sponsered me.

It was quiet emotinal when we crossed the finishing line but worth all the pain I know I am going to suffer tomorrow... lol