BRACELET SALE

Please take time to look at the show. I have some fabulous bracelets which have all been reduced and all are available at my Etsy shop. Great gift ideas or even as a treat for yourself. As a special thank you to my blog readers if you find this sale through my blog I am offering you a further 10% discount on any of these bracelets. Don't pay straightaway, put in note to seller that you are a blog reader and I will send you a revised invoice. Thank you!

THE BUMBLE BEE

I was taking a stroll around my garden on one of the recent warm and sunny days we have been having. I had my camera with me as I wanted to take a few pictures of the flowers that were blooming. I am not very good with names of flowers so I am afraid I can't tell you what this one is called. Anyway it is a very large bush in the garden and it flowers in May but the flowers don't last long. I had got a few shots of the flowers when I noticed the bees buzzing around. I managed to get up to this one and get a few shots of it. I love my camera for the close-up shots I can get.

Anyway I put this picture onto Flickr and I got an email from someone asking if they could use my picture as they were working on a story about bee research at York University.

TRA PASSED

Just a quick update on our emigration to Australia. My OH received an email from our migration agent before we went on our short break. It confirmed that he had PASSED his TRA (Trade Recognition Australia). The next step is our Visa application.

HOLIDAY TIME

We are going away tomorrow, Friday, 23 May and will be returning on Wednesday, 28 May, we are having a few days at the coast. We are all ready for a break, we haven't been anywhere since Easter.

I am going to take my yarns with me, my knitting needles and crochet hooks and hopefully will have a nice relaxing few days. I am also looking forward to getting some new photos.

Jasper and my daughter love it by the sea, they are both looking forward to some lovely walks along the beach. We have a great time trying to find the prettiest pebbles and shells, we come back with pockets full and never do anything with them!

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM!

This is what greeted me this morning on my return to my desk. As you may notice Jasper is looking alot tidier since my earlier post. He had a day of pampering yesterday at the beauty parlour.

When I drop him off there it is so funny, he sits on the floor, sticks his front paws out to try and stop himself from going any further. Unfortunately for him the floor is tiled and he just glides through on the end of his lead as the assistant takes him through to the 'torture chamber'. But oh boy what a difference it makes, he smells so sweet and he looks half the size.

JASPER

Jasper usually sits at my feet or under my chair when I am sitting at my computer tapping away on the keyboard. But sometimes he gets a bit fed up and wants to attract my attention. That is when I have this face looking up at me. This is quickly followed by him jumping up at me and pawing at me, his claws are quite sharp and that bit hurts. It is not long before I have to finish what I am doing, get up and play with him or take him out for yet another walk.

PAYPAL STOREFRONT

I have just added this new widget to my blog and would like some help please. I know from viewing my stats that the majority of people who come to my blog are from America. What I would like to know is, if you wished to purchase from this storefront, would you prefer to see the prices in US$ or does it not matter to you.
Thank you, your comments are much appreciated.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

DESTASH

Following on from my clearing out post. I have decided it is time to sort through all the beads I have accumulated over the last year. I have got far too many and I know I will never get to use most of them.

So if you have ever fancied having a go at making your own jewellery, take a look at some of the beads I have for sale in my Etsy shop. A few of them are for sale already and I will be adding more over the next few days.

It is a great hobby, but beware buying beads is very addictive.

CLEARING OUT

I have been thinking of having a good clear out for some time now. This will have to be done prior to us going to Australia. I have started with my daughter's clothes, getting together the ones that are too small for her and I will be selling them on Ebay. Some of them have hardly been worn and are as new.

So this got me thinking about all of my things that I have gathered over the years. Stuff that is pushed to the back of cupboards that I never take out and look at from one year to the next. I am quite sure the loft is full of long forgotten 'stuff' that has been pushed up there in the hopes that one day it may be of some use.

I know I have got things that I really will not want to get rid of but will there be room to take them with us. I have got birthday and Christmas cards from my late mum and dad, I can't throw them away. I have got a shirt of my dad's, I couldn't bear to throw it out because of the memories it holds. Things that my children have made for me, pictures they have drawn, even a tape recording of my eldest singing a nursery rhyme when he was about 3 or 4 years old (he is 27 now). Believe me this list is never ending. I am so sentimental about 'stuff' I just don't know where I will start, I just hope my husband realises how big a container we will need to ship my 'stuff' over there.

UK EARTHQUAKE

My blog has just been rejected by Blogexplosion because it contains adverts and I talk about my shop on Etsy (whoops there I go again). So I thought I should maybe talk about something else. I have decided to talk about my experience of an earthquake. I should have given this a mention sooner.

In the early hours of 27 February 2008 I was woken up by a loud rumbling that was getting closer and closer, then everything started shaking. I sat up in bed and I could feel myself being shook and things were rattling. Then everything went quiet.

I immediately rang my husband, who was at work, and asked him if he had felt it as he works on the opposite side of town and yes he had. Then my daughter rang me and asked me if I had felt it.

I tried to get back to sleep but my mind was racing and I kept imagining I could hear it again. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night.

It was a very frightening experience, one I wouldn't wish to repeat, and it was only a small shudder compared to the earthquakes suffered by other countries.

I wanted to add a picture to this post and I remembered this one that I took on 17 February 2008. I was getting dinner ready and just happened to look out of the kitchen window and saw this amazing coloured sky. I went to the front of the house and took this picture.

MY TOP DROPPERS

I would like to thank the top 10 Entrecard droppers on my site for the month of April. They are as follows:

1 Absolutely Moms
2 Aerten Art
3 Pixelated Thoughts
4 Juliana's Lair
5 According 2 Nessa
6 Avon Romance Blog
7 Embrace Simplicity
8 Forbidden Love
9 Scramories
10 The Sewing Mom