A Trip Down Memory Lane Retreat

 I am not great at remembering to take photos - probably because the time just flies by and I forget.

My room - Fab- I do have to say that it was not as great as last year - the rooms on the third floor are definitely a bit better but, I am not going to complain as the view was lovely and I even had two double beds to choose from.

We left ( Annette , Sarah and I ) on Friday afternoon , traveled for about an hour to arrive at Stoke By Nayland Hotel. We had a lovely relaxing meal in the bar before we checked in and unpacked our "stuff".

 Saturday nights tea. Yummy food , lots of wine and staying up till  late creating :) 

I Love these ladies, I haven't laughed so much since the last time we were together.

 Very posh prawn cocktail, followed by sausage and mash and cheese cake.

 The view from the room- hard to believe its almost November!!

 One of the classes - Jane Hewitts Christmas mini book ( a work of art!) 

AND to top it all...the shop :) :) - heaven.

VERY sad to leave at tea time on Sunday and really upset with the service at home- I had to get my own breakfast and then go to work this morning !!!!

Love Soojay xxx

Dan and ADHD

I was talking to someone about ADHD recently and about how Dan is so much Calmer nowadays- even with out any ADHD meds. We stopped them when he was diagnosed with nocturnal Epilepsy. The doc was very keen on him taking medication for that so we slowly stopped the clonodine  ( he didn't take ritalin as he also has Tourettes and Ritalin can sometimes make tics worse) So now he just takes the minimum dose of Tregratol to stop him "fitting" in the night. 

Anyway the tics are quite small at the moment and don't seem to give him too much trouble- they get worse when he is worried or excited about anything. I have spent his whole life keeping everything as clam as possible for him.  We HAVE had tough times- school exclusions, holes punched in doors ( quite a few doors actually). Lots of friendship problems although the little kids stopped taking the mick when he got taller ;)

 I took some photos of him on his 18th Birthday . He hates having his photo taken but think that more of and age thing- I don't know many boys who like to sit to have their photo taken at his age. I took half a dozen but he was getting very bored- I guess the play station ( even now at 18 , he is not allowed to play violent games, just sporty ones) or maybe Facebook ( i am a friend and know his password) 

He had gone before I realized Ha Ha Ha - there are occassional times i forget the ADHD - but he reminds me :) Love him!

Love Soojay xxx

The Hair

Not as purple as I had thought it would be but Meg is Very Happy with it .

The light is not so good now and the little madam would not pose but continued to play on the X Box.

It does shine "purple" in certain light. I hope the roots dont grow though too quickly as it is a job I Hate doing!

I am off on a nice long weekend retreat tomorrow. The ATDML retreat at Stoke By Nayland - one of my fav hotels. This will be my fourth time there and fifth time staying - almost a home from home :D

I have 5 classes booked and as I haven't done a scrapbook page for AGES, I am really looking forward to it. I am also really looking forward to having my food cooked for me (Amazing food too) and having a bath without an interruption.

Back to the real world on Monday - half term over.

Love Soojay xxx

Dying Megs Hair

Cyber Purple!!!

she has is Dk Red usually but wanted to be more dramatic. This will work! We needed two boxes as she has SO much hair!. Will be back later with the finished result.

Love Soojay xxx

What A FAB week!!

 My Darling Sister, Annette, and I went to the big city on Wednesday afternoon to see Darren Hayes

This is us arriving at Liverpool street station.

 Yes we were very Happy :)

Unfortunately I was too happy to be taking photos!! We did quite a bit of walking about and jumping on and off the tube. We also have a fabulous Japanese Meal ( my first) .

The Show was Brilliant!! Darren was amazing . His new Album is out Tomorrow and mine is pre ordered :)

On Tuesday night ( sorry I am not posting in any order!) I took hubby along to the school music evening - he had never been before. I warned him that he would be "blown away" by the talent and I was right :) Here is a link to just one of the performers Matt Palmer . Just Brilliant! Check it out.

Now on half term holiday for a week - yayyyyy . 

On Friday I am off for a nice long weekend at ATDML Retreat (again with Annette and LOADS of Fab ladies) . I promise to remember to take more photos :)

I have spent the weekend catching up with card making for design teams - no guilt as I have the whole week to clean and tidy and do the boring stuff.

