The zoo and other things

We went to Colchester Zoo last Sunday so I'm just sharing some of may fave pics from the day. I've got quite a childish sense of humour so I like to take photos of the animals (and kids) doing silly things. Sadly I missed the photo op when the rhino did a wee and his friend drank it. What a LO that would have made heehee.










I've also been scrapping, well just two pages, but *shhhhh* nothing I can share right now. I also have a couple of things in the pipeline that are quite exciting and I'm feeling so flattered that my head can't fit through the door. That might have something to do with my Rapunzel-like hair though. Check out It's a Creative World. Danielle drew a family portrait as part of the comp they've been running to get children creating. The likeness is uncanny heehee.

Oh, and if you like minibooks and want some on the cheap, then look no further. Go to Gertie's blog and check the link on the right to her new little business 'Bare Books'. Prices so cheap you'll fall out of your chair.

I can't believe today's the last day of August - looking at the weather, it's more like October!! Danielle is 5 on September 5th and I've been out today buying her pressies - Littlest Pet Shop and the Barbie dog that poops were top of her list lol. She even tidied her bedroom yesterday and threw out lots of old Maccy D's toys to make room for the new stuff.

Something I just threw together

And it only took me 10 mintues. Can you believe that? No? Well, I don't blame you lol. But it was pretty quick - especially because I'm the slowest scrapper in the South East; it took about 3/4 of an hour. I picked up a couple of little mini ring binders from Asda - bargain price of about £1.23 (ish) and that includes 80 odd record cards inside too. I used this pink one to make a little book for Danielle to practice her handwriting. So far, I've done a letter on each page, so that she can copy them. I'm also going to use the remainder of the record cards to help her learn the words she needs to know for Reception year, but haven't decided quite how to do that yet.





I used Love Elsie fabric to cover the front, and just cut a little notch in the front for the press stud. Photo corners by Heidi Swapp, 7 gypsies circle stamp, Love Elsie jelly heart & ribbon, AC plastic flower.

Making a very brief appearance...........

.......is my mojo. I say brief, because I have a feeling it's going to run away again very soon. But, while it's here and now my printer has ink, I thought I should make the most of it. I splashed out and bought proper Epson inks this time and I have to say that there is a difference. Not a great deal, and probably not enough to warrant the extra cost, but I'm wondering how much better they will perform in the long term. The crazy thing is that the inks are almost as expensive as the printer itself - go figure!

Max had a little adventure after dinner last night. He'd been in the garden for ages, and we were just starting to wonder if he was out there digging a massive hole or something when Casey knocked on the front door. And, there with her was Max! Casey didn't really explain anything - just said that he came running out of the back alley and she grabbed him and brought him home. We checked out the back and the gate was shut, so then we were thinking that he must be a great escape artist to be able to scale a 6ft high fence lol, until Casey came home and explained that the gate had blown open and she shut it after he'd got out. Doh! I was quite relieved because I was wondering how were going to stop him scaling the fence again.

Typical....

.........I decided last night that I want to scrap and the inks in my printer were being temperamental and refused to print, even though it was telling me they were all at least half full. So, I pinched this photo from an ongoing project (a piece of wall art that is nowhere near ready to go on my wall lol). I much prefer the colour version of this photo, so I'm going to print it (once my ink arrives) and scrap it again properly. For now, I was just playing around with my MM paper edger and some 7 Gypsies paper. The quote is from Dr Seuss, and I have to thank the lovely Tracey for giving me the idea because she used one of his quotes on a page a little while back.

You might just be able to read the quote but just in case: "Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you."

2 little monkeys......

.....jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head..... 'One' being Charlie, my little clumsy man - he's already sporting a nice bruise on his forehead from falling down the stairs last week.



Danielle and Charlie have been bouncing off the walls all day long; the weather's been absolutely rubbish and they're so bored they both got a bit hyperactive after dinner. They were jumping on my bed (even though it's strictly off limits) and Charlie fell off and cut his head on the corner of the wardrobe. There was quite a bit of blood and there was a bit of skin flapping round, so John took him to minor injuries and the nurse pulled off the loose skin then glued it. Luckily, the hospital was empty so they were only gone about half an hour.

Well, now the drama is over, how shall I scrap the pics lol?

And I thought.............

.......scrappers were a strange bunch. It seems like border terrier breeders are worse. The administrator of the forum I mentioned yesterday has removed all references to Spike's Disease from the thread (there was a big hoo-ha ages ago apparently and everybody knows it's now taboo), has banned me from sending pm's and also logged into my account to read the pm's I'd been sending. Charming eh?

Needless to say, she'll wake up to a snotty email from me and I've asked for my account to be deleted. I can't believe that people who claim to be lovers of the breed would knowingly try to keep info that could help from the owner of a suffering pet. Even worse, I can't believe anybody would stoop so low as to read somebody else's pm's. John told me I should air my grievances on the forum but I'm not into making a public scene, and with only 5 posts to my name I would be dismissed as a troll anyway.



On a lighter note, John is 40 today. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! We're having a fairly quiet day today and tomorrow we have family and friends round for a bbq.

