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.