Graduation!

I finally feel like it's done and my time at Sheffield Hallam is over. I can official add BSc (hons) to my name.

Here's a couple of pictures, one of just me and one with Tim and Caitlin.

Back to School!

First day back at school and our independent 5 year old didn't want daddy to take her into the classroom. She was all big enough to go by herself. I guess our big girl talk worked a little too well, poor Tim! I think he was looking forward to taking her into her classroom.

The new job is going well, but a little chaotic as it is a new team and our offices aren't ready yet so we're camping out in other PCT offices.

In other news we've bought a new car (almost), well new to us, it's a few months old car. The paperwork is all signed, but we need to get the hand controls fitted, which fingers crossed will be fitted on tuesday. Very excited, it's a shiny red 307 station wagon.

I know I am biased, but I do think my daughter is beautiful and when she is in the right mood very photogenic. I just love this picture of her smiling at me behind the camera from holiday.

Scrapblog

Been having a little play with Scrapblog with some photos from our holiday this month.

Time flies when you're having fun...

...or everything seems to happen at the same time!

So an overdue update, I finished my degree!!! I got a 2.1 so I'm delighted, given I started 3 years ago expecting a 2.2 and that was before Tim's operations happened.

I have also got a job and will be starting in early September as a graduate mental health worker. I'm excited and daunted and scared and happy all at the same time, but most of all relieved that I have a job lined up. Lots of my fellow graduates are still hunting after several interviews. But if I thought I may have more time to myself, well maybe not, one of the conditions of the job is to complete a postgraduate certificate in mental health (the first year of a masters), which the fund and give me day release to attend classes. So I guess my craft time may be limited for a while longer, but it will be worth it. Where ever I go in the future it will be another string to my bow and is supposed to have a large CBT content to it which will be a large part of my job, so it will be invaluable to my professional development.

Tim, Caitlin and I went to County Durham this year on a house swap with his parents, saved Tim getting off the floor camping again. Despite the weather being a bit hit and miss we had a nice break. Caitlin even got the chance to blow some glass at the national glass centre and I added to my paperweight collection. So did my daughter, who came back home and while unpacking announced she was going to put her little paperweight and glass duck in her 'glass collection'.

Tim's operation on his second foot initial seem to go well and the foot shape is better than the other one, primarily due to some new titanium plates they used, that weren't available last time. Unfortunately now these are causing a few problems so he's going to need another more minor operation to remove these and hopefully reduce his pain. They've done their job now at least and despite the extra operation probably were worthwhile.

Proud Mummy Moment

Ok so this is definately one of those proud Mummy moments. Caitlin made her first scrapbook layout on Sunday! She chose the photos from the ones I had taken. She decided on pink for the background paper and them choose the patterned paper from a range of pinks I pulled out for her. When I asked what she wanted on the page, she decided on 'Easter egg hunt'. Unsurprisingly she liked the pink glittery letters, the white letters are cut from pearlised card.
Caitlin had very definate ideas of what QK shapes she wanted se;ecting eggs, chicks and flowers from my QK folders.

She needed some help with sticking the paper and photos down. But the easter letters she stuck down and all the QK shapes. The only bits she asked me to do were the white letters and to write the date on the eggs. Didn't she do fab?! Even better she immediately asked if she could do another page on a different day.

I think another scrapper is born, I'm not sure if Tim is delighted he'll get more free time while Caitlin and I scrap together or fears for the balance of our bank account with a second scrapper in residence, LOL.

The year so far

Ok, so I've been hopeless at posting this academic year, but I am still here!

I've finished my independent study and my dissertation, thank goodness. I'm on placement on a non-traditional placement at a residential college for adult education, I've done a month, then I have another 8 weeks left and 2 weeks at university before I finish my degree (well if I don't fail anything, so fingers crossed).

Tim is recovering from his second foot operation in January and seems to be doing ok at the moment. I'm nt sure if it has been easier this time as we knew what to expect, or tougher as we knew how long the recover was and could be more realistic. Tim is now the bionic man though as they used these low profile metal plates in his foot this time.

Caitlin is loving school and is loving reading, she has just taken to it like a duck to water. Her writing is a bit further behind, but she's doing well and keeps us on our toes.

We've just had the Easter weekend and there was snow on the ground on Easter day, so I rushed out before breakfast to layout and easer egg hunt round the garden so she could do it in the snow as she wanted. By the time she got out it was already melting and too slushy to make snow balls, but she did like running around the snow in her wellies collecting eggs.

I've not had much time or energy for crafting apart for jewellery. I've been making jewellery, especially as my independent study was on the use of jewellery as a creative therapy, I attended a jewellery making class, making pieces from scratch. Which developed my skills further, I loved hammering metal to create a textured finish on the copper. the necklace in the picture is one I made, the leaf shapes I cut, hammered and finished from copper, then assembled with the copper jump rings, round links and toggle clasp.

The lariat style necklace is one I made and absolutely adore. I originally made it as I didn't know what I could do with the silvery beads which have flecks of brown and aqua in them. The combination seems to work beautifully and I've had more compliments about this necklace than any other I've made.

Recently I've started to pick up my digital scrapbooking more, partly because Tim kindly upgraded my memory in my laptop, so it can cope better with digi scrapping and partly because I have been developing some stuff for placement using digi scrapping as an activity.

1st Day at School

Well first morning really as they finish at 12.30pm for the first week. But today was my baby girl's first day at school. She was very excited this morning and came home very enthusiast to go back tomorrow. She tells me she has played in and outside, played with lego, painted a picture, played musical instruments and sang.

She's also made one new friend but she doesn't know her name. She didn't know any of the other children as she's previously been at the private nursery while I've been studying.

Doesn't she look so grown up in her uniform?

Brave

Been to the Butterfly House today, Caitlin loves wandering around looking at the butterflies and finding the lizards that run about too. The body of this lizard is about 18" long, plus it's tail is almost twice as long again.

As well as the butterflies there's a small farm where she fed a goat and a lamb and a bird of prey centre. Today she held an owl for the first time, she told me that I had to take a picture of her with the owl for Daddy who was at work.

In other news I've almost strimmed all the weeds and grass at the lottie, one more trip with the strimmer should do it. Just cutting everything back makes it look so much better, just the edging for paths, masses of bark to shift, beds to dig for the autumn planting onions and garlic, oh and a shed to build, not much then :O Well it wouldn't be so bad if it would just stop raining for a while!