A possible diagnosis....

.....for Max's episodes. Over the last few months, Max has had several epileptic-type seizures and we were told that it was in fact epilepsy, although there were no tests that could be done to confirm it, just some tests to rule out other possibilities. The vet chose not to medicate since the fits were fairly infrequent and the medicine would do more harm to Max than good.

By chance, I came across a forum dedicated to Border Terrier chat a few days ago and mentioned Max's problem, just in the hope of finding people in the same boat to talk to really. I'm so glad I did, because one lady suggested that Max might actually be suffering from Spike's Disease (Canine Epileptoid Cramping Syndrome). Symptoms are very similar to epilepsy and the syndrome is common among Border Terriers. The good news is that it appears to be controllable in most cases by a change of diet. It's thought to be caused by a gluten intolerance, so we're going to change Max over to a gluten free dog food and see how it goes. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by at least trying it.

Max had a couple of episodes, about a week apart, just a couple of weeks ago; the second one was quite severe, so this news has come at just the right time and my little boy's future is looking a little brighter.

Fun in the sun......about time too!!

After a totally crap June and July, it looks like summer might finally be on its way. The paddling pool was out for the first time since April (and we managed to pick up a puncture since we put it away but I'm not going to tempt fate by buying another one lol); we've also got the fan out of the loft for the first time since last summer because it's like an oven indoors today and we're all melting.




As usual, it ended in tears lol!



Max was feeling the heat, so he chilled on the sunbed with Casey - we chucked him in the pool but he hated it haha.



Danielle is getting more used to her glasses, hooray. She has the occasional rest, but it's not such a battle of wills now to get her to put them back on. As for me, I keep forgetting to put mine on at all, so I'm a fine one to talk.

The ompatician

We went back to the ompatician (as Danielle so cutely calls it) this afternoon to pick up our glasses - well, all except John's because the glasses are rimless so the lenses need some special adjustment. Or some such crap, I don't really know lol, but they're taking about 2 weeks. Danielle's been excited all day and was constantly asking if it was time yet - anybody would think it was something really good, like a party. She's now had them on since about 3pm and the novelty's wearing off already, groan. She didn't want to wear them for dinner; she didn't want to wear them while she was eating an apple and she doesn't want to wear them round nanny's house tomorrow. Uh oh!! She's wearing them now, under protest, but I can tell that we're going to have some real struggles. I'm uploading a pic but it's not a great one. Madam really wasn't in the mood for posing and I now also have the challenge of how to take pics of someone in glasses without getting lots of glare.

Eventful day

My mum and I took the kids to Canvey Island today. It's not the greatest beach in the world, far from it, but the kids had a great time and that's the main thing. The weather was a bit iffy this morning; bright sunshine one minute and dark clouds the next but after lunch it really brightened up. The sea air must have done wonders for Danielle and Charlie's appetites too - I've never seen either of them put away so much food lol.

Then, this afternoon it was optician's appts all round. Casey wears glasses for reading/computer work/tv and it's been 2 years since her last check up - she now needs new ones that are slightly stronger. She was over the moon because she had her eyes on a snazzy new pair lol. John needs a stonger prescription (he only wears them for reading etc too) and I now need glasses for similar things. Eeeeeek! While we were there, I asked whether we should get the younger kids tested and the optician (lovely lady who spoke in words that I could actually understand instead of overloading me with jargon) recommended that they could be tested from age 4 and that she would test Danielle there and then.

So, one very nervous little girl clambered into the huuuuge optician's chair and the fun began. The lady was brilliant and Danielle was soon at ease and found the whole thing a game. I did have to laugh (but was slightly embarassed) when she was wearing those big plastic glasses that they slip the lenses into and she said at the top of her voice "Do I look like a div in these?" Oooops - I blame Casey lol.

Anyway, the upshot is that she needs to wear glasses full time; I was completely shocked because we never had any clue that she was experiencing any problems. The optician was great and explained at great length the problem. In short, she is long sighted but her right eye is a lot weaker than her left. Her brain is compensating for that eye (hence Danielle notices no difference) but, if nothing is done, it will eventually stop bothering and she will have no vision at all in her right eye. That, of course, would be disastrous if, god forbid, anything happened to her left eye. They're starting her on a weak prescription, about half the strength she actually needs, and will see her every 3 mths to adjust the lenses so that, within a year (maybe less) it's up to full strength. The optician showed me just how strong the prescription is that she needs and I was shocked - the whole room was a blur. The brain can do such a good job of compensating that Danielle can see the same WITH the strong lenses as she can without - how bizarre!

Are you still awake? I said I would be brief, and believe it or not I have lol. I'm just so relieved that we decided to test her now because we hadn't planned to. So, a few words of advice if you've never got your child's eyes tested - do it, even if you think their sight is ok; you just never know.

We go to pick up her glasses tomorrow - thank heavens the nhs has come a long way since I was a kid. She's picked a coolio pair of Barbie glasses and she is soooooo pleased to be getting them. Let's hope it stays that way....... I will, naturally, be taking pics of them asap!!