Half-term Travels

The final half-term of the school year is knocking on the door,

and we're off and away for a large portion of it. 

I'll be back here in early June.

In the Moment Scrapbooking

In the hour between getting home from Sports Day

 (more like Sports Most of the School Day in reality)

and leaving again to collect The Boy Child,

I downloaded my photos and immediately printed off a number of favourites. 

 I went back to Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love for the design idea 

and set straight to work.

 Two lengths of washi tape, a few paper off-cuts 

and a small number of chipboard embellishments and I was done.

My kind of scrapbooking.

Sports Day in Photos

Right Now ...

... I'm looking forward to a few days away.

... Sunshine and warmer temperatures mean it's time to eat al fresco, with a side order of Pimm's.

... Reading the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante on the Kindle.

... Still walking around the park each day.  A habit that's hard to break.

... Choosing 'nothing changes if nothing changes' as my new mantra.

... Not creating anywhere near as much as I'd like to be.

   ... Realising that we have probably decided on where next for The Boy Child's schooling. 

... Realising that we will probably have a fight on our hands in order to secure him a place.

... Splashing out on some new summer clothes is good for the soul, if not my pocket.

How's it looking for you right now? 

Memos: Mail: Me

It was a quiet week here in the West London suburbs.

No Happy Mail to brighten a morning,

although I did send out a few pieces. 

As for the weekend, we stayed close to home 

and invited friends over for coffee and cake.

We spent a happy few hours catching up

and realised too late that we hadn't taken any photos.

B

By then, the little one really wasn't interested in smiling.

Sunday saw us declare it Summer by taking the garden furniture

out of the shed and cracking the first (of many) bottle of Pimm's.

Cheers.    

The Traveler's Notebook

With an overseas trip on the horizon,

I've been tempted to try out the humble traveler's notebook.

One 'l' or two in traveller?

Whatever. 

I couldn't resist the urge to jazz up the plain kraft cover.

I've also added washi tape along the page edges,  

and thin lined card stock to alternate pages, simply because I am 

hopeless at writing in a straight line for any length of time. 

While we're away, I'll fill it with tales of our daily doings and 

the Instax Mini photos I'll persuade The Boy Child to take.

Once home, I'll print off and add in the Instagram-worthy prints.  

The Design Museum

The Boy Child and I recently visited the Design Museum 

in its new home on High Street, Kensington. 

To be honest, neither of us enjoyed it very much,

 mainly because autism levels were high that afternoon.

On another day, I think the Design Museum would be a good place to spend an hour or two,

especially when they've ironed out their teething problems with interactive exhibits.

The space has clearly been well thought out and the whole museum appears

to possess a layer of peace, two things autism-parents are always on the lookout for.

So, what I'm actually saying is this, go and visit the Design Museum,

form your own opinions and then let me know.

Maybe I'll go again ... on a day when The Boy Child is in school.    

Mini Refurbishment

A few months ago, I noticed that the carpet in the living room

had a few holes appearing.

The pile had finally been worn away after around 25 years of usage.

The ordering of a new carpet prompted me to cast an eye

over the rest of the room, leading me to renew some larger pieces of furniture.

Out went the battered and scratched sideboard

 I'd bought last century.

In came a retro-feel piece in white.

(I have the same piece in my craft room).  

   Out went two freestanding bookcases from along the back wall,

 and in came a large unit from IKEA.

Out went the large and ugly TV stand and in came

a white media unit from the same range as the sideboard.

Left to do is choosing light fittings and shades.

Having looked properly at that first photo,

 I'm also going to rearrange the display on the mantelpiece.

Nothing was thrown out.  Every item that we replaced was either 

re-purposed or given away, either to the charity shop (good will) or via freecycle.org.   

  

Football at Wembley

When The Brainy One was offered free tickets to the

Women's FA Cup Final at Wembley, we decided to make use of them.  

Truth be told, I'm ambivalent about the beautiful game.

