Nature and Bargains

These are some pictures I took last year in some local woods. I'm definitely not a photographer, so don't expect amazing pictures! I just thought they showed what beauty we have around us. It doesn't matter where in the country or world you live, there is beauty all around us!

This morning David and I went into Wakefield to get a birthday pressie for one of Nathaniel's schoolfriends (his party is tomorrow). I also managed to visit a few charity shops but didn't get much (an as-new pair of jeans for Nathaniel as he won't stop growing :) ) I also got the boys a couple more packs of Top Trump cards for 50p each in the same charity shop I got the last ones.

Then we went to Netto's. I found a cool Columbia Sportswear Vest (Gillet) for David. It's filled with Down so will be so warm. It has earphones in the collar and a space for his iPod. It's a lovely chocolately brown colour with a lime green interior. They only had one left in the reduced cart and it had no price on it. I asked an assistant and she said I could have it for £5 so I quickly took it and paid for it! I checked on the internet when I got home and found out the retail price of it is $115. I do love my bargains! David really likes it too and is looking forward to Spring so he can wear it when we go on walks (maybe in the above woods!).

When we picked up Zach from nursery, he came out with two daffodils tied with a ribbon with a gift tag that the teacher had laminated. The gift tag had the words 'Happy Mothers Day Love From' typed on it, then Zach had handwritten his name on. I'm so glad the teachers had laminated them so that we can keep them (probably put it in my scrapbook) and be reminded of their first year of school. Zach is still learning to write his letters (he's only 4!). I can't believe that he starts school full-time after Easter! He's still my baby!!

Earthquakes, Babies and Mediocrity

Did you feel the earthquake last night? Surprisingly some of the mums at school this morning had slept through it and didn't know a thing about it! It happened about 1am and actually didn't wake the boys up. It had been extremely windy yesterday and when I woke up at 1am I thought it was just a really strong gale. Although it did sound and feel like the roof was going to come off! It wasn't until I heard the news on the radio this morning that I realised what it was. At least it gave us something to talk about at the school gates this morning, lol!

This past week has just been an average week, which is why I haven't posted for a while. Talking about grocery shopping, doing laundry, etc isn't exactly exciting now is it?!?!? lol.

We did have news that friends of ours who are unable to have children of their own have now had a baby placed with them!! And it is an itty bitty baby girl!! She's only a week old and they should be going next week to bring her home!! That is just the best news I've heard this week for sure!!!!

I just remembered something funny that Nathaniel said last week. We were walking home from school and I asked how he'd done on his spelling test. He said he'd got 10 correct out of 15. Now let me explain about Nathaniel. He hates practicing his spelling and it can be quite a battle. Now if I give him pages of math problems he does them without hesitation as he loves maths and is very good at it. With writing and spelling it's a different matter. He CAN do well in them, but he doesn't enjoy it at all. When he doesn't practice his spelling he can get as little as 3 or 4 correct, but when he does practice he gets them all correct. Well last week he had practiced a little and got 10 correct. I mentioned to him how if he had done more work on them he could have got them all correct. He then said. "No, I think I'll stick with 10. I'm happy with 10"! It just cracked me up inside. So my son is happy with mediocrity :) Fair enough :)

just tried it again:
82 words

Speed test

77 words

Speedtest

Sunday thoughts.........

I LOVE this song! We have been listening to it in the car today. Not sure if this will work:




I think it does!

Also, while at church today I heard something that made me think (although I was in a rebellious mood today and found it difficult to sit through Sacrament Meeting without making snarky comments to my SIL!). Anyway, one of the speakers was talking about how we should be seeking for the Abundant Life rather than Abundant Wealth and it made me think....

And Cait, if you are reading this - 'Hi' :) Keep growing my nephew big and strong :) Say 'Hi' in my comments if you want :)

Dreams.....

I don't know about you, but I LOVE dreaming!! I usually remember my dreams (you know, the ones you have while sleeping!, those kind of dreams!). Anyway, last night I had 3 dreams that I remembered this morning. I was telling David about them this morning and after I'd told him about the 2nd dream I couldn't for the life of me remember the 3rd one. And that's frustrating!! lol.

Some dreams are so real that I have to stop a while and think whether they were just dreams. Other dreams would make the most amazing actions movies, lol. I began to think how I should make a note of them as I'm amazed at the variety of them, hee hee. Other dreams are really inspiring and when I wake up I'm so psyched to take action on them.

Well one of my dreams last night involved me and my younger sister, Helen. Helen is currently studying photography at derby university and has already completed courses in art and photography and she's taken some amazing pictures. She has done weddings and other work and she's so creative and awesome.. So in the dream we had gone back to one of my old high schools (which is now a 6th form college) to see if they would let us take some pictures. The old building of the school is quite stunning and has some great features that we wanted to photograph. There's lots of old wood panels and great staircases and floors etc (unless they've changed it in the last 20 years, lol). So in the dream we got permission and took some awesome architectural pictures and were so inspired. When I woke up this morning I was so excited and motivated and it almost felt like we had really done it. I just wanted to call Helen straight away and tell her about it and suggest that we actually contact the college to see if we could do this next time she comes up.

So people, tell me honestly, am I just weird :)

Let me tell you something......