Love Soojay xxx

Quick Update

 Already on Chapter four of this one - The latest book by Nicholas Sparks. I love all his books but am trying to take my time reading it . I do have another book in the wings ( It will soon be half term) 

This one is the first of three books , so , if I like it, It should keep me going for sometime. Will let you know.

Off To London on Wednesday to see Darren Hayes...I am SO excited ...It's been four or five years since I last saw him live. Going with My Sister Annette...Can't believe its only three days !!!!

Not seen any really good DVD's recently but TV is getting better , especially now Merlin and Waterloo Road are back.

Derek, Dan and Meg are at my sister Steph's today...hopefully giving her a big hug from me. She is doing ok at the moment, the big news is that she has managed to put on half a stone recently.

Back to the laundry then......

Love Soojay xxx

Blog Candy!

Bev Has three lots of FAB candy over on her Site HERE Go Check it out



Love Soojay xxx

Happy 18th Danny

 Getting this boy to have his photo taken is as rare as hens teeth! And smiling too-Wow!

We have had a quiet day at home, he bought himself a new smart phone with birthday money - I am so glad as it means i can actually contact him now! We bought him a fab Lenovo touch screen PC and while it cost quite a bit, I don't mind. I suppose because I know he won't be taking driving lessons like a lot of boys his age. Quite apart from the ADHD, he also has epilepsy.

Anyway the boy asked for burger and chips for tea- sometimes i do love his simple tastes _ nice and easy :). 

I had better get to it.

Love Soojay xxx

Welll????????

 Did you guess that it was a felted bowl?

 I really enjoyed my very first attempt at any form of felting yesterday in Sudbury. 

Katie Walker has been doing this for sometime and is a wonderful and entertaining teacher. She was VERY patient and generous with me and gave me loads of inspiration.

 Green is my favorite colour, so i chose that as the main with wisps of blue , lime green and white.

I am sure I have not finished yet though as I am itching to embellish with some seed beads and a tiny bit of stitching.

Katie wastes nothing, so i kept the bit i cut out at the top to use later. I want to have a little go at some needle felting and this is ideal to practice on.

I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head now - just wish I had a few more hours in the day!!

I shall pop the photos of "the beginning of the process at Katie's workshop once I have pinched them from the school's network- ohh did I tell you it was a school trip? 

Love Soojay xxx

Can you tell what it is yet???

 My very first attempt at something new - taught by a very talented lady.

I can tell you that the next stage involves a sharp pair of scissors, a bicycle pump and a tumble dryer.

Watch this space ;) 

Love Soojay xxx

Autumn at school

 One of my jobs at the school is to run the Eco Council. There are representatives from every form group and we hold meetings each term. We have quite a few projects on the go at the moment, which we are really excited about.

 We do also have a very small blog on the school network. I am trying to get some of the pupils to post and get involved in it a bit more - so that I don't have to.
 This morning i popped into school to organize a small surprise for my boss as it is her Birthday.

 I couldn't resist taking loads of photographs of the plants and trees in the grounds as it was such a beautiful sunny day and everywhere was so colourful

There were so many different berries all ready for the birds to come eat. These are some of the photos I shall put up on our Blog but they were so pretty, I thought I'd share here too.

While I was in the grounds taking my photos, I bumped into another member of staff , working really hard all alone digging our new pond - there's dedication for you!!

Love Soojay xxx

Saturday

SO Proud- Go Look

Hearts

 A few people have said they like my FB Avatars

I don't like to use my photo  and these hearts usually make me smile.

 I just searched for them on Google- there are some amazing photographers/graphic artists out there

Help yourself -I did :D

Love Soojay xxx

Sunday Update

 Listening to : Will young - I LOVE "Jealousy" can't stop singing it.

 Also Listening to : pre release of "Blackout the Sun" WOW! I am also in love with "Blood stained heart"

And getting excited about going to see him (Darren Hayes-Just in-case you didn't know) on October 19th

 Watching new series of Waterloo Road. Not sure about that new Head!!

 Finally got to see this film last night. Derek wasn't keen to start with , it being set in 30's- We both loved it.

