Messy Play Day

Hello there friends!

Scottish greetings to you all. :-) Not much has been happening in my little world as of late. I guess you could say that I have been pretty bored and feeling somewhat lost. It seems that all I've to do is clean house and do laundry. Domesticity has never been one of my strengths, so naturally it is proving to be quite a challenge.

I think the greatest treatment for my insanity has been the hospitality of my next door neighbor, Susan. She is quite a remarkable woman. She and her husband are both doctors here in Aberdeen; her husband a surgeon and she a General Practitioner. Together they have 4 children under the age of 6 (lots of playmates for the kids, another great cure for my insanity.) Susan works three days a week and on her last two weekdays off, she has invited the munchkins and me to playdates. Today we went to our first Messy Play Day. This is a play group where the kids go to purposefully get messy. There Bryson and Sadie had the opportunity to paint, play with sand, pasta, playdough, and even colorful mashed potatoes. They had a really nice time and I too had a nice time visiting with Susan afterwards at her house while we sipped coffee and the kids played.

After our play date, I came home to finish up a cake project that I made for Brian's office-mate, Annetta. Here is a picture of the finished cake. Not the best model I have done, but I am hoping that she will like it anyway!


Tomorrow, the kids and I will have to venture out to the medical clinic where Bryson and Sadie both have appointments to meet with the Health Visitor. I think this is something like a well child check up like we have at home. I just hope they don't tell us that we have to do any more vaccinations.

Well, that is all for now. Perhaps this weekend we will take another local castle adventure. Who knows what will be in store...for now, though, pray for my sanity. :-)

W

Rufus and Me

Good morning, friends!

This installment of idle prattle comes to you bright and early here in Aberdeen. It is just a bit after 2 am here and true to form, I am in another sleepless night cycle. The good news is, I have time to sit (or lie in bed) and blog a bit. The bad news is, it may make perfect sense to me right now, but perhaps very little sense to you as you read it. :-) We always think we are wittier when extremely tired than we really are. I think the medical term is sleepy sillies.

Whatever sleepless state I am in, this week has still gone by pretty quickly and I am looking forward to another weekend. Nothing earth shatteringly exciting has occurred this week, which is fine by me. I've never been so relaxed in my life! It takes some getting used to, not having to be on the go all of the time. Life has kind of come to a stand still for me, but in a very positive way.

I had the opportunity today to visit with a dear friend for about an hour on the phone, a luxury I don't often indulge in. (If you look up phonaphobia in the dictionary, I am sure it has my picture in there for a reference). She and I discussed the positives of taking time out for ourselves in order to be better mums. (Yeah, I said it...mums. I am such a Brit. :-)) Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the "going" and "doing" of life that we don't take time out to just be ourselves and to do for ourselves. I know, I should not propagate selfishness and I don't mean to here. I just mean that sometimes we need to simplify life in order to be better people. If that means less errand running and more couch surfing then make it so. Just make sure you are sharing that couch with someone you love, like a cheeky little boy who loves his momma or an adoring husband who doesn't often get lovey snuggles. I guess what I am trying to say is slow is good and I am blessed to be taking it slow these days, while still enjoying life abroad.

After a night last night of bleery eyed insomnia, I was pretty tired today and ended up compromising with my inner to do list on the house work. I settled for cleaning downstairs and doing laundry and then spent the afternoon playing with sugar. I did another model based on Lorraine McKay's tutorials, which I lovingly call "Rufus and Me". The little girl is meant to be Aubrey and the puppy is one of our schnauzers, Rufus. I think it turned out pretty cute and I gave it to Aubrey. She is so excited to have it and wants to take it to school to show her friends. I doubt it will return in less than a dozen pieces, but if it makes her happy, than I am happy! :-)

Here are a few pics:





Well, I guess I will attempt to retire for now. I wish you a wonderful weekend and pleasant dreams, as I hope to have a bit of both myself! Cheers!- W

A few Modeling projects

Just thought I would share a few more pictures of some of the sugar models I have been making. I tell ya, Lorraine McKay is amazing, if I only had a wee bit of her talent, I would go far. If you are ever interested in sugar art, you should check out her tutorials, they are wonderful! :-)

This is called a "Jimmy Hat". Apparently this is a familiar character here in Scotland. Notice his rosy red nose....he loves to frequent the pubs. After all, there is one on every corner here. lol


This is the baby on quilt that I was working on the other day. Poor thing, looked like his hands had been run over by a steam roller...very flat... I think I am better at feet. :-)


This is a bear I made to mourn the one that little Simon from across the street had snuffed out. Look at his sad little expression...
Lastly, here is the after shot of the poor defenseless teddy who had is ear ripped off and head bashed in. I still can't help but chuckle at how he looks. Perhaps I should add a white bandage to his wound. :-)
Maybe if I get my chores done, I can start another project tomorrow...Until then, cheers! - W

Happy Mother's Day

First off, let me say Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely ladies out there. While today is not technically Mother's Day here in the U.K., I still enjoyed a McDonald's big breakfast in bed from my hubby. My children, of course, didn't even remember that it was Mother's Day. In fact, Aubrey's response when I told her the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was for them to behave while we were out was "it's not Mother's Day here.". Oh well, I still had a nice day.

