It's no joke

Managed to make a card yesterday at Crafts-U-Love. Cute teddy and I love the colours.

Had quite a shock on 1st April - we now have a case officer and the Visa process can move forward. Hopefully we shall be able to sell the house in the better Summer months and be on our way Down Under by Christmas - fingers crossed!!!!

More cards

After 3 good night's sleep I've been full of energy and managed to design and make 4 cards in plenty of time for next week's class. They are going to have bags or packets of chocolate eggs/M&Ms/Smarties etc. in them but I won't buy them till the weekend. Too much of a temptation having all that chocolate in the house.

Busy Weekend

The cloakroom is now wallpapered, painted and back to normal again now that the leaky roof has been replaced. It is white and sparkling - hope it stays that way.

I spent several days pressure washing, restoring and oiling garden furniture, clearing out the loft and sorting through unwanted craft stuff. The boot of my car is packed and other boxes are filled up ready for a big craft sale in Horley in May. Hopefully I'll clear most of the excess baggage and may earn a few pence too. Clive managed two trips to the dump with a full trailer each time and the loft is now looking a little less stuffed. Still at least another 5 trips to go!

I delivered 2 large black bags to the charity shop this morning and am about to start on the linen/towels/bedding chest. I'm hoping to find homes for unwanted furniture, hostess trolly, lamps, pots, kitchen utensils and dishes .......etc......etc.... I don't need any money for them but any donations would be welcome nevertheless. If someone can use them I'll be happy - I just hate to throw out stuff which is of good quality and still has plenty of life left.

Brought some lovely paper serviettes back from Australia and used them to make three lovely cards during yesterday's class at Carshalton. They are perhaps more suited to Autumn than Spring but I loved the colours.

Can't see the wood for the trees!

Have got to do some serious decluttering in the craft room. I've accumulated a huge amount of paper and card stock over the last 15 years and I can only take a fraction of it to Australia when we emigrate.

I have a Xyron I never use and several Sizzix alphabet sets which I planned to use for scrapbooking when my grandchildren were born - 7 years have gone and I still haven't started books for them..... one day???? + Brayers, Rollergraphs, plastic templates for shaped cards, Moonglow inks and embossing powders, buttons, brads and ribbons which I'm sure I won't use again. I'd be happy to give these things away for nothing to a good home - I hate to just throw them away!

Can't get near my desk at the moment so card making is out of the question for a while. I was a few minutes late for the Make and take at Charlewood and couldn't be bothered to wait around for a seat. I enjoyed my cupcake and coffee but I gave up and came home after 40 minutes standing around.

Michelle

Popped in to see Karen's friend Kelly to drop off all the clothes we brought back from Australia.Although she loved looking at all the goodies in the bags she was a bit reserved and hardly managed a smile until we left - she's still very cute though!


Her big brother Christopher is very grown up now and they get on really well.

Funny old week

Not much to report since we returned home (it feels less like home than it has on previous trips - we definately feel part Aussie now)

The decluttering has begun again and I've scanned 9 photo albums and ripped 40 CDs. The 'to-do' list seems endless but hopefully we have a few months to get things tidied up before we start the final Visa preparations.

The house will need a good sping clean soon but I'm not in the mood yet. Its in fairly good nick so very little decorating to do (just the downstairs cloakroom) and the garage roof has been replaced - a good selling point!

Still finding I wake earlier and am ready for bed by 9.30 but I can live with that. Off to Lakeside today for a good browse while Clive goes to football.

Home again

We've been back in the UK for almost a week and are still trying to get used to the low temperatures - about 25 degrees below what we've been used to for the last couple of months. At least the sun has appeared a few times but its bitterly cold out there.

Been playing in the craft room starting to get samples ready for future classes and I made it to Charlewood yesterday for a lovely make-and-take. It was good to be back with friends again and catch up with all their news.

We were looking forward to our final European holiday at Easter to Rome, a place we both wanted to visit, but sadly the tour was cancelled. Still, the money saved will pay for several weekends away in the UK before we finally make our home 'Down Under' next year.