Just over halfway though reading this book - already shed loads of tears!! I LOVE this author, hope she writes some more soon. Lots of mystery with a twist.

VERY Proud of my Sister Annette who ran 10K Hyde-park charity walk yesterday and raised £970 for mouth Cancer. You can still donate HERE if you would like to help her reach her target of £1000.

Well, thats my week. Back to normal at school, already been to one college parents evening (For Meg), playing catch up with the washing again. Signing letters for trips out, making what feels like hundreds of packed lunches a week ! 

Love Soojay xxx

Today's the Day

That my Fabby sister is running/walking for Mouth Cancer. I am So proud of her as she has almost reached her Target of £1000 - just £90 to go :)
Anyone wanting to donate can HERE

She's doing it for our Sister Steph and I wish her good luck and no blisters :)



Love Soojay xxx

Cavell

Would have been 24 today .

And back to "Manic" Mode again.

First day back at work - no kids in till Wednesday though.
Meg starts college tomorrow and scared and grumpy. I have been getting everything ready for her (lazy girl!). I am worried that she will look after her self and take regular blood tests.
Natalie is off to Butlins on Friday with a group of friends and can talk of nothing else. So lots of organizing going on at the moment.
Two nice things to look forward to ( for me :)) are : A seaside crop on Saturday with friends. Not been to a crop for AGES!
And tickets booked to see the GORGEOUS Darren Hayes in London on 19th October ...sigh- They arrived on Friday :)
PLEASE READ THIS BIT.
I do need to tell you about two of my sisters: Steph ( second in line - with me being the eldest) has been suffering for sometime now with Throat Cancer.SO NOT FAIR!! She had a big op last year and Chemo but they couldn't find the primary cause. Unfortunately earlier this year they did and she had another bout of Chemo which didn't help. Now she is waiting to start a trial at the end of this month. I won't go into all details, mostly as I don't really understand it all and it is personal to her. Now I want to tell you about  my other sister Annette or No.3 as we sometimes call her.
She is taking part in a fundraising walk in Hyde park on 17th September for mouth cancer- It IS a walk but being Annette, she likes to do things her own way and will be running for quite a bit of the 10K !! She set herself a modest target of £500 which of course she has achieved so, she has raised the bar to £750 and with two weeks(ish) left, I am sure she will get there. Here is the all important linky thing to her "Just Giving page "so you can donate if you can : ANNETTE'S PAGE  .
If you did, may I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I Love all my sisters dearly , they are my best friends, caring , would do anything to help and I am so proud of them all.


Love Soojay xxxx

Look!!!

Darren Hayes


I Love this one!



Love soojay xxx

Megan

This picture of Meg was taken on the last day of school. Took a little while to get her to smile. To say that she found school difficult at times is an understatement. At five years old we found out that she was diabetic .We already knew that she had speech problems and learning difficulties. She was seen by the school Ed Psych. who said that she has an IQ of 48. She spent primary school in the area support class with a great TA. High school was also differentiated for her. She had a statement of educational needs, a school care plan and 20 hours of support (shared though) a week in a small class.
Today we went to get her results. She sat exams but only one was GCSE - Art . She was disappointed that she got an F, she thought it meant fail. Not only is it NOT a fail, it is not the lowest grade. She has done it all by herself, she didn't get any support at all in her Art class. She had a sweet art teacher but she found it hard to understand all of what was expected of her. I don't think she realizes how proud I am of her .
She already has a place at College - doing a life skills course. The tutors there taught her sister Natalie a few years ago. I know that she is scared but I have no doubt that she will love it .
Anyway just wanted to share

Love Soojay xx

Lazy Day

Yesterday was dark and wet - not a nice day at all - I am one of those people that NEED sunlight to be energized to do "stuff" and there was none. So, as I was on holiday and have been reasonably busy most of the time, I took the day off from the world and read Afterwards. I LOVED it and highly recommend it. You do need a day to yourself as it's un put downable!
Rosamund Lupton has only written two book so far and this is her second - I HAVE to read the first one now- appropriately called "sister" - Lets hope I can get it and read it before I go back to school.

Love Soojay xxx