update.

Ha! The computer whizz has worked out how to add photos..... just in case you are as computer challenged as myself and blogger won't let you add photos anymore, this is how you do it.....

Click HTML not Compose, add photos then click back to compose and voila!

So, this is the old fridge, it will be sadly missed.... (if you wonder why i'm showing you pictures of fridges read the previous post.)

This is the new fridge - its really tall, so tall that Ebony can't see whats on the top shelf (she's the shortest one of the family!) I don't know if I love it yet, but i'm very glad its here!

The Saga of the Fridge...... its long and boring!

New Year, New Dreams.

Well, the dictionary/thesaurus had to come out to find THE word for 2013, and I have yet to find one that means everything I want it to........  maybe I need to simplify things and stop trying to add so many traits to myself!

So, I finally decided on LEARN - plain and simple, learn to do new things, learn more about the things I already know.

 We are having a spell of mild weather which means lots of walks, these pictures were taken at Muckross & Dinis in Killarney. Its a 10km round circuit and when we saw these floods we started to wonder if we'd get round....

                               Isn't it pretty though? thats the only good thing about all the rain we get!

 So, 8km into the circuit we came across this flood and our choices were turn back or wade through... I cannot tell how cold the water was, my feet went blue!!

I have lots of plans and goals for this year, one of which is to be as organised as possible. If i'm stressing about something I wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, so hopefully being more organised (like having a month of class plans done) will help.
I have a huge list of "in my wildest dreams" wishes, like going to America this year to do art classes with 2 of my favourite artists (one of them doesn't give classes, thats how random this list is!) but my absolute top wish is this......
FOR EVERY ONE OF MY FAMILY TO HAVE A HEALTHY AND HAPPY YEAR;
Thats it, plain and simple, To be healthy in every way and be happy with our lives.

I wish that for anyone reading this too!!

Merry Christmas!

Well, i'm sure everyone has been busy leading up to yesterday.... and now its all over! We had a lovely day, quiet, delicious food, very relaxing.

I love this week between Christmas and New Year - its kind of a limbo where I get all the days confused. This year though i'm teaching a class tomorrow afternoon and then a camp for the next two days. Thats probably a good thing, it means i'll have to get dressed and venture out instead of being a total hermit! ( I LOVE staying at home)

Its also about now I get all inthused to start online classes and new habits. I don't like new years eve at all, for some reason I find it a sad occasion (which is very odd considering i'm a glass half full kinda person) but the new year is a new start, a clean slate, and each year i'm getting a bit better at making goals and actually (nearly!) achieving them.

Today i'm going to start my list of things I'd like to achieve in 2013 and then choose my "Word". If you could achieve anything in the coming year (like anything in your wildest dreams) what would it be? i'll have a think about it and then show you my list, learning to speak French is on it every year..... but i'm getting better at it.
I think for my new list i'll need a new journal so i'm going to make something to write it all in, ooh, a project! just what I need today!

What a weekend!

This weekend was mad, Friday was Zac's 16th birthday, Saturday was the annual Art&Wine night, Sunday was the Malton Craft fair....... and today is Monday and I haven't done a whole lot!

So, Zac had school and went to the cinema on Friday evening. On Saturday mornings he has a tennis lesson, this is what Ebony made him for a birthday treat, after two hours of running around the court he was ready for it.... (I should tell you that he didn't eat it all, Ebony ate some. It was French toast, bacon and maple syrup)

 The rest of the day was spent getting ready for the art show. The pictures have to be hung in the afternoon, every artist gets one of these grids, so I took eight of my Dads paintings and two new ones of my own. They were mostly sea and landscapes with one acrylic nude that he painted in a fit of doing something different!

I was searching for a nice photo of him and my Aunt Kate (Dads sister) had taken this photo of him and kindly sent it to me at the last minute. This is the small frame you can see in the centre.

