Blah... blah... blah...: Yippee... I'm Home

I'm glad to be home, after a few days at my mum's 'beach house'...

Fishguard, Pembrokeshire

... Balcony

... View to the sea

... View inland

Beautiful isn't it? But alas no craftroom :( All would be perfect if not for this sad, sad oversight! So yes, I'm glad to be back amongst my creativity.

Anyway I'm home now, so apart from a mountain of washing to do - how do I get everything so dirty? Where does it all come from? - apart from this I'm free to ~~tidy up~~ go to my craftroom for a play - yippee.

That is until my mother pops in to inform me that I've forgotten (ME?) that she has an eye test on Friday (tomorrow) and that its booked in Haverfordwest... back at the beach house! What??? I've only got one day to play!!!!!

And, at what point did I become 'Taxi's R Us'?

Not only THAT - although frankly, that's enough to send me into deep, deep depression, but I've got errands to run this morning - yes, you've guessed it - for my mother, and that washing is not going to jump into the machine itself or indeed divide into the correct colour/non-colour/delicate piles all by itself either!!! When am I going to be able to play!

So off to town I go, mother in tow, as she wants me to transfer some money from her bank account to my brother (his TV has just blown-up and she's helping him buy a new one). Isn't she lovely? But when am I going to be able to play?

We get to the bank - and use the automated service (God forbid that we engage with an actual human), money now transferred - NOW can I play?

No...

Mum hasn't finished with the bank... she needs to pay in some money (I'm not surprised with my brother spending it so freely!). I've been wondering what's in the shopping bag she has been clutching tightly to her chest... I'm about to find out. One after the other, little plastic bags of 1p's, 2p's, 5p's and £2 coins are lifted out onto the counter (I'm grateful to see a couple of bags of £2 coins otherwise we'd be here all day!). Has she filled out the paying in book correctly? - nah! Are we here even longer because it turns out that ALL the bags have been counted incorrectly? - yes indeed! £176 later (seriously?) my playing time has been cut even further! FRUSTRATION abound!!!

A lady pops out from behind the counter (I really don't know from where!) and requests to speak with me. My immediate thought is that they are going to ask me never to bring my mother in again or that their policy has now changed and they don't accept 1p's, 2p's or 5p's unless checked by someone younger than seventy (who can fill out a paying in book without crossing anything out four times and knows how to count correctly), my guilt for inflicting my mother on the bank knows no bounds when I realise just how many people are queued behind us whilst my mum tries to fish another 2p's from the bottom of her handbag! Head down I follow the lady into a private room.

Now I'm given a moral dilemma? Some kind of test by the bank to see just how honest I am? It turns out an error has been made on my account and I have been given £234 by mistake - not the bank's mistake so they cannot demand it back, but by someone else. Do I give the money back? Or do I help my brother buy his new TV? Or (even more tempting) do I splash out on some crafting goodies? But wait...

This isn't my money - its someone else's... do I do the right thing? or do I just enjoy my windfall (since no-one can do anything about it... no-one can take it back after all). All the things I could get with £234 run through my head - as the bank lady sits patiently waiting for me to make my choice. Do I spend, spend, spend and risk her negative judgement or do I straighten my halo and sign it back to its rightful owner? What would you do? Risk-free windfall? or Clear conscience? Can I be bought? And when will I be able to play?

Needless to say I'm not £234 richer (I gave it back, and painful it was too... even if it was the right thing to do!). Now can we go home and put some washing on and play?

YES! YIPPEE!!!

Some washing done...

Some time later...

Layout #3 with the LIKE FOR EVER August kit (I'm somewhat behind!) 'Oh So Lovely'.

This is the story of my niece and daughter (she's the big one) on a trampoline. We are at our annual family reunion - an event all the family attend once a year to catch-up. We're all there, cousins, aunts, great uncles and in-laws. We chat and stuff our faces whilst all the second, third and 'not-yet-cousins' (you know - when one of us has re-married/re-relationshipped and the introductions begin as we get to know someone else's offspring from a previous relationship - not-yet-cousins. I'm not sure how to describe them. Soon-to-be-family-if-we-managed-to-last-longer-then-a-couple-of-months?) go swimming in the pool, bounce on the trampoline or whack a tennis ball about pretending they can play. Its a great day, and because we now live in Wales (and have done the last 30 years), for us, its wonderful to re-connect with everyone and catch-up with what's happening in their life's. The travelling's a bit of a pain (4 hours) but it's worth it and after all, its only once a year.

Cute & Bouncy...