I know most of the club names in the Premiership and a few star players,

but not much more.  These last few years though, I've had to up my game

and at least browse the back pages of the newspaper in order to keep up with The Boy Child.   

You won't be surprised by my telling you that I'd never been to a professional football match.

But, Wembley, the home of English football?

On Cup Final Day?

For free?

That's an item ticked off my Bucket List.

If I had a Bucket List.

With a football match at Wembley on it.

I was prepared to be bored rigid and even considered slipping my Kindle into my bag.

But you know what, I loved it!

And it's not every day that I get to say that I saw a World Cup winner score at Wembley.

As for The Boy Child, he thought it was brilliant!  Probably because the crowd, at a little over 35,000 (35,271 to be exact, a new record attendance for women's football), didn't feel too oppressive

 and the noise level was manageable.

      Final result: Manchester City Ladies: 4, Birmingham City Ladies: 1.

Memos: Mail: Me

This week, I received a surprise in the mail from the lovely Alison.

Unexpected Happy Mail is the best!

As for the weekend, I did something that I never thought I would ever do.

I attended my first professional football match.

At Wembley.

And you know what?  It was pretty darn amazing!

Things He Says | The Tell It Like It Is Edition

Scene:  The Boy Child and I are eating supper in an Italian restaurant. 

Me: " Do I have pasta in my braces?"

The Boy Child: "Thankfully not!"

Joy

Sometimes, when I begin a scrapbook page,

I have no idea of where it will end up.

Yesterday, I was working on a page for the Los Hermanos album

about the day Los Pequeňos were allowed home.

It's nothing fancy.

I had a little fun writing a note to Santa.

I love how it turned out.

It brings me joy.

One Photo | Twenty Words

When we married, we merged two homes together;

it's taken me years to surreptitiously weed out his dodgy musical taste.  

Hands on Therapy

Last month, not much scrapbooking got done,

 what with the The Boy Child being on school holidays.

I'd planned on rectifying that this month.

And where better than beginning with a double page spread of Max.

I still have a smallish pile of photos waiting for a home in the Los Hermanos album,

and with an overseas trip on the horizon, there's a travel journal to be prepped.

Plenty of therapy on offer this month.

Memos: Mail: Me

After the unexpected loss of Max last Monday, I wasn't really giving much thought

to the arrival of any Happy Mail. 

But there, in amongst the bills and junk mail, was my family history magazine

and two lovely cards from friends

(We've been staggered by how many people have been in touch

to let us know that they too loved our pooch.  Thank you.)

As for the weekend, we had an extremely early start for Dawnosaurs 

at the Natural History Musuem.  It was, as always, great fun.

 We also had an overnight stay from one of The Brainy One's cousins

(and you know how much we love cousins) and ventured to the park

on Sunday morning to see our dog walking friends. 

Month in Numbers | April

Did April turn out be awesome?

Let's take a look.

Seven: the number of scrapbook layouts I made this month;

the number of pieces of happy Mail I posted out this month.

6: the number of donations to the charity shop or via freecycle.org -

2x bags of books, 1x very old sideboard, 2x CD towers and 1x very old TV media stand.

21,857: my highest daily step count.
21: the number of times I took Max to the park.

In hindsight, how glad i am to have had that time with him.

9: the number of nights that my SiL's dog stayed with us over the Easter holidays.  

Zero: lengths at the pool.  I missed the first half of the month because of the school holidays

and then I rocked up to the gym to learn that the pool was closed for maintenance

work the last two weeks.  

***

Month in Numbers is the brainchild of Julie

and you'll always find a warm welcome over at her place. 

 Not to mention entertaining posts about a varied list of topics.

Go on over, stop by and say hello.

You can see my previous Month in Numbers here.

His Name Was Max

Our beloved Max died yesterday afternoon from heart failure.

He was 11 years and three months,

and he'd lived with us since he was 8 weeks old.   

He brought our family such joy and love.

The Boy Child has never known life without him.

We are devastated.