I'm OK - thank you! :)

Dear friends,

This is just a quick note to let you know that I'm fine, and I'm so sorry if I've worried you! :) A combination of reasons has kept me from my computer, but nothing major, nothing to concern you. One of them is simply that my eyes have been very sore and tired lately so I've been trying to avoid screens altogether; even this short post is being written bit by bit so that I'm not staring at a screen for too long.

I do apologise for not having replied personally to your emails and messages, but I just haven't been up to turning on the computer at all - I really appreciate your concern, your messages have meant a lot to me, and I am sorry if I've worried you. Please be assured that we are all fine, and I hope to get back into a blogging pattern soon, when my eyes are up to it!

Meanwhile, I do hope you're all well and enjoying 2012 :) Gosh, I miss reading your news and seeing your projects! I am looking forward to getting back to it, and hope it won't be long now.

Thanks again to everyone who's contacted me or thought of me xx

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22nd December: Rather later than usual this year, we had our staff Christmas social! It was held in a marquee at a local hotel - the decoration was beautiful, I loved the lights in the ceiling of the marquee :) We had a delicious meal (I had a smoked duck salad followed by a roast beef meal from the carvery - no dessert as both choices contained nuts, but actually I was too full for dessert anyway!) After the meal we were 'entertained' by a Take That tribute act. I'm not a big Take That fan but it was good fun, and I knew lots of the songs (by osmosis, I guess!) So it was a good evening :)

Detail: domain

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21st December: I braved Asda for the final food shop before the big day! It actually wasn't too bad; lots of people had gone first thing in the morning and as I was slightly later, although it was very busy when I arrived, by the time I'd worked round the store lots of people had left so I didn't have to queue for long. And I didn't have to take The Children, because The Boy is old enough and responsible enough to be left alone for a while now (and The Doctor was working at home anyway), and The Mother kindly offered to have The Tomboy for the morning. And I got everything on my list bar one item, which I managed to find a suitable replacement for. Result! :)

Detail: open

Looking back....

So 2011 is nearly over! Where did it go?!

It seems the ideal opportunity to reflect on some of the details of this year. Hooray for blogging and Project 365, as I've documented this year pretty thoroughly! :)

It's been a year of travel: I've been to Leeds, somewhere else, Rome, Newport Pagnell, Stevenage, Constant (France), Liverpool, Reading, Los Angeles, Coalport - and The Doctor managed Paris, too!

It's been a year of meeting with many friends :) I've managed to meet up with so many of you, my blog friends: Sian, Clair, Ruth, Leandra, Lin, Tim(!), Lou, Joanne, Jo, Monica, Linda, Deb, Carrie, Cheryl, Lizzie, Jo, Jemma, Ruth, K, Lesley, Julie and Alexa - more than ever, the 'blog' part of 'blog friend' feels redundant! And I've managed to Skype with several of you even if I didn't manage to meet you in person this year :)

It's been a year of classes, mainly (but not exclusively) online: I've been inspired by Shimelle, by Kirsty Wiseman, by Ali Edwards, by Tim Holtz..... and I've taken part in various online projects, too, such as a Pay It Forward and Pass The Book - not to mention the many giveaways I've entered and those I've held myself!

It's been a year of art journaling: I tried to journal my One Little Word ('details') each month, but didn't manage to sustain that throughout the year. (I did manage to note lots of details, though, photographically, here on the blog, and in scrapbook layouts.) Taking up the 52 Lists in 52 Weeks project has also been an art journal opportunity for me. And I've had fun with Ginger's Mail Art Exchange!

It's been a year of reading through my Bible: I've been working through the E100 readings, and have just one more to go, which I shall complete today :)

It's been a year of babies: We've welcomed two very-much-wanted babies of good friends of ours, and while neither situation was straightforward both families are doing very well now :)

It's been a year of growing up and moving on for The Boy: He left his primary school and started at secondary. It was the secondary school he most wanted, and he's settled in happily :) He also moved on from Scouts and started attending a new group together with many of his friends from primary (it's lovely that he can still see them regularly).

It's been a good year for The Doctor: He's been on sabbatical from teaching so he could get stuck into the research for his new book. He managed to pack in a fair bit of work-related travel, too. Plus I've been trying out lots of new recipes, which he's thoroughly enjoyed testing for me!!

It's been a good year all round, really :) Thank you, 2011, we've enjoyed you! I hope it was good to you, too xx

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20th December: A local pub had invited my church to send along some carol singers; about 15 of us turned up and sang some favourites in harmony (Silent Night, Come All Ye Faithful, Hark The Herald etc) and a soloist performed O Holy Night. It was difficult to get a representative photo because of course I was performing, but we were placed in front of this lovely but very hot fire so my main memory of the evening is of fanning myself with my music and shuffling for a position slightly further from the flames!!

Detail: wrap

Kirsty class 4

(Continued from yesterday!)

...torn tags, crumply foil, a different kind of embossing...

...painty cling film, floaty beads...

Oh yes, many different ways to create texture :) I had so much fun experimenting with the techniques, and will definitely be using at least some of them again!

Meanwhile, rather than journal in the suggested way, I just thought about some of the things that make me happy and added little sketches to the inked cardstock tags.

The pages were paired up to create pockets, the tags tucked inside, and the journal was complete (in a satisyingly bulgy kind of way!)

Kirsty promptly ran another class, which I would have loved to have taken part in, but alas - it was too soon :( And while the class itself is still available, the kit is not, and receiving the kit was part of the fun - however easy it might be to put my own equivalent together! I'm still thinking about this as a possibility for next year, though. The classes are technique-rich, encourage experimentation and are a lot of fun!

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19th December: It was the first 'proper' day of The Children's school holidays (we don't count the weekend as they'd be off school then anyway!) In the morning we went to the nearest town so they could do a bit of Christmas shopping of their own, we had lunch out, and then in the afternoon we watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader together. (I found it a bit disappointing to be honest - as I've said before, I like a film of a book to BE the book, with a few adjustments made to tell the story well on screen. I don't like it when big changes are made or new plot strands are added in. I immediately began re-reading the Narnia series to remind myself of how it should have gone...)

Detail: shopping