Learn Something New Every Day - Finished!

I decided when doing LSNED this year that I would concentrate on taking the photos and making notes through September and actually complete my layouts in October. I decided to go along the divided page protector route this year, which a lot of people seem to have done!

This is the first page for LSNED which I have slotted into my 2013 album in the correct place, well it will be the correct place when I have done some layouts for August!

The back of this page has my introduction for 2013.

And there is the journalling in more detail:

These are actually in a page protector which is 6x6, but I photographed them and put them into a collage in order to not have too many photos on this blog post!

 The page protector actually looks like this:

I took the first photos with the mini layouts in the page protector and you cannot see them very well, sorry! However, if you click on the photo you will see them in more detail and be able to read the journalling.

A couple of days have two mini layouts as I had extra photos to use up as you can see in the Viking/archery layouts and the Ally Pally ones. I took all my photos using Instagram and then printed them at home.

One of the page protectors was slightly different and I ended up with two larger boxes:

I finished off the month with a paragraph summing up the month and that left me with one box!

It seemed fitting!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my LSNED pages for this September. If you joined in, have you finished yet?

LSNED 2011 Slideshow

And here is the slideshow of my book which I promised!

Wrapping up Learn Something New

So, here we are with my final pages of Learn Something New. Hmm, yes, Hugh needs to concentrate on what he is doing when he is painting! Needless to say this photo is staged as I had to rapidly take the cup of coffee away, throw it away and make him a fresh one!

Penny asked me to photocopy her certificates so that she could hand them in to Boots - I had no idea that she had done so much training when she worked at the local chemists as a Saturday assistant.

This is the dress I bought to wear to the graduation if it had been cold and wet - it has a suit jacket that goes with it and I would have worn it with knee length boots. As it was warm I wore it to work as in the photo - so many people asked me if I was going for an interview!

I read on Shimelle's blog about 'Blurb' and decided to have a go myself and make a photobook for Ben of his graduation photos. Waiting for it to be delivered now.

I have been on the Cambridge diet since April now and am within a pound of my goal weight! Really pleased with myself and looking forward to maintaining it this time and not putting it all back on again!

Hmm - I did eat sensibly when we went out for the meal to celebrate Penny's new job - honestly!

I used the last page to write a closing letter about the month of September, detailing how less stressful this September has been compared with last year and how lucky I feel this year. I have really enjoyed doing LSNED again, but may skip it next year and concentrate on layouts instead!

This is the inside back cover. I found a wonderful felt house decoration (thank you Sian) which I won a while ago, which I felt went perfectly with this year's theme and finished off the book nicely.

And that's a wrap! Except that I am hoping to be able to make a quick slideshow presentation of the whole book which I will post tomorrow.

Learn Something New - 21, 22, 23 and 24

So, here we are, already in October and trying to catch up with Learn Something New! I have actually finished my book, but just need to post the finished pages.

We always try to have a little celebration lunch at work when it is one of our little group's birthdays and on the 22nd it was Elaine's. Penny baked a stack of scrumptious cupcakes for us!

Workdesk on the 23rd - trying to catch up as I was quite behind at this point.

Feeling pretty poorly on the 24th with the beginnings of a heavy cold, but still made the most of a trip to the Big Stamp and Scrapbook Show at Ally Pally with Hugh. My second trip this year to this show - unheard of for me!

I'll be back later in the week with a wrap up post. Thanks for looking.

LSNED - 17, 18, 19 and 20

Nearly up to date with LSNED. The 17th was a lovely sunny day in Wickford. We have an annual Carnival and unfortunately this year was the last one after 93 years as the committee have all stood down and there is no one else to run it. When the children were little and I was on the Pre-School committee we were on one of the floats for 3 years running and it was great fun.

I love Downton Abbey! I have the first series on DVD and couldn't wait for the second series to start.

This was the beginning of my busy, busy week, which I have already written about, so you will understand why I had no photos of today.

Cheated a bit here and used a photo off the internet as it seemed to sum up exactly how the 20th had turned out!

I have just about caught up with the next four days - just need to photograph them and then upload them to the computer, which I hope to do by the weekend. Thanks for looking!

LSNED - 13, 14, 15 and 16

So, here we are with the next instalment of Learn Something New. I went to collect Penny's netbook from PC World and had to go round the roundabout at Gallows Corner, which I hate. I got into the wrong lane and ended up going back up the A12 the way I had just come! I had to go back almost to work and then back to Gallows Corner and then into the right lane!

I have my shopping delivered by Sainsburys - normally not a problem, but this week they charged me for four items and didn't deliver them! I had to phone up and got a refund, but needed the items, so Penny and I took a drive out to Sainsburys where she saw exactly the right top she needed for her interview at Boots, so we managed to turn a negative into a positive.

Half way through the month I did the self portrait 'thing'! I hate doing them, but this was the best of a bad bunch! I printed it out the full size of my page and then did my journalling on the back.

The journalling is self explanatory below!

I really thought when I hung out the washing on the 16th that this was probably going to be the last of the sunshine and I wouldn't be drying any more washing outside - we have since had so many more sunny days! Not that I am complaining - I love autumn sunshine.

Thanks for looking and please come back later in the week to see the next four days.

LSNED, Days 9, 10, 11 and 12

Gosh, I have been so busy at work this week I have just about been able to keep up with doing the pages for this, but haven't had time to blog them! So here goes with days 9, 10, 11 and 12.

This is really very self explanatory!

Hugh is brilliant when we go shopping - he will search out different sizes for me and tells it like it is - I wouldn't go clothes shopping without him. I ended up with some lovely clothes for work and a lovely dress for Ben's graduation next week - a reserve dress incase it is cold, as I have a summer dress to wear if it is warm!

