....and breathe!!!

I am happy to report that Alex completed his first two days at his new school without incident & seems a little less nervous about the whole transition. He even greeted me with a beaming smile & a book bag full of conkers when I collected him on Thursday!

To be fair, the amount of work put in by his old school, the SENCO & her staff at the new school, and of course us, should have everyone on the ball for potential 'hot spots' - & all that prep seems to have paid off! I guess the fact that the only consistent thing about Alex is his unpredictability does leave us all imagining the worst case scenario!! Anyhow, I'm hoping it continues on plan & that he's soon as comfortable in his new surroundings as he was at Middle School.

Nathan, as expected has hit the ground running - back with his mates & loving it!!!

Tomorrow I have a day off work, as it's our wedding anniversary. Twenty three years ago tomorrow we took our vows for better or worse, to love & to cherish & here we are, still facing all that life throws at us.........together!!

What, you may ask are we doing to mark the occasion? Well, we are all going out for a nice Sunday lunch - venue still to be decided as the weather tomorrow will dictate our choice!

We do normally buy each other a gift but have agreed this year that as our dishwasher recently bit the dust, that we would spend our money replacing it! Not very romantic I know, but in these financially tough times.......!

Now, as you will remember, I have been taking part in the DIxie Pieces SENSE-ational summer contest & this is the final week! For the past 4 days I have been tearing my hair out over the final game set for us by Scrapeekim - the idea of the game is to match 16 PP's up with 16 Manufacturers. So far I have FOUR!!! It has taken four days of research to get just FOUR!!! So I am going to share the torture with you now.....here are the PP's

How many do YOU recognise...or should I say how many can you match to a manufacturer? I have used at least 6 in the past but can only positively ID 4!!! If you would like to see the list of manufacturers too, please leave a comment & I will list them here!! I tell you - it will drive you mad!!

The game is worth a maximum of 4 points in the contest & I don't think I'll even manage the 1 point minimum!!!! Please let me know how you do!!!

OK to finish......I completed my final LO for the contest last night & here it is
Obviously, the theme was the 'Sound of Summer' & I took my inspiration from the sounds at the beach. The colour scheme was yellow, aqua & Navy blue & the LO had to include, stitching, doodling, hand cutting and painting. I managed to tick all the boxes & add a few more techniques & supplies in too - trying to pick up some extra points for those unknown 'secret' items!!

The journaling reads "Sea washing over the shore, seagulls calling overhead, feet scrunching through shingle, children laughing & splashing. These are all wonderful sounds of summer"

Here are some close ups!







So with that done, & with it being such a close run race at the moment, it's all hanging on the word Bingo (of which I am waiting for only two!), 'secret' points & the blasted PP Manufacturers game!!

Wish me luck & watch this space!!!