Stepping and chatting, stepping and chatting!

[CamperWidow]

Thought I'd Shiny a new chat thread for us!

There's and , help yourselves!

DD is doing some drawing and colouring now, I might join her.

Go for it Cats.

Ideally I would go to bed and get the sleep I needed but didn't get.

I have found a website with free patterns and I am tempted to have a go.

I am not sure if it is a good idea with ds around though. I don't want to get shouty again. I hate being shouty mum. It doesn't make anyone feel good.

It must be quite hard if he needs/wants your attention and you are trying to do something.

Lack of sleep is pants!

That's the thing. I have to balance out what is fair too. Maybe I should just do a craft with him.

Lack of sleep really hinders the parenting experience imho. I didn't sign up for 11 years sleep deprivation!

11 years!

My DS (8) has mastered the sleep thing (unless he is ill). I know he probably doesn't have any issues though (sorry if that's not the right way to put it).
It took him till he was about 5 though to sleep all night and that's when we started to get sleepless nights with DD. The last 2 nights though she has only woke once which is good compared to recent events.

I am now dressed and have put 1 load of washing in machine. I need to get back on track with my housework. My recent stress has thrown me a bit but I am feeling calmer and happyier(sp?) today.

We have avoided seeing "stepdad" since Easter Sunday. I'm pretty sure he is the cause of some of my problems.

Hope everyone else is having a nice day.

Dd wasn't great but has gradually learned to sleep later.

Ds is taking much longer to learn the ropes.

The overlap means we haven't slept really for 11 years.

Give me a boot so that I go and do some laundry at least.

I have been making a different style of bracelet from a tutorial on line and I am going cross eyed.

Carrots Here's that a bit late but hope it helps.

Thanks Cats. I got the school shirts that have been in a bucket of bleach since about Tuesday into a hot wash. I used bessie's safety method of dealing with bleach which seemed to wake dh up

I got sucked back into mucking about with beads after that as dh took ds to his activity (after much grumbling from him).

I have put a picture of my latest creation on my profile. You have to go into my photos to see it I think. Is it visible to all of you or just me?

Scout while I was finishing it off I wondered if it was something your seniors would be interested in doing. It is quite easy, as long as non of them are visually impaired, and would be quite cheap if they were happy to share pots of beads, especially if the beads were sourced on ebay.

Let me know if you think they might be interested and I will link to the online instructions.

Hi Carrots, we went for a walk into town, it was quite a walk as we went to the far end of town. .

DD has reached an age when she would like pink walls in her bedroom (have been white since we moved here) so we bought some paint. It will be nice to make it more "girly" for her. She also might feel more happy to sleep in there too.

carrots can see your photos, very good!

Thanks Cats. They are nothing special, I do realise that, but I am ridiculously chuffed with myself for learning something new

We went for a little walk too with Twilight and then ds and I have been sewing finger puppets (I will put photos of them up later as well!)

Dd is home now so they are both out on the trampoline - I am taking bets if anyone wants to predict how long until there is a fight

I love decorating, especially the dcs rooms. Dd has pale pink and duck egg blue (it looks sort of mint green). We have the same pale pink in our spare room and I love it too [childish]

We got dd some little fairy lights with flowers round them for her birthday a few years ago which make good night lights for her as she doesn't like sleeping in the dark.

Fairy lights sound nice carrots.

I am tired now. I have just been hoovering the bathroom. DH was putting a new lock on the door cause we discovered DD could barge the door open when I was sat on the loo.
DH left bits of wood chips on the floor so I thought I would go and clean up.
I also hoovered DD's bedroom while I was there, (her room is next to bathroom).
I'm off to make a now and will probably chill in front of the telly once the DC are settled.

Only got home a few minutes ago from a full-on day. I'm tired and round (full). Hope some of the pictures I took today are decent so I can post them to Mom & Dad.

Yes please, bessie.

Yes please, carrots.

Brill cake! bessie. yum! yum!

Was it her birthday this weekend?

bessie I can't believe that DD2 is 1! I am deeply shocked. I have known you for ages!