This art & wine night is a huge social affair, the whole town goes and you meet people you haven't seen since the last show, so its a chance to get glammed up. Since my hair hadn't been cut for a full year I decided it was time..... I should have known better! the cut is lovely but the hairdresser (Marion, who is lovely but doesn't understand how I can live with out a hairdryer) went all out with the styling process.... 

As you can see! 

 And as you can see in this photo its gone from curly to straight- ish. It was a bit dramatic for my liking so I went home and redid it. (don't tell Marion!)
Here I am with my Mum, I was so glad she went, she seemed to really enjoy it and met lots of people she knew. See that seascape to my right? well we don't have it anymore because it sold!!!

 The following day was the craft fair, so I was back in the same hotel at 10 am setting up. My brother had made me this beautiful little dresser and this was its first show day. It did really well! its light so I can carry it myself  but sturdy so its safe. It was much admired and everything fitted on it perfectly.

 The notebooks and diaries are always the best sellers, but this time I had more cushions, little sewing jars and hand knitted rabbits amongst other things.

 It was hugely busy, I think they had about 95 stalls of crafts and artisan foods. The lady behind me had delicious cupcakes so I didn't go hungry!

So that was the weekend. Today I finally put all the crafting stuff away, you can see the top of the kitchen table and the top of my desk again! but since there is another fair in two weeks time it won't be tidy for long!

Christmas class...

Yes, I said it, and its only Rememberence Day! todays class had a Christmas theme, I wasn't sure if we would fit another one in before the end of December so it had to be done. Plus, when I was looking for papers for this kit I found Kaiser Crafts Twig and Berry collection and went a bit nuts over it!
Those of you who know me know that i'm not huge on Christmas papers, but these aren't red and green and covered with Santas, they are Autumnal colours with subtle festiveness.

I can't believe that I forgot to take photos of the class!
We were in "Just Desserts" in Killarney, so the coffee break was delicious!!! Jacinta, Ann, Valerie, Robin, Kathrine, Noreen and Claire all helped make the class great fun, I hope they were pleased with the albums they made.

This was it, in the kit above you can just about see a bronze, antique looking heart, I hadn't attached mine when I took the photo - but I will because some ladies in the class did and it looked fabulous!

Here are some inside views so that you can see the papers.

                                                  I want wallpaper or fabric like that !!

So, thats it - a big, huge thank you to all the ladies who came today and especially to Jessica and Mike in Just Desserts, they will be hoovering glitter off the stair carpet for a while!!

I hope all you ladies in Dungarvan like the album because this is what we're making on December 1st!! I will make it an event on Facebook but you can message me if you're interested.

Now, i'm going to unpack the car and relax!

Tuesday.

Good morning,

Last night I went to the Rural Business 2012 prize giving, there were 4 prizes for the South Kerry group and 24 shortlisted, there had been 89 entries so I suppose to be one of the shortlisted was quite good. I had no illusions that I might win with my quilt idea (which was entered for me by the way!) but when they were opening the envelope it was more tense then the XFactor final I can tell you!! Everyone was secretly practising their acceptance speeches......

When I heard that last years winner invented a contraption to put on the back of young horses when training them so that the rider wouldnt be thrown off and maybe paralysed, I realised the gig was up!! Sweet as my quilt is its not a life saving device.

But, the speakers were really interesting and it was nice to meet people and everyone had dressed up so it was very glam!

This morning i'm off to Kenmare to see if I can find a room for kids craft classes and then its back to the grindstone getting the kits ready for Sunday ( I know, its a hard life isn't it?!) So far i've made two different designs and I can't decide which one to go with..... but fear not, there will be a plan and it'll be pretty!

The Knit n Stitch show was great this year, Kate and Mike from Create with Kate are lovely and there were lots of people I knew wandering round. There was fabric, fabric, more fabric, ribbon, buttons, paper, beads..... so much temptation!!

here is a little snippet of the papers for Sunday.... A bit Christmasy, but not really, I love them!!