Today we ventured to Drum castle which is about 12 miles from our house, in Drumoak, Banchory. It was another lovely day for exploring and this time we actually went into the castle for a tour. Because of the fragile nature of the contents, we were not allowed to take photographs inside the castle. I did, however, take several pictures from my new dummy-proof camera of the outside of the castle and from atop the castle tower. (Wooh, another story for another day...Wendy + heights + narrow spaces + bats= terror.) The pictures I took can be found on my Facebook page.

One of the really nice things about the castle tours here are that most of them have quizzes for the kids. This castle had a picture quiz for Bryson's age and another for Aubrey's age group. They really enjoyed finding the clues and today they won a prize for their efforts.

After a bit of trauma from Brian's challenge to me to climb to the top of the tower, we headed home for the day, deciding to skip a second visit to Crathes castle and save it for another day. I think my ticker had all it could take for the day.

Once nestled again in the familiar comforts of home, I took an unintended snooze and awoke ready to finish my latest modeling project just in time for you moms. I am quite happy with how she turned out and am thinking of adding her to a decorated board and gifting her to my next door neighbor who's hair was my model's inspiration. Here she is....hope you ladies get a chance to do something you enjoy today, like I did getting to play with sugar and like my mommy model who is reading her favorite book! Blessings dear friends! Cheers!

- W

Teddy Bears

Hello again! I would love to say that I have been jetting around Scotland admiring more castles this week, but alas, we had a much needed weekend at home. We ended up taking the kids to Fun Beach on Monday ( a bank holiday) evening to play some arcade games and to treat Brian to dinner at Frankie and Benny's as an early birthday treat. He was really looking forward to this cinnamon waffle dessert, the entire reason we waited for 45 minutes for a table. Unfortunately, had we read the sign above the door, we would have seen that they were out of desserts. Go figure!

Still, we had a nice long weekend together. It was a really great weekend for me. I got to go cake supply shopping and got a new camera that I can actually use. (In the dictionary, if you look up photography dummy, you will see my picture.) In my last post, I mentioned that I was hoping to get started on some figure modeling projects. I completed one this weekend, even though it was promptly destroyed by the little boy across the street. Poor teddy bear suffered from blunt force trauma. :-( Here is a picture of what it looked like in its pre-mortem state....


Currently I am working on a baby on a quilt. Currently, it is headless...but I hope to rectify that soon. Of course, before I can play, I have to get the laundry done.

Brian's birthday was yesterday. I made him "Nonicotti" for dinner. He requested manicotti, but I was unable to find manicotti pasta, so I made up my own concoction using smaller shells and my own blend of cheeses. It turned out pretty good if I say so myself. :-) I think he had a nice birthday, even though it was pretty low key. Do any of us really want to celebrate 35 anyway?

Well, that is all for now. I hope to finish my second project this week and will share it with you if I do. Until then, enjoy the rain because it brings out the most beautiful flowers...At least it does here! -W

The Simple Life

Afternoon again, friends.

I sit here today writing with both a sense of satisfaction and a bit of glum. Life in Scotland has really taken me back to a sense of simpler things. On the one hand, I am so pleased with our minimalistic lifestyle. I know what you are thinking, a two story fully furnished home is not at all minimalistic. It is, however, a lot less of the materialistic things that we had grown accustomed to in the U.S.
Just this morning, Brian and I were discussing how much we have enjoyed keeping things simple. Right now we have no satellite tv, no video game consoles hooked up, no overwhelming knick knacks or techno gadgets cluttering up our lives. It really does bring out a sense of peace in one's self to have a place for everything and to have everything in its place. We have even seriously reduced the number of times we eat out each week. In Bartlesville, we averaged (ashamedly) 5 or more times a week. Here, we might get take out from our favorite Fish and Chips place once a week. I enjoy cooking for the family (I love grocery delivery!) and have enjoyed having the time with all of them in the same place each evening.

Where the glumness comes in for me is that life has become so simple for me, that I feel as though I have somewhat lost my identity. I have no one to bake cakes for, do projects with, or to volunteer with. I know that these things come in time, but I feel a bit lost. I mean, there is only so much cleaning you can do in a day and getting down on the floor to play with the kids has never been an easy task for me. I find myself spending way too much time playing pointless games on Facebook and with every keystroke, I lose a bit of my day and a bit of my self. I know, that sounds so melodramatic, and in fact, you are right. I just need a hobby! LOL

So, as soon as I can make it back to the cake shop, I am going to pick up some supplies to practice my figure modelling, and I hope that you will indulge me by letting me post a picture of a project or two once in a while.

I mean, there has to be a balance between the satisfaction of simple life and keeping busy. This stint in Scotland will be the test of that. Anyway, I hope you are all well and are not getting blown away by those lovely April showers! Until then.... W