I hope you enjoyed her party. The cake looks fantastic. Your creative skills are clearly finely honed.

Give her a birthday hug from Scotland. Happy Birthday dd2!

Scout are you saying yes please to instruction links?

beading instructions

I used Gutermann Rocailles 9/0 beads and nymo thread, which you have to stretch first or it stretches once the piece is made and you get gaps.

You would also need long thin beading needles and a few larger beads for under the "ball" you make to make the fastening. I used a Gutermann 4mm "crystal" because that is what I had but I think the tutorial says something different.

I made it into a bracelet rather than a choker and have made 3 bracelets so far and have only used about 2/3 of a tube of bead or slightly less so a tube should make nearly 5 bracelets, especially as I have made mine too long.

Carrots do you have a Hobbeycraft near you? Don't know but would imagine the beads and stuff would be quite cheap from them. They sell on-line too.

It was her birthday yesterday. DH made the cake!

Thanks carrots!

Happy 1st birthday, bessieDD2!

I keep seeing on FB and elsewhere that it's DH's day to get up so friends could have a lie-in and yet my friends are the ones up with the babies/toddlers. It's made me realize I never get a lie-in. To be fair I heard Toddler around 6:30 and fell back asleep for a few minutes. He's having his breakfast listening to the church service on BBC Radio 4 -- not that he and I are CofE mind, but he likes the music. And I'm of the belief that most speech is good and Radio 4 isn't going to cause harm (as in, no swearing, no teenage text speak, etc).

When Toddler goes for his nap (and he will get one today after his lack of nap yesterday and his miserable toddlerness as a result) I'm going to kick MrScout out of bed so I can strip the sheets and go to do the washing. I'm hoping maybe warm, fresh sheets will take the chill out of bed.

The house is, surprisingly, not too cold. A bit chillier than we'd normally keep it but not painful. The struggle is the hot water. And Toddler really needs a bath -- tried to call my friend last night to see if I could borrow her bath but she wasn't in so am going to try again this morning.

I think we're also going to convert Toddler's cotbed into a bed. I've wanted to for a while but I put my foot down last week and said this weekend is the weekend.

Scout I sympathise with your lack of lie in. We have never had that policy either and I have to have a massive hissy fit be really run down before dh will give me a lie in. I am generally in the spare room and they generally automatically come in to torture me come to me for a cuddle.

Ds got a shock this morning though when he woke me up at ungodly o'clock and I shouted, "For the love of God! Go away!" and woke the whole house. I am a meany I know but he went away and left me in peace until 8am so sometimes meaness might be the answer.

Camper we do have a Hobbycraft but it is bit of a drive away (45 mins to an hour) and the parking costs as well. If we are in anyway I will definitely be having a nosey though.

I am trying to find them cheaply on ebay for now as I am still learning so don't want to spend a lot.

The place where I am going for classes is a local craft shop and sells loads but they are really pricey (the cost of living rurally!)

bessie I am still in shock that dd2 is 1 already, and at the professional looking cake. Remind me NEVER to post a photo of my cake decorating!

Morning all, I was up at 6.30 today but DH was up early yesterday so I musn't grumble too much. I am showered and dressed, just having a and trying to get 5 mins to myself.
DH and DS have made a start on painting DD's bedroom. Not quite sure how it's been so far as I've heard some shouting.
DH has now gone out to --be alone-- buy another roller. DD wants to do painting too so I said we can do some on a piece of paper.
--may need to hire a carpet cleaner next week--

I found my charger & power cord (for charger) for my Nintendo DS (Christmas gift ) so now I can play games while I wait at the launderette for the sheets. WAhoo!

Poor TomCats. Dd helped to paint her room and it required a bucket load of patience and some carpet cleaning if a new carpet hadn't already been ordered. It is something they need to learn to do though and it is a fun thing to do together.

Could dd be let loose with an old wet roller outside? It would make great patterns on the slabs and shouldn't cause any damage.

I have been making a bracelet with memory wire this time and teaching dd to do the bead weaving. She is doing well with it Scout so your seniors should manage no trouble at all.