Saturday 31st January 09

Breakfast. I have the same every day - orange juice, cereal with skimmed milk and black decaff tea.

Friday 30th January 09

I hadn't taken my picture today and was wondering what to take when I opened an e-mail from my sister who lives nearby. This is what she found in her front garden today, a little Rudolph, far from home! I just had to use it!

Thursday 29th January 09

I needed some thread today so took a walk into town as it looked quite mild out. A very biting wind made my nose run all the time, but the fresh air was great. I was really taken with the beauty of the display of reels. I've seen it hundreds of times, but since I've started taking photos of things other than people, my eyes have really been opened.

Wednesday 28th January 09

This is the book I am reading at the moment. I started reading it just before Christmas, but put it down to read my Christmas present book as I found it quite hard going. It's set in 19th century India and is full of ancient, technical, sea-faring, pidgin-Indian-English type language which can make it quite difficult to follow as there is no glossary to explain the terms used. I picked it up again last week and am actually enjoying the story line now I am half way through.

Tuesday 27th January 09

I cut my finger. Well, sliced into it actually. Quite badly. I'd been faffing around trying to think what to do with a layout, moving papers about, changing papers, altering my mind, you know the kind of thing. I thought I must make a determined effort here and make a decision. So I got hold of my craft knife and determinedly cut into a piece of paper. Unfortunately my finger was in the way. Ouch!!!! I didn't think the bleeding was ever going to stop. It's very difficult trying to put a plaster on single handed. The blood soaked through 3 plasters, and even splattered the layout, results of which are on my other blog. The eagle-eyed amongst you can spot the results of the injury!

Monday 26th January09

Lunch!

Sunday 25th January 09

I didn't take this photo. My grandson did. We went over to see Dad this morning and I was trying to take a photo of both of my grandchildren sat in this chair, but Sophie wouldn't play! I managed to get them individually, but not together. Harry wanted to take some photos so I let him have a go. He copied me..........and took photos of the chair but with no-one in it! "Where am I," he said, when I showed him what he had taken.

This chair was bought for my Dad circa 1957 when he came out of a very long stay in hospital and couldn't sit in a low chair (still can't). It was made by Parker Knoll and was originally brown & orange moquette, but has been re-upholstered in more recent times. Last year I persuaded Dad to get an automatic reclining chair for the living room because he always looked so uncomfortable in this one when he had his naps in the afternoon. He loves his new chair and this one has been relegated to the back room and so is still in frequent use when he reads the newspaper in the morning. The cushion is one of many that my Mum made to use up oddments of wool.

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Saturday 24th January 09

Laundry Day. It struck me as I was sorting out the laundry and deciding which of the many products to use how much space I need just for them, for me, on my own. My Mum got by in the fifties with a small packet of Rinso and a bar of Fairy household soap to do the weekly wash for seven of us. Would I go back to those days? Not bloomin' likely!

Friday 23rd January 09

I've discovered that my school has an old die-cutting machine gathering dust at the back of the stock room. It is huge, and heavy, with large individual dies for each letter. I cut these 2" letters out of mountboard from the picture framer's today to use as monograms in the Special Book I am making with my little class.

Thursday 22nd January 09

I can't upload my photo for today because it is of my little class at school.

Wednesday 21st January 09

A really frosty cold start to this morning. I love the patterns the ice makes on my car.

Tuesday 20th January 09

Yes, I know the big news story of the day was the inauguration of the first black president of the Unitied States of America, Barak Obama, but this side of the pond life in downtown Eastleigh still goes on and the ironing just has to be done! God bless America.

Monday 19th January 09

The very strong winds have left me with a rather drunken fence.

Sunday 18th January 09

This is me at the start of my new life as a divorced woman. It was never a position I wanted to be in, but I just have to make the best of it from now on.

Saturday 17th January 09

I have always loved buttons and have collected them all my life. I was taught at a very early age never to throw anything away until the buttons were cut off. Scrapbooking has given me the perfect opportunity to start using my vast collection and I use them on a lot of my layouts. When I saw this necklace I just had to have it. The perfect Scrapper's Necklace! I wore it for the first time today.

Friday 16th January 09

The Tree Surgeons came round today and tidied up the trees opposite my house. I love the smell of the newly cut wood.

Thursday 15th January 09

I went shopping after work today!

Wednesday 14th January 09

Signs of new life in the school grounds. I spent the afternoon with my little class out in the school grounds taking photographs of all the different plants and leaves.

Tuesday 13th January 09

The sun was shining brightly as I passed this tree on my way back to school at lunch time.

Monday 12th January 09

This is the book I am reading at the moment and I am loving it. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas. I find hardback books easier to read these days as the print is a bit bigger!

Sunday 11th January 09

End of an era. What a sad sight. I started my working life in Woolworths in 1965 at the age of 15 as a Saturday girl. I earned the grand sum of 14\9d (74p) which went up to 15\3d (76p) a year later.

Saturday 10th January 09

A lovely iced-up cobweb in the back garden this morning.

Friday 9th January 2009

I decided to have a baked potaoto for lunch today. I grabbed this one out of the bag and fell in love with it!

Thursday 8th January 09

I went to have my nails done this afternoon and this is the result.

Wednesday 7th January 2009

I went to M&S today with my daughter and grandchildren and we had a snack in the cafe. I should have taken a photo of the lovely slice of carrot cake that we shared, but it was all gone by the time I remembered to take a photo!

Tuesday 6th January 09

No, I haven't got a cat! This one belongs to some neighbours and must have crept in this morning when I went out to the bins. I found her this afternoon all curled up on the bed.

Monday 5th January 09

Found these hidden away. I'm really pleased with this photo. I read the camera manual, took it off auto and used the macro setting. I wish we had some snow as there is a special setting for snow pictures.

Sunday 4th January 09

Every year, a few day's after Christmas, Dad hosts his Birthday party in a local pub restaurant, and pays for the lot! As many of the family as possible come. This year 27 people turned up for his 84th birthday. This is a layout of the photo I took. It doesn't include everyone as it was late and some people had already left. Next year I'll make sure I get everyone in! It's a great time to see all the new additons (2 this year) and for all the cousins to get together and catch up on the news. (Thoughts - Dad has 13 great-grandchildren. What a great photo that would make!)

Saturday 3rd January 09

Today I have taken a picture of the kit I got at my crop. It's by Little Yellow Bicycle and the papers are really lovely. I had made up a few page kits for today and one of the photos I wanted to use was a large one of family from Dad's birthday last week. I searched through my stash last night for something blue and wasn't really happy with what I found, so when I saw this today I knew it would be ideal for my photo. Tomorrow I'll upload a photo of the layout I did.

Friday 2nd January 09

I went into town to get some photos printed ready for an all-day crop tomorrow. I usually get them done in Klix, but they were shut and the shop was gutted out with a notice in the window saying the company has gone into Administration. So I had to go to Boots and learn how to use a different machine!

Thursday January 1st 2009

This is my garden on the 1st January, 2009.

My intention is to take photos of my garden, and daily life throughout the year. I hope the quality of the photographs will get better as I learn to use the settings on my camera.