As I said earlier, life has been so hectic, it was lovely on Sunday morning to have  a relax in bed, with a cup of coffe and some magazines and have the cat for company!

Ten years ago, on the 12th of September my sister had a stillborn daughter, Charlotte. We never forget.

I am really finding this year that this is more of a diary than 'learning something new' but I am happy with that. I am enjoying it and that is what is important to me.

To update you, Penny is now fully recovered from her wisdom tooth infection. Thank you for all your kind words.

LSNED - Days 5, 6, 7 and 8

I have been busy keeping up to date with this and I managed to do two 12x12 layouts over the weekend too! On top of that I cleaned the house, went shopping with Hugh and bought a reserve outfit for Ben's graduation ceremony incase the weather turns (the outfit I have is rather summery, but it has gone rather cold here!) and we went out to friends on Saturday night for a meal and spent a very pleasant few hours with them.

Anway, here are days 5, 6, 7 and 8 for Learn Something New.

At work we have dress down on a Friday and on the last Friday of the month we collect £1 off everyone and send the money to charity. In July we sent the money to Ruby, who you can read about here. When her parents wanted to take her to the States for treatment they could not get travel insurance for her, but our Company were able to provide it for her, which has meant that she is now being treated in the States so they need every penny that can be raised. I received this wonderful thank you card from Ruby's Mum, handwritten, which she really need not have sent as I had already received a lovely letter from the trustee of the fund to say they had received our donation. The card just touched my heart.

Hmm, yes. Looking at last year's LSNED, I had a similar thing in my album. Seems like I don't learn this lesson!

CSI is mine and Penny's treat! Whilst Ben has been home it has had to go onto the 'back boiler' so to speak and when Hugh has been away we have had to watch Top Gear and other such programmes! Now that it is just me and Penny we can go back to watch CSI - we have bought the series on DVD and are slowly making our way through them! Our next series we are going to watch is Criminal Minds!

Poor old Penny! First day at college for her induction and she woke up with a face like a chipmunk! She has a phobia of the dentist too, but I managed to get a 'sit and wait' appointment and boy did we have to wait - well, at least the wait did come to an end and she did get medication to treat the infection in her wisdom tooth. She is now feeling much better and her face is no longer swollen!

Learn Something New

And so here are my first four pages:

Still can't remember whether it should be 'learnt' or 'learned'! No doubt Penny will tell me I have done it wrong!

I normally finish at 12.15 on a Friday, but as there were very few of the senior management in my manager was extremely kind to me and when I had finished the main important letters that had to go out she told me to go early and make the most of the sunshine! I do have an extremely lovely boss!

Shimelle's prompt for today was about feet - well this was almost about feet! I did manage to put about climbing the stairs up to Ben's flat. We had a lovely time showing my Mum and Dad where he now lives and Rachel made a lovely banana cake (so I am told as I am dieting so didn't have any!).

I was struggling with a lesson for today and Penny kindly helped me out! She was right of course - I had listened to the weather forecast and done all the outside jobs this morning, like cleaning out the chicken and going to fetch some food shopping. I also did all the other chores which left the afternoon free for scrapping whilst it poured with rain on and off!

Learn Something New Every Day

starts today! I love Shimelle's classes and this is a class that I am now taking for the third time! I prepared my album over the weekend and here it is with my collection of papers, date circles and other bits and pieces all ready to put together over the month of September:

 
And here is the cover in close up:

I used some felt that I found I had in an old kit, along with some lovely lace and then I found a felt flower - I was really pleased with the result, which wasn't what I was planning at all! I was planning on using an old book, but Hugh, trying to be helpful and cut out the pages, managed to cut through the cover and ruin it! Oh dear, he did feel awful! However, I went with this idea and I have chosen yellow, orange and brown card for the pages and lots of autumny (is that a word?) patterned papers to use up inside and am looking forward to seeing what my end result will be!

Inside front cover. I ran out of the letter 'e' and so turned a number '3' upside down! I think I can get away with it! I will share my pages with you regularly, but not on a daily basis - I really don't think I can be that organised!

A quick update

Saturday - moved Ben into his flat
Sunday - took all the carboard to the recycling centre, returned the van to the hire centre, caught up on jobs
Monday - back to work, followed by a doctor's appointment in the evening to tell him about the hospital appointment
Tuesday - another day at work followed by a meeting with my Cambridge diet counsellor (going quite well considering all the birthday meals I have been eating!)
Wednesday - work again then back home to catch up on the ironing, see my neighbour to give her instructions to look after the cats, pack our cases and tidy the house
Thursday - final day at work for a few days. Was going to go to Tesco at lunchtime for some last minute shopping, but it was pouring with rain, so sat in and read Harry Potter on my e-reader (again!) whilst eating my soup. Then back home and load the car up before setting off for Cornwall.

I don't like to post that I am going away on holiday as I worry that someone will realise that the house is empty, so I am now back home but have only listed up until Thursday when we left! I will update with what happened over the weekend in the next few days. I promise to get back to blogging more regularly soon. My life looks as if it is going to be getting less hectic now we are moving into September, although there is still a lot on, I will not be rushing around quite so much.

I am hoping that this September will be happier for this family than last September when Penny had such a sad time. I will be taking part in Shimelle's Learn Something New again, my third year, and am really looking forward to it. I am hoping to spend a few of the next evenings preparing my album so that I can just complete each page every evening in September which is what I did in previous years and which is how I managed to keep up with it. I am also hoping that it will help me to use up some stash!

Hoping that you are having a nice bank holiday weekend (if you are in the UK!) and that the weather is being kind to you!

Learn Something New Every Day 2010

So, here is my finished album for LSNED 2010 - hope you enjoy looking at it! Inside the back cover there is an envelope and I have written a letter to myself about what this September has meant to me and also how doing the album has helped me to cope during September.