My friend, Susan, posted this MEME on her blog so I thought it would be fun to take up the challenge!!
1. What time did you get up this morning? very late! Not sure exactly. The kids have the week off school so we didn't have to be up for that. So the kids just got up and played in their room while I snoozed :)

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3. Last movie you saw? In the theater - took kids to see Bee Movie.

4. What is your favorite TV show? I have lots of favorites including Criminal Minds, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, CSI, Lost, Without a Trace, Supernatural, Heroes.....

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? I don't always eat breakfast (yes, I know I should!). If I do it's usually toast.

6. What is your middle name? Don't have one!

7. What food do you dislike? I think I like just about everything!

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I tend to like individual songs rather than whole CD's. We were rocking to Nickelback's Rockstar in the car earlier today!

9. What kind of car do you drive? A bright red Ford Focus.

10. Favorite sandwich? Bagel with crispy bacon, avocado and cream cheese.

11. What characteristic do you despise? Whining. It's bad in kids, even worse in adults. (Susan I agree with you on this!)

12. Favorite item of clothing? My new jeans from Next.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Back to the States to visit all my friends!!

14. What color is your bathroom? blue, but I'm thinking of changing it soon!!

15. Favorite brand of clothing? Next

16. Where would you retire to? Somewhere with definite seasons. Need a warm summer!!

17. What was your most memorable birthday? My friends had a surprise bday party for me at BYU when I turned 23. My 30th was memorable as I'd just had Zach 4 weeks earlier and just wanted to sleep for my bday!

19. Farthest place you are sending this? I guess the US is the furthest that anyone may be reading this. let me know people :)

20. Who do you least expect to send this back? Not really relevant, since I'm not emailing it.

21. Person you expect to send it back first? Again, since I'm not emailing, not really relevant.

22. Favorite saying? One of the Calvin and Hobbs cartoon strips shows Calvin warm and snuggly in bed on a cold, wintry morning. When his mom asks him to get out of bed he says 'I'm not getting up until it's as warm out there as it is in here'. That's defo how I feel most mornings!!!

23. When is your birthday? June 20, same as my twin sister :)

24. Are you a morning person or a night person? Absolutely, definitely night person

25. What is your shoe size? 7 1/2 (US) 5.5 (UK)

26. Pets? I had a goldfish at BYU which I named Gilbert after my Bishop. Don't think the fish lasted too long.

27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? mmmm, errr, no!

29. What age are you now? 34 (yikes!)

30. What is your favorite candy? red vines, tootsie pops, chupa chups

31. What is your favorite flower? I like most flowers. Gerberas possibly

32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? The Monday after Easter as that's when Zach starts school fulltime. It's also a day I'm dreading and no doubt will be sad about!

33. What church do you attend? The LDS Church - Horbury Ward, Huddersfield Stake, England

34. What is your full name? Joanne Brown, simple as that!! Wigglesworth is my maiden name

35. What are you listening to right now? Sounds of David and the boys playing football on the XBOX 360.

36. What was the last thing you ate? A Thorntons chocolate. We were at the outlets earlier and I bought a small bag of factory rejects!!

37. Do you wish on stars? Nope

38. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Something like red or green.

39. How is the weather right now? It's cold, dark and foggy!! Yesterday was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky!

40. Last person you spoke to on the phone? I sent a text to my sister.

41. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I love Susan :)

42. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke, or Pepsi Max

43. Favorite restaurant(s): Not sure.....

44. Hair color? reddish brown. Might change soon when I dye it!!

46. Favorite day of the year? Christmas day

47. What was your favorite toy as a child? My little toy record player

48. Summer or winter? Summer!

49. Hugs or Kisses? Hugs.

50. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate!

51. Do you want your friends to email you back? It would be fun to see responses either email or on their blogs (I'm just nosey, lol!)

52. When was the last time you cried? Can't remember really.......

53. What is under your bed? We have drawers filled with bedding.

55. What did you do last night? Did some knitting but I can't say what as I don't know who is reading this!!

56. Favorite smell? Yankee Candle clean cotton, or anything cinnamon.

57. What are you afraid of? Anything bad happening to the kids.

58. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? anything but plain, blech!!

59. How many keys on your key ring? front door, back door, and car.

60. How many years at your current job? SAHM since Nathaniel was born, so almost 7 years!.

61. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

62. How many towns have you lived in? Let's see - Castleford, Yorkshire , England (2 difference houses), Ferrybridge, Yorkshire - Pontefract, Yorkshire - Westhill (near Aberdeen), Scotland - Stavanger, Norway - Provo, Utah (4 different apts), - Wakefield, Yorkshire, and now Ossett. I'll let you add it up :)

63. Do you make friends easily? I find it easy to make casual friends. True friends are harder to come by. That's why I'm so happy to be back in touch with some of the best friends I've had :)

64. How many people will you be sending this to? Anyone who happens to read this (if anyone actually does!)



So now people, if you want to take up this challenge put this on your blog and link it in the comments :) Oh go on! Make is look as if someone actually DOES read this! Don't make me look like Billy-No-Mates!!

boys will be boys

Here are a couple of pics of my boys that I think are cute :) Especially love the blackcurrant moustache that Zach is 'wearing' in